A Promise to Help

As much as Frein wanted to keep using eight-meiyal, existing within someone else’s Dream meant that he couldn’t keep Gathering and Milling to resupply his meiyal reserves.

“They just won’t stop,” said Elizzel through the Tether.

Frein agreed, but he was too busy throwing lesser Nightmares into each other to reply even telepathically. They had already spent a significant amount of raw meiyal from his Fulgurblade of the Thousand-Year Storm, keeping only a portion in case he needed it for a desperation move.

He had been fighting for almost an hour, only maintaining Siffera in a manageable emphasis. Yet again, they were faced by the problem: his lack of fire-based Meiyal Arts.

Frein afforded himself with an excuse. He quickly ran a simulation within his head while sweeping his Shinemoon Scabbard into a group of enemies trying to pounce him. If someone like Katherine or Frill was in his shoes right now, they would surely employ their Ferenfra or Diferenfra. But no matter how he tried to piece it, somehow he still thought they’d be overwhelmed. Either they would run out of meiyal or reach Art fatigue. While the latter was improbable, the former was definitely possible. There was just simply flood after flood of lesser Nightmares, and even with the ones he had personally burned to meiyal residue, there seemed to be no end to them still.

“We need to figure out a way to combine the Fulgurblade with Siffera,” he said as he chopped off three lesser Nightmare heads using only his hand. The decapitated bodies still went after him. He slammed his leg into one, following through to the other two. They flew straight into another pack of these mindless, zombie-like creatures.

“I agree,” Elizzel said. “But we have to do something about this problem first.” She delivered a thought through their Tether.

“We haven’t practiced that one at all, Eli.”

“I wasn’t aware of it the first time,” she reasoned. “I’ll help you out, and the Emerald Guidance should work as well. Besides, this is Nidai-level we’re talking about.”

Frein didn’t argue; he didn’t have the time in the first place anyway. With a hefty investment of eight-meiyal, he Drew Nidai-Siffera, invoking the upgraded power granted to him by the Blood-Ribbon Tassel. It elevated the Meiyal Art to a degree far beyond enhancing his physical and conceptual strengths, surpassing their limits beyond any form of his comprehension.

The confusion simply lasted for a moment. He had experienced something similar back in Atlas Sid, when he prepared his Siffera for the jump. Nidai-level went beyond that sensation, fully grasping him at the moment. Thankfully, his Emerald Guidance worked overtime, providing him much needed direction from the sudden stimulation all over his body.

Frein swung the Blood Moon Fulgurblade in a full circle, using only its raw power from manifesting through his Exhibit. Nidai-Siffera carried the rest. The move erupted with a shockwave of meiyal which threw all lesser Nightmares and sand dunes around him by a hefty distance.

“Let’s get out of here.”

After spending a while cleaving and smashing and burning through lesser Nightmares, it became clear that they were virtually endless. It came to a point where they noticed these abominations blinking into physicality within the Dream.

It reminded Frein of the tower challenges in the Keeper’s Isolation.

“There has to be some sort of Nightmare spawning these things,” he said, not particularly liking his implications. He rushed forwards, plowing through layers of lesser creatures like they were made of sand.

“We can’t be fighting another Deep Nightmare,” Elizzel complained. “It doesn’t make sense! That would make Ashtine akin to a Void Mother.”

Frein didn’t know what to think of that information. He mulled over it while he gained distance from the mob of lesser Nightmares, looking for that flow of guiding meiyal once again to find Ashtine’s Mind Palace.

The only thing he knew about Mothers of the Void was their incredible ability to purify the Nightmare Influence. That power also resulting in such an infected Mind Palace however, didn’t make sense to him.

“Not that,” Elizzel pointed out. “A Void Mother shouldn’t be infected in the first place, but in the rare instances that they are, it would take a Deep Nightmare to put them into Void Sleep.”

“Oh…” Frein crossed it out. Nobody said she was a Void Mother in the first place. This could be an entirely different situation for all he knew.

With Nidai-Siffera, it didn’t take much for Frein to cross the entire desert of Nightmares. They reached the far end of a tall steppe leading to a sheer cliff. What he didn’t expect however, were the clouds covering what was underneath.

Though the sudden appearance of these clouds gave him pause, Frein didn’t exactly hesitate. He jumped, feet first in case it was a cloudbark. He simply passed through, however.

The moment the clouds no longer obstructed his vision, Frein saw the root of the curving mountains far in the horizon. It led to a valley where a huge Mind Palace stood in the middle, protected by a gaping moat. Nightmares of all sorts filled the rest of the landscape, so much that they ended up pushing others into falling into the nothingness either outside of the Dream or into the moat.

Frein fell, but his mind was too preoccupied in trying to understand how one individual could have this much Nightmare Influence inside them and still be alive and sane. Granted, Ashtine had now fallen into Void Sleep, but that condition only happened to individuals capable of resisting Nightmarification. He was even more impressed because despite this impossibility happening in front of him, the only thing that had happened to the General Sky Knight was falling asleep.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“This couldn’t have happened overnight,” he mentioned as he spread himself to catch more updraft, gliding closer towards the Mind Palace. At this point, he noticed abominated Cloud-Nesting Rocs trying to penetrate the palace. They would fly over the moat for a little while before instantly disappearing. That gave him enough warning to alter his destination.

“This would’ve taken years.”

An uncomfortable thought formed in Frein’s mind. The same happened to Elizzel, simultaneously, enough for them to consider that their train of thought was one and the same.

And just as quickly, they dismissed it.

Frein sighed as he kept gliding. “I know this is a lot, but I don’t think their existence is definite proof that Ashtine can’t be trusted.”

“It’s the most logical thing, though,” Elizzel echoed like a soundboard. She didn’t believe a word she said.

“We’ll just ask her as soon as we finish this.”

“And maybe check her brother, too.”

“Yeah.”

Frein flipped and landed near the edge of the moat, creating a crater and a shockwave that hurled rocks at the lesser Nightmares. Those who were unfortunate enough to be too close were reduced to meiyal residue by the sheer impact of his landing.

His Mesiffera identified layers of protective barriers around the Mind Palace. It pushed on the outer rim of the moat, cleansing away any Nightmare that went into contact with it. Something felt off, causing him to investigate further.

First, for some reason, compared to the ones in the desert, these lesser Nightmares were afraid of him. They were all humanoids; the rest of the winged beasts had already fled. Second, the barrier was sinister in nature, as if it had pushed away the land beneath it, causing the moat that led to the darkness below. It was enough to dissuade him from using Ribbon Blink and Sword Step.

He looked up towards the curved mountains. They gave him an eerie feeling. The peaks pressed on the barrier’s outer layer, creating a crack.

“It’s like they’re trying to crush the barrier.”

“That…” Elizzel appeared, standing dangerously close to the barrier. Her eyes were fixated on those mountain peaks. Frein followed her gaze, and the more he looked, the more he was convinced it was actually a hand. A claw, more like.

“You know it?”

“If it is what I think it is… For Ashtine to resist something like this…” The faunel turned, her face was now more concerned than ever. “I think we should get out.”

For the first time, Frein felt a real urge to pull the answer from the Tether, but he tried to convince Elizzel first. She was afraid to utter the name, as if the mere mention of this creature would cause it to wake up.

“If you think we should really get out,” Frein began, “I need your assurance first that we’ll not abandon Ashtine.”

“Why do you care so much about her?” Elizzel asked, her voice controlled despite her frustration. “You only met her today. This won’t get you closer to becoming a Worldborn or becoming strong enough to look at Destiny.”

Frein ignored the fact that the faunel mentioned the path to godhood first instead of what should be their main priority. He wanted to convince her to help Ashtine instead. Elizzel delivered the question with legitimate concern. She didn’t intend for him to completely ignore the General Sky Knight, but her worry had actual basis; they seemed to always help anyone they met along the way.

Frein chose to be sincere. He couldn’t convince her with simple honesty. Elizzel wanted an explanation.

“It’s to keep a promise, Eli,” he began. “I promised to always help anyone who asked. I promised to do so to the best of my abilities, to make sure there would be no stone unturned. I also promised to make sure no one I love would get hurt while I did my best helping someone.”

Elizzel frowned at his words. She had a desire to pull from the Tether to find clarity to her confusion, but just like him, she stopped herself and asked him instead. “A promise to who? Kat?”

Frein shook his head. “Not Katherine Militia, Eli. Catherine Nivan. My sister, the one who gave me her heart.”

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Katherine couldn’t help but worry. She halfheartedly reprimanded herself. She should be used to it at this point. Even back on Earth, Frein had deliberately put himself in danger to help a complete stranger.

Many were the times he had rushed to a passing pedestrian to save them from a speeding truck. Many were the times he had been the first to reach a live grenade to throw it away. Many were the times he had come face to face with armed people to settle a hostage situation. Many were the times where he given away some of his winnings to help a poor fighter. Many were…

Katherine sighed and shook her head, her thoughts spiraling to what-ifs and what-if-nots.

“I’ve only ever seen you nervous and worried whenever Frein is involved, Sis. You’re always collected, usually,” Xiv said, sitting on Frein and Ashtine’s opposite side. “This is really weird.” He pointed at the Visitor’s hand firmly holding the General Sky Knight’s inner thigh.

“It can’t be helped,” Katherine said. She looked up, tearing her eyes away from Frein to look at the former Lord Knight. “He has to directly touch someone’s meiyal core to enter their Dream Realm.”

“So I was told,” he said. “Still weird, though.”

“How are you?” she asked.

Xiv frowned. “Me?”

“You haven’t passed out for a long while until yesterday.”

“Oh, that.” He scratched his head. “It must’ve been because I pushed myself hard when we fought the Da’bloop.”

Katherine hummed. She could see that Xiv was still hiding something. At least that was what her intuition told her. And the more nervous and worried she was, the more she relied on it.

“The next time I feel like you’re hiding something from me, I’m going to use my Heart’s Will on you. Usually, I’m more subtle about it, but you’re a friend, so I’m giving you a warning now.”

“I uh…” Xiv looked around.

“It’s just us,” Katherine reassured. “Frill and Kristel went to explain the situation to Ashtine’s escorts.”

“Liona’s alive,” Xiv said finally. “A part of her at least. But I’m not sure if this has something to do with my sudden collapses.”

“Because you have her core.” Katherine frowned as soon as she stated the obvious. “You mean it’s something more?”

Xiv nodded once. “Liona had developed a second personality, not a mental personality, but a second persona altogether. A second Liona. She’s alive in my Mind Palace.

“She’s different from the first Liona you knew. She said she’s the rebellious one. And before the first Liona died, the second was forced into the meiyal core to wait for Frill. Then, well… you can figure out the rest.”

“I need to make sure,” Katherine said, implying to Xiv what she intended to do.

“Go ahead.”

Heart’s Will verified that he wasn’t making up this story, but Mesiffera couldn’t confirm it since the Art couldn’t actually see someone’s Mind Palace from the outside. Katherine still trusted her Blessing, however. It was just taking her a second to believe what she just heard.

“Why haven’t you told them yet?”

Xiv shook his head. “The second Liona isn’t ready. I have no doubts about Frill and Kristel believing it and trying to verify it for themselves, but she… Liona’s not sure of who she wants to be yet. She’s been spending her entire life pretending to be the first one. She needs time, Sis.”

Katherine nodded. She understood that she had cornered Xiv in the first place, and that she could ultimately leave this matter to him for the meantime. “Alright. Thank you for letting me know. If you need help, you know you can rely on me and Frein.”

“You two seem to be helping just about anyone.”

Katherine smiled, placing a hand on Frein’s chest. “That’s how he is.”

At that moment, the Visitor opened his eyes. Elizzel appeared beside him almost instantly.

“We have a problem,” said the faunel.

“We can’t wake her up,” Frein followed up.

“What’s wrong?” Kristel asked, entering the training hall at the exact same time. Frill was close behind her.

“The thing inside Ashtine, the Nightmare Influence,” Elizzel began but was unable to continue. She looked at Frein.

“What is it?” Katherine asked. “Is it a Deep Nightmare?”

“Not just a Deep Nightmare,” Frein said. “It’s an Oblimoth.”