The Beginning of Collapse

Taran El felt that childish yet piercing scream almost bore through his soul.

It was as if an invisible force were tearing at his mind, as a vast consciousness assaulted his memories. That scream transcended the dimensions of time, space, and concepts, echoing again and again through every stage of his life that he could remember. Though it lasted only an exceedingly brief instant, the pain and confusion it brought were still tenfold, a hundredfold greater than what he had felt when drinking the Blood Raven Potion.

Then he felt the entire Dream of the Nameless begin to collapse. The wind howled, the earth split apart, and the remnants of the World Tree in the distance rapidly crumbled. Farther away, the silhouettes of the forest seemed to rise as if gravity had reversed, curling upward. Within seconds, everything sank into darkness. He realized the dream was dissolving, and then he became aware of the Real World. Lights appeared at the end of that darkness, flowing and spinning like a vortex across the opposite wall before gradually stabilizing. Then he heard other voices around him—

He woke up, waking in the Real World at dawn.

Everyone was waking up.

"What happened... How did the Dream of the Nameless suddenly collapse?"

"I don't know. It seemed like a gale blew up... I only remember the distant ground rolling upward..."

"Is anyone hurt? Is everyone here? What time is it now?"

People nearby were talking, their voices confused. The situation seemed to be utter chaos.

Taran El struggled against the sharp pain in his head—the effects of that scream had followed him from his awakening into the Real World. His head hurt so badly that he felt as if he might truly drop dead at any moment—before the wildly spinning scene before his