The sky gradually turned from a twilit orange into a deep, dark cerulean, claiming yet another long, tension-filled day. It was almost palpable; the conflict both internal and external, divided loyalties and corrupt agencies.

And they were caught in the midst of it, all of them...the one unifier. And one of them remembered all the atrocities as he lay there in his bed, twisting and turning, the sheets constricting him as his mind tortured him.

A cruel reddish shimmer, followed by a pain far beyond his endurance. It was as if his bones consisted of molten magma. It felt so real, so lifelike...like a thousand vorpal blades stabbing him in unison, piercing his skin, mutilating him...

His mouth opens and he makes a hissing sound as a quick breath is sharply inhaled, his eyes shut tightly, forcibly as he stumbles ever deeper into his horrid dream.

Flames of discord roar in his mind as a wild, hairy beast prowls before him, eagerly awaiting for a chance to strike...its angry amber eyes measuring up its prey. The carnivorous creature has has them cornered, like a butcher readying cattle for the slaughter.

An involuntary twitch of crossed his face and his body swiftly turned over to the other side of the bed, as if trying to turn away from the danger....yet it was burned into his mind’s eye like the glare of the sun.

A disturbing howl chills his spine, followed by a heartbreaking wail of pain. Ferocious fangs tear at tender flesh, as crimson blood spurts everywhere. A fading life held within his arms, an innocent girl’s eyes shutting before his own..her lifeblood ebbing away in his helpless hands. There’s nothing he can do...





An angered fist clutches at the sheets that bind him, his body writhing within its fabric cage as the dream imprisons him further..





The images shift and stirr like a nest of agitated wasps, each more vivid than their predecessors. Powerful flashes of every color flying through a dark and damp dungeon, illuminating barely stirring bodies, corpses waiting to happen. Massive, collective suffering. A fight to the death. A single man whips down his many opponents like misbehaving circus animals, dominating them all. Their fate in his unforgiving hands.

Quiet mutters drift through the silence of the room as Tom’s lips move without even realizing it himself. The covers move this way and that as he turns on his other side again, the nightmare continuing unhindered.

There is silence, save for the numbed moans of those that are in pain, lying on the cold, harsh floor as a shadow slithers in the distance. A single, unforgiving figure stands above him, on top of him, choking the life out of him. He’s about to die...put down like an animal, grovelling on the ground under the bastard’s boot. Then, all turns to red...and the man is no more, consumed by a sentient, destructive flame, the raging sound of it still thundering in his ears..

He wakes up with a bestial roar, startled and confused, untangling himself from the covers as though he was a fish struggling to break free from a net. At last he opens his eyes and gasps for air like a drowning man, his heart thumping in his chest, covered in sticky sweat.

He’s sitting up now whilst looking at his hands...they might as well be claws. That’s what he is to them...nothing but a miserable, brutal beast that has to be put to its end. He never wished for this...for death...or suffering. Yet they demand him to die because of the impure blood that runs through his veins, along with all the others. But this horde, this pride of lions will not give in or surrender. They will fight, until the very end, like fiery, ferocious beasts!