I woke up with a start. Staring into a blank, empty void of space. The surface beneath me was solid, and looking down I could at least see my body. I turned around, frantically looking for any sign of light. Slowly, out of the corner of my eye, a hue of purple began to glow. I turned to face it...and a familiar figure stood before me.

I say "figure" because until this day, I was unaware of who this person even was. Sometimes it was multiple people. Other times it would simply be a reflection of myself. But this one...this one figure I saw the most. Adorned in a robe, holding a staff wrapped in brambles, and wearing a mask under a hood. With the room being so dark, the porcelain white face was much more prominent. "What do you want?" I asked the figure. "What do you want from me?"

But no answer came. As always.

"Tell me!" I shouted, even though I knew it was fruitless. The figure walked backward into the darkness, its features now obscured by the void, aside from the lone white mask. A finger protruded from the shadows and pointed over my shoulder. I slowly turned to look, seeing nothing behind me. Confused, I took two steps forward...

One...

Two...

And then...falling.

I didn't scream. I didn't feel the need to. I was falling into void. Even as I reached out to the side, I felt nothing next to me. There was a loud snap, and suddenly I was lurched in another direction, following a long rope. While staring at it, the porcelain face looked back at me. We fell together, both unafraid, both knowing what would come to pass.

The rope led toward a red mass. Our falling began to slow.

I saw the top of a man's head.

I saw the man's face. Devin's face. His eyes wild. His tongue hanging loosely out of his mouth, which was twisted into a wicked grin.

Then I fell past the loop around his neck.

All in a manner of a few seconds, I saw another loved one, dead and swinging.

Another loud snap. I lurched again, falling toward what looked like a feeding frenzy. A number of strange and fantastical beasts all gathered around an undistinguishable figure...at least from this distance. But I knew what was coming. This was not a dream I was unfamiliar with by now.

As we drew closer, two beasts were fighting over a gnawed-off leg. The cracking of bone and tearing of muscle and flesh rang in my ears as we fell. Three of the beasts tore into a chest cavity, allowing themselves a moment to howl in approval. The remains sprayed around the frenzy as we fell past. And staring back at me was the face of Wide Dio, eyes wide with terror and his mouth stuffed with an apple. As though he were served as an Easter dinner.

Another snap. More falling. This time I felt like I was falling upward. I felt my stomach twist itself into knots. I retched as I fell from the constant shifting as vertigo began to settle in. This time there were only flames. It was almost as if I were bathed in it, though I could feel no heat coming from them. The flames slowly formed into the shape of a body, arms outstretched facing downward. While I could not feel the heat of the flame, the smell of burning flesh and hair still crawled through my nostrils. Without even needing to look, I had a feeling that the body I was now looking at was Daniel's.

The dream itself was always the same. A loved one hanged. A loved one devoured. A love one burned alive.

And then the laughter came.

This laughter was different from the voices I heard in my waking. No, this laugh was purposeful. Not maniacal, but methodical. Practiced. Rehearsed. Deliberate.

I stopped falling. I felt my feet touch hard surface once more. I stumbled to a knee, the momentum carrying me as I tried stopping myself with my hands. I pushed myself off the floor...and the porcelain face was no more than an inch from my face. I could hear the laughter coming from behind me. It was a laugh I was all too familiar with. The porcelain face slowly vanished...replaced by the familiar red and blue lights of a police interceptor.

I turned to face the laughter. Standing before me was the silhouette of the man who nearly ruined not only my life, but my family's lives as well. Adorned in a tailored black suit, he paired it with a wide brim fedora. His head was looking down in a feeble attempt to hide his face. His arms were outstretched, one holding onto an aluminum baseball bat. To the rest of the waking world, this man was nothing more than a modern criminal.

But to me, he may as well have been the devil himself.