The moonlight found its way into a dark room where a man could be seen twitching in agony on the bed.
Terror and helplessness etched across his face, he clutched the bedsheets tightly, his breaths escaping in muted gasps of desperation.
Suddenly, his eyes opened up showing his chaotic pupils that constantly changed their size but later gradually calmed down.
"Sigh....those nightmares again..."
The man slowly sat up and leaned against the wall, his face staring at the ceiling.
"It's been about a few weeks since I've been having those nightmares huh...", he muttered absentmindedly.
Arthur Dreshaw was an ordinary employee who worked at a small software company in London.
There were not many things going on in his life other than going to his office for his job and then coming back to his apartment.
He lived alone here while his parents were staying back in their hometown in Amesbury, a few hours away from London.
It was only a few weeks before that he had started to have nightmares of the end of the world. The dreams were slightly in a daze as he could only remember some big events that happened and couldn't recall the whole nightmare.
At first, he was stilled with fear by the terror and destruction that had transpired throughout the world in his dreams.
But later on, he had gotten used to the dreams and was even coming to enjoy them as every day was boring for him in his life as an ordinary employee in the office.
"What time is it?"
Arthur muttered while searching for his phone under the pillow and checked the time.
"It's only 3 am? Well, I suppose I can sleep for a few more hours."
Keeping his phone aside, he let out a deep yawn and lay on the bed getting comfortable with his blanket.
"I wonder what I'll be dreaming again...."
There was no fear in his voice even though what he had seen in his nightmares were the things that reached the peak of terror and horror.
Letting out soft breaths, he sank back into slumber awaiting the hazardous dreamworld that gave him a unique feeling unlike he had ever felt.
.....
A few hours later, Arthur woke up and prepared himself for work.
He refreshed himself and had some bread for breakfast before leaving his apartment.
Taking a ride on a bus, he reached his destination and walked toward the company's office where he was working.
"Hey Arthur, how are you doing today?"
A coworker who was sitting beside his desk asked in a friendly manner.
"I'm doing fine. How about you Peter?", he asked back politely.
"Well, nothing out of the ordinary.", Peter replied shrugging his shoulders.
Arthur nodded and turned to his computer starting it on.
'Nothing out of the ordinary, huh.....', he mused as the thought of the nightmares made him feel strange.
He knew that getting such nightmares that were repetitive and were much more real than lucid dreams was not something ordinary. He had thought of getting some treatment or therapy for this but he never got any free time from his job making him forget about the matter.
A few days passed and he didn't see any side effects from the nightmares so he stopped worrying about it and instead just enjoyed the dreams like watching a movie.
'It's not like I'm paying for any subscriptions to watch all this so there's no need to worry.'
Arthur shook his head bringing his focus back to the computer in front of him and started doing work.
Spending the whole day in the office, he felt tired and went out to Starbucks to drink some coffee after his work was done.
He arrived at the cafe after walking a few minutes away from his office and ordered a cold latte before sitting on a chair beside the glass and watching out at the streets.
His eyes moved across the crowded streets while sipping his drink and reached the highest building in the area, the Big Ben watchtower.
'Hmm....I remember a big dragon making its home at the top of that tower and bringing destruction to all of London in my nightmare...'
Sipping the coffee, his thoughts went back to his dreams, and wondered about everything that transpired in it.
Suddenly, a shiver went down his spine making him drop the cup of latte he was holding onto the table.
"W-What is h-happening...?"
He felt goosebumps going about his body and his mind felt a bit heavy all of a sudden.
A nearby waiter who saw Arthur spilling his latte and holding his shoulders in pain hurriedly walked over.
"Sir! What happened here? Are you alright?", the waiter asked in worry while patting his back.
The moment the waiter touched his body, Arthur felt all the pain disappear, and his mind calmed down but he was still a bit breathless.
"I-I am fine, I've to go to the w-washroom," he replied and stood up lethargically, making his way to the washroom.
"Here, let me help.", the kind waiter held his arms and brought him to the door of the washroom.
Arthur entered inside and washed off his face with cold running water, letting out a exhausted sigh.
"Haaa.....what just happened with me?", he stared at his pale reflection and frowned.
A man in his twenties could be seen in the mirror with black soft hair reaching to his shoulders and blue eyes glowing in a dim light. He stood at around 5'9 feet and looked a bit on the handsome side with his sharp features.
Shaking his head as he didn't why he felt sick all of a sudden, Arthur went and used the toilet, then washed off his face again and came out.
The waiter who had already cleaned the spilled latte came to him enquired about his health to which Arthur thanked him and gave him a tip before going out of the cafe.
"Let's go back and rest for today, I don't think I have any energy left to do anything more."
Instead of how he usually took a bus, he stopped a taxi this time for a better ride considering what had transpired in the cafe.
Sitting in the taxi, he closed his eyes to relax his mind and thus failed to notice the sky that was starting to grow darker by the minute.
Even though it was still in the evening, the atmosphere had changed to darkness making people feel confused whether it was already night.
Thinking it was just a change in the weather, the public didn't care much and went about, including Arthur who finally reached his home.
After paying for the taxi, he used the lift and went to the third floor where his room was situated.
Stepping into the room, he took off his office uniform and changed into something comfortable before laying on the bed.
'I'm too tired to have dinner today, so let's just have a rest.'
He dozed off into sleep within seconds with peaceful snores that were very different from his usual way of sleeping.
.....
"Huh? Where is this?"
A naked Arthur floated in a white space without a speck of anything at all.
He could not see or feel anything at all and just floated in the air unable to even move his body.
"What the hell! This is so much different from my everyday nightmares.", he thought as he glanced around at the empty space.
Suddenly, he felt something forcing him out of the white space as his consciouness slowly started to eject out.
"Whoooshh~"
Arthur opened his eyes from slumber and looked at the ceiling in confusion.
"W-What was that?"
Having gotten used to getting nightmares of terror and destruction, a sudden change in the dream had left him with a myriad of emotions.
Letting out a sigh as he didn't have any answers to the many question, Arthur got out of the bed after he had checked it was morning already.
"Hmm? What is this feeling?"
He stood still and took a deep breath, he felt his body was fresh with no tiredness of yesterdays sickness.
"It's like my whole body had gotten massage in a sauna.", he touched his muscles that were relaxed and his bones that had no stiffness at all.
Smiling, he felt overjoyed for the sudden turn in his health.
He walked toward the curtains that he had closed last night for not letting the cold in, and opened it up to let the morning sunlight shine in his room.
But the moment he opened the curtains, his pupils turned into a point watching the state of the world outside his window.
Gradually the smile left his face and a stunned expression took place instead.
"What in the absolute fuck is this??"