The infinite void engulfed both light and sound, extending in all directions. I was alone, or at least I believed I was. My perception of time and space was distorted by the vast nothingness that messed with my senses.

"Justin..."

A voice echoed faintly from somewhere in the void, a familiar one I had always heard at the peak of my life.

"Carl?! Dude, is it really you?" My heart raced as I tried my best to locate the source, my pulse was beating faster with every passing second. The more I listened, the sharper his voice became, overloading my senses to exhaustion.

The void shifted every second, twisting into a different form. Shadows gathered in one spot, slowly forming what looked like a hallway stretching into the unknown, with a dim light flashing at the end.

"Justin... cave..." His voice echoed again, clearer now, from the light at the end of the corridor. A silhouette, unmistakably his, began to take shape in the distance. I sprinted toward him, desperate, my body burning with the need to close the gap.

"Justin... cave..." his voice sounded louder from the light at the end of the hallway. In the distance, his silhouette started to take shape. I was desperate to cover the distance, so I sprinted to cover the distance between him quickly.

"Carl, Wait!"

I was nearly there, so close I could almost reach him. But just as I reached out my hand, the light shattered like glass.

My eyes shot open.

I gasped, my heart was still pounding fast, sweat was all over the place and I felt a sharp pain on my face, yanking me out of the dream. Fiera was standing beside me, her fingers pinching my cheek.

"Fiera.... What are you doing..." I grabbed her wrist gently, my vision was blurry but I could point out her pale face was covered with her messy hair.

"Lythael said I should pinch you if you didn't wake up...." she whispered with a soft voice.

""It’s okay!, I’m awake now!" I rubbed my face, trying to shake off the bad omen from the dream.

I rose from my bed, my mind was still in shambles from trying to reminisce what happened in my dream.

*"Carl... Maybe... Maybe he's in Egaria too..."*

I sat on the edge of my bed, rubbing my eyes and stretching my arms, my mind was still in shambles from the nightmarish dream. Carl's voice, and the hallway, everything that happened felt too real to be fake,

*"Focus! It's just a dream!"* I told myself, but my hands still trembled from the experience.

"Are you okay, Jorr?" Fiera's voice cut through my thoughts. "All night, you kept whispering a name... Carl, right?"

"Oh.... It's nothing! Maybe you heard wrong? I was sleeping like a log the whole night!" I didn't know what to say, I didn't want to raise any suspicion or make her think of anything, Fiera already had a lot of emotional baggage to worry about me.

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"Is that so? Fine then... I was just worried about you... I'll be heading downstairs now..." Her voice sounded gentle while walking out of the room, her face had a worried expression, she seemed to worry about my being more than herself.

The truth was, I was still trembling from my nightmare earlier, but seeing her right now, I couldn't afford to lose my mind right now, I had to focus on the mission today, I needed to be in the best shape to be useful.

I stood up, doing my daily routine of stretching and exercise, my muscle was still tensed up but shortly disappeared after a couple of cardio. My gear was scattered around the small room, so I began gathering it, starting from my rugged brown cloak to my reliable silver dagger.

*"Am I really going on a mission with no armor..."* Even if I wanted to invest in a small set of armor, I recalled the price of a small piece of armor from a nearby store down the street, it was nowhere the price range I could afford. *"Dodging it is then..."*

Exiting the room, the light from outside shined throughout the hallway, at the very end there stood someone, It was Lythael, she was standing beside the open curtain of the hallway, her eyes closed as she stood guard, wind was blowing from where she leaned, causing her hair to sway lightly.

*"She really is beautiful... Aside from her personality."*

I didn't like the idea of my day being ruined just yet, so I decided to make a run for it, I sprinted towards the stairs, my legs were at high speed, barely waking her up. The noise of the tavern in the morning was light compared to yesterday, I could only hear the sizzle of meat being cooked and the light chatter of the waiters.

Just as I stepped on the last stair, all of a sudden a loud voice came from the farthest table, shaking everything in the tavern with violence. "Jorr! You're finally awake lad!" the room was silent, with only a few noises at the back, but everything went loud when Karn shouted at me.

"Yeah... I'm awake..." I replied with no strength in my voice.

Karn was sitting alone at the edge of the tavern, stacked plates were beside him as he chugged down what seemed like his 5th mug of ale. His large axe was placed at the table behind him next to his bag of supplies.

I slowly walked towards him, until midway through my walk, he suddenly stood up, a large burp came out of his mouth, and he let out a big yawn while his belly was already at the peak of bursting out of the silver armor he was wearing. "No time to spare lad! Here!" he gathered up his equipment before throwing a wrapped object in the shape of a sandwich.

"Let's go now! The carrier is already outside! Eat that while we are traveling!" Karn shouted, each step he took towards the exit rocked the tables and chairs around me.

*"What is this? Oil is dripping all over the place!.." I looked down at the sandwich I was holding, its contents oozed all over my cloak, soaking the fabric with oil and making a mess. But there was no time to complain. I wiped my hand on my cloak with disappointment. "I guess I'll just buy a new one later..."

I hurried after Karn toward the exit, dodging a few loose chairs as I stuffed the rest of the sandwich into my mouth. The heavy wooden door creaked as it swung open, revealing a large, weathered wooden carriage docked outside of the tavern.

Peeking at both sides of the carriage, there were 2 horses mounted at the front, drooling all over the ground while chewing food. At the back was an open section, containing enough space for our group with wooden benches lining the inside. It was designed for both cargo and passengers, with metal hooks hanging from the sides to secure supplies or weapons.

Karn climbed onto the driver's seat, his massive body made the carriage rattle a bit, he reached for the reins with ease, his hands looking like they were made to control beasts twice the size of the horses before us.

"Get in!" he shouted, pointing toward the back of the carriage.

I gave one last look at the sandwich in my hand, throwing the wrapper onto the ground before climbing into the back of the carriage. Lifting the curtains, the rest of the group was already sitting at the end, Nereus was in the middle, sharpening his weapon with what looked like a magic rune, Fiera was already asleep, her grimoire was somehow used as a pillow for her head, and at the end....

*"Lythael? How did she go here faster?"*