It took us almost an hour to come back. Once we entered the house, Mom went to prepare some dishes while Alina decided to help, and I headed to my room. Inside my room, I sat down on the bed, locking the door behind and started to contemplate today's incident.
'Now the sign of ruins had appeared, then destruction shouldn't be that far. I am still only at the 7th stage of the Nightmare realm. If the disaster truly came, then I may not even be able to qualify for watching it.'
I looked at my shadow, which was also staring at me with its crimson eyes.
'Should let it feed on my worst nightmare?'
I doubt appeared in my heart before I quickly suppressed it. I don't need to do anything; actively watching is enough.
'If I lost, then I lost. No need to actively take part in chaos.'
As I was lost in thought, a voice came from downstairs, "Lucian, come down."
I stood walking down the stairs, only to meet an old face with Black hair and glasses, wearing a long brown coat. His face was filled with wrinkles, but there was another woman beside him. She was also wearing a long, blackish grey coat, her long black hair cascading behind her back, and her eyes were deep black like marbles.
When I came down, I saw Mom and Alina were also there. We all sat together in the living room. Alina and Mom sat beside Dad, and that woman and I also sat on chairs.
The atmosphere was quite lively. I looked at the others silently without much of a reaction. While the woman's eyes were fixed on me. Since I saw her, though I didn't show any reaction and continued to remain silent but I sensed something different about her.
'This woman is Dad's friend who also came with him because of work, and she will stay with us for a few days until whatever work she came for is done. I can clearly sense from her behaviour that she definitely has other motives.'
After a little bit of family reunion and some chatting, we all went for dinner. Today, Mom has made all of Dad's favourite dishes. On the dining table, everyone was enjoying their meal and talking happily, and even that woman also joined them.
'She actually wasn't that good at acting. I can clearly tell she was trying to act, and wasn't really interested. Though her skills were good enough to fool them.'
Once I was done with my meal, I quickly left the dining table, going straight into my room. I lay on my bed while on the roof, two crimson eyes stared at me.
'This beat is growing quite fast. It's only been a few months, and he is already nearing the limit of the 7th stage. For first three stages of the nightmare realm were only about controlling your own nightmares and influencing them. The second three stages are about entering other dreams and influencing them.'
'The last three stages are about manifesting your dreams into reality, and these creatures grow at a much faster rate than previous realms, but at the cost of continuous suffering from the ravings of thousands of nightmares devoured by the nightmare beast. Each breakthrough makes it more and more real.'
After concerning myself with all these things, I closed my eyes, falling into another nightmare.
When I opened my eyes again, I stood in a completely dark land, and my feet were slowly sinking into the ground. I looked at the surrounding area, covered in a thick layer of darkness, then at the ground, which was slowly devouring my body.
'Another nightmare in the past, it was really used to be suffocating, but it no longer carries the same weight.'
To speed up the process few tentacles came from the ground, wrapping around my body, quickly pulling my body into this dark swamp. It was suffocating inside, but I no longer struggled for breath like in the past.
'If I can't breathe, so be it. There's a reason why it's a dream as long as I remember the difference; nothing will happen.'
My body continued to sink more and more, tentacles wrapping around me with some unknown thing ringing my ears, nose, and mouth. I couldn't breathe, my body was turning cold, and my eyes were being put in acid. I was even unable to move my body.
'If this is the max horror it can manifest, then it shouldn't be a problem to step into the 8th stage of nightmare realm.'
This feeling lasted for an hour before the scenario changed, and thousands of shadow beasts fed on my body.
'Well, this nightmare can replicate reality almost perfectly. Every single bite of animal felt real, carrying pain like someone is really taking a bite of your body.'
One after another nightmare cycle continued as usual. In the morning, when I woke up. I saw someone else lying beside me.
"What are you doing here?" I asked Alina, who was half awake.
"That lady is staying in my room. So, I came here." She replied in an aggrieved tone.
"Oh", after listening to her complain, I stood up from bed and opened the curtains, letting the sunlight in.