Having put on the ring, Slinx finds himself ever so excited for sleep. He tried to calm himself down and get in the mood for sleep, despite finding it ludicrously hard knowing that Cavina awaited him in Dreamland on the other side. He thought of how lucky he was to stumble across Walder and how incredible things escalated. Slinx wiped his mind repeatedly, only to find his thoughts flowing like a river; the more he tried to stop them, the more thoughts emerged. After struggling to fall asleep for what felt like an eternity of rolling left and right on his bed, Slinx surrendered his will to the fatigue of his body. And by not trying, he found himself finally succeeding.

  Slinx opened his eyes again, and the sight he saw brought a big, wide smile onto his face: He was standing on a harbourfront, gazing at a seemingly endless glittering sea. And in front of him was his favourite person, waiting for his arrival as eagerly as he was for hers.

  “HowD'ya doing, Slinky?” She was wearing a pink dress, waving at him and gesturing to him to come closer.

  “Where’s Walder?” Slinx asked. Not that he really cared, the only person he cared for was the gorgeous woman in front of him.

  “He’s too old for what we’re doing today,” Cavina paused to catch a reaction from Slinx. She smirked and glared at him mischievously. Generally confused, Slinx concluded that the only polite response was to smile back.

  “Let’s have some fun, shall we?”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Instantly, Cavina grabbed Slinx by the hand and proceeded to dash towards the end of the harbourfront. Surprisingly, Slinx found himself feeling a burst of energy, which reminded him of his youth. They sprinted along the empty harbourfront, giggling with joy and excitement; the more they ran, the more energy they seemed to have.

  “Race ya to that pole!” Cavina said. She hurdled over a fence and ran on the beach, heading towards the pole marking the end of the beach.

  “Game on!” Slinx replied with confidence. With seemingly endless stamina here in Dreamland, Slinx had the natural advantage of longer legs and a competitive ego. Slinx surpassed Cavina and took the lead with a few hundred metres remaining. He had his eyes pinned on the pole, and he couldn’t even hear what Cavina shouted. The whole world around him seemed to disappear, the golden sea and the sunset view left his eyes. He did not care that this was just a dream, nor that it was just a silly race between him and Cavina. For once, he saw clearly that victory was in his grasp. He was just a hundred metres away from that pole, and he would not let anything stop him from reaching it.

  “Woohoo!” Cavina’s voice broke the silence of the gentle sea.

  Suddenly, there was no sea.

  There was only a giant wave shadowing the beach. Noticing the change in luminance Slinx looked up:

  On top of the wave was Cavina, riding on a school of sharks.

  “Face the wrath of Poseidon’s jetski!” Almost menacingly, Cavina laughed as her hoard of sharks zoomed towards the pole. And right in front of Slinx’s eyes, Cavina jumped off the wave and landed on the top of the pole.

  “I win!” Cavina said.

  And jaw-dropped, Slinx just stared at her. Speechless.