Title: The Other World’s Dreams: The Dream Will Come to an End (Chapter 3 of 5)
By: Okasamyn (GEEU IGN: Hydrorgyrum)
(On immage: < Left = Leonel, | Middle = Caisse, > Right = Doom Slave (Sirius) They are standing in the Holy City Armonia)
Part 17: Lieutenant vs. Something Black and Metallic (Leonel’s narrative)
We took another rest in El Soltado near the heavy metal door to El Adio. It was then that I began to feel a bad chill emanating from the other side of the door. With that said, we moved our rest area a few meters back. Sirius also send a request for backup and we should wait here until then. I took a comfortable position by a nearby wall and took a little nap. That nap soon turned into a battle inside a dream.
I was in the middle of an empty El Soltado, trapped with nowhere else to go. I only have a few torch fires to light the area. Deathly moans of suffering were reverberating through the walls. The beautiful blue Armonium ore is black in this dream… or should I say nightmare? I looked closer at the one huge black crystal on the ceiling. It was ominously giving of a faint black fog, it was like trapped black steam ready to burst any moment.
I retreated back to the part nearest to El Templo, and just stood there for a few seconds to think about all this nightmare, dream, or vision whatever this is. When I looked back at the huge black crystal the fog it was emitting became darker and heavier with each passing second. It finally gave in, and the huge crystal broke in to a million pieces releasing the black miasma. The whole area was suddenly engulfed in thick black fog. This is beginning to be very scary.
Sounds of metal pounding into metal became louder and louder. It sounded like Luci’s Rhinoceur steadily walking towards me. Whatever it is I need to fight back if necessary. My guns are not with me, I only have one option I can think of… I hate to use it! I never want to use it. But I have to use it. This magic granted to me and sealed by my mother.
Ok, let’s concentrate. I pointed an imaginary revolver with my left hand to a point in front of me where I heard the loud metal noises and fired. A beam of concentrated magic fired from that imaginary revolver. I hate this highly destructive magic, it’s more dangerous than Ludin’s fire.
Anyway, I fired some more concentrated magic bullet, with my usual rifle and pistol stance, at the thing and it was somewhat effective. The metal thing now sounded like it was very damaged like out of place gears. So I up it and imagined a floating cannon over my head and fired. I put too much effort and the huge ray hit a metallic object meters away from me. From that point onwards I hear metal scraping from multiple directions telling me there were more of them. So I imagined I have more floating cannons and guns then aimed to the places where the metallic sounds come from.
The sound of metal being destroyed kept on getting louder and louder as I fired more magic. One last ray of concentrated magic and the whole area collapsed into many shards of black glass to reveal what looks like the middle of a huge crater surrounded by ruins of a once prosperous town. Blood rained down instead of water and the wails of the dead become clear and loud.
Oi, don’t you dare tell me that I was the one who fired that cannon of concentrated magic years ago? No. it was not me. The cannon was made by this madman… scientist. I had a very solid alibi during the Bristia-Vespanola war, I think. If I remember correctly, I was very young when that happened and I have no connection with anything that has to do with the war. My father was into the business of manufacturing and trading decorative weapons, so he’s not that much connected too… unless they needed a something as an award to heroes and officers.
Back to my nightmare, a blue and green butterfly monster suddenly appeared before me and introduced itself to be a fragment of the fake world’s abyss core. It told me in a sort of code that humans have broken many contracts and thus it all began to become twisted and crazy. From the rest of the coded message it seems that I have a share in this mess. Its last message was about karmic thread of fate working overtime and doing more damage than normal because of the broken contracts humans got with the abyss.
After that, I woke up from a nightmare and entered another one. This time the nightmare was in reality.
Part 18: Governor-General and His Observations of the Sleeping Lieutenant (Caisse’s narrative)
Leonel found a corner and took a nap. We were tired and some of us took naps especially the melee. They were the ones who took the brunt of the raid. Just a couple of minutes after they took their naps, Charles alerted us of a small black foggy orb floating near Leonel.
Van investigated the ghostly orb and said that it was a messenger of the abyss and was telling some sort of message to the sleeping Vespanolan. We became somewhat wary when he began to show signs of having a nightmare.
At the same time, loud banging noises came from the direction of El Adio. It was like a huge axe was trying to destroy the heavy metal doors. All of us was in our battle stance except for the Vespanolan who was still trapped in his nightmare. We moved him to an area close to El Templo, Anis and the other supports stayed by his side in the safer part of the area.
We braced ourselves for a very hard battle and went into formation. Who knows what is at the other side of that door and we only have a few more seconds to speculate before the door gave way and fell flat on the ground, removed from its broken frame. El Adio was covered with black fog reducing visibility greatly and our enemies are revealed to be numerous boss level monsters.
The first one to strike was Siegenite. He quickly killed a Hassen and moved on to a Dullahan. We followed the makeshift strategy we talk about last night in cases like these. I can say that we were doing quite well. We killed half of the horde at a good pace until an unknown Abyss monster appeared from the other side of the broken door.
Its appearance was like that of the Breeze in Bristia’s Scar. This one is just more hideous and it’s black and grey. Our melee fighters were barely reaching the flying monster so they concentrated on the other monsters while Laura and I challenge the Breeze type monster. The warlock with Berthe and Charles tried to down it with their frozen spikes, with that we found out that it had a very high resistance to magic.
This time, Siegenite’s berserker mode is not as uncontrollable as earlier. We managed to maintain this pace of battle as Anis and the other healers come and go to give us support and boost. We continued this battle very carefully as we wait for reinforcements to arrive. In the corner of my eye, I can see Anis trying to wake Leonel from his nightmare but to no avail.
Part 19: Governor-General and the Black Wind (Caisse’s narrative)
They killed the last of the normal monsters and the only thing that remained was this flying insect. We thought we can go like this however, this black Breeze began to release black fog from its wings. The fog was getting heavier and heavier as the corpses of the slain monsters turned into dust. This black miasma soon carpeted the floor like the smoke from Marchetti’s dry ice.
This miasma makes it hard for us to breathe and Van urged us to drink the special holy water one gulp every 10 minutes and to treat our wounds with holy water before Anis healed them. This Breeze might be the carrier of the new strain of Abysmal Decay.
We tried to kill it quickly and it began its retaliation. Thick tendrils of the miasma moved like spike traps targeting us from all directions. Berthe and Van were unable to cast their magic. Our blades and bullets were useless against the miasma. The hideous black Breeze now flew high above our heads happy of its achievements.
A small ray of concentrated magic suddenly flew above our heads and hit the black Breeze. In that instant I was very shocked to see the small ray of concentrated magic. It reminded me so much about the huge ray fired from the cannon of concentrated magic from the war. This time the colour was different, this ray is a blue colour that emits warmth. The one that got fired in the war was a green ray that radiated ghostly chills that runs the entire body.
We all looked towards the direction where it came from and saw Leonel in a trance and holding invisible guns. Olivia and JD also noticed the difference and kept on fighting ignoring their trauma. Leonel fired off small concentrated magic rays one after another as he walked towards El Adio. The rays of magic hit the black Breeze’s body with pin point accuracy. The Breeze fell dead and slowly turned into black obsidian.
As if on cue, several smaller black metallic Breeze emerged from El Adio. Leonel gave up the small guns in favour of a concentrated magic cannon above him and fired it. The metallic insects managed to dodge it. The insects retaliated using blades of black miasma towards Leonel and he blocked it with an invisible magical barrier. Leonel proceeded to make multiple magical rays in various proportions to hit multiple enemies at the same time.
With the melee and other magicians unable to do anything, they retreated to the safe zone where Anis and the other support and injured are. Laura and I began to target the metallic insects. Siegenite behaved himself and went with Sirius, Patric, and JD who were guarding the safe zone against any lose projectile. A few more hits from Leonel’s magic cannon and the metallic insects also met their end and become scrap metal.
Leonel, still in a trance like state, walked into El Adio and Siegenite followed him happily. We were unable to go forward due to a glass like barrier enveloping El Adio. We just rest as much as we can and prepare for whatever will come out of there.
Part 20: The Beginning of a Nightmare in Reality (Leonel’s narrative)
What happened? Where am I? Oh! Hi, Siege! Good morning! THIS IN NO TIME FOR SMALL TALK. Is this El Adio? So this is El Adio. Thanks, Siege. Siege is a good kid, he told me that we are now in the boundary between the human world and the abyss, El Adio. He’s right, in this thick black fog, I can still see where the flooring ends and the abyss begins. One more thing…
Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please! To my left is a Dullahan! To the Right is a bunch of White Slapping monsters. Behind me is an Oscuras, what looks like it. Lastly, in front of me – just a few steps away – is the abyss hole where they all came from! There you go. This is no laughing matter and I just realized that my guns are not with me. Tee-hee, I am DEAD.
Earlier, in my nightmare, I was using that forbidden magic handed down from my mother… I hate to use it in reality… as if I have a choice right now so. Fire away! I am frightening myself to see that one small beam of the concentrated magic can kill one of those little white ones with deadly slaps. We can do this! It’s a good thing that Ludin and I have different mothers, it’s just that we both inherited father’s face.
Siegenite started to go off and chop everything he sees into pieces and I made some into Swiss cheese. Our combo was good, but we had a hard time against that Oscuras look-a-like. It’s good that this forbidden magic comes in with a dependable barrier. Every time Oscuras-thing casted it’s huge magic Siege would retreat to my side with in the safety of the barrier. Yup, he’s learning well.
Sometime later, the dying Oscuras-thing summoned more of its ally from the abyss hole. A swarm of small black ugly butterflies and two more Oscuras-thing came out. At this point Siege was already tired and his breathing was rugged, so was I. THIS IS DO RO DIE! We gathered the energy we have left and went for it.
Part 21: Lieutenant and the Abysmal Lady (Leonel’s narrative)
We killed our enemies miraculously. We are now both battered, bleeding, and injured but nothing fatal. The remaining holy water I have in my pocket is zero and we were now both sitting on a corner near Soltado. This miasma won’t let go of us and won’t let anyone in. Those still in Soltado got the reinforcements they requested for and we all took a break. I feel that it was the calm before the storm or are we at the eye of the storm now? No one knows.
I took the opportunity to hand the black crystal to Siege. It was absorbed into his hand and he got a power boost. Nice! On the other hand; the blue crystal, I thought was a naraka, disappeared. The pouch that contained it is still in my pocket sealed shut with a string. Maybe when I was using this forbidden magic, the crystal got absorbed like how Siege did with the black crystal.
With some of our energy regained, Siege showed me a black Armonium ore among the red ones here. He told me that he came from the twisted world held inside this ore. I looked closer and found a part where there was a small white sparkle. It was barely visible in the black fog and even harder to see on normal light.
Maybe that white spark is from the alternate Anis and Berthe. So now, how do we get them out? I looked at Siege and asked him how he got out of the distorted world. He told me he can’t remember… great.
While we were thinking about it, we let our guard down and a lady abyss monster came out of the abyss hole with a bang. The shockwave made us fly to the nearest wall. Siege looks fine but I think I got some cracked ribs and I can taste my blood on my tongue. Do I have some sort of internal damage? With that I used the last health generator I have in my coat pocket.
The abysmal monster lady introduced herself as the Abysmal Witch Aria and said that she won’t do any more damage to us. She had some small talk about how we are now and some light threats. This witch hates humans but not all. It seems like this lady fell in love with a human, got betrayed, and now she has a broken contract. From the modus operande she told us, all of it points to the Strata Vista. Blast those Strata Vista and their dark dealings. It’s all their fault that this contract-break mess happened.
I hear Aria’s voice in my head asking to make a deal, not a contract, just a deal. She’ll help us get the trapped girls into the real world in exchange for every information I know about Strata Vista. Done deal! We exchange information through a mental connection. Siege was only looking at our seemingly friendly exchange from the side.
Afterwards she gave me a warning that we have to hurry because there are still those who want to rampage in search for revenge unlike her who is patient enough to wait for the right time. With that, Aria disappeared somewhere with a maniacal smile of a lady who will be sure to have her revenge.
Yup, I am surrounded with monster ladies: Adriana, Elisa, Veronif, Grandies, Lynn, Leona, and more I can’t remember… and now this! ARG! IS THE WORLD TELLING ME THAT I WILL BE SINGLE UNTIL I DIE? Best wishes to the Von Hanen blood line. All right, enough of all this! Time to get the girls out of that distorted world and we start with Siege and his memories.
Part 22: Hope Beyond Time and Space (Leonel’s narrative)
I received a magic spell from Aria, a one-time use mental magic spell. With this, some of Siege’s important memories came back to him. His precious memories of his important people has now returned. I let him take it all in while I inject some of my magical energy into this black Armonium ore.
A few of the portions turned white so I keep pouring my magical energy into it until all the black became white and the ore began to glow with the blue of my magic. Looking at the crystal was like looking out a glass window in a very foggy morning. The white fog was very heavy so visibility was very low. We heard a voice from the special Armonium ore.
“Is anyone there?” The faint voice said. It sounded like Saint Anis’s voice.
“Anis… ANIS!!” Siege shouted, almost in tears, as he placed a hand on the crystal ore.
I stepped back to let them speak. A black cursed hand placed itself on the other side of the crystal. Their hands almost touching, so close and yet it was worlds apart.
“Stupid cry baby, Sisius.” Executor Anis said beyond the gap of time and space.
“Is that you Sirius? Are you well now?” a voice I never heard before and a white gloved hand appeared also touching the other side of the crystal.
Siegenite placed a hand close to that one too as if wanting to pull them out, “Yes, it’s me, Sirius… Knight Vice-Captain Sirius. I can remember my name and some of my memories now. Anis, Cepheus, Saint Berthe… I can remember now”
I hear Anis say in a kind of sad happiness, “I am glad… so glad you remember me now.”
Saint Berthe also spoke, “You are fine now. Please live a long and happy life there, for us.”
“I can’t… I want you both here too. Letting you be in there for eternity is sad… it hurts… it’s painful.”
Both girls said, “We thought that we would disappear leaving you alone. So we tried to save only you. Don’t worry about us, we are not alone, we have each other. You also have friends there… the version of us in that world, they are us as well.”
“No! It’s different! It’s different! Anis here is a saint. Berthe here is mute with a noisy skull. Anis in my memories is an executioner. Berthe in my memories is a saint. The four of you are different! None are the same as the other one!” He is about to cry, his eyes are already damp with tears he’s trying to hold back.
“Thank you. May the light of Armonia in that world protect you always…” The saint said.
Executioner Anis made a pft sound and loudly whispered to her friend, “He’s strong enough to defeat them all. Although, he is still a cry baby Sisius.”
“I heard THAT!” Siege told them lightly pounding on the crystal.
The girls laughed with a tinge of sadness.
Their conversation was cut short by a new horde of abyss monsters. This time, it’s one well-armed Oscuras-thing twice my height and a swarm of… smaller Oscuras. Oh is this the last swarm? This is the last right? I hope this is the last.
The huge Oscuras told his minions to go to El Soltado while only 4 stay with him. Thanks for making it a 1+4 vs. 2 battle! I appreciate it or not. Because a swarm of metallic ugly butterflies followed the small Oscuras to El Soltado.
Good luck El Salty, you got another salty soup. We got an El Adieu main course of Oscuras steak with insect garnish.
This is the time to forget that this magic is forbidden. Forget what mom told me to never use it. Forget it because if I don’t use it full force, we will all die. I am also tired of holding the magic energy at a safe level… So, if you want a piece of me… You got it!
All seals.. RELEASE!
The Syndicate Series by Okasamyn 