As I opened the door to my apartment, I let out an exhausted sigh as I set my backpack against the wall. Vaulting over the back pillows of the couch to land onto the cushions on the other side, I then stretched my arm out to grab the remote sitting on the coffee table. Pressing the power button, the TV screen flashed to life to reveal the anchors of a local news network.

"In world news, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces are maintaining a heavily guarded perimeter around the site of last month's terrorist attack." Oh, they're still going on about that? If that was the case, then I was going to go make myself a sandwich before having to hear the same thing as yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that… You get the idea.

"The Japanese government has stated than an unidentified radical political group released a biological agent in the Tokyo subway, less than a kilometer from Orochi Tower. Although the area has been evacuated, there have been eyewitness reports of activity inside the perimeter, including ongoing fighting between Orochi security personnel and armed civilians. Authorities are denying these reports, and the SDF has barred anyone from approaching one hundred of the temporary perimeter…"

I sighed as I turned off the TV from behind the kitchen counter, before my brain could tune out the droning voice of the news anchor any further. It had been about… two weeks since the 'Tokyo Incident,' as everyone had started calling it, yet it didn't seem as if the investigation had made any progress. Just what were they doing in there, anyway? Watching anime?

Well, there were more pressing concerns for me at the moment. Placing the last slice of toasted whole wheat bread on my turkey and cheese sandwich, I took a bite out of it as I left the kitchen to grab my backpack and get started on my homework. However, as I buckled down and got to work, I thought I could hear a bee buzzing from somewhere within the apartment, but as I slowly scanned the room, looking for any sign of movement, I didn't see anything, nor did I hear anything out of the ordinary. "Eh, it's probably nothing. Now then…"

However, up until I went to bed that night, I couldn't shake that feeling you get when you think that something is watching you. And to be honest with you, I thought I could hear that buzzing sound coming from within the back of my mind. The constant nagging feeling in the back of my mind only ended when I went to bed and closed my eyes, letting the darkness of sleep claim me and block out the noise.

In the void, I drifted aimlessly, nice and warm beneath the blankets covering my body as I slept. Then from somewhere within the darkness, something rasped, like an ancient being being brought back to life. The deep rasp grew clearer and clearer, until I could make out the individual voices that made up the rasp.

"You will see the end of days… You will see the dawning of a new age…"

I then became aware of something dripping onto my forehead, as if I had decided to fall asleep with my head underneath a faucet. I opened my eyes to see cold, wet raindrops falling down onto my face, but strangely enough, there were no rainclouds in sight. All I could see was the night sky looming above me, but something about it seemed… off. I stared up at the sight for a moment before realizing what felt wrong about the sky — the stars didn't twinkle at all, making it seem… dead.

I then unconsciously shifted my position as I lay there on my back, and suddenly, I became acutely aware of what felt like little rocks digging into my back. As I willed my hands to move, my suspicions about what I was lying on were confirmed, and grasping a handful of the tiny little stones and pebbles, I brought them up so I could take a closer look. My hand then began to lean, and I watched silently as the gravel and dark dirt tumbled out of sight towards the ground. It all felt so… real. Too real, in fact. "Damn… What the hell did I accidentally breathe in today?"

I groaned in exhaustion as I pushed myself up onto my elbows before getting up onto my bare feet. The stones and pebbles dug into the soles of my feet as I worked out the numerous kinks in my body. I then heard the sound of waves lapping against the shore through my sleepiness, and in my current state, I couldn't be bothered to feel surprise at the beach before me. The black waters of the night then began to extend their reach towards me, and I shivered slightly as the cold washed over the soles of my feet.

Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I looked up to see a shattered moon looming above the horizon, pale white in the night sky. Asteroids made of rock almost as dark as the sky swirled above my head, like space whales. In fact, I half-expected to hear a distant song of a cetacean come from one of the asteroids. However, my thoughts were then interrupted by the voice from before.

"To be a monarch, or a beggar… To lose everything, or to become a god… To stand with us, or against us… The choice is yours… Remember this…"

I blinked once, and I recoiled in shock as a boy suddenly appeared, standing a few feet in front of me. He wasn't just any guy, however. In fact, he was a mirror image of myself, except he was dressed all in black while I was going barefoot in shorts and a T-shirt. The blank, unfocused gaze of his dark eyes unnerved me, and I nervously scratched the scalp hidden beneath my jet black hair. Then he spoke with my voice in a dead monotone that was just plain creepy.

"Be mindful of the voices. They will whisper in your sleep. You are with the chosen, but you must choose for yourself, for you are cursed with free will."

"Cursed with free will?" I repeated. "Aren't we all?"

The corners of the other me's lips then curled up into a small smile, and from that one single change in expression, he appeared much more humane. "It is not my place to intervene, but then again…"

The other me spread his arms out wide, as if he were expecting a hug. I still wasn't about to give him one. "This is all just a dream."

"This is all just a dream?" I repeated dumbly as my eyes were drawn inexorably to his feet, which were covered by black dress shoes. However, the leather of his footwear began to flake off, the edges of the rising black slivers glowing a fiery orange. As each piece rose higher and higher into the air, it metamorphosed into a buzzing honeybee, and the swarm grew bigger and bigger as more of the other me's body burned away like paper.

"Make the right choices, and be mindful of the voices, for they corrupt." The other me continued in the same dead monotone, as if he were working as an overworked call center employee and not missing his legs. Before I could ask him what he meant by that, however, the swarm of bees began to swirl around me like a buzzing dust cloud.

A feeling of panic then began to well up in my stomach as I felt my bare feet begin to leave the stones of the beach. I looked down to see my feet dangling in the air, and I looked up again to see that the other me was nowhere to be found. I suddenly felt white hot pain all throughout my body, as if someone had set all of my nerves on fire. As I opened my mouth to scream in agony, the bees began to fly upwards before diving towards my mouth in what appeared to be a mass kamikaze attack. As the first insect made its way down my throat…

I catapulted my head from the pillow, coughing and gasping for breath as I sat bolt upright as I clutched at my throat. As my breathing steadied, I looked around and took comfort in the familiar surroundings of my bedroom. It wasn't much to look at — just a desk with a laptop, a bookshelf containing my small collection of books, video games, and manga volumes, along with the single bed I was currently in.

I glanced at my digital alarm clock just in time to see that it was a minute to six, and I hit the button before it could even have a chance to get started with its beeping wakeup call. I then noticed that spit had built up inside of my mouth, and I had to either spit it out or swallow it. I swallowed. No comments, please.

My throat felt raw as the spit traveled downwards, and getting out from under the covers, I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I shivered slightly as a slight coldness chilled my body, and I stretched an arm out towards the black pullover draped over the bedpost at the foot of my bed. My hand was unusually warm compared to the rest of my body, but I dismissed the thought as just a trick of the mind. Well, right up until the moment I accidentally set my hoodie on fire with the power of my mind. Huh… Now there's one sentence I'd never thought I'd say seriously.

I recoiled in shock as the flames enveloping my black hoodie glowed a bright blue atop the bedpost, but strangely, my jacket didn't seem to be burning. I stared at the flames in a mix of shock and awe before I regained my wits. Despite, you know, logic, I hesitantly reached through the fire and flames for the pullover. The flames licked at my hands, but instead of burning away my skin with excruciating pain, all I could feel was a glowing, pleasant warmth against my unharmed hand.

As my fingers brushed against the cloth, the fire went out on its own, leaving me blinking in confusion as I held the hoodie in my hand. It felt nice and warm, as if it had come back fresh from the ironing board. "Did… that really just happen?"

…Nah, of course not. You obviously can't cause clothing to spontaneously combust with your mind, I told myself as I put on the pullover. Getting up from the bed, I walked down the hallway to the bathroom door, where I hissed in pain as I received a small, unpleasant static shock from touching the doorknob. From there, my morning bathroom routine went without incident, until I was gargling mouthwash to finish off brushing my teeth.

As I spat out the minty fresh liquid (again, no comments please) into the sink, I thought I saw something glisten within the bright green liquid still clinging to the sides of the sink. Peering closely, I realized what it was:

A pair of delicate bee wings.