Disclaimer: I don't own Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard or any characters from it.

[A/N: Weird switch from past tense to present tense at the beginning of the chapter. Just a warning so as not to confuse you guys (and girls) as much.]

All of the following week, the weird vision problems kept happening. It was strange, but soon I also started having weird dreams.

And now you are all caught up, because that's what is happening now. A dream.

I'm running through a forest. I think I'm somewhere in Midgard, but I can't really be sure. I feel exhilarated. I feel free. I keep running, faster than I think is possible. I know I should stop and figure out what is going on, but I can't seem to make myself do that. I don't really want to either.

For the first time in a long time, I can do anything I want to. I'm not being controlled by the gods, or being told what to do. The only one that can control me is my own thoughts. That, and my imagination. Because here, right now, I can do anything.

Up ahead, I see a huge buck. I can feel the adrenaline rushing through me. All of a sudden, all I want is for that deer to be in my stomach. I want to hunt. And so I do.

I rush towards him, and I can see that he now senses me coming. It's now or never.

Right before he runs, I can see the sudden fear in his eyes. I love it. I love the fear I can cause him. My whole life I have been the deer. I was the hunted one. But now, I am the hunter. He is my prey. Faster than thought, I was in the air. It was weird, like I had four legs. While I'm in mid-air, he spots me. He takes off faster than the breeze.

We both know it's too late for him. In a few seconds he would be dead, and my stomach would be full.

But now, just before I can jump again, just before that final pounce that would end it, I hesitate.

I realize now that I am the thing I have hated my entire life. I was the one picking on the weak.

I just can't make myself do it. Then, he was gone, and I am all alone, me and my thoughts.

And all I can think is: what if I had done it? What if I had killed that innocent creature? I know it's a dream, but I still feel guilty about what I had almost done. What makes me the judge of something else's life? Oh yeah, that's right, I'm not.

The adrenaline is gone. I know the hunt is over. My dream starts to fade into oblivion, and I can't help but think, what if this is real?

I shoot awake. The first thing I notice is that my entire body is sore. I feel like I just came down from a crazy sugar high, and now I'm just tired. I don't want to move. I feel like that would take strength that I just don't have right now.

I just woke up, so how can I possibly be this sore?

I must have slept wrong.

I try to get up, and after a while, what seems like hours, I finally stand.

Then, my dream comes back to me, I see myself hunting, what I almost did, and I feel weaker than before, yet stronger at the same time. And then I'm out.

A short time later, I wake up again. I'm on the floor. What happened?

Once again, the visions hit me, and this time, I don't feel weak. I feel stronger than ever. I know that next time, that buck won't live. My stomach feels strange, like it doesn't know what to do, or how to feel. I know that I want to eat that deer, but I don't want to harm an innocent creature.

I'll have to think more on this later. Right now, I'm hungry. Like, really hungry.

I get up and take a quick shower. Hunger is no excuse to be dirty, not when I can help it. And trust me, I am very dirty. I look like I've been rolling around in mud. I have been, if that dream was anything to go off of.

If it was a dream.

That's what keeps haunting me. Was that really a dream? If it wasn't, it would explain why I'm so sore, and also why I looked so dirty. But what's up with the four legs thing? That's another thing that kept coming back to me. Why did I have four legs in the… er, let's just say dream.

I still don't know what to think of it as.

I hear my stomach growl, reminding me that I need to get something to eat. I wish I had eaten that buck, dream or not.

I look over at the clock. It's eleven o'clock. I need to go now. Lunch is starting in an hour. I finish getting ready, then I leave my room. I see T.J. outside.

"Where were you last night?" he says. I freeze.

"What do you mean?" I say back.

"We were all going to hang out last night, but when I came to your room to ask you if you were going to hang out with us, you weren't there."

Yep. That confirms it. Something isn't right. Even if I was asleep and it was all a dream, I would've had to have been sleep walking or something. I don't know.

But I intend to find out.