The amulet flashed a bright fluorescent green light, and ropes slithered tightly around Cathy’s body like serpents, causing her to fall to the ground with a hard thud.

“Apprehend the man!” Claudius demanded.

The knights surrounded me and tackled me to my knees, their arms latched tightly around mine.

“D–Daymond!” Cathy screamed.

Claudius drew his sword and thrusted it in Cathy’s direction, “You dare to disrespect the king, you wench! You will pay for your impudence with your life!”

A handful of knights swarmed into the throne room, they picked up Cathy and marched to the king, placing her body at the foot of the throne. As Cathy kicked and struggled, the ropes coiled around her body tightened.

“AGGGHHH!” she screamed, her eyes bulging.

Claudius scowled. “The more you struggle, the tighter they become you miserable whore!”

The knights shoved me to the ground, pinning my arms behind my back. Cathy’s mouth parted as she witnessed my head being forced against the floor.

“P–Please don’t do this!” Cathy begged. “I’ll tell the whole village! I swear, I’ll tell them all unless you release me now!”

“Who said you were ever going to leave here, Miss Cathleen?”

Cathy’s face paled and her eyes grew vacant. “Y–You…”

“His Majesty will have his time with you tonight, and you will be dead by morning. As far as your family and the village, they will be informed that you died a dishonorable death caused by that pendant you so foolishly decided to steal.”

“My parents will never believe that nonsense!” she snapped.

“They will have no other choice,” Claudius said, coldly. “You will obey the king’s demands leading all the way to your death. That is, unless, you would rather have us torture you and your friend first.”

Cathy hopelessly stared at me, panic overflowed as tears rushed from her eyes like water from a broken dam.

A knight beside me stepped forward, “Permission to speak, sir.”

Claudius shifted. “Permission granted.”

“And what should be done with the man, sir?”

Claudius glanced at the king, who responded with another nod.

“Kill him.”

The knight gave a shallow bow before raising his sword, “Sir!”

The other knights pulled me to my knees, as he steadied his blade above my neck—preparing to bring it down upon my spine.

“No!” Cathy screamed. “I beg you, Your Grace—”

“I have a better offer for His Majesty…” I said through gritted teeth.

Cathy and Claudius looked at me in bewilderment.

I wished I had known beforehand that they were holding a town festival only a day later. That would have saved me a lot of headaches. The castle was packed with guards, so picking a fight there would be stupid when the king was already coming to town anyway. It would be better to attack him during the festival, when he had less guards with him and I could get closer.

All I had to do was lie my way out of this mess, and wait for the festival to start tomorrow.

That was by far my best shot.

“I am Daymond Birmingham, next in line for the Birmingham Noble Family.”

Rae adjusted his posture, “I’ve never heard of your family’s name.”

“I know you haven’t. There’s also a reason why you’ve never seen me here before. We do not reside in this kingdom. We are a noble family that resides in the domain of King Kingsley.”

I knew I sounded ridiculous, and at the time I felt I was going to pass away from cringe, but this was the best chance I had at living. “I came to this town to establish a business relationship with you, that is all.”

Rae pensively rubbed his chin, “Kingsley’s kingdom… I see.” He pressed his back firmly against his throne, “And what business do you speak of?”

“My family is quickly becoming the lead supplier of alcohol in Kingsley’s capital. I initially came here to speak to you about expansion. Seeing that the young lady I arrived with had already obtained an official invitation, I jumped at the opportunity. But considering that my life is now in jeopardy. I would also like to offer you a cash reward in exchange for my life.”

Rae’s eyebrows raised, “Alcohol, you say?”

“Your Majesty,” Claudius interrupted, “This man is a witness to today’s events. He could be a risk to your reputation if you let him go free—”

“I have no interest in how you run your kingdom and assert your power over your subjects. It does not affect me. As far as I’m concerned, it is your prerogative as king to do as you please. I came here strictly for business related matters. If you must kill me, then so be it. However, I can not imagine that my family, and Kingsley for that matter, would take too kindly to hear that the heir to the Birmingham estate was murdered…”

“I understand,” Rae said. He motioned for the knights to unhand me. Cathy’s jaw fell open in astonishment. “Please make sure Mr. Birmingham is escorted safely back to his kingdom. I will send a summons to the Birmingham Estate soon, we will schedule to speak with you at a later date.”

The knights graciously helped me to my feet and motioned toward the exit.

I rolled up my sleeves and dusted off my shirt before heading toward the doorway.

“N–No…” Cathy muttered. “D–Daymond, please! Please! Help me!”

Her voice was shrill with desperation.

“Do not speak to me,” I said, glancing back towards her. “Your transgressions are your own. You should learn your place, and submit to your king.”

Her eyes trembled, “Daymond… No! How could you!”

I turned away and continued onward.

“Daymond, stop! Look at me!” her pleas thundered off the walls. “They’ll kill me! I need you! Please don’t leave me here!”

“Silence you wench!” Claudius delivered a swift kick to her abdomen. Her hair dragged across the floor as her lungs fought to regain air.

“You’re just gonna leave me here?” Her shallow breathing and wheezing pierced my ears. “You know what they’ll do to me? Please Daymond, I’m begging you!”

I clenched my jaw as I dragged myself toward the exit.

“Why?! Why Daymond?! Why won’t you help me?! Why are you doing this to me?! Please, don’t let them do this!”

I froze.

Her voice… It was troubling me.

The sound of complete desperation in her pleas was devouring me from the inside. I tried forcing myself to continue walking, but my feet wouldn’t move any further—it felt like I was struggling against lifting them out of concrete.

“I don’t understand! I haven’t known you for long, but I can tell that you aren’t like this!”

A memory flashed into my mind. The words that Cathy’s grandmother had told me, just before we had left. The face she made, the way she smiled. She had complete trust in me. She trusted me to look after Cathy.

“If she were to see me now…”

…No.

I knew that her and her grandmother weren’t real.

Nothing more than fragments of Rae’s subconscious.

Their whole existence was nothing but a facade… but still, it bothered me. I couldn’t shake the repulsive feeling I had gnawing away at my stomach.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Cathy’s eyes welled as she called out to me, “I can see it! You’re trying to fight against it. You’re trying to convince yourself to walk away, but you’re still here.”

I said nothing.

“Ignore the girl’s groveling, Mr. Birmingham.” Claudius sneered, “Your escort awaits outside.”

“You can’t even look at me! Look at me, Daymond!” Cathy pleaded. “If you’re going to leave me here, that's the least you can do!”

My body felt like it was drowning in blistering waves of fire. I felt like such a coward. But…

“Why! Why are you acting like this—”

“Because you aren’t real!” I declared.

My eyes fell back onto Cathy. It was a disastrous sight. Her dress was soaked in a puddle of her own tears and her makeup was smeared across the tiled floor.

She went silent.

“You’re… You aren’t real…”

Her chest rose and fell as she gasped for air, her gaze fixed on mine. Rae and all his men were fixated on me as well.

“Shit… What have I done…”

She lifted her head off the ground.

“What are you talking about?! Of course I’m real, Daymond!”

My eyes snapped open, “...huh?”

When I first gained the ability to travel to the dreams of others, whenever I asked a manifestation if they were real they would either change the subject, or not respond to the question at all. The only person in a dream who was able to respond to the question properly… was the Dreamer.

But this manifestation was able to look at me with such a penetrating gaze, and tell me they were real.

That was simply impossible. I was certain that I had entered Rae’s dream, his Dreamer was sitting right there on the throne. So… How was she able to respond to that statement…?

My mind whirred, trying to hastily piece together a convincing explanation. But no matter which way I looked at it, it just didn’t make sense. I was undeniably inside of Rae’s dream, and the man on the throne was certainly his Dreamer.

“It must just be a fluke…” I decided.

I commanded myself not to be stupid.

If I picked a fight inside the castle walls over a manifestation, then I would complicate everything and end up dying. There had to be guards all over this castle ready to swarm me at any moment. It wasn’t worth it. If I were to die then…

I briefly thought about my brother and sister, and how their safety as well as my own depended on my choices.

“...I’m sorry, Cathy.”

I slowly turned back around and continued my departure.

“Daymond, wait! I told you I’m real! I’m a real person!”

“Ignore her…She can’t be…”

“Daymond please believe me! I’m telling you the truth!”

“Don’t listen…”

“Daymond! What do I have to do to prove it?! I’m a real person! I promise you!”

My feet stopped moving. “How the hell could a manifestation sound this convincing? All I could sense coming from her was genuine honesty and terror.”

A paralyzing thought flickered in my mind, “In a dream, most manifestations would jump at the opportunity to satisfy the Dreamer. But this one is completely different, she’s in genuine distress… What the hell is going on here?”

I turned my head slightly and paused for a moment, studying her carefully.

“...If you’re real… What state did you grow up in?”

Her eyebrows scrunched together, “S–State? I umm…”

Her eyes enlarged, she looked as if she had just heard a whisper from a forgotten memory.

“...New York,” she said shakily. “I–I lived in New York…”

I shifted my whole body to face her, “What the fuck…”

“Hey!” I pointed at Claudius. “Are you real?”

Claudius was taken aback, “What kind of nonsensical question is that?”

“A serious one. Are you real?” my eyes lasered into his, eagerly awaiting his answer.

“Such foolishness, I am standing here before you, aren’t I?”

“It’s a yes or no question, damn it! Are you real?!”

Claudius unsheathed his sword, “This nonsense has gone on long enough! Guards, escort this man out of the palace immediately!”

The knights stomped toward me.

“You, King Rae! Are you real?”

Rae rolled his eyes, “The fuck is wrong with you? Of course I’m real.”

My mind melted.

“N–No… It’s impossible… Rae is definitely the Dreamer… How could there be…”

Cathy still had her gaze fixed on me, her glossy eyes pleaded with desperation.

The guards outstretched their arms as they closed in on me.

“How could she…?”

“Daymond!” Cathy yelled. “I swear to you on my life! Please—”

“Damn it!”

I yanked my blade from my vest and unleashed a powerful swipe, sending the knights soaring through the air. Their armor clobbered against the hard tile.

Claudius thrusted his sword, “Such impertinence! You shall be executed no matter what family you belong to!”

“Daymond!” Cathy shouted.

“Shut up!” I screamed. “I don’t know what you are, but once I free your ass, you better pull your weight and help me kill the king, got it?!”

Cathy paused for a moment before nodding her head frantically. “Yes!”

“Kill the king, you say?” Claudius scoffed. “I hardly took you for a fool! You’ll never get the chance. Guards!”

An army of knights flooded into the throne room wielding their shimmering longswords.

“Execute this man at once!”

The knights rushed me with a thunderous cry, their swords held high in the air.

“Airstrike tornado!” As I spun around and flung my arm, a whirlwind flew from my blade and swept up the incoming guards in a powerful air current. They swirled around, levitating higher and higher, before crashing into the ground.

Cathy smiled weakly as she looked toward the fallen guards.

As I sprinted toward the throne, a dozen guards swarmed the room in a race to reach me.

“You knights are nothing but worthless vermin!” Claudius’ face filled with an intense malevolence. “Why you…”

I swiped at a few more guards, sending them tumbling. “Your guards’ armor gives them incredible defense, but also makes them slow and damn near immobile.”

As I approached the throne, Rae rose to his feet.

Claudius shot back his hand, “No, Your Grace. You mustn't fight. Allow me to take care of this trash.” He tightened his grip around his sword. “Guards, halt your attack! Leave this criminal to me!”

With a quick step, I sprinted towards him, “A one-on-one works for me!”

“Your treason is unforgivable, I will have your head!”

“You first, bitch!” I unleashed a flurry of airstrikes which hurled toward Claudius.

With a smug grin, he extended his hand, “Shield…”

The airstrikes dispersed before him as if they were hitting an invisible wall.

“What?”

He lowered his hand and readied his sword at his side. “Your attacks are pitiful.”

“We’ll see about that! Airstrike spear!” A line of condensed air shot towards his feet.

He held his hand to his mouth and yawned, “Shield…”

The attack cracked the tile beneath him but failed to move his body an inch.

“If he’s gonna keep using that annoying invisible shield, I need to get close to him to make a direct hit…”

As I closed in, he clenched both of his hands around his sword, but did not hold it up for defense. His face and neck were wide open.

With a lunge and one mighty swing, I thrust the knife at his throat. Right as it contacted his skin, my arm jerked back as if it had hit a forcefield, sending my knife spiraling onto the ground.

Claudius laughed and clamped his hand around my neck, if he had tightened his grip anymore, he certainly would’ve broken it.

“No!” Cathy shrieked.

He raised me up into the air.

My lungs couldn’t draw in any more breath.

“H–How?” I whispered, pulling against his grip.

He mockingly presented his hand, showcasing a thin black fingerless glove. “As you saw, the power in these gloves allow me to shield myself with invisible barriers. They also allow me to wrap those barriers around myself for protection.”

He flashed a malignant smile, “In other words, there's no way you can touch me.” He held his blade at my neck. “It seems your little coup is now over. How very unfortunate…”

“Hold it.” Rae demanded.

Claudius released me, and I crumbled to my knees—delicately rubbing the raw parts of my pounding neck.

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

Rae squinted at me, “Death is far too convenient of a release for this man. I demand he be chained in the dungeon. We shall deal with him after tomorrow's festival.”

Claudius nodded, “Of course, Your Majesty. We shall see to it that he is subjected to the most cruel methods of torture for his crimes. Guards!”

A pack of knights rushed forward and grabbed hold, “Sir!”

“Chain this man up in the dungeon. See to it that Velbir is notified upon his arrival.”

Absolute terror flooded over me.

Without my knife, I was no better than a civilian. How could I allow myself to get so careless?

I thrashed and struggled as the knights brought me to my feet.

“Let go of me!” I demanded.

“There is no way to avoid your fate,” said Claudius flatly. “Save your dignity and accept it like a man instead of wiggling around like a worm.”

“Fuck you!” My eyes shot daggers at Rae. His smug face ignited fire through my bloodstream like a trail of gasoline.

It was familiar to me. It was the same expression he wore at Kingsley’s home. He gave me that same smug shit-eating look as he stomped me into the ground, taunting me.

“You fucking bitch!” my voice rattled. “Don’t look at me like that! I swear that I’ll kill you if it's the last thing I do! Every part of my soul burns with hatred for people like you!”

“Daymond…” Cathy muttered.

I ignored her.

“You hear me, bitch!” I thrashed violently as the knights fought to maintain their grip. “It doesn’t matter what dungeon you throw me in! It doesn't matter who you have guard that door! I’ll kill you! On everything on this earth I swear I will smile as you bleed out on this floor! Do you hear me?!”

“The worthless words from worthless scum!” Claudius spat. “Your disrespect will not be tolerated! Your hero charade is over!”

My face twisted as I locked eyes with Rae. “A hero…? Sorry, I don’t know anything about that…” His eyes narrowed to slits. I leaned my head forward and spoke coarsely, “I don’t want you to free me. Go ahead, lock me up, then just wait… You’ll beg for mercy, and there will be none found… And the moment you draw your last breath, all you will see is me, standing before you.”

“Enough!” Claudius marched toward me and yanked me away from the grip of the knights. “You are the one who will beg for mercy.”

His fist collided squarely with my jaw.

I fell to the ground. My vision blurred and then slowly faded.