Chereads / The Last Dream Walker / Chapter 2 - The Wretched Forest

Chapter 2 - The Wretched Forest

After not meeting any ferocious animals or evil entities, she only felt a sense of security enough to rest on the third night. Come to think of it, outside of bugs that bumped into her now and then, she met no other living creature. After a very anxious three days and three nights in the Wretched Forest, morning dawned lazily. The profusion of the trees held the sun rays from Dari without really trying. Only when singlets of sunrays streamed through leaves which thinned in the distance did she get up to leave the Wretched Forest. The cold air nipped at her skin as she walked eastwards from the brush in which she half slept.

The more she walked however, the more insistent the air became. She started to have trouble breathing. She walked faster and turned right as the semi-clear path dictated but it felt like invisible airy arms were tightening around her throat. She choked and fell between two gigantic trees. Then only, could she breathe again. Dari got up, standing behind the two trees. She stepped back into a clearing only to fall to her knees once more because of the stifling air.

She crawled back between the dark trees and looked in the direction she felt she needed to go. Dari saw then that the air in the clearing was made of a thin fog which glided in the air like a widow's veil. She could not go back in that direction. As she turned to look for other options, all she could see was the overgrowth of dark trees made wet by the precipitation of the morning. The only thing to do was continue walking in the ominous foliage.

This was definitely a path less travelled. Eventually the trees formed a canopy laced together by curtains of darkness. There was no way to see anything but what was directly before her. Still, she peered into the darkness as she was sure she heard the crackling of twigs following her on the other side of the trees. This noise had been following her for some time. She started to run. The panting on the other side of the darkness was obvious now. Someone was there. She stopped but she heard the running on the other side continue. She was now afraid to move forward. Who was following her, and why? She subconsciously held on to her throat. She had to move forward.

She had not gone more than a hundred meters when a figure stepped out from the darkness. The person looked up and Dari knew instantly what it was. It was built like her, copied her clothes but it could not replicate face. It had no face. It was a dream chaser.

Dream chasers were like shape shifters that lurked in the shadows of near wakefulness. At this time, they would enter dreams and find a way to kill the dreamer. The dreamer would also die in real life. With one hundred kills, dream chasers could enter the real world. They would then shape shift into as human a form as possible to travel freely on the earth.

Dari realized she must still be asleep. How far had her spirit walked this time? She ran back as fast as she could to get to her body still asleep by the brush at the rock. How could she be asleep for so long. The dream chaser ran after her on all fours, grunting strangely as it galloped.

A glimmer of light shone between the trees where she had entered the canopied world. She held her breath as she squeezed through quickly.

The dream chaser hesitated at the lit way but decided to go for it. If it could stop her from re-entering her body, he could kill her.

Dari kept squeezing her lungs tight as she ran. She could see her body slumped at the base of the stone. The humanoid leapt high in the air at Dari. At the same time, she dove low and rolled into the position her body lay. The humanoid disappeared as it was about to fall on her and no doubt, tear her to pieces.

Breathlessness overtook her as she drew her back up against the rock and hyperventilated. She was awake this time.

This dream was far too real. As she got up she thought deeply. Her dreams were becoming more vivid. She never imagined she would encounter a dream chaser so far from civilization. Did this mean she was on the right path or had she strayed from her journey? Did it follow her? Dari's thoughts were becoming cacophonic. She could not think straight. Would she be attacked again? She already slept very little on her journey. Now, she would sleep even less. It was not fear for her own life that would rob her of sleep, but she knew she could not afford to die before the prophecy she was told only part of would be fulfilled. Humanity, unknowingly, may actually depends on her, a girl it discarded at birth.

She got up and brushed off wet dried grass from her clothes. Exhaustion would not begin to describe the aches in her limbs, but she had to move forward. Her belongings were not scattered far. They were quickly gathered and packed away as she determined where to go next.