The rising Numbers in the red Fog

"I was walking down a long corridor filled with red fog. At the far end there was a light, but I couldn't seem to get closer to it. In front of me floated a number: 0. As I kept walking, my anxiety began to build. Then the number started to climb, 0 to 7, then to a string of digits seven places long, growing faster and faster. I didn't know what it was counting or why it was rising, but every increase made my chest tighter and my fear sharper. Years later, I was burning with a bad fever, collapsing again and again, when another dream came. This time I had to choose between two numbers. One was small, only three digits. The other was a long string, about eight digits. For some reason, I picked the long one. The moment I chose, anxiety flooded through me, so strong that it pulled me out of the dream while my body was still hot with fever. I couldn't remember much else, only the numbers and the heavy dread that came with them. When I woke up, my heart was racing and my body ached. The fear stayed with me, and I couldn't help noticing how alike the two dreams were."