I watch the spinner fall and then that's when I know its over. It's time to wake up.

Forcing the world to collapse, I watch bemused as Dominick Cobb stumbles about unaware. In some sick kind of way, this part always did send shivers up my spine. I love dramatic irony especially when the tables are turned. He was so focused on keeping his dreams under control that he didn't even notice when they slipped from reality... or is it the other way around?

With only the force my mind, I collapse everything with a snap. Everything crumbles, time and space itself dissipating from this existence - the existence that I created. They say if you can think it, it will become real and in this case, dreams are more of a reality than anything else.

"-And that is how it will go."

I open my eyes slowly feeling a smirk tug at the corners of my mouth. I take in the all too familiar faces who were just running havoc through my mind a second ago yet it felt as if I knew them for a lifetime. I could have if I wanted to. If I wanted I could have spent an eternity watching them. I could have spent forever inside of my dreams watching them grow old and die yet not a second would have passed in the real world. That is why I was called in for this mission. That is why I am called-

"The Dreamer." The voice of Saito behind me speaks again. "will be your fifth and final member. I understand your confusion right now but all the events from the propagation of déjà vu, aka now, were nothing but a dream. A dream manifested by The Dreamer."

"B-but h-how?" I see Dom stare at me accusingly yet the quiver in his voice betrays him. I knew that he knew he was in a dream. I knew that he wanted to stay on the second level forever. I know that he knows that I know what he doesn't want me to know.

He used to be my idol, the 'extractor' everyone looked up to. He was a famous name in the political, military as well as corporation world - that is until he was exposed. He used to be my idol. He used to be the best but I have since surpassed him. I have since surpassed reality when I erased the boundary between dreams and waking. I have since surpassed space and time. I have since become not only a dreamwalker but a riftwalker.

"It is quite simple-" I raise a hand to silence Saito. For a reserved man he speaks too much and I have the urge to trap him in a dream as well. He could probably talk the ears off of a wall if he wanted to but no wall deserves that kind of treatment.

I cough to clear my throat. "It's a shocker - I know, but you've got to face the fact that you aren't the best anymore... Dominick Cobb."

Dom's face reddens but he doesn't say anything. His pride may be obnoxiously high but it was his curiosity that got him to where he is today and right now I've got his full attention. I've got his attention and everyone else in the room.

"To put things simply, I caught you all in my dream catcher, this little thing right here." I raise my arms, outstretching my fingers as far as possible.

"That thing?" Dom points at my wrist where a miniature dream catcher is indeed displayed.

"Oh no. That's just my Totem. I meant the world, or better yet, the universe. Everything in it, or through it if you catch my drift, is within the range of my dream catcher."

I smile to myself at the joke but obviously, the jargon was lost on my audience. I thought it was pretty simple. Through the universe like a wormhole into other multiverses and catching my drift like driftwalking. No? You don't get it either? Oh well... your universe isn't within orbit right now and honestly, I'm too hungry to break the fourth wall right now. I mean, distorting the fabric between reality and illusion isn't as easy as I make it out to be. It can almost be considered on the same terms as drawing back the platinum curtains during your fifth world war. Wait. I'm sorry. It's just wormhole lag. Your universe was the one with the iron curtain right?

"The universe?" This time the girl on the left of Dom, Ariadne, speaks up. "But that's not possible. Our dreams are only abstract notions created by our imaginations and to extract or dream walk you need to first be asleep."

I tut. It would be easier to describe quantum physics to an ant and how I dissolve the thread holding reality together isn't exactly a secret I want getting out. I don't think it would really matter though, after all, by the time they drowned in madness itself, it wouldn't matter at all. Ba-dum-crash! Eh? Any takers? I swear my punny jokes are wasted on all of you...

"Daydreaming dear, daydreaming." I plaster my best customer service face on. "It's just daydreaming. You know - sugar and spice and everything spite."

"-I think you mean 'nice'." Dom butts in and I struggle not to grind my teeth. There it is. The pompous, self-preserving attitude that drove my spite. The spite that was born from the death of another. The death of my matron. The death of my whole world. The only thing that I could call my own. I was born unto nothingness and he was the one that when the first slithers of hope started to pierce the ever-growing darkness made sure to snuff it out. He made sure to snuff out the only thing - the only person who made life worth living. He made sure to send me into the madness. He made sure to do anything for the sake of being on top.

I still remember the day perfectly. It was like any other; the streets were littered with trash and the stench of blood lingered like a heavy fog. Crimes were a common scene, or rather to be expected. Growing up in the slums was hard but my matron was the one who made a piece of heaven in hell. The orphanage was the only safe haven in the purgatory around us. It was - until the Extractor arrived. It was until he sent my matron into Limbo. It was until she died from the psychological shock.

I was getting tucked into bed as normal. Screeches echoed throughout the alleyway adjacent to my bedside window and the growing bumps in the night signalled the first waves of the horrors that were to come. It was normal. It always started off with the yelling, then came the knife fights, then the droning sound of gunfire and eventually stillness which gave way to the dawn of a new day. Nighttime was a completely different story compared to the daytime. As long as you kept away from the melodies of savagery you were fine. At least that was what I thought. That was until I realised silence was a deadly killer.

I was so engrossed in my matron's bedtime story that I failed to see the shadow flit between my bedroom door. I listened with starry eyes as the veiled figure crept up behind my matron and I didn't realise what had happened until she was lying on the floor - warm yet dead. There was no gunshot. There was no bloodshed. There was simply silence and then a shadow. The shadow of the idol who I had once adored. The shadow of Dom the 'Extractor'.

It wasn't until many years later that I realised what had happened. It was just business. Military espionage. My matron was an ex-military personnel and the government decided to dispose of her. They decided to dispose of her after stealing her memories. That's why they hired the Extractor. That's why I cannot forgive him for the death he caused. The death of my matron and the death of my childhood.

At the time I was unaware of what had happened. I was listening to a bedtime story and then suddenly my matron went limp and I saw the shadow dissolve into the darkness. To this day I don't fully understand what happened next but for some reason I could feel her subconsciousness slipping away. The gravitational effect ebbed onto my subconscious as well and before I knew it the light went out.

When I came to, I was in complete darkness. Limbo. I was in the semipermeable state of life and death itself.

The darkness cradled me like a baby; the tendrils dancing around me for aeons. I couldn't do anything. Without light, I had no sense of distance and walking miles upon miles in the darkness only lead me to crack prematurely. I had only lived a few short years before I was sucked into the event horizon of limbo. It was only about five or six yet compared to my time in limbo five or six years went by faster than a blink. It was a blind purgatory. An infinite Tsukuyomi of torture.

After the first trillion years or so of trying to find the edge of limbo itself - I gave up. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. I could only move and with no destination in mind, it wasn't all that long before I couldn't distinguish the difference between sitting and walking. Lying and running. Living and existing. I had forgotten what light had once looked like and the only thing that reminded me of my pitiful existence was the pain. The pain of longing. The pain which I soon found out could become as physical as I wanted.

It started with an itch. A hallucinate stage of boredom where you have nothing better to do than search every square inch of your body until you come across an itch. Naturally, I scratched it. The feeling I got was euphoric compared to the indifference I had received since eternity began. I couldn't stop scratching and before long I could feel warm liquid caressing my fingers and a sharp sting from the sight of liquidation. It hurt. It hurt so much but it was pain or nothing and feeling nothing was worse than death. I then made goals. Little goals. Painful goals. Goals such as gouging out my own eyes. Goals such as plucking out every strand of hair including my nails from my body. Goals such as peeling layer after layer of skin until I reached bone. I went mad with the pain.

The painful pleasure of having a feeling was a masochistic relief and indulging into madness while away the time faster than ever before. I would cake until my throat became raw and when it healed I would do it all over again. I would scarify pictures into any plain patch of skin and then rip it off for and wait for a new canvas to grow. I would pluck out my teeth and make jewellery. I would bite off my fingers for something to eat.

Eventually, I got bored of madness and stopped. No matter what I did I couldn't kill myself. All I could do was wish for my body to heal whenever I crushed into but that was the breaking point. That's when I learned to turn dreams into reality. If I could heal my body with a single thought then I could do anything. That's when light once again touched my pupilless eyes. That's when I learned how to create.

I could create anything I wanted. I made puppets of darkness born from the shadows of dancing candles. I made worlds upon worlds and watched them orbit each other. I made doors to different dimension and without even knowing it, I had learned the secret to riftwalk.

I created my dream world. I created my matron from scratch to keep me company in the ever-expanding universe gut with everything I could create I coolant create a soul. I could create clean and blood but I couldn't create a human being. That's when the anger started. That's when I planned scenario after scenario of how I would get back at Dom for throwing me into the pits of despair. That's when I created clone after clone of him but no matter how many times I killed his clone, no matter how many times I watched the life suck out of his body, no, matter how many times I watched the light fade out of his eyes. It wasn't enough. I wasn't satisfied. I could never be satisfied with a dream. I didn't want to dream anymore, so I created a key. A key that opened the door back to reality. That's when I learned how to shatter the illusion of reality. That's when I learned how to turn dreams into reality.

"So..." Yusuf the chemist starts, dragging my attention from daydreaming to reality. "You use some sort of psychological hypnotism to induce a biological reaction in the conscious state, is that correct?"

I roll my eyes but do it under closed eyelids. The reason I applied for this job was to get back at Dom in real life. If I wanted a quick painless death I would have killed him by now, tormented him into the same state of purgatory that my matron went through but that's not what I want. I spent longer than an eternity waiting for this moment and the longer I wait, the more I get them to trust me, the colder the dish of revenge becomes. Nonetheless, toying with shadow puppets have given me a playful streak and I never said I would make the backstabbing easy.

"Oh, Yusuf. My poor disillusioned little scientist Yusuf. I don't use psychology. I merely make the impossible possible." I snap my fingers as I envision a pendulum swinging between them. "I merely use the art of rift walking. I use the art of making my dreams a reality. I use magic!"

Yusuf cracks a smile, apparently assuming what I just said to be a joke. I feel a flame of anger tinge by pupils but a swift look at Eames, the conman, douses the growing rage. From observing him from a distance he's proven his worth a common trickery so seeing his disbelief at the sudden appearance of the pendulum between my fingers puts me at ease. At least one person understands the scope of my abilities.

"You don't believe me, do you?" I feign disappointment. "How about I prove it to you then?"

"What? Are you going to make our greatest fears come true or something?" Dom smirks and this time I smirk back. Oh, I will. I definitely will.

"Alright!" I nod, locking my eyes with Dom. "I'll do exactly that."

I close my eyes envisioning a key in my mind. Outstretching my hand, I grasp hold of the cool metal as I scan through universes searching for one where Mal is still alive. It takes only a blink to find her and as soon as I do, I feel the air contort around me as a figure takes shape. A gasp is all I need before I return her to her own world and I open my eyes with a strained smile. Objects aren't too hard to translate across rifts but living beings are a different story. You never know which universes will implode due to the consequences.

Taking a deep breath, I wipe the droplets of sweat away from my brow. Like I said; dreaming up a rift in spacetime isn't the easiest thing in the universe.

"Was that scary enough for you Dominick?" My eyes search for his on the white sheet his face has become and I can see the desired effect. I squeal with glee within. Perhaps death won't be satisfaction enough.

From the corner of my eye, I see Ariadne shake her head. "No. It was just a hallucination. Just like the one we were in where we convinced Robert Fischer to dissolve his father's assets."

"Take out your Totems then. If you're still dreaming then you'll know."

Yusuf glares at me as he does so and I wonder if my first impression wasn't all that good. No matter. Altering memories is as easy as altering dreams. After all, if you want to be all scientific about it - long-term memories are constructed during dream cycles.

"T-that's not p-p-possible!" Yusuf splutters.

Eames gulps. "I'm afraid it is. I know a con man when I see one and this man isn't one of them."

Ariadne licks her lips but Saito must have had enough of keeping quiet because he interrupts our little meeting with a few short claps of his hands.

"Okay, that is enough everybody. I am sure you will get to know each other better along the way. You know what to do. You have done it already. This time I swear there aren't any more tests." Saito gives Dom a quick glance. "This time is the real deal. Do what you just did but feel at ease that the Dreamer has got your back. If you fall into Limbo of need a Kick he will be the one to help you..."

I yawn as Saito drones on again. Sure, I was hired to supervise but that doesn't mean I will do it.

"...Let's go Mission Inception!" Saito fist pumps the air like a bad anime.

I stand up to leave per procedure but make my way towards Dom as we exit the room. They may do things according to plan but this is my spinoff.

"I'd have thought after what you did they'd find a way to get you..."