"Ugh, another nightmare," Liam groaned, wiping the sweat from his forehead. The dream clung to him like a thick fog, more intense than the ones that he'd had before. He could still hear the whispers echoing in his mind, a mixture of voices that felt both urgent and elusive.
Now being sixteen years old, he felt that the nightmares had progressed for the worse in both frequency and intensity over the last few months. Each night brought something darker and more terrifying than the last.
With a sigh, he swung his legs over the side of the bed, feeling the chill of the floor against his feet. He felt sick, his mind filled with the images of the night before.
At school, the day dragged on. Liam slumped in his chair, fighting against the exhaustion that he felt. His friend Jake noticed, leaning over. "Hey, you good? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Yeah, just didn't sleep well," Liam muttered while forcing a smile.
As the teacher lectured about something that felt unimportant, Liam's eyelids grew heavier. Before he knew it, he'd dozed off. darkness enveloped him once more.
In the depths of his sleep, he found himself back in a landscape, the whispers returning to taunt him. This time, they were accompanied by a pair of glowing red eyes, each marked with strange crosses, watching him from the shadows. Panic surged through him as the eyes bore into his soul, the pressure of their gaze suffocating.
Suddenly, the scene shifted. A familiar silhouette emerged, a monstrous figure shrouded in darkness. The whispers intensified, merging into a singular, deafening sound that went through his mind.
"Liam!"
His eyes shot open at the sound of his teacher's voice. "Liam! Are you with us?"
"AHH!" he shouted, jolting upright in his seat, heart racing. Laughter erupted around him, his classmates snickering at his outburst.
"Do you want to go home for the rest of the day? You really don't look well," the teacher asked with concern.
"Yeah, I… I think I need to," Liam replied. He felt like he was moving in slow motion as he gathered his things and shuffled out of the classroom, the laughter fading behind him.
While going home, Liam couldn't shake the questions racing through his mind. Why was that spectral being haunting him? What message was it trying to convey, or was it warning him or something?
Once home, he stumbled into his room, collapsing onto his bed. The exhaustion washed over him pulling him under. Just as he drifted off, the remnants of his earlier nightmare flickered in his mind, the image of the spectral figure lingering.
The darkness enveloped him once more as he wandered through the ancient, shadowy landscape. some sort of mist around his feet, and the distant whispers echoed through the air yet again.
"Where am I? I'm certain I was just went to sleep," Liam murmured his voice filled with confusion.
As he continued to explore, the whispers grew louder, leading him towards an ominous-looking gate. "It seems like the whispers are coming from this gate," he noted, glancing at the strange, dark substance framing it. "But what is this place?"
He reached out to touch the black substance of the portal frame and felt a pull. In an instant, he was drawn through the portal.
Confused and disorientated, he found himself staring at a set of stairs leading up to a ruin. "Where the hell am I this time?" he wondered, the surroundings heightening his bewilderment.
With no other choice, he began to climb up the stairs. What initially seemed like a short climb soon felt endless. After what felt like hours, he finally reached the top.
In the center of the dreamscape ruin stood a silhouette---a monstrous figure shrouded in darkness, its eyes glowing a bright red. In front of the monster, a sword, embedded in a stone pedestal. The blade glowing with an strange light, etched with glowing runes that pulsed rhythmically, calling out to Liam with a profound power.
Suddenly, the monster's silhouette came closer, and a chill ran down Liam's spine. The whispers grew louder, forming words he couldn't understand. As the clouds of darkness parted, the figure became clear, revealing its monstrous form. The vision of the sword and the creature intensified, and Liam felt an irresistible pull, as if the sword was pulling him in.
A shiver of terror surged through him as he reached out, but before he could grasp it, the dream shattered.
"No!" he gasped, his eyes snapping open.
Liam jolted awake, his body drenched in cold sweat and his breath coming in short gasps. The realism of the dream stayed with him.
He looked down, his eyes widening in shock. There, on his chest, lay the very sword from his dream. Its blade shimmered with a faint, strange glow.
He reached out softly, his fingers brushing against the cold metal.