The new winter solstice had come around. Countless sleepers, children were being sent into the vast expanse of the Dream Realm.
Some were the children of proud clans, some came from wealthy family's. Many of them were trained youths of the world. Others had survived their first nightmare simply through luck.
However the dream realm was not as forgiving. Some sleepers were sent into death zones without mercy, while some appeared in the corners of the safest citadels humanity had ever built.
During this time of the year, many awakened ventured out into the dream realm to bring back as many sleepers as they could.
One of the lucky sleepers that had been found by the two traveling awakened men was currently walking through a forest. The forest was silent other than the rustling of the leaves and the occasional quite chatter of the three humans.
"The nearest citadel is rivergate. We will be escorting you there."
The night sky near the rivergate was clean. There was no ounce of light pollution, the stars in the sky shimmered beautifully.
"T-thank you." The young man bowed deeply to the awakened. He had been moments before dying until these brave men came to save him. They had dealt with the awakened devil like it was nothing, making him wonder who they were.
"May I ask which clan you are from?"
"We are not with a clan kid, our faction is not well known, but it is named The Church of the Godless."
The youth's eyes widened as he heard the name. The Church of the Godless were a faction that had been formed by the survivors of the forgotten shore. From what the youth had heard, their leader had aided Changing Star in their escape.
"You are survivors of the forgotten shore? It is a honor to meet you.." The sleeper's curiosity got the best of him, so he asked. "What is your leader like..?"
One of the awakened let out a quiet laugh. "Why? Thinking of joining us?" The man's smile dimmed a little as he looked at the kid over his shoulder. "Well, our leader is not someone you can be comfortable around with. He sometimes has a very eerie presence, and sometimes you feel like he is the kindest man alive."
Before the sleeper could say anything, the other man said in a grim tone. "Some even say he is a nightmare creature wearing human skin."
And that shut the youth real quick. He was already questioning his safety with these men around him. However what he did not know was that those men were trying their best not to laugh out loud.
***
In a far away part of the forest.
A frightened scream left a girl's mouth as she threw herself to the left with all the strength that she had. As she did something whistled past her and crashed through several trees.
With heavy breaths the girl got up and started running in the other direction with all the speed she could muster. However she could still feel the shadow of the creature that was chasing her down. It was with no doubt a fallen creature!
There was no outrunning it. She only prayed her stamina wouldn't fail before she reached someone, anyone. From the lay of the forest, she guessed she was near Bastion or Rivergate. But the silence pressed too thick. No patrols. No hunters.
No one.
'Why is no one around??' The worst thing was that she did not even have an armor memory! She was running around naked!
As she was about to make a sharp turn and avoid the attack of the creature, she slipped on mud and fell to the ground. With panic in her eyes she tried to get up but slipped again, by that time the creature was hovering over her.
It was a wolf like creature that span up to 4 meters in height. Saliva dripped from its hungry mouth, as it approached her. The girl backed away by dragging herself, but her back ended up hitting the tree.
'I am dead!'
Shit! She had spent a year in her first nightmare dealing with hellish things just do die to first thing she encountered?? How was that fair?
The youth closed her eyes and simply waited for her doom. There was no escape for her now.
However the finishing attack never came.
She opened her eyes and looked at the creature in front of her. Her eyes widened immediately, the beast was not attacking anymore and.. it now had green flames pouring out of its eyes.
There was also a new presence she could not locate, until she heard footsteps approaching calmly. Her head immediately snapped to see who was approaching.
A breathtakingly beautiful young man...
He was unhurriedly walking towards her direction with an easy smile on his face. His skin.. it was simply white. There was no color on it. His raven black hair was tied into a low ponytail that fell down his shoulder. The ends of his hair was white.
His green eyes shined in the dark, there was a hypnotizing quality to them, as if they were pulling her in.
He wore a detached-sleeved black and teal jacket, as well as a black and white capelet adorned in golden embellishments and a white ascot. At the center of his chest is a teal, eight-pointed star. He also wears black pants and crystal teal shoes, as well as several pieces of golden jewelry and partially-fingerless gloves on his left hand.
'Damn... He is handsome.. or uh.. beautiful?'
There was an eerie quality to him though. Her instincts were screaming for her to run.. if he could control a fallen creature, what else could he do?
"Hello there..." a saber appeared in his hand out of nowhere as he approached her. She was about to scream when he raised the sword to cleave her apart, but instead the saber beheaded the beast with one motion.
"There is no need to be frightened." He extended a hand, smiling gently. "Please, get up. Rivergate is not far from here."
She hesitated, then took his hand. It was cool.
[You have received a memory.]
Her eyes widened. "Huh…?"
"It is an armor," he said with a soft smile, though his tone carried the weight of something heavier. "A gift. Remember it."
When she checked the runes, she saw that this was a memory he received from this creature. An ascended memory of the first tier. And he was freely giving it to her? The answer came unbidden: he wasn't giving it freely. He was binding her.
"Are you sure..?"
The man only nodded. The woman was finally able to cover her naked body. The armor covered her whole body, the neck had some fur on it, and the ends of the boot too.
The man started walking forward in silence. Which she reluctantly followed him. "My name is Lyea.."
He cast a glance over his shoulder to observe her.
Her face held a fierce, commanding elegance, every line sharpened with confidence. The skin was pale and luminous, smooth as porcelain, its clarity lending her an almost untouchable air. Her eyes, narrow yet striking, gleamed with a steel-like intensity, half veiled by the fall of her bangs. Long lashes shadowed them, amplifying the sharp, predatory allure in her gaze.
Her hair, a vivid and fiery red, spilled in a sweeping cascade that seemed to move with its own wild energy. It flowed thick and abundant, trailing behind her in bold streams of flame. The strands were layered, some longer locks tumbling freely while shorter ones framed her face, softening the severity of her features without diminishing their strength. Her bangs framed her face, jagged yet deliberate, cutting across her brow and grazing her cheek in a way that lent both sharpness and allure to her expression.
"I am Aether, pleased to make your acquaintance. It is a rare occurrence to see a person in their twenties to be infected by the spell."
'Aether sounds familiar.. where have I heard it before..? And did he just assume my age? That is just rude!'
"I am only twenty one." Lyea hesitated before adding. "I was trapped in my first nightmare for a year now. It was honestly a very hard experience, everything felt wrong ever since I entered there. Everyone I meet seemed poised to outsmart or kill me."
Aether only listened with a smile on his face as she spoke on her fears and troubles during her first nightmare, barely saying any words, letting Lyea nervously fill the silence.
'Why do I feel like someone is watching me..?'
It felt like shadows were moving across the forest, but none of them were daring to approach them. Their eyes bore into her, making her shiver in unease.
The man she had opened up to, felt eerie too. As she looked at the ground, a shiver ran down her spine.
'His shadow...'
His shadow towered over hers. It was distorted and monstrous. That smile on his face.. it was a mask stretched over something far more dangerous. And in that moment, Lyea realized how much control he had without even lifting a finger.
She felt unsafe.
"A-are you.. sure you are taking me to safety?"
"Hm?" He looked at her over his shoulder. "Surely you wouldn't take a forgotten shore survivor like myself for a common creature?"
A relief washed over her as he revealed his identity. But then the unease came back as a though entered her mind.
'Wait... he is THAT Aether? Shit, shit, shit... there were always strange rumors about him... they were all true it seems!'
The reassurance she had felt was misleading. Her heart was gripped with a sense of stronger unease. Aether.. The Blasphemer, a nightmare creature wearing human skin is what they called him. The man who walked with creatures at his side.
The way he escorted her through the forest felt both perilous and safe. The threshold between between safety and danger was blurred. He led her through darkness in a way that felt protective but inherently full of terror. He was both the path and the trap.
By the end of their road, Lyea turned to look at him with the best calm face she could muster.
"T-thank you for everything.. I am indebted my life to you."
The man simply nodded, and did not reject her debt. That only meant he would use this debt to get a favor from her.
She walked away from him, lead by the guards of the citadel. When she looked back, behind the mist, she could not even tell if the thing staring back at her was human or not.
This whole thing was a trap to make her indebted to 'it'.