Soni stared at the ceiling as he laid in one of the six beds that occupied the hotel room. His thoughts stayed on the longest 3 minutes of the day. It was strange but fun as usual. The two moons and the sun at the same time still confused him. The monk disappearing within the three minutes was stranger.

Soni's thoughts were startled by snoring. He propped himself on his elbows to see who it was.

Eric was sleeping on his back with his mouth wide open.

"Eric," Soni whispered. "Eric, wake up." Soni got out of his bed and walked by Eric's bed intentionally bumping into it.

"Huh" Eric woke up squinting at Soni. "What's wrong Soni. You ain't scared of the dark are you?" Eric said rolling over onto his side.

"HaHa, funny. I'm just trying to get to the bathroom through all of this junk on the floor." Soni said, proud of his excuse.

"Yeah, yeah whatever," Eric said falling back to sleep immediately. This time he snored lightly.

Soni turned around and headed back to his bed. He looked down at Eric as he passed. Soni did care about the snoring. It was the position Eric was sleeping in that worried him. Soni had read about incidents where people died from choking on their own tongue, saliva or whatever else goes on. Reading about it was enough for him not to want to see or learn about it the wrong way.

Soni crawled back into his bed and continued staring at the ceiling. The reflection of the moon bouncing off the walls had him in a trance-like state. He didn't blink his eyes or think about much of anything at the moment.

His eyelids were half closed when he felt it. Soni wasn't sure what it was but it felt completely awkward. He sat up on his elbows once again looking around the room. Nobody was up or moving, but it felt like somebody was in the room watching them.

He eyed the shadows in the room looking for anything unusual. Figuring that his mind was playing tricks on him. He laid back down and crawled under the blankets seeking solitude from everything.

"Need some sleep. That's all I need, just a little sleep," he told himself. Soni closed his eyes and got comfortable under the blanket.

He still couldn't shake the feeling that somebody else or something was in the room. After ten minutes of silence, Soni fell asleep. The incident happened while Soni was asleep. Somebody had pulled the blanket off Soni, tossing it on the floor. A breeze hit Soni causing him to wake up reaching for the blanket that he thought still covered him.

"What the hell.." Soni said, looking at the other fellas in the room still sleep. He looked over the side of the bed to the floor. The blanket sat there folded in a nice square shape on the floor. Soni eyed everybody on the suspiciously. He glanced at his watch to see how long he had been sleeping and gasped.

"Five minutes. Damn. Times on my side all of a sudden." he said looking down at the blanket. Then he felt the feeling of somebody watching him again. His eyes searched the room. Nothing. He looked toward the window. They were all locked, but Soni was sure that a breeze of wind hit him.

The hotel's door remained closed and their room was fourteen stories up. Soni thought about the girls pulling a prank on him but disregarded the thought. There were chaperones watching the halls for misbehavior. Besides, the girls' rooms were down on the 12th floor.

Who would go through such trouble to put toothpaste in somebody's shoe or shaving powder on some of the boys' eyebrows? We thought about it, but knew it wouldn't be worth the struggle. What was happening now was deeper than the childs play.

The blanket sat folded on the floor as if it was there the whole time and never on the bed. Soni felt a light breeze run over his legs causing goose bumps to rise. He looked to his left to see where the wind was blowing from. A wall? No holes, cracks, or punctures. Soni reached down and grabbed his blanket covering himself again. He laid back on the bed but couldn't shake that feeling of somebody taunting him.

Soni sat up in his bed with his back to the headboard. He covered himself with the blanket and closed his eyes. He took the usual deep breaths and steps for his meditation. He felt his mind resting but could still feel an extra presence in the room. Soni tried to black out the interference by setting up his dream control and succeeded when he felt the presence leave.

In his dream world, he was on top of a building. He didn't recognize his surrounding. He walked over to the edge of the building and looked down. The building he was on had to be at least seventy storied or better. Everybody looked liked ants with light bulbs attached to their heads. Or maybe those ants were cars. He looked up staring at the two moons. He didn't see the sun this time. The skyline is lit by the two moons Soni could tell the sun was to the west by the way the moon received the light and bounced it.

He thought about chasing the sun until he felt the presence from the room invading him again. Soni turned around and saw the warrior he fought earlier standing on the roof.

"You have the gift," the warrior said in a deep voice.

Soni sense an accent in the voice but count pinpoint the origin. "What is with you," Soni said walking closer to the masked warrior.

"Are you taunting my subconscious?" Soni asked. "This is your subconscious," the warrior said raising his hands to the sky.

"Yeah, Yeah whatever," Soni said getting within 10 feet of the warrior then stopping. "Who taught you the elements of the mind?" the warrior asked. "I admire your talent and power."

Soni was puzzled. "Come again? " he said preparing himself for what whatever trick the warrior had up his sleeve. He made three other warriors appear with the crazy humming. They could be anywhere now ready to pop out and fight. "You don't want to pick a fight this time?" Soni said looking around the rooftop.

The warrior shook his head. "I had no intentions on trying to harm you. Please believe that. I thought you were going to run when you saw me break free of the statue."

Soni shook his head still confused. "What. Who are you?" Soni asked the naked warrior. There was a silence that lasted two or three minutes. Soni thought the guy behind the mask might have left the body considering that the body has moved no more than an inch in any direction.

Then suddenly the warrior said "Nine."

Soni was baffled after the long wait. He thought he had heard the warrior wrong so he asked, "That's your name? Nine?"

The warrior nodded his head once and said, "Yes!"

"Like, one through ten. The Nine before the ten?" Soni asked ready to laugh at any moment.

"Yes."

"Why are you harassing me?" he asked ready to leave.

The warrior sensed that Soni was ready to leave and thought of another tactic to keep him there. "I'm curious to know who trained you?" the warrior asked. Soni shook his head.

"That's none of your business," he said walking back to the edge of the building and looking down.

He could hear the warrior cautious walking behind him. The gravel crunching under the ten-foot giant feet made it hard to miss hearing.

"I told you that you have a gift," the warrior said stopping ten feet behind Soni.

"This isn't a gift," Soni said pointing to his surrounding. "Anybody could do this if they set their mind to it," Soni said turning around to face the warrior again.

"That is true, to a certain extent. But you have the gift to go farther than a world of unreal events with characters that your subconscious pieces together."

Soni looked at the warrior without saying anything. "You are my subconscious."

"No, my friend, I am not of your subconscious. Answer this. How many of your friends in your cute hotel room can perform the simple acts that you do?"

"I don't know," Soni said. "Some people feel uncomfortable talking about dream contr.." Soni stopped and stared at the warrior. "You're the presence I felt in the room. But h.h. how?" Sony didn't believe and ghost but this was one good reason to run. Nothing was making sense.

As the warrior started to speak, Soni jumped over the edge of the building. Nine walked to the edge of the building and looked down. Soni was falling fast. His pace quickening by the millisecond. Nine watches as Soni looked up at him, spread his arms, and slowed down as he floated towards the sidewalk.

Soni was confused as he landed on the sidewalk. He looked up to see if he could spot the warrior. The distance was too far. He looked around at the passing motorist. Everybody was headed in their own direction. He started walking down the street deep in his thoughts and not really seeing things as he passed them.

How did he know about my room? He asked himself. Was it possible to travel to the real world? Or was the warrior bluffing? Soni stopped dead in his tracks. He could sense the warrior was close. In all of the time I've been dream controlling, this is the first time I had any type of sensation, Soni thought looking at his hands and arms. I can actually feel it.

Soni looked at his surroundings trying to spot the warrior. Nothing. The warrior shouldn't be hard to find considering that he stood at ten feet tall. Soni looked up at the towering building and made up his mind. He held his hands out to his sides and balled his hands into a fist. He willed the buildings, cars, and people to vanish. The ground beneath him shook slight as Soni made his alterations to his dream world.

Once he finished his vision, Soni glanced at the ground. The ground held a glossy reflective surface that could pass for a black marble. Still feeling the presence, Soni turned around to face the warrior.

"You have something on your mind, Mr. nine?" Soni asked walking towards the warrior, "I don't like being harassed."

The warrior held his arms out in front of him showing a gesture of peace. "Please young one," he said, bring Soni to a halt, "I only wish to talk with you about your talents."

Soni was confused and voiced to himself, "why should I speak to you about my talents?" He asked the warrior. "You here with me. Besides, I don't like talking to people who hide behind masks."

The warrior bowed his head to Soni. "As you wish." The warrior kept his head bowed and clasped his hands together. He started to moan lightly, startling Soni. Tiny sand particles twisted around the warrior as a small typhoon.

Soni covered his face and took a few steps back to ward off the dirt. He saw a glow coming from the center of the mini hurricane. The small particles slowly disappeared unveiling a guy that looks similar to the monk. Soni dropped his hands once the show was over and stared at his assaulter. Soni looked around himself to make sure

another trick wasn't being played on him.

The person before him stood wearing a robe with the hood pulled down shielding his face from view. The brownish robe reminded Soni of the monk he had sat down with earlier.

"Do you feel more comfortable now?" Nine asked coming from under the hood. He pushed the hood completely off his head and looked at Soni.

"Hey, wait a minute," Soni said shocked by the revelation, "why didn't you just show yourself from the start?"

Nine walked closer to Soni. "If you don't mind, can we get a little more comfortable before we speak? This is very uncomfortable."

Soni stared at the monk for a second and nodded. "Okay, what do you have in mind?"

Nine closed his eyes and change the scene of the black marble Soni had presented, into a peaceful scene. A lake formed with wildflowers and trees so thick that Soni could barely see the two moons. On the ground beside Soni's feet say a big pillow similar to the ones the monks sat on. Soni could hear the wildlife cries of a wolf in the distance, along with some other unidentifiable animals.

He felt the monk coming closer to him. He turned to see the monk getting comfortable on another pillow five feet from the pillow Soni stood by.

Nine looked up a Soni, "please sit." He asked.

Soni shook his head, "I'm Okay. I rather stand." Soni walked closer to the lake marveling the beauty of the two moons reflection bouncing off the water. "You chose a nice setting." Sony complimented Nine.

"The mind can do such wonders."

Soni turned toward the monk. "So you say. How about answering my question. Why didn't you just show yourself."

The monk looked Soni straight in the eye, I thought that I could scare you awake." Nine shook his head, "I was wrong. Many of my kind meditate years beyond your age to achieve what you can do."

Soni was puzzled. "What do you mean by your kind?" He asked.

"My brothers and sisters in the village," Nine said looking back at the lake.

"How did you get into my head earlier?" Soni asked. "In fact? How did you get into my head period ?"

Nine stared Soni dead in the eye, "who taught you to dream control?" he asked seriously.

Soni, not intimidated, kept his gaze on Nine. "Why do you keep asking me that? Do you always answer a question with a question ?" Nine kept calm and answered Soni's questions.

"Your mind control, my friend is extraordinary. Most dream controllers would get excited over a simple feat as changing the scenery in a dream. These people I talk about are in their forties and older. There are a lot of people that don't know about it, and others that won't take time to master the feat. When everybody tells them about how hard it is to accomplish, they tend to find other things to occupy their time. That's why I ask of you the name of your benefactor."

Soni tilted his head with a confused expression on his face. "Benefactor?" he said puzzled. "Who's that?" Soni heard an owl and looked up towards the trees.

"A benefactor is one who teaches another," Nine said looking up also. "I'm just curious and want to know what your benefactor name is. I might know him."

Soni laughed lightly and turned back to Nine. "The world is not that small Mr. Nine. I doubt that you would know her." Soni said with a smile on his face. Nine looked at Soni now with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Ohh. Now you have a confused look on your face. Don't fret it now. She's been dead for 11 years now." Nine eyes widened scaring Soni slightly.

"Hey man, you alright?" he asked. Everything around them started shaking slightly. Soni's vision blurred as the scene around him started shifting. Soni turned toward the monk and was shocked to see him gone.

"What a way to make an exit," Soni said looking around him focusing on the lake as everything calmed down. He searched the forest with his eyes to see if he could spot the monk running away. He remembered that the monk disappeared earlier without a trace when they were at the temple. He couldn't spot Nine anywhere.

The feeling of an extra presence was gone too. Soni walked to the edge of the lake and looked down. He focused on his reflection and asked, "was it something I said?" Soni laughed and leaped into the air.