Maladaptive Daydreaming..? (pt. 3)

Fifteen minutes have passed, and I have yet to find a sign of civilization to perhaps aid or help me find out more about what lies beyond this world that was previously unknown to me. I was still amazed at how tangible and true this was to me. Everything feels warm and unusually calm as I traversed along this never-ending path of dirt that still goes on seemingly forever.

The Sun had been glaring at me since I got here, but I didn't feel hot nor was I feeling uneasy. It's as if the climate is considerably much less outrageous than in the world I was accustomed to.

As I looked at my surroundings, I finally found something other than grass and dirt. The plains were completely surrounded by a forest except for the direction I was heading to, where the dirt road goes along through. This was great, since I was getting tired of walking without a seeming change in the environment, and only had "hope" as my only baggage going through this trip.

As I continued my expedition, I saw in the faint distance a tall-looking structure.

It's not just any structure though, it's a man-made structure!

Excited and all, I hurriedly went there to see what it was.

KA-BOOM!!!

While I was running to reach my destination, I heard a loud explosion deep inside the forest. My concerns got even greater when a large smoke formed in the direction of the explosion, which told me that something dangerous must have happened there somehow. Sensing a lot of danger, I decided not to interfere even if my curiosity killed me.

I'm not going to risk my life for that!

But then, I heard a scream.

If this was a dream, I wouldn't mind as much and ignore all of the red flags.

"But this surreal feeling I'm getting here..." I looked at my hands, contemplating if this world was just a dream.

I had to make a decision.

"...this is real. Someone's about to die!"

I rushed over, dashing as quickly as I could as the ground was shaking more and more violently the closer I got to the area. I grabbed my watch and wore it over my left hand to act as my brass knuckles for good measure.

As I was seeing a clearer view in the distance, a sword just flew by past me, petrifying me as if that could've been my deathbed. Everything happened in the spur of the moment, looking at the sword, which had pierced through a handful of trees with apparent ease.

"!!!" I looked back and saw a hail of blades being thrown in all directions at once. Seeing that they can pierce a tree with little to no effort, I laid down, hoping it wouldn't hit me by some random chance.

"Please be a dream, please be a dream, please be a dream!" I screamed in my head as the shower of blades kept on coming. Trees fell haphazardly as the ground grumbled greater than it ever was, leaves constantly battered by the sharpness of the swords, and a bunch of cling-clangs as these fell to the ground after hitting something.

After what felt like an eternity, everything became silent. Did my eardrums explode? Or did it stop altogether? I opened my eyes and saw the aftermath, the calm after the storm.

"That's traumatizing." I thought as I carefully stood back up. Right as I was about to stand up, I saw a large, intimidating creature sizing me up. With nowhere else to go, I just stood there without uttering many words.

The creature was as big as a giraffe but as wide as a grizzly bear. It was a bear the size of a giraffe!

This could have been the end for me.

But I noticed something, the oversized bear was not moving at all. In fact, when I saw its legs, it was actually struggling to get on its feet. I looked at the back and saw a lot of swords punctured on its skin like a bunch of syringes permanently stuck there to drink up the life force of that humongous creature. A pool of blood was drooling underneath as the bear, probably overwhelmed by pain, collapsed to the ground. The thud was so strong, that it caused the remaining trees to moderately shake.

Then, I saw a woman wearing a cloak standing on top of the bear. Her cloak was covered with blood, and her blood lust I have felt from her domineering aura. I can feel her dangerous eyes terrorizing the bear as she wielded her sword, bringing the final blow to the bear's head.

As she lifted back her sword, our eyes met. 

Hold on, those eyes...

Forget it, she saw me.

I decided to step back, little by little, fearing that she might have mistaken me as an enemy, when in fact I was just passing by.

I was terrified, but before I could move, she already had her sword resting against my neck. I didn't even see her, but I was lucky I was not dead yet.

"Who are you?" She said in an intimidating tone, pushing me against a tree that had not yet miraculously been cut down. 

(On a side note, I guess this world also understands Japanese.)

"Answer me—" But then, the tree on the other side quickly began falling in our direction. She, despite being a skilled hunter, was unable to react accordingly.

"Watch out!" Brought by my adrenaline rush, I scooped her into my arms and lifted her as I jumped to the side, practically saving both of our lives.

"Are you okay—" I looked at her and saw her face for the first time as her hoodie was not covering her head.

The shock on my face when I saw her...

No way...

No way!

My eyes widened when our eyes met, it's like I've seen a ghost.

"K-Katsumi?"

But then...

RING! RING! RING!

The alarm clock made its entrance as I was awakened by its loud, glaring alarm sound.

Now I began to wander.

Was that Katsumi?

If so, did she recognize me?

God, why did this alarm clock killed the mood!? AAAAAAAAAAA