Of dreams and nightmares

Standing in a dark, shrouded room, Ryu looked around at the lifeless, colorless scenery. There were tables, chairs, even plants, but everything was the same grey and black, like a permanent filth covering everything. This place looked a lot like his home, but...wrong...threatening. Not only the room felt threatening. There was an ominous feel, almost like a sound in the room. Like what a rabbit feels when driven...hunted. Yes, that was indeed the feel of this. A sudden shift in the shadows made Ryu spin around in alertness. His heart felt like beating a way out of him through his throat. The room starting blurring and shifting slightly, almost as if being a living thing. Thoughts raced through Ryu's head. Thoughts of loneliness...thoughts of loss...thoughts of despair...and mostly, thoughts of fear. He needed to get out of here before it overwhelmed him...but where? He started scanning around frantically, trying to find something, anything to get out of here. He ran towards the walls, trying to feel the wall for an exit, for a window, a crack, a weak spot to bash down, ANYTHING. But as he ran, so did the room move. No matter how hard he tried, he always ended up standing in the middle of the room. Stopping the attempt he scanned around again, panting heavily, for something to grab onto, perhaps he could drag his way around the room. But as he tried to grab hold of a nearby table, another shift in the shadows made him stop. Behind him there was a door! Finally a way out! But as he tried to make a run for the door a person stepped through. Well, person... Walking shadow was more like it. The shadow spoke, a voice that sounded like death, or maybe something worse, an emotionless, cold sound, like the soft grinding of two gravestones "You cannot leave like this...You will not leave like this..." Ryu felt like screaming as the words were driven like inch long nails in his skull. Putting up resistance was useless. The shadow approached him, a dark tendril held out like a fisted claw. Turning around to flee, Ryu felt a pressure on his chest. It hardened...tightened...increased to crunching levels. Ryu watched in horror as the clas ripped through his chest with a sickening crunch, spilling out life fluids and guts. The pain shot right through to his skull and he screamed... He never heard the sound as the shadow overtook him, swallowed him and conquered him.

With a start and a scream that could have pierced steel Ryu awoke in his nursing room. His head felt like he ran the olympics and his body felt like he swam them, he was soaked in sweat. The fear was gone...the darkness was gone, but the pain stayed...the pain in his chest. Oh god that red hot pain! Supressing another scream into a long, hard groan like some wild animal, Ryu wanted to rub his chest, soothe it, caress it, claw it open, anything to stop the pain. His face contorted into a grimace of horror and pain. He thought about the dream. He was almost sure that figure was his death, trying to bind him to it. He arched his back and screamed in utter pain and terror as he felt ribs shredding themselves out of his chest, the fleshy crunches like a appetizer to the fear.
Then suddenly...all was gone... With a slam the door to his room opened and the doctor ran inside. "What in the name of Kath'ar is happing!?" Ryu fluttered his eyes and forced himself to look at the remains of what once was his chest, only to find the bandages neatly wrapped around him, not even blood staining any of them. "Ghhh...wha-ggghhh-t...". The doctor opened each of Ryu's eyes wide in turn, checking light sensivity. Ryu just watched without moving, not caring if he ever moved again. The doctor checked his pulse, felt his forehead, noted the sweat, then checked the bandages, his face going from worry to confusion to understanding, back to worry. "It seems like magic healing has an adverse affect on you, but I have no idea why". Collecting his strength Ryu spoke throatily "Whhhat do you mhhhean, magic?". Looking at him seriously the doctor anwsered "Those haiki leaves in your dinner? They have immense healing properties, being able to mend any broken bone and clear up the heaviest of concussions in no more then a day. But it somehow seems like the healing process went haywire inside of you." He held out a hand to be placed on Ryu's chest. Ryu drew back at first, but then let him. The doctor placed the hand on his chest and pushed. Drawing in brearth through his teeth, Ryu prepared for the stab of pain, but he felt nothing...not a thing, just the gentle pressure of the doctor's hand. Amazement took over the exhaustion in Ryu's head as his eyes went wide. "See, you're healed, but you shouldn't have been more aware of it then of a fly crawling over your skin. Somehow your body altered how the magic works...?" Ryu grimaced and let out his good old fashioned sarcasm accompanied with a low grunt "Yay for magic healing. Now I know how a fish being gutted must feel, for fu-...for light's sake it hurt like hell...Goddamn it." He wrapped an arm around his chest, feeling if everything was really in it's place like a normal human's anatomy. Everything did feel okay, and even the old fashioned ache between the ribs he had was gone. Grunting again he settled back in his back and sighed deeply. The doctor nodded in sympathy "Yes I understand...better to let you sleep a bit more for now. But seeing as I'm here now, I might as well tell you." Ryu arched an eyebrow at that. More miraculously happy healing techniques? "The Oracle has requested you to come to her in an official audience, tomorrow first thing in the morning." Oracle? Ryu felt like bashing his head against the bedpost for all the good it would do him. All the fantasy cliché and ceremony they were going to put him through... He was already sick of it. He wondered how in the nine hells he could have ever have dreamed of living this...