Having finished with the day’s lectures, Nathan collected his textbooks, bade farewell to Roger, and quickly left the university grounds to head home. Fortunately, the dark and heavy rainclouds of the morning were nowhere to be seen. It was still cloudy, but not cloudy enough to have another downpour.
With one foot outside the campus gate, Nathan took a long glance at the concrete building that housed the university’s library and lightly shook his head before leaving.
It was still halfway through the day, and his schedule was relatively open. He could have gone to the library and gotten some more research done, but considering how things had turned out, Nathan opted to take his leave instead.
He needed some alone time to think, and, just for today, the library wasn’t going to help him with that. Having decided, he took a long walk through the buzzing city streets.
Even though half a day had already passed, the walkways were still wet from the rainstorm, with puddles of water lying here and there. Taking a deep breath, Nathan would have been quite refreshed, had it not been for the putrid stench wafting out of the garbage bin in the distance.
Clicking his tongue more in disgust than in annoyance, Nathan decided to extend his walk through the park, where the city’s heavy atmosphere lessened. ‘Do I even have anything better to do?’ He mused while walking down the murky streets. The park wasn’t too far away from his current location, and, with everything going on lately, he was in desperate need of a break. Besides, having left his previous job, he had nothing better to do anyway.
Making his way through one of the park’s gates, the first thing to catch Nathan’s attention other than the massive oak trees scattered around was the sign casually hanging by the entrance. Owlwing Park, it read in big white letters painted over a brown wooden plate. And, right below it, a short explanation regarding where the park’s name originated from was etched onto a massive stump.
Taking a step closer to the wooden stump, Nathan read through its contents. ‘How surprising,’ according to the sign, the park wasn’t named after the owls taking residence inside the oak trees, but due to this place being their hunting ground. Squirrels and other small animals mainly reside in the forest, attracting the owls’ attention. And, if one were to pass through the park at night, they might even hear hooting from amidst the foliage.
Following the gravel-paved path, Nathan marveled at the abundance of colors. Red, yellow, and brown leaves were all over the place. Most of them had already fallen to the ground due to the weather, but a good amount still held on tight to the tree branches. Unlike the city streets, the high humidity inside the park brought out all sorts of scents in the air, including the light fragrance of petrichor bursting out of the muddy ground.
Filling his lungs with fresh oxygen, Nathan’s worries melted away and, while he couldn’t sit on the wet wooden benches, taking a walk through the forest was quite comfortable.
“Phew~” Exhaling the baleful air that had accumulated over time inside his body, all his burdens seemed to float away along with it. ‘Come to think of it, so many things have happened lately that I had no time to digest it all…’ Staring at the cloudy skies, Nathan slowly recalled one event after the other.
His fight against the nightmarish creature that haunted his dreams, his first meeting with Ayla, escaping from the seven-eyed dogs, being fired by Henry, and taking sweet revenge for it… Even Mr. Juggling Dude. All sorts of memories surfaced in Nathan’s mind, and, even though they may sound like a lot, everything happened in less than a week. ‘I have gone through quite a lot these past few days…’ And now, Nathan had another thing on his plate.
‘Should I accept Professor Corwell’s offer?’ It was really hard for him to decline such a tempting deal. If he signed up for the History department, he could kill not two, but three birds with one stone. First and foremost, translating Chayum would be a piece of cake… Probably. Second, getting hired as an assistant researcher entitled him to a salary no worse than what Henry had been paying him, and finally, Nathan’s schedule would open up, allowing room for extra activities.
‘It’s really good, but...’ He was hesitant nonetheless. Forget about the bad rumors circulating around Professor Corwell, Chayum’s contents weren’t something he could disclose freely. And, until Nathan understood what was recorded inside it, the book was no better than a double-edged sword right now.
‘Corwell isn’t doing this out of the good will of his heart; if he isn’t satisfied with the book’s contents, I don’t know how long he’ll let me act as his assistant…’ Nathan’s mind swirled like a vortex, searching for the best way to deal with it. Alas...
“Sigh… No point worrying over it,” letting out another sigh, Nathan recalled how he should be relaxing right now and decided to drop the matter. Resting with his eyes closed for a moment, his ears picked up the sound of birds chirping as well as the ruffling of leaves as a small gust of wind fazed through them.
‘Besides, there are more pressing matters at hand…’ His sister’s crying figure surfaced inside Nathan’s mind. He hadn’t forgotten about it, how could he? Hannah was the main driving force behind Nathan’s motivation.
Having left her behind in that madness-inducing house was already unacceptable, but forgetting about her because he was going through rough times? That was simply pathetic on his part. ‘Man, I really am an awful brother…’ Just the thought of leaving her alone for a year with ‘them’ was enough to bring Nathan’s rage to a boiling point. ‘Leaving her behind was my bad, I’ll admit that much. However,’ slowly opening his eyes, a fire could be seen burning inside them.
‘I am no longer the man I used to be. Even if it kills me, I will no longer let you suffer at their hands.’ Resenting himself, Nathan wished for nothing more than to set things right. Before it was too late at least…
‘Tomorrow, not only will I submit my application to the history department,’ pulling a crumbled flyer out of his jean’s pocket, Nathan glanced at the ‘postman wanted’ ad on the back and gritted his teeth. The interview would be tomorrow, and, if things went well, he would have another source of income. Whether it would have decent pay or not, that was another matter altogether. But…
‘If they hire me, I am coming to get you, Hannah!’ He mumbled inwardly and moved along the gravel-paved path. Different from the cloudy skies, his mind was now clear, no longer troubled by what he had to do. At least in this world…
~~~
Having taken the longest walk of his life, Nathan returned home only when dusk had fallen. He took a quick shower to drive off the sweat accumulated on his body and prepared a light meal before tucking into bed.
‘There better be no dogs this time around,’ he thought and closed his eyes, waiting for sleepiness to take him away. ‘Or annoying blobs,’ still waiting… ‘Or anything in general,’ and waiting. Opening his eyes slowly, Nathan’s eyes reflected the screen of his phone as he checked the time.
“I can’t sleep…” Well, of course, it was only nine in the evening, what did he expect to happen? Turning in his bed, Nathan realized it wasn’t going to work and stood up. ‘Unbelievable.’ It wasn’t really; ever since he defeated the nightmare, Nathan had pretty much slumbered for the most of five days.
Never mind his tiredness going away, even his sunken features had somewhat returned to normal skinny Nathan. Putting on a pair of slippers, he walked to the kitchen and took a long glance at the half-empty bottle of whiskey. Shaking his head, Nathan looked away; he would only drink when he needed it. Who knows? Now that he had access to Erion, he might end up having another nightmare in the future.
‘A cup of tea will do…’ He was in the mood for something sweet and soothing instead of straight-up alcohol. Turning the boiler on, he filled it with a cup’s worth of tap water and let it boil. “Tea~ Tea and honey~” humming a happy tune, Nathan picked out everything he needed from the cupboards and shelves and patiently waited for a minute or two.
With a steaming cup of tea in one hand, he took the chance to look at the busy night streets for a while. Curses, horns, and loud yells could be heard in the distance, making Nathan think. ‘The city never changes...’ Taking in everything, he enjoyed his cup of tea, stretched like a cat ready to sleep, and hid under the heavy covers for the second time.
~~~
‘I can’t breathe?’ Was the first thing Nathan noticed as he slowly opened his droopy eyelids. Different from what he expected to see, the endlessly white ceiling was blocked from his view by a small and round white blob. A horrid sense of foreboding passed through his very being as he hastily raised his hands to his face.
Unwilling to suffocate by blob, Nathan easily plucked the squishy round creature out of his face and threw it away, uncaring of where it would land. Gasping for air, he glared at the seemingly unaffected blob. ‘How did THAT get here?!’ More surprised than anything else, Nathan pulled out the only knife he had left.
With the knife pointed at the weird creature from Erion’s streets, Nathan conjured a new theory. ‘Not only items, but even creatures can enter this place?’ Just the thought of waking up to a seven-eyed dog gnawing at his limbs was more than enough to drive terror into Nathan’s very being. ‘I need to be more careful about where I sleep from now on…’ Not just the dogs, but if something worse like Nathan’s first nightmare made it in here, he wouldn’t be able to get a wink of sleep.
‘I need to figure out this damn place’s rules… And fast!’ Wishing there was someone to teach him all he needed to know about this place, a name crossed Nathan’s mind. ‘Elliot Goodsky.’ From all the humans he knew of, Elliot was the only person who may have some knowledge about this place.
At least that’s what his gut told him. ‘Should I approach him after all?’ He pondered inwardly, making wild guesses about whether it was a good idea or not. This wasn’t the first time Nathan had that thought, actually. He had already considered searching for that Elliot guy since a while ago but, without having a full picture of what he was getting himself dragged into, he felt slightly hesitant to make contact with anyone.
‘Yeah, look where that got you, Nathan…’ Staring at the blob flailing quietly in the distance, Nathan slowly approached it. If there was one thing he was certain about, it was that the creature before him was mostly harmless.
‘What do I do with this… Should I just throw it outside?’ Taking a quick glance at the sole door of the white room, Nathan poked the little guy twice, and promptly shuddered when its tiny toothless maw opened in an attempt to bite his finger. ‘Is it adapting?!’ Recalling the lethal blow (with zero actual damage) it had done to his nether regions, Nathan couldn’t help retrieving his hand. ‘It doesn’t like to be poked…’ Well, that much was obvious, but what could he do? It was quite addicting…
Nudging it with his finger on the opposite side, he couldn’t help chuckling as it uselessly turned to defend its backside. ‘Would it be bad if I just kept it...’ From the first moment he’d met it inside the cramped alley, the blob had never outright shown signs of aggression against him. It did try to suffocate him once today, but it wasn’t clear whether it had done so intentionally or not. “Sigh…” Gazing at the white ceiling, Nathan allowed the little guy to bite his finger. It was painless. ‘Oh well, since you are here already, you might as well stay. I bet Ayla would like to give you a poke, hehe.’ Leaving the little guy to his own devices, Nathan sat cross-legged a few meters away and focused on the beating of his heart.
‘Speaking of Ayla, I wonder how those things can be used as a form of power?’ Lying inside the white room, the only place where Nathan’s mind was clear enough to sense the soul threads residing in his heart, he was ready to try out a few things with them.
