The voice echoed in his ears as the question of where he heard the words gyrated in his head. The most intriguing part was that the voice was his, and the words were said in a manner that was akin to him.
Was he recalling what he once said or another's saying?
Either way, why would such words hit him then: at that very moment?
"Apparitions…" He looked at his hands. They had moved on their own to summon the Labyrinth.
A reflex or not, he could not tell.
He was about to enter a state of cogitation when he head sounds.
They were approaching footsteps, coming straight to him in a slow but noisy rhythm.
He lifted his head to find Tintless with Shifty on his shoulder. He was jumping from one hill to another and, due to the extra weight, was doing it clumsily. On more than one leap, he almost fell.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Idel watched on with an unreadable face.
A while later, the boy was one leap from where Idel sat. He lifted his head for the first time, his eyes slightly aching as the crimson moon's light hit him. Slowly, a silhouette whose lining represented that of Mr. Freak loomed before him.
The boy hesitated for a while before he dropped Shifty, whose face appeared lifeless, on the surface of the hill. He looked up again and lifted his hands.
"Mr. Freak, what is this place?"
He did not respond.
"Where has everyone gone? The village, the baby nightmare, and the others?" He asked again, and as was the first, Mr. Freak remained silent.
Tintless slowly dropped his head as his being turned blue. Then, without raising his head, said, "Are you angry with me? Earlier, when you came back, you seemed to be very upset. I honestly do not know why, and you not using the language I am accustomed to did not help. So, if you may, tell me what I did wrong."
As Idel's brow knitted, the boy added, "Cause, if I remember correctly, you instructed me to cross the bridge and be with this guy, of which I did…"
'This boy never stops talking once he starts.' He suffused a wry smile.
The boy was wrong. He was not angry with him, either now or then. At the time when he crossed the bridge and was subjected to the horrifying scene, his brain was in shambles. And helpless was he, he instinctively directed his frustration at the boy, despite knowing full well that the boy's involvement could have, surely, redounded to nothing.
As if Tintless heard his thoughts, the boy raised the very same argument after he guessed that the other Emontarion's deaths had something to do with Idel's current state.
Idel's eyes watched the boy "talk" as his mind slowly came to a realization. There was no reason for him to be guilty of what had occurred, and so no reason in trying to force his mind to answer the question that gnawed at him.
Yeah, he was just forcing himself to think about the mysterious voice in order to distract himself from thinking about what he did: failing over 50 Emontarions.
But now, after listening to the boy, he knew that what happened was out of his control. Furthermore, the nightmares this time did not behave like they were after him. As per evidence, both the beast and female nightmare, during their encounter, treated him like he were no less important than a pest.
The acceptance, though painful, made him be at ease a little. He lifted his hand and, using his fingers, produced a snap to stop the boy from saying more.
The boy raised his head.
"I am not angry with you. You did as I said. I am the one in the wrong for slapping you," Idel said as he lowered his head slightly. "I am sorry for that."
The grey boy was rendered speechless. A faint pink shone as he waved his hands shyly. "No need to apologize, Mr. Freak. I didn't even feel a thing from the slap. It's all water under… hmmm, how does this end? Sigh, my memory is not functioning well," He talked to himself openly, "What did Mr. Fiction say?... water under the…"
"Bridge," Idel finished the line for him.
"Exactly," he snapped his fingers as a faint yellow flashed.
The two stared for a while before Idel asked, "Is the man okay?"
The boy turned and looked over at the lifeless posture of Shifty. The poor guy had witnessed, almost, his entire village get wiped.
No, almost is an understatement. The possibilities of it getting wiped out to oblivion, at the very moment, was very high.
The nightmares were still out there!
Shifty's body convulsed from time to time, each time a shaken sound escaping his lips.
Wait… just wait. Wasn't this Emontarion at most 4th grade? How was he able to produce sound?
Idel thought on the matter a bit longer and recalled how he rescued him from the black waters, during which he was silent. Not only that, he could also have sworn that the energy radiating off him back then was significantly lower than his current.
'If I recall correctly, he is the one who warned us about the beast nightmare… with his voice!
Am I missing something here? Don't Emontarions retain the grade they are born with till death?'
Once again, more questions than answers spiraled. He lifted his hands to ask something when Tintless turned to him. He said, "Mr. Freak, I think the nightmares have followed us." He pointed out into the distance.
Nightmares, shit! Must have been in close proximity when he summoned the Labyrinth.
With a certain fear, he followed the boy's view, staring into the dark parts of the Labyrinth. He focused a bit more and, utilizing his will over the Labyrinth, spotted the threats.
He closed his eyes in relief. They were merely six disfigured nightmares, some exploring the area, others climbing hills and doing so many other things that were not ascribed to their typical behavior.
'Taking a tour in my Labyrinth.' He smiled coldly as he stood.
Snap!
Tintless shifted his attention to him.
"What is it, Mr. Freak?"
He remained silent as he removed the hood of his cloak, letting it sway in the breeze. He tucked his hands. Then, suddenly, the crimson fog around him thickened and spiraled in a slow and nerving way, concealing his being.
In a heartbeat, two glowing crescent eyes pierced the fog and sent a quiver down Shifty's spine.
Alarmed, his eyes turned in the direction. The moon's lighting blinded him. He could only see a deep red, but his eyes were, surprisingly, tenacious. He focused and finally saw an outline of a being standing on the highest hill.
He was the wielder of the strange energy and the glowing eyes, and his cloak swayed dramatically as a raging green aura flared around him.
The being moved his head and said in a reverberating voice, "Brace yourselves, the hunt is nigh."