Dream of the rewinding clock

It is 206X, One year before the apocalypse. A slim young man with fair skin was sitting alone. It was a sad day for him. In the wake of the age of awakening, many humans have experienced dreams which grant them miraculous powers that borders on fantasy.

Unfortunately for the lad, his sibling had used the powers for the worse side of humanity. Even local news was covering the tragedy as a family upbringing gone wrong. Today was the funeral of his parents, and his sister had been taken into custody. 

His eyes had tear marks which had already dried.

They boy had lost his entire family in one day. But such cases were not rare amongst the populace, with close access to supernatural powers, it is easy to misuse powers when their diversity was broad.

There were constant cases of unsolved disappearance, so the shock would quickly be replaced by a new one the next morning.

From afar the elderly uncle and aunts shook their heads in disappointment. 

"Sigh, such troubling times. Youngins are handed weapons of destruction."

"It's no different from my time when guns could be so easily bought. How's there any changes?"

"The difference is in the mind. Kids nowadays mature so early when death is all around them. It gives them crazy beliefs and world views."

"Did you not hear? The parents of the girl were absolutely horrid. There was evidence of negligence and indulgence."

On the mention of his parents, the boy turned to the group. A layer of worry appeared on their faces when they realised they were being watched.

"Ahem… What of the girl now? She is only 17, no?"

The boy's sister was still young when she awakened her powers, who knows what the government would use an Awakened with a life sentence. With the crime of murder, juvenile prison was not on the list.

The boy was alone.

Wiping the stains from his face, he looked to the sky. It was bright and sunny, it gave him a warm feeling that contrasted his mood. 

Then he suddenly stopped. 

Stunned in his place, something was growing from within his head. A worm, the size of a maggot egg grew within his head. 

I kept growing until it was the size of a pupa. then the size of a thumb.

But surprisingly an egg the size of a ball growing out from his head didn't hurt, in fact it felt like it was where it was meant to be.

When the worm finally stopped, it was the size of a fat toe. It wriggled in the boy's brain and settled comfortably.

His blurry eyes regained clarity.

"This is the suburbs, Nine years ago?! I've… returned to the past."

Staring down on his hands, the sight of his flesh turning into strings of worms was gone. And there was nothing else staring back at his face, the eyes all around his body had disappeared.

"This isn't a dream right?"

With the world devoured by nightmares, one had to differentiate reality from the Dream Realm, otherwise it was easy to lose themselves in it.

Mason tried to control his essence to feel his surroundings, but to no avail. There was simply nothing.

'Nothing? I really regressed. My body is back, I'm back! I survived that worm like shit!'

While losing his progress was a shame, returning to the time when the city buildings still stood tall was a sign of celebration.

'Ha… ha… there's so much I can do…! All the mistakes I made, the opportunities I missed and another chance to escape the apocalypse!'

Mason wanted to feel excited, to thank the gods for giving him another shot in life. There was so much to be thankful for. He had not done much to deserve a regression, but something within him felt guilt.

'That picture in the dome… it must be the cause right? Was this chance not meant to be mine? Helius the Lightbearer… would he not have made a greater change to the world if he was given this regression?'

The worry settled in.

"Did I… screw up?"

Mason had no understanding of the time travelling capabilities of the picture globe, but if it had been a one time use and he had wasted the last opportunity, how would his regression change the imminent destruction?

'Fuck… there's no point in wallowing in it. I can't give the regression back can I? I'll have to use what I can to become on par with the Heroes. Maybe with enough influence, I can change humanity and we'll pull through.'

Didn't he resign to his fate once? He had already gone through one of the worst deaths in human history, and now he lived to tell the tale. Not that anyone might believe him, but his experiences were a start.

With his knowledge of the Nightmare, he might be able to top the Ashen Dreamer. The person who played the biggest part in humanity's survival. 

Mason clenched his fist. 

Becoming the strongest, it was a wish teens and adults coveted in this world. A fantasy which would never have come true. Not without a sacrifice.

Family, Dreams, Future, Luxury, Holiday, Satisfaction.

There were too many things he had to give up in his first life that made him not pursue such a path.

But now the path was set for him. He would be able to do so, he had not simply been given extra time to finish homework. He had gone back to being able to alter the entire curriculum. 

It was surreal.

Pumping his fist up Mason was ready. He was ready to face the horrors and grow strong enough to save humanity and be hailed a grand Hero.

…

But when he looked up at the sky, something made him freeze entirely.

There. 

The Vortex of worms stood, spiralling in the sky.

It was still there, just as far as when he saw it before he died. 

"… How…?"

How was this thing so close? How was it here in the past?

"Why are you here with me?"

His quivering voice echoed softly in the wind. It carried a sense of deep despair and hopelessness.

In the middle of the street, residents saw a boy kneeling in place while staring into the empty sky. They misunderstood his sorrow and despair and shook their heads in pity.

What a poor kid…

…

The Emergence of Nightmare Tears first made its major appearance a few decades ago. Its appearance introduced a new lifeform never seen before. Titled the "Creep", it is a dark root vine that spreads out over the surface of the earth in visceral tendrils like the circulatory system inside of a human body.

The creep growth pattern bears close resemblance to vines and fungi. As it grows the ends of the tendrils seek out nutrients and water from its environment. The creep is capable of using a highly efficient form of photosynthesis to fuel its growth.

Through its invasive nature, the creep had managed to spread in large regions of the world. The creep is nothing short of an ecological miracle, first praised for supporting the entire ecosystem through a simple cycle of growth and decay. 

Unlike most invasive species, the creep did not drive plant life out of the ecosystem entirely, but as the creep spreads, old growth breaks off and decay into nutrient rich dense compost that allows nearby flora to flourish instead of dying out. 

The drastic increase in wildlife leads to a spike in the herbivore population which in turn helped the population of predators to reach new limits. The abundant amount of waste and decay gives the creep an abundance of waste that the creep can then absorb and then continue to grow, hence the cycle of growth is complete.

The government sought to contain and research the uses and potential of the creep, and with research, nature has flourished in ways humans never thought possible.

Because the first tear has shown it's wondrous benefits, humanity wasn't as careful with the second tear that came after.

Appearing somewhere in East Atlantica, the first report made multiple government bodies send a great amount of resources to investigate the source.

Unlike the first tear which had been quick to appear, the second tear was dead silent. It was covered in a fog wall that denied any entry. Entering the tear was futile as any attempts to enter was futile. In the end, after months of testing, the government put the second tear on hold until they notice further changes.

Besides the unsettling report that any of the researchers there wrote of a common symptom of being watched during their months there, there was nothing interesting of note.

A week later, the scientists sent to research the second tear had died in their sleep. Their dead bodies turning into monsters, the government was not ready. Sending the military to keep the research under wraps led to the armies falling into a nightmare. 

No one understood how people were getting infected or how to prevent it. The infection wasn't through touch or airborne, instead being in presence of the tear was the only common ground.

This gave an emergence to the Ashen Dreamer, a scientist who survived the Nightmare, she shed some light to the capabilities of the Second Tear.

Despite being a scientist who specialises in biology, the Ashen Dreamer alone pioneered Humanity in multiple fields, it is theorised that the knowledge is what she has earned for being the first survivor of the nightmare.

Because of this, being infected has been seen as a boon by a few of the general populace. Which presented the first horror of the disaster.

If given a great opportunity to be impossibly powerful while unrestrained, young children being put in places of great power while being tainted by the madness of the Nightmares was catastrophic to the balance of law in the old world.

Mason's family experienced a downfall due to this. His sister grasped the Nightmare with hope and was rewarded with the ability to control her fate with absolute freedom. This resulted in the family homicide.

Fortunately, with the knowledge of the Ashen Dreamer, the government managed to salvage the broken pieces of the fractured society and established a New World Order to barely contain the invasive Nightmares and the new police force managed to arrive in time for Mason to survive.

Despite the horrendous news, such events are taking place all over the world. It is unknown the degree of influence the Nightmare places on the beholder and it is easy to blame the targets for their actions, but the truth was that the second tear was the culprit which inflicted this madness upon the world.

***

The cause of the infection was what Mason was staring at. Despite something so large covering the sky in broad daylight, no one else was reacting. It covered the sun but everyone around enjoyed the sunlight in it's shadow like it didn't exist.

It was as if the sea of worms was invisible. If anything, Mason was the anomaly who suddenly witness the sight of this horror.

As Mason stared closer at the hulking mass. He noticed the Thousand eyes looking down. It was hard to pinpoint what they were looking at, but with so many he was sure it could encompass multiple countries within its sight.

Mason felt the gaze of the creature. His body shivered as something tried to plant itself within his consciousness, but it felt like the space was already occupied, so the feeling left. 

He seemed to understand now, the root of the Nightmare Infections came directly from the gaze of the Worm Sea. By glancing at the humans, it had already infected hundreds of thousands.

Even being indoors would not shield you from its piercing sight.

Mason could only feel a sense of fear well up from within him.

But he could only watch helplessly as the Horror slowly watched the globe while it slowly infected more people.

*Ting

His phone played an old but familiar chime.

He didn't read the message first. Instead he looked at the date and time. It was ten years in the past, not exactly since the month was off. But the timing was quite regrettable, his family was just gone. 

While it was a shame, Mason had already lived by himself the past 10 years, and he didn't control how far he would go back in time. So there were no hard feelings.

Familiarising himself with his old phone, he quickly swiped his passcode which had never changed for ten years.

Reading the message on his phone, Mason brow's furrowed.

"Seeing the image of someone else in the mirror when alone is a sign of infection. Citizen of Atlantica City, please head to the nearest quarantine zone if you experience these symptoms immediately."

Symptoms of the Nightmare infection include seeing someone else as your reflection in the mirror, an extra shadow following you on a clear day or faint whispers within one's head.

Is the Ashen Dreamer and the government aware of the Old One's Invisible nature but chose not to release the information to prevent mass panic?

It was hard to tell how closely tied the information was.

Which begs the question. Was the Horror always here? Or had Mason brought it back with him to the past?

If it had always been here, does witnessing the end of humanity or the sleeping horror been the key to his insight now?

Or had the Horror done something to him as he crumbled into worms before he regressed?

Who could he even ask?

Almost in perfect timing, a bus drove past Mason and from it he caught a glimpse of himself in its reflection.

Unlike the youthful appearance he expected from his regression, he saw hundreds of faces collapse into a single hundred-headed being, a misshapen abomination whose heads simultaneously turned back to stare at him.