Horrific Shorts: Zombie Edition

Chapter 2425: Story 2426: The First Dream

The Origin was afraid.

The realization struck every soul across creation like a thunderbolt.

The golden eye remained suspended beyond reality, vast beyond comprehension, ancient beyond imagination.

Yet fear lingered within its gaze.

Not fear of the Devourer.

Not fear of the Eye Beyond Creation.

Not fear of the Seven Thrones.

Something else.

Something older.

Something hidden.

The battlefield remained silent.

Even the winds had stopped.

Noah stared upward from the shattered wasteland, the Silver Crown glowing softly upon his head.

"What could possibly frighten the Origin?" he whispered.

No one answered.

Not Malthor.

Not the Forgotten Creator.

Not even the Ancient One.

Because none of them knew.

Then the darkness beyond the golden eye shifted.

A ripple spread through existence.

Reality folded inward like paper.

Galaxies bent.

Time slowed.

And suddenly everyone saw it.

A sleeping figure.

At first it appeared impossibly small.

A child curled peacefully within an endless void.

Yet the longer anyone looked, the larger it became.

Planets drifted around the sleeping figure like dust.

Galaxies swirled around it like falling leaves.

Entire universes floated within its dreams.

Noah felt his breath catch.

The sleeping child was larger than creation itself.

The Origin lowered its gaze.

"My creator."

Shock erupted across existence.

The Eye Beyond Creation trembled.

The Forgotten Creator stepped backward.

Even the Seventh Throne’s mysterious child stared in disbelief.

The Origin had a creator.

The impossible truth shattered everything they thought they knew.

The sleeping figure never moved.

Never opened its eyes.

Yet its dreams shaped reality itself.

The Ancient One finally spoke.

Its voice sounded small.

"We are inside the dream."

The words echoed across the battlefield.

Inside the dream.

Inside the imagination of the sleeping child.

Noah felt the Crown pulse violently.

Suddenly visions flooded his mind.

He saw countless realities.

Countless universes.

Each one born from a different dream.

Some beautiful.

Some horrifying.

Some impossible.

All created by the sleeping being.

Then Noah understood.

The First Dream was not a place.

It was existence itself.

The Devourer roared.

The monster’s fear had become desperation.

"No!"

Crimson fire exploded across its colossal body.

"If it awakens, everything ends!"

The Origin slowly nodded.

"Yes."

Silence followed.

The truth was terrifying.

If the sleeping creator awakened, the dream would end.

Reality would vanish.

Every kingdom.

Every star.

Every life.

Gone.

As though none of it had ever existed.

The Devourer laughed bitterly.

For the first time, there was no malice in its voice.

Only fear.

"You all called me the end."

Its crimson eyes fixed upon the sleeping figure.

"But I was never the end."

The heavens trembled.

Cracks spread across the First Dream.

The sleeping child’s eyelids twitched.

Once.

Twice.

A tiny movement.

Yet the effect was catastrophic.

Entire dimensions flickered.

Stars vanished and reappeared.

Time fractured across countless worlds.

The Origin’s golden eye widened.

"We are out of time."

Noah felt every throne react simultaneously.

The First.

The Second.

The Third.

The Fourth.

The Fifth.

The Sixth.

The Seventh.

All of them awakened completely.

Preparing.

Waiting.

For what came next.

Then the sleeping child’s eyes slowly began to open.

And reality screamed.