As Shirou's consciousness returned to him the first thing he realized was that he was not laying on the ground like he should have been.
Instead he was resting on something light and soft. In fact it was so soft that a crazy part of him compared it to an actual mattress of some kind. Of course the idea of that being inside the nightmare seemed almost inconceivable to him.
As his eyes cracked open and were greeted by the harsh light of the sun he looked around and found that his earlier suspicion had been true despite how mad that seemed.
As mad as it seemed though, he was in fact sleeping in a genuine bed of all things. What more, the bed was situated inside a room made entirely of metal and sporting a look so modern that it left him off balance.
He'd been fighting with a sword recently and the first humans he faced were welding arms and armor that would have belonged in a museum back in the waking world. Now he was laying in a room with working lights and wall sockets.
For a moment he thought his nightmare might have already ended. Maybe he was back in the waking world already?
A look at his tanned hands and the clawed nails on them got rid of that theory though, and so did looking outside.
The very same window that was letting the rays of the sun shine in on his face revealed a vast, rolling expanse of desert sands, all of which were moving past the window as though it were in motion. As Shirou looked out of the window and leaned closer to it he saw that his room was part of some massive vessel, moving across the dunes atop gargantuan treads each more than five times as tall as Shirou was.
His angle looking out from the window made it difficult to see the rest of the monstrous vehicle but looking forward and backward did show glimpses of other similar if slightly smaller vehicles.
Each one looked like someone had taken extremely massive industrial machines and plated them over with smooth panes of sweeping metal armor. Even the smaller four wheeled units were still meters taller than Shirou and looked to be large enough to have buildings built atop them.
In fact, as one adjusted its course and entered Shirou's view, he saw that it WAS sporting several structures on its back. Each one was occupied with people ambling about it as they drove through the sands.
The sight of the apparent fleet of giant vehicles driving across the sands was extremely jarring after all that Shirou had seen so far in this nightmare. Enough that it was even calling into question the things that he recalled studying about the dream world with Rin before he came here.
'Even if they weren't the best records to sift through, everything we found still said that electronic devices brought into the dream realm from the waking world failed to function. But if that's the case then what the hell is all this. For god's sake I can see a light bulb and light switch in this very room!'
Their research had been extensive in that regard and even included some extremely reputable reports from the scattered human settlements in the dream realm. One of the commonalities had been severe issues with long range communication, along with a failure of most electronic devices to operate once they were transported from the waking world.
The sole exception to that rule were the technologies used by Babel which somehow managed to function in the dream realm. That couldn't explain giant land ships though, the most Babel was known to have were generators and lights. Not… city sized tanks!
After staring at the massive marvels engineering for several minutes Shirou turned his attention to his own borrowed body.
He saw that he was out of his armor now and had his wounds dressed and bandaged. It seemed the last round of injuries he had gained were little more than faded scars now and as he went to move his arms the paralysis he'd had was gone.
Seeing his body out of its armor was also the first time Shirou got a clear view of his vessel.
There was a rather uncanny similarity between his vessel and himself. Their builds were identical save for the inclusion of a tail and different ears which wasn't that strange of a feature. The fact that their hair style was the same though was a bit more strange.
In fact if one were to give Shirou dark brown hair, tan skin, and yellow eyes he would practically be Ozen's twin.
As he cast his eyes across the rest of the room Shirou saw his cloak. Draped over a chair in the corner of his small room lay the [Guardian's Mantle], still covered in blood after his last fight.
The sight of the now sticky cloak made him consider dispelling the cloak back to the strange space that the Nightmare spell stored it to begin with.
One of the defining characteristics of [Memories] that he had read about was their ability to be dispelled from existence and stored within a person's soul. That ability made [Memories] one of the only things that could be taken out of a Nightmare and brought back to the waking world or be brought into the dream realm.
That ability also had the interesting side effect of allowing memories a degree of slow regeneration while they were stored inside their wielder's soul. Which frankly did open up an interesting question about what they were using as fuel to regenerate but it was not a topic for Shirou to worry about now.
Just as he had back in the forest, Shirou thought for a moment and the runes manifested themselves in front of them.
With an instinctive thought Shirou imagined the mantle returning to him and it dissolved off the chair into a cloud of pale mist. The process wasn't immediate and did take a little over two seconds to complete, but after it did there was no trace of the cloak whatsoever.
As soon as it did so Shirou saw the tint of the rune for the [Guardian's Mantle] change, and he felt some sensation from inside himself letting him know it was ready to return. Before he willed the garment back onto his lap though Shirou's eyes caught an unexpected sight in his runes just below the [Memories] line.
Skills: [Reinforcement: Rank E-]
Skill Description: ["One of the simplest abilities of a ?????. It allows for the concepts of things to be strengthened through the application of energy. Take care when filling the container lest it be destroyed. "]
Shirou was left wide eyed as he read and reread the words in front of him. This description made it clear that his [Skills] were much more than simple thing like playing a musical instrument. Instead they seemed to be abilities he had gained or perhaps re-learned?
The description of his first skill wasn't something he recognized, beyond the fact that ????? seemed to be related to his [Third rate ?????] attribute.
The description did seem very similar to whatever he had done against the pack of wolves before he passed out though. At the time his body had seemingly moved entirely on its own but it didn't change the fact that what he actually did was beyond him.
He had been moving and striking with such speed and strength that he was cutting [Dormant] creatures the size of horses in half with a single swing of his sword. For his bones, muscles, and joints as well as his blade itself to have been capable of that was certainly unusual. And now it seemed that said strangeness was being recorded as an ability of his.
"Look at that, the heroic guard finally awakens. Here I was starting to think you might need a kiss from Princess Charming to wake up." Shirou's musing on his runes was cut off by an amused voice from his doorway.
Standing there leaning against the frame with a smile on her face was the same blonde haired warrior woman he had been rescued by just before he passed out.
She was still dressed in combat gear though rather than being worn on her hands, her silver gauntlets were hanging from straps on her hips. And just like the last time he saw her Shirou found his eyes widening the longer he looked at her.
There was something impossible to place about her appearance that made her look absolutely amazing. It didn't seem to make sense in his mind when he tried to find a single reason for it but it was as though everything about her was simply more than it would be for someone else.
Her hair seemed more vibrant and her skin seemed more smooth and soft. Her physique seemed to be a perfect marriage of beauty and strength and seemed to be somehow beyond what was normal.
Even her eyes seemed to be brighter than should be possible and almost appeared to carry a subtle shine to them.
His own trance-like staring seemed to have been noticed because soon a slender set of fingers were in his face, snapping loudly enough that they could have mimicked a whip crack "Enough of that brat. I gave you a pass before cause you were bleeding and you get one more in case you have brain damage. But next time I'm smacking you got it?"
Pasha shook her head and covered her face with her hand. "Honestly if I had known that figuring out the natives' little [Awakening] and [Ascending] tricks would have made me too hot for my own troops to look at I might not have done it… Actually scratch that. Being able to throw APCs around and punch monsters in half is worth having a brat like you stare at my tits."
Shirou's wide eyed face lit up in a furious blush and he raised his hands in front of his face. "I wasn't looking at your breasts! I… I was looking at your eyes and your face, and… and you're messing with me aren't you?"
The older woman wore a pleased smirk on her face while she pulled her hand from it and slapped Shirou on the back. "Well of course I am Oz, I know you wouldn't be that improper after all. The itty bitty boy scout of the guards is too pure for that."
She chuckled at her own joke "But you were looking a bit too serious for my taste, staring off at the wall like a zombie and all. You should be smiling like a mad man after what you did kid! If even half of what Nishka told me was true then you've done things that should see you starring in a movie or video game."
Shirou's eyes scrunched up in frustration as he thought about the start of his nightmare. From where he was laying it didn't seem like that much of a success story so far. In fact it only really seemed like he had been spending each moment "I don't really think that what I did was all that impressive ma'am. I got brutalized by wild beasts and had to get healed by Nishka. On top of that I even destroyed my sword and a valuable treasure. If it hadn't been for you coming when you did, we would have been dead, so I don't think I deserve much praise."
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
Pasha's eyes stared into the frowning face of the young man in front of her as she felt worry begin to overtake her good mood.
It was hardly a new feeling to be honest, afterall she had been worried about Ozen for years now. Ever since he stumbled out of the desert into Menat-Ha'mait with a tale of being the sole survivor from a catastrophe ravaged village she had worried about him.
The story itself had hardly been a unique one, even before the collapse began. Catastrophes, raiders, wild beasts, or even skirmishes with other nations would often wipe small Sargonian villages off the map. It was one of the reasons most people worked hard to live in larger settlements.
It wasn't the fact that Ozen had gone through all that which worried Pasha so much though. Many had been through the same and they lived descent if rough lives afterwards.
What worried her was the fact that the young boy seemed to carry a crippling weight of guilt with him for the fact he survived when others didn't.
It certainly served to motivate him well. Despite a large part of the appointment to his position in the guards being due to the frankly open secret that young Nishka had a crush on him, he also still had great skill for his age.
Pasha, and perhaps Nishka as well, would often see him losing in sparring matches or being pushed back and overpowered by other guards, but it was easy to forget that the personal guards of the Padishah's family were the elites of Menat-Ha'mait. Hell, even Nishka's mother's maids were deadly assassins gifted by Nishka's grandmother from the capital to keep the family safe.
As a result Ozen did not interact with the general forces and normal soldiers much. Even without grunts to spar against, seeing him spar elites made it pretty clear that he was more than talented enough to fight circles around most.
Despite that though the boy never seemed satisfied and always acted like he owed some debt to the world that demanded his blood sweat and tears.
The fact that he had put his name forward to help distract their pursuers days ago was yet more proof of that strange mentality. He seemed downright abhorrent towards the idea of running while others fought and so loudly and proudly offered himself in front of everyone.
He'd done it so publicly and quickly that Nishka and Pasha both were forced into the positions of being unable to refuse without showing favoritism. Ancestors knew that morale wouldn't have been able to handle the padishah telling others to die so she could keep her crush alive, and so he was allowed to go.
And as soon as he left that day Pasha had to console a wailing Nishka as she spent the night balling her eyes out and crying into Pasha's side, just as she had when her mother and father passed.
It was a painful enough moment that Pasha grew a seed of resentment towards Ozen for his cluelessness but she also knew the boy well enough to understand how little the fool thought of himself. He didn't respect his own life's value or understand what pain his death would cause, just as he seemingly didn't understand that he was talented and strong enough to be worthy of respect.
The former of those issues was certainly the longest standing issue of his to handle, but one that Pasha was rather confident would get resolved in a few more years. She knew that the dullard in front of her likely only thought of training but once Nishka was of age Pasha had little doubt she would take charge of reforming Ozen.
The latter of his issues though was at least something Pasha could help with. "Oz, I don't know what your frame of reference is but for a normal person with no Ȁ̵̱̀ŗ̸̔t̶͔̎s̴̢̊̓ or the abilities that come from [Awakening], doing what you did is beyond impressive. The sword you had might be well forged but it was still just steel, and you were using it to cut creatures apart in a single blow. Not to mention the fact that according to Nishka you killed an [Awakened Demon] of all things! I don't really know how to explain properly to you that all of that is a huge deal for someone." As she spoke Pasha listed out her points on her fingers, trying to sell the importance of it all and drive the point through Ozen's head.
"Maybe you've gotten your frame of reference skewed the last year since I [Awakened] and [Ascended], but you can't hold yourself to those standards. Honestly I don't doubt you'll figure this trick out too considering that when I was your age I was still in school." As she continued to speak Pasha put her arm on Ozen's shoulder and looked the young man in the eyes.
"But if you get yourself killed too soon doing something pointless and stupid, all you'll do is rob Nishka of her favorite bodyguard before you have a chance to really shine. Didn't you used to tell me that you wanted to be strong enough to fight toe to toe with Ursine Emperor's blades and Victorian Steam Knights? You'll never be strong enough to do that if you die young, got it?"
Ozen was still sitting on his bed looking up at her with slightly confused eyes as he hopefully digested her words. It was going to be a long process to fix the little twerp's mentality, but she'd been looking after him for years now at this point and wasn't about to stop now. "I… I still don't think that what I did was anything special but I'll try to think about what you said."
Pasha smirked at Ozen's downcast face. She didn't really believe his words all that much, not to mention she knew just talking to him wouldn't really do anything. But there was a way for her to help stoke the lad's nonexistent ego a bit. And if it ended up being a bit of revenge on her part for the idiot running off on a suicide mission for no reason, she'd just call it a happy acident.
"I'm glad to hear you saying that Oz. See, so many people on the command vessel here have been having low morale lately. I've determined that they would best be cheered up by getting to hear you recount your great exploits to them! And since you look to be ready to move around I think now's a great time to get to it. Don't worry too much about it. All you have to do is listen to people telling you how great you are for a few hours while you also sing your own praises. Easy right?"
If anyone asked her, Pasha would adamantly deny that the sight of Ozen's face paling filled her with delight.
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
Shirou was feeling extremely strange emotions as he was paraded around the massive mobile base he found himself on.
True to her words Pasha had been quick to see him dressed and ready to send out to speak with everyone they could.
She seemed to be interested in taking away any chance he had to downplay things and went so far as to have him wear the same armor he'd worn before under the [Guardian's Mantle].
Even Shirou's complaints about the tooth marks being uncomfortable and crushing him didn't help. The woman simply grabbed the armor and smoothed out the painful parts with her bare hands, twisting and reshaping the composite metal as though molding clay.
Only the whine of the metal as her hands warped it made clear the fact she did so with brute strength. She even went as far as leaving the marks clearly visible on the armor's surface, calling them 'marks of great courage and valor'.
Whatever it was that she was trying to do though it didn't change the fact that Shirou currently found himself surrounded by a group of almost a dozen soldiers on the upper deck of the massive land ship, each one watching him with rapt attention that only grew more intense as he tried to speak.
"You really killed one of those big wolves? Ancestors kid! How'd you manage to even cut the bastards? I thought the only person here that could fight them alone was Captain Pasha or Ć̵͖ȃ̶͕͍ş̸̓͑t̷͚͛è̴̙r̸̻͠s̷̨̛͈ like this prick?" One of the heavier set men of the group asked as he leaned on his ax and gestured his head to a robed member of the group.
Shirou's face bore a slight grimace from the praise and so he tried once more to downplay things just as he had been to every group on this 'tour' "Despite what seems to have been getting said, I didn't do anything that impressive. I pushed Nishka out of the way of its jaws and got my arm bitten. While I was close I was able to stab my sword into its brain through its eyes."
"Ancestors kid! If that's not impressive it doesn't exactly paint a good picture for the rest of us y'know? Most of us can't exactly plunge straight into the maws of death without flinching only to then kill said death. What was going through your head while that happened?" A lanky man wielding a massive crossbow asked as he sat on a crate.
"I didn't really have to think of anything actually. After my ribs and part of my back got broken Nishka had decided to try and distract the wolf and was about to get herself eaten to save me. That wasn't something that I could allow to happen so I just stood back up and ran to her. I didn't think of much else but saving her."
Shirou gave his answer once more in a matter of fact tone and spoke as though nothing he was describing was worthy of much praise. Wholly oblivious to the increasing level of impressed awe forming in the eyes of the soldiers or the swooning his story earned from the female soldiers.
As Shirou continued trying and horribly failing to downplay his brief adventure, Pasha stood back from the group next to an older soldier as both leaned against the deck railing. "So Pash, is the crap floating around about the kid true? I know I asked for a morale boost after we lost transport 16 but telling my people lies doesn't sit right with me."
The man speaking was grey haired and part of the minority on board who did not bear feline characteristics. Instead faded green scales covered his arms and parts of his face, giving him a lizard-like appearance.
His outfit was much more subdued that Pasha's or Shirou's and consisted of a light white tunic worn over a set of metal combat armor. The tunic itself included a hood to be worn up over his head and was wrapped around his waist by a red sash that also seemed to be embroidered with rank insignia.
It hardly looked like the most formal of military garb but in the harsh desert landscape around them the bone white tunic must have helped hold back the sun's heat.
Pasha smiled as she looked at Ozen and the group of footsoldiers chatting, her smile growing soft as she watched some of the female soldiers asking about something that left her protege red faced and sputtering as the rest laughed.
"As much as it surprises even me, Drudge it seems to all be true. Nishka was there for it all and what I saw in that last fight gives me no reason to doubt anything she said. The lad's grown far stronger than I could have hoped for. Hell, if I didn't know better I would think he went and became an [Awakened] like me."
Drudge let out a grunt of affirmation and turned to look at the laughing group of senior soldiers patting Ozen's back, much to the boy's annoyance. "It's a shame that we all couldn't have been born a few decades sooner then. If our world wasn't in shambles he could have been on track to be a true champion of Sargon. As it is, we'll just have to take the joy that comes from hearing a great story for what it is."
He turned back around and his eyes raked over the vista of massive machines moving in formation behind them.
The four largest constructs were only slightly smaller than the flagship they were standing on, and were each capable of carrying a crew of thousands. They were well armed as well, sporting ferocious looking cannons on their decks and banks of Ȁ̵̱̀ŗ̸̔t̶͔̎s̴̢̊̓ relays to support the Ć̵͖ȃ̶͕͍ş̸̓͑t̷͚͛è̴̙r̸̻͠s̷̨̛͈ aboard them.
Beyond the largest of the caravan there were also dozens of smaller craft, ranging from refitted mining rigs that could carry a hundred odd souls apiece, all the way down to squad sized vehicles made for rapid movement. In any normal circumstance Drudge would have seen such a show of force from his homeland and felt his chest well with hope at the sight. It was surely enough for any normal journey across Terra, and yet as he looked at it now all he could think was that it wasn't enough.
None of them were safe in this place, and even in moments of fragile peace like this there were threats all around them. A fact made clear when the main gun of one of the landships swiveled and fired a round far off behind the caravan.
The Ȁ̵̱̀ŗ̸̔t̶͔̎s̴̢̊̓ cannon surged with a flash and crashed into an unseen beast far off in the distance kilometers away. The flash of light was bright enough to briefly challenge the sun and was evidence of how strong the beast that warranted its use must have been.
"We need to start considering our path forward, Pash. We'll run headfirst into the storm wall by the end of the week at this rate, or if our luck truly turns sour we may hit the main body of the native forces trying to break through it."
Pasha turned her gaze away from the laughter in front of her and looked out at the desert sands, a frown covering her face as she did. "I'm aware of that, Nishka is too. We'll continue our course for today and then have a meeting tonight to discuss it. Without stable communications with the Sarkaz Legion maintaining the storm wall we shouldn't move towards it."
Drudge shook his head at the mention of communications. "Well then we need another plan. Comms are an issue on a good day back home but the storm wall is riddled with spatial anomalies as well. Getting any kind of usable signal through isn't possible."
He sighed and shook his head. "As for the Sarkaz I wouldn't hold out hope on passage even if we could ask them. No one in the coalition of nations would allow them to open a hole in the wall for one lone caravan when they are getting besieged by the natives. If those genocidal maniacs make it past them onto the continent they'll have free reign to do Ancestors know what."
Pasha digested Drudge's words as he spoke them, all too aware that in his position he had precious few people he could talk to in order to share his grievances or fears about things.
The man had been a consummate soldier before she was even born and if he had a bit more natural talent or perhaps some potent Ȁ̵̱̀ŗ̸̔t̶͔̎s̴̢̊̓ to leverage she didnt doubt he would be in her position or higher by now.
As it was though, he was still a well respected commander of the general forces of Menat-Ha'mait. Which meant he would never speak to his troops about things that could dampen their spirits or their resolve.
Pasha on the other hand was free game to speak with given they were peers, and she was willing to listen, even if she didn't have any real ideas herself. "I know what you mean Drudge. We'll have to do what we can one day at a time then. If we really can't make it past that wall then our only choice will be… I honestly don't know. We'll just have to try and plan for as much as we can to be ready for it."
Pasha pushed herself up from the railing and started heading back towards the soldiers. "Before I go and drag Ozen around more, can you send some riders to the other battleships and let the captains know that we're having a meeting tonight. We'll be at the Hasheem valley by tonight so we can afford to stop the caravan for maintenance."
Drudge gave a grunt of affirmation and a nod. "Consider it done Pash."
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
Pasha and Shirou's tour of the land battleship continued until the setting sun began to paint the desert sands in a rainbow of oranges and reds.
Each group seemed to have the same awe plastered on their faces when they heard of his deeds or saw his tooth dented armor and wolf pelt mantle. At the same time teasing remarks regarding his vessel's relationship with the princess came endlessly.
It seemed to be something of an open secret, which managed to be embarrassing for Shirou despite this not being his own relationship.
One thing that hearing their words drove into shirou's mind though was the fact that this Ozen person was clearly a well liked and even loved member of this group of souls. It didn't seem he was particularly weak given that some soldiers said things like 'as expected of the prodigy' or 'that's Ozen for you'. This vessel seemed like a valuable person all around.
Which made this Ozen's choice to offer himself for a suicide mission very strange for Shirou to consider.
The premise of it wasn't something Shirou had trouble with. In his own mind he knew he would always offer himself up for such a mission since his own life was worth less than others.
But this Ozen's life was clearly precious to many people. The fact that from what Shirou learned the bulk of the team sent on the mission had been older veterans made Ozen's desire to be included all the more strange. Such older soldiers giving their lives for younger troops and civilians was perfectly logical, and it made sense to allow them to perform such a role to give younger souls more time to be alive.
The more Shirou thought about it the more trouble he had understanding why anyone other than himself would make such a decision. All he could think was that Ozen had some mental pollution that made him blind to how much the people around him valued his life. Musing on that strangeness wasn't the most important thing on shirou's mind though.
After seemingly exhausting all the low hanging fruit on the ship, Pasha seemed to have satisfied herself and stopped dragging Shirou around to show off in front of people.
Instead, as twilight set in, Pasha led him down below the main deck to the lower levels of the battleship, just above the lowest point where the great mechanical guts of the construct dwelt.
There the pair reached a large chamber that seemed to be stocked to the absolute brim with weaponry of all sorts, and staffed by a gruff looking cat eared woman, with an eye patch. "All right Oz, consider this my gift for succeeding your mission and a reward for cheering so many folks up. Go ahead and pick out some new armaments. I know your sword is totaled and we'll need you capable for what comes next."
After she spoke Pasha looked at a clock on the wall before she turned to leave. "Take some time to test things but be sure to be in the command deck in an hour. Nish is already sour about me not letting her see you until now as punishment and if you miss the command meeting she might spend the whole thing flustered. So don't be late."
With those words offered, Pasha quickly made her way out of the room and headed off on her own, leaving Shirou to examine the room of weaponry.
As he took in the sight of it and stepped towards a rack of blades on the wall Shirou placed his hand on the first one and felt a tingle race up his palm.
'What in the world was that?'