A Strange Dream [P2]

Dohyun was stuck in shock staring at the book, how and when did it get here?

"Hellooo, you conscious? Are you mute? Deaf? Didn't you hear me tell you ITS. RUDE. TO. STARE??!"

[Talking book with a giant eyeball, talking book- with a giant eyeball. What is happening??]

"Geez kid, you're loosing me here. Get over here!! I need to do my job already!!"

Dohyun hesitantly moved closer to the book, poking it a couple times before picking it up.

"There we go!! Damn, now was that so hard?"

Silence

"Ugh, geez. Guess it's time"

The book starts mumbling something, repeating a sentence over and over. Dohyun's muscles relax and he feels weightless, his hand starts moving on its own, picking up the pen attached to the book. He instinctively took a deep breath as he felt himself drift to sleep, before loosing himself to the dream world he sees the book start to open to the very first page.

[Ugh… My back hurts, there's something hard under me..]

Dohyun slowly opens his eyes to a shining sun, a clear blue sky, and tall trees. It takes a bit for his eyes to adjust but he manages to keep his eyes open, he clearly wasn't in his bedroom anymore, much less his home. He fell asleep to a talking book and was now in a forest laying on a tree branch in a tree.

[Why's this day so annoyingly strange?]

He carefully climbs down the tree dusting off whatever was stuck to his clothes when he notices what he was wearing, a sleeveless hoodie that cut off slightly above his lower stomach, it was clean white with the design of a dragon and flowers at his lower left, a black undershirt, 2 pieces of cloth attached to a belt on his right one being black and red the other being white, black, red, and gold, a flower charm attached above the clothes, and baggy red pants. His bandages were how they left them before he fell asleep, except now he also had bandages wrapped from his toes to his ankles, he felt there was something on his face, he could only see a thin transparent cloth tainted a dark red. His head also felt heavier.

[What the hell? These look closer to Chinese clothing, how'd I even get into these clothes? How and when did I get in a forest? That book said something about having a job to do, is this some fantasy bullshit where I've traveled to another dimension or something?]

He didn't want to think about it anymore, he needed to get to a nearby city or town and learn more about where he was. He stretches a bit then looks around, which way was he supposed to go? He could easily get lost. He sighs and just walks forward, never making turns or stops he just continued to walk forward.

He looks to his right as he walks where he sees a beautiful pond, he sees something floating close to it. It moves quickly and seems to have spotted Dohyun, it flys through the air quickly and is in front of Dohyun's face not too soon.

[It's, an eye? It looks like a surgically removed eye, how's it alive and flying? Well, that book was alive too.]

It looked all around it then looked back at Dohyun as loud and slow walking is heard, it freaks out and wraps around his neck shrinking a bit and turning iron, it looked like a necklace now. As he was about to touch it he feels as if there's something behind him, he feels cold air on the back of his neck and he slowly turns around.

[What.. The.. HELL IS THAT?!]

A humanoid creature was in front of him, it was at least 7 feet tall, it was white and dirty, it was insanely skinny, it's bones were visible, spikes ran along its stomach and back, it looked as if they would poke through its skin any moment now, it's arms and legs were the only place it's bones weren't visible, they looked like tree roots, it's face resembled that of a dead person, it's cheeks were sunken, it had no teeth, at least it didn't seem so. It's eyes were hollowed out and it's head grew into a mushroom hat.

[What do I do?]

"G-go-gold.. Ey-eye.. Wh-ere."

[Gold eye? This thing around my neck?]

It extended its hand gesturing Dohyun to give the eye to it.

"Uh, sorry I'm not sure what you want..?"

It put its hand down.

"G-give me-m-me. Eye."

"Sorry, I haven't seen one."

It towers over him slowly lifting its hand again. Dohyun shuts his eyes instinctively, feeling the hand touch the top of his head slowly patting it.

"Y-you ha-ave good da-day."

It slowly walks away, it's steps being less heavy.

"Ahh, geugeo museowo-"

The eye around his necks returns to normal and unwraps itself, it does a little happy dance in the air then rubs itself against Dohyun's face. Dohyun gently grabs it patting the top of it not knowing what else to do, it was clear that it was harmless and was scared of that mushroom thing— he walked to the pond looking at his reflection, he wasn't normal either.

"Eh? What the-"

He splashed his face with water getting his mask and veil wet. He did this more than once before finally accepting what was on him. He wore a black mask with a dark red veil in front of it with the word, "시력" in bright red, red eyeshadow on his lower eyelid, and golden horns that were as long as his hands that were tainted slightly red. Seeing his horns he wondered if he also had a tail, sure enough he had a tail that looked like what was assumed the devils tail.

[How'd I not notice this before-]

He pulls up his hood and turns around continuing on his walk to a city or town, the eye follows him. It isn't like the book, it seems as if it can't talk.

"Hey uh, eyeball creature thing- do you know where the nearest town is?"

It nods and starts leading Dohyun, in a little over an hour they arrive at a small town. It's clean and has plants covering the whole town, plants with eyes in the middle, plants that can talk, plants that turned into furniture, plants that were walking and starting conversations, just plants. The people there all looked strange in a way, whether their limbs were distorted, they were crawling with eyes, they had no eyes, they had more body parts, they had body parts not belonging to a human, everybody was out of the ordinary.

Dohyun looks at everyone person and thing, taking in every detail. He looks forward and sees someone in a hood run his way, they slam into each other making Dohyun fall back but the stranger manages to catch him in time.

"There he is!! Grab him and bring him back!!"

The stranger seems to freak out and grabs Dohyun's wrist dragging him away with them into a crowd of people, the stranger pulls Dohyun into an alleyway and behind a dumpster. The stranger covers Dohyun's mouth and signals him to be quiet.

[The people chasing this guy were obviously guards, are they a wanted criminal?]

"I think he went this way!! Remember we bring him straight to the Emperor!!"

The stranger waits a minute before removing his hand from Dohyun's mouth and removing his hood. Dohyun took in his details carefully.

The stranger wore a glove on his right hand and had a tattoo of a snake covered in flowers on his left arm, he had pretty hands and a red string bracelet that had a rose on it, they wore black boots that were covered in dirt, dark blue jeans, and a black turtle neck shirt (long sleeved), he had pure white hair that was tied in a small ponytail and gold eyes, he was pretty tall too, 6'1.

[He sure is pretty, not handsome but pretty.]

"I'm so sorry, are you alright?"

"Doesn't matter, who are you and why're you being chased?"

"Uhh.. It's complicated, just trust me when I say I'm not a criminal."

"Sure, so why'd you drag me with you on your fun little chase with some guards?"

"If you had saw that I was being chased by guards wouldn't you have told them the way I went?"

"No, I'd mind my own business"

"Well I couldn't have taken that risk-"

Dohyun rolls his eyes and slightly struggles to get away from the back of the dumpster, he dusts off dirt on his clothes and remembers he had a flying eyeball that was with him, where'd it go? He reached into his pocket to see if it was there and sure enough it was, it was shaking in fear. It wrapped around Dohyun's finger rubbing against it as it calms down.

[Guess it doesn't intend on leaving me.]

"Hey, that's.. Isn't that an SG?"

"A what?"

"Gosh Im gonna butcher It's name so badly- Soobag- know what, forget it I'll just write it down."

He takes out a notepad and quill and writes the name down.

"Subaegman Goldeu?"

"Yes! That!"

[A Korean name? Definitely a strange one too. Doesn't fit this little guy at all]

"How'd you get it? Or- is it a girl or a boy?"

[It has a gender?]

"Uh, I don't know. I kinda just found it in the woods, I have no idea what it is."

"Guess that makes sense, they don't really talk about them in schools and any books about them belong to researchers and royalty. Mind if I have it for a bit?"

Dohyun shrugs and removes it from his finger handing it to the man, they look at it from different angles then gently dragged their finger under the eye, it reveals what looks like 2 pairs of teeth that are made of flesh instead of bone.

"It's a girl, sorry young lady. She's 8 years old, she should be able to develop soon. You should name her cause it seems like she won't be leaving you anytime soon, just make sure no one sees her or people will try to pay or steal her."

"Well what is she?"

"She's a rare species, there's approximately 209 left in the world. We don't know much about them, only that they could've been helpers to one of our goddesses Nahundra and that there are 4 different kinds."

"Interesting, I guess."

She flys over to Dohyun and rests on his shoulder.

"Simple name does it, does Lily work for you?"

She nods rubbing against Dohyun's cheek.

"Hey pretty boy, what's your name?"

"Huh? Uh, I'm Ian."

"Well Ian, if you wanna apologize for bumping into me and dragging me into your chase then pay for a place I can stay in for a bit, and lunch."

"Are you serious?"

"If you refuse I could always turn you in."

Ian checks how much money he has on him and sighs.

"Fine! Come with me."

Dohyun smiles behind his mask in satisfaction and follows Ian out the alleyway, but he feels something move up his leg, he checks but sees nothing. He shrugs it off and keeps walking.

Ian pulls his hood back up as they walk for around 20 minutes, avoiding any area that had guards. They arrive at an inn, it's reasonably sized and not overwhelmingly decorated with plants and flowers. A friendly person at the front desk speaks with someone in French.

The person at the front desk wore a grey turtle neck sweater, their head was split right down the middle and floated off their neck, the inside of their head had plants and eyes coming out of it, the eyes attached to their face had no iris or pupil, just pure white eyes with long white eyelashes and light green long hair that seemed to reach to their lower back.

The other person looked similar to a jester, they had no hair and they also had a split floating head, on their right they had a fully black face but their eye, mouth and eyebrow were bright white and was smiling, the left was opposite of that, the inside of their head had a floating brain, they had a small top hat decorated in plants on their right and wore a suit.

"Hey Ren! Jinx!"

"Oh, hey there Ian, need a place to stay again?"

"Yea uh, could you make it a room for 2 this time?"

"Sure, is it for the guy next to you?"

"Yea, just give us the thing I usually order."

"You got it, I'll come back to you in minute."

They turn around and talk to the other guy in French again, but it seemed more like yelling than talking…

"Hey pretty boy, how old are you? And how do these people know you if you're a criminal?"

"First of all, I'm 17, second of all I already said I'm not a criminal."

"Uh-huh, right."

Ren brings them to their room which already has food and drinks waiting for them.

"Enjoy your stay!"

They sit down at a table and start eating, 2 bowls of Yakisoba with orange chicken, a salad, fried tofu, soup, and 2 cups of peach tea. They finish their food after a bit when Dohyun starts feeling dizzy.

"Hey.. Did you put sleeping pills in my drink when I wasn't looking..?"

"Huh? What're you talking about all of a sudden?"

He struggles to stand up and falls to the ground as he watches his world spin. Some kind of black matter moves up his body and onto his face where only his eyes are visible.

"What the-"

Lily and Ian rush to check on Dohyun. His vision blurs and he closes his eyes for a moment, once he opens them again he's suddenly in a pitch black room, the furniture and people around him are suddenly gone. He blinks and sees figures in the dark. He blinks and they get closer. Blink, closer. Blink. Closer. Closer. And closer. They turn into eyes, all of them stare at Dohyun. Watching his every movement, mirroring his thoughts in their pupils. He hesitantly stands up and goes up to one of the eyes gently touching it. All of the eyes blink and reveal memories of his. Everything becomes suffocating and dead quiet. He stumbles over his feet not knowing where to put his eyes.

He feels the floor below him collapse as the eyes watch him fall into an empty abyss. Arms and hands reach out for him pulling him in deeper. They bury him in the pile of limbs squeezing him tightly. His skin turns pitch black and his clothes are ripped off, his eyes and hair being the only thing visible. He slowly loses consciousness as he hears his name being called.

Dohyun wakes up back in his room gasping for air and coughing. He looks down at the book that brought him to that dream world, it closes by itself now having words in it. The eye smiles and disappears off the cover of the book. Dohyun groans and gets off his bed going into his bathroom.

He locks the bathroom door and looks into the mirror. But he doesn't see the Dohyun he sees in the mirror everyday.

"What. The. FUCK?!!"

|Drift Asleep| Chapter 1: A Strange Dream Part 2