In the middle of the night, two brothers of exquisite beauty stared at each other with gall. One had a long beautiful black hair and a pretty face and the other had a striking jet black hair and an alluring face.

If not for the deep eyebags of the long-haired brother, his pretty face would have been made whole. But that in itself was a charm for some people.

After the two commenced a battle of staring at each other, they both looked at the figure right in front of them. Veritas sat uptight at the sudden pressure and smiled accordingly.

The brother with long hair sighed deeply, he then spoke with his weakly voice towards Veritas.

"So it's you, Veritas.."

"Hello, Brother Alune.."

Alune scratched his forehead at the sudden sight of the trespasser inside their home. He then gazed in the direction of Bello and gave him a stare that looked like it was asking "What happened this time?"

Bello understood the stare and answered truthfully.

"It's his fault! He insisted on barging here and staying over. Also, he wanted to learn about mental fortitude or something and- nevermind."

Bello did not disclose the 2nd request of Veritas, as it would take a great toll on his brother's mind and Soul.

Alune was a Dreamer after all.

To put it simply, Dreamers were the followers of the Path of Dreams.

Their Paths were related to the dreams, they can interpret, visualize, materialize, and many more!

It differed based on each individual, and no person shared the same unique Path. They only shared the essence of the Path, such as the Dreamers.

Alune was curious about the rest of Bello's statement, whenever his brother cut off his words, Alune knew that he was hiding something..

Alune gazed upon his brother's eye once more and pressured him into talking.

However, Bello stayed quiet and avoided Alune's gaze, staring at the darkness emanating from the room.

"So..? Spill it. What is it?"

With the words of Alune, Bello immediately stared at Veritas, who was still smiling stupidly.

Alune caught wind of this and stared at Veritas directly, Alune then walked quickly towards his direction. Veritas' body shook from this, his smile had long faded and he felt terror deep within him.

"Alright! Alright!"

Veritas succumbed to the great pressure that loomed before him.

"It's.. something that was shown to me in a dream."

"A dream? Please do tell."

The atmosphere of the situation had significantly changed. Alune's face was now serious and it almost looked as if terrified.

"Please do tell what was in the dream."

Veritas hesitated for a moment but seeing as he had already started talking, he continued further.

"It was a state of ruin. A desolated land loomed through the horizon, leaving nothing in its wake."

"..."

"In it, I saw myself standing before the ruin, laying down in my own pool of blood. As I was about to succumb to death, the runes suddenly appeared right in front of me, telling me of my Path."

"..."

"This happened before I came back to Elrod. Back then, I could not piece together the meaning of my dream nor did I have the time to."

"..."

"But now.. that I've unlocked my Path, it feels odd. I have already unlocked my Path but why would my dream tell me of the scenario that showed me unlocking my Path once more."

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

Veritas had been so lost in storytelling that he had forgotten to look at the 2 figures in front of him.

Bello was.. silent, as if contemplating the meaning of the dream, yet not fully piecing it all together.

As for Alune... he-

"I knew it.."

Veritas and Bello was taken aback by Alune's statement. Moreover his face showed great panic and distress.

Veritas had not seen Alune make that type of face before. Even way before he had left to slay the Gargoyle Knight, Alune seemed like a calm, and patient person.

Thus, this sent Veritas a feeling of worry deep within him.

"Veritas, in.. this dream of yours, did you see flames, heard loudness, and felt darkness?"

He looked at Veritas with such seriousness that even Veritas himself felt the terror within Alune's heart. Veritas' eyes widened at the accuracy of Alune's statement, he felt even more nervousness rise up in his body.

"...yes"

Alune's eyes grew even more wider.

Then terror showed up in his face, turning it a shade of pale white. Alune fell to his knees and started shaking uncontrollably.

Bello quickly rushed towards his brother and checked him thoroughly with panic forming in his eyes.

"Shit! I knew this would happen!"

The shaking Alune then muttered words that were lost amidst the wind, it was almost silent but Veritas had heard it very clearly.

"We are all dead."

*

It was the middle of the night.

The moon was shining on the graceful Kingdom of Elrod.

The night stood silently still.

The ever so cold breeze was prevalent in the air.

It was.. a peaceful night.

A lonely night.

However, Veritas was struck with a sense of panic in this dark and peaceful night. He, along with Bello, was carrying Alune and rushed through the silent streets of Elrod.

They were traversing the streets while riding on a black horse's back, rushing through the winds with ease.

Bello was the most terrified out of the two.

Although he had saw Alune's past panic attacks due to his visions, it had never been this dire and dangerous!

The start of Alune's panic attacks was 3 months before Veritas returned home.

It was a lonely night, filled with cold and silence.

Bello had returned home from his job at the den, silently opening the door and being very cautious as to not make a single noise to make his brother wake up.

However, that stillness of silence was broken apart by a sudden scream. It had come from his brother's room. This was not a natural occurrence within their household.

Naturally, Bello rushed inside his brother's room to check upon home. However, when he entered he saw his brother staring at the bright moon. It took a couple of seconds for his brother to slowly turn around to face his brother.

In his face, was terror and sadness.

So, Bello was greatly worried about this situation.

With the help of Veritas, Bello summoned his steed and used his winds in order to rush towards the best apothecary inside the castle.

At their pace, it would only take minutes to arrive at the castle. But, every second counted and the two didn't waste a single second.

Alune's body was in a state of fear and panic, his body was convulsing every now and then, his face was pale out of terror, and he uttered words silently.

So, the combination of Veritas' winds and the speed of Bello's steed resulted in the two of them arriving at the castle in mere 3 minutes.

The outskirts was at least 6 kilometers away from the castle, so the total speed that they have achieved would be close to 120kmph.

A normal horse's top speed would only be 70kmph or more, but this was no normal horse. This was a highly trained steed that was cared for by an experienced Beasttamer!

So, upon arriving at the castle, the duo immediately rushed inside in search of the apothecary, ignoring any knights that guarded the place.

Veritas, who was greatly familiar with the place, left Bello behind, using the Winds inside to run quickly.

Then, he arrived at the apothecary's room.

He quickly opened the luxurious door without wasting a single second, then he screamed out for help.

"Mother! Please help!"

Veritas immediately undid the enchantment of the Faceless Mask, his hair slowly turned back into pure white and his pupils soon radiated the deep shade of gold.

His mother instantly turned awake at the loud noise caused by Veritas. She merely glanced at him and learned of the situation already.

Veritas, who was carrying Alune in his arms, rushed towards his mother and layed him on the bed.

Veritas' father was also at the scene, helping Veritas lay down the beautiful young man on the bed.

"What happened?" Aletheia questioned.

"It was so sudden, Alune's body immediately convulsed and shook."

"What were you doing prior to that?!"

Aletheia raised her voice due to the direness of the situation, as the information given by Veritas had been vague.

"I-I was sharing the dream that I had prior to when I returned to the Kingdom. As Father had guided, I was told to find a Dreamer to interpret my dream. Yet, upon hearing of it, Alune started showing signs of terror and shock."

"It seemed as if he had dreams that were related to mine somehow!"

"I see.."

Staring at the shaking pale body of Alune, Aletheia chanted a few words with weight behind them.

"Todavia"

Immediately, Alune's face of terror slowly calmed down and his paleness was soon residing.

Then, footsteps could be heard running through the hallway outside.

It was Bello, who was moving with haste.

He entered the room and saw the situation that had transpired and then he let out panting words.

"I-Is he okay?"

Everyone in the room stared at Bello except for Aletheia who was focusing on assessing Alune's situation.

The room stood silent even with Bello's presence, they were too focused on the emergency.

Then, the one who broke the silence was Aletheia, the apothecary.

"... He should be okay, but it is weird to see a condition such as this..."

Then she continued speaking further.

"Veritas, as you mentioned before.. he started panicking once he had heard of your dreams, correct?"

"It was after I confirmed his questions that he had.."

"I see."

She went silent for a couple of seconds, assessing the condition of Alune.

Then, she spoke up with a direct tone, as if warning the people inside the room.

"This is not because of your vision, Veritas.

She continued further, with each word getting more grave.

"This- This is something caused by an external factor."

"..."

"As if someone had directly caused the panic attack that he had."