"Good night, Prince Idel." A sweet feminine voice resounded in the room before reaching the young demon laying on the bed.
The room was quite dark, making it hard for Idel to discern the exact position of his personal servant, Sagi. He wanted to return the gesture… that is what everyone considers normal, right?
But was too tired to lift his head, let alone raise his lips, and so he remained silent, waiting for her to leave and end this awkward moment that seemed to occur every night.
Tsk… he wondered why Sagi always bothered bidding him good night despite knowing that he would never respond.
More to it, the servant, despite been sent away the first time she was placed under his jurisdiction, came back the next morning with her cheerful expression. He sent her again, but she kept coming back, and eventually Idel gave up and let her be.
She was adamant to stay!
Was realizing that he was not the social type that hard? No, that did not seem to be the case. Everyone in the demon realm knew Prince Idel's persona: his slow, always tired, and a demon of few words… in short, a lazy antisocial brat.
Well, this was how every low-ranked demon referred to him behind his back, he was pretty sure on this one. He needed no special ability to see the disgust on everyone's faces when he appeared; even his own father disliked him for being the fragile demon he was.
But this Sagi was different, her affection for him was almost tangible.
Maybe her blindness had something to do with it; she might have thought of him as Prince Charming.
But that was not plausible as well; just by hearing his voice one could make out his frail frame in their head with absolute ease. And frailness was the antithesis of good-looking in the demon realm.
Huh… perhaps her, being a low-ranked demon that was stereotyped by her family, had something to do with it… after all, people—demons in this case—all want a sense of belonging.
So in her perspective, according to Idel's point of view, the two were weaklings who needed to stick together in this strength-lusted reality.
Deep into his thoughts, he heard the door open and close, indicating the departure of Sagi.
Weakling, me. He almost chuckled at the line of thought.
Slow, ungenial, listless, and of course lazy brat was candidly him, but referring to Idel as anything close to weak is an insult to the demon with the sin affinity of sloth, the only demon to ever possess it for that matter.
He slowly opened his eyes and stared at the turbid ceiling blankly.
"They are just apparitions…
"They are not real…
"The humans, all of them…
"It's nothing more than a long continuous dream, do not get attached." He repeated his nightly ritual three times, each time his voice becoming more dreary.
Simultaneously, his crescent pupils were glowing in a deep green hue as the room seemed to be enveloped in an invisible force field.
This force field completely made the room inaccessible by anyone outside—the door and windows were tightly shut. If anyone were to force themselves in, they would, upon exposure to the invisible field, fall into a slumber…
…And enter the dream realm.
Idel's dream realm!
This was his ability! As a result of possessing sin affinity of sloth, he could gain access to the dream realm. But in his case, he couldn't choose when or not to enter—it always happened before sleep time.
So in short, he had never known sleep in his life. During daytime, he is expected to be awake and carry out his princely duties, and during nighttime his conscience gets transported to the dream realm.
The lazy brat was ironically the definition of a workhorse.
Crack!
Reality shattered into a gazillion pieces, leaving his body to plummet in an endless black void.
He fell and fell but remained calm. He was used to this.
"Three, two… one and now!" The black void suddenly became subject to crimson fog and light.
The light, radiating from a crescent moon, bathed his entire being in a thick red.
Thud!
His body hit a hard surface. Ignoring the pain, he got up and stood; his frame was not straight though.
Due to the wild breeze that tipped off his black cloak, he tucked his pale white hands in the pockets of his black loose trousers in search of warmth.
"Huh…" He let out a sigh as he realized that he had to untuck a hand to raise his cloak.
After 7 seconds of completing the "tiring" task, he tucked back his hand and surveyed his surroundings.
Standing on the highest hill of the crimson-fogged hill terrain, his glowing eyes and swaying black cloak made him seem like a mercenary waiting to hunt down a target.
But in actuality, he was the target!
The dream realm was not a vacant world by any means at all; it was actually home to different species that came in different sizes and shapes… most even lacked proper structure.
And one thing most of them shared was the hatred they had for Idel. To them, he might have been an anomaly, a being who should not exist in their world… and so they sought to kill him at any opportunity they got.
Just like now, Idel could spot a disfigured lump of black flesh that was slowly, with its tiny different-sized arms, scaling a hill two meters away from him.
His brow furrowed. This was a rare sight!
Under normal circumstances, a grade 4 nightmare was incapable of sensing his presence, let alone pinning down his location in a matter of seconds, and for that matter daring to attack him alone.
This was odd, but thinking about it would only strain his mind. This damn lump of flesh was here and needed to be dealt with immediately.
At that moment, the grade 4 nightmare, looking at Idel with a good number of eyes that mottled its body, opened its several mouths and let out a jarring screech.
The screech echoed throughout the terrain, causing some form of breeze. This sound, once heard by lesser beings of the dream realm, would lead to them being inept on the spot, and from there they would be devoured.
But Idel was no lesser being, and most stupidly, the nightmare dared to attack him in his pocket universe: the Labyrinth, an extension of his will!
The oblivious nightmare lunged, hopping from one hill to another with terrifying speed and a burning rage in its eyes.
It was going for the kill!
But just before it reached him…
Just before it opened its mouth to strike his neck…
Idel blinked slowly, and in the next second thick black blood poured on his body in a torrent.
The nightmare hung before him in a lifeless haze, its body pierced by long crimson thorns that manifested out of thin air by Idel's will.
"Must... kill… kill…" The nightmare let out a hoarse sound as its eyes looked at the swaying black-cloaked figure with fear and pain. "…The lone dreamer."