Chapter 65. Dream (Part 2).
Gray opened his eyes.
For the first time in a long while, he felt no despair at all. His body seemed light, and his thoughts were free. But that feeling quickly gave way to confusion when he looked around.
The blue-eyed boy stared in shock at a strange, almost wrong-looking world.
The streets of the unfamiliar city gave off a sense of oppression and gloom. Heavy clouds hung over it, as if trying to suffocate the city in shades of gray. A sharp wind blew straight into his face, wrapping him in cold drizzling rain that seeped all the way to his bones.
And the strangeness of this place did not end with its atmosphere alone.
Gray stood on solid black ground without a single blade of grass or any sign of plant life. The dark surface stretched endlessly into the distance, like a frozen river of tar drained of life. All around him rose enormous stone caves with cubic shapes. Tall as mountains, they stood in rows as if giants had built them. Inside the many openings of those grim colossi, strange little lights burned with a steady glow, illuminating the bustling residents.
Gray had never seen such a bizarre settlement before. It filled him with both curiosity and tension.
Along the black river, growling beasts sped past, resembling carriages without horses. Sometimes they stopped to swallow people who willingly stepped into their jaws. The sight was ominous, yet the locals seemed to see nothing wrong with it.
An endless stream of passersby moved past the boy, dressed in strange clothes, something between vampiric tailcoats and peasant rags. Their pale, gloomy faces looked as though they had never known a smile or the warmth of sunlight.
Gray stood in the middle of the human current, yet remained completely unnoticed, even though his light white shirt stood in sharp contrast to the heavy gray clothing of those around him.
He felt like a ghost that had accidentally wandered into a grim and alien world where no one could see or hear him.
'Am I dead? Is this the legendary underworld?' the boy thought as he watched the bustle around him. His mind raced in search of a fitting explanation.
'Maybe Mother and my sister ended up here too. If that's true, I wouldn't mind. Anything is better than constantly fighting for control with the Sky Dweller who has taken over my body.'
Gray kept looking around.
Suddenly, his gaze caught on a tall young man of about seventeen who was running through the crowd.
That young man seemed completely out of place in his surroundings. A dazzling smile shone on his face, utterly inappropriate in this kingdom of gloom. His black hair was messy, and so were his clothes, but he did not seem to care. He ran and laughed while the people around him turned to stare, following him with puzzled looks.
That young man stirred something familiar in Gray, even though he understood perfectly well that he was seeing him for the first time. There was something in the boy's appearance and movements that awakened vague memories in Gray's mind.
As if in a trance, the boy followed after him, as though something from above was forcing his legs to move.
Before he knew it, he was already running after him until he came to a stop in front of the door of one of the caves.
"Big brother, is this your home?" Gray asked, but received no answer. "Sorry for bothering you, but could you tell me what this place is? It's my first time here, and I think I'm lost."
The young man ignored both the questions and the boy's very existence. He opened the massive metal door and stepped into the cave.
Confused, Gray still decided to follow him. Only this young man gave him the feeling that any of this was real. Everyone else seemed artificial and all the same.
After climbing a worn-out staircase soaked in the stubborn smell of cigarette smoke, they ended up in a small room.
The boy and his older companion stared at the inside of the home at the same time, but with completely different feelings.
Gray looked at everything with lively curiosity, while the young man looked at it with contempt and a trace of melancholy.
The room was cramped, with a low ceiling and a small window covered by a faded lace curtain. The wallpaper, patterned with tiny flowers, had peeled away in places and hung down in shabby strips. A carpet with an intricate Eastern design hung on the wall. In front of it, on a small cabinet, stood a square gray box with a glass side facing the viewer.
It seemed the people here were very fond of rectangular shapes.
In the other corner stood a dining table covered with checkered oilcloth. On it lay a stack of papers bound together. Beside the table stood yet another box, this time white, from which a steady humming sound was coming.
Gray's attention was drawn to a strange kind of "candle" hanging from the ceiling. It gave off a bright, even light without the slightest hint of flame or shadow.
'Could this be an improved Light Pearl?' the boy thought, recalling the lighting stones in the estate back in the Roman Empire.
'But this light is much brighter and resembles a candle.' He frowned, unable to understand the principle behind the mysterious artifact.
Meanwhile, the young man casually opened the large white box, and a wave of cold air drifted out from inside. Gray watched in amazement as he took food out of it and skillfully sliced it onto plates.
He tried once again to get the young man's attention. "What is that?"
"Friend, can you let me try some?"
"Hey, hey, big brother, can you hear me? I'm right here," the boy repeated in vain.
At last, he accepted his role as nothing more than a spectator.
No one in this world paid any attention to him, including the young man.
Gray was already about to turn around and leave, but something held him back, as if what was happening was connected to him. It was a vague feeling, something like instinct, as though he would deeply regret it if he left right now.
Gray fell into deep thought and decided to stay a little longer.
Meanwhile, the young man began decorating the room. He hung up colorful paper garlands, blew up several balloons, and placed candles around the room. His face shone with impatience and anticipation, as though he were preparing for something special.
Once he was done, the young man put a funny pointed hat on his head and sat down at the table. He looked extremely nervous, constantly glancing toward the door.
That feeling of excitement and anticipation involuntarily spread to Gray as well, and he continued his silent observation.
Time dragged by painfully slowly. The minute hand of the clock had already made several full turns, yet no one had come.
Slightly disappointed, the young man reached for yet another box, this time silver, and pressed something on it. To Gray's astonishment, sounds came from the box, followed by moving pictures.
"W-what is that? H-how can that thing paint pictures? Can it make voices too?" Gray cried out in shock, unable to believe his eyes.
A program about the surrounding world was playing on the "magic box." The young man stared at the screen without looking away, his eyes sparkling with delight and anticipation. The boy's curiosity was stirred as well.
Suddenly, the young man could not hold it in anymore and shouted loudly:
"Ahahaha, now I don't need a television anymore, I'll be able to see the whole world with my own eyes! Mom won't have to work anymore, and Bella won't have to complain about Grandpa's health. With the money I earned, I'll be able to give all of them a wonderful life! So when are they coming?... They can't possibly forget my birthday," the young man shouted, rubbing his hands together in impatience.
When the program ended, he fixed his eyes on the closed door once again. The expression of anticipation gradually faded from his face, replaced by sadness and disappointment.
Gray felt the young man's longing infecting him as well, as if they were sharing the same emotions.
Fatigue began to overtake them both. The young man's eyes were already drooping shut. Before long, he fell asleep at the table, never having received the guests he had been waiting for.
Feeling his own head grow heavy, Gray leaned against the wall. Just before drifting into sleep, he thought:
'Who are you, big brother? And why does it feel like I've known you my whole life?'
Darkness embraced Gray's existence once again. That familiar darkness. The very same one that had followed him since childhood. How deeply he hated it!
Because of it, he had been given the shameful titles "Child of Darkness," "Harbinger of Night," and "Child of Prophecy."
Because of it, his very existence had been considered taboo.
Because of it, his mother had been forced to sacrifice herself to save him.
He hated the darkness for what it had done to him. Hated it because every person he met had feared and despised him. Hated it for everything that had happened afterward.
But more than anything, he hated the fact that this cursed darkness gave him a sense of peace and safety.
'Am I truly destined to remain here alone forever?' Gray thought, just before he felt a shiver run through him.
A metallic scraping sound rang out, as if someone were unlocking the door with keys.
"Mom," the young man shouted, jumping up from his chair.
That simple word echoed through Gray's mind.
"MOM!" he heard the distant echo of his sister's desperate scream.
His vision spun, images overlapping and blending together in wild disorder.
Light from a candle, the glow of a lightbulb.
A village cave, a square stone hut.
The tapping of keys on a white fox, a monitor pulling him farther away from the cliff.
A closed bloodstained door with a spear sticking out of it, the image of a faceless mother.
Images that made no sense flashed and blended together in a chaotic stream.
The young man and the little boy.
"MOM!" His own scream followed, overlapping with the young man's cry.
Reality shattered into pieces like glass.
Gray felt his consciousness violently torn out of the trance. Overwhelmed by severe dizziness, disorientation, and a sharp pain in his head, he screamed desperately:
"Aaaaaaaaah!"
The scream came out doubled, as if two beings were tearing their throats apart in pain at the exact same time.
A soft plonk rang out, like a droplet falling into water, and Gray's vision returned to normal.
He found himself in a boundless space that resembled a twilight realm between worlds. Darkness wrapped around everything, but this time it was not absolute. It pulsed with a faint bluish glow, as if distant stars were trying to break through the void.
Beneath his feet stretched a smooth surface of water like a mirror, clear yet bottomless. The slightest movement from him sent gentle ripples spreading outward in circles. A thin layer of mist drifted evenly above the water, making the atmosphere mysterious and strangely peaceful.
In this ghostly landscape, stripped of horizon and direction, his attention was drawn to a lone figure standing some distance away.
A handsome man in a blue formal suit and a little boy in a white shirt stared at each other.
For a moment, time froze, as though pausing in anticipation of an inevitable conclusion.
"You!!! / It's you!" they both exclaimed in unison.
Without thinking for even a second, little Gray lunged at the grown man, trying to punch him.
"You damned thief! It was you! How dare you? Where is your pride as a Sky Dweller?!" the boy shouted furiously. His voice trembled with grievance and rage.
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