The Professor twitched and moved ever so slightly as he slept away the stress of the encounter only to be faced with more turmoil. He hadn't slept for years for this exact reason…the nightmares. Well, he specifically called them night terrors. But that doesn't quite matter. What did matter though is he had this exact nightmare every time he had slept for the past hundred years. The ambush, his friend's death, playing through his mind on repeat until he woke from his slumber.

On this particular evening though, something new was added to the mix. Something familiar yet he didn't recognize it at the same time. His mind raced whilst he lay there motionless other than his occasional breaths and constant heartbeat. The Man was not only deep in thought but also fighting for his life and didn't even know it.

His dream started off the same as always, the Angelicians and their cult-like worshipers swarming around the duo. But something else lurked in the shadows this time, something more dreadful than the dream that had plagued him for a century. Something deadly.

The Professor knew he had to wake up, that something terrible was going to happen. Worse than just a figment of his subconscious. Possible torture, hell, maybe even death. So without a thought he put his hand into his pocket, pulled out a pocket knife, flicked it open, and stabbed himself in the opposite hand in the dream, praying that it would reflect in the real world events. And sure enough they did.

He yowled in pain as he awoke with a start, yanking the knife out of the wound, letting the blood soak the bed sheets. An armed guard entered the room to see a devastating scene. While the Professor's colleagues had left him be the Professor had not only stabbed himself, but the room had been rummaged through. The desk torn open, papers all over the floor, and a figure looming above the man laying on the bed. Now, the guard was new to this post and had never met the Professor before. Didn't have a clue what to think much less how to recover from the shock. But he stated rather quickly.

"Sir you need to get to the infirmary."

"No, I don't."

"But…"

The Professor's hand started to heal in a gross and horrific concoction of blood, flesh, and bone. Seamlessly forming together with a shining bluish white light.

"You were saying?"

The guard backed away slowly.

"N-nothing, sir!"

"What's your name new recruit?"

"Bates…Officer Oliver Bates!"

"Well, Oliver Bates, it's a pleasure to meet you. Now if you could do me a favor and throw a grenade our way and leave posthaste!"

"It would be my pleasure! Nice meeting you finally. Heard a lot about you from the others!"

Bates quickly pulled the pin from a grenade he'd unclipped from his belt and threw it in the direction of the Professor and the other entity. The Professor grabbing at the entity above him, before realizing it was intangible. He gasped in mock terror.

"Oh how terrible, you don't have a physical form? Must be hard to hold onto the present. Anyway, I'll be taking my leave!"

He rolled off the side of the bed, picked himself up and ran out of the room in an instant, leaving the being to process that…and the explosion that happened a split second after. Causing it to turn to dust, or maybe that was all it had ever been. But something told him this was a far greater adversary than most. It hadn't screamed, it hadn't yelled, it waited in silence for him to make the first move. Whatever it was this was its first move in a very deadly game and now it was his turn.

The Professor dusted the smoke and debris from his coat, his eyes narrowed as he realized they was no sound from the room. No sounds of pain, no sounds or life or lack thereof. There was just nothing. Nothing of organic origin anyway. A frown crossed his features as a group of soldiers ran towards him.

"First off. I don't like the military getting involved. Second, I doubt a gun would be much help against something a grenade can't even put a dent in."

He waved his hands in the air dramatically to make a point.

"It's made of dust…hell for all I know I just wiped part of it onto the floor and I wouldn't know. So, tell me boys. Have you ever heard of the bogeyman? The sandman? Any of this ring any bells? No? Well I quite frankly don't care."

Frustrated, the Professor shoves past all the soldiers and makes his way to the meeting room where he'd last seen his colleagues, his friends, his family. And stared in terror and awe at the sight now before him. Now he understood why the soldiers were there. How long had he been asleep? And more importantly why was this what he had awoken to?

Corpses were strewn across the room. People he'd known for ages. Some of the greatest scientific minds of the present world. All dead. But something was odd about the way the room was laid out. The corpses also, he noted, were only bone…no blood or flesh remained. Almost as if they'd been sucked dry and the flesh had been eaten off the bone.

After a scan from his laser scanner he took note that there weren't any organs left either, not even the brain. It was as if the bodies had been there for years. He heard footsteps walking towards him and jolted back to the present.

"Sir, we were going to…"

"I should have asked. It isn't on you, what happened here isn't your fault."

"And it wasn't yours either. There would have been nothing you could do."

There was a brief pause. Before Bates cleared his throat.

"They pressed the emergency alarm. We got here in a moments notice. Five minutes tops. And we found them like this. It's like…"

"Like they died a century ago?"

"Exactly."

This made the Professor go quiet. Oh so quiet, as he began to calculate what this could mean. Then he snapped his fingers.

"I've got it! Get me some string, a paper clip, and some coffee! I'm going hunting for the dust tonight!"

"But what does any of that have to do with?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Well…"

"Do you have any better plans?"

"Fair point! On it, sir!"

"Thank you, Officer Bates! I'll see you shortly!"

And with that, the Professor turned his back on his late found family, closed the door, and never looked back.