Did you deliver the message? Violet asked insistently, her voice echoing inside my head.

I had been lucid dreaming for just a short while, trying to reach out to Allen. So far the dream characters impersonating him had shown no sign of having truly understood.

“Have you tried turning it off and on?” This Allen replied nonsensically. Another failure.

“I don’t think it went through yet,” I said through the telepathic link. Violet was too impatient. For this to even work we both had to be dreaming and receptive. A big gamble.

Keep trying until you succeed, she insisted. I didn’t know why she was so certain I could succeed. Why not ask someone more experienced in these things? Didn’t the kingdom have hold on any Spirit Walker? Sure they were only talked about in tales, but what did I know?

I was getting nowhere, so I slowed down and calmed myself.

I needed calm, I needed AnHelm. I had felt reluctant to contact Him while the Archmage was keeping watch on me, but perhaps this was the best time to call upon my God.

“AnHelm... please grant me your wisdom,” I prayed, concentrating on establishing a link with the Great Spirit of Virtue. It took a while but the familiar presence manifested, as if a trickle had opened to a sea.

AnHelm read my worry and projected Inquiry. He was one of the spirits who trusted more in feelings than words, for they were purer.

“I must contact a friend in dream, but I don’t know how,” I whispered. “He’s being hold captive by demons. Please.”

I thought about Allen, and how his presence felt. There was a tell to distinguish presences, Allen’s had felt different from AnHelm. If I could just replicate that feeling I could be sure I was talking to Allen. Maybe.

My God projected Encouragement and my confidence was renewed. With Violet’s forcing me into sleep state, and AnHelm supporting me, there was no limit to the attempts I could make. I just had to get it right once. Allen himself theorized it was possible due to the Dark God invading his dreams several times.

I could do this! I just had to believe in myself and have faith. Thinking about it again, it had to be thanks to my faith in AnHelm that I had managed to exorcise the evil Bodystealer.

And again I felt blessed for my prayers to have been heard. My father too could commune with AnHelm while deep in meditation, but I had never been able to until I tried in dream.

“Bring me to Allen,” I commanded the dream. At first nothing happened, until I felt a tug and allowed myself to be pulled away. After a short moment of emptiness, a new scenery appeared before me.

AnHelm projected Curiosity as I gazed around. I saw Allen walking away from me in an endless gray corridor full of closed doors.

“Allen!” I yelled, but he didn’t hear me. I rushed after him, trying to catch up, but before I could, he vanished through a door that closed on its own.

I inspected the door and renewed my intent of finding Allen. Make him be beyond this door. Intent and expectations were the rulers of dreams. Allen had taught me so.

AnHelm whispered Anticipation, I mustered up my will and opened the door. There was only blackness inside but I didn’t let that discourage me. I walked in.

The blackness flickered, and though it was all still black, there was now a young girl in front of me, I twisted in surprise.

She was staring at me with a blank expression.

I looked around behind her, but there was only darkness. The girl’s silhouette seemed to shift while in the edges of my vision, I was getting a sinister vibe yet AnHelm was suggesting Confidence.

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Believe in yourself, I told myself. I faced the strange little girl, who stood immobile her eyes fixed on mine.

“Have you seen Allen?” I asked her. “Can you help me find him?”

Sometimes asking dream characters could help, other times not at all.

Without replying, the girl grabbed my hand and pulled me forward. I felt the connection with AnHelm being severed, and a new one appear.

A familiar one.

“Allen?!” I called out before even seeing him. Almost failing to keep my excitement in check.

“Ellin?” He said from behind me. “Strange, no dream character ever appeared in the void,” Then he frowned at the expressionless girl. “Where had you gone, Not-Amy?”

“It’s me!” I said. “Can’t you feel my presence?”

Allen rubbed his chin. “Prove me you’re capable of intellect.”

I exhaled impatiently, ignoring the pointless request.

“Allen, I know you’ve been taken captive by Demons. Violet knows!”

That gave him surprise. “You got my message then?! Did you warn Violet?”

“She already knew! She came to me because I need to deliver you a message.”

“A message? How’s that gonna help? I need an army! I doubt I will be able to stall them for long… It seems I’m on borrowed time for some reaso-”

“Listen carefully…” I said, cutting him short and recalling the words I was meant to say. “You are holding onto the Demon Lord’s Mantle. Give them an order.”

Allen stared blankly at me. “The fuck you saying?” He asked.

“You are holding onto the Demon Lord’s mantle! Demons must obey your orders!” I repeated.

That was what Violet had told me to say, and what I had been constantly trying to convey.

Now it was up to Allen.

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「Ellin: Demons must obey your orders!」

Ellin, who had somehow managed to intrude the mental place where not even the God of Nightmare could, repeated loudly and clearly.

At first it sounded like an insane notion, but as I considered those words, everything clicked into place.

Now I understood what the Grand Vizier was complaining about “giving back”. Mantle was another peculiar word. In some novels it was used for powers that could be passed on to others.

How did that even happen? Was the curse the Mantle?

「Allen: That… changes things.」

I said, considering my new options.

「Ellin: Who’s this girl, anyway?」

Ellin asked, walking around Not-Amy, who had returned to her favorite sport. Staring into emptiness without moving.

「Allen: A childhood friend I could not save.」

I said simply. My subconscious seemed to think I needed a constant reminder to not postpone things to death.

Maybe it was right.

Ellin suddenly looked aside as if noticing something.

「Ellin: I did it, I told him!」

She said as if she were talking to someone else, which made me arch an eyebrow.

「Allen: Who are-」

But she disappeared mid sentence, as did her presence, leaving me again alone in the void. I had wanted to talk more.

Not-Amy wasn’t a good conversation partner.

Though, this place seemed to offer my mind safety from the God of Nightmares, it wasn’t a perfect defense.

Any moment and he could yank me out of it by waking me up. It wasn’t easy to escape his clutches as I was physically in his domain. The Vizier too would wake me up temporarily to throw me off.

I had been recently told that the curse was killing me. That I had a limited time to swear an Oath to Feras if I wanted to be saved.

It seems they had withhold a few details. Was it a lie that it was killing me? I really was feeling like shit, and those sudden waves of pain, that pulsed both in my physical and spiritual body, didn’t seem a positive sign to me.

I sat down in the emptiness.

The curse was the Demon Lord's Mantle. With that the case, I could see now why they were being "gentle" with me. They were concerned about damaging their precious asset, and perhaps there were other restrictions, cultural or magical, preventing them to use spiritual interfence one me. Fears didn't seem having problem probing my spirit, though. I guessed he was exempt.

So I could issue an order to demons, Ellin said. What were the conditions, though?

I expected a requirement to be that my words had to be understood.

Demons had their own language, so I had to take my chances with someone who understood Arstei.

The Vizier was the only target available to me, no other demon had ever been present while I was awake.

Once I used this power, assuming it worked, he would take measures to silence me.

I had one shot to make it work.

So just phrase it as an order, then? I doubted it would be so easy.

Also, there was no telling to what extent an order would be obeyed. I had to play it safe and be careful with the wording.

I was still prisoner in a unknown location, surrounded by legions of demons, and my health was apparently deteriorating.

But I now had a sliver of hope and a trump card I didn’t know how to use.

There was also that small fairy still hiding somewhere.

I spent my time visualizing the possible scenarios and how to react.