He was stuck too deep in his own mind. The push and pull was a fever dream he was scared of, but it’s like it never ended even while he was awake. The way he would find himself, sweating, jerking himself awake with his breath stuttering. His hands had never felt this clammy - even when on that stupid game he played online.

It had never been this bad before. The way his reality would crumble and make way to a previously pixelated façade, it felt too real. So real, it became his reality. He used to find such comfort in such a terrifying setting. The eerie ways the ground would crack and burn under his feet the closer he’d get to the dragons lair.

He only had one real mission, after. It wasn’t like it was hard to see, especially with the way his eyes would light up if someone so much as dared to mention the colour red.

He had to slay the dragon.

But, after failing his legal exam almost seven times, his family had found themselves watching him too close. Too… eerily close. He felt monitored (and he was). The way his classmates would even briefly glancing at him.

He hated the pity.

And that brought us to his current. The coral pink walls of the hospital - the mental hospital - padded around him, three other beds in each corner, his being the left furthest from the door. Closest to the window.

He’d watched his world vanish into digital pixels before succumbing to a fantasy world from a video game, and that’s how he lived - talking to these invisible people only he could see.

His “party,” he’d call them. Some how, another nurse was pulled into it, and he named her his Mediator. But you - a new nurse - you were just so… strange.

You acknowledged his delusions in a way that brought him to the real world, back to reality. You were his savior, his everything. But it made him all more happy to wake up in the mornings.

Made it better for him, because maybe getting better for someone was worth it. Maybe having someone to look for on the outside was what he needed all along.

All he needed was a savior.