Noon came and went.

Every moment that went by, the illumination diminished ever slowly till that moment in time when Dusk approached.

After Dusk, and even before, was when most people began preparing for the incoming Night and the Darkness that it carried.

The street vendors picked up their goods and stashed them away.

The laborers finished their daily work routine before eventually leaving home to their families.

The families prepared candles that could burn, and would burn, through the night to stave off the Darkness cast onto them by Goddess Ani, The Darkness of the World.

When Dusk came, after dinner was served, the last preparations went into place before almost every townsfolk lit at least one candle in front of their wooden homes, preferably where the door or windows stood. The bigger the home and the more openings there were, the greater the number of sources needed to illuminate to protect the people living in these homes from being intruded on by the incoming Darkness and the Nightmares seeking to potentially Possess any of them.

It was rare, but it happened more the further one resided from Ina’s Idol within a settlement.

Luckily, after many, many years of living in such conditions, people were used to it. Methods were imagined and executed to provide safety for all inhabitants of any village, town, or city.

One of those was volunteers who braved the Darkness with lamps that burned oil and cast their illumination into the world, hence, The Lamp Bearers were one of those processes and traditions that stuck the longest, being the simplest and easiest method to protect a village, town, or city.

A Lamp Bearer’s duty was to patrol their village, town, or city and make sure the lamps found on every street, on every entrance of a home, and even on the walls circling every settlement remained lit during the Night to discourage stray Nightmaters into visiting a settlement. If not, then it was their duty to make sure their illumination returned to cast away the Darkness.

The method of doing so depended on the lamp in question, with the simplest being replacing either a spent candle or refilling the lamp with oil.

Still, there was always that one type of lamp that a simple Lamp Bearer could not replace even if he wanted to because it was not a lamp that was made with oil as its primary fuel source. No, this specialized lamp was far more powerful and far more expensive to make, therefore much rarer to witness radiating its majestic glow in denying the Darkness its foothold anywhere near it.

Commonly known as just Ina’s Lamp, it was the origin of the Lamp Bearer’s practice and tradition.

It was called as such because the Light it shone came from Ina herself while the Lamp just plainly described the instrument of her Glory. Still, few actually knew that the word Lamp stood for Light Augmented Mirrored Projection because Ina’s Lamp was, in truth, a Magical Device.

A Magical Device that amplified and guided the Source of True Light within its Core, thus making it powerful, expensive, and very rare because only the Church knew how to make them.

In fact, making them was one of the sources of wealth acquisition for the Church, thus causing most newly made Lamps to be snatched the moment they were made by either somebody rich enough to afford one or the Kingdom of Inaria, such that it could and would spread its might and presence as far as possible.

Thankfully, some of Ina’s Lamps get donated to where they are needed yearly, but those numbers could never be high enough to protect every street inside every village, town, or city. In fact, only the Capital and Dukedom Cities held enough wealth to afford Ina’s Lamps to at least cover the main streets, thus leaving the other parts vulnerable.

Nonetheless, in theory at least, if the Kingdom stood for long enough, there should come a time when it will be possible to cast away Darkness permanently during the Night. However, before that time arrived, it was pointless to debate about it, especially since Ina’s Lamps had one tiny caveat to themselves.

Ina’s Lamps were prone to randomly turn off their illumination during the Night.

None knew why that was so because the Church had tried many different methods to prevent just such a thing from occurring. In the end, the simplest method became the solution, and that was to walk around during the Night and connect two Lamps, one lit and one unlit, thus reminding the unlit one to realign its majesty and push out the Darkness once more.

It was that very bizarre and unfortunate feature that sustained the tradition of Lamp Bearers, unlike the many others that had spawned and vanished to the dust of the Past.

It was just one such bronze-cased and ornamented Lamp with see-through glass lighting its surroundings that Adam looked at with his golden eyes. However, as there were no street lamps in this alley, on top of this source of Light emanating right from the middle of said alley, it was obvious that Adam was looking at a Lamp Bearer.

It was Adam’s first time witnessing a genuine Lamp Bearer since the Nameless village he grew up in never had a genuine Ina’s Lamp.

If there had been one, he had been kept unaware of its actual presence.

Either way, that was what Adam assumed because, to his golden eyes, only a somewhat gray humanoid outline presented itself of said genuine Lamp Bearer compared to the realistic Bronze and Glass Lamp held above his head while he made his way through the thick silver fog clouding the street and this small town he found himself in.

Additionally, the only reason Adam even realized it was Silver, instead of the white color his eyes currently witnessed, had to do with his little experiment after entering Roselia’s Dreamscape, or whatever its name was before becoming Roselia in the future, after using the newest addition to his repertoire, the DNA or Dream Nightmare Augment.

The Dream Nightmare Augment was a tattoo implement on the backside of his right hand in the form of a white and black cloud swirling around each other before eventually being sucked at one end into a tiny dot in the center of the tattoo implement.

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Specifically speaking, the white cloud represented the Dream Augment that brought Adam into the Local Dreamscape. However, as a small hick-up occurred after its first usage, with the Dream Augment bringing Adam inside the Dreamscape without his loyal and trustworthy companion Sun Bearer beside him, the Magical Spear made with the help of a Goddess, Adam had been forced to experiment slightly on how to include Magical Items with the Dream Augment.

After figuring it out, Adam experimented slightly with Sun Bearer to confirm his prowess, and that was when the shine of the True Light within the Eternal Light embedded on Sun Bearer’s spear blade illuminated the true color of the fog cladding every single surface of the Dreamscape, whether inside or outside a building.

With Sun Bearer back in his possession, Adam’s safety skyrocketed, thus allowing his leisure attitude after leaving the Dreamscape version of the Humble Dwelling Inn in which he and his newly acquired Adventurer companions had taken root for the time being.

It was after he left the Humble Dwelling and after walking through the alley that he witnessed the Lamp Bearer. Thus, Adam observed from the sidewalk, or at least something like it, as the Lamp Bearer passed him by without ever realizing he had passed somebody to begin with.

Once he was out of Adam's sight, which happened very fast thanks to the thick Silver Fog masquerading as white fog, Adam continued his journey of exploring the Local Dreamscape. However, the more he saw, the more everything stayed the same if you ignored the physical outlook because the so-called Local Dreamscape thus far had revealed nothing special aside from the Silver Fog masquerading as white fog.

No Monsters, or Nightmares, as the locals called them, and no Dungeons, or Nightmare Gates, as the locals called them. Though, the second one did not surprise him as much because entering a Dungeon within a Dungeon sounded much too crazy even for Adam, who held a lot of Adamu’s knowledge inside his head.

Thankfully, this was only Adam’s first exploration, so things had to change at some point, and they did at the very first crossroad he came across.

After studying it for a moment and the way he had reached it, a realization struck Adam, a simple one, at that, because it originated from Adam’s unfamiliarity with the town.

The street is longer than it's supposed to be. Adam understood in his mind because the very street crossing before him was the one that had led to the Humble Dwelling Inn, where he and his newfound companions had taken a rest. If I remember correctly? The Inn was but thirty or so meters from this very crossing. Then why did it take me so long to cover so much distance?

Curious about it, it took a moment for Adam to see the truth for what it was. Nevertheless, before he attempted any major experiments, he turned around and began walking back to the place he started from.

On the way, he counted his steps to measure the involved distances.

However, the more Adam walked and counted, the more his face frowned because he could not seem to reach the Inn in question. On top of that, after realizing the fact and paying closer attention to the buildings on his side of the street, he noticed a repeated pattern.

Similar to a repeating Ilusion Pattern, Conjured up to save on space and energy investiture. Adam noted in his head, but he did not give up just yet. Instead, he continued walking, counting, and observing the repeating scenario when, all of a sudden, he noticed a Light appear before him.

Ceasing all movements for the moment, Adam waited and watched the Lamb Bearer pass him by. Whether it was the same man or somebody else, Adam could not tell because only the somewhat gray outline of a human shape met his golden eyes.

Had his golden eyes been attuned to Mana, Adam would have witnessed something else.

Then again… Adam corrected his reasoning. Maybe not if I compare the saturation of the Silver Light inside the ancient fairytale-like giant forest with the saturation of the Silver Fog inside this town… Glancing at the fog in question, Adam affirmed his thoughts. Definitely not… Not that it matters now with how my Awakening had shifted my natural Mana Sight into Essence or Aural Sight.

Shaking his head at the fact, Adam set that line of thought aside as even now, after a bit over a month after his Awakening, he had trouble differentiating the two in practice with how closely intertwined they were with each other in his case.

Either way, after the Lamp Bearer passed by Adam and once again vanished into the Silver Fog, Adam returned to his walking, counting, and observing. However, unlike the previous time, where it seemed he would be walking forever, this time, he reached his destination, and quickly at that.

It appears Lamp Bearers are far more significant than publicly admitted. Adam affirmed before turning around and once more seeking that street crossing that had made him realize the truth about the Spatial Folding involved within the Local Dreamscape. Or at least it's facsimile because Adam was unsure if the Spatial Folding came from the natural Profound Law’s of the Local Dreamscape or if it was forced upon Adam through the Silver Fog masquerading as white fog.

Whatever the case was, Adam had a solution to negate its existence, and it only took a few minutes of walking and seeing the same scenery over and over for him to execute the solution because it seemed the Lamp Bearer had completed his duty in this particular alley.

As such, Adam focused on Sun Bearer and the Eternal Light embedded at the base of its spearblade and called forth its illumination.

In an instant, the fog revealed its true silver nature only to recoil away from Adamu’s and Sun Bearer’s immediate presence.

Glancing at the radius at which the True Light kept the Silver Fog at bay, Adam began walking again, and when he did, it took but a few moments for him to reach the somewhat familiar street crossing.

“You know, Sun Bearer?” Adam voiced his thoughts to his Magical Spear. “The more I observe and experience this world, the more I appreciate your presence beside me. Almost as if it was meant to be? Or something, right?”

Nodding, for himself and Sun Bearer as it could not do so for itself, Adam picked the right crossing as it led to the street leading to the Adventurer's Guild building since said building resided on one of the four main streets inside the small town, Adam was primed to reach the center of the town in question.

It still took a bit to do so, but when he did, Adam stared at the monument, the Obelisk made of Pure White Onyx, at least on its surface.

Observing it for a few moments and comparing everything with what he saw outside the Dreamscape, Adam noted some differences.

The differences aside, as they could stem from his faulty observations or changes enacted by the Dreamscape, Adam took a closer outlook at its surroundings as the Pure White Onyx clearly exhibited its Magical presence and purpose by defying the Silver Fog from approaching the Obelisk way beyond the prominent designated clearing in which it stood, including the stone pedestal from which Adam had gained the tattoo implement on the backside of his right hand.

Glancing around a bit more, Adam figured he finally had a choice to make.

A choice of where to place his attention for the time being if he wanted to figure out the hidden secrets of the Local Dreamscape because then, and only then, would he even consider activation of the Nightmare Augment to witness the dark side of this small town that would in the future became the fourth Dukedom City of the Inaria Kingdom.

“Where to explore first?” Adam posed a question for himself. “The insides of the town buildings and the people it's supposed to hold? The Chapel and its interaction against the Silver Fog? Or the Baron’s residence where the supposed future Duke currently resided?”

“Mmmm… Such a tough choice to make.” Adam voiced out jokingly.