First Circle: Nightmare

[Thanathros 30]

Kunai. Common term used to describe a metal shape formed by placing a finger-sized ring onto a cylindric shape, topped by octahedron-esque differing in length to both sides. Smallfolk and civilian alike dubbed it a dagger. It seconds as a throwing knife. The longer tip of said octahedron had a sharp, cutting edge. It was as versatile as it was straight forward. An academy student had to train years to learn it's all-rounded nature. Genin and above honed and tempered their skill. A long and gruesome journey that all led to the same result. Perhaps even a kage would find little more words to describe this tool.

This tool of utility.
This tool of defense.
Most importingly to a ninja - this tool of death.

For some odd reason it felt familiar. He couldn't place it. He had heard stories of glorious fights. Of mortal combat. Of a struggle between individuals besting each other. Some fantasy of a knight in shining armor that reality replaced with a ninja in a blood-covered vest. 

What was this about ? This feeling ? This sensation ?

Terror.

Angst.

Fear.

He felt like he gulped as the word rolled off his tongue. "Fear." He repeated the word on his mind in a mere whisper. At this time, it was a huge, vast grass field. A plane of sorts ? The odd wildflower here and there piqued fault into the mass of green. Merely wind moving all weaker in it's wake. A light breeze would be the closest he could describe it as. Peace. Quiet piece. Time in steady progression.
The scenery fell in place. The bigger picture manifested.

A quiet, cutting sound in the air. Coming from a distance. He couldn't pinpoint it's origin. However he knew that it was wrong. It was an anomaly. Out of order. 
The scenery broke.
Peace and quietness replaced themselves. As if a switch was flipped. His mind was on alert. Was this how shinobi felt ? How their senses was virtually on constant alert to notice these details ? The very wind could be an enemy now.
The bigger picture broke.

Only now, as everything seemed to fall in place. The puzzle solved itself. Time seemed to ... rewind. Marvelously. Only now at this moment could his mind comprehend what happened. 
He had been on the plane. He had stood where he imagined he would stand. Right at that spot, in this place, at this time. As part of the bigger picture, just to feel a dull push on his chest. A kunai. In the slight opening of his vest and shirt covered chest. Just between two ziplines. Blood sputtered forth. Pain kicked in. He didn't even recognize this pain. But to him it felt sheer endless. A quick analytic mind reconstructed what happened, just to flash this same scenario before his eyes. His breath stocked. His eyes widened. Bloodshot. 

He blinked. Once. Twice. He felt... comfortable. In a bed. A slight weight over his right leg. A celling. Light was absent and only Luna herself seemed to stare down through glass into what he finally recognized as his room. The second set of sensations his mind registered would be sweat. He had been sweating. His breath hedged and out of it. 

A dream.
His mind replaying a fantasy. Of heroism of sorts.
A nightmare.
His mind twisting it into his end. Of his nigh end.

He fell back on his bed and had to catch his breath. He was fine. Even if he did not even know - why did he feel like he wasn't? What was this dream?

Estimated Time of Authoring: ~2 hours
Authors Note: This is a bit of story telling and character development. I'm aware that a few elements are not fitting into our setting. This is mostly for me to set a direction I want to explore and may or may not have an influence on how I want my character to be.

Edited March 3, 2020 by IAmAscathor
Adding a Authors Note

[Tommy 18]

As a story, I really enjoyed this. You’re clearly seasoned and it shows in your writing.

The mix of long and short sentences is a favoured technique of mine, too. I think it’s great for pacing.

To offer some criticism, I feel like you’re being needlessly complex in parts:

14 hours ago, IAmAscathor said:

Kunai. Common term used to describe a metal shape formed by placing a finger-sized ring onto a cylindric shape, topped by octahedron-esque differing in length...

Your opener should be strong in a story like this. Everyone here (I should hope) knows what a kunai is. I don’t think as many people know what an octahedron is. This feels like unnecessary description to me.

I’ve highlighted the text in bold because I think you’re missing a word, too. Topped by an octahedron-esque what?

Here’s an example of how you could shorten that first paragraph and retain the jist of what you’re trying to say:

14 hours ago, IAmAscathor said:

The kunai; dubbed by smallfolk and civilians alike as a dagger, it seconds as a throwing knife... as versatile as it is straight-forward.

This ‘issue’ of over-complication props up throughout your writing. There is a time and place for verbose language and if I was to give you one piece of advice, it would be to pick your moments.

Furthermore, your paragraphs are very long and can appear daunting to read through. The easy fix here is to break them up or take advantage of your long/short sentence structuring.

To wrap up, I like what you got! I hope you find my rambling of use.