The sun, low in the sky, cast a warm, golden hue over the brick-paved streets of the quiet, charming downtown. The road stretched with no visible ending yet, flanked by modernly historical buildings. Sidewalks lined the road, occupied with numerous iron benches and trees. Few of those benches were occupied, and cars occasionally drove across the peaceful street.
Mason pocketed his hands as he walked down the street. He yawned and paid no attention to whatever was happening around him until a young girl bumped into him while chasing her chihuahua puppy.
Mason looked down at the girl with an expressionless face. The girl immediately begged and clapped her hands together.
"Sorry, brother…"
The puppy then grabbed Mason's trousers with its teeth and kept trying to tear them off, but all to no avail. Mason looked at it blankly, not even flinching.
"Pluto, stop! I said stop!" the girl yelled at the puppy.
The little dog kept pulling, refusing to give up.
Mason stared at it for a moment longer.
The girl tugged the puppy away, her face flushed with embarrassment.
"Sorry, brother, Pluto is just excited."
Mason blinked slowly. ".. It's fine," he said in a cool voice.
The puppy barked at him and shook its body.
'Courage, instinct, and fear are all the same thing wearing different masks. Animals don't pretend their reasons make sense… but humans do. We wrap irrationality in justification and call it belief. Maybe that's why stupidity feels so natural to us.'
The girl bowed once more before she was dragged away by her hyperactive dog. Mason turned and stared at the girl one last time before resuming walking.
'A child bumps into me. A dog bites my leg. The world keeps moving like everything matters. But none of it feels real. Is this detachment temporary? Or is this the real me, stripped bare?… No. Maybe this is just what happens when you finally stop lying to yourself about how empty things feel.'
He passed beside girls chatting in front of a café shop. They catcalled him, but he didn't even seem to notice. At that moment, a cyclist rushed past him.
Mason was so detached, everything around him felt muted.
He rubbed his tired eyes.
'Still no sleep. A month of insomnia. When the mind stops resting, the world stops making sense. Or maybe… maybe this is the first time I'm seeing it clearly.'
He walked past a storefront window and caught his own reflection. Of course, Mason was a sight to behold and was sure to gain the hearts of nine ladies out of ten. Even with dark circles and a tired posture, he still looked too good for a seventeen-year-old.
'People look at a reflection and see themselves. I look at mine and see a question I still can't answer.'
Behind him, the girl from the subway earlier was calling out to him and running toward him.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. He brought it out and saw a message from his mom.
[—Mason, did you eat? Come home early today.]
He locked the screen without replying.
'Humans always worry about the wrong problems.'
And yet… he couldn't remove a particular thought from his mind.
"Belief keeps this world together… so what happens when someone can no longer believe in anything at all?"
"Mason! Hey!"
Mason turned to check who was calling his name and saw the girl. She got to him and smiled.
"Hey, Mirage," he said with no hint of emotion.
Mirage frowned. "I told you to stop calling me that. Just call me Mira."
He nodded. "My bad."
'Mira is a neighbor who lives beside my house. She doesn't follow the same religion, and her household believes we were created by an omniscient being. And the first human on Earth was… uhm… I forgot his name,' he thought as he stared at Mira with indifference.
He then checked her properly by assessing her clothing, making Mira's cheeks turn red.
Mira was a beauty, but no amount of beauty could move someone like Mason.
His gaze stopped at her bare, flat stomach. Mira's cheeks burned more as her heartbeat increased. Suddenly, Mason poked her stomach with his pinky finger. Mira froze, her heart skipped beats as she stared at the pinky finger stroking down her stomach.
"Eh?"
Mason locked eye contact with her and asked blankly, "What's the use of exposing your stomach, and I also thought you went to that religion center today? Is this allowed?"
Mira scrambled a few feet away in embarrassment and gave him an awkward look.
"Is that why you poked my stomach? Eh… I… I… didn't go to church. I went out with my friends," she said, her head bowed in embarrassment.
He didn't reply at first, then dipped his hand back into his pocket and yawned lightly.
'I can't even sleep, why am I yawning?'
"Can… we walk together, Mason?" Mira asked.
He nodded and resumed walking. Mira smiled behind him and blushed. She eventually kept pace and stylishly held his hand. Mason gave no remark and just held her hand back, making Mira fall into the "dream realm."
Some time later, they got to a smaller street. They were currently standing in front of two bungalows separated by a short wooden rail fence. The fences also served as entrances to the compounds of each bungalow. Flowers and grass decorated the two houses.
Mira let go of his hand and stared at him for a while with mixed emotions.
"Huh… Mason… Can I ask you something?"
Mason nodded for her to go ahead.
"Do you perhaps… have a girlfriend?"
Mason hid a scowl and adjusted slightly. "Huh? No. Why do you ask?"
Mira stared at him. Her expression slowly changed into the type of emotion he saw on the faces of footballers when they won a game.
She tried to hide it, though it was still a bit visible. Suddenly, she ran into the second bungalow and shut the door.
Mason tilted his head. 'Hmm… Did I do something wrong?'
He yawned again and walked into the other bungalow.
He stopped in front of an open kitchen where a woman with long raven hair was currently cooking while listening to a K-pop song. When she sighted Mason, she smiled and waved.
"Ah, my love is home. So, what did Sir Notcis say?"
Mason walked into the kitchen and headed for the refrigerator while answering his mom.
".. He says I should visit a doctor."
He brought out a plastic orange juice and drank.
His mom, Sarah, scowled. "This is really getting out of hand. If Sir Notcis can't help, then no one can."
Mason took his last gulp and tossed the plastic into a nearby trash bin.
'Hmmm… This is what I mean by humanity being stupid. Even my mom seems to prove my point.'
He stretched lightly and walked away without replying to his mom.
He passed through a passageway and disappeared behind a door.
---
'Is it one month yet?'
Mason stared at the ceiling. He was now in a classic small room, lying on his back on a single bed made of a blue-colored blanket and soft foam — pushed right up against the window wall. The window itself was double-paned and displayed the backyard garden and the moon. There was a small table beside the bed, which was occupied by a lamp and the white pill bottle. Beside it was a small cushioned chair facing a small chest of drawers. The floor was covered with a red rug.
He turned on his phone.
[11:55 PM]
It was almost morning.
He then slowly turned his gaze to the white pill bottle, contemplating it. He finally sat up and opened it. Alas… there were no pills or powdered medicine, only a white paper.
He took out the paper and read what was written on it:
"Just close your eyes. Trust me."
'Hmm… I guess I should stop collecting stuff from strangers,' he said inwardly and flatly.
He turned the pill bottle around and then stopped at a particular spot on it, suppressing a chuckle. What could have made him want to chuckle at a pill bottle?
He placed the paper back in the bottle and dropped it beside the lamp. He lay back on the bed and closed his eyes. Though he didn't seem to be falling into slumber, he didn't open his eyes.
One minute passed. Then two. Three.
After some seconds, his phone, lying on the bed beside him, turned on and displayed a social media friend request from a user called [Mirage Loves Being Silly]. Aside from that, it displayed the time [11:59].
He decided to open his eyes to check the message, but when the time changed to 12:00 AM, he felt himself fall into slumber.
But that slumber didn't last long. It almost felt like a pull. He felt something soft radiate into his soul. When he opened his eyes, he saw different sigils floating in the air, all different in size, and he was also floating, surrounded by the sigils and true darkness.
The sigils were golden, so the little brightness they offered chased away the true darkness… if only by a fraction.
A voice then echoed from the darkness, followed by the appearance of an unfamiliar figure.
"Welcome to the Dream Anchor, Seeker."
The stranger was a beautiful female elf with long white hair. She wore an elegant, regal white gown, which didn't exactly cover her whole body. In fact, it barely covered her body, revealing most of her beautiful features. There was a white crown on her head, and a simple smile played on her lips.
Mason showed no sign of surprise, fear, or amusement. Instead, his feelings were hidden deep in his soul, leaving only a cold, expressionless gaze on his face.
What's more, the beautiful elf was sitting casually on a white dragon. The dragon had five horns, and its eyes were silver, almost unseen with its white complexion. Its wings drifted across the darkness, piercing reality itself.
Mason straightened and looked at the elf and her dragon with no hint of emotion.
'So I actually did fall asleep? What a weird dream this is.'
The elf laughed as if she heard his thoughts. "You think you're in a dream? Well, technically you are, but still, you're not… for now."
Mason let a frown slip on his face. "So where am I?"
"The Dream Anchor?! Wait…" she paused and studied him, a hint of recognition appearing on her face.
"... It's you. Ah, then don't ask me questions. They told me you are manipulative. So, Seeker, prepare for ordaining."
The elf glowed, and in mere seconds, she swallowed the whole darkness in blinding light.
Before Mason could tell what was happening, a soft kiss landed on his cheek.
"Let's see in the not-so-far future, my dear, Jumong."
After that, the next thing he heard was a foreign language, but strangely he could immediately understand it.
"It's a boy! The Empress gave birth to a boy!"
"Go call the Emperor!"
"I can already feel the unimaginable power radiating from his body!"
Mason slowly opened his eyes, but his view wasn't obstructed by a floating white scroll.
The scroll opened and displayed foreign characters, which he could actually understand!
[Name: Jumong Ryujin]
[Celestial Noun: Song Of Ruin]
[Divine Knowing: -------]
[Tree: Domain Manifestation]
[Rank: Novice]
[Order: God]
[Boon: -------]
Mason didn't even flinch. Of course, he believed it was a dream.
'Hmm… It definitely worked. Now I can dream peacefully. A creative dream I am having.'