"Do you think you can escape us, little dark one?"
"Ahh, Ahhh, Ahh…"
The sound of heavy breathing resonated through the snowy pine forest as a figure rapidly weaved amongst the trees, cold breath escaping his lungs.
It was a snow-white-haired figure, his face red from the cold, his lips frozen like ice blocks.
Yet, when one looked at his face, it wasn't pain that would be sighted.
No!
It was fear—the ultimatum of fear and horror lingering in those dual-coloured irises.
BAAAAAM!
A loud sound of collision rang out as Ryuk's left foot tripped on a tree, sending him face-flat onto the snow-white ground.
Yet, he dared not waste a single second as he frantically rose from the ground and kept sprinting forward.
"Your efforts are futile, little dark one."
The voice resonated from behind as he kept running, soon appearing before an area of thorny pines.
As he ran frantically through them, they dipped into his coat, hanging onto his skin.
Yet, he dared not stop as he forcefully ripped through their binding hold, sending red blood splattering onto the snow-white ground as he continued his frantic escape.
But this time, compared to the other times of the dream, Ryuk was well aware of his own body.
He could feel his own will moving his own arms and legs from the fear, unlike before when the dream was all an image that he couldn't control.
This time, Ryuk felt himself in his body.
Yet, he was running. Frantically so.
Even though he wanted to confront whoever was chasing him.
Even though he felt a tinge of pain assaulting his heart as he ran away so pathetically.
Yet, there was nothing he could do.
Nothing but run, for what enveloped him was an overwhelming sense of fear—one that rendered his body unable to obey his will, causing him to do nothing but keep running.
"Closer to you, we are, little dark one."
"Closer to taking back everything we have given you."
"Closer to taking it all…"
The voice rang out as Ryuk's heart pounded in his ribcage, tearing through the forest of thorny spines until he felt the ground beneath his feet give way, causing him to instantly halt.
His body slipped downward as he felt himself falling, but he quickly grabbed onto the snowy ground, barely stopping himself from the fall.
"Ahhh, Ahhh, Ahhhh…"
Exhaustion hit as he looked beneath his feet, finding an unending dark abyss.
But then, he could feel the rapidly approaching horror moving toward him, and his eyes frantically flashed from the snow he was hanging onto to the abyss beneath below.
"Closer!"
The voice rang out as Ryuk felt a heavy thump near his hands, and immediately, he made his decision.
Instantly, Ryuk let go of the icy ground as he spiraled downward, yet he noticed as a clawed hand swiftly brushed by his arm, barely missing its touch by a mere few inches as Ryuk plummeted into the abyss.
But veins slashed into his head as he roared out with his will.
"I will see you! I must see you!"
He roared at his own body, causing his left eye to snap open, and he looked up at the edge of the abyss—where he finally found the lone figure standing.
A figure that caused his heart to stop breathing and then…
BUUUUURSSST!
The world suddenly shattered into nothing but fragments of glass.
And then, he began hearing the name—
"Ryuk!"
"Ryuk!"
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!"
A deep gasp escaped the bedroom as the sound of an incredibly loud heartbeat rang out through the entire room.
Ryuk felt himself come to his senses, amidst snow-cold white air from his lungs blowing onto a face he could barely recognize from the dim lighting that came in from the windows.
"MadWhite!?"
He asked, surprised as he looked at MadWhite, who had grabbed him by his clothes with both hands, his eyes covered in red veins.
But he noticed Ryuk was back to himself as he slowly let go of his clothes, exhaling cold white air after him.
Ryuk's gaze moved away from him to the entrance of the golden door, where he could feel the aura of a figure.
"What's...what's wrong?"
MadWhite asked him as Ryuk unconsciously rubbed his heart, grabbing at it, and he could feel an incredibly hot sensation and the repeated pounding that sounded like the roar of thunder coursing through his body.
"A bad dream!?"
He asked as Ryuk slowly took his attention away, removing his hand from his heart while performing deep inhales and exhales to calm himself.
"I guess it was all a bad dream..."
He said, forcing a smile as MadWhite inhaled in relief.
"Then there is nothing to worry about. Ceraphine here told me you've been shaking quite abnormally on the bed, and that is why I'm here."
"It's been an hour straight since you've been acting so frantic, and you refused to wake up—even after so many punches."
MadWhite said, seemingly clicking open a pain sensor as Ryuk turned to feel his right cheek and found it swollen a bit.
It seemed MadWhite had punched the hell out of it just to wake him up.
"I'm fine, MadWhite. It was just a bad dream..."
He said with a shrug as MadWhite looked at him intently. But when he saw no longer a bothered expression on Ryuk's face, he eventually let it go.
"Okay then. It's currently 6:45 anyway. I had planned on waking you up at 6:00, but I think you need to rest for the day. Your seclusion can begin tomorrow when you're in a much better—"
"No!"
Ryuk shot back, causing MadWhite to raise an eyebrow at the outburst. But Ryuk seemed to have sensed his mistake as he inhaled.
"I'm sorry, MadWhite. But no, I can't afford to delay my cultivation. It's just a dream—it doesn't stop me from harnessing mana."
He explained as MadWhite's eyebrows furrowed.
As much as Ryuk's will to grow stronger was definitely something to make him, as a mentor, proud, it was reaching a level where MadWhite felt he was being drowned by fear.
The Ryuk now didn't seem like the one who had things in control or who wanted to grow stronger from his own will.
Instead, he seemed like a person forced to the edge with no choice.