Arc 2 Title:
THE SLEEPING REALM
Chapter 21—"Where Dreams Learn to Breathe"
---
The world felt different the moment Veyrion opened his eyes.
Not louder.
Not brighter.
Just… deeper.
As if reality had grown a second heartbeat overnight.
The rain-soaked forest from yesterday was gone.
Not destroyed — simply not there anymore.
He stood in a place where the horizon bent like a sleeping serpent, where the sky held two suns yet cast no shadows. The ground felt soft like breath, and every step he took sounded like a distant whisper trying to form a memory.
The serpent beside him trembled—not from fear, but recognition.
"…No," it hissed. "This shouldn't have opened yet."
Veyrion remained silent.
"What is this place?" he asked.
The serpent slowly raised its head.
Its pupils thinned to slits of dread.
"The Sleeping Realm," it answered.
"The place between existence and memory… the world that only awakens when you do."
Veyrion felt the air stir around him, responding to his presence like ripples forming around a dropped stone.
His consciousness hummed.
> [ACCESS POINT: DREAM-LAYER 01 UNLOCKED]
[YOU ARE NEARING A MEMORY YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO TOUCH.]
The serpent flinched as if the system's voice physically struck it.
"That—" it choked, "—that memory must remain sealed. If you see it too early, your mind may—"
Veyrion cut in calmly.
"Then why is it opening?"
The serpent hesitated…
A long, painful silence followed.
Because it didn't know.
Because something stronger than will was pulling him deeper.
Because something that once belonged to him was waking up.
Finally, the serpent whispered:
"…Because the gods are losing control."
---
The sky shuddered.
A gentle tremor.
Yet the entire realm reacted like a living organism startled awake.
The ground folded into spirals.
The air tightened.
Colors shifted unnaturally, like memories trying to decide what shape they belonged to.
Veyrion felt a cold sting beneath his ribs.
As if someone had whispered a forgotten truth directly into his bones.
The serpent noticed instantly.
"You heard it, didn't you?"
"Heard what?"
"The voice calling you."
Veyrion said nothing.
Yet in the distance, barely audible, something hummed like a lullaby written before time existed.
A hymn made for him.
Calling him back.
Pulling him in.
---
The Sleeping Realm reacted.
Black petals rained from a sky with no clouds.
The ground tilted then straightened, rearranging itself like a body getting comfortable.
Paths unfolded where none existed.
Towers grew from liquid shadows.
An enormous gate—shaped like an eye—opened slowly without a sound.
As if welcoming its king.
The serpent gritted its teeth.
"Don't listen to it. Don't go near that gate. This realm is tied to your memories — but not the ones you want."
Veyrion looked at the gate.
The air around it pulsed.
Not threatening.
Just waiting.
"I'm going," he said.
The serpent hissed in frustration.
"It will show you everything you lost!"
Veyrion's expression did not change.
"That's exactly why I need to see it."
The serpent's body stiffened.
"…You're changing."
"Am I?"
"Yes. And I don't know if it's for the better."
---
The first trial of the Sleeping Realm began.
Not with an enemy.
Not with a god.
But with a memory.
A single feather drifted down from the sky and landed at Veyrion's feet.
White.
Delicate.
Beautiful.
The moment he touched it—
—the realm shattered.
And he fell.
Not downward.
Not upward.
He fell into a moment.
Into a memory not meant to exist.
A memory sealed by gods who feared him.
---
A battlefield.
But not one he remembered.
Corpses of divine beings.
Skies split in half.
The sound of a world begging for mercy.
And at the center of it—
A silhouette.
A man standing atop the broken corpse of a god larger than mountains.
A voice echoed, layered in power and anger:
> "AETHER.
DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU COULD ERASE ME?"
The silhouette's eyes burned like black suns.
The voice shook the realm itself.
And Veyrion realized—
He was looking at himself.
Not his present self.
But a version older than the gods themselves.
A being the world had forgotten.
A being the gods had buried.
A being that once tore heaven apart.
The Sleeping Realm whispered:
> [REMEMBER.]
Veyrion staggered.
The serpent screamed from somewhere far away:
"STOP—DON'T LOOK AT HIM! YOU'RE NOT READY!"
But the memory wouldn't let go.
It reached for him.
Pulled him closer.
Merged with him.
Veyrion's fingers trembled for the first time in his new life.
Not out of fear.
But recognition.
Because the silhouette turned…
And smiled.
A cold, knowing smile.
As if greeting someone late to their own story.
---
The memory collapsed.
Veyrion snapped back to the Sleeping Realm—breath sharp, pulse cold.
The serpent rushed to him.
"What did you see?!" it demanded.
Veyrion didn't answer at first.
He simply looked at his hands.
Hands that now felt… familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.
Finally, he whispered:
"…I saw myself."
The serpent froze.
"And?"
Veyrion's voice carried a weight no mortal should possess.
"He wasn't weaker than the gods."
His eyes hardened.
"He was the reason they exist."
The serpent's blood ran cold.
The realm shook violently—something ancient awakening.
And then—
The gate at the end of the path opened fully.
Inviting him deeper.
Demanding he step inside.
Veyrion took a step forward.