"Did I die and get Isekaied?"Dave wondered to himself. He had read many manga and manhwa where people get isekai-ed unexpectedly to a magical world, but he never thought the same would happen to him. Heck, he never even believed something like that could happen in real life.
Dave took a deep breath to calm himself down, 'Well, it's probably not isekai or something, I must be just dreaming, but strangely it doesn't feel like a dream. I don't know how to say this, but I feel strangely Lucid?'
Dave's eyes widened in understanding,' Wait, Lucid, this must be a Lucid dream, and there was that mysterious voice as well. What did it say? Something like where dreams become a reality and reality becomes a dream? What does that even mean?'
Dave never had a lucid dream before; he had heard about it, but he had never personally experienced one. He was very confused and wanted some answers.
He decided to explore the island, which was enormous. From where he stood, he could see a small forest, a winding river, and a modest town. The buildings there weren't medieval in style; they looked distinctly modern.
Which cemented the idea that it was just a dream and he, in fact, didn't die in his sleep and got isekaied,' Bummer, I wanted to leave my miserable life behind and go on some adventure. Turns out that's not possible.' He chuckled at his own thoughts and went on his way.
As Dave continued on his journey, he saw many odd things along his way: people were flying on origami cranes, and some were traveling from Island to Island on paper boats and planes. 'How can something as brittle as paper carry that much weight?'
He even saw some people going inside the shell of an enormous snail, and those snails were super fast. It looked more like a car than a snail. Dave was enjoying his weird dream.
Soon, Dave saw two people arguing about something near the forest. He was curious how they would react to him since they were just a piece of his imagination.
As he approached, they noticed him and grew wary; one drew a gun, and another unsheathed a saber. Dave froze for a moment, stunned by their reaction, but quickly regained his composure and stepped forward with an easy smile.
Their reactions were exactly opposite; the closer he got to them, the more tense they became.
"Stay back," one of them shouted with a stern voice. The man stood with a quiet, commanding presence, his long white hair cascading down his back like a stream of moonlight. Each strand seemed to catch the air as he moved, flowing with a grace that felt almost otherworldly. His face was sharp and calm, yet his golden eyes shattered that serenity—they gleamed like a predator's, keen and alert, as if measuring every motion around him.
His attire looked as though it had been lifted from the pages of a wuxia legend—robes of soft, layered silk that fluttered gently in the breeze, bound at the waist with a dark sash. The fabric bore faint patterns of clouds and dragons, embroidered in silver thread that shimmered when the light touched it. Despite the old-world elegance of his clothes, there was nothing ornamental about him; every fold, every strap seemed designed for movement, for combat.
"I don't care who you are or which organization you belong to, but if you come any closer than this, I will not hesitate to pull the trigger", warned the man holding the gun. The man's hair was the first thing Dave noticed—a wild, airy mass of blue that seemed to defy gravity, soft and light like spun sugar. It caught the light with every movement, shimmering faintly as though it were made of threads of cotton candy rather than hair.
His eyes, a vivid and unnatural orange, burned with restless energy. Glowing like molten metal beneath the shade of his lashes.
He wore clothes chosen for comfort rather than appearance—an oversized hoodie, soft joggers, and well-worn sneakers, all in muted tones that only made his hair and eyes stand out more.
Dave was taken aback, but he didn't let it show; his expression remained calm, a faint smile still on his lips. He slowly raised his hands to show he was unarmed, hoping to ease their tension.
"Easy, gentlemen. I mean no harm," Dave said with a gentle smile. "I just have a few questions, if you'd be kind enough to answer them."
The two men exchanged a glance. "What do you want? We're busy. Get lost."
Dave felt irritation rising. 'What the hell? Why are they acting like this? They're just part of my imagination… right? Still, I need information. Maybe I should ask them about this place. I don't really know how lucid dreams work, but it can't hurt to try.'
"Gentlemen, please don't be like that; it will only take a few minutes. Do you know where exactly we are, and how to get out of this place?"
The two men gave Dave a strange look, as if he'd just asked something so obvious that even a child would know the answer. Then the cotton-candy-haired one's expression shifted with sudden realization. "Ah, you're one of those Naturals, aren't you?"
Dave frowned. "Natural?" he echoed, clearly puzzled.
The cottoncandy head chuckled, "It means you are a lucid dreamer who has been lucid dreaming for years before being suddenly dragged here."
Dave was confused 'Why are people from my imagination talking about lucid dreaming?'
"No, this is my first time. I have never had a lucid dream till now."
"What? How does that make sense? If you are not a natural and not a legacy as well, then how do you-", before the cottencandy head finished speaking, his companion stopped him and asked with a friendly smile, "My friend, did you eat some kind of mushroom before coming here?"
Dave noticed that the smile didn't reach his eyes; he was giving him an obvious fake smile, but he replied to him nonetheless, "Mushroom? Yes, now that I think about it, I did eat some mushrooms for dinner."
Once he said that, he noticed the two strangers' eyes widened in surprise, and then they turned sharp, looking at Dave with a greedy look. Then they bombarded him with questions.
"What's your name? Where are you from? Are you married? What about your parents? Do you have any siblings?" They were all personal questions.
Dave was taken aback, 'What is going on? If they are a part of my imagination, shouldn't they then know the answers to these questions already?' Dave was starting to get nervous, so he decided to get away from them as soon as possible.
"Gentlemen, I just remembered something I had to do. If possible, let's meet again.", Dave decided to walk away slowly, but the two strangers quickly stopped him.
"No, my friend, let us escort you, we can talk along the way", one of them was standing in front of him, while the other was standing behind him; he was basically surrounded.
Dave began to panic. He no longer understood what was happening, but he was certain of one thing—he wasn't going with them. As he struggled to decide what to do, his face contorted in horror, his whole body trembling. The two strangers noticed the sudden change in his expression and hesitated, ready to ask what was wrong.
"What the hell is that thing?" He screamed in horror, pointing his finger behind the cotton-candy-haired man, who was standing in front of Dave.
As soon as they heard him, the white-haired man darted toward the cotton-candy-haired one to get a clear view past Dave. Both men turned to look at the spot Dave was pointing. A nervous tension gripped them; something in Dave's voice convinced them that something truly terrible stood behind them.
They readied their weapon to face whatever abomination was waiting for them, but there was nothing but trees. They were confused and looked at Dave to ask for an explanation, but when they turned around, all they saw was Dave running with everything he had.
They were surprised, then it slowly dawned on them that they had been tricked. Their expression distorted into anger, and the white haired man screamed at the top of his lungs, "Bastard, how dare you trick us!"
The man with the cotton-candy head grew even more furious. He pulled out his gun and fired at Dave. The bullet tore through Dave's left hand, grazing past but ripping away a chunk of flesh.
The white hair stopped his partner from firing again, "Wait! We need him alive, let's go after him and try not to shoot him."
The cotton-candy-haired man nodded, and they both started chasing Dave.
Dave, meanwhile, was panicking because the pain was real, he was still wearing the same clothes he had when he went to sleep, and the white shirt was slowly turning crimson where the bullet had hit him. 'Dammit, what's going on? Why does it hurt this much? Isn't this supposed to be a dream? But Dave had already realized that this was not a dream but something else entirely.
He soon heard footsteps behind him, and he glanced behind his back to see the two strangers following him, and the worst part is that they would swiftly catch up to him. Dave considered himself to be healthy; he went to the gym a few times a week to work out, and his stamina was by no means low, but the strangers were quickly catching up.
Deep in the forest, Dave zigzagged through the trees, changing direction unpredictably to throw off his pursuers. His erratic path began to gain him ground as the dense canopy swallowed him from view. Just as he thought he had finally lost them, the earth started to tremble beneath his feet.