He looked around and saw a house; one he recognized from his studies about the scientist.
He knew this house belonged to the dreamer; it was the one he lived in when he was a child.
He cautiously entered the house, but there was no one inside.
Inside, he found himself in a room with only three doors.
It was a strange sight; unlike anything he had seen before.
Three doors stood before him, spaced evenly apart. They called to him, each pulsing with a quiet energy.
The first door was simple, wooden, with a soft, warm light spilling from its edges. It hummed gently, like a memory half-remembered, a promise of something tender and fragile.
The second door was heavier, darker. Its surface was marred by scratches and stains, as if it had weathered storms and heartbreak. The air around it felt cold and sharp, slicing through the silence with an edge of betrayal.
The third door loomed tall and metallic, covered in faint, flickering symbols and codes. An unsettling hum surrounded it, like the quiet buzz of machines watching unseen. It spoke of secrets, conspiracies, and the cold grip of control.
Leon's heart pounded in his chest. Each door represented a path, a fragment of the dreamer's fractured mind.
He hesitated, knowing that whichever door he chose, the journey inside would change everything.
Leon looked at the first door.
It seemed the safest, simple, unassuming, almost beautiful in its calmness.
He didn't fully understand what was happening, and the unknown terrified him.
So, naturally, he chose the door that felt the most secure.
He reached out, opened it, and stepped inside.
The moment Leon opened the first door, the floor gave way beneath him.
He fell into complete darkness, so deep he couldn't see a thing.
He kept moving forward, stepping blindly into the void.
Then, a soft light appeared ahead.
He ran toward it, and before long, he found himself standing in a garden filled with sakura petals drifting gently in the air.
The heavy weight of depression from the fall melted away, replaced by a calm sense of love and peace.
But as quickly as it came, the vision faded.
Leon was back in the room, facing the three doors once more.
Leon paused, thinking it through.
This had to be a memory, or at least a glimpse of one, belonging to the dreamer.
The first door showed a rare moment of light: the dreamer being pulled from darkness into a life filled with love and peace.
Leon realized then that the other two doors were probably connected to this memory, part of the same story.
This was the test, the real challenge beginning now. These two doors could be connected to the first one, and the test will begin, or end after he open these three, or survive them.
He knew what he had to do: face whatever lay behind each door and survive.
Leon took a deep breath and chose the second door.
Inside, he found himself in a cramped room filled with countless sculptures.
At first, they all wore smiles, frozen, eerie smiles that seemed almost welcoming.
Curious, Leon reached out and touched one.
In an instant, the sculpture transformed into a living person, growing to full size, and then shoved him aside.
One by one, the sculptures came to life, turning human and attacking him relentlessly.
They pushed him into a corner, trapping him in the tight space.
Panicked, Leon struggled but eventually found himself back outside, standing before the three doors again.
His heart raced.
Determined, he moved to the third door and stepped inside.
This time, the room was suffocatingly small, barely enough space for one person.
There was nothing to hold onto, nowhere to climb.
Minutes stretched into hours as the air grew thinner and thinner.
Leon's breaths became shallow; his vision blurred.
Eventually, darkness claimed him.
When he came to, he was back at the three doors once more.
The three doors suddenly vanished, swallowed by the silence around him.
Then, a new door appeared, different from the rest.
It was the door to the tenth dream.
As Leon stepped closer, he felt his racing mind begin to calm, the chaos inside him settling back into something like normal.
With his thoughts clearing, he understood what was happening.
The outside of this door resembled his childhood home, a symbol of safety and longing for a simpler time, a place where he could feel secure with someone he trusted.
Knowing that the dreamer had a tough childhood but still hoped for the past to return suggests how horrible his life was.
But the inside of the house told a different story.
It spoke of shattered hopes and failed plans.
The ninth dream wasn't a test; it was a continuation of the eighth.
To enter it, Leon had to teeter on the edge of madness, because the dreamer himself was nearly half-insane at that point in his life.
He was trapped between darkness and light, briefly touched by peace and love before being betrayed and mentally imprisoned.
That locking wasn't just physical, it was a cage in his mind, one he might never escape.
Before stepping through the door, Leon stopped and took a moment to gather himself. This was definitely the last door, the final test. He couldn't face any more dreams beyond this.
If he made it through, he would enter the dreamer's subconscious, a vast sea where all memories, emotions, and secrets lay waiting. But to get there, he first had to survive this final challenge.
Leon stepped through the door and found himself in a bright, bustling city. People all around him smiled and laughed, their faces filled with joy.
At first, it seemed like a place of peace and happiness, almost like a dream of a perfect world. But as he walked, the smiles began to fade.