The dark descent into the abyss appeared to be as long as a five minute uninterrupted elevator ride down to the unknown. Lyn and the others sensed that their lungs were growing weaker, for the air pressure was thickening and becoming much more difficult to swallow properly. The anticipation of the ride down shook the four to the core, with the exception of Arisz, who nonchalantly sharpened his spear with a crystal whetstone.
Lyn stared down at Claire, who seemed tense and ready to spring into action. Alfaic exchanged eyes with Lyn and Ardine, who remained silent. Their weapons were drawn in preparation of the hooded figure that had been stalking them in the shadows. They were ready to fight whatever stood against them.
At long last, the elevator reached its destination, but it wasn't until the elevator was revealed to be a stone platform with magical tethers holding it; it was without any railings to hold onto. As soon as they found themselves in an infinitely expansive riverbank stretched across miles of shallow watery land, the four of them, with the exception of Arisz, suddenly lost their balance. Arisz grabbed all four of them with a single arm and held them close to prevent them from falling.
"Thanks." Claire said.
"What is this...?" Lyn whispered to herself as the platform continued to descend.
Atop the riverbank were puffy dark clouds with twinkling and fading stars, tinged with a hue of violet and silver. Jagged rocks in the gargantuan shapes of scars floated above the clouds, endlessly hovering and suspended in time. The air was thick with sweet smelling smog, with its sweetness coming from no discernable location. There was no limitation on how far the expanse stretched for. The light from the stars hidden in the clouds above reflected upon the shallow water which aided how serene the riverbank was to traverse through. Although the nothingness beyond the distance made it seem much more isolated than whatever its true intention was.
"What is that smell?" Claire asked. Although it was sweet, she kept attention fixated.
"Smells like... honey." Alfaic said.
"I don't see that hooded guy anywhere," Ardine stated. "Keep your guard up."
"Stay behind me, old man." Claire said, gripping her saber firmly in her right hand.
The platform finally made its descent on the shallow water. Ripples formed on the water's surface as Lyn took the first step off. The others stepped off and scanned their surroundings to see if the riverbank was truly empty as it appeared to have been as they descended. The platform suddenly rose back up from its magical weaved tethers, indicating that there was no clear way out.
"Shit, shit!" Ardine yelled, lashing out toward the platform to reach it. "A trap?!"
"Not quite," Arisz stated, pointing forward ahead of him. "Look."
The hooded figure magically appeared several meters away from Lyn and the others, slowly stepping toward them with their face obscured in the shadow of their clothing. Oddly enough, their steps made no ripples on the surface of the water. The figure seemed ethereal-like and unpredictable upon first glance. To the others, they were either on the precipice of lunging forward, or meant no harm at all.
"Talk!" Ardine shouted, pointing his rifle at the hooded figure. "Who are you?!"
Lyn instinctively held Déraciné firmly in her right hand, anticipating the battle ahead of them.
Alfaic stepped forward toward the figure. The arrival of the stranger shrouded in mystery had galvanized him. His eyes locked onto the hooded figure's face with his pupils narrowing with intensity. His lips parted slightly. He was about to say something, but nothing came out. emerged.
Behind him, Lyn, Ardine, and Claire froze kept their eyes on Alfaic. Claire kept a closer watch on his behavior and wondered why he was voluntarily walking straight into danger of the stranger's presence. There was no hesitation behind his actions whatsoever to her.
Must see...
An omnipresent and disembodied voice echoed above the riverbank, whispering in the three's ears as if the river itself spoke. All three turned their eyes skyward, scanning the clouds but found no source of the voice. Alfaic was the only one who still didn't move. His gaze remained fixed on the figure as if he was seeing something the others could not.
They must see...
The voice came again. The hooded figure stepped forward slowly and raised their left hand. Their bare fingers curled up in a claw-like manner. Their arm extended toward the space between Lyn and Claire and remained still.
The tension radiating from the stranger was unpredictable. Just before Lyn, Ardine, and Claire were about to react with their full frontal assault, none of them expected the shift that followed. The stranger sent dark ripples of aether sparked with twinkling ash toward the group, covering them in a mildly foggy mist that passed through them with ease. The three covered their eyes as a solemn cold wave stirred their skin. Alfaic still held his ground.
As the dark ripples faded into stillness, Lyn stepped forward with her blade ready to end the mysterious conflict with the stranger. But Alfaic's arm shot out, barring her path in silence. As she opened her mouth to protest against his actions, she froze, realizing that Ardine, Claire, and Arisz were gone. There wasn't a single trace of them ever since the waves of aether came through.
"Blade?!" Lyn called. It was the final voice that echoed in the expansive riverbank until a mysteriously induced side effect from the aether ripples narrowed Lyn's vision, as if she was looking through a tube. Her eyes began to droop down in sudden lethargy as the air around her oppressed her mind from thinking clearly. Dropping Déraciné by her side, Lyn sluggishly collapsed with her knees touching the riverbank, wetting her legs. Her ears closed up as she slumped to her side, falling asleep on the spot.
What followed was an influx of dreamlike sequences that overstimulated Lyn's mind. Rapid flashing colors surged through her closed eyes, sending her into a plunging doom into nothingness. She free-fell through an invisible underwater abyss at extreme speed, unable to breathe or move to stop her from her inevitable descent. As she garbled her words with bubbles emitting from her mouth, her eyes caught Ardine and Claire descending down with her as well, unconscious from the stranger's induced actions.
They finally descended past the underwater abyss and vanished completely out of sight.
Ardine was the first to awaken out of what seemed to feel like a thousand year slumber in serenity. He found himself in a humid day in the summer, seated with his head down by a wooden bench. As he lifted his head, the blazing hot sun nearly blinded his weakened eyes as if he hadn't seen the light of day in a century.
As he wiped the saliva by the corner of his right lips, he took a long inhale and caught to his senses. His vision was narrowed and arms moved sluggishly as if he was living in a dreamlike sequence. His body felt omniscient without control. He looked at his hands, noticing a platinum band glinting in the sun wrapped around his left ring finger. A shock of awe caught him mid breath.
He realized that this was the day of his anniversary twenty years ago.
"Ardine?" His wife's voice called behind him. "Did you fall asleep again?"
Ardine turned around. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He knew it was nothing but an illusion, but it all seemed too real to him. "Mae?" His younger voice called out.
"You're seeing red, Ardine," Mae chuckled, approaching him with a picnic basket nestled in her soft fingertips. She sat beside Ardine on the bench with her skirted legs clasped together. "Here. I brought our favorite food. Guess what that is!"
"Ah..." Ardine's eyes were still adjusting. His mind was hollow and weak, and his memories were failing him. "It's either... it's either apple cobbler or meat pie... I can't even guess right now. My mind's a bit tangled."
"Close, close," Mae giggled, opening the picnic basket to reveal hard boiled eggs and lamb shanks. "You always were an eater. That must have been a challenging one, huh?"
"Oh, right..." Ardine coughed to clear his throat. The memory that he was living through started to become more clear to him. It was exactly the same day he experienced before, but he had the awareness of the present. He was bewildered. Was he about to alter his destiny in some way if he went off tangent?
"You don't look well, Ardine. Is everything okay?" Mae asked, tilting her head to the side.
"Is.... is this all real?" Ardine asked, peering into the eyes of his wife's glistening eyes. They drew him in as real as they once would. "I mean... sorry. This is all too much to process for me right now."
"Don't worry," Mae said with a warm smile. "Let's wait for the others. My husband made more food for us."
Ardine's breath lost itself. "Your… husband?" Ardine voice trembled with unusualness. He blinked rapidly, believing he was being pranked. "I thought I was your husband."
"Heavens, Ardine, no!" Mae chuckled, placing her left hand over her mouth in embarrassment. "I... I never thought you thought of us that way."
Ardine bolted upright and stepped out of the bench that he stood upon, alarmed beyond comparison. Mae's eyes widened in sudden shock. "No, no, this doesn't make any sense," His voice hurried in urgent demand. "I'm your husband. We have a daughter together? Luna? Our little kiddo."
Mae exhaled through her nose with an awkward smile on her face that read discomfort. She shook her head against his response.
"Who's... Luna?" She asked.
Do you feelthat?
Ardine looked up at the sky, hearing the disembodied voice once more.
"Ardine, are you sure you're okay? You're speaking nonsense right now. Did something happen?" Mae's voice rang through.
Placing his right palm on his forehead, Ardine struggled to gather his thoughts. He swept his palm up his scalp, brushing his hair back in utter disbelief. Although he was joyous at the sight of his deceased wife, nothing made sense to him.
"This isn't real..." Ardine whispered to himself. He knew it wasn't, but it felt as real as life.
"Oh! I think he's here!" Mae waved her palm toward a distant figure. She stood up and approached the man holding the rest of the picnic's equipment.
Ardine looked around spontaneously, urgently searching for a way out of his nightmare. Even if he were to run away, there didn't seem to be a feasible escape. But he tried anyway, only to be interrupted by Mae's "husband" in the distance calling for his name.
"Ardine!" He said. "Where you going?"
That voice sounded extremely familiar. Ardine stopped the descent to his escape and turned around only to find an older man that resembled Alfaic's appearance holding his wife's shoulder tightly. He wore a royal coat and long suited pants, which seemed completely inappropriate for a picnic event. He grinned at Ardine as if they were long lost friends, offering his hand over to him to beckon his return.
"You..." Ardine spoke, disgusted by what he was witnessing. "Who are you? What are you doing with my wife, Alfaic?"
"Alfaic? Who's that? I'm ███. Are you okay, Ardine?" The white haired man seemed genuinely concerned for his mental state.
Ardine clenched his teeth, defiant against the man's cluelessness. He took long threatening strides toward the man and seized the collar of his royal coat, tugging it upward until he could barely breathe from his waist down.
"ARDINE!?" Mae cried.
"What the fuck are you doing with my wife, Alfaic!?" Ardine shouted at the top of his lungs, spit flying across the man's flawless skinned face.
The man who resembled Alfaic let out a low chuckle at Ardine's maniacal outburst. His scarlet eyes blackened as dark descending clouds stormed the skies in a matter of seconds. Meanwhile, Mae stood frozen while her face began to contort. The sounds she uttered were intelligible and resembled the sounds of puddles sloshing through swift movement.
Her body began to convulse and contort. Her skin bubbled like acid and split entirely off, peeling away by the second. She screamed only for a split second before her body dissolved into a pool of acidic flesh that expanded throughout the grass they stood upon. Her dissolved skin managed to coat the entire grass field. Ardine had to look away, for it was the second time he saw his wife die in front of him.
"This is how I felt that day," The man's voice corrupted demonically, cackling at Ardine's cluelessness. "When you took her from me."
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Ardine hissed.
"Must I repeat myself to you, traitor?!" The man's monstrous jaw split open, revealing a swirling gaping maw of serrated teeth lined up across. "If you cannot understand how I felt, then you shall die!"
Just as the monster's jagged maw rained down on Ardine's head, a whirring sound caught their attention. Ardine's right ear twitched before his eye caught where it came from. A slice through the fabric of the nightmare opened up, which Ardine realized was Arisz's deceptive talent. Arisz's dove through the sliced portal at intense speed with his spear clutched firmly in his right hand. He drove it upward into the gaping maw of the monster.
Using the spear as leverage, he twisted his body midair and delivered a roundhouse kick to the monster's face. The impact sent a shockwave through the air. The monster's grip on Ardine shattered as it was launched backward, tumbling across the corrupted dreamland. It crashed several Rot infected tendrils that bubbled from the ground from the wettened pungent ground.
Ardine collapsed to his knees, still recovering from the sight of his deceased wife. Suddenly, he caught Arisz landing down in a crouching position beside him with something in his left hand. He casually dropped it beside Ardine's side, revealing to be his trusty rifle.
"Pick it up," Arisz grunted, picking himself up with the end of his spear. "Through hell and highwater, we must go. Don't let this nightmare take control of your weak mind."
A resounding confidence erupted in Ardine's mind, confirming his suspicions about his instinctive mind. "My mind's not weak," He corrected, grasping his rifle firmly. He pulled back on the rifle's hammer and aimed it at the monster. "But I was almost convinced."
"See, weak," Arisz repeated. "Prove me wrong, and you might just be saved."
"Then, it's a bet." Ardine replied with a smirk.
As the dust cleared from Arisz's attack, the creature revealed itself at last. Its humanoid frame warped grotesquely as its royal suit melted away to expose its mottled bubbling flesh that pulsed with muscular decay. Two thick tentacles sprouted from its palms to suspend it in midair. Its monstrous octopus-like head ballooned and revealed rows of blinking eyes stitched across its swollen forehead. The chest expanded outward as well, as layer upon layer of muscle bulged outward. It gave a terrifying shriek that shook the air in horridness.
"Fire!" Arisz commanded, warping through an opened portal beside him.
Ardine pelted armor piercing bullets toward the monster's chest, puncturing fist sized holes through its body. As it raised its right hand to slam down upon Ardine's position with its massively inflated tentacles, Arisz bolted out of his deceptive portals and sliced upward with a swift flip, cutting off its source of grotesque weaponry with ease.
"Calamari," Arisz said, landing firmly on his knees and palms. "Delicious."
More tendrils sprouted from the monster's spine, contorting into one to slam down toward Arisz. With a swift dodge through his deceptive portals, he reappeared beside the monster's flank with an overhead slash primed. Yet the monster lashed down on the ground, sending a torrent of water to blind Arisz's attack. As the creature bent down to dodge Arisz's swing, it began to use its back tentacles to seize control of Arisz.
However, Ardine was quick. A single armor piercing bullet toward the tentacle sent the creature in a state of disarray. Arisz flipped after being suspended in mid air and slammed down on the creature's armored chest. However, it split open sideways, revealing a torso-long gaping maw with the intention to trap and devour him.
Instead of being eaten, Arisz swapped the direction of his spear to clamp on the maw of the monster. He leaped off of the creature with his spear in hand, landing safely beside Ardine.
"You're quick with that," Arisz complimented. "This nightmare's going to take some more firepower to deal with. Can you offer that?"
Ardine pulled the hammer back and set the rifle to fully automatic. Electric energy dissipated from the chamber on his rifle. "I'll need some time to charge it," Ardine said. "Do what you do best."
"WITH PLEASURE! I LOVE THIS!" Arisz cheered at the top of his lungs, rotating his spear with intense speed until it was nothing but a blur. He caught it midway and charged at the monster, whose torso's maw mutated virulently into a kraken-like creature in size. It dove underneath the water and tripled in size, viewing the two in front of it as prey for its unsatiated appetite. Two gargantuan tentacles coated with bloodied slime ejected from the ground and reared itself upward to prepare for a downward slam that would send a tidal wave of force if it hit.
"Arisz, dodgeit!" Ardine said, preparing himself for the impact.
As the tentacles slammed down, the tsunami wave blasted Ardine back until he was meters away from the creature. He firmly gripped onto his charged rifle, although he was soaked in water until his limbs were frail and sluggish. Yet he still hung onto his weapon, believing that the unleashing of it would result in the victory.
After the creature realized that Arisz was nowhere among where it slammed, rapid blinding flashes of his deceptive portals opened up, spreading across the top of the creature's massive head. In unison, Arisz's spear pierced through all of the open portals, stabbing the creature in multiple weak points on its fleshy face.
Ardine pulled the hammer back on his charged rifle and sprinted toward the creature, dodging the flailing tentacles sprouting from the water underneath him. Despite one of the tentacles grazing his shoulder and ripping a part of his leather attire, he continued rushing with immediate urgency with his weapon primed to the fullest.
The kraken creature's jaw suddenly expanded beyond disbelief, revealing a gigantic pulsing amber eye with golden sclera. The creature inhaled through its massive mouth, suctioning the waters underneath with the hopes of devouring Ardine. Ardine lost his footing and struggled to contain his balance as he landed on his back.
Eventually, he caught up right beside the kraken creature's mouth and was about to be devoured to shreds. Ardine wondered why Arisz hadn't interfered yet, only to realize it was all part of his plan. As the creature's clamping jaw began to slam down, a deceptive portal opened inside, with Arisz propping his spear vertically to stab the roof of its mouth. A pain curdling screech ensued, with its gleaming eye's irises shrinking in response.
Arisz, whose strength was slowly deteriorating from the weight of the monster's jaw, glared at Ardine with urgency. "FINISH IT, YOU IDIOT!" He bellowed.
Ardine leaped onto the edge of the kraken creature's jaw and jammed his finger on the trigger of his charged rifle. A tesla coil trapped inside the rifle discharged toward the glistening eye, blasting it with energy phasing bullets that dissolved every tinge of flesh it took in its wake. The kraken's eye bled green viscous blood as it shrieked in agony. Its final resort to taking Ardine with it was to seize control of his shin with a small tentacle that erupted from its mouth to drag it to the depths of the water to drown him.
Luckily, Arisz appeared from the swampy waters below and sliced the seizing tentacle straight off, leaving Ardine safe from death. Arisz spun the spear in a whirlwind and struck a warrior's pose as the kraken creature descended down the waters, blood spilling out upon the waters like a fountain.
"How's that for style?!" Arisz bragger with his translucent chest popped out. "HAHA!"
"Saved me again," Ardine said, laying his back on the water to soak in the coolness from the aftermath of the battle. He plopped his rifle to his size and examined his right palm, slightly burnt with a sharp pain from overloading his rifle's tesla coil. He sighed. "Everything… seemed so real. My wife… my anniversary…" He looked back at the ring of his left finger, realizing it had vanished. "I was almost fooled…"
"You're usually a perceptive human," Arisz complimented, stabbing his spear on the water to casually lean against it. "You can never let your enemies take advantage of you. Luckily, I was able to endure through it."
"And how exactly did you do that?" Ardine asked.
Arisz paused for a brief moment. "Just a secret," He muttered, approaching Ardine with his hand extended. "Now, get up."
They clutched each other's hands to pull Ardine up from the murky water he laid on. His clothes clung to him like a second skin, making him walk sluggishly and uncomfortable. The two of them stood still in the middle of the nightmarish riverbank with Ardine reminiscing how the illusion of his wife had once stood beside him, even in death.
"She was your woman?" Arisz asked, hunched over to stare at the dark vista.
"One of a kind," Ardine said with face numb to his past. "The only one who would tolerate me."
"That's not true. The little one does too."
"Well, I didn't meet her until a few weeks ago," Ardine said, staring up at the sky. "Although... it feels like I've known her for much longer. She just reminds me-"
"Of your daughter?"
"How did you-"
"The little one told me," Arisz clarified. "She said you'd been nothing but a sulk a while ago, winding down on your little charade searching for answers, only to come out with even less answers than before."
"It's complicated," Ardine said, chuckling at his response. "Sounds like something she would say, yeah." His face looked uncertain.
Arisz turned away to shield his eyes from him. Ardine's eyes caught his for a fleeting moment, noticing that he had done so in a way to hide his potential response. Yet Arisz let the moment pass, until he couldn't any longer.
"A part of her... will always be alone," He said in a monotone voice. "She voices frustration that you still live in the past. You can change that so that she never knows what it feels to be alone again."
His words struck Ardine, and he drifted into solitude, stepping away with heavy silence. Arisz turned, watching him kneel by the water to lift the small voice recorder to his lips. The faint murmur of his voice was lost to the ringing in Arisz's ears. Yet he caught the curve of a smile as Ardine spoke, knowing it was for something regarding a breakthrough he had just made.
"So, how do we get out of here?" Ardine asked, his voice breaking against the silence. He placed his recorder away.
"Peace of mind." Arisz briefly stated, turning back toward him.
"What?"
"A nightmare is a nightmare because your mind is deceived and injured. They seek to exploit that. If you relax your mind, perhaps something might change."
Ardine's eyebrows furrowed down as his skepticism began to rise. "How do you know all that?" He asked.
"Any more questions?" Arisz's sarcastic tone rose as he flipped his spear up from the water. He conjured a portal with his left hand, opening it in front of him. "My apprentices are in danger. You stay, and focus. Escape this nightmare, and stop sulking about your damn self. Make peace with your woman... and move on."
Without another word, Arisz dove into the portal and vanished from thin air.
He lowered himself into the shallow water, gazing into the distance as a sudden light swelled across the horizon. The ground shimmered beyond the light which dried it in seconds. Before he could even realize it, the spring grass from the picnic had returned once more, and the phantom of his wife reappeared beside him for a brief moment. Only, it wasn't his wife the moment he looked even further.
He smiled, gazing up at the newly formed light with his confidence restored.