"Why do you sound so surprised? I didn't go because I found it somewhat boring, but now I need to go."
"I see. Well, if it's you, then I know you'll do just fine. Let me know once you've decided on which school you'll be going."
"If you're planning on paying my fees or doing something like providing financial aid, please don't. I Have everything under control." Zane replied with a firm voice.
"Okie," the tone Ariel used sounded everything but serious.
Zane sighed. 'She's not listening, is she?'
"Oh, it looks like the twins are back. Lets talk later, you'll answer my calls from now on right?" Ariel was afraid her big brother would ghost her again, so she asked.
"Of course. I won't call you since I don't know when father is around and when he's not. I'll only answer to your calls," Zane replied.
"In that case, good night, big brother."
"Good night, Ariel, it won't be long until I see you again." With that, Zane hanged up, looking at the ceiling once more.
"This conversation drained everything out of me. Who knew she'd actually find me. Tomorrow, I'll have to inform the old lady of my plans before I make any moves. It would be troublesome if she starts to worry again." Little by little, he drifted off into deep slumber.
Just like always since last two years, it happened again. An endless space of darkness, illuminated by a crimson crystal moon. Beneath his feat lay skeletal bones of numerous corpses stretching as far as the eyes could see.
"Not this dream again." Zane sighed as looked around. 'As usual, I'm tied down to a different chair and can't move. It's always a different show each time, I wonder what show they'll put on," Zane whispered in a casual tone but the situation was very different from what he made it sound.
To begin, the chair he was sitting on was a flaming steel chair that continuously burned his flesh. The rope he was tied down with was made of copper wire adorned with sharp thorns peering deep into his skin. And lastly, the pain he felt in the dream realm was several times higher than what he would feel if it happened in reality. But just like the previous dreams, he healed almost instantly. An endless torture.
"You seem to be enjoying yourself, it's been almost six months since we last heard your cries. Don't tell me you grew shy all of a sudden." The speaker had the form of a man, except, a giant blue flower occupied it's face. He had no eyes, mouth or nose. The flower dominated its face, a singular external organ acting as its eyes, nose and mouth at the same time. It had seven hands each hand having three fingers. Four limbs on its right and three limbs on its left. Its skin was the color of grey and its hair was like three wet moss overlapping with each other. The creature towered almost three meters.
"You look different just like all the previous ones. I'm starting to view your father to be quite the adulterous man, though you look prettier than the rest. At least that's what I'd like to think." Zane coughed out blood violently, chocking on the smoke of his own charring flesh. Other than that, his face showed no signs of agony.
"Oh, let me in your discovery, don't' hog it all to yourself." As the creature spoke, he walked over towards a flaming burning pot which materialized from thin air.
"You're the same person, you just change your form each time we meet. And, you don't intend to kill me. The pain I feel here follows me to the real world each time I wake up, which mean this is not a lucid dream nor is it a nightmare, but some kind of separate reality, though I don't know how that is even possible. In short, if you kill me here, I'm certain I'll die in the real world too. So why drag this out? Even I am getting bored." Zane had a smug grin the entire time he spoke, unbothered by the ominous appearance of the creature.
"Impressive deduction. I put so much effort into the disguise and personality change the past two years yet you still figured it out. As expected of a marked one. That said, I've already told you countless times what needed to be done." The creature plunged one of its hands into the molten fire inside the pot like it was a warm water, when it emerged, he was holding a burning orange orb the size of a small candy.
"You mean killing my father? What grudge do you have with him anyway? And why do I have to be the one to do it? Also, it's not that easy to harm the president hailed as the genius of his generation. What's worse, you set up ridiculous conditions. I should be the one to directly kill him, and he has to take at least ten hits from me before he dies? Why don't you try doing it yourself?" Zane spoke in a slightly irritated tone.
"Temper, temper. Maybe you'd be willing to do it regardless, after I have treated you to this candy." Zane watched the creature approach, holding the supposed candy in the second hand on his right, the ball burning its own fingers, though aside from the sizzling sound and black smoke, there was no visible damage.
"What is that? Some supper hot metal? I guess the theme for today's show is fire then."
"You're way too casual about this. It is called 'Blind eye of the sun.' It's temperature far exceeds the heat of what your feeble race is capable of producing. The temperature changes with color, and I'm going to let you have a taste." The creature now stood directly before Zane, towering more than twice his size.
"I'm guessing this orange color is the least hottest." Zane said, unfazed by its presence.
"As expected, your mind is sharper than any blade I've ever forged." Just like that, his three fingers from the first hand of his left wrapped Zane's jaw, engulfing half of his face and forcing the boy's mouth open. He then dropped the orange ball deep in his mouth.
The moment it touched his tongue, it melted through, burning its way down his stomach.
"When y..ou aid os a candy, I ought it hould ave some favor." (When you said it was a candy, I thought it would have some flavor) Due to the exaggerated burn on his tongue and throat, he was unable to make out the exact words of what he wanted to say.
"Not good, it woun't do. If you get used to pain so easily, how else am I going to motivate you?" The monster watched the boy handle a top rated torture ball without showing any signs of struggling, frustration coloring his tone.
Cough, cough. Then, the violent coughs began. Zane coughed out black liquids unable to contain the damage dealt from within by the orange ball.
"The… there's absolutely no need for you to motivate me. You see, the plan to kill him has already began. Before the year ends, he would be dead." Zane smiled as he spoke, blood trickling down his chin in a messy line.
"Ah, that's where you're wrong. You see, we don't have all year. You've been marked and they'll soon arrive. He'll also come." Zane laughed hard at the monster's words.
"In other words, you harbor no ill intentions for my father or me. You've been torturing me for my own sake. And all this is supposed to prepare me for the coming guests. Is that it?" 'Bulshit, I've not been able to sleep for two whole years and you're telling me its for my own good? At this point, I wonder how I'm not dead yet.'
"I've been tasked to be your guide until at least the beginning comes. I only wanted to make sure you wouldn't hesitate when the time came. That is why you must kill the one who brought you into this world. If you can accomplish that, my task would be complete." The flower on its face changed from blue to purple, then from purple to black as it spoke.
"If that is case then answer me this…" Zane coughed, but not from the cause of his burning flesh or the orange ball messing up his insides, he was jut thirsty.
"What have I been marked for? And who are the ones coming for me?"
"No need to rush, you'll find out in due time. Instead, let me also take this chance to ask you a question of my own. Are you unable to feel pain any longer? Your reactions to my performances has been so poor lately. I'm left wondering if I've been doing a bad job." The creature ask out of sheer curiosity.
"Of course I feel pain. But if I reacted to every tiny sting, then wouldn't that make me a girl? In the end, pain is just an emotion no different from joy or boredom." Zane replied with a nonchalant expression.
"So it wasn't as though you got used to it, but because you chose not to react. You really are just as fascinating as he said you would be. In any case, my performance ends here, how would you rate it?" The creature asked serious about what Zane's response might be.
The boy placed his hand on his chin the moment the copper wire crumbled into dust and began calculating.
"The chair is a good pick and so is the binding wire. Since the theme was fire, a burning field would be more fitting than a skeletal field. Also the blind eye of the sun was supposed to be a candy but it held no flavor or sweetness, it was only hot. When I take all these into consideration…" The creature gulped, nervous about its scores. 'He gave me seven and half the other time, I just hope my grades don't drop.
"Eight is what you get. Though the candy had no flavor, it still met the theme of the performance. Your only flaw were the field and that you couldn't get me to react." Zane watched as the flower on the creature's face turned white.
'Is it happy?'
"By the way, what is going to happen to the candy in my stomach?" Zane asked, standing while stretching his arms in the process.
"You needn't worry, it'll disappear on its own. That closes the curtains on my performance."