In the capital of a small, underdeveloped country, in an ordinary office, a worker was dozing at his desk.
— Nathan?! Hey! Nathan?! Answer!
— Boss, I think he fell asleep, ha ha ha ha
— Someone take a screenshot and make it a meme, ha ha ha ha
There was a lot of laughter coming through Nathan's headphones as he slept as if nothing had happened.
— Evelin, you're closer, go to his desk and wake him up," the boss ordered a worker who was on the group call.
A woman in her thirties dressed in office clothes approached Nathan and shook his shoulder.
He had brown hair cut in a ponytail. He looked older than he actually was due to his scruffy beard, but he was actually in his twenties. Physically, he was average, as he occasionally went to the gym. If it weren't for his dark circles under his eyes, he would attract the attention of several women.
— Hey! Nathan! Wake up, the boss is talking to you. Wake up!"
— What the...? Who? Oh yeah! I'm awake!" Nathan stammered as he sat up straight.
Laughter from his coworkers could be heard around the office.
— Nathan, did you go to bed late again? Is that why your dark circles aren't going away? — his coworker, who was on the group call, commented.
Ignoring his coworker's unnecessary comment, Nathan apologized.
— Sorry, boss. This won't happen again, I promise.
— We'll talk about this in person later. Now I need your weekly report.
— Okay, I have a few things to discuss about this week.
— I'm listening.
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At the end of his workday, a tired Nathan walked into his apartment, looked for something to cook, and sat down at the computer to watch a few videos he found entertaining.
— I need to go to sleep early today. I don't know how people manage to fall asleep right away. I want that power too," he thought anxiously as he ate dinner.
After finishing his teenage years and entering university, Nathan developed a problem that didn't seem too serious at first: insomnia.
This problem developed over time, becoming increasingly serious, as every time he tried to fall asleep, it would take him around 5 hours or more. All this was due to his mind constantly working at night, showing him stories of other worlds, absurd technology straight out of science fiction, and even beautiful women who seduced him. He associated all of this with mental delusions his mind used to avoid boredom from lying in bed for so long.
He tried various solutions to help himself sleep, including quitting coffee, changing his eating habits, going to the gym to exhaust himself physically, and even taking pills, but nothing worked.
Only when he got drunk enough to pass out did he finally get a good night's sleep, but he couldn't afford to go to work with a hangover every day, not to mention ending up with an alcohol-related illness.
That same night, as he tried to fall asleep, his mind began racing, imagining various absurd and impossible situations.
While Nathan was distracted by his fantasies, a huge fire broke out in his neighbor's apartment, which quickly spread through the building, reaching the room where he was dozing between his fantasies and sleep.
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A few hours later, during the early morning, several fire trucks were rolling into the building, having finally brought the situation under control.
Several people were outside their homes mourning the loss of their property, while a police officer was conducting a head count of the building's inhabitants.
— Excuse me, are you Mrs. Ester from apartment 401?" the police officer asked an elderly woman hugging her small dog.
— Yes, I am. How can I help you, officer?" she replied, her eyes reddening because not long ago she had been crying over the total loss of her apartment.
— Do you know who the person who lived in apartment 402 is?
— Yes, I've spoken to that young man a couple of times. His name is Nathan Wolf. I think he lived alone. Why?
— Did you happen to see him enter or leave his apartment before the fire?
— I think I saw him enter his apartment around 7:00 pm. I don't think he left since I didn't hear his doorbell, so he would have been inside.
— Thank you very much, ma'am, for the information. — The police officer said goodbye.
A few minutes later, that same police officer was talking to the firefighters, who were already packing up their things to leave the scene.
— Are you sure you didn't find anything? Not even a charred body?
— We're absolutely sure. We've been at this for years. If I tell you there's no body, it means there's no body, the fire captain argued impatiently.
— Most likely, he left before the fire and no one noticed.
— That should be the case, but I contacted his family and they tell me he's not answering his cell phone.
— Probably he unloaded or something, anyway, I'm not interested, that's not my job, as we already told you, when we entered the apartment it was empty.
— The only thing I found strange was that apparently his room didn't have a bed, but I guess I saw wrong, due to the smoke and flames, in addition to the adrenaline of the moment.
— Yes, that's all, officer. We still have to put some things in order and I'm dying to go to sleep.
— Fine, thanks for your time, said the police officer.
The officer continued investigating, but didn't reach any results. As time went by, Nathan Wolf was reported missing. Some of his relatives, convinced that he didn't die in that fire, searched for him intensively for quite some time until they gave up. Weeks, months, years went by until the case was forgotten.
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Place: unknown / Year: unknown
— Since when can you smell blood in lucid dreams? Huh? - Nathan looked horrified at a destroyed city with hundreds of corpses scattered in all directions.
Two people in strange robes were fighting in the sky, causing shockwaves due to the collision of their blows
— Old Mu! Today is the day that will be remembered as me, Deng Shen, who destroyed your Plum Blossom Sect ha ha ha ha ha - laughed a man in a blood-red robe heartlessly
— Deng Shen!! Heartless Pupil, after everything I taught you, is this how you repay me? - shouted an old man with disheveled hair; he was wearing a white robe somewhat worn due to the intense battle
— Today I have failed my ancestors by not knowing how to recognize a human from a dog, for which I have no forgiveness, but this old man will send an offering today to all those you killed, with your death!!
— I don't think those old bones can do anything to me, ha ha ha ha ha, the strange red-robed man, Deng Shen, charged into battle.
Huge explosions echoed across the sky, destroying several remaining structures.
Nathan was blown away, along with his bed, by the strong winds generated by the battle between these individuals.
— "This lucid dream is too real," Nathan looked up at the sky and shook his head.
— "How embarrassing! Apparently, I've read too many Chinese novels, which is why my brain gives me these nightmares."
— "Yes, nightmares, that's what they are!"
Nathan crawled as best he could behind a firm-looking stone pillar, sat down, and began pinching his face, trying to determine whether he was in pain or not.
— "Yep! I am in pain, apparently this is real, ha ha ha ha ha." Nathan clutched his head in despair, laughing to keep from crying.