Layers Of Nightmare

Once William got back to his apartment, a thought of wanting to shower then took a short afternoon nap came to his mind. Good thing that Felicia treated him for lunch, else he would need to cook on top of feeling tired.

Looking at the vacant space in the shoe rack near the front door, William noticed that Marvin did not return from his part-time work yet.

'Great! A silent afternoon just for myself!' Although they have their own separate bedroom, a whole unit for themselves at times was not so bad.

…

After 10 minutes of showering, William went to his bedroom feeling relaxed and slightly sleepy.

Not forgetting the so-called 'bonus' reminder, he began to scour through his bedroom.

Few minutes later, William had search all the drawers and every inch of his wardrobe, yet he still could not find the thing.

'Where is it?' He frowned, suddenly, a thought came to his mind. 'Oh! Maybe…'

He crouched down and looked under his bed. "Found it!"

Extending the right part of his body, William took the items with his hand. When he saw the items on his palm, he could not help feeling disheartened.

One was the same pill that Alex gave him last night, while the other one was a small piece of blue paper that looked like a ticket.

'What is this even?' The ticket was filled with unknown hieroglyphs without any normal text on it. 'Whatever, I'll ask those people tomorrow.'

William put both items inside the sling bag.

Just before he went for a nap, William opened the parchment and sat on his bed.

Small texts written with silver ink revealed themselves. There were probably almost one hundred clauses compressed on a single page. It was compact and written so orderly it was hard to believe someone had handwritten it.

"Whew," William whistled in amazement, then proceed to read the preamble.

"The content of this parchment is a subject to amendment(s), please renew it for at least once every three years by visiting any Dream Treader's Association or by contacting an international number xxx-xxxx-xxxx. When the call connects and asked about enquiries, please state your name and ID, then spell 'Dream Treader' in NATO phonetic format, then your branch location, and finally your enquiries.

"This parchment also served as an official proof of identification for Dream Treaders. Your unique identification number and your real name will appear automatically on the top corners of the page, following your signature on the box provided at the back page. This parchment can ONLY be signed by putting three drops of your blood at the box provided. Signing any other way, or any attempt of writing on this parchment will result in termination of this parchment."

William turn the parchment over. Sure enough, he saw a square with silver border at the top middle part of the page.

'Let's do that later.' William decided to only sign after he read all the content.

He turned the page back, then read the first clause,

"By signing this, you will:

"1. Contribute as the world's protector by preventing the connection between both realms.

"2. Be prepared to die in the face of unavoidable calamity.

"3. Provide dying will, in case clause number two is fulfilled.

"4. Be provided full family support, including but not limited to: education, government protections, and health care; for at least three generations to come (even after your passing)."

William sighed as he read the fourth clause. He suddenly got reminded of Alex's response to his last question.

…

..

.

"What happened after we die there?"

Alex replied with a chuckle, "Well, William, we don't really know what will happen ourselves after we die either, don't we? Will we go to the heavens, reincarnate, or perhaps into the void of emptiness?"

"Sir," William protested. "You know what I meant."

"Alright, alright." Alex put up both of his hands in conceding manner. "Simply put, if you die there, then you die."

William was stumped. "That's it?"

"Of course… not." Alex added, "If you die, then you will disappear and forgotten, just like those who have ascended."

.

..

...

'Forgotten, eh?' William thought.

It was just a hunch, but somehow, William was sure that Alex was hiding something from him. The explanation he gave; there should be something more into it.

"Haaiish…" He sighed once again before continuing to read the parchment.

"5. Be provided unconditional remuneration worth USD 10,000 at the first of each month (this is a separate policy from clause number four). Additional request will require further considerations by contacting the number given above."

"Pfft- Uhuk!" William choked on his saliva. 'Holy shit!'

$10,000 as a monthly salary… Even in those expensive city, he could spend the rest of his life comfortably! Not to mention that it was written as 'unconditional', chances were, he could earn more from additional missions or bonuses.

Now he knew why Felicia insisted on treating him for lunch, and even bought him the expensive smoothie.

'Alright, calm down.' Even with the generous sum, William still hesitate to sign it outright. Once he had decided to read it all first, then read it all he will!

15 minutes passed, he finally managed to read everything through. Just like what Felicia said, there was an 'FYI' section in the last fourth of the page.

There were two facts that made him gasped in amazement. One, unless it was something caused by the realm itself, any Dream Treaders will be able to perform at their best, regardless of any disabilities or ailments they had in the real world. Two, the amount of blood needed to make each round of silver bullet was approximately 20 ml.

He wondered if some Dream Treaders did a mad research in the other realm to be able to determine the value.

"20 ml, huh?" William did a quick calculation. 'About 100 shots at best, less than 30 shots to maintain peak performance…'

An average a.d.u.l.t body contained 4 liters and up to 6 liters of blood. As a relatively slim Asian with average height, William was definitely at the lower part of the range. Losing more than half of total blood volume will result in death, while losing more than 14% will cause dizziness or nausea.

With this, William was sure that no one would use automatic firearms to stream-rolled their Nightmare instances, even if the system gave them one.

Overall, there was not any detrimental policy that William had expected. It did not limit his usual freedom, nor any misleading words. The only thing he needed to do was to make sure that re-signing will be required after every amendment to the policy.

'Alright, I'll ask Felicia later.' William put the parchment on the table and off for a nap.