1 The Beginning

('Where am I?') These were Ron's first thoughts as he opened his eyes. He looked around and found himself in a forest with a clear blue sky. He then looked at himself and found himself dressed in a blue training jacket and blue training pants and sneakers.

('Am I dreaming?') Ron thought to himself. It wasn't the first time Ron was dreaming and all he could remember was going to bed last night, Ron also didn't remember if he drank any alcohol during the night.

"Well atleast my clothes came with me," Ron muttered as he stood up. It would definitely be an awkward dream if he was naked in a forest, could one even get sick inside a dream? Ron didn't want to be the first one to find out.

As Ron was about to question how he got here a screen popped up in front of him with a message.

"WELCOME TO THE TOWER OF WISHES WHERE ALL YOUR WISHES CAN COME TRUE,YOU HAVE DIED AND HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES TO ENTER THE TOWER OF WISHES"

('I died!? What is this weird dream?) Ron was miffed, of course he would be, waking up in a forest and then a message saying he died? It had to be a dream. Before Ron could think about waking up the message continued.

"ANYTHING YOU CAN THINK OF CAN BE WISHED USING WISH POINTS AND THE WAY TO EARN THESE POINTS IS THROUGH ACHIEVEMENTS, IF YOU WANT TO WISH SOMETHING SIMPLY THINK WISH STORE IN YOUR MIND, BE WARNED WISH STORE CAN ONLY BE ACCESSED OUTSIDE OF COMBAT".

And with that the screen and message disappeared and Ron was left with even more questions.

('Tower of wishes? I can wish for anything? And a warning about combat?') Ron thought that this was one of those weird lucid dreams he had heard about where the person would basically be a god inside their own dreams.

('Wish store') Ron said in his mind and a screen popped up.

"WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO WISH FOR? CURRENT WISH POINTS ARE 0.

('Well it works also I apparently have 0 points?') Ron thought inwardly. Well he might as well try and see what would happen if he made a wish. Maybe it would wake him up?

"I wish to fly" It was a simple wish that almost everyone wanted when they were lucid dreaming, flying would be awesome.

"CALCULATING….. THE PRICE FOR FLIGHT DEPENDENT ON METHOD OF FLIGHT SEE LIST FOR FURTHER EXPLANATION". A list popped up with all kinds of methods of flight raging between a few thousand wish points to even millions of wish points.

"Whoa didn't think this dream would be this extensive" Ron exclaimed surprised. This was definitely one of the more advanced lucid dreams he ever had.

*owooooo*

Suddenly Ron heard some kind of howling in the distance. ('I hope that wasn't what I think it was right?') Ron was starting to feel afraid that this dream was more dangerous than he believed. Ron summoned the wish store once more and decided he didn't want to take any chances anymore.

"I wish to wake up" Ron stated to the wish store, It was a bummer to have to wake up from this good of a lucid dream but if he was lucid and attacked by what he thinks are wolves he would never sleep again in fear of nightmares.

"INCORRECT WISH USER IS ALREADY AWAKE PLEASE WISH FOR SOMETHING ELSE". The message was like a gut punch to Ron who started to panic a little bit that he was really stuck in a dream.

"I wish to return home" Ron stated to the store, hoping that this would finally wake him up.

"INCORRECT WISH USER CANNOT LEAVE THE WISH TOWER PLEASE WISH FOR SOMETHING ELSE". He also couldn't leave this place, a dark thought came to Ron when he remembered the first message he received when he woke up.

('It can't be that I actually died right?') Ron was still a little skeptical about that message and who wouldn't be? Life after supposed death? Who would believe that?

"So how did I apparently 'die'?" Ron muttered unconsciously he had no recollection of dying. It would probably be a memorable event, he guessed.

"CALCULATING... THE PRICE FOR INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DEATH IS 0. WARNING MEMORIES OF DEATH ARE CURRENTLY SEALED AS THOSE MEMORIES ARE OFTEN TRAUMATIC, DO YOU WISH TO UNLOCK THEM?"

Ron still had the store open so it took his muttering as a wish, as Ron read the warning he had a really bad feeling that this really wasn't a dream.

"Well I suppose I should see how I 'died' " Ron still hadn't fully accepted that he had 'died' so he thought if this was a dream maybe this would wake him up?

"Unlock them" Ron said in and his vision disappeared. In that split second when his vision disappeared he felt relieved that it really was all a dream.

It was Saturday morning about 8 in the morning as Ron opened his eyes and saw the familiar room and bed he woke up in, his room and bed in his apartment.

"Man what a weird dream" Ron muttered as he rose from his bed. He had just dreamed he was in a forest and could wish for anything he wanted with points or something like that.

('Luckily it really was a dream') Ron thought as he got up from his bed and brushed his teeth.

in his bathroom.

Ron was a man of habit and never really went outside his routine. He worked an office job from Monday through Friday. Played games, watched some anime or read some fantasy fiction books in his spare time or went out with friends or family if he was invited, he kept decent contact with them.

Ron had no work to do on a Saturday so after his breakfast he went on a morning run. Ron wasn't the most athletic person but had made the standard new years goal of getting into shape. Ron was a little overweight due to the winter holidays and poor eating habits, other than that Ron had short brown hair, black eyes and was 23 years old.

Ron threw on his training jacket, pants and some sneakers as it currently was February and it was still pretty cold outside during this time. As he went on his run he started to reflect on the dream he had.

('I'm such a moron, I could've wished for anything even to be away from those scary sounds') Ron thought as he criticized himself during the dream. Such a lucid dream was only a once in a lifetime opportunity and he got scared and wanted to return.

('I could've lived out a fantasy for as long as I wanted but no I got scared and wanted to return to comfort and simplicity'). Ron sometimes wished he could live like a fantasy character and do all sorts of cool and fun things. Maybe it wasn't healthy to have these thoughts but a man could dream and fantasize right?

While jogging for 30 minutes there strangely wasn't a lot of traffic or even other runners even though the sun was out and no clouds when Ron woke up. While Ron was so busy kicking himself mentally he didn't notice the sky turning dark rapidly and continued on his run until he noticed rain falling on him.

"Dammit I didn't check the weather" Ron cursed as he was too engrossed in his thoughts about the dream until he started to become soaked and started to run back to his home. No wonder he didn't see other runners; they all checked the news.

*Bang* The sky lit up for a split second and a booming noise was heard 2 seconds later.

"Great now also a lightning storm too" Ron said as he was still running towards his home.

Ron suddenly had a dark thought as he was running back home and paused in his tracks.

('In the dream I had it said I had 'died' and I remember wanting to see how I 'died' so I accepted the message and then woke up right?').

Fear slammed into Ron as he realized what was happening to him, he looked up at the dark sky and another flash came and went with another booming sound this time it sounded even closer than before.

('Don't tell me…..') Ron started to panic as he came to a dark realization about how he might have 'died'.

He started to sprint back home. Flashes in the sky started to become more frequent and to Ron it sounded even more ominous and dangerous than ever before.

10 agonizing minutes had passed and Ron's lungs felt like they were on fire, luckily he was just around the corner of his apartment complex and could even see it in the distance. Just as he saw his apartment complex the sky and surroundings lit up brighter than even during the day.

For a split second Ron's eyes went to the sky and saw the light descending into him.

*BANG* Lighting struck Ron directly and the pain was instantly there.

"AAAHhhhh..." Ron screamed as the lightning slammed into him, his scream quickly died out as his entire body burned, he couldn't control a single muscle as he fell to the ground. Ron started to spasm uncontrollably on the ground, the nerves inside his body screaming in pain.

Seconds felt like minutes to Ron and after what felt like hours Ron faded into unconsciousness.

*GASP* Ron's eyes shot open as he gasped for fresh air. The stench of burning flesh still in his nose was quickly gone as if it was never there. Ron fell to his knees and slowly started to breathe again.

*huff* *huff* Ron started to pant as his body was still feeling pain, tingling and shaking from the whole ordeal, feeling the pain slowly eb from his body and control started to return Ron suddenly began to dry heave.

*Blech* Ron started to vomit and began to panic once more when he saw what he had thrown up, it was his breakfast he had eaten earlier before going on his run. He finally realized it was all real and not a dream he had died and now was stuck here.

"Fuck!" Ron cursed loudly as he even began to tear up. He had just died and lost everything and everyone he had ever cared for, died due to a bolt of electricity from the sky, he wasn't killed by someone with a gun or knife, no nature is what did him in.

After a good 30 minutes of sitting there and silently crying to himself Ron and remembering his whole life he slowly started to piece himself back together.

"Alright enough moping around I guess this is my life now." Ron muttered as he stood back up.

*DING* A screen popped up in front of Ron, this time with an alarm-like sound that didn't appear before.

"What is this? Oh right the messages" Ron said as he looked and it seemed like a notification had been sent to him. He could see a '!' with a 1 next to it in the corner of his eyes. The message seemed to follow as he tried to turn his head to look at it.

('How do I open it?') Ron thought and as soon as he did the message opened in front of him.

"CONGRATULATION YOU HAVE GAINED THE ACHIEVEMENT NAMED 'ACCEPTING THE PAST' FOR REGAINING. YOUR MEMORIES OF DEATH YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED 2,500 WISH POINTS".

"Oh right I gain wish points with achievements" Ron said surprised. In all the excitement he had completely forgotten about those.

"I actually got points from remembering my own death" Ron muttered and was a little freaked out. He had played games before and knew what achievements probably entailed but seeing one now he realized that he might have underestimated the difficulty of achievements.

"If all of these achievements are this difficult I really need to become stronger mentally and physically." Ron came to the conclusion. The first time he died was horrible enough and he didn't want to experience it again. He was lucky the first time. Who knows if there was a third chance at life?