"Wilde…"

A deep, gravelly voice intruded to the slumber of a particular lone fox. The said mammal stirred in response of the call, with his eyes still shut.

"Wake. Up."

Nick slowly recollected his consciousness through his disturbed sleep. The vulpine found it quite odd to recall the facts that he was living alone in his apartment, and his place was literally secluded from the district. Who would even bother to wake him up?

He thought that it would be better to check the time. As he opened his eyes, the next thing he knew, he was standing in the middle of nowhere. Everything around him was a blank space, white in color. He attempted to walk to one side as to confirm if he were in a certain room by making sure there was a wall, but found himself unable to move.

He was rooted in place.

His feet didn't budge even an inch. It felt like they were glued on the floor, as if cemented. The first thing came as his natural response was to shout and ask for help, but the fox soon discovered the second oddity that he couldn't talk either. A pressure was applied on his snout, like there was an invisible rope binding his jaw shut.

For God sake, another weird dream…

The only living being in the unknown area grimaced and pinched his cheek in attempt to break free from the dream. The effort proved to be fruitless as he was still stuck in the peculiar area.

A gust of freezing breeze suddenly blew, and just then Nick realized he wasn't alone.

There was a floating shadow faded in, appearing in his peripheral vision. He couldn't make out the overall feature, but he could see it was a cloaked figure, the body was wholly pitch black but slightly translucent. It had no feet nor arms, and such missing limbs particularly added the eerie level of its dreadful appearance. That way, it looked like flying pillow and had the aura not terrifying, Nick would've laughed his ass off. The most noticeable thing was its shining ruby eyes with no pupils.

He wanted to take a step back, but he couldn't. He wanted to say something, but he was unable to do so either. And so Nick was left pitying himself and could only wait.

"I don't permit you to speak," the spooky shadow finally spoke, low and rough. Its red blood eyes beamed with pure murder intention. "Listen."

What else he could do anyway? Nick intended to sigh but knew that he couldn't so he didn't bother to try. Though the vulpine hated to admit that he actually shivered and fidgeted under the phantom's watch.

"For long," the eerie phantom began with deep voice, so deep it chilled every part of him, both inside and outside. It started floating around in circular pattern, and Nick's eyes followed the movement carefully. "He who sees everything has been watching you," the fox's ears twitched once the phantom mentioned the pronoun. He began to wonder if this would turn into an adventurous story like a movie he watched weeks before. "Never for once you cross the line, but He despises cowardice."

Nick didn't have much time to think what nonsense this odd shadow was talking about, who was the person it was referring to, and definitely what the hell was going on. Just as he began to try to comprehend the whole situation, the shadow with surprisingly lenient voice threw a question on him.

"How was your life, for these 32 years, Wilde?"

Despite the growing tension in the atmosphere, Nick couldn't help but roll his eyes. How was he supposed to answer if he was silenced? The vulpine excelled in sign language, but not the slightest part in him believed and was convinced that this shadow would understand it. There was a faint chuckle and Nick could swear he saw the phantom's eyes glinted in amusement. "I'll give you a moment."

Although Nick could not comprehend how the shadow suddenly grew a hand, a loud snap of finger freed him from the tight knot at his jaw. He instinctively exhaled aloud and practiced to open his jaw wide. Well, he could use some conversation now-

"One word."

The thought of asking questions vanished immediately and he shut his jaw in response, his teeth forcefully clicked on each other and produced awkward noise.

What now? He ought to answer the suspicious question?

Nick couldn't say his life was bright and enjoyable. He didn't honestly think it was a miserable one either. Safe to say, perhaps it could be generalized as life of an ordinary mammal. Well, the truth was not all mammals were as smart and delinquent as him. Normally, the two trait did not come along together since they could be said as a complete opposite on each other, but Nick was the real product who actually was gifted with both.

Did it have relation with what the phantom mentioned earlier that he was a coward and whoever the "He" it mentioned despised him that way?

Conning did not entirely against the law ; the basic concept was to trick someone to actually submitting themselves into doing what the con planned. In other word, they did it on their own and not for the cons to force them to do so against their will. In line with what the shadow had said, the fox never crossed the boundaries and stayed safe. And to achieve it, he had to live under the shadow and stayed low, hiding from the cruel world and grasping every chance he got to make his life.

Would that be the main concern of the cowardice mentioned before? Was "He" the shadow referred wanted him to do more, like to become a real criminal? Or, did "He" demand Nick to start a life where he no longer hid in the shadow and face the cruel world on his own? Nick honestly didn't love the idea to submit his name in the list of wanted mammals, and he never believed that he would give another chance for him to step onto the light either.

With his mind still reeled hard to find a proper answer, Nick thoughtfully looked at the shadow, who patiently waited for his reply. He was totally bewildered later when he heard himself saying aloud without having a permission from his brain.

"Despicable."

Once his answer flew out, the invisible knot appeared again and locked his snout uncomfortably. Nick's eyes widened when he saw the shadow in a flash approached closer, the terrifying face emitting chilling breath.

"For real?" it whispered as one of its eyes squinted, seemingly unconvinced of what it had perceived based on his answer. But the shadow managed to sway its face up and down in rigid motion to keep the cloak from being unveiled, an awkward way to nod. The spooky phantom then slowly distanced itself from the bewildered fox by floating backward, its eyes were locked on his own emerald ones. "So you approve then."

Wait. Approve?

Nick couldn't lie to himself ; he could feel an impending danger was ready to strike at any moment as the result of his reply. His tail unconsciously wrapped around his torso, a natural defensive gesture whenever he felt threatened.

"He has sent me, The Messenger, to deliver the sentence."

The implicit introduction would be the thing which Nick paid attention the most, had his concern wasn't directed to something else. His mind told him something bad was going to happen, especially with the way The Messenger delivered the message.

And, his instinct proved to be correct.

"Nicholas Piberius Wilde, you have been sentenced to death," without letting the poor fox to react and even take a single breath with the realization that this phantom acknowledged his full name, The Messenger continued with no mercy. "You'll die in 100 days."

The words sank deep, like a pebble slowly being swallowed by the sea toward an unknown depth, leading to endless abyss. The denial grew stronger as soon as the death sentence flew out, the major part of him wildly began to convince him constantly that this was just a dream, this was just a nonsense and when he woke up later, this would just be forgotten.

"Worry not, Wilde," the floating shadow chuckled whenever it noticed the anxious and noticeable agitated vulpine, obviously feeling troubled. It spoke calmly to comfort the fox, which actually did very little. "You still have 100 days left."

This was just a dream, this was just a dream, this-

"Your eyes never lie, Wilde," The Messenger's eyes loomed on him, piercing cold glare effectively brought him to alarm. "I know you don't think this is real," it spoke calmly as it flew to his direction and suddenly, the phantom was right in front of him. "I know you think this is just a dream," they were literally nose to nose now, and if the ghost could breath, the vulpine would definitely feel it. The scarlet eyes softened, and The Messenger pushed itself back much to his relief. "Unfortunately Wilde, I am saying what He deems, what reality will be."

The fox's eyes shrank and he bit his lower lip. There was a clear emphasize on the shadow's last line of words, which unexpectedly compelled him to feel more alarmed. Even though he still believed this was just a dream, never for once any of his dreams were this complicated, being in chronological order without jumping to another matter frequently, and narrated perfectly as if he was wide awake and listened to the conversation as his conscious self. He began to frantically shook his head, but stopped dead track when the fox recognized clink sound of knives.

"You don't believe me?" The Messenger pointed a sharp black knife menacingly at him, obtained somehow from nowhere and the arm popped again to support the gesture. The threat was clear, and as the phantom made a move like it was preparing to throw it, Nick gulped and put his arms up defensively. But fortunately, the knife was never thrown with The Messenger put its arm down and moment later, the arm was quickly gone. However, the phantom kept the threatening pose but instead doing it with physical abuse, it went with verbal threat.

"I'll say, tomorrow, you'll meet someone. And the day afterward, you'll meet her again," the spooky shadow stated firmly, making no hesitation. It spoke confidently, giving the impression that it had indeed seen the future and the conditions mentioned would surely take place - no, they were going to take place. That didn't fully convince Nick though, for him had yet to give up the possibility that this was literally just a dream. He was too distracted that he skipped the focus on who would be the her it suggested. The Messenger seemed to notice the questioning stare of the fox, and it replied with assuring tone. "There is no ifs. You're going to see what I have told you."

The whole dumb exchange led an utter desperation for this to quickly end. And so Nick finally did what he thought would be the most rational thing to do ; he began to beat himself as to wake him from the sleep. He purposely slapped himself so hard his face was propelled to the direction. The stinging pain caused him to faintly hiss in agony, but that alone wouldn't be enough to rouse him from this deep slumber. He prepared for another but before the second slap landed, another snap of finger sent his arms completely stopped and was pulled and stretched away. A faint grunt escaped from his snout upon seeing his wrists were cuffed separately and chained sturdily to the ground. That way, he was completely vulnerable against all possible harms and prevented to hurt himself as well.

Nick deliberately tried to pull his arms off, but to no avail. The chain shook, but nothing the vulpine could do to break the strong metal. The frustration was almost too much to bear, both his vulnerability and helpless state, and the whole talk, mainly and ultimately the death sentence.

"We will meet again tomorrow," The Messenger eventually said, leading to a closing statement. The irritation unintentionally grew more when the shadow let out a horrific laugh and it began floating backward, expanding the distance between them. "Let us see how you live the rest of your remaining time."

The dreadful laughter echoed, ringing inside his mind uncontrollably. Even after The Messenger vanished completely and faded out from his vision, the voice did not stop.

Slowly, everything turned black. The milky white space became tainted with black spots, which gradually crept closer to his place until he couldn't see anything through the darkness. As the laugh dispersed, a quiet whisper served as the last words he heard before the vulpine lost his consciousness.

"Do not be surprised. I dare you to see what awaits you."

A/N : I put this just to make the chapter to fulfill 2222 words (lol). Please leave your thoughts!