Angel of Hope

While in that trance-like state Leon could feel himself being pulled. Just like you would feel it with your body being pushed. But this was different; he didn't know how. He felt like floating in nothingness. Surrounded by the emptiness of the void, by the darkness, and by the loneliness.

"Urgh…" Leon growled while opening his eyes. He was lying on a cold ground, surrounded by nothing but trees and dirt.

'Where am I?' He asked himself. He couldn't understand what was happening.

'Is this what people call that dream state where you can control your dreams? Am I lucid dreaming? This has to be it, this looks all so real.'

Leon got up from the ground and started to feel his body, it was all there, he could feel his hands, his face, his arms, He could feel everything.

'This is so cool, but why do I have to be naked? Let's think of myself dressed.' Yes, Leon was naked. He didn't know why, but he was. And even though he was trying to "dream" himself a fresh set of clothes, nothing happened.

Confused and still shocked from the things that happened to him, Leon started to explore his surroundings a little. He was in a forest, that was for sure. But it wasn't anything like the ones he knew. The trees here were tall, if he had to guess he would say they were about 70 meters tall. All of them are as thick as a car. Leon felt like an ant walking among giants.

Having nothing to do, and realizing that he couldn't fly or make any jutsu Leon just continued walking, he wasn't going in any specific direction, just walking. As time went by he started to get more and more scared. He wasn't enjoying this lucid dream of his. HAving walked for around two hours. Leon stopped. He heard something. Like the sound of something falling down. Now he was scared shitless.

'What the fuck was that?'

Turning around, he looked in the direction he thought the sound came from. He couldn't see shit. The trees were too thick and stopped his vision about 30 meters from where he was.

He heard it again. As if a giant was walking somewhere in the forest The sound was scary. Leon felt his heart start to pump faster. Adrenaline started to be released into his blood system. He was in fight or flight mode. And from the looks of it, it would be flight rather than fight. And then he heard it again...

'Fuck'

This was officially too much, Leon was frightened to his core. He wasn't understanding shit. Where was he? Was that really a lucid dream? He didn't know anything, and that only made the situation worse. He ran as fast as he could dodging the trees, and the stones on his way, he didn't dare to look back. What if the creature that made those sounds was just behind him. He didn't have the courage. As if a symphony of an orchestra had started, more sounds started to resound in the forest. As if all the animals woke up at the same time. The sun was now just starting to set. It was still up there but only for another hour and a half, maybe less.

'Fuck, fuck, fuck how can I leave this hit?'

If Leon was already in this situation with the sun in the sky, he didn't dare to see what this forest would be like at night. But as if a miracle had happened Leon dodged the last tree and looked forward. It was as if he was somewhere else. Before him there were no more trees, on the contrary, they were almost all gone. And in the distance about five to six kilometers in the distance he could see big walls of what looked to be a city.

'Holy; shit. Where the fuck am I?'

For the first time in many hours Leon felt relieved. He started to make his way to the city, still running, trying to get there the fastest way possible. The closer he got the walls got bigger too. The got to almost 100 meters of height. When he finally made it to the open archway in the wall he could see that form inside the wall a big iron gate was hanging from the top. He could see it was rusted and old, just like the walls. They were filled with scratches and holes. Green vegetation started to grow from the ground up into the sky, hanging from those walls. The sun was already setting when Leon got inside. The blue sky, was now filled with the crimson light of the sunset.

Walking through the streets Leon could see houses, stores, bakeries and more. It was an abandoned city. He was sure of it. He continued walking until he reached a store that used to sell clothes. After all, he was still in his birthday suit.

He slowly went inside, the door creaked loudly as he opened it. Dust being lifted from the ground. His eyes were slowly adapting to the small amount of light inside the building. He looked around and saw clothes on the ground, ripped apart, a table on which shirts were laying. Compared to the clothes he has in his home these were old. Not old, like 10 years old. No, they seemed to come from the middle ages. Leon fetched himself a gray t-shirt and a black pants. He put them on. Feeling the rigid and itchy product scratching his skin, Leon wanted to undress himself. But he couldn't, because he felt safer in those clothes.

Looking through the window, Leon saw only darkness. His eyes already adapted to it so he could make out forms and buildings in the dark. Because of the lack of light the moon shone almost like a giant torch in the skies. Leon made his way out of the store and moved into the city. It wasn't a super big city but it could easily fit fifty thousand people inside. While moving closer to the center, he started to see high in the skies what seemed to be the top of a tower. He wanted to get there and look from the top of that tower.

The giant structure was more than 100 meters high. It had a lot of balconies that he could see from outside. This was the only building that wasn't covered in plants and vegetation. It was as if they avoided it.

Leon went inside the tower and the first thing he saw was a giant statue of a marble angel. The angel had his hand together and was bowing his head. It was kneeling on the ground with one leg, it was wearing beautiful armor, filled with strange symbols and forms. Leon stood there for a good minute appreciating the art. He got closer to it and put his hand on the marble altar just in front of the marble angles. The angel was kneeling to it.

When Leon's hand touched the altar, the familiar feeling of being pushed assaulted his body. After seconds of touching the altar Leon opened his eyes. This time he wasn't in a forest or in an abandoned city. He was at home, lying in bed.