"Do you know that Iris didn't come today?" Alex suddenly said.
"Hmm? Took a vacation?"
"No, I heard she's 'missing'. Yesterday was fine, but this morning her parents said the bed was empty, she was nowhere to be seen, and the police were called."
Elias was shook. In his dream last night, he had indeed seen a golden-feathered bird engulfed by something in a gray mist-it let out a shrill scream and then disappeared in a red light. He thought at the time that it was just a random monster created by the dream.
"What do you think ... happens if a person dies in a dream?" Elias subconsciously asked.
"Then one would wake up." Alex rolled his eyes, "Don't scare me."
Elias looked down at his palm, the lines seemed to be a little deeper.
This was just the beginning.
At six o'clock in the evening, Elias walked on the path home with his school bag, the sky was cloudy like a stone weighing down his heart. The story of Iris's disappearance kept echoing in his mind, and he couldn't get it out of his head.
He didn't know Iris very well, but she had always been very active in school, and was the kind of person who had a great sense of presence. Suddenly evaporated, no sightings, no clues, just like ... the bird in the dream.
"Can dreams kill?" He asked himself again, but his voice sounded like it was coming from another person.
When he passed through the back alley of the school, he saw a flyer on a pole, on which were printed several "missing person notices" - not only Iris, there are three other unfamiliar students, from different schools, but the time of disappearance are concentrated in this month.
Are they also ... ever dreamed of that forest?
Suddenly, Elias felt a familiar sense of oppression coming from behind him, just like the moment before the panther pounced in his dream yesterday. He turned back violently, the street was empty, only the sound of the wind brushing through the dead leaves.
No, something was watching him.
He walked home at a fast pace, his palms sweating along the way, as if something was following his shadow.
In the night, the dream came again.
Elias opened his eyes to find himself in the familiar gray forest, with rotting, damp fallen leaves under his feet and the smell of scorch and rust in the air. He looked down and saw that he had become the raven again, feathers clinging to his body, but inside he was calmer than last time.
He knew what he was up against.
A figure flashed by in the treetops. Alertly, he spread his wings and leapt into mid-air, dodging the remnants of a sharp claw slash. A panther with a fiery body jumped out of the shrubs, its fangs glowing coldly in the moonlight.
It was no ordinary dream beast, it was a Huntress.
"Newcomer." The Leopard growled lowly, its voice hoarse and with a certain twisted pleasure,
"You have an unawakened energy in you, it's fresh."
Elias didn't respond, remembering what the fox had said: when the hunt begins, any words are superfluous.
He lifted his wings and flew up, crossing the gaps between the branches. The Leopard was in hot pursuit, its form leaping quickly through the forest like a shadow.
" You won't get away!" The Leopard roared, "You don't understand the rules here! Death in a dream is the true end!"
The moment it was about to pounce, a silver light came from the side-
"Run!"
It was the Fox.
It pounced on the Leopard and rolled and tangled with it in the forest. Elias took the opportunity to fly up to a high branch and looked back, only to see that the Fox's left front leg had been torn, and blood dripped onto the fallen leaves like starlight in the dark night.
"Don't dawdle, go!" The Fox roared.
Elias suppressed his fear and followed the fox as he weaved his way until they came to a lake. The lake was red and faintly glowing, reflecting the crack in the sky - it was a huge black slit, like the sky had been torn open.
The Fox collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, "He's a member of the 'Devourers', specializing in hunting newcomers who have just entered the dream world. If you die, the reality of you ... will disappear and no one will remember that you existed."
"Who is the Devourer?" Li Ming asked, his voice trembling.
"An organization, a group of ability users. They don't want this world to sustain itself. They believe: only by killing all the Dream Shadows will the real world be rebooted - a complete relief from the chaos, from the suffering."
Elias stared at the lake, and a blurry face emerged on the surface of the lake - Iris. He was stunned, and those eyes seemed to be begging for help.
"Is she already dead?"
"Her dream shadow was devoured, and reality naturally ... evaporated."
"Why does no one know this?" He roared.
"Those who know, aren't around anymore." The Fox said calmly, "The secrets of this world belong only to those who survive."
Elias fell silent. He suddenly realized a horrible truth: he now had the lives of two worlds, and in both worlds, there were people who wanted to take away his existence.
"What am I going to do?"
"Live." The Fox replied.
"And then what?"
The Fox licked his wound, "And then you'll realize that staying alive is the hardest choice of all."