Soulless Players

"Good day everyone! Welcome to another session of the Mental Study Society. I am Sam Collins, a third-year psychiatry student and the presider of today's week discussion."

As soon as he said them, two illusionary doors emanating with pinkish lure suddenly emerged on the bare wall behind him.

Philip's eyes widened as he instinctively prepared to run. However, when he saw Sarah next to him had the same reaction but showed no fear, then he controlled himself from overreacting.

Sarah and Philip's eyes met as though conveying if the other could also see those bizarre doors. This silent contact lasted for a second before Sam unveiled a fake human body's framework he got from the cabinet earlier.

"Today, we are to discuss one out of the ten body systems, the nervous system...."

As Philip listened in one ear, he simultaneously darted his eyes to the students around. He wanted to see if they also noticed the doors. However, seeing that all of them were preoccupied and were marveling at the body framework in front, he quit investigating.

Eventually, Sarah seemed to stop minding about the doors as all her thoughts quickly went to Sam.

Philip initially wanted to follow her suit but when the doors suddenly opened, his body increasingly became tense.

Then, from them, two entities in the form of spirits came out. Their structures were human-like and similar to the two men sleeping near the window.

Philip glanced at Sarah to see if she noticed them but when he found her face was blank and void of any emotion other than being enamored by the discussion, he stopped examining.

He assumed that Sarah had seen them but chose to act as if she didn't. After all, she also saw the doors earlier. It was unlikely that she wouldn't see the spirits that emerged from them.

Philip listened as Sam conferred on how important the nerves are and their connection with the brain. At the same time, he was also secretly looking for something amiss in the surroundings.

Just the same as before, most of the students' attention was on Sam. The only ones who weren't were the two students who remained sleeping and the pretty but boyish... and rude Lala sitting at the front, close to the platform.

She was bothering another student on her side by blowing his ears and brushing her hands at him flirtily. However, the said person just narrowed his eyes and slapped Lala's annoying hands.

On the other hand, Sam, who was on the podium, continued talking in front. He held a stick he brought out of nowhere while taking glances at the student below.

As for the two spiritual entities, they finally came out from the illusionary door and were now roaming around the room. At the same time, the two pinkish doors behind slowly disappeared.

Philip initially thought that they would return to their sleeping physical body but contrary to his expectation, they began to move and disturb the other students around. It was as though they were looking for someone who could notice them.

Philip's sweat gushed like a waterfall and his legs began to shake. Although he knew that his action was improper for a former undercover agent and that he should maintain a calm composure, he could not help but feel fearful as they were mysteriously bizarre.

Aside from the magicians and the strange medicine and jewelry box of Auntie Marissa, this was his third time seeing an anomalous phenomenon.

Still, even though it was his third time already, he felt that compared to the previous two encounters, this was the most horrifying.

Who would not be afraid as the entities stopped one by one in front of the students? Their human-like spirit body changes into something despicable as they go along. It was as though they were the personification of a nightmare.

They continued doing this until one of the entities reached Sarah, who was sitting next to him.

"Hello, pretty girl..." He said while his lips curled up inhumanely. His smile was so wide that it brought an eerie sense of beau.

However, when the entity saw that Sarah produced no reaction, he moved to Philip.

Philip knew he was next after Sarah so he had been prepared not to react.

The man's face changed back to his original normal face as he stood before Philip. He leaned down close so that his nose touched Philip's nose, and his eyes eerily gaped at Philip's eyes.

Although it frightened Philip, he fought the urge to show an obvious reaction. He continued to stare at the front, not dilating his pupils.

With a reaction that the entity wasn't looking for, he showed dismay for a moment before he leaned back up and proceeded to the next target.

While watching the spirit getting away, Philip was about to heave a sigh internally when an arm suddenly plugged forward to slap his face!

Philip's fingers curled interceptively but never moved. He braced himself for the impact.

"..."

The entity's hand halted and drilled in the center of Philip's face. His arm passes through Philip's internal, leaving his pinkish arm protruding from Philip's nose.

He chuckled for a second before removing his hand and moving to the next one.

As for Philip, he was already dead inside as he had almost wetted himself. Good thing he didn't react or else he would be found out.

The two entities continued scaring other students and ultimately returned to their physical bodies.

One by one, they woke up without fatigue. It was as though they were only pretending and resting their eyes for a moment.

Philip continued showing no sign of abnormality as he took short glances at Sarah. But seeing her preoccupied then he also stopped worrying about the entities before.

"That's it for weekly discussion." Sam stopped as he gave a glance at the same two students sleeping near the window earlier. Seeing this, they then stood up and carried the nervous system back to the cabinet.

"Now, let's move to our weekly experimentation! First twelve students please lay down on the table." Sam clapped and then glanced at the newcomers Sarah and Philip.

"From what you've heard earlier, we usually explore the human mind and its connection to the physical body. This was the first part of the weekly session of this society." He informed.

"We did this not just because we wanted to familiarize our body structure but also to prepare for the next section of today's gathering."

Sam cleared his throat and explained, "The focus of this club is on dreams. We're interested in exploring the connection between the mind and the mysterious realm of dreamland. That's why most of our experiments revolve around sleeping."

"Today, we'll be attempting to remain aware within our dreams and take control of the events that occur within. This is also known as lucid dreaming."

"By staying conscious in our dreams, we'll be able to remember what had transpired in the dreamland and explore it further."

Sam surveyed the students as they prepared to lay down on the table.

"We need to approach this experiment with caution, as it can be dangerous. Thus, we must do everything as slowly and as carefully as possible."

"With this, we strictly follow the order of strengthening the mind. For our first step is to train our minds by inducing hypnagogia, the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep."

"This part is the most time-consuming in our experiment. Sometimes you can do it for the first time but most of the time, you can only achieve and enter this state with numerous practice and training."

Sam sighed, seemingly recalling something, and continued, "However, even though we could achieve this, maintaining it would be a different matter. "

"Many students stopped here as it is difficult to maintain a prolonged period and eventually leave the society. But there were still some who continued to persevere until today."

Sam smiled as he looked at the students below, "Then if we could retain it for a long period of time, we could also maintain the second step of our experimentation: the sleep paralysis."

"In sleep paralysis, we experience a temporary inability to move or speak. Sometimes we experienced hallucinations and was extremely dangerous. However, we must still do it as this is an ideal state to enter lucid dreaming."

"Lastly, when we finally mastered the first two steps. We will then attempt to summon our astral body, the subtle body that connects our physical body to the world of dreams!"

Sam proclaimed as he lit a brown candle. Unlike any other candle, it has a refreshing scent of the forest. When Philip smelled it, he felt as if he was transported back to the mountain where he had lived for four years in the past.

"That is also the main goal of the Mental Study Society - to become proficient in entering and maintaining an astral state!"

Sam's smirk conveyed his excitement for the upcoming experiment.