Chapter 5: Drowning In A Dream

Eden wakes up in an unfamiliar world. He is falling down from somewhere. There was someone on top of a platform smiling down at him. It seemed like some sort of silhouette.

"I'm sorry." That person apologized. Tears were falling from their eyes as they said this. Eden tried asking what they meant but his throat feels like it's stuck. He can't speak.

Instead, he reached out his hands, begging for help. The silhouette waved his hands saying bye and just watches as he falls into the abyss. Soon, he had reached a big body of water and crashes into the ocean.

Once he is in, he couldn't move his body. With he hands stapled to his body and legs bound together, he can't save himself. He's still sinking.

The deeper and colder the ocean gets, the more time is wasted on struggling. 'This is suicide!' He thought. This is suffocating. His vision became blurry, and hypothermia started to kick in.

(A/N: This part was rewritten by Rachana_Sum !)

He is drowning. He knows he's dying. Suddenly, he's transported to a room. His clothes changed into that of someone wearing an expensive suit. He is sitting down playing chess with an albino woman.

Eden had a feeling that he's seen this woman from somewhere before. "Checkmate." The woman moves her queen horizontally by 5 blocks and ends Eden's king. She closes her ruby eyes and smiled sweetly.

"You lose." She said as her beautiful face changes into that of a monster. Eden got up and ran from the room. He opened the door but it was locked.

The monster is terrifying. Its fangs are long and sharp. Its horns are poking through her once beautiful white hair. Its tail is laced with poison.

Its body is completed with fur that seemed like it is made from human skin. This monster was something else. Eden swallows his saliva.

It began running towards Eden. He closed his eyes praying that someone will save him. His prayer was heard. A woman with hair as dark as the night sky appeared.

She wore a fox mask that is decorated with gold and black paint. The room suddenly glowed and the monster stopped in its track.

When she appeared, Eden swore he could hear the sound of humans screaming. "Die." There was something with her voice. It's like a siren's.

Her outfit is like a traditional Japanese kimono. The only difference is that it's decorated with weapons such as a knife, a few tubes of cyan liquid and a katana.

He can't help but want to listen to her voice even more. He quickly shook his head. The woman attacks the monster with a lance that emits lightning sparks. The lance pierced the monster's heart. At the same time, the creature got electrocuted.

The monster screamed in pain and agony. "Why do you always take everything away from me, Mizuki?!" The monster screamed. Its face has melted into the albino woman's face.

Mizuki didn't answer but instead shoved the woman's body towards the wall. The woman's ribs broke. Eden winced.

The woman coughs up blood. She was crying. "Why do you always get everything...?" She repeated over and over again. She begins vomiting out blood.

Mizuki looked at the woman. She kneeled down and throws a tube filled with cyan liquid. "Drink it." She said in a menacing tone.

Said woman drank it as fast as she could and her body began healing. "Stop chasing that dream of yours. You're too weak, ᎦᎥᎧᏁᏗ." Mizuki said menacingly and disappeared. She left a mask behind.

The mask resembles a cat and dragon but it was broken in half. Eden picked the mask up and turns it over to find some handwriting on it.

α cαt cαη ηεvεя вε α ∂яαgση.

He looked over at the woman who was vomitting blood a moment ago. She was crying and biting her skin off.

"Why do I have to be so weak?" He heard her whisper to herself. Blood oozed out of her eyes and he was falling down once again.

He landed in a room made with roses. A man with green hair was smiling at him. There was a door made of lilies next to that man.

It looked sincere at first but it became ugly. He wasn't smiling. He was looking down at him. The man smirked.

"You are so close to the end yet so far at the same time." He whispered and reappeared begins Eden. His body begins morphing into different types of animals. "You won't know who I am." He said while smiling.

He morphed into a cat. The cat climbed up Eden's shoulder and licked its paws. "Because you're too weak, Azrail." Eden's vision is getting blurry.

'Azrail...?' Was his last thought as he let the darkness engulf him. He woke up in...something. He can't see anything. Then he felt a lid on top of him and pushed it to reveal that he was in a coffin.

He got up and saw a group of people sitting around a table. "Ha! You lost the bet. Now you need to make this." Said a man in a very old-fashioned white robe. He hands a piece of paper to said man who lost the bet.

"Fine, fine..." the man sighed and got up from the table. They were playing poker. "U-Um...excuse me? Could you tell me where I am?" Eden heard Azrail ask. Azrail's body seemed to phase through Eden's body just like before. 'This is Azrail's memory.' He concluded.

"Hmm? Who are you and why are you here?" A man with golden hair and brown eyes asked. "I...I just woke up here all of a sudden...." Azrail said as he looked at the man straight in the eye.

"Oh, it must be Dan's doing. He already started his project, I see. Don't worry, you'll wake up soon so just enjoy your time here." The man reassured Azrail who seemed to relax a little.

Black blobs suddenly appeared at his feet. It was climbing up his body. It was tightening his body. It finally reached his neck...making him choke.

He began struggling as his body got pulled down into the black blobs that are at his feet. He can't die...not now. Azrail suddenly walked up to Eden and whispered something into his ear.

Eden can't listen to it. "Once you're ready, you'll know." This wasn't Azrail, this wasn't him. Eden knows because he doesn't do these things. He is an idiot who always jokes around...not some serious person.

That person's face melted to reveal Adrain's face. "H-How do you know about Azrail?!" He squeaked out. Adrain said nothing and moved closer towards Eden's face.

"Be careful. He hides things even from you, Eden." Said Adrain as he smiles. His face distorted into oblivion.

He was transported into another room. It looks like a normal hospital room. He sees a man laying there with multiple machines hooked to his body. 2 girls that seem to be twins at next to the man's bed crying and talking to the man.

They spotted him and one shot him but the bullets went through his body. Eden glances at the gun and sees that it was projecting the bullets. "Leave." They said in unison.

Eden's body didn't move an inch but suddenly, a force pushed him towards the door of the hospital room. He tried fighting the unknown force but to no avail, he failed.

Black spots appeared in Eden's vision. 'Am I going to die?' He asked himself as the darkness engulfed him once again. He wakes up-again-in a cell with padded mattresses all around him. His head was shaved. His arms were tied. It looks like he's in an insane asylum.

"W-What?" His voice echoes. A figure that he saw from the first room appeared behind him. "You are weak, right now." He said and disappeared.

Eden was taken to a room-not exactly a room because it's like limbo which means it's full of darkness. He walked around for a bit and see Azrail's back. He ran towards Azrial.

His mind is full of questions. He thirst for answers and he keep running. He ran and ran and ran but he can never reach him. Something was stopping him again. Azrail was slouched over like he's crying.

Azrail suddenly stopped and got up. He turns towards Eden. Tears were still falling from his hollow-like eyes. "You saw it too, right?" Azrail asked. His voice sounds desperate.

"I did..." said Eden. "I'm sorry." Azrial ran towards Eden but was also stopped by that invisible force. They were only a meter apart. Azrial touched the invisible force and Eden followed suit.

An explosion happened. Eden can't see anything because that bright flash of light blinded his vision. Before Eden lose consciousness, Azrail came over to him and held his body.

"I'm sorry you couldn't live a normal life." With that, Eden fully loses his consciousness leaving Azrail alone in that world once again.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

"Eden? Eden! Wake up!" He heard Lucifer's voice calling for him. He slowly opens his eyes. "What...?" He said as he tries to get up but dials because he was sleep-deprived.

"You were screaming in your sleep so I was worried..." Lucifer hugged his scarf. He was panicking. He can't lose another person whom he treasures. He's lost too many already.

"Sorry....I was just having a nightmare..." Is it even a nightmare? He said while silently adding the last part. Lucifer looked uncertain.

"Alright. If you need someone to talk to, I'm here." Said Lucifer as he sighs. Eden isn't worried about himself but rather Azrial. He stayed unusually quiet.

He wasn't floating around Eden like before too. His train of thought was cut off by Adrain walking in the room with pancakes.

"If you want some pancakes, go downstairs now or you'll have cereal instead." Said Adrain as he walked downstairs. Lucifer ran down the stairs while Eden walked calmly.

Eden had cereals instead of Pancakes because he hate sweet stuff. Azrail didn't appear. 'Azrail?' He called out to Azrail. He didn't respond.

He decided to spend the day in bed reading some books. Lucifer decided to help around the house and than watch TV. Adrain went out to work. And that's today for the new family.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

A boy walked on top of the government's roof. Nobody knows how he got up there after all, that building is heavily guarded. "Everything is coming together already..." he smiles and jumps off the building.

The mayor was sitting doing some work until he saw that boy jumping off. He freaked out and called for security to cushion the boy's fall. When the security arrived downstairs, the boy was not found falling nor dead with blood splattered across the concrete floor.

They were confused as to what happened. They assumed that the mayors must be seeing things because he IS 54 years old after all. In the corner of building A out of the 3 buldings, the boy sat down and sighed in relief.

"They almost found out...." he said with a tone of hatred laced in his voice. He got up and disappeared to...somewhere. Mizuki stood where the boy was once at and snarled. "So he's here." She states and quickly jumped on the buildings to go report her findings to a certain someone.