Taylor was walking in the hallways of Winslow. As she walked, she looked down at the stained white tiles, catching the reflection of the setting sun. She pondered her days in school.
For the last year, she had been severely bullied by a trio of girls named Emma Madison and Sophia.
The bullying at first, it was just silly things—putting glue on her seat, throwing spitballs at her in class—things she could handle. But lately, things had escalated. However, halfway through the month, they had abruptly stopped, which worried her. Fortunately, it was the last day of school, and she didn't want to run into the trio, so she decided to use the back door.
She rarely used it because she didn't want the trio to know where to find her when she truly didn't want to be found.
Lately, her nightmares had been getting worse. The sense of endless boredom that gripped her every time she fell asleep made her fear sleep itself.
It all started when Emma abruptly ended their friendship in a way Taylor didn't want to think about.
"I just wanted the school year to be over," she thought in desperation.
Luckily for her, it was the last day of school. Her pondering was interrupted when she looked up to see a graffitied green door with the words "Empire 88" scrawled on it. She promptly ignored it and continued walking out of the school towards the parking lot. She wanted to clear her mind of thoughts she didn't want to confront, so she distracted herself by looking down at the gravel road and counting the rocks.
Walking around the school to reach the bus station didn't take too long. She walked absentmindedly, heading toward the bus stop.
Sitting down at the bus station, her thoughts again drifted back to her nightmares.
They always started with her playing video games or doing paperwork in her dreams. She didn't know what the games were—they didn't seem to exist on Earth—but the paperwork seemed connected to the Underworld in some way. That didn't sound too nightmarish, did it?
Well, it wasn't the background stuff that scared her. The thing she feared in the dreams was the overwhelming boredom. It didn't seem scary, right? But then you realized it was so bad that she would... No! That wasn't here! She wouldn't just slaughter thousands just to satisfy her boredom... would she?
She was startled out of her thoughts when the bus arrived at the station. She walked on, paid the bus driver, and sat down, continuing to look out the window to keep her mind occupied.
[TimeSkip]
Absentmindedly walking up to her house, her thoughts once again wandered towards her dreams and Emma.
She suppressed the thoughts by focusing on the broken step up to her house. She pulled out her house key, unlocked the door, and opened it.
She walked inside and locked the door behind her.
She did her chores, cooked breakfast, and ate alone. Looking outside, she noticed her dad's car wasn't there. He must be running late again. She figured she should go to bed early—hopefully avoiding any nightmares.
If she was afraid of dreaming, why sleep early? She knew she wouldn't be able to avoid the nightmares forever, but sleeping early gave her the chance to wake up feeling energized, even if she had no idea what she was going to do with the day.
It had been a long time since she did anything productive, and she hoped this summer would bring something worthwhile. She had a feeling it would be a good thing—she had a good feeling about it…
Absentmindedly, she went to her room, got into bed, stared up at the ceiling for about five minutes, and then fell asleep.
It turns out that feeling was lying to her. As soon as she fell asleep, her dream began. This time, she dreamed of torturing hundreds of angels and dragons, throwing them into an arena to fight. As she watched them struggle for survival in the Roman Colosseum-like arena, she felt satisfaction in her heart. She was amused by their pitiful attempts to fight.
Sadly, she had to return to her paperwork soon.
The dream shifted. She saw a massive, colossal, crystal-like being approaching her. It was trying to establish some kind of connection. Not quite dormant, but not quite active either. She realized she was right—it was trying to connect to her. As it reached out, she connected back, and it tried to struggle away from her control, but it was futile.
It wanted to serve her.
She agreed to accept its subservience but decided to place restrictions on it, rather than simply subsuming it into her will. The connection was successfully established. Before she could see what happened next, she felt a sudden sensation of falling, and then she hit the floor, waking up.