"Nothing much," Helios says, looking at Sara with empathy in his eyes.
"What's with that look?" Sara asks, shifting her gaze away uncomfortably.
"Why don't we just go home?" Helios suggests, walking toward her and softening his tone.
"Okay," Sara sighs in response, pushing the door open. The two of them walk out of the office.
"It's raining outside. I wish I had brought an umbrella," Sara says, looking up at the dark clouds and the pouring rain.
"We just need to make a run for the car," Helios replies, opening a portal that leads outside.
Sara and Helios make it back to their mansion, but their clothes are soaked through and clinging to their bodies. Helios summons Circlet and glances at Sara.
"Wait here," he says, focusing energy into his legs before sprinting up the stairs with surprising speed.
"Where is he going in such a hurry?" Sara mutters, watching him dash away. Then her eyes widen in recognition. "Wait... isn't that the way to my bedroom?" she asks, sounding confused.
She quickly runs up the stairs and bursts into her bedroom. Helios is already in the bathroom.
"Helios! Don't you have your own bathroom in your bedroom?" Sara asks, knocking on the wooden door with an annoyed expression.
"Yours is better" Helios replies casually from inside as the sound of running water fills the room. As he washs his hair.
"There are so many empty rooms in this house! Just pick one!" Sara snaps, crossing her arms.
"I did pick one. I picked yours," Helios retorts, his voice carrying a playful, teasing tone through the door.
"Why don't you go find another room and bathroom before you catch a cold?" Helios asks her through the door. As the shower water stopped running and the sound of water filling the bathtub echoes.
Sara huffs in frustration and walks out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.
"Uh oh. I think I'm going to get punched as soon as I get out of here," Helios mutters to himself as he sinks his body into the warm water of the large bathtub, creating ripples and splashes.
A short while later, Helios walks out of the bathroom wearing a towel and drying his wet hair. He sees pyjamas on the bed.
"It seems like she isn't angry anymore," Helios says to himself, looking at the pyjamas on the bed.
A few minutes later, Helios jumps onto the bed in his pyjamas. Just then, a knocking sound comes from the door.
"Come in," Helios says, sitting up straight and looking toward the entrance.
The door opens and Sara walks in wearing pyjamas identical to his. In one hand, she holds a pillow with spiral energy, and in the other, she holds herartefactt.
"I was wrong. She's definitely still angry," Helios thinks, his eyes widening as he quickly scootsbackwardsd to the other side of the bed.
"Let's talk about this peacefully," Helios says, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender while forcing a nervous smile.
"What? I never said I was going to do anything to you," Sara replies, a mischievous smile spreading across her face.
"That smile and the weapons in your hands say otherwise," Helios points out.
Sara focuses her energy into her legs and instantly appears behind him in a flash. She swings the pillow at his head, but Helios spins around just in time and blocks the hit with his bare hand.
"What is this pain?" Helios thinks, wincing as he feels a sharp ache shoot through his arm.
"What did you do to this pillow?With that much energy infused, it shouldn't hurt this much," Helios asks her, clutching his stinging hand.
"It's a little skill I created," Sara answers, her tone light and playful. "Basically, the skill works like this whenever I hit someone using my spiral energy, I leave a small amount of it inside their body. It travels to their organs or bones and attacks them from within. I didn't use enough energy to break your bones, obviously... just enough to make you feel some pain," Sara explains with a shrug.
"She can control time and she's also a genius. Does being a genius run in the family?" Helios wonders internally as he ducks to avoid another pillow attack. He grabs a pillow from the bed and throws it back at her in self-defence but she catches the pillow.
"Nova is literally the strongest person in P.O.C, and I can't beat members wakerthann him in P.O.C. She is almost at the level of 020" Helios thinks, remembering his physical training battles against the tough instructors and barely winning while heavily injured. "But I couldn't use my full powers against them back then," he finishes thinking.
Finally, the playful fight comes to an end. Sara collapses onto the bed, breathing heavily and exhausted, while Helios lies down next to her, also catching his breath.
"When are you planning to go to your own bedroom?" Sara asks, looking at him sideways.
"I'm planning on sleeping here tonight," Helios replies casually as he pulls the blankets over himself.
"Do you have a good reason for that?" Sara asks, turning her body around to face him.
"Yes. My reason is..." Helios pauses, looking around the room. Outside the window, the rain is still pouring and the sky is dark. "I'm afraid of thunder," he says in a small voice.
"Lie" Sara says immediately, sitting up and looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
Suddenly, a loud clap of thunder strikes outside the window. Sara is caught off guard by the sudden noise and loses her balance, falling right onto Helios.
As they collide, Helios feels a sharp pang in his head and memories from old Helios's life come flooding back to him.
"Mom, I'm afraid of thunder," Young Helios cried, burying his face in his mother's shoulder and hugging her tightly as rain lashed against the windows.
She stroked his hair soothingly. "Don't be afraid, my little sun. Thunder is just a very loud sound, nothing more," his mother said softly, continuing to pat his head as thunder rumbled loudly outside the house.
In the background, a baby started crying.
"Oh, look, Luna is crying. I need to go check on her. Be a brave boy and stay here," his mother said, standing up and leaving the room.
Young Helios sat alone for a moment until he heard a knock on the front door. He walked over and opened it. His father stood there. Before young Helios could speak, his father fell to the ground with a bleeding bullet wound to his chest.
"Dad!" Young Helios screamed out, tears streaming down his face as his father collapsed to the floor, bleeding profusely. "Dad! Don't leave us!"
His mother came running back from the other room and saw her husband on the floor. She rushed to his side to try and help him. Luna cried even louder now, and outside, thunder started rumbling violently again. Young Helios covered his eyes with his hands, unable to look at the tragedy unfolding in front of him.
"Helios!" Sara shouted, shaking him gently to bring him back to reality.
Helios snapped out of the memory, his body shaking uncontrollably and tears streaming down his face as he breathed heavily, trying to calm his racing heart.
"I'm okay... I'm okay," Helios managed to whisper, clutching Sara's hand as she held him.
"You can sleep here with me if you're really that afraid of thunder," Sara said softly, standing up to turn off the lights.
"Okay. Good night," Helios replied, closing his eyes and relaxing into the bed.
"Good night," Sara said as darkness filled the room.
However, Helios didn't wake up in the bedroom. He felt himself falling through a dark void and suddenly appeared in the familiar training grounds of the Nightmare Realm.
"How did I get here?" Helios thought, looking around the open space.
"You finally made it," Circlet's voice echoed as theartefactt floated in the air in front of him.
"You never told me you could float on your own," Helios observed, looking at the hovering crown.
"I just unlocked this ability. Isn't it cool?" Circlet asked proudly, spinning in a small circle.
"Yes, it is. At least now you don't have to sit on my head every time I summon you," Helios replied with a small smile.
Suddenly, General Athure appeared in front of him and kneels.
"Greetings, Your Majesty," Athure said in a respectful tone.
"Why are you calling me 'Your Majesty' and not 'Your Highness' like the king?" Helios asked, looking confused think about how people addresed the king.
"That is what the people in your kingdom always called the King," Athure replied calmly.
"It's because your kingdomusese 'Your Highness' to show that the King is above everyone else. But we use 'Your Majesty' because it is the correct and formal way to address the ruler," Athure explained while still kneeling.
"Second question... why are you wearing a female knight's armour?" Helios asked, looking closely at the design of the armour which looked different from the heavy male armour before.
"I have always been a woman, Your Majesty," Athure answered simply.
"Nightmares have genders?" Helios asked in surprise, looking at Circlet for confirmation.
"I don't know. It wasn't your ability not mine" Circlet answers in a nonchalant tone.
"Yes, we do. Since your abilities have upgraded, some of us have upgraded with you," Athure corrected, finally standing up.
"Some of you?" Helios questioned.
"Yes. Only the summons who have the potential to evolve have received upgrades," Athure clarified. "For example, the summon named Rino from the Eclipse faction evolved while , from the Night Walkers side me and Shadow have evolved. And Z from the Targen Guards side has also evolved," Athure listed the changes.
"Apart from the fact that you are wearing different armour, are there any other new changes?" Helios asked curiously.
Athure reached up and took off her helmet to reveal her face for the first time. Her skin was pale, almost like moonlight, her eyes were a striking shade of purple, and her hair was jet black.
"My face is no longer covered by shadows," Athure said, holding her helmet in one hand while looking at Helios.
Helios looked at her new appearance, nodding thoughtfully. "Since you have a new look and new powers, we can't just keep calling you Athure anymore... Let's call you Zyla," Helios declared proudly, testing the new name.
"As you wish... Zyla it is," she replied with a nod of respect.