Her eyes flashed in thought as she watched the boy’s face go through a myriad of expressions. Finally, he sat down and stared at the floor while biting the inner edge of his lip.

“I don’t belong anywhere. Auntie and Uncle Sahves take care of me, but I can tell I’m different from brother.”

The girl hummed quietly as her thoughts raced back and forth.

“And your parents?”

The boy went rigid as soon as he heard the question. It was like a splinter he was too afraid to touch.

He mentally visualized all the different scenes he saw detailing the reputation and end of his parents. In the end he grew despondent while remaining silent.

This must be Mia’s child. It must hurt not having a mother… but where is Tyras? He would never abandon his own child. Did I really kill Tyras?

“It’s okay.”

She knelt down to her knees in front of the child.

“Everything happens for a reason you see? Sometimes it’s important to find fortune within misfortune.”

Although she had the appearance of a five-year-old child, it was clear that she was anything but that. If her estranged eyes didn’t give her away, then her words of wisdom would eventually.

Fortunately her only judge was a naive boy, so there was no one to call her out on the act.

The boy glanced up at her before looking back to the ground. Her mere presence was enough to put him at ease, but he didn’t have a rational reason to explain why.

“Mm. I can’t imagine growing up without my big brother. After all he’s the only person who’s thoughts are quiet. It’s fun to be around him because of that.”

Since the boy resumed his staring contest with the floor, he was unable to see the blatant shock that swept over the girl’s face.

W-What did he just say?

She coughed lightly.

“Did you say, his thoughts?”

The boy responded back with a bright smile as his eyes lit up.

“Mhm! He’s so quiet! Nothing bad ever comes from him, and he’s always so happy. Everyone else I meet always think about such mean and strange things, and it’s annoying because I can only hear the bad things.”

This was the first time someone was genuinely interested in the voices he kept hearing, so he couldn’t help but ramble a little.

He has soul sensing?! That’s impossible! Only world spirit energy can sense the soul!

Her lips twitched at a possible theory she had, but in order to validate it she would need to do something fairly difficult.

“Would you mind holding out your hand?”

She extended her delicate palm outwards to the boy. Her fingers almost seemed to sparkle against the moonlight, which caught the boy in a momentary trance.

“Er, uh, yes! Here!”

He quickly shot his hand out in front of him.

You’re supposed to say, ‘no I don’t mind.’ Ah, whatever. We can work on that later.

She gently placed her hand on top of his.

“Close your eyes.”

She instructed him.

“Breathe slow. Now, imagine a big house. A comfortable house, with a nice fence around it.”

Her words trickled out in a cadence as if they were some sort of lullaby.

It’s difficult for humans to visualize their soul core. This is the easiest way for them to do that.

“You’re safe inside the house, but I’m outside. Won’t you let me in?”

The boy was about to nod when something unconsciously prevented him. Something etched deep within the very fabric of his being seemed to resist.

It was as if this were a primitive instinct.

“I-I can’t.”

The boy furrowed his brow and squeezed his eyes shut even tighter.

“Relax, it’s only a house. I’m only here to visit, would you let me visit and stay awhile?”

Her voice stayed consistent and sweet. At this point it would have been a cardinal sin to refuse her, but the boy still couldn’t.

“I w-want you to visit, but I can’t let you inside!”

“Why?”

“Because I’m scared to open the door.”

The girl pursed her small mouth in thought.

His soul is very resistant; it would be impossible to do this if he were any older. Which means… his soul core is definitely not normal.

Soon her sonorous voice called out once more.

“It hurts to be alone. I’ll be here with you now so that you don’t have to be alone anymore.”

The boy’s face relaxed and his mind began to spin.

“R-Really?”

“Of course. Oh, and my thoughts, they’re extra quiet.”

Because you’ll never be able to sense my soul.

“W-Wait, I’ll try again!”

At this moment, the boy’s mind was an absolute mess.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

No matter how hard he tried to open this figurative door, he simply couldn’t visualize the process. He could see the handle. He could even see through the door itself, and outside was the ethereal girl waiting for him.

The girl outside the door even locked eyes with him and gave him a heart stopping smile.

“I just have to open this door…”

He whispered to himself quietly.

Once again he willed his hand towards the door. Time stretched into an eternity as his fingers inched toward the handle.

Just as his fingers made contact, he could feel the imaginary house begin to fragment and tremble. Her voice called out once again at that moment.

“It’s okay, I can wait for my new friend. I believe in you!”

She spoke with energy and conviction, and for some reason it even felt like the girl inside his imagination was saying the same exact words. He could see her holding her hands together with traces of concern on her face.

I have to do this!

Determination took control as he forcefully placed his hand the handle.

The house shook aggressively, threatening to shatter into pieces. He cried out as a searing pain pierced through his head, and yet he still held onto the handle.

The girl’s blue eye flashed with a brilliant light as she watched the boy in front of her struggle.

What strong conviction he has at such a young age. Mm, we need to nurture this.

She gripped onto his hand firmly when his body began to convulse like a drowning person struggling for oxygen.

A surge of comfort flowed through the boy when her hand clamp down onto his own. It was at this moment that the house stabilized for a split second, and within that small time frame, he yanked the door wide open.

“I did it-!”

Just as he exclaimed out loud, a shadowy figure with discolored eyes tore its way through the door.

A black haze soon overtook the entire house. Just as the entire place was about to disappear, he saw the young girl smiling sweetly in front of him as she stepped across the threshold, and then he passed out.

The girl let go of the boy’s hand and his body slumped onto the soft grass.

His soul core is mixed with three different energy sources. His original soul energy, corrupted world spirit energy, and… Tyras’ soul energy.

She let out a sigh and glanced off into the distance, her face forlorn.

This corrupted world spirit energy originally belonged to me. Tyras sacrificed himself to counterbalance it, otherwise this child would not have survived even a minute. Tyras must have died just after the boy was born.

“Well little one, it looks like it’s just you and me now.”

She glanced down at the unconscious boy, whose body slowly dissipated.

A couple more moments passed by in silence, and finally the body disappeared completely. She whispered to herself quietly and closed her eyes.

“I promise I’ll take care of him, Mia.”

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Meanwhile, in the dark of the night, fearful cry shook the quiet household. In a matter of seconds, footsteps could be heard shuffling about.

A bedroom door flung open and the space was instantly illuminated by a series of crystals along the walls.

“Little Jun are you okay?!”

Lisa rushed to the side of his bed and swiftly inspected the room for anything out of the ordinary. Jun was drenched in sweat from head to toe, and his breathing seemed to calming down after a rush of adrenaline.

“Um, I’m okay Auntie. I just had a nightma- I mean, a weird dream.”

He was about to call his experience a nightmare because of the black shadow that took over the imaginary house, but then he remembered something crucial.

Didn’t he just make a new friend? And with a dream fairy no less!

“Oh thank goodness. A weird dream? What was it about?”

Although Lisa asked off handedly, she was simply giving Jun some attention to help him calm down. It was currently in the dead of night and she desperately wanted to get some sleep.

“I made a new friend! Dream fairies are real! My friend is a dream fairy!”

Jun exclaimed out in excitement before realizing his mistake. He clamped his hand over his mouth in fear once he remembered he wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.

Of course, Lisa didn’t share the same excitement internally, but she still expressed some amazement as if to play along with the young boy.

“Wow! That’s very nice. Let’s get you back to sleep so that you can go meet your friend again okay?”

Now he’s starting to dream up friends. Haah, I’ll have to get Merdan to spend more time with Jun since he won’t be going to school to make any friends.

She made an internal sigh and got up to leave.

“Okay Auntie, goodnight!”

As soon as she closed the door, Jun’s eyes flashed two different colors. One red, and the other blue.

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Sometime later, in a field of flowers, an odd shrieking sound echoed outward from the center.

Even after the horrendous noise ended, like nails on a chalkboard it was difficult to remove it from the brain.

“AAaaaaaHHH OOooooOhhhh!”

“Stooooop! Stop!”

A small girl’s voice cried out in surrender as it listened to Jun’s singing.

That’s not singing!

Tears threatened to attack her face as she tried to abolish the awful noise from her mind.

“Does it sound bad, Ana?”

Ana was the name she introduced herself with after he reappeared back within the field of flowers.

Of course, she already knew Jun’s name. How?

She was his dream fairy, of course she would know; definitely not because she invaded his knowledge palace, which existed within his soul core. The same soul core that she branded and now had full control over.

Jun glanced at his new friend hesitantly. He was afraid he knew the answer to his own question, and yet he still asked in hopes that he would get a different response.

Unfortunately for him, his newfound friend was as heartless as they come.

“It sounds awful! It’s like the combination of all the worst noises in the universe coalesced and formed sentience!”

She cried out in frustration and didn’t hold back with her criticism.

“I don’t know what means… but it sounds really bad. I’m sorry, I just really wanted to sing like you do.”

Ana let out a sigh.

This all started out when she was singing to herself in a fit of boredom. Harmonizing and giving character to the natural energy around her through song was one of her favorite past times. It was a way of soothing the soul and bringing joy to others.

However, this time she unknowingly had a spectator.

Jun felt as if he had entered an entirely new world upon hearing her singing. In response, he wanted to reciprocate the feeling back towards Ana by copying her, just as any child would do.

Of course, feelings were one thing, and singing poorly was another thing.

He wants me to teach him how to sing, but how am I supposed to work with that?! Not only that, but my singing manipulates world energy. Although it’s possible because he does, technically, have world spirit energy…

Ana sighed once more in frustration.

“Listen up. I’ll teach you, but you have to promise to never make those noises again unless you’re trying to kill someone.”

She spoke sternly and Jun nodded back furiously in response.

“Alright, let’s first start with the basics…”

----------------------------------------

Time slipped by. For others it seemed as if only a couple of days had passed, but Jun eventually noticed something odd about the time he spent with Ana.

“Aaaah!”

“Yes, yes. Like that, but more gently. Try to match what your body instinctively wants to do, and don’t force anything else.”

“Aaaah, iiiiie!”

“You know, you’ve made a lot of progress. Maybe you might have a talent for this.”

Ana smiled when she considered how fast Jun was learning to control his vocals. Talent was rare thing, but his single-minded pursuit of perfection was on a whole other level.

He refused to move on to another step until he got Ana’s approval.

“Ana, I was wondering, why does it feel like I can spend a long time with you in only one night?”

Ana folded her arms and tapped her fingers on her elbow in thought.

How do I explain time dilation of pocket dimensions to a kid who thinks this is all a dream?

There was no easy way for her to explain that the current space they occupied was a sealed dimension created by one of the most powerful people to have existed in the universe.

That person being Mia Sugo.

It was a secret that no more than a handful of people knew about, but Mia’s specialty was in space and time manipulation. She had only received her title as The Queen of Ruin after she forced the laws of space that surrounded a corruption nest to fold unto itself.

The results were catastrophic, and the public had no way of knowing how she did it, thus her title was born.

“Since our dreams are special, and I’m a dream fairy, we can spend a long time here because our brains work so quickly. As for how long… maybe close to ten times longer.”

If any world power heard that this pocket dimension had this level of time dilation, they would have sacrificed everything they had in order to claim it as their own.

Of course, Jun didn’t have any such thoughts. He only wore a silly smile on his face.

“It makes me happy that I can spend more time with you!”

His eyes sparkled and he cheered in place.

“Yes, yes. But because you have all this extra time, we’ll be putting it to good use! I have many things to teach you…”

For some reason, Jun instantly felt chills crawl across his skin when he heard Ana’s last sentence, and just like that, a relationship was formed between teacher and student.

Years passed by, a decade of carefully crafted experiences.

During the extended time in the dream-like world, Jun was molded and shaped by his new friend. On the other hand, while he was awake throughout the day, his eyes would periodically flash red and blue, as if someone else were using him like a lens looking out toward the world.