When Leaf woke, he saw that he was standing in the middle of an endless white void. He felt no reason to panic, since he knew it was a dream. After all, a place like this couldn't possibly exist. He looked down at his feet and didn't even see his shadow. He wasn't even sure he was standing on solid ground, in the air, or upside down. Everything just seemed to stretch out into infinity and rendered his sense of direction useless. He could no longer tell up from down.

"Hey! Leaf!" The familiar voice seemed to emanate from everywhere, making it impossible to pinpoint. He turned around (at least he thought he did) and saw a tall figure of a man jogging towards him, out of breath. 

"Brother Nox?"

“I... Finally... Found you...” Nox said in between pants, placing his hands on his knees and trying to catch his breath.

It was his brother, who was fifteen years his senior and terminally ill. He had hair as dark as the night sky that reached down to his shoulders. His sickness made his appearance gaunt, gave his skin a very dull and pale complexion and he was more bones than he was flesh. It was clear to anyone at first sight that the shadow of death loomed close behind this boy at all times, but he always smiled, and was the most gentle person Leaf knew.

“I’m sorry, Leaf.” He apologized after getting his breathing under control. “I didn’t mean for you to get so hurt back there, but I need your help with something.” 

“What do you mean?”

"Walk with me. I'll talk."

Leaf grabbed onto the hem of his brothers shirt and followed his lead in silence, waiting for him to speak. After two very uncomfortable minutes, Nox finally spoke up.

"Leaf... You know I'm going to die soon, right?"

"Mhm." Leaf nodded in affirmation.

"I see..." Nox said, followed by more silence.

.

.

.

"I don't want to die," he admitted. "I know I told you I had made peace with my fate but... Truthfully... I... I really..." He trailed off with rapid shallow breaths as he tried to prevent himself from breaking down and sobbing. Leaf looked up at his brother. He saw Nox visibly grit his teeth. His expression was contorted by a mix of terror, sorrow, despair and burning hatred. It was a far cry from his usual soft and gentle face. Leaf didn't know what to think after seeing such a face coming from his tender brother. 

What he did think however, was 'This dream is really weird.'

As they continued walking into nothing, Leaf saw a man in a suit of iron armor lying face down in a puddle of blood off to the side, holding onto his sword even in death. He watched the corpse as they passed by, but Nox didn't even acknowledge its existence. He only glared forward.

"Do you know the concept of immortality, Leaf?"

Nox looks down at Leaf, who shakes his head.

"It means unending life. You know how all life ends someday, don't you?"

He nods.

"People who are immortal never age. Not even for a second. But that's only biological immortality - fake immortality. They can still be killed and stop thinking. What I want is real immortality. Do know what that is, Leaf?"

Leaf pondered the question for a moment. People die when they are killed. That is an indisputable fact. 

So how do you live even after you've been killed?

He thought back on his brother's words. He thought the phrase "They can still be killed and stop thinking," was redundant. Obviously, you can't think if you're dead, so maybe immortality had something to do with thinking. 

"Umm... If you're thinking... Then you're alive?" Leaf answered uncertainly.

"That's right."

"So if you don't stop thinking you can't die?"

"Yes, that's exactly right."

But don't you stop thinking when you're sleeping?  Do you die then as well? Leaf thought.

"If you're wondering about sleep, then... Well it's kind of hard to explain..." Nox guessed Leaf's thoughts straight away. "Just think of it as death being shy. You're sleeping right now, aren't you?"

True.

"You always dream when you go to sleep, one-hundred percent of the time. It's just that when you wake up, you almost always forget."

"Oh."

"Oh indeed, little Leaf. Oh indeed."

They continued on in silence again. The only thing different this time, was that the surroundings were becoming more and more strewn with corpses. All bodies were clad in iron armor with their swords, shields and spears scattered about. As they continued walking on, the bodies became increasingly disfigured and greater in number. Limbs were separated from their owners and thrown about the place, innards were nowhere near where they belonged and some unfortunates had the their upper torso separated from their lower half.

"When I first found out that I was dying, I studied magic desperately to look for an answer - A way to never die," Nox spoke up out of nowhere. "As you may have already guessed, I never found one. So I had to make one. Unfortunately, there's no way to achieve it within a human's lifetime, let alone mine. So I have to improvise. I needed to obtain biological immortality first, and become powerful enough that not even an army of the world's strongest men could kill me. I need your help to become that strong."

The two brothers now had to walk over corpses. Leaf could fell the still warm blood seep between his toes, and he started to step on things that were moist, spongy and mushy that squelched wherever he tread. He could hazard a guess as to what he was stepping on, but he didn't want to know. With every passing second Leaf's unease and distress increased exponentially, but he tried his best not let it show. 

"You don't need to do much, Leaf. I just need you to open a door for me. That one, just in front of us."

Leaf didn’t pay attention to what door his brother was talking about. He could no longer feel the solid floor below his bare feet. It had devolved into one giant bunch of squishy, grounded meat. His delicate ears picked up every little sound his footsteps took.

Splosh, splash, slop.

The noises put him on edge and tears in his eyes.

Slush, slish, plop.

He was starting to feel sick. He wanted to go home. He wanted to wake up. He wanted to be anywhere but here. 

They stopped in front of a silver and white ornamental double-door that was surrounded by mounds of minced meat and gore, yet it stood sparkling clean - not even a speck of dirt. The contrast was between it and its environment was striking. 

"Anybody with magic in them can't open the door, no matter how hard they try. And I tried. You’re still young and haven’t developed any magic yet, so I need you to open it - but not yet! Push it open when I tell you to." 

Saying so, Nox reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small dagger.

"Are you ready?" Nox asks. "You'll be out of this place when you open the door."

Leaf nodded his head impatiently, wanting to leave as soon as he could. 

Suddenly, a hand shot out through the fleshy ground and wrapped it's cold, bloodied and scrawny fingers around Leaf's ankle. He looked down with tears running down his cheeks, scared out of his wits and saw a man with the flesh torn off from his face with eyes open as wide as saucers, as if they were begging.  He opened his mouth to speak, and blood and bile poured out. 

"DON-" before he could gargle out what he wanted to say, Nox stomped his foot down on the man's skull, which exploded with a loud THUD. Gore and brains covered Nox's foot up to his shin and splattered onto Leaf. 

"Get ready to open the door now, okay?" Nox continued, as if nothing happened.

Leaf placed both hands on the door, desperate to leave. He watched his brother point the small knife towards the top of his heart and plunged it into his chest. Nox suffered in silence as he dragged the knife down his heart.

"OPEN IT! NOW!" Nox cried. As soon as Leaf shoved the doors open he was hit by deafening, high pitched screams and pushed onto his backside by a sudden gale that burst its way through the door. What he saw come out that door wasn't wind, though. It was darkness. The shadows twirled and looped and thrust their way into Nox's open wound and settled in his heart. As he watched the scene unfold, Leaf could've sworn he could make out wicked and evil faces in those dark winds. They kept flying out of the Door and into Nox's heart almost endlessly as the screams just got louder and louder. Eventually, Leaf couldn't hear himself think, and he wasn't even sure if he screamed. The void was filled with ear-piercing demonic screeching that only got louder. He could feel the pounding in his head getting harder and harder as if something from the inside was trying to break out of his skull, as a cacophony of thunderous shrieks and roaring wails assaulted his sanity. The maddening beating of vile drums and the thin monotonous whines of accursed flutes joined in and became twice as loud than the screams.

He passed out.