{Solivagant {so - li - va - gant} Latin (adj.) - Someone who wanders or travels the world alone; a solitary adventurer.}

Nightmares were all that filled his nights, vague, blurry images of long-lived pain. A memory drilled deep into his mind, a whirlwind of hurtful cruelty. Those hurtful dreams only appeared during the few times he got sleep. Most nights, just the simple thought of reliving that moment in his life yanked his eyelids open again, the drowsiness gone for good. And during those nights, he would be the last one in the office trying to avoid sleep. Filling the long nights with work and caffeine, the only things that could keep him awake long enough to fend off the nightmares. 

 Dáinn watched Aksel gently set down the resignation letter before leaving the room. He gave a heavy sigh, watching Askel's back disappear behind the ebony door. Rubbing circles into his temples, his thoughts drifted to Aksel. He didn’t understand the sad look Aksel gave him just a minute ago. Did the man pity him? Was he angry that he was getting rid of him? Either way, it didn’t matter to him. Aksel meant well, and he was thankful for his kindness, but he had a family, a wife, and two daughters. Dáinn wouldn’t be able to handle the guilt if they were hurt or died because of him. So he let him go.

Dáinn folded his arms on the table, burying his face in them. A wave of exhaustion overcame him. Today would've marked the third day he hadn’t gotten any sleep. No matter how much he wanted to stay awake and avoid the dream, the waves of exhaustion throbbed in his head. Begging for their only relief, his only option was to let the sleep in. His consciousness slowly faded, sleep inching in from the darkest pits of his mind. His attention was woken sharply when he heard something. A shattering noise thundered into his ears. Loud rumbling, creaking echoed throughout the empty office. Dáinn’s body shot with adrenaline, stood abruptly from his chair. Whipping his head around, trying to find the source of the sound. ‘Is there an earthquake?!’ 

Dainn reached out his hand and was just about to grab his phone to glance at the news when a snowy static overcame the rumbling. His thoughts speed up, confusion ringing deeply. He glanced down at the screen that had lit up in his hands. No notification had shown up warning about an earthquake. But the shaking beneath his feet and the trembling office walls said otherwise. Only a few minutes after the rumbling had started did he take notice of it. Out of the corner of his eye, something moved, appearing and disappearing in waves of colors. And when he looked closely at the furthest wall, the window glitched. Reds and blues flashed, yellows and greens replacing the others here and there. He stared on in shock; ‘what's going on?’ Parts of the wall would disappear, leaving behind only a black void. The holes split open like chasms, whirling. A beautiful storm of colors clashing together. Once and it's ugly, disgusting layers of flesh peeled apart. Only to quickly be replaced by the same glitching window.

It would tremble again and inch closer, the spiderwebs of colorful claws tearing at the wallpaper, dying it in its blood. Dragging itself closer to Dainn. His heart thundered in his ears, a lump growing heavy in his stomach. There was no way this could be happening; all it was was a hallucination made up from a mind lacking energy to conjure up what was reality and what wasn’t. His brown eyes watched it intently, creeping along the walls, closing in on him. The colors shifted, gripping, peeling, and tearing at the very fabric of existence itself. But then again, it wasn’t real, so how was it tearing at its very existence? He shook his head violently, shutting his eyes and rubbing them. All just a living dream, he tried telling himself. However, more crackling static shattered the quiet sound waves in the room. Promptly making his eyes blink open, a larger chasm had opened its maw, swallowing half the room. His body tensed, his eardrums aching under the pressure of the growing static. Dáinn’s eyes widened. ‘When did the glitch get so close?’ He backed his body up against his desk, whether he was living a waking dream or not didn’t matter because now the pit in his stomach was screaming at him to get out. 

Before he could turn to leave, a feeling overcame the right side of his body. Pins and needles stung his skin, numbing the muscles to the bone. He looked down at his right hand, yellows and blues glittered across his skin, reds and greens replacing what once was pale. Prickling, the numbness stuck its nails deep into his body. A seething lust, a maddening confusion. An invasive touch, peeling apart something human-born. Peering into the deepest corners of his body. There he was, drowning in the glitching mess of terror gripping hold of his only life. The colors shifted across his skin, chewing madly at his body’s pale canvas. Fear clawed its way into his heart. He could feel it pounding hard, trying to free itself from the looming threat.