In Medias Res~ Dream For Me

The air violently snapped and popped with an erratic sound, it seemed to be remnants of electricity that I felt dangerously embracing my entire body. 

The lights were flickering similar to that of an old street light. 

I was sat in my desk still, reaching up, I wiped my eyes to clear up my cloudy and opaque eyesight. 

What the hell is happening? I wondered.

A sharp pain in my chest erupted, I lurched over and started gasping for air. 

I quickly clutched one hand on the leg of a nearby chair, slightly falling forward as it slid unexpectedly.

 Letting go instinctively, I rotated my body into a fall on my side and continued the kinetic roll to my back, sight turning to the ceiling. 

I laid there, chest rising. 

Falling. 

Rising. 

Falling. 

The pain lessened to a dull ache and I knew I couldn't stay down like this for long, I had to get up. 

I scrambled to my feet, surprisingly quicker than expected. 

It was weird, as if I felt a bit lighter, but that was here nor there, I needed to focus. 

It took a few seconds to start retracing my memory for any clues as to what was going on. 

"Think...think, what can I remember?"

I know I remember Mr. Niko standing up at the front of the class, asking us what we wanted to do over the summer break. It was hot since the air conditioner was out and we were all trying to keep cool.

So why was it cold in here?

I panicked for a second and remembered a zombie survival show on tv where a side character lost too much blood, dropping his internal temperature to a lethal level. 

"Oh fuck please no" I shot my gaze down to my chest where I felt the pain, and then down to the floor to locate any blood. 

There wasn't any to locate however, I had sustained no injuries. 

I noticed something else instead. 

"Oh my god, what is this?" I said in confusion.

As the lights continued to flash, I saw a jet-black color begin to appear on the top of each of my hands. It was like seeing yourself get a tattoo with an invisible gun.

The black pigmentation was slowly creeping across the surface of my skin, forming lines that twisted and turned into odd symbols on each hand. 

I didn't recognize anything about either one, but right as they had completed their shape, lines began to seep in every direction like roots from a great tree. 

Startled, I turned to look for anything, or anyone. 

No one, all the seats were empty. 

There were no remaining traces of them, I looked for Shin my longtime friend but along with the rest he was gone. 

That's when I saw him, or what used to be him. 

Where Mr. Niko once stood teaching our class, now portrayed an image of a charred and cracked black mass lumped on the floor. I knew this was Mr. Niko because of the radiant obsidian pocket watch he always carried.

Along with what seemed to be his Black Monocle, they were laid next to each other sitting strewn atop the remains of my former teacher.

Mr. Niko was a foreigner who came overseas from Vischka to teach at our school, Alyar Academy here in the 13th ward of the West known as The Veritas Empyre. 

A majority of the world changed 30 years before I was born. The Western continents underwent a massive war amongst their allies when the presidents of 5 countries were all assassinated within the span of 30 minutes.

Not only the Presidents, however, 80 people were found in different locations with the same fate. 

They were left in a disturbing state. 

All the same, found standing, hands outstretched holding their own heads. There was no blood found at any of the murder scenes, but that wasn't the end of the reports. 

Group 1/4: 20 deceased, with what they described as "A face filled with ecstasy, labeled with what some would call the face of the glutton who found fulfillment". 

Group 2/4: 20 deceased, with what they described as "A face overtaken by pain, sadness, and fear". Compared to the recordings in the history of primitive torture and the expressions that undergoers possessed. 

Group 3/4: 20 deceased, with what they described as "A face filled with anger and outrage, the pure embodiment of discontent" similar to the face of a man who had drunk himself silly only to find an unfaithful woman in the act. 

Group 4/4: 20 deceased, with what they described as "A face that contained what seemed as if less than nothingness itself" compared to images and recordings of men diagnosed with severe trauma and mental disconnect from the Act 5 War, noted as the worst set of battles ever to happen. 

A large conspiracy was set against the West and even to this day, there is still a deep tension that becomes more increasingly volatile as time passes. This is what created the West Collective.

Even though the Veritas Empyre was viewed by the rest of the world in a negative light, Mr. Niko took the chance and applied for permanent citizenship.

When he was asked why by the students he would just warmly smile and respond, "We all have a goal and a dream if we live life right, and I still have a life to live right by."

He was well-liked by all of us and often would talk to me about my dreams and nightmares.

He said he did studies on both and asked me to spend 15 minutes with him three days a week. He was certainly an oddball who was very likable and had an aura about him that just made him seem so different from the rest of us. 

It was as if he knew something that I didn't. 

Of course, alongside the Obsidian Pocket Watch, the monocle was also a necessity, he made sure to have it on for every session. We'd sit for 5 minutes during which I'd explain the dream and or nightmare that I had the previous night.

The rest of the 10 minutes consisted of us closing our eyes and sitting in silence.

That was weird to me the first few times we tried it, he noticed fairly quickly and offered to provide me with an extra markup on my grade in his class so I figured it to be worth it.

There was one time that definitely seemed the oddest to me, that was the last and final time we did the "meditation".

I had sat in silence for probably 4 to 5 minutes when I felt the strong urge to peek open my eyes. As with any other incessant thought, the mind won over and I peeked through my left eye.

Almost like grabbing onto an electric fence unexpectedly, I felt a deep shock throughout my body that felt as if I was being warned by something.

That wasn't all, as clear as any other thought I'd ever had, my voice rang through my head with one word.

"OBEY"

My eye snapped shut on its own.

It was like something took me over and told me to obey using my inner voice instead, commanding my body to follow. 

I knew that I needed to stop attending these short meetings after that so I never brought it up again. 

"Hello?" I called out to the empty classroom knowing it was useless. 

I didn't feel good, every second that went by came as a step closer to my senses returning. My stomach was in a knot and my body felt like it was slowly being eaten by itself. 

In the corner of my eye I saw a slight glimmer over on the floor again, it was the monocle and pocket watch. 

I felt drawn to them. They had something that I couldn't explain. 

I braced myself to stand up and walk over to the black remains. I bent down, knees almost giving out, grabbing the two items. 

As soon as both items were in contact with my hands I felt something I couldn't explain. 

Something inside my gut said these were important to my situation. 

Leaning back up I peered into the items in each hand.

The pocket watch had an intricate black design on the dial and face, it was a matte black circle with something similar to a dragon wrapped around it as if it was devouring it. 

The Monocle was surprisingly heavy with its shiny silver chain, contrast to the Obsidian frame that held the pristine crystal-like lens. 

I turned to the front of the class and placed the monocle up to my left eye. 

I froze and my heart felt like something had grabbed it with a cold iron fist. 

Face to face, stood a woman with vampire white skin, black silky short hair that fell just above her shoulders, and the deepest and most vibrant purple eyes I had ever seen. Her smell was sweet, too sweet.

 She was smiling as if she had been waiting for me. 

"I've been waiting for you to notice me! Gosh I swear the cute ones are always so slow brained!" 

She took a defiant step back and I took a chance to look her up and down. 

She was jaw dropping. I could barely keep my eyes from drifting to all the wrong places. She wore a skin tight black lace dress, leaving not much to one's imagination. 

She giggled and said, "oh my, as much as I'd love to entertain your fantasies, we don't have much time."

Turning her back to me, she demanded with an entirely different tone of voice for me to remove my shirt. 

"Huh take off my shirt?! What are you a succubus?!"

She turned back for a second with an unimpressed look and said, "I bet you wish I was. Now shut up and take that damn shirt off."

This time I complied, pulling the shirt over my head and letting it slide down my arms off onto the floor. 

"Now what…" I spoke. 

She didn't respond, instead she walked back towards me a few steps and then stopped, raising her arm with a finger slightly outstretched, she made a quick motion that appeared as a blur.

A small breeze rushed towards me cooly gliding off of my skin.

This was so odd, so awfully odd. Why was this happening? Here I was standing in a room full of unknown horror, Shin and my classmates were missing, and my former teacher Mr. Niko was dead. 

As I thought that, her voice rang out again but I didn't hear a word. Within a second, I saw purple wisps of light begin to dash around her finger, they seemed to collide and colagulate as they moved around in different directions.

The colors slowly started to change and morph alongside the shape into what was becoming a large white mirror so bright that it lit the entire room by itself. 

Stood in front of me now wasn't a beautiful woman, it was me. 

I couldn't really describe the face that peered back at me in that moment, because it didn't make sense. 

"no wait a second… what is.. I don't understand…."

The person I saw was me for sure, but everything was better. 

I was at least 3 inches taller, being 5 foot 11 wasn't really too bad but my chubby love handles paired with a round face never helped.

But that wasn't who I saw now, now I looked to be around 6 foot 2, with a lean well built body. My hair was a much healthier and slightly longer black wild mess, and my eyes had a piercing silver hue outlined with two black rings. 

The last and probably most obvious change were the vein-like lines that covered my entire body it seemed. I wasn't going to take my pants off but I could see the lines continuing down my newly obtained abs.

Hidden from my initial discovery of the symbols on each hand and lines I had noticed earlier, was the solid small black circle in the middle of my chest.

The lines that connected the symbols and covered the remainder of my body all were pulsing, and all led a path to the black circle. 

The mirror vanished and she reappeared in front of me. 

"We really really don't have much time, so I'll give you a few answers that you probably are wanting. One, your friends aren't dead, they were eaten. Two, your teacher isn't dead, but he did something forbidden.

And three, a world eater has appeared and I'm here to address that."

That was too much information now at this point for me to understand and she noticed that immediately. 

Right as I was about to speak again she said, "alright that's enough, let's put an end to this. 

She stepped towards me, I noticed her footsteps had no audible sound. 

CRACK!

Her fingers pierced into my chest where the black circle was, I looked down in horror and pain as I saw her slowly twisting something. 

I didn't understand anything, I couldn't even begin to explain this to myself much less anyone else. 

All I knew was that, no one was left in my class, Mr. Niko did something forbidden, and something about a World Eater. 

"Who are you?" I tried to croak out. 

She stopped for a second and looked me deep in my eyes, and for just a moment, her voice sounded in my head.

With a soft and caring voice, "hang in there".

She began to speak again out loud this time with a tone that didn't seem sweet nor bitter. 

As my vision started to fade I heard this.

"Kael Vanta, of the Vanta Black Family. Newly recognized World Eater. As of this day you are exiled from the human world. Your trial with the 'Brass Divinus' will occur in two days time."

I blacked out.

Everything was dark.

"Huh?"

"Maybe I died… yeah I probably did die."

She shot her hand into my chest quicker than a bullet, it even sounded like one. Or similar to a bull whip at max velocity.

The black surrounding was intoxicating, taking every sense of direction from you.

But something caught my eye.

A small speck of light.

I tried running, stumbling towards the light as it became bigger and bigger.

As I ran, I could hear the pocket watch along with the monocle jingling in my pocket. I wasn't sure how but I was glad. 

I continued to dash through the empty space of nothingness and reality around me began to warp. 

The black started melting away like a wet painting, white light escaping through a void ahead of me. 

"Who in the world would even need a door this big?" I asked. 

That was rhetorical. We weren't in my world. 

Before me, from the ground, shot up a regal and elegant door that spanned 10 feet wide, with 20 feet in heighth. 

Large extremely detailed symbols were carved in the obsidian. 

In fact two of them happened to be familiar. 

Before I could look any further the doors opened with a deafening sound that shook my chest to the bone. 

And then a white light so bright that it blinded me, I covered my eyes and tried to peek through slowly to adjust the sensitivity from the previous darkness. 

Ahead, there was a dead end, a throne, and a crown atop the arm rest. 

The throne was nothing grand. It was just like everything else, black. 

What stood out to me, more than anything I'd seen during all of this insanity to happen. 

Was the crown.

The purest white.

It was so pure that I felt all of my sadness and pain receding. 

"put it on"

"who's that?" I asked. Feeling a little weird. Almost drunk like. 

"the crown, put it on.."

wait..... that's my voice. 

"put it on"

"put it on"

I reached for the crown.

My hand felt like it was being incinerated. 

It felt as if I was reaching to shake hands with the sun. 

"put it on" 

The white light began to violently twist reality like two opposing magnets being pushed together, making a noise only comparable to writings of the rapture. 

The symbol on my hand also began to resonate and as I got inches away from the crown, the the bright white energy transferred into the connected markings on my body. 

I became the light in the dark. 

"OBEY"