'We did it…
'We actually did it…
'The plan was a success…'
Idel's heart pumped faster than usual as he looked at the collapsed beast nightmare. His body was heating up. Whether this was due to elation or the previous state of petrification, he could not tell.
He closed his eyes to calm himself and at the same time opened his mouth to take a breather.
As he did so, he sensed strange energies coming from a distance. Without any urgency, he slowly turned to the source and opened his eyes.
Due to the distance from the source and the smoke that still slightly clung to the air, he could only make out two glowing stones. One was floating on the bridge, and the other was moving away from the bridge and towards him.
He blinked.
'Why is Tintless running in such a manner?' His thoughts were incredibly slow.
He squinted his eyes and saw Shifty, nervously shouting on the bridge.
'What's with the behavior?'
On a hunch, he turned and found the nightmare still lain on the ground. it had yet to disintegrate. Why?
He was sure the core was destroyed. However, as he soon came to realize, this was not the reason why the duo were acting weird.
In front of him, the mine plains were exploding upon touch from the red drifting specks. But he could not hear anything. His eardrums must have been shattered by the debris.
In a fraction of a second, he witnessed the entire mines get destroyed—once land and medieval equipment now replaced by raging flames.
He turned and began running, but did it limply.
On more than one occasion, he fell over and clumsily picked himself up. Worse still, he had to avoid coming into contact with the specks, as they would explode.
Luckily for him, the movement of the floating bombs were such that they were falling from one endpoint—the mine plains—and moving towards where he ran. As such, he was at least given a chance before they caught and sent him to his death.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
With each stride, his body was slowly beginning to accept its fate. Some seconds later, he fell, and this time could not get up.
He did not give up though.
He slowly began to claw on his stomach, his already torn cloak suffering even more in the process.
Though he tried his best, at some point he could no longer find any ridge to hold onto and support his movements.
A breath of desperation left his chapped lips as he saw two specks about to hit the ground beside him.
But before that could happen, something wrapped around his abdomen and pulled him.
Boom! Boom!
The specks missed him. He was yanked forward and soon found himself on Tintless's back.
The boy did not say anything. He extended four more arms that wrapped around Idel; then he unleashed another that moved, evading the specks, and grabbed onto the pole of the bridge.
The distance was pretty substantial, and even more unlucky for the duo, the specks increased their rate of fall.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
To the left of them, an explosion that caused the ground to form cracks occurred.
A speck was about to hit them when the extended arm pulled them.
The boy was clinical in evading the specks as he moved through the air at high speeds.
He dodged two more…
Three…
One…
And another.
As they were about 70 meters away from the bridge, devastation occurred: one rather stubborn speck fell on the extended arm. It was in such close range to them that Tintless had to cut off the arm and move back, falling to the ground with Idel.
Boom! Boom!
The duo were amid explosions; the ground beneath was cracking too. The chances of them evading death became excruciatingly low, and this was something Idel had come to realize.
Because he was in a chaotic state, he whispered to the boy, "Leave me be. Save yourself. You and Shifty can make it out alive."
The boy got to his feet. Despite the chaos around, he slightly turned to Idel, who was still on his back, and smiled.
No words needed to be spoken. Idel could tell what the boy meant: Trust me, Mr. Freak.
Idel lowered his head and wrapped his hands tightly around the boy.
Tintless, as his being turned white, lowered his frame and took the posture of a splinter. He slightly raised his head and looked at the two poles holding the bridge, imagining them to be the poles holding the finish line of a race. The explosion sounds turned into crescendo cheers from a frenzied crowd.
The track was set, and in the next second, as it began collapsing from behind, he ran. His speed was unlike anything Idel had ever seen or experienced.
The track in front also started collapsing, and he had to jump from debris to debris while evading some to continue running. Finally, after a while, he passed the finish line and fell.
Back to reality, the duo had reached the mid part of bridge, and the boy's leg was stuck in a hole left by a plank. He was slowly falling into the pit filled with poisonous spikes.
Idel, using the last bits of strength, moved from the boy's back to lessen the weight. However, the boy did not move from the perilous position. In fact, his Tintless body appeared not to be moving in resistance; he was slowly sliping through the hole.
Idel desperately extended his right hand and caught Tintless's right arm. He held on too.
The boy's body had now slipped through. The only thing preventing him from falling into inevitable death was Idel's hand. And how unlucky he was, for his last hope had little to no strength left. With each second, both moved closer to death.
Idel gritted his teeth and looked at the grey boy. He was just blinking.
"Hold on."
Just as he said that, as though fate were his enemy, the sound of the pole buckling reached his ears.
He turned and saw Shifty trying to walk over to them.
"Stay back." His voice released as much volume as it could manage. He turned to the boy once more, his already dull mind trying to come up with a solution.
Creak! Creak!
His shoulder was now coming close to the gap left by the broken plank. His arm began shaking involuntarily as breaths of fear and desperation ensued.
And then, from the corner of his eyes, he saw it.
Rising amid the flames limply.
The beast nightmare. It fixed its eyes on him and began to move.
He turned to the boy, the pain on his face taking form.
'Shit! Shit! Sh—'
As if the moment were not torturous enough, suddenly, a cacophony of shattering glass erupted in his ears. They soon turned into insidious voices before merging into one voice: his voice.
"They are just apparitions…
They are not real…
The humans, all of them. Do not get attached. It's nothing more than a long—"
Flashes of imagery emanated in his head. They took the form of a cinematic slide show, one that moved at terrifying speeds.
His eyes, at end of it, dilated before constricting, their desparation extinguished in seconds. They became apathetic. And soon was the case for his face, for he had remembered: he was Idel, wielder of the sin affinity of sloth and fifth prince of the demon realm and all this was nothing more than a mere...
Looking at the boy indifferently, he muttered, "Continuous dream."
Then he let go.
Tintless's eyes widened as he watched his reflection in the cold eyes of Mr. Freak. He saw his grey body fall and slowly get devoured by the darkness of the pit.
As the nightmare reached the bridge and ran on it, causing it to fall, Idel, with all his remaining demonic energy , summoned the Labyrinth…
Everything went black, and this time only one hill came to be, and the moon's lighting was very dim. No fog gyrated. The only thing resounding in the Labyrinth was Idel's morns and the voice that reminded him of his position in this reality.
He rolled on the hill as the voice, plus the pain, made him very uncomfortable.
He turned and turned, during which a glowing stone from his pocket fell out.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
It gracefully rolled on the unevenly side section of the hill before it fell into the darkness.
Mid-travel, it began to unravel into tiny specks. The specks played in the air for a while before they eventually fell on the thick reddish clouds.
The clouds pulsed and seemingly allowed the specks to pass through.
They, upon entry to the new environment, sparkled, for they were illuminated by a radiant sun hanging in a clear blue sky.
The new environment bore countless white towers, and with the help of the breeze, the specks wended through the empty area, evading the marble white towers with a certain skill.
When they twirled up the tallest tower they were instantly grabbed by a black thin hand.
The hand belonged to a being cloaked in white. He sat on top of the tower, and his face could not be seen. He looked at the specks as they turned to black ash.
"Betrayal of a friend." He smiled as he looked at his black arm.
Suddenly, parts of his black skin started to fall off, revealing a white radiant one.
He looked like he had received a mark of a white hand, one that held his arm.
He turned his head to the sky, seeing it slowly turn black.
"Dawn is upon us, Dreamer."
...
"…!" With a gasp, Idel awoke from his sleep. His vision, murky, displayed two colours that were trying to fuse with one another.
Orange, the dominant one and having a greater area, tried to hold thin brown in place, but the little dim colour was ever stubborn, constantly circulating counterclockwise, evading bright orange.
The pursuit continued until dim brown was finally overwhelmed by bright orange. He was held into place. Surprisingly, his capture led to his growth.
He stretched, branching outward in delicate limbs, his frailty giving way to form. What was once a tiny colour hardened into structure, arms unfurling symmetrically, suspending themselves from an unseen center. Brown was no longer fleeing; he was hanging, composed, becoming.
He was a chandelier!
Then orange bloomed. It poured itself into the newborn frame, flooding every branch, glistening each point of contact. Light burst forth, causing the shadows to retreat into the corners of the room.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
His senses caught up. Every fibre of his being screamed in pain, silent mourns accompanying them.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The delicate rhythm reached his ears once more. Due to its softness, he could tell it was Sagi. Whilst gritting his teeth, he, with great difficulty, sat up.
His body felt heavy. He took a deep breath in preparation to conceal his pain, after which he answered, "Come in."
The door slowly opened and closed when he turned his head to the transparent curtains.
With her delicate, soft, echoing footsteps, a sweet fragrance suffused the room, causing his nostrils to open up.
He blinked as he looked out the window through the curtains. The orange sun had already risen from the horizon, its rays illuminating the vistas from below.
Demons of all forms were going about their businesses: guards clad in red armor patrolled the palace grounds and the market area, and some, as early as it was, were in a tussle with either themselves or the civilians. Some children watched in awe, others in fear, and some did not mind it at all, running through the kingdom but daring not to bump into aristocrats or even infringe the movements of their fancy carriages.
"It was all a dream."
"A dream, you say?"
He smiled lightly, realizing he had spoken out his thoughts.
"Yes."
She paused before saying, "Care to tell me what it was about"
His smile wavered.
"No, it's too long." As he spoke, he turned.
The delicate girl, with her tender skin, met his gaze. She was draped in a blue dress, and her curly reddish-brown hair rested on her shoulders. On her face was a blue cloth that covered her eyes.
Her pink lips curled up slightly as she said, "I understand. Oh, almost forgot: good morning, Prince Idel."
A pause, then he spoke in a low voice, "Morning to you too."
Her expression lit as her smile became more evident.
…
Dip! Dip! Dip!
Water poured from the shower at considerable rates. Idel, drenched, sat under it, cross-legged.
As he stared at the marble wall, his right arm suddenly throbbed, bringing about a sharp, fleeting pain.
He brought it into his line of vision. With each drop on the arm, a black mark started to appear. It moved delicately, as though he were getting a tattoo from an invisible artist.
Then, at the end, his eyes lit. The mark was familiar.
It was of a detailed hand, drawn to seem like it were holding onto his arm, desperately pleading for help.
"Tintless…" A shallow breath left his lips. Uncontrolled tears formed in his eyes as he looked even paler.
He curled his frail body and wept silently, his mind coming to realize just how torturous the dream realm was—dragging him in , gradually taking away his memories, forcing him to form bonds with apparitions, and almost killing him at any chance it gets. And to think all this happened in one night, without the knowledge of anyone.
He truly was a loner, one who was guaranteed to endure this life for an eternity.