The Bookkeeper-Chapter 58: Dream

Raiden lay on the ground, his breath warming the floor and lifting smoky dust into the air. The ground felt comfortable and inviting enough for him to sleep eternally. It felt like home.

Yet sleep didn’t feel like the right choice at that moment. He opened his eyes a fraction and saw himself lying on smoky skeletons.

Fear jolted through him as he scrambled to his feet. His breathing became labored as the sight before him slowly stole his breath.

He found himself in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by everything made of thick dark smoke—as if shadows had taken physical form. Even the air and the grass on the ground were no exception.

His gaze shot instinctively toward the east, where a glowing full moon hung suspended above. Adding to his confusion, everything the moonlight touched appeared to transform into smoky wisps.

Without hesitation, he looked down at his own body to find it meeting a similar fate. Beginning with his fingernails and toenails, he watched them transform into smoky shadows. freewebnøvel.coɱ

The realization struck him like a blow as his heart pounded frantically and his mind raced. Was he in hell? What was happening to him?

His head whipped around in every direction, but there was nothing. Only darkness surrounded him.

Without warning, a skeletal hand shot up from the ground, grasping for his leg. Raiden instinctively sprang away as his body started to tremble.

"What the fuck was that?" he breathed.

However, more hands began clawing up from the ground, and before he knew it, an entire army of living corpses was standing, lurching toward him with the same gait as zombies.

Confusion filled Raiden’s mind, but the only thought that surfaced was how exciting it would be to battle the living dead. Without wasting a moment, he began pummeling them with his fists, crushing their skulls.

His fists crashed through their wispy bodies. There was nothing solid to feel—just thick smoke that absorbed each of his blows completely.

But before he could continue, he noticed that every corpse he had struck was already rising again. Their bodies were reassembling themselves through the darkness.

Worse still, their numbers were growing, and they were all moving toward him. Fighting them was pointless, and there was no honor in combat against something he couldn’t comprehend.

Before he could even think, he was already fleeing. He needed to escape whatever situation he had landed himself in and find a way out.

Was this Aeris’ work? Or maybe he really was in hell?

The questions were endless, but he wasn’t going to stand still to find the answers. Yet even as he ran and felt himself moving, he remained in the exact same spot, as though he had never moved at all.

He looked down to see his legs trapped by smoky hands emerging from the ground. He struggled to break free, but before he knew it, he was being pulled down by countless hands while the standing corpses leaped onto him, covering him entirely.

In mere seconds, Raiden shot up from his sleep, gasping as sweat drenched his body. His heart hammered against his ribs, and his skin was ghostly pale. He looked around to find himself in his room. It had all been a dream.

He pressed his hands to his head and chest, gripping them as pain shot through both. He tried to remember what he had witnessed, but his memories were blank. He could sense that he’d experienced some horrific dream just seconds before, but he couldn’t grasp what it had been.

After a few moments, he dismissed it and looked over at Ash, who was still sleeping beside him. She appeared fine, but something was off about her. Her breath seemed strangely smoky, reminiscent of what he had witnessed in his dream.

Raiden watched her breath for a long moment. It seemed familiar, but he still couldn’t place what it reminded him of. He dismissed this too. It wasn’t unusual for him—after all, she could summon shadowy chains from her mouth.

"I don’t know what kind of rest you’re getting, Ash, but don’t you dare get sick on me." He patted her gently with a smile. "I need you to help me return to my world."

He got up and walked to the washroom to clean himself up. He felt uneasy, like something was crawling beneath his skin.

Leo and Aeris had already departed on their respective missions. Whether they would survive remained uncertain, but Raiden genuinely wanted to see Leo return. But given the opponent he had voluntarily chosen to face—Kai, captain of the kingdom’s knights—Raiden knew Leo’s survival would be nothing short of miraculous. And he didn’t believe in miracles. To him, Leo was walking toward his death.

As for Aeris, she found herself in downtown Persia City, and worse still, deep in the western slums where the most heinous crimes took place. But he didn’t care about her safety—he only wanted information about the assassins. Even if she survived the mission, he planned to kill her anyway.

Once Raiden finished freshening up, he pulled on his black shirt, rolled the sleeves up to his elbows, and adjusted the key necklace around his neck. Then he made his way downstairs.

With Leo gone and Ash perpetually asleep, the others naturally paired off. The twins spent their time together, while Freya and Levi wandered aimlessly around the house.

Levi’s eyes held tenderness as he filled Freya’s ears with his constant chatter. But looking more closely, Freya appeared to be enjoying herself as she smiled from time to time.

Raiden watched them briefly before deciding to mind his business and look for something to eat.

He walked to the back of the staircase and stepped into the spacious kitchen to find something to eat. But before he could, his danger detection activated. There were intruders.

They weren’t nearby yet, so he had decided to eat something before dealing with anything else. However, he couldn’t shake the strange feeling he had about his dream.

Why couldn’t he remember? This wasn’t like him—he wasn’t forgetful—so why couldn’t he recall it? And what was this strange sensation coursing through his body? Even the hazy memory brought him warmth and comfort, yet it felt so unfamiliar.

Eventually, he pushed the thoughts aside. Intruders were approaching, and that should be his priority.

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