- Some moments later -

Geneve was seated at a delicately-polished wooden table, writing indescribable contents on a paper with a quill pen. At some point, she could hear footsteps approaching her dimly-lit room, prompting a closed smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Knowing who was approaching her, she held her gaze fixated on the paper, even until a few knocks on the door reverberated throughout the room.

The door then opened, revealing the figures of Lunar and Declan. Whilst Lunar was dressed in his usual attire, Declan donned a long black coat with a white blouse and black pants. They both strolled into the dark room, the door closing behind them by itself. With her gaze still fixated on the papers, she spoke to them in a complacent tone.

“He shall be born in rubbish, and His name will spread throughout the lands like wildfire.”

She then turned towards them, her arm resting on the back support.

“I believe we’ve done a splendid job in ensuing the consistency of the prophecy, no?”

“Spotless so far,” Lunar answered, smiling. “His reincarnation has gone successfully, which means our deeds have not gone down the drain.”

As he said this, with his arms crossed behind his back, he stepped towards a large window at the other end of the room, and silently gazed at the dark, early morning sky.

“The dream seems to have greatly impacted the others, especially Emory. I wonder what he will think once he encounters the boy from his dream.”

Declan sighed, closing his eyes.

“He’s a part of his memory, simple. It’s gonna spook him a little, but nothing more than that, I think.”

“The dream should be the least of our worries,” Geneve said, standing up. “Let’s address the elephant in the room here: Caelum has reincarnated. We managed to defy Michel in an albeit gruesome fashion, which means that there’s a possibility that he will try and intercept our plans.”

“Yeah, I understand,” Declan responded. “Makes me feel a little troublesome, too. What if the prophecy won’t befall Caelum? Not only that, but his journey has just begun. Michel is practically free to do whatever he wants in regards to manipulating our plans.”

“I beg to differ,” Lunar responded, his back still facing them. “Michel knows he can’t just do ‘anything’. He is a fickle person. Too fickle. Just because he failed in the Alter world doesn’t mean he will start from scratch again in the real world. He is aware of everything. He knows that we’re having this conversation in this room, at this very moment. He knows that we will eventually bring Caelum back to safety, and he knows that Caelum will grow into a magnificent figure.”

Declan frowned slightly.

“What are you trying to say?”

Lunar slowly turned towards him, and smiled softly.

“He is playing a game of chess. Patience and a peace of mind is of utmost importance to him. Hell, I dare even say he won’t act for a good while. Our role is to fulfill the Perished One’s purpose and dreams, may it be with or without the help of the Great Rebel. On top of that, we have Emon on our side. Even without us, the Dark Triad, Emon would still stand strong against Michel.”

Lunar’s words managed to still the turmoil in their heads. Emon was indeed an incredibly capable figure, but Michel just seemed to reside in another plane of existence, high above him, the Alter world being just one example. It appeared to be a very elaborate and immersive creation of Michel, yet its destruction seemed very… unconventional. Strange, one could also say.

For someone to create an entire world inside the minds of innocent people, writing anecdotes for each one of them that would serve as their lifelong memories, just to end it after making one of your closest servants kill both you and Emon?

…Who is Emon to Michel? Why would Michel go such lengths ever since before Caelum and Vaelen were even born? Ranging from Emon’s very first death at the hands of Michel, up until the destruction of the Alter world…

…it was clear to anyone that Michel was, by all means, a fickle, and unconventional person.

Nevertheless, Lunar, with his arms spread wide in the air, said to them both in a commanding tone,

“The playtime is finally over, friends. The Gambit has now begun.”

***

- Caelum: A day and ten hours later -

Caelum’s vision in his mind looked very foggy. It was very similar to a blurry camera lens with white, cloudy outlines.

He saw himself, laying on a pool of dirt. He would slowly move his head from side to side, dizzy, in pain, tired. A group of three unidentifiable blurry people would eventually appear, and approach him. As they almost came in contact with him, the flashback ended. Everything faded into nothingness, and Caelum could feel his breathing becoming more and more numb, as if someone was slowly strangling his throat. This went on until Caelum couldn’t breathe anymore, causing his body to react on its own.

He gasped loudly, his hand reaching for the ceiling, recollecting his breath. His body was trembling uncontrollably as his sight gradually became more clear. A small but elegantly-looking chandelier materialized before his sight. However, the illumination caused him to narrow his eyes and sit up straight. He rubbed his eyes and stared at his palms for a while.

He was dressed in a loose, white robe. It seemed that he was sleeping on a soft bed for a good while. Caelum’s memories, albeit dull, gradually returned to him like vultures slowly surrounding his head. His dreamy state was broken by the sound of a voice from the room’s corner.

“Finally awake?”

His head slowly followed the source of the voice…

…until his eyes met Lunar’s, who began walking towards him.

“Lunar…” Caelum muttered. His voice had lost that ‘rebellious’ tone. It was an emaciated tone, by every sense of the word.

“You’ve been asleep for a little over a day now,” Lunar responded gently, standing by his bed. “How are you feeling?”

Upon hearing these words, Caelum’s eyes widened, his mouth slightly left ajar.

“Where’s Helvega?”

Lunar nodded, closing his eyes.

“I will bring you to her. Follow me.”

Caelum brought himself to his feet, however his mind began to spin. The dizziness hadn’t escaped him yet.

“Do you need help?” Lunar asked.

“No, I’m fine,” Caelum responded, shaking his head. “I can manage. Lead the way.”

***

- Several moments later -

The two were now traversing a brightly-lit, wooden-walled corridor. Faint jazz music could be heard from the ceilings, or somewhere, which greatly confused Caelum, who was walking barefooted, but it was understandably not enough to distract him from the main topic. Lunar understood this, so he spoke to him once more.

“You must wonder how we found you, after… everything that happened.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Where are we?”

“We’re in a faraway country called Rudalia, previously acknowledged as Ravenwhelm. We reside in the first district named the House of Elowen, the second-biggest district of the country.”

“Rudalia…?” Caelum muttered with a confused expression.

“Mhm. The place you’ve always known was Deneve. However, you must have heard the name Ravenwhelm being thrown around before, haven’t you?”

“Rav…enwhelm…”

Suddenly, Caelum reminisced a foreign memory.

He saw a young Helvega sitting in the backseat of a moving car. The face of the driver was completely blurred, unidentifiable. The person sitting next to the driver, on the other hand, was clearly visible. It was Emon, who was speaking to Helvega. Strangely, their bodies weren’t moving. It looked like a still image with echoing voices.

“There is an abandoned country quite far away from here. The Northern Ravenwhelm. I’m sure you’ve heard about it, right, Helvega?”

“Ah, I know. According to the Golden Book, it is said to be the place the prophesied Perished One would be born in. The previous name of the land was Povaglia, during the time it was still under the rule of the Shadowsong Brotherhood, better known as the temple of Umbra.”

“Many tragedies, especially those occurring during the Age of Heretics caused Povaglia to be forgotten about and abandoned. It was given the name ‘Ravenwhelm’ by the Golden Church because it resembled one of the Perished One’s spiritual animals; a white raven.”

As soon as the last sentence concluded, Caelum stumbled, and fell on his knees. His palm clinging onto his face as he lost control over his breathing. Lunar reached for him, gently rubbing his back, as Caelum spoke to himself in a broken tone.

“What… was that?”

Lunar remained silent in response.

“What that Helvega?”

“Are you thinking about something?” Lunar asked. Caelum slowly raised his hand and grasped Lunar’s shoulder.

“…Please, bring me to her.”

“We’ve already arrived,” he responded, helping Caelum get back on his feet. “She’s most likely still soundly sleeping, so I’d advise lowering your tone.”

Caelum nodded silently, as Lunar slowly pushed the door open. It revealed a spacious room comprising a large bed at the corner, a window overlooking the district, a table, and a strange, rectangle-looking device hanging on the wall. Much to Caelum’s delight, Helvega was seen sleeping on the large bed, also dressed in a loose white robe. As both he and Lunar approached her bed, Caelum looked around.

“Why does everything look so different?”

“Right. It looks a lot more… modern, no?” Lunar said.

“Yes, it does,” Caelum muttered, looking at the strange device. “What is that thing over there?”

“That’s called a television. The world you knew took place in the past. This is the real world, the Rudalia of 1970. The life you’ve lived up until now was nothing more than a long dream. A dream that would make anyone consider reality due to the blurred lines.”

As he said this, the door behind them opened, revealing Geneve and Declan, happily strolling into the room.

“Look who’s awake!” Geneve exclaimed with a smile, as Declan, with his arms spread in the air, walked towards him.

“There he is! Good morning, Caelum!”

Their contentment was not being reciprocated. Caelum, facing them both, stood still with an emotionless expression. Not responding to their kind words. They both slowly reverted back to their composed demeanour, with Declan nervously clearing his throat before apologizing to him.

“…Sorry.”

Caelum turned his head to Helvega.

“I’m glad to still be alive, but there are questions I need answers to.”

He then turned back to the three of them.

“Let’s start off with the most obvious. Who are the three of you?”

Lunar took the word.

“The dream showed that we were members of the Dark Triad. That title ties with the reason why I killed you during the Inquisition. It was stated before, but let me repeat it: Michel was seeking to use your body as a vessel to revive his Lord. We, the Dark Triad, essentially fight against that will.”

Geneve then stepped forward.

“We’re not entirely Human, but that doesn’t mean our history was not genuine. It was all real.”

“What do you mean by that?” Caelum asked. Geneve’s pupils drifted towards Helvega, as she responded.

“She is a prime example. She died within the dream after witnessing her mother’s corpse. Her ‘death’ was mirrored in the real world, but it was ‘faulted’ because of her being the Angel of Despair. She, too, is immortal. But her circumstance is a little different than yours. She was reincarnated into this world because you were reincarnated. Due to dying in the dream world, she developed a rare form of amnesia in this world. In essence, she lost most, if not all memories from the Alter world.”

As soon as Caelum heard ‘mother’, his heart sank. His body wanted to lose control over its breathing, but Caelum gulped, and pulled himself back to his feet. A shadow falling over his face.

“…So the cause in the dream world affected her in the real world.”

His voice sounded a little fragile. He let out a deep sigh, taking several seconds before continuing.

“By that logic, wouldn’t the three of you dying not have an effect on you?”

“That’s not all,” Lunar responded, his arms crossed. “Everyone you’ve known, which includes those of the Inquisition, and your brother, are all present here, as well. I spent some time theorizing the state of the Alter world we lived in, and came to a conclusion.”

“It consisted of two problems, or, better said, casualties. On one side, you have the false casualty, and on the other, the true casualty. However, it’s important to note that we weren’t the ones who created the Alter world. Michel did. And by taking Gaizer’s Somnium Universalis theory into account, we can safely assume that the Alter world was created under the influence of a Dahma, most likely under the Holy Spirit of Medunta.”

“Michel could have created two casualties. The true casualty could have comprised the experiences, memories, and realities the individuals endured throughout the time spent within the dream, be considered thruthful and authentic. This is because every person they interacted with, may it be over the course of days, weeks, months, and even years, see it as their own authentic memory. This may explain why you are remembered by them.”

“Then, for the memories of the others to be considered authentic and genuine, does that mean every person I interacted with was also trapped inside that dream?” Caelum asked.

“Well, yes and no,” Geneve responded. “Yes, because the individuals who were present during the Inquisition, and even before, during Emon’s timeline, interacted and ‘genuinely’ experienced memories shared within that dream. However, those people weren’t necessarily ‘real’.”

“They weren’t real because, despite the fact that you, Caelum, developed a relationship with Emory, the ‘Emory of 1902’ was but a mere projection of himself, which explains why his, and everyone else’s ages are the same as they were in the dream, despite the fact that we are now technically residing in a reality 68 years in the future. Just as when people ‘observe’ their dreams and interact with them as though they’re living inside of it, Emory, and everyone else, did not ‘exist’ within that reality, but merely had their projections interact with it.”

“…That kind of makes sense,” Caelum said. “The projection could still contain memories, but the causes in the dream would not necessarily affect them in the real world.”

“Exactly,” Lunar responded. “That is the core of my second point, the false casualty.”

He then raised his finger in the air, continuing.

“Prominent concepts such as death and birth are only contained within the false casualty. When transferring, or transmigrating into the real world, these concepts amount to nothing, and the individuals are not affected. The ‘why’ has already been answered: They did not ‘exist’ in that reality, therefore, they could not truly die, or be birthed.”

“It would require Michel to quite literally bring life and death to millions of people, which is why I assumed he may have taken this approach. However, this is just my own understanding of that world and how it operated.”

“…If the causes do not affect us in the dream world, then why is Helvega like this?” Caelum said. “I understand that my death in the dream world didn’t affect me in this world, as I am still alive, but she has lost her memories. That is a clear example of cause and effect, so your theory is not consistent.”

“Correct, it’s not. However, the truth of the matter is that both you and Helvega are immortal. Her appearing in the Castle of Desolation may have played a role in why she has become the person she is now.”

“There’s one other thing that doesn’t add up for me,” Caelum began. “If the dream was truly a fabricated reality of the past, where I shared a collective dream alongside dozens of other people, if those people awakened in this world, having regained their memories of the two realities, what are my ‘real memories’? Everything I’ve known was the life I lived in Ventroria. Does that mean I’m not a real person…?”

Right as Lunar was about to respond, a voice sounded from the other end of the door.

“Hey, Lunar, how’s it going over there?”

That voice was Emory’s.

Lunar remained silent in response, as Caelum’s eyes slowly lit up with excitement.

“That must be Emory, right?”

“Do I tell him to leave?” Declan said.

“No, it’s fine. He can come in.”

“Come inside, Emory,” Lunar said.

The door slowly opened, revealing Emory’s figure. The moment his eyes met Caelum’s, he stood frozen in place, his mouth left ajar.

“…C…Caelum…”