Faraway
Table of Contents
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Chapter 58 Chapter 59 Chapter 60 Chapter 61 Chapter 62 Chapter 63 Chapter 64 Chapter 65 Chapter 66 Chapter 67 Chapter 68 Chapter 69 Chapter 70 Chapter 71 Chapter 72 Chapter 73 Chapter 74 Chapter 75 Chapter 76 Chapter 77 Chapter 78 Chapter 79 Chapter 80 Chapter 81 Chapter 82 Chapter 83 Chapter 84 Chapter 85 Chapter 86 Chapter 87 Chapter 88 Chapter 89 Chapter 90 Chapter 91Chapter 62
Danny's vision blurred as he plummeted through the sky, never reaching the ground to meet him in this endless loop. He tried to scream, but his voice was lost to the wind. Over and over, he continued to fall, the world becoming a dizzying blur.
Time seemed to warp and bend, stretching his descent into an eternity. His stomach lurched at the thought of landing on the hard surfaces of the ground itself. The repetitive cycle of falling nonstop has become his reality, a never-ending nightmare from which there is no sight of awakening.
Glancing at his own form, he notices the different clothing he is wearing after enduring the immense terror and confusion. "What is going on?!" He has no clue how he got himself into here or why he himself appears to look different other than just being here for no reason.
Danny can't fathom getting himself into this situation in the first place, not making any sense to him at all as to why he's here. However, with all the chaos going around him, he knows that continuing this flight is not an option.
"What's the point?!" Nothing around him to hold onto, just the morning sky, harsh winds, and clouds surrounding him in their merciless presence. "Am I dead?! Is this hell?!" He's been asking himself these questions repeatedly, only to receive no answer to his queries.
"There's got to be some purpose here! Some reason I'm stuck in this limbo!" He exclaimed to the empty space around him, "But what is it?! Why am I here?!" Danny tried long and hard to remember what transpired before he appeared in the sky.
The harsh winds made it difficult for him to think properly. It was hard to concentrate with the loud noise of the wind hitting his ears relentlessly. "Focus, Danny, think, think, think!" He screamed at his mind, trying to induce some sort of memory to come forth.
"Unity, the crash, the hospital, Hansel..." With quick thinking, he started to pull out familiar names, and places started coming to his mind slowly, painfully, like a puzzle piece fitting together. "Ah!" Eyes widen in pure comfort.
He finally grasped the reason why he was here. A short laugh erupted from him, understanding the purpose of his current predicament. "This is a dream!" Danny smiled, relieved from his realization. "I'm dreaming; that's what this is," he said aloud.
"A vivid, intense, terrifying dream brought about by the stress and trauma of the night," he said, answering his own question, "it's just my subconscious playing tricks on me." Sighing calmly despite still falling from the sky, his soul and mind reach a safe conclusion in this situation his in.
There was no need to trouble himself anymore after he remembered everything before falling asleep to land himself in a surreal dream of making him continuously fall down from the sky.
"Well, I guess I should be grateful for this little detour," he mused to himself. "At least I have a moment to collect my thoughts and recharge." His expression softened from the initial fear and panic, having once believed someone brought him here to die, a ridiculously scenario to be true.
"Now what?"
After realizing this to be nothing more than a realistic dream, Danny began thinking to himself, "How do I wake up from this thing?" He asked himself, "Should I try to change something in this dream to snap myself out of it?" Pondering over the possibilities, he began to think of ways to control his surroundings without actually doing anything too complex.
"Maybe if I can alter something significant enough, I'll be able to break free from this nightmare," he hypothesized, "or maybe I just need to accept that I'm dreaming and let go of the struggle," considering his latter option of just trying to wake up.
Shaking his head, he chose the first option, "I can't waste this opportunity that is given to me," he said to himself. "I need to make the most of it," he decided. "Alright, let's see what happens if I try to change something," he suggested to himself, "like..." What can he do?
He doesn't have any ideas to bring into reality, but he needs to do something. "Hmm, I know. I'll try to fly." Choosing this simple action, he closed his eyes and concentrated 100% on his decision. "I can do this," he told himself. "I just need to believe in myself."
With a deep breath, he focused his entire being on the task at hand: "fly, fly!" Shouting at himself to do the impossible, he felt the air surrounding him begin to thicken. "Yes, yes, I'm doing it!!" Exclaiming loudly, he felt the rush of wind against his own face.
"I'm flying; I'm really flying!!" Filled with elation and joy after noticing his body begin to slow down its descent, Danny opened his eyes to see himself floating in pure delight. He pumped his fist in the air and proudly said, "I did it; I actually did it!!" Feeling the immense pride and accomplishment of his achievement, he knew that this was the final push he needed to wake up from his dream.
But he doesn't want to, especially when he now has full control over his dream and its mechanics. Like a spoiled child in a candy store, he started to experiment with the world around him.
"Oh, this is amazing!!" Grinning widely, he began to manipulate the environment, changing colors, shapes, and sizes with just a flick of his wrist. "I can create entire cities with a thought, move mountains, and summon storms." Exclaiming in awe, the realization of being outright God is something to marvel at.
Flying higher and higher, he gazed at the empty world around him, designed to his imagination. "I can shape reality, mold it to my whims," declaring with utmost excitement, "I am limitless," he proclaimed, "unbound by the shackles of the physical world, in this dream, I am the master of all," asserting his will around him, "the creator, the destroyer, the sustainer." With a smile iced and wide, he reveled in his newfound power, "I am the universe, and the universe is mine to command," boasting with this newfound knowledge.
The thought of returning to the real world is as fruitless as ever. "What about time?" A frown creeps on his face. "My body will eventually force me to wake up," a sad truth that he can't ignore. It will be a matter of time before he wakes up from this dream.
It's a scary thought to think about; just like in real life, nothing lasts forever, and everything is bound to its physical laws. It was a depressing thought to think about, but a curious idea suddenly popped into his head at the possibility of defeating it or at least stalling it enough.
"Time...yes, time" concepts function in every aspect of life, from the way we perceive it to the way it governs our actions. In this dream, however, he realized that time wasn't quite the same as in the real world.
Here, it was malleable and bendable to his will. A smirk crept onto his face as he pondered this notion further: "If I can do anything, then..." Many say immortality is impossible, but within a lucid dream where a person can do anything, why not do the unthinkable by modifying everything around him to feel like eternity?
That way, Danny can think of this believable illusion that tricks his mind into thinking this is reality, allowing the said illusion to become his new norm. "I'll never age, never die, never leave this place," proclaiming his statement to the world around him.
"There would be no more worry or pain; the ills of the world are behind me," escaping from the horrific real-life ills and troubles, he can finally find peace in this eternal dream. Locked away in this wonderland of his, he could enjoy eternal bliss doing whatever he wanted.
"But..."
Hugging himself with uncertainty of his decision, "Do I really want to live like God?" Danny announced, arguing for himself if this is even feasible for him to achieve in the long run, "can I handle this kind of responsibility? The weight of an infinite existence?"
Questioning his own ability to bear the burden of his newfound powers, "or would I just become bored, jaded, and lonely, trapped in this endless expanse of my own making?" Wondering if he'd succumb to the pitfalls of omnipotence.
Doubt began to swirl within the depths of his mind while the wind continuously whispered against his skin, "But what choice do I have?" he asked himself, "return to the bleakness of reality, to the crushing weight of mortality?" His gaze turned inward, searching for answers.
"Is this not the ultimate escape, the chance to transcend the limitations of the problems we all suffer, to soar beyond the boundaries of time and space?" Speaking to no one but himself, challenging his own desires about what is the right call for him in life.
Living like this would make the happiest man or woman in the whole world, free from any worries, pains, and suffering, but it's not without its drawbacks. "But what about the people I care for?" Danny questioned, realizing his responsibilities towards those who love and care for him.
"Would I abandon them and leave them to fend for themselves in a cruel, unforgiving world?" A pang of guilt struck at his heart: "Or would I somehow find a way to bring them here, to share in this wondrous gift?"
Lucid dreaming is a beautiful thing, granting him the power to do anything he wants and shape reality to his whims, but he's starting to realize that this newfound ability comes with its own set of challenges and dilemmas.
"What if they don't want to stay with me? What if they miss the warmth of the sun, the taste of fresh air, the sound of birds singing?" Real things that remind them of what being alive truly means. "Would I be selfish to keep them captive in their individual dreams, to deny them truth over illusion?"
With all the power they can wield within their freshly formed brains, dreams are just dreams; illusions and fakes meant to trick the mind into believing something else. "But what about the memories, the shared experiences, the laughter, the tears, the fights, the makeups?"
The things that make all of them human, the connections they forge and experiences despite how good or bad they are, is what makes them feel worth in life. "Am I willing to erase all of that, to start anew, to build a world from scratch, alone?"
Shaking his head, "I have to go back," denying the very temptation he had been toying with, "I can't abandon Unity, Hansel, everyone I care about," remembering their names and faces, he swore to return to the real world rather than staying in this made-up fantasy.
For all his ills and troubles, he knows that the real world is the only place he can truly be with the people he loves, especially when building goals and ambitions to make himself feel motivated to find something worth striving for.
In here, everything can be done with a gesture of his hand, but would it even be worth it if he could do anything—nearly anything he wants? In his case, there is no point in staying here any longer than he already has. "I have to wake up," he said aloud. "I have to go back," he repeated, motivating himself to make the right choice.
"Back to the real world, back to my duties, back to the people who need me." The fake reality around him started to break like glass shards. "I'm ready," he said. "I'm ready to accept the real world."
As Danny's resolve strengthened, the dream world around him began to shatter and crumble further, much like delicate glass under the pressure of his determination.
The vibrant colors that once danced across the sky faded to dull grays, the lush landscapes withered and turned to barren wastelands, and the harsh winds that continue to bully him have abruptly turned silent. Then the entire dream came crashing down, crumbling to dust and leaving nothing but emptiness behind.
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