A Dream Within A Dream

Gonyaul looked away from the wreckage that was left of his body and saw nothing but darkness. All signs of the daemon had gone and the twisted stone faces returned to their default state, no longer seeming as if they were watching Gonyaul.

He dared again to bring his trembling hands up to his face, expecting to see the marks of the insects' assault, but there was nothing... just the smooth, unbroken surface of his skin. He was drenched in sweat, his hair plastered to his forehead, and his clothes clinging uncomfortably to his skin. Wait... As he looked around, he saw that he was back on the floor in the stone hut.

His heart raced, pounding against his ribcage like a wild beast trying to escape. For a few disorienting moments, he lay there, his chest heaving, eyes darting around the darkened confines of the hut. The cold, oppressive weight of the dream still lingered, the phantom pain of bites and stings making his skin crawl. He saw light coming in from the door, which was cracked... open.

When he went to open it and looked out, he expected to see the beach village, but instead he saw an endless chasm of flame. The hut seemed to be suspended above a desolation of scorched earth, cracked and barren, dotted with sparse twisted skeletal trees, obsidian cliffs and spires of rock, and an ocean of lava. It was like a hellish and disturbing reflection of the world that should have been outside his door.

Staring at the burning shores, he saw the immolated forms of human skeletons. They were crawling... crawling up the beach toward the hut. He shut the door to distance himself from the horror and nightmarish sights, and as he did, there was an eruption of sound and flame in the distance that turned everything white. He barred the door with his back, and a moment later, the stone hut was rocked by an immense blast that shattered it to pieces, and all fell silent.

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Gonyaul woke up once again on the floor of his stone hut to the sound of the door opening.