Third Ballad- Present Catastrophies

Before Henson could pull out the knife from his uniform, the tall figure in the back grabbed his hand and tackled him, pushing the priest in the hands of the other person.

"Calm down, we can talk about this" the person spoke as he placed his weight over Henson.

"I think you've made your intentions clear, and I did not sign up for this" Henson struggled.

"..." The person paused at first and finally said, "Why her though?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you going after Mary?"

The question baffled Henson, "What are you talking about?"

"I checked the records of the dreamers who entered the same time as her, and I noticed that you were keenly interested in shifting our arrangements for you to enter her world"

"..."

"What? Cat got your tongue?" the person said, but Henson finally grabbed his ankle and threw him off himself, immediately dashing for the door in front.

"Oye! Get him you fool!" The priest shouted at the last figure remaining.

This person seemed petite, 'A woman perhaps?' Henson thought as he dodged her frail attempt to grab him.

'I have to get to Mary before the third trial ends', Henson bit his lip. He opened the door and without looking into what it contained, immediately jumped into a warped space.

'Take me to Mary', he focused deeply and transported away from his captors.

"Agh, that hurt" the person who had fallen spoke. He rose up and his light hair and green eyes sparkled even in the dim light.

"Master is going to be angry with us now! I don't want to get demoted! I finally made it out of the nightmare realm", the priest cried.

"Mr. Narrator, what are we going to do?" it was the frail girl that Mary had spoken to before.

"Let's hope Mary can escape her trial before that dream hunter catches her"

"But somethings wrong!" the girl said.

"What is it?" the narrator asked.

"You aren't narrating the dream right now, ..." she said.

"Yeah, I was about to.."

"If you aren't narrating it, then how is she able to move in the dream?!"

The narrator looked at the large screen in the room and realized that all this time, Mary could not hear anything that he had said.

"Someone else has taken over!" the narrator panicked.

'No wonder no matter what I said she wasn't talking to me, I'm such a fool'

He suddenly dashed for the door that Henson escaped from.

"Emily! Bring the quack to the third trial" he shouted at the girl.

"No, please! I don't want to...."

"Hurry, we don't have time," he said as he also passed through the door and disappeared.

"Why are you so selfish?" Emily spoke with tears in her eyes.

....

"Mom! I've brought over a friend!", my brother's voice echoed in the house.

A boy with a head of grey hair walked in, his clothes looked a bit torn as if he got beat up somewhere. Being the curious 10-year-old I was, I came to see him close up. My brother never brought home his school friends, so it was my first time seeing someone besides our neighbor's snotty kid.

The boy seemed nervous as he entered through the door, he kept his head down the whole time.

"Oh my! Well take him to your room, I'll bring you snacks in a bit" my mother replied from the kitchen.

"Bro! Who is that? Is he a friend? Why does he look so beaten up? Did you rob him? Poor guy" I asked in a single breath.

"Agh, shut up and get lost, I didn't rob anyone, "my brother said annoyed.

"Hey if my brother robbed you, you can steal some of his PlayStation games back you know" I addressed the shy boy behind my brother, who quietly witnessed the banter between siblings.

"Oye! Mind your own business Mary" my brother karate-chopped my head.

"OW! Why did you do that?" tears filled my eyes.

"Oh no," my brother backed off slowly.

The tears started falling down my cheeks and my lungs prepared the death sentence.

My brother grabbed the boy by his blazer and told him "RUN!", and they both ran for my brother's room upstairs.

"DADDDYYYYY! BIG BRO HIT ME!!! *SNIFFF* ON MY HEADD!" I cried out at the top of my lungs.

My father hurriedly dashed from the tv lounge, worried about what in the world could have happened, he was relieved that it was nothing, but to appease me he picked me up and spun me around.

I laughed as he spun me around, forgetting everything that had escalated before.

The boy was surprised at what had just happened. His heart pounded after having run up the flight of stairs. It felt exilherating. He broke out into a laugh. A laugh, so rare it was indeed.

"Your sister is humorous", the boy said feeling lighter after he had laughed out loud.

....

"Grey...", I spoke as my head spun and I wasn't fully conscious. Memories of the past came to me as I opened my eyes.

Greyhound was sitting in front of me in a familiar room. It was my brother's old room. He was going through the tech magazines my brother had piled up in his room.

'He hasn't noticed me yet', I thought.

I analyzed my surroundings to find an escape route. My hands were no longer tied, and i could move my body. I carefully looked around and saw the door. But Grey was sitting right in front of it.

'If I surprise him and quickly dash, I could probably escape.' I thought.

As I was about to get up, I heard him say, "Look, Ned, I do not understand what is going on but why are we delaying the third trial? She will die at this rate."

He wasn't holding a phone or any device for that matter, was he psychic? That wouldn't be surprising. But I wanted to listen to what was going on, maybe a clue that could help me escape.

"... Yes I made sure the dream hunter cannot enter this space.."

"..How am I supposed to carry her to the beginning? No way! She weighs a ton!"

That annoyed me, I knew he was talking about me, what could possibly have happened? The narrator was quiet as well.

"...Agh fine, I will cooperate, just so you know, her liver could have fetched me a fortune, hmph," he said and he stood up.

'SHoot! I missed my time to escape' I clenched my fist and closed my eyes.

He came closer to me and paused. "You know I can tell that you are awake now, right?"

I quickly sprinted past him but as soon as my hand reached the doorknob, a force from behind pulled me back with great strength. He had grabbed the hem of my dress, and he tore some of it while pulling me back.

I slipped as he pulled me and fell on my face. I groaned.

"Hey! Who said you can leave?"

"Let me go, you blood-sucking hound," I said as I sat on the floor, rubbing my nose that had hit the floor.

"Trust me, if it were up to me, you would not even be alive right now?"

"Then who is it up to?"

"The Dream Master, duh" he said.

"..." I stared at him astounded to hear that there was a dream master.

"Ned,...didn't tell you?" he started sweating.

"Who is Ned? What are you hiding? Tell me right now!"

I jumped and tackled him, using the cloth he had torn from my dress I tried choking him against the bed.

"Get Off of me!" he struggled.

"Tell me what you know right now!"

He pulled the cloth from my hand with great strength, despite how scrawny he looked, maybe this was a boost from the dream realm?

He coughed for a bit and grabbed my hands so that I couldn't move.

"Okay, calm down... We have time, so I'll tell you what you need to know..."