1 Welcome

Jagged teeth of an illuminating white, contrasting its cursed dark form, this shadow embodied cat stares down at the wounded Friedrich. Their bloodied saliva drips down at his feet and mixes with the pool of urine that has puddled around his crotch. Friedric breathes frantically, desiring to send this beast away, but he can't bring out a word; he can only focus on the severed head of a girl who was only with him moments ago. He thinks only to himself that he is going to die and that he wants to awaken from this nightmare; there is no possible way that a weakling like himself can fight such ferocious beasts. The beast on the other hand says this during his hysteria:

--Sleep is supposed to be the time of rest, but what if the time you are awake is your real break?--

--And if you do not sleep to deal with us, where do you think we will end up next?--

--It is strange though, I don't recognize your scent. Is this not your nightmare?--

He shakes his head and hopes for pity. The beast smiles, to him it purred:

--Well I hope you a good rest little mouse, no, fellow feline, it may be your last.--

And with a jolt, Friedrich awakens. A cold sweat infects his body and stains his close. Though his sleep was already ruined, his waking was as well; the sweat was no the only thing that had stained him. This was the first time he had wet the bed since elementary and he was not amused. Friedrich was sneak away to the laundry room on this early morning to clean the room of evidence. To his luck, he was not found. But to his horror, he questions the dream.

"I haven't had a nightmare like that before. What was it like though? I can't seem to remember" Despite it being maybe 20 minutes since he had awakened, he had found himself forgetting the contents of that dream. But his body recognizes that he had dreamt it; his heart still pounded even then, and his eyes would dart from corner to corner of his room, waiting for something to strike at him. But like any teen, he decides that putting it off and calling it a fluke is the best sort of action

Friedrich will spend most of that morning not actively thinking about the recent events. To the best of his abilities that is. His vision faded a little as he eats a warm breakfast prepared by his mom. His mom asks him if he slept well and to her, he responded in an appropriate manner that also efficiently avoids his suspicions of the cause. He gets dropped off at the bus stop by his dad on his way to work, where he meets his best friend Michael.

While they ride on the bus, the two of them sit on the right side in the front but Michael is where the seats used to be in the handicapped section, now pulled up so he could hook wheelchair steady.

Friedrich doesn't inform his friend of the horrors he had last night as he doesn't remember the contents really but the words. Nor does he tell him in general that he had the nightmare and more importantly that he wet his pants. Michael doesn't seem to mind.

Friedrich and Michael soon get off the bus and Friedrich help push Micahel around back to their daily nightmare; high school. These two are who you would call losers, nerds, geeks, weebs, scrawny and the cripple, as well as a bunch of other disheartening names. They do not speak back out of fear of greater harassment.

Even though they are harassed like this often, they don't completely mind as it isn't like they are really wrong. The two of them are a pair of geeks and they happen to also be some anime watching, scrawny and crippled, STEM students. They have been given other names of course but they try to forget those ones.

Friedrich and Michael will once again begin their nightmare with Friedrich bringing Michael to his first-class and heading off to his own. The pair will now be isolated within enemy territory.

--Even more isolated than they previously expected--

Friedrich wasn't sure what happened first but he found himself jolting his head off the desk and a crowd of laughs targeted at him; the slobber oozes down his cheek and forms a thin line that connects him and the desk. Friedrich was utterly confused at this moment and exceptionally tired. He had no recollection of dosing off in class and his heart rate was through the roof; it was just like he ran a few miles. Apparently, he only fell asleep for a few minutes so class went on without any real issues. But this kept happening.

Friedrich was exceptionally confused at this point. He knows that he doesn't get much sleep, he stays up playing games, studying, or reading, but never has he been this tired but at the same time not. Between these sleepy intervals he seemed to be normal in the energy department, but then bam, passes out for the next 10 minutes.

Friedrich would go to the nurse at 5th period after telling Mr. Purcell, his English teacher, that he has been falling asleep a lot today and that he may be sick. He reluctantly gave him a slip.

As expected but not as hoped, he had nothing wrong with him other than a slightly higher than average heart rate and a bit more sweat. He was given the okay and he started to head back to his class. But he never got thereZ

Friedrich would wake up in the nurse's office and find himself in one of the beds. The nurse would look at him with relief as his eyes opened once more.

"Are you alright? You had seemed to faint the moment you left the room despite there seeming to be no issues".

"I mean, I feel alright"

—But are you really fine?—

It was only for a few seconds but Friedrich was horrified. It was if his nightmares have manifested in the real world; that demonic cat stood there, outside of the window, and stared him down. Friedrich did the only sensible thing in response; he screamed uncontrollably.

And he fainted afterwards. Friedrich was taken back home by his worried mother. At least this is what he assumed. The next time he had awoken was due to a need to take a piss and he just happened to find himself in his room. Friedrich would get to his urine session and then go downstairs to find his mom.

But he couldn't find his mom, in fact, he couldn't find the rest of the house. As he opened the door towards the 2nd floor halls, he found himself almost falling into an abyss.

The hole was gaping; a dark void that seemed to echo his screams for minutes as he stared down its haunting depths. He closed the door immediately after his scream and his near falling, but that echo was heard even past the door. What scared him more though was that he heard a splattering thump at the end of the scream. It was like he had fallen in but at the same time he didn't.

"What is this nightmare? Why am I here? I want to go home!" Friedrich was panicking, the confusion, his senses being over loaded, and the lack of any friendly images drain the sanity right out of him.

—Is this all that it will take to keep you still?—

—Must I eat you before you are ripe?—

To add more to this crippling fear, the cat returns. His eyes as large as Friedrich's window, he peeks in with utter violence.

—Well little one?—

Despite the fear that has infected all of his body, that eye that watches over him granted him some sort of confidence.

"Where am I? And more importantly, how do I get out?"

—That's the spirit little one, such enthusiasm will make the game fun!—

""What do you mean game? Is this about you wanting to eat me?"

—I very much want to eat you but that is not what I am talking about.—

—I speak of the game that you must win, and I showed great admiration when you began to speak with a grin.—

"What is this game? And why must I win it? Is this some sort of fucked up T.V show or is this real?"

—So many questions, so little bit of eternity that I am willing to spend.—

—As for why you are here, I do not know.—

—As for when here is, it is now and until you.—As for why this is, I don't know in its entirety but cannot share what I do know for now.—

—And as for what here is, well you will find out in good time—

The giant cat gives a frightening but smug smile.

"How am I supposed to play this game?"

—First you must get to it—

"But how? It is in the room, because outside there is just darkness and that giant gaping hole."

—I see you have found the entrance than.—

"What?"

Another voice adds to the cat's spectral song as they say "Welcome to the Restless Tower", and as a crust and heavy leather book appears in the hand of Friedrich. The book opens to a page saying "stats available after first floor". Despite it being a book, the inscripted words were changing as he read. "Floor 1 Begins in 30 seconds, late entry results in an immediate lost".

"Floor 1 Begins in 25 seconds, late entry results in an immediate lost".

—You best be heading down Friedrich, or I may have to eat you here—

Friedrich heeds the advice of this cat that wants to play with his head and runs out of the door and closes his eyes as he jumps into the hall. He here's one other thing as he falls.

—Welcome to the Restless Tower; nightmare incarnate—

—Let's see if you survive even the first floor—