The Roots of the Dream

Jay hadn't slept since Kel vanished.

One minute he was thrashing in his sleep, tangled in the sheets. The next—gone.

Just… gone.

The footage played over and over. Jay's hand hovered above the pause button, eyes fixed on the screen. Kel twitched, clutched his chest, then—

The room flickered.

For just a second. Almost like static.

And in that flicker, something appeared behind Jay in the video.

Something tall. White-eyed. Leaning over him like a shadow.

Jay paused the footage. He leaned in. There was no denying it: whatever that thing was, it had touched him.

And now, Jay could hear whispers in his house. Low, like wind under the door.

Kel must sleep… Jay must choose…

He slammed the laptop shut and backed away from the table. Something about this wasn't just Kel's nightmare anymore—it was bleeding over. Infecting reality like a virus.

The mirror in the hallway cracked without warning.

Jay ran.

Somewhere far beyond that reality, Kel stood beneath a towering black tree.

The hands on its branches writhed. Some reached for him. Others pulled at themselves, as if trying to crawl out of the bark.

Carved into the tree's trunk were thousands of names.

Most were faded.

But one glowed bright.

Jay.

"Why him?" Kel whispered, hand trembling as he touched the name.

A voice echoed behind him. Cold. Familiar.

"Because he saw."

Kel turned. The two women were there at last—no longer carved in silver. They stood in flesh and shadow. One beautiful, elegant, with sorrow in her eyes. The other, old and hunched, with a gnarled staff carved from bones.

The beautiful one stepped forward.

"I am Dream," she said. "I offered you escape."

The old one followed. "I am Despair. I offered you truth."

Kel looked between them, unsure if he should bow or run.

"Why show yourselves now?"

"Because the tree grows with every sleeper who fails to return," Dream said softly.

"And now the roots have touched your world," Despair added.

Kel looked up at the writhing branches. "The hands…"

"Each one is a soul," Dream said. "Some trapped. Some chosen."

"Some given," Despair added, turning toward him with a sneer.

Kel's mouth dried. "What do you mean… given?"

Dream sighed. "Only a sacrifice can sever the root. That is the law of the Dreaming Tree. One must stay… so the other may wake."

Despair raised her staff and struck the ground.

The air shimmered.

Jay appeared—floating inside a glass-like prism, asleep, unaware.

Kel backed away in horror.

"No. He didn't ask for this. He helped me!"

"And that help has cost him," Despair growled. "The demon you left behind is searching. It marked him."

"You have a choice," Dream said gently. "Take his place… or let the dream consume him."

"I can't!" Kel shouted. "There has to be another way!"

Despair grinned. "There is."

She pointed to the base of the tree.

A new door had formed.

It was carved from bark and bone, pulsing like a heart. The doorknob was a hand—curled in invitation.

"If you pass through," Despair whispered, "you become the Guardian. Bound to the Tree. Forever."

Kel stared at the door. The whispers from the hands grew louder, layered, chaotic:

Stay. Leave. Choose. Sleep. Give. Take.

Jay's image flickered.

The prism began to crack.

"Time is ending," Dream said. "The third night closes."

Kel looked at Jay.

At the key—now buried in his own chest, its glow fading.

He closed his eyes.

Stepped forward.

And grabbed the doorknob.

It burned. It screamed. His veins turned black as something ancient pushed through him.

Behind him, Despair laughed.

Dream wept.

Jay vanished.

The prism shattered.

Then—silence.

Darkness.

Nothing.

Kel opened his eyes.

He stood inside the tree now.

Its heart pulsed around him.

Hands brushed his face, his back, his soul.

A voice whispered in his ear—not Dream. Not Despair.

Something older.

"The Guardian has awakened."

Kel turned—

And saw the mirror again.

Inside it… a figure.

Jay.

Eyes open.

Smiling.

But not… Jay.

Not anymore.

The voice spoke again.

"But who guards the Guardian… when the dream dreams back?"