Perry watched in horror as a man with a blurry face walked toward him in a blurry surroundings.
He tried to stand up and run away, but for some reason, his hands didn't move. No matter how much he flailed his arms around, they just wouldn't listen to him. Same for his legs which were like jelly at the moment.
Vague silhouettes of what looked like humans watched him from the side, standing in places that looked vaguer than them.
Was it a hallway of a palace? Or the streets outside of the tower? Or was this inside his own room?
Perry couldn't tell. The man with the blurry face walked closer and closer until he was nearly on top of Perry.
Perry was going to die now. He was sure of it.
Suddenly, a woman appeared in front of him. The familiar back of the woman with her long auburn hair made him feel a sense of security as soon as she arrived.
Now that she was here, Perry had nothing to worry about.
"He's trying to kill me, master. Protect me," he tried to say out loud, but his voice wouldn't reach her at all. Perry didn't know why.
He wondered if he should shout once again to let the newly arrived woman know about what was happening.
However, just as he thought that the woman disappeared into a hazy mist of multicolored light before fully going away.
Now that she was gone, the man was getting closer and closer to him. Even right in front of him, Perry couldn't see this man's face at all.
He knew who this was. This was his enemy, the man who he had tried to kill so many years ago, and the man who had vowed to kill him since then.
It had been so long that Perry couldn't even remember his face anymore. He could see many faces flash through his enemy's face, but none matched at all.
Then, the man took out a gun from his pocket and pointed it at Perry. Just before he shot Perry, his face settled to look like a single person he recognized.
BANG!
Perry woke up in his bed, drenched in his own sweat. His breathing was rough and his heartbeat was both fast and heavy.
The sensation of death in his dream… no, nightmare… lingered even as he was out of it now.
How many days had it been since he saw this nightmare? He had been plagued with the thought that his enemy would come to kill him anytime ever since he had realized that his master was dead.
Since his master had died, he hadn't gotten any information regarding his enemy, and since then his paranoia that he could be anywhere and everywhere had kicked in.
Every night of his was filled with anxiety and paranoia if he stayed awake, and a nightmare if he slept.
Perry drank the glass of water next to his bed and tried to calm himself but the fear in his heart couldn't be taken away with mere water.
So, he opened the drawer and pulled out one of the many vials inside them. His hands shook in a hurry as he pulled the stopper out of the vial and drank the potion inside of it in quick succession.
Within minutes of drinking the potion, his fear and anxiety completely disappeared, and his heartbeat started to slow down as well.
Finally, he could breathe a sigh of relief.
"Dammit! I can't keep living like this," he thought to himself. "I need to do something."
With his anxiety and fear gone, fatigue was starting to take over him again. He lay back on his bed and tried to sleep.
Even as sleep took over him, he remembered the face of the man who had killed him in his dream.
"Terran Forn!"
* * * * *
Ning walked out of Old woman Gaani's hope with her and Helena. Gaani looked back at her home and sighed.
This was going to be the last time she was going to see this home… at least like this.
In the past year, Ning had managed to learn about potions to the point that it had shocked the old woman.
In addition to that, he had helped the old woman by selling a lot of the potions that had been requested of her, while not taking a single penny back.
Also, he had helped her increase the price of the potions. Despite getting the ingredients from elsewhere, the knowledge itself was very much priceless for her to not sell it for more.
As such, in just a year, Ning had helped the old woman earn enough money to finally be able to afford the renovations of the house.
"Don't worry," Ning said from the side as he saw her melancholic face. "It's just a few months… err, half a year before you can return back to the new house that will be erected here."
"I know," the old woman said. "But I still feel very bad about leaving this house just like that."
"Also, the place you are taking use better be nice, I tell you, young man. But not so much that I feel like I don't belong there."
Ning chuckled. "Don't worry, Mrs. Gaani. The place is completely empty at the moment and you can redesign it however you want to," Ning said.
"What about our stuff, teacher?" Helena asked from the side.
"Don't worry," Ning said. "I have it with me in my storage." Ning patted his chest as if pointing to a certain area in his chest where he was keeping the storage necklace.
"Good," the old woman cried out. "Aside from that, I also hope that I will get to continue practicing my potion skills.
"Just because you are better than me, doesn't mean I'm going to sit back and let you be," she said.
"Of course," Ning said. "I wouldn't want you to get too far behind."
Then, Ning's face turned a little mischievous as he said, "Also, there is something new about potion making that I recently discovered that I'm sure you would love to find out as well."
