The unicorn was incredibly fast. The trees around them blurred into streaks of liquid light.
At this speed, Rey felt like he was on a starship engaging warp drive.
When the unicorn finally slowed to a walk, Rey was able to take in his surroundings.
The dense forest was gone. The Forbidden Forest had been left far, far behind. Turning his head with great effort, Rey was shocked to see the massive forest reduced to a mere patch of green in the distance.
It was too far. Had they crossed the entire Forbidden Forest and come out the other side?
And what about the sun hanging in the sky? Had they run straight from night into day?
Rey's head felt heavy as lead as he clung to the unicorn. The spot on his upper neck where Dorry had bitten him was starting to throb with a dull ache.
He touched the wound with his right hand. Aside from a burning pain, there was nothing unusual. The puncture marks were gone. His skin felt smooth, as if it had been magically healed, covering the two holes.
Rey shook his head again, trying to clear the fog. He had to get back to Hogwarts. Or at least to Hogsmeade.
He had been bitten by a dark creature—a vampire. Whether he turned into one or not, he needed medical attention immediately.
Otherwise, the consequences could be disastrous.
But right now, Rey couldn't even make the unicorn turn around.
The pain in his neck intensified. His vision blurred, and the landscape ahead began to swim. It felt like the high fevers he used to get as a child in his past life—his body felt heavy, the air felt heavy. It was as if an immense weight was piling onto him, crushing the breath from his lungs.
"Poisoned!"
Are vampires venomous? Rey didn't know. But in his daze, he could feel his magic rushing toward the wound in his neck like a river bursting its banks.
At the site of the bite, a mass of black energy sat like a stubborn reef in the river, immovable despite the constant wash of his magic.
His magic was being consumed as it rushed against the blockage, yet the black energy grew stronger as Rey's power weakened.
It was feeding on his magic, growing larger with every second.
Rey had read about vampires in the library.
They were dark creatures, products of the most powerful Dark Arts. He was certain now that the black mass in his neck was dark magic.
In his trance, Rey could feel it, but no matter how hard he tried to push it out with his own magic, it wouldn't budge.
The dark magic was like cancer, and Rey's magic was the antibody. They fought and killed each other, but no matter how vast Rey's magical reserves were, they couldn't disperse the darkness in his neck.
The sun in the sky seemed scorching hot, and the environment turned harsh.
Rey's throat was parched, and sweat poured down his face. He felt like he was walking through an arid desert.
His body reached its limit. Swaying precariously, he finally slipped off the unicorn's back and hit the ground.
---
There are three types of unconsciousness. One is unconscious oblivion, like deep sleep—no dreams, no awareness of the outside world.
Another is like dreaming. Bizarre, absurd dreams that defy logic, but the dreamer accepts them as reality.
And for those with powerful minds, there is a third state.
Lucid dreaming, where you know you are unconscious, you know you are in a dream, but you cannot wake up.
Rey was in this third state. In his dream, he stood overlooking a modern city.
The empty city was filled with skyscrapers. For a moment, he thought he was back in the modern world.
But while the city was bathed in daylight, everything beyond its borders was pitch black. It was like a night without lights, without stars, without a moon.
Looking at this familiar yet alien world, Rey's eyes narrowed. He saw someone. A figure standing at the edge of the city, right in front of him.
Not tall. About eleven years old. It looked just like him. But this figure was made of ink-black darkness—thick, unyielding, and impossible to disperse. It had eerie, glowing dark-red eyes that were already fixed on Rey.
The gaze was piercing, filled with a hunger to devour. Rey, who was rarely afraid, felt a flicker of genuine fear for the first time.
Even though the figure was made of black mist, it was distinct from the pure darkness outside the city. It radiated a chilling cold that made Rey feel like he had been dropped into an ice cave.
BOOM!
Just as Rey felt he couldn't withstand the gaze any longer, a thunderclap exploded in the black sky.
The sudden thunder didn't just wipe away Rey's fear; it gathered the darkness in the sky into a face.
A face made of pure blackness, but distinct.
It was Rey's own face. But its eyes were open, revealing sclera of dark gold.
The giant face in the sky was speaking, but there was no sound. Rey could only see its lips moving.
At that moment, the figure of black mist at the edge of the city charged toward Rey. It moved with incredible speed, dragging a long trail of fog behind it. It had been kilometers away, but in the blink of an eye, it was less than a hundred meters out.
Bone-chilling cold. With every step the black mist figure took closer, Rey felt death approaching.
The face in the sky with the dark golden eyes kept repeating the silent words. Rey's intuition told him this was the way to stop the charging figure. But he could only see the mouth shapes; he couldn't hear the voice.
The situation was critical. Rey had almost no time left. The inky figure was an arrow aimed straight at his heart.
"Akh... khye... ass... Mokacha..."
Rey roared the sounds. He didn't know what he was shouting. In the desperate moment, he simply mimicked the mouth movements of the face in the sky.
He wasn't even sure if he shouted it himself or if the face in the sky had borrowed his mouth to speak.
It might have been a spell. Rey didn't understand it, but he finished shouting it just as the black mist figure reached him, its face inches from his own.
---
As the spell left his lips, a blast of wind seemed to erupt from Rey's mouth. The inky figure dissipated in the roar, blown apart along with the trail of black fog behind it.
The figure vanished right in front of Rey's face, only to reappear instantly back at the edge of the city. Its gaze remained as cold as ever.
The face in the sky vanished at the same time the black mist figure returned to its starting point. But just before it disappeared, a wicked smile curled its lips.
Rey didn't see the smile. By the time he looked up, the face was gone. The black night sky now held a few lonely stars.
Everything returned to calm. The dream world began to blur. And then, Rey woke up.
He opened his eyes and gasped for air. He had been so tense in the dream that he had forgotten to breathe. A little longer, and he might have suffocated in reality.
Rey looked around. He was lying beside a clear stream, his feet in soft mud. Sparse, small trees dotted the landscape.
It was dusk. The unicorn was long gone. Fortunately, his dark purple wand was still in his hand.
A breeze rustled the leaves. Rey, drenched in cold sweat, shivered.
"Where am I?"
"And which way is Hogwarts?"
Rey stood up, looking around blankly, completely unsure of which direction to take.
---