Edris' lips thinned. "She matters, how laughable, the weak, have no right to exist. They cling, they leech, they tether those capable of greatness to trivial bonds, and in their death, they leave the strong burdened with grief.
Their emotions, their desires, their voices—they are all meaningless.
Parasites. That is what they are.
Filthy, despicable parasites, feeding on the fire of those who could burn brighter. Every attachment they forge, every plea for attention, every fleeting sense of worth is theft. Theft from what should be unbound by the mundane.
The strong endure them. And each act of endurance is pity. A pity I will not tolerate"
Riel lips parted itching to retort—
"Enough" the teacher ordered
Edris left one lingering look on Riel and Elaine and simply walked away as if nothing happened.
Riel gritted his teeth Edris' words angered him. Who is he to say who matters in this world.
Kaelith rose from his slumber sensing the tension in the air, "who died" he joked.
Riel simply rolled his eyes their teacher seeing everyone was good to go stepped back through the portal returning to the central hub of the Veil then again through the pool of shadow that brought them air.
They quickly followed back in the field behind the temple.
Tentacles slithered across the ground connected to grotesque creatures amalgamations of flesh and bone.
He was back. Back to reality back to his waking nightmare. Horrors flew across the sky screeching sounds that would make mortal ears bleed, wings that shouldn't be able to fly flapped through the sky, limb sewn haphazardly on places they didn't belong.
Riel for a second had a sliver of hope that maybe just maybe all those horrors would go away forever. He caught that sliver and crushed reminding himself to never hope. For this was his world, his own personal hell.
"Riel" elaine began her eyes lighting up wanting to thank him for his help but once she locked eyes with him seeing those hollow and tired orbs of black her words caught in her throat stuck afraid to sound out.
Riel simply walked away ignoring Kaeliths calls he just needed to be alone. The moon shone brightly in the sky its light falling onto him but not even the light of the whole world could brighten his eyes.
Madness, pure madness thrived in his sight.
A demon lurched into his path.
A three headed six armed abomination.
Its skin glistened blood-red, muscles coiled like ropes. its torso a canvas of mouths, dozens of them, splitting flesh open into gnashing grins.
It danced.
Step after step, twirling across the broken street with a vile elegance, Its eyes—bright, predatory—locked onto him. Its gaze pitying his miserable existence. The countless mouths opened wide laughing at him with wild insanity.
And still it danced.
Riel kept walking as if nothing was there accustomed to the cruel jests of the beings that polluted his mind.
His house appeared in the distance the night sky reminded him what was waiting. That smile he had in the Veil had been murdered leaving nothing but tight lips.
….
Alone in his bedroom he stared at the bed. He didn't want to return to a place where he had no power, none at all. Today he'd been powerful. Today he'd helped defeat a blight. He never wanted to let that feeling go. Tears pooled in his eyes. Why am I so weak? His nails dug into his palms, pain calming his nerves. I can't live like this.
Anger boiled. He smashed his hand against the headboard. I won't be powerless again.
He slept, defiance hardening his face.
—
The forest was suffocating. The fog pressed against him, curling into the shapes he recognised from the first night, the second, every night since. Every shadow the same. Every tree. Every broken branch a trap he'd walked into before.
Snap.
The sound shredded the silence. Riel's stomach dropped. He'd been here. He knew this. The nightmare was patient. Always patient. Waiting for mistakes, for hesitation, for weakness.
It emerged. The same monster from the earliest hours of his hell.
Riel didn't run. He remembered what happened when he ran: the teeth, the pain, the darkness swallowing him whole. Its gaze dissected every instinct, every flinch.
He steeled himself.
A jagged branch lay near his foot, white as bone, sinister as ash. His fingers closed around it, digging into splintered wood. He remembered its impossibly wide mouth, the way it had swallowed him whole.
Not again.
The creature lunged. He jumped aside, letting its momentum carry it past.
He tightened his grip, desperation on his face. The creature lunged again.
Squelch.
Black blood leaked from the horror, the branch sticking out of its side. The stench of rotting flesh filled the air, hot blood hissing on the cold ground.
He had injured it. For a heartbeat happiness flooded him—
And that heartbeat was enough.
The beast lunged again, its mouth widening to an incomprehensible size. Riel stared into it, lost in its abysmal maw. The jaws closed around him.
—
He woke in his bed, sunlight spilling across his face. His heart raced.
He had hurt it.
He could do this.