Should I say I woke up… or that I fell asleep?
The thought crossed my mind, then faded. It did not matter.
I stood on a surface that felt like clouds, soft but steady beneath my feet. There was no sky above, no ceiling, only an open cosmos stretching endlessly. It flowed like a river without banks. Dreams moved through it like currents, forming and dissolving at the same time. Shapes appeared, broke apart, then reformed into something else.
It was not chaos. It was not order either. It was something in between.
The space between dreams expanded and compressed at once, as if breathing. The drifting clouds were beautiful, but beneath that beauty, I could feel something else. Something vast. Something watching.
When humans dream, they forget. What they see, what they feel, it all slips away when they wake. They call dreams fragments of memory, reactions of the subconscious.
But this… this was different.
This was not a dream.
This was where dreams were born.
The Goddess of Dream, the one who hides even her name, governs this place. She maintains the balance of minds. She protects, guides… and if needed, destroys.
A supreme existence. Older than the current world itself.
"It's strange," Raka said quietly, looking around. "Or maybe… this is just the calm before something worse."
His voice broke the silence.
I looked at him. His hair was no longer black. Cedar Puregreen had concealed that detail in reality using an artifact, but here, in the dreamscape, the subconscious revealed truth more easily. What we saw here was not always what we chose to show.
"Let's find Erdaline," Raka continued. "And leave this place as soon as possible."
"Archangel Graviel," I said, turning to him. "What's wrong? You've been silent."
He didn't answer at first. His gaze was distant, unfocused.
"Graviel?"
He blinked, then shook his head slightly. "It's nothing."
I didn't move.
"That doesn't look like nothing."
There was a pause.
Then he exhaled slowly.
"…This place," he said, voice lower now, "it resembles a landscape my daughter once drew."
We all went quiet.
"It was her favorite drawing," he continued. "My wife loved it too."
His eyes drifted across the shifting dreamscape.
"When I entered… memories came back. Suddenly. Like a flood. I lost focus for a moment."
Raka frowned slightly. "So the dream is pulling from your past?"
"Yes."
I nodded. "That confirms it. The dreamscape is reacting to us. It's not just Erdaline's mind. It's responding to everyone inside."
Cedar stepped forward, her presence calm but alert. "Then we need to be careful. If it starts mixing memories, it could distort reality inside this space."
"Agreed," I said. "First, we check everyone's mental stability. Then we locate the central layer of the dream. That's where Erdaline should be."
North remained silent for a moment, thinking.
"You're assuming the structure has layers," he said.
"It does," I replied. "Dreams naturally stack. Surface, mid-layer, core. If she's trapped, she'll be in the deepest layer."
"And the one who grants wishes?" Cedar asked.
"There's a high chance he's there too," I said. "If he's involved, he might be connected to her condition."
North frowned slightly. "That's risky. We don't know his true nature."
"But we know one thing," I replied. "He doesn't act without reason. If he's here, we might be able to talk to him."
Raka tilted his head. "You're oddly confident."
"I prefer calculated risk," I said calmly.
North looked at me for a few seconds, then nodded. "Fine But we proceed carefully."
Cedar raised her hand slightly. A soft green light spread outward, flowing like mist through the dreamspace.
"I'll check for corruption or foreign influence," she said.
The light touched each of us, then faded.
"…No external contamination," she confirmed.
"But the density here is increasing."
"Is that so?" Raka asked.
"Too many dreams are converging," Cedar replied. "This area is unstable."
North stepped forward,"Then we should move."
We began walking.
The ground shifted gently under our feet, like waves trying to remain still.
After a few moments, Raka spoke again.
"Can I call you Yuria?"
I glanced at him,"You already are."
He smiled slightly. "Good. Then drop the formal tone. It's annoying."
"I am simply maintaining respect," I replied.
"My brother already trusts you enough," "So don't act like a stranger."
North did not react, but I noticed the brief flicker in his eyes.
"Understood, then please take care of me Raka."
He seemed satisfied.
"See? That wasn't hard."
Cedar glanced at the two of us but said nothing.
We continued forward.
Then, suddenly, everything changed.
The dreamscape around us collapsed.
The flowing cosmos vanished.
In its place, a single door appeared.
It stood in the void, unmoving.
Everything around it turned pitch black.
Stars began to fall.
Not from above, but from everywhere at once. They streaked across the darkness like fragments of broken light, creating a surreal, suffocating beauty.
Raka stopped. "That… doesn't look normal."
"No," North said quietly. "It doesn't."
Cedar's expression changed Her voice dropped.
"The density of dream energy here is far higher than before."
"How high?" I asked.
She hesitated for a moment.
"…Billions," she said. "Billions of dreams are converging in this single point."
Silence fell.
The door stood before us.
Waiting!!
Or perhaps… watching.
North stepped forward slightly, his gaze fixed on it.
"…This is the core layer."
Raka exhaled slowly. "Then Erdaline is behind that."
"And not just her," I added quietly.
No one argued.
Because we all felt it.
Something else was there.
Something that did not belong to a normal dream.
Something that had been waiting long before we arrived.
North raised his hand and looked back.
"Prepare yourselves."
"This is where it begins."
He placed his hand on the door.
For a brief moment, nothing happened.
Then the surface of the door rippled, as if it were not made of wood, but of liquid memory. The darkness around it tightened. The falling stars slowed, then froze in place.
"Stay close," North said.
Without waiting for a reply, he pushed.
The door opened.
Light did not come from the other side.
Instead, meaning did.
It was difficult to explain. The moment we crossed the threshold, the pressure around us changed. The weight of the dream deepened, not physically, but mentally. It felt as if something was observing every thought, assigning it purpose.
We stepped into the second layer.
The ground was no longer cloud-like. It was solid, but constantly shifting. Roads formed beneath our feet, stretching forward, then breaking apart and reconnecting elsewhere. Buildings appeared in the distance, half-complete, then rebuilt in different shapes.
Everything here had intent.
"This layer…"
"It feels… organized."
"Not organized," I corrected. "Interpreted."
Raka glanced at me, "What's the difference?"
"In the first layer, dreams existed without structure ," I said. "Here, they are given meaning. Thoughts become places. Emotions become environments."
As if to prove the point, the air shifted.
A distant structure rose from the ground, forming into what looked like a quiet village. Smoke curled from chimneys that had not existed a moment ago.
Graviel narrowed his eyes. "This is someone's memory."
"No," Cedar said softly. "It's not a memory. It's a constructed interpretation of one."
North stepped forward, his gaze steady. "Then this place is unstable by nature."
"Yes," I replied. "If meaning changes, the world changes with it."
Raka let out a low whistle. "So if I think of something—"
"Don't," North said sharply.
Raka raised his hands. "Alright, alright. No thinking."
"That would be a first," Cedar added quietly.
She looked embarrassed.
Raka gave her a look. "You're enjoying this too much."
We moved forward.
As we walked, the environment continued to shift. The village faded into a forest. The forest turned into a vast shoreline. The sea stretched endlessly, but its waves moved in unnatural patterns, repeating the same motion again and again.
"Looped emotion!!"
"This dream hasn't been resolved."
Graviel's voice was tense. "We're getting closer."
"How can you tell?" Raka asked.
"The density," he replied. "It's increasing."
Cedar nodded, "He's right. The closer we get to the core, the more concentrated the dream becomes."
North remained silent, but his pace increased.
We followed.
Then it happened.
The world around us froze.
Instantly.
The waves stopped. The wind vanished. Even the shifting ground beneath us became still.
A soft light appeared in the distance.
It was faint at first, barely noticeable.
Then it grew.
Warm.
Gentle.
Different from everything else we had seen.
Raka frowned. "What is that?"
I stared at it.
"…Hope."
Cedar looked at me,"You're sure?"
"Yes," I said. "This layer gives meaning. And that… is not fear, not memory, not instinct."
"It's something she's holding onto," North said quietly.
We moved toward it.
The closer we got, the clearer it became. The distorted surroundings began to stabilize. The shifting ground settled into a single path. The air felt lighter, less oppressive.
For the first time since entering the dreamscape, it felt… calm.
Raka exhaled slowly. "So she's still fighting."
"Yes, If she had given up, this wouldn't exist."
Graviel's expression hardened slightly, but there was relief in his eyes.
"Then she's still reachable."
The light grew brighter.
And then we saw it.
A figure.
Standing at the center of the light.
Erdaline.
She stood with her back to us, unmoving. The light surrounded her like a barrier, soft but unbreakable.
But something was wrong.
"She's not reacting," Cedar said.
"Because she doesn't know we're here," I replied.
North stepped forward.
"…Or she's being kept from knowing."
The moment he said that, the light flickered.
Just once.
Then the world around us shifted again.
The calm cracked.
The sky above darkened.
The ground beneath us trembled.
Raka's voice dropped. "That's not her doing."
"No," North said.
His eyes narrowed.
"That's something else."
The light around Erdaline pulsed again.
This time, it dimmed slightly.
As if something was trying to reach her.
Or take her.
Cedar raised her hand, her divinity responding instantly.
"We don't have much time. The stability here is breaking."
Graviel stepped forward, wings slightly unfolding. "Then we secure her now."
"Wait," I said.
Everyone looked at me.
"If we rush in, we might trigger a collapse," I said. "This is the second layer. If it breaks, we may never reach the core."
Raka frowned. "Then what's the plan?"
I looked at Erdaline.
At the light surrounding her.
Then at the darkness slowly creeping closer.
"…We follow the hope."
North's gaze sharpened, "Explain."
"This light isn't random," I said. "It's guiding us. The core isn't just deeper."
"It's connected to this."
Cedar understood first. "You mean… this is the path?"
"Yes," I said. "Erdaline's hope is the only stable link to the core layer."
Graviel clenched his fist slightly. "Then we protect it."
North nodded once.
"Move."
We stepped forward together.
Toward the light.
Toward Erdaline.
And toward whatever was waiting beyond her.
Because the deeper we went…
…the less this place felt like a dream.
And more like something that should never have been touched.
Dream is delusional.
Dream is illusion.
Dream is hope and goal.
Don't think dream as normal thing or just a game of subconscious it's driving force of one life.
Believe in dream, believe in oneself and believe in life.