"What kind of strange dream is this?"
Arlan stepped out of the cave to take a closer look at the volcano, although he had no proof that it was the same volcano on the island, it was most likely.
Why else would he have such visions?
Arlan leaned against the cave wall and looked out. There was a thin path leading to the exit of the volcano, so it was possible to get out, but when Arlan tried to get out, the smoke around him grew thicker, forcing him to retreat to the bottom of the cave where he had appeared.
Cough! Cough!
With nothing but his shirt covering his face, the smoke entered his lungs, making it difficult for him to breathe.
Arlan tried to back away, but not noticing the stones on the floor, he stumbled and fell backwards to the ground.
His vision grew darker, and the smoke completely filled the cave, leaving Arlan with virtually no fresh air to breathe.
'...I need...air!'
Arlan began to lose consciousness rapidly, and with no strength left in his body, his head fell to the side. But before he closed his eyes, he noticed that at the back of the cave, in a corner, a small object was glowing slightly amidst all the smoke.
But before he could even identify what the strange object was, Arlan passed out.
Arlan did not dream, at least not sweet, peaceful dreams. Instead, every night Arlan had nightmares about the dark.
It was something he never got over, but after experiencing these strange scenes, he somehow managed to sleep peacefully. Except for the strange screams he heard in the background and the strange smell that penetrated his nostrils.
With some discomfort, Arlan opened his eyes and found himself in an unfamiliar room with only a few candles for light.
But there was something strange. For as little light as there was, the room was disconcertingly bright.
Since Arlan had just woken up, he hadn't noticed that the wall on the other side of his bed was completely on fire.
"A fire now?!"
After three strange dreams, this one seemed just as strange and deadly as the previous ones, except for the one about the church.
Luckily, there was a window next to it, so he could escape quickly. And judging by the level of the fire, it seemed that the fire had not started long ago, so there were not enough gases in the room to cause an explosion when the window was opened.
Arlan opened the window and checked how high up he was. Realizing that the floor was barely one meter, he stepped out of the room and looked around.
'...Shit'
On his way out, Arlan came to a small dirt road, and in front of it was a house in ruins, burned by the fire. The fire had spread all over the place, and it was fortunate that the place where Arlan was was on the other side of the street without any direct connection to the fire.
A few corpses could be seen in the streets, some burned, but others that caught Arlan's attention, as they had not died from the fire, but from something else that was capable of taking off half of a person's torso in one bite.
Arlan frowned, fire was definitely not the only danger he faced. With that in mind, Arlan set out to flee the scene, especially from where the screams of pain could be heard.
Covering his face with the collar of his shirt, Arlan began to walk through the city in search of an exit. Somehow the city looked familiar, he just didn't recognize it.
Maybe because he was distracted earlier, or because he just hadn't thought about it. Arlan didn't realize that the city was the same one where he had been imprisoned.
The city wasn't that big, considering that only a little more than a thousand people lived there. But even after several minutes of running around trying to avoid the fire, Arlan could not find his way out.
Unfortunately for him, the building he was in was literally in the middle of town, making it not only the farthest place from the city, but also the most dangerous.
The screams were getting louder, which meant that whatever was busy killing people was definitely running out of distractions and would soon be looking for more.
Turning down a street, Arlan came upon what looked like the entrance to something important. A large wooden door frame, painted white, and inside what seemed to be the most elaborate and best constructed building in this city where the tallest buildings were barely two stories.
And the building in front of Arlan was at least four stories tall, with several other buildings adjacent to it.
The fire had not yet reached the building, and in fact it looked as if something was preventing it from spreading.
Assuming it was safe enough, Arlan stepped through the large frame and entered the building.
Inside, he found a large room with several pieces of furniture, but not a single soul. The whole building seemed to be completely empty.
In the back, there was a staircase that seemed to lead to the second floor.
Arlan decided to go up, but just as he was about to climb the first step, the walls of the building began to vibrate.
'...Now what?'
The vibrations got louder and louder until something heavy could be heard approaching.
It was definitely a bad idea to stay on the second floor, so Arlan decided to climb up quickly, but when he was halfway up the stairs, there was a loud bang and because of the movement, Arlan lost his balance and fell back down to the second floor, rolling down the stairs.
There, the right wall of the hall had completely collapsed, and on the left side, a large creature resembling a rhinoceros was snorting and blowing steam from its nostrils.
And on the floor was a woman Arlan recognized.
Knara was badly wounded and struggled to her feet as the beast recovered from the impact.
Beside her, her katana seemed on the verge of breaking, and her tunic was torn with dirt and traces of her own blood. While a few meters away from her, near the stairs, a black knife had slid all the way to the feet of Arlan, who barely managed to get back on his feet.