He was in the same room he had been every night, but there were no flames, no heat, nothing. It was calm, without a sound. He was alone.
"What am I doing here?" The young man thought.
He looked at the corridor. The door was open, and although it was dark in there, it seemed to be pulling him. He had to see what was in that corridor.
"Is this death or a dream?" He asked himself. "There's only this corridor where I can go... Let's see what's in there..."
He stepped forward into the corridor, and when he crossed the doorway, he felt that something had changed. He got a feeling of great danger, but he also felt welcomed. Everything was only Darkness and a kind of mist around him, but he kept moving forward. This feeling of being welcome came from something or somewhere a bit further; he could feel it.
Every step he took was into the unknown, but it also seems that this mist and darkness were becoming more and more clear and familiar. It was as if he had known this place a long time ago. Slowly, the mist started to lift, and things became brighter and brighter. Park Chung-Ho entered a clearing. He was alone and circled by trees. When he watched behind him, there was no trace of the corridor that led him here, but only trees. A pop-up window appeared, as if this were a video game.
"Welcome to your first dream, Park Chung-Ho."
"My first dream?" He looked around him. "So this is what dreaming is like... But no one talked about pop-ups before. What is going on?"
"You're in the tutorial of the Dream Realm. You have a lot to learn about this place."
"Who's speaking with me now? Why do I see this pop-up?"
"..." a first blank popup appeared, followed by a new one. "You have a lot to learn about this place. I will guide you in the first steps of your exploration."
"I don't know what this is all about, but I have someone to find in the dream realm. Can you locate Aislinn Nòttdottir, please?"
"Localisation in progress...Error. You currently cannot access the information you're requesting."
"What does this mean?"
"You need to explore the Dream Realm and discover the first floor."
"That must mean that she's there, somewhere, but I can't access this place yet... OK. Let's explore then. And you will guide me, right? Whoever you are?"
"You need to explore in order to learn. You can't find what you seek without searching after all."
This was definitively a strange feeling than speaking with pop-up windows. Exploring, that was the only thing this pop-up was asking in the end. Park Chung-Ho looked around him. This place seemed familiar. Wasn't it the place he was supposed to get to for Professor Svensonn's class?
"What was the assignment of this Dream again?" Park Chung-Ho said. "They implanted that dream in me, and Professor Svenson said that I needed to bring proof that I had been able to join the camp in the southeast. Ok... Let's head there then."
He checked where the sun was; if dreams were following the Physical Realm's logic, North couldn't be where the sun was. He looked for Moss on the tree trunk and headed in the southeast direction. There was no path in the forest, but he was able to progress without problem. The sun was getting lower and lower, and it was almost night when he saw the lights of the camp. There was no sound, though, which intrigued the young man. He entered the camp and searched for someone.
"Hello, is there anyone here?"
But no one answered. He entered the biggest tent of the camp. There was no one there either, but it seemed to have people residing here. There were two beds, some books, and a vial that captured Park Chung-Ho's attention. He looked at it and saw some shards made of glass that were reflecting the light. He took it in his hand, and it was as if the whole world around him was sucked inside the vial, and soon, he got pulled in as well. A New window popped up in front of him.
"You're leaving the Dream Realm. The exploration isn't complete."
He opened his eyes with difficulty. Everything seemed blurred, and his eyes were closing every time he managed to open them. There were bip sounds and voices around him. Apparently, there was some kind of emergency.
"He's waking up, sedate him immediately; he shouldn't be waking up."
He looked at his right hand and saw the vial from his dream and the glass shards in it. He felt a cold sensation, and everything around him went dark while he closed his eyes.
"Welcome back to the Dream Realm."
That was the only thing he saw in this darkness. Then, he opened his eyes to see a dark room made of stone. It looked like a castle room. There were dancing lights that were coming from torches. There was a corridor from which light was coming. On the wall, he could see a sign written in a language that he didn't understood. The only thing that he was able to read was a number.
"99... But 99 what?"
"We're not supposed to be here. Wake up."
"This is gonna be problematic. I'm apparently undergoing surgery, and when I woke up, they sedated me."
"... We need to get out of here. Follow the path and be very careful. You will encounter enemies. Be fast if you want to avoid most of them."
"There's no other option but to follow this path... And enemies... You can't be a bit more precise on the matter, I guess..."
He started to walk the corridor, which seemed endless. There weren't many options. But it seemed to become darker and darker in front of him. He started to turn to watch behind him, but another message popped up in front of his eyes.
"Do not look behind. Go forward, and hurry up."
"Alright, then."
He grabbed one of the torches and started to sprint. He had no clue what was going on, but those messages were urging him to run. Was it the right decision? How could he know? But at least, he was trying something.
"For now, everything is going well, and I encountered no one." The young man thought.
"Enemies ahead. Beware the next room you enter."
There was a brighter light ahead. It might be the room that the pop-up talked about. This also meant there was danger, but strangely, that was exciting, and the young man accelerated to rush to this room.
"WHAT THE F!!!!!"
This room was full of spiders.
His worst fear.
Those weren't particularly big spiders. But this was still spiders.
He looked over his shoulder.
THAT was a HUGE spider!
How big was this room? He couldn't say. But he ran faster than ever, waving his torch in front of him. He didn't know if there was an exit; he didn't know where he was going, but he was sure that he didn't want this thing behind him that could catch him.
"Fight your fears. The more spiders you kill, the more experience you will get."
"THIS ISN'T A GAME! THERE IS NO EXPERIENCE HERE!"
But as his torch burned several spiders, he saw multiple small windows popping.
"+1XP" "+1XP" "+1XP" "+1XP" "+1XP" "+1XP" "+1XP" "+1XP" "+1XP" "+1XP"
In the middle of those notifications, he saw the exit.
It wasn't that far, and his body hadn't frozen from fear. It was full of adrenaline.
As he was progressing in the room, he could notice that the spider seemed to be larger the closer he came to the exit door. The torch was still sufficient to kill it, but he could feel that some of the creatures managed to bite him.
"What is this sensation?" He thought as he felt difficulties in keeping his pace.
His right leg was becoming increasingly stiff.
"You've been poisoned with an incapacitating venom. Get out of this place immediately, or you will lose the capacity to move."
The door was two meters away. He had no choice but to reach it. He took 2 more steps and jumped. He pressed the door handle while he was still in the air. Luckily, the door opened in the way his momentum was pushing. He closed the door behind him and looked around. There was no spider here. Another window popped.
"Congratulations, you managed to get through the first room of this floor.You can rest, this room is safe."
The pain in his leg was still there, but there was indeed nothing around him, just a round room.
"If only I could find something to heal the wounds..." he thought.
That was when he noticed that there was a small piece of furniture that was rising in the middle of the room. On top of it was a vial.
"Oh my... This definitively looks like a trap."
"This vial contains a regenerative potion. This could easily heal the condition of the spider's poison. But you're right. That's a trap."
"What kind of trap is it?"
"I don't know. This place is based on the dreamer, this isn't the same for everyone."
"Let's grab it and see what's the catch then..."
He was moving toward the vial when the notification popped.
"Chung-Ho, don't !"
He looked at the blue window suspiciously.
"Who are you? We apparently know each other. And now one call me like this... Except, Aislinn... Is that you?"
"Ok, ok! That's me. I tried to get you out of here, so that you would avoid getting in trouble."
"There is no XP in the dream realm, is there?"
"There could be in some dreams, but that's not a game, indeed."
"Am I trully poisoned?"
"Yes."
"And this vial will heal me?"
"Yes."
"Ok... This means there IS a trap..."
"Sadly... Yes. And you'll have to grab it as fast as possible, because the poison could kill you. For real."
"I feel it having an impact on my body already. It's making me feel dizzy and my leg is becoming stiffer."
He sprinted the best he could and grabed the vial. When he stopped, it was to realise that he was standing on a trapdoor. It opened and he began to fall.