Formal Integration

> ”To call it a sword is an understatement. Not even our Master Smiths could replicate something like it. Then again, we have very few practitioners who have reached that level nowadays.” ~Xiv Arcturus

Frein’s consciousness returned to his Mind Palace, arriving specifically in his Exhibit. The place had become his comfort zone since the day he had learned how to utilize it. Despite its nondescript overall design, save for its two mainstay features—his Mill and the Emerald Guidance—the mostly blank, unorganized feel of the room allowed him to feel at home.

He found Elizzel already polishing the third, newest feature of the Exhibit. Contained in a display case was the Fulgurblade of the Thousand-Year Storm, merged with Nakiri’s hilt. Norazzel, still in her tiny, dream puppy form, drooped on top of the pink-haired faunel’s head.

The Visitor could feel a tingling feeling coursing through him, like lightning in his veins but without the element’s raging intensity. It was an incredible sensation, yet a dangerous one. Dangerous not because of any uncertainty with the material’s nature—the successful integration already ensured that nothing harmful would happen to him anymore. But because of the sheer amount of power coming from it was boosting his ego to uncomfortable levels.

He could beat anything, or anyone.

Frein repeatedly tried to calm himself down, recalling Katherine’s lessons and his experiences with the Nightmares he had fought against until now.

In his heart, he knew he never won against the Haunting Dream. At most, it was a sacrifice on his part. If he really wanted to get rid of the Nightmare Lands, he should be far stronger. Strong enough that even Deep Nightmares wouldn’t take much effort to destroy, much less pose a threat.

I have a long way to go, he reminded himself.

The thought stirred Elizzel from her task. She smiled, helping him on his feet.

“Ready?” she asked, pointing towards two more meiyal-charged materials waiting for them. “We should probably integrate with everything before we study what we can do with them individually and in unison.”

“I didn’t think you could convince Palar’gog to give you a material as well,” Norazzel said, lazily sliding off her perch to fall in Frein’s arms. She reminded him of Enza and the fact that he hadn’t spent any time with the yuma yet today. He made a mental note to rectify that before the day ended.

“Did you know we would be meeting with Su’karix, Nora? And how much did you tell her exactly, Eli?”

“I only had a hunch,” the Faunel of Dreams and Memories replied. “Up until now, I didn’t have a way to know for certain that she’s still in Brymeia, or if she’s still alive.”

“Told her everything,” Elizzel said.

“I didn’t know that Palar’gog was a kingdom of seven dragons, either,” Norazzel admitted. “I feel conflicted about the whole thing, to be honest. Are you sure this material isn’t a trap?”

“How would it be a trap?” Frein asked, walking over to the Blood-Ribbon Tassel at the entrance of his Exhibit. It swam within its container, flowing like actual blood suspended in water which refused to mix with it.

“If Palar’gog turns out to be a liar, this material will completely ruin your meiyal system, if not outright cripple it entirely.” Elizzel crossed her arms, examining the Tassel with suspicious eyes. “I don’t really trust it, but…”

“But we can’t deny the power within it,” Frein finished for her. “I think we can trust the Eternal Winter.”

Elizzel frowned, closing her eyes as she pondered to herself. “Maybe… I feel like the Tether’s pulling me too much in one direction.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No, it’s fine.” Elizzel turned to him, finally smiling. “I trust you more than anything else now, Frein. If you want to integrate with it, I’ll help you and make sure nothing bad happens in case something goes wrong.”

Su’karix’s words echoed in Frein’s memory. Elizzel caught wind of it.

“Oh…”

“I think that’s my fault,” Frein said. “The Tether might be influencing you a little too much.” The faunel wanted to say something, but he spoke first. “I know self-sacrifice is my thing, but I need you to understand, Eli; I need you alive. It’s hard for me to admit, but I can’t do this without you, not with the time I have left. If we ever encounter a situation where someone needs to make a sacrifice, it’ll be me. Understand?”

Frein found it odd. He was ready for a backlash, prepared with his counter arguments when it came down to a debate, but only silence came.

Elizzel held herself back, clenching her fists and curling her lips until her entire face contorted on the verge of tears.

“Can’t we just avoid the self-sacrifice thing altogether?” She sniffed and sobbed. “I know it’s a bit too late for that, but…”

Frein placed a heavy hand on top of the faunel’s head, ruffling her pink hair until she got irritated. She reached up to stop him, but she didn’t push his hand away.

“We’ll do our best,” he said. “But no more endangering yourself, okay?”

The faunel nodded in between sobs. She hugged him for comfort and Frein rubbed her back until she calmed down.

“Better?”

“Yeah.” Elizzel wiped her tears and smiled. “I’m surprised you didn’t fondle my butt or anything.”

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“I was tempted, believe me,” he said, grinning back at her. “Next time?”

“Pervert.”

“That’s more like it.”

“I’ll have to report this unnecessary flirting to Lady Katherine,” Norazzel said, stretching her cute, little paws. “Didn’t take you for a playboy, Frein.”

“I’m not. In fact, she might want to get in on the action, too,” he said. The puppy faunel blinked at him, tilting her head in confusion. He smiled back. “It’s a Tether thing.”

“In any case,” Elizzel began, trying to push away the awkwardness, “we should integrate now. We’ve been in your Dream for too long. It might be dangerous even if Norazzel’s here.”

“What do you mean?”

“An active Dream Realm attracts my corrupted incarnations, Frein,” Norazzel explained. “And while your Dream Realm is almost imperceptible to them, you won’t be able to hide from them forever. The longer you stay, the more of them will try to find you, which runs a greater risk.”

“Because if at least one finds them, everyone else will start invading,” Frein finished the thought.

“Exactly.”

“But that’s why you’re here, right? Isn’t that why you’re also helping the others? So they can spend more time in the Dream, in their Mind Palaces?”

“Yes, but I do not completely remove the risk. Katherine lingered for far too long a few days ago. It almost ruined her entire Mind Palace.”

Frein frowned. “She didn’t tell me anything about that.”

Norazzel looked away. She had run her mouth more than she realized, but it was too late. The faunel sighed. “It wasn’t a big deal, Frein. Her Exhibit is safe, her meiyal system is safe, only her Worldspace was affected mildly.”

“Worldspace? Her Spatiera? She’s having the same case as Kristel?” Frein recalled the Lady not having any issues with the Meiyal Art. “I didn’t see any problem with it, though.”

The pup nodded. “It’s fixed now. I forced her to wake up before anything irreparable happened.” She sat on her haunches, ears drooping low, and a soft whine escaped her. “Well, it wasn’t me. Brymeia forced her to wake up. A copy of mine got corrupted while near her Dream Realm. It was unfortunate timing. She had been in the Dream for only ten minutes, watching a Recollection of when the two of you first met.”

“That’s sweet,” Frein and Elizzel said at once. “How long do we have left?”

“The risk is incredibly high now. I personally suggest that you wake up and cool off before returning here but…”

Both man and faunel just shook their heads in unison. Norazzel narrowed her puppy eyes before visibly sighing.

“I’ll send my copies to closely monitor the edges of your Dream. You have one hour at most. Any more and I’m forcing you to wake up.” Norazzel stood and left Frein’s Mind Palace. Almost immediately, numerous gigantic dream wolves appeared, their silhouettes shifting in and out of the windows as they sped throughout his entire Dream.

“Alright. Let’s get back on business,” Elizzel began. She raised both arms, bending back to stretch her entire body. Her slender form, her chest, the curves around her waist etched from within her thin sundress. She let out a carefree moan, relieving herself of fatigue as she twisted and turned. A satisfied exhale followed soon after.

“I thought I told you, I don’t like getting looked at?” she said to Frein.

He met her gaze confidently, and she was getting used to his stares in return. “You’re nice to look at. Katherine looks at you all the time whenever you show up. And I think Frill wants to make some clothes for you, too.”

Elizzel shrugged. “Who has the time for that?”

“We’ll make time. After we visit Liona, we should be able to take a break. Maybe a week, then I should start training for the Nightmare Lands.” Frein tapped on the container storing the Shinemoon Scabbard. “I think we should go in order and integrate this first with the Fulgurblade. What do you think?”

He turned to the faunel who suddenly turned quiet.

“What’s wrong?”

“I talked to the Letterman,” she said.

“Is this about yesterday?” Frein willed two display cases towards himself and gave one to the faunel to sit on. “What did you talk about?”

“He warned me about a Nightmare Incursion. You know what those are, right?”

“All I know is that it’s worse than a normal Void Encounter, or a Nightmare Invasion. But I can’t really tell the difference.” Frein skipped his questions about the Letterman specifically. Not that he didn’t trust Elizzel. He simply knew the mystery man—or woman—would be cautious enough to not let any clues slip.

“It’s worse. Far worse.” The faunel fiddled with her fingers, trying to find the right words to explain. “Do you want to just…pull on the Tether or something?”

“Sure.”

Elizzel slowly pulled away, shutting her eyes tight and tensing up her shoulders as she allowed Frein to access her memories. A Recollection started to take shape, but something within the depths of that memory pushed him away. No, he instinctively pulled away.

What he saw wasn’t just a massacre. It was annihilation. Complete corruption of land, man, and beast alike. Indiscriminate and beyond comprehension, it was the Nightmare claiming entire landscapes for itself. Blood and gore were but simple descriptions compared to the festering malformations and abominations that flashed through his mind.

Frein saw an image of a tree. It was wider than any vistas he could imagine. Entire cities, towns, and villages prospered and traded upon its roots, while kingdoms of dragons and magnificences of giants among other sentient fantastical creatures, considering how vast they all made their territories, didn’t have qualms with sharing a single branch or two.

In a blink of an eye, he saw it burn down and become corrupted by Nightmare. He saw the tree come alive and wreaked havoc upon the world beyond its own grasps.

Frein fell on his back as the familiarity of his Mind Palace returned to him. He pushed himself up to find the faunel still flinching away.

Elizzel slowly peeled one eye open. She sighed in relief when she realized the Recollection completely failed to take form.

“What the hell…” Frein slowly returned to his makeshift seat. “Don’t tell me that’s a place here on Brymeia?”

“Was,” Elizzel clarified. She was somber, recalling a memory she had kept for a long time. “Sylvanus, the Tree of Stars. It was the first Nightmare Incursion I ever saw. It was also my first home, destroyed long before the Divine Severing.

“We didn’t know much back then. Evanclad wasn’t even born yet, and I didn’t know what to do to save my people.” Her eyes met Frein’s. Blue and yellow eyes full of desperation. “I couldn’t save anyone, Frein.”

“But times have changed, Eli. If we let the others know—”

Elizzel shook her head aggressively. Her voice was trembling, trying not to scream. “We can, but it won’t change a thing Frein. Nightmare Incursions are something only people from the Order of the Void can deal with.”

“Then we have Kat.”

“Alone, she won’t be enough. Not even at her peak.”

Frein sighed. There was no point arguing for hope, arguing that they could do something about it. It was always better to take action.

Do not cling to hope, do not drown in despair. Take action and never give up until the end.

Elizzel’s face turned to confusion as Frein’s thoughts echoed towards her through the Tether.

“Who was that?”

“It was a quote my dad used to tell me when I was a kid,” Frein said, feeling mildly embarrassed. “I used to ask him about his war stories. But never mind that. How long do we have until the Incursion?”

“What?” Elizzel’s mind was clouded by her past and she couldn’t move on quickly enough. It took her a second to understand what he was asking. “Within two weeks. The Letterman won’t tell me the exact time.”

“Then we’ll do everything we can and prepare.” Frein stopped when the faunel didn’t agree with him right away. “What’s wrong?”

Elizzel hesitated for a while. She sighed and looked at his eyes for strength. “He also said there would be three Incursions at the same time.”

Frein could hardly grasp the gravity of her words. He knew she spoke of disasters coming his way. He knew they were all catastrophes that had caused her trauma. He even saw what one Incursion did in the past. But he also knew that he wouldn’t just lay down and accept defeat. So he did what he did best and placed a calm hand on her shoulders.

“Don’t worry, Eli. It’s not like it’s the end of the world.”

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