White light from above filled the lecture hall during an evening history class, which attempted to keep the students awake to some success. The professor at the front of the room would occasionally glance upward at his audience: a few dozen students, averaging twenty years of age, seated at desks that divided two sets of stairs leading back up to the door. The professor, a man who appeared mildly young yet was completely bald, continued passionately: "Yet the war would plague what would become Kalos for years to come. It was not until the giant of a man, AZ, sacrificed many lives to fire the flower-shaped weapon that depleted the majority of all the remaining combatants."

A student, in the midst of his notes, had yet to realize he had been drawing images on the notebook paper more than historical notes, and the taking notes in the spaces around them. This was relatively common for him, but the images were of the flower the weapon was based on. It was when a voice from the front of the room said, "I believe that that is all the time we have for today," that the young man snapped out of his trance and looked forward at the professor who continued. "I will see you all on Tuesday. Don't forget you have a paper due a week from then on the journey of AZ." As he spoke, students closed their notebooks, laptops, and binders and stowed them away in their bags before slinging them over their shoulders and making their way up the steps. As he was jotting down some last minute bullet points, the young man felt a pair of eyes on him from behind. He turned to catch a glimpse of a blonde haired woman walk toward the doors behind him; likely another student. Must've been imagining things, he thought. Shrugging off the thought, he resumed packing his books away and stood up, pushing his chair in, and heading out the door. Orange sunset awaited him as he opeend the door and stepped out, feeling the warmth hit him quickly but gently. He took out his phone and began checking messages as he walked back to the residence halls.

Other students walked every which way between the courtyards and on sidewalks, likely on their way to the food court or their own residence halls. He continued on the path to the building he lived in, and pulled open one of the glasss doors that led inside before walking in. He waved at a pair of other young men laughing on the couches facing a large television mounted to the wall. "What's up, guys?"

Upon hearing the greeting, the two men rolled over and waved. "Hey, Kayne," one said. "Not much, yourself?"

"Just glad I don't have classes again until Monday," Kayne responded with a sigh.

"Wish I could say the same," the other man groaned. "I still have classes until noon tomorrow, and have to study tonight. You going to watch the battle tomorrow?"

Kayne grinned. "Yeah! How about you guys?"

The first man nodded. "We're planning on it. Can't guarantee we'll be there before it starts but it looks like it'll be a good one."

"Sure hope so," Kayne agreed. "It'll definitely be a welcome break from battle simulations and testing. If you guys go maybe I'll see you there."

The two young men raised one of their hands each to wave. "Sounds good, dude," one said. "Later!"

Kayne waved and headed through the door on the opposite side of the room, which led to the dormintory's courtyard. The dry grass and fallen leaves crunched under his shoes as he made his way to one of the glass doors to the left. Upon reaching the door, he took out a set of keys from his pocket and inserted a bronze one into the lock, turned it, and opened the door. Kayne made his way past the familiar pair of couches in the small community room, then down the hall and used the same key to open a door to the right. He walked in, let his bag slump off his shoulder to the carpet and plopped onto his bed. He stared at the ceiling for a moment while the air conditioning unit that was installed into the window began to kick on.

Kayne looked to his left. The other half of the room was normally occupied by his roommate who was presently not there and had left his bedsheets undone and scrambled on his mattress. This was the norm; however, his roommate had previously told him that he had exciting news to tell Kayne later, and that they would be going to their favorite restaurant to discuss the news. Kayne figured he was still in class, so he decided to relax and began to shut his eyes.

A fit of sudden coughing woke him up, eyes squeezed shut as Kayne tried to regain his breath. He blinked several times, forcing his eyes open. Once he was able to, he looked around. Everything was the same as it was before he fell asleep, except that the door to his room was open. His roommate did not appear to have been back yet, as his side of the room looked just as it did moments ago. A tug of unease in his stomach made sure that Kayne could not lay in his bed any longer without checking the door. Slowly he turned his body and planted his feet on the carpet and stood up. While making as little sound as possible, he made his way to the far end of the room and gently placed one hand on the thick wooden door.

Being certian not to make any sudden movements, he peeked his head out to the left - where the hallway led back to the common area - then to the right, which was a dead end after another set of rooms. He turned his head to the left once more and began to creep in that direction. The pit in his stomach felt deeper and weighed his feet down, as if the floor had a stronger magnetic pull. However, the more he walked the farther the hallways stretched away from him.

Seeing that something was definitely not right, he turned around to go back to his room but even that seemed miles away. The ends of the hallway grew dark, and although Kayne had stopped moving in either direction, the dark abyss reached out and swallowed all the light around him. Somehow, he was still able to see his own body as he looked down at himself. He looked around; not a single thing in sight.

Something to his left caught his attention. Something floating in the pitch black void. Five sharp appendages... a hand It didn't make sense. Kayne stood there, motionless. Frozen. Not cold, yet unable to move anything but his eyes. He kept his gaze fixed on the hand, whose fingertips were hardly identifiable from the black of the abyss.

The hand floated from one side of him to another, as if it was sizing up an opponent. Kayne felt the pit of unease drag him back down as the hand suddenly froze directly in front of him. A moment passed in silence. Kayne could hardly blink, and his teeth were clenched tight. Suddenly the hand twisted itself so that its palm faced upwards, and its pointer finger was directed upwards. Kayne's eyes widened and he felt himself falling. A golden ring passed him from underneath, shrinking from view above him. He fell through another one, this time falling faster. Then another, and again it felt faster. He could no longer see the hand. Several more, each time increasing his speed until he was slammed back onto his mattress. He fought for his breath once more. Confusion overtook relief in his mind as he examined the room and saw that the room was exactly as it was before he fell asleep - including the closed door.

Kayne held his head in one hand. What just happened? There's no way that was just some dream.