Milo awoke to bliss, his body had never felt more refreshed. He was still in Eva's embrace, and Triscarion greeted him with a couple of licks. Milo giggled and patted the three headed hound.
Getting up, he stretched his body and did a couple warm up workouts. They still needed to hunt down some food, and the forest seemed to be filled to the brim with unkillable abominations. With all the terrain considered, their best bet was to use the star navigation taught to them and look for the nearest Citadel.
Feeling refreshed, he walked over and squatted down, poking Eva on the cheek. Then he noted something weird. At first, her skin was smooth and normal, like skin should be. But when the poke went a little deeper, Eva's skin suddenly hardened like stone.
'Huh, that's neat.'
Milo watched Eva stir awake.
"Good morning. We should probably get moving."
Eva stretched her arms into the air and let out what could only be described as a mix of a yawn and groan. Milo resisted the urge to smile. His Flaw had made these sorts of things difficult. Which made it strange when he didn't really feel a romantic connection with Eva.
Even though they had snuggled in sleep, he never once felt embarrassed or shy about it.
'Am I... gay? Yeah right, that's impossible.'
Milo stood back up.
"I'll be up in five more minutes."
Milo tilted his head. Something's off once again. Eva might not have been from this world, but whatever story she had read surely led her to know the dangers of the Dream Realm, five more minutes was a huge ask.
Milo looked back at the cave entrance. It didn't look right, nothing looked right.
Milo summoned the Prototype, had they walked into the jaws of a Nightmare Creature? No, Triscarion would've known.
He felt a wave of dread, than nothing. He had forgotten what he was thinking about.
'I didn't... Damnit.'
Milo brought the Prototype up to his prosthetic. He carved out three letters.
With that safety in mind, he continued on like nothing happened. It was time to do some research. The two went on about the day traveling, until they came across a break in the river.
The linear stream now congregated into a small lake, it looked very unnatural. In fairness, it could've been some landmark created by a previous Sleeper or any awakened here in the Dream Realm. But why do this?
Milo looked at Eva.
"I'm going to dive in."
"What? No! That's a horrible idea!"
Milo ignored her warnings. He desummoned the hooded cloak of Hunter's Garbs and dived into the water. It was lukewarm to the touch. It enveloped his garbs, Milo had gotten used to swimming in clothes.
What was strange was the near endless abyss in the lake itself, and how Milo could slightly see through it. Was this an enchantment of the Hunters Garbs? Regardless, Milo swam further into the abyss. He watched as terrible Nightmare Creatures swam upwards towards him, attempting to stop him. One was a large angler fish. Milo raised the Prototype and cut through it.
The Spell was silent
Milo kept swimming into the black abyss. He felt a pain in his arm.
Another Nightmare Creature swam up to him, and he killed it.
The Spell was silent.
Milo could feel the distortion between the future and the present, all be it slightly. He felt strings wrapped around his body again, this time they were not cut into him. He heard a laugh echo from the abyss he was swimming towards.
As he got closer, he saw a small golden light in the middle of the abyss. He reached out towards it, the light shimmered. Milo's finger extended, touching the golden light.
***
Milo awoke, not in a forest, or in the Dream Realm, but rather in that same empty void. He heard a shrill laugh erupt in front of him. Milo looked up weakly.
Two hands were holding him up by his arms. The arms came from out of a black robe, and the being in front of him wore a black wooden mask carved to resemble some terrible demon. Three horns rose from the mask like a perverse crown.
"How was that vision of your potential future little one? We tried to keep you asleep so you would not go through this terrible pain, but alas, it is your choice."
Milo looked down, drops of golden ichor fell from four arms shaped like needles. It looked as if they were threading some invisible string.
In the next moment, Milo felt a familiar pain, it felt as if every single pain in the world descended onto him. He screamed, and screamed, the devil didn't stop. The devil continued to add a new existence to Milo, regardless of anything. Regardless of the tortured screams and terrible sobs.
Milo looked down, his body was split in two. Not in any physical way, it was if the space between the two simply seized to exist.
"Almost done..."
Milo had no energy left to scream, no voice left to cry out. He hung in the darkness as the demon continued his surgery. Eventually, the pain stopped.
"Now... you and that girl should be helpful to our epigones."
Milo was once again transported to the Dream Realm, and it was once again in the air. This time however, he crashed onto a relatively soft material. Milo groaned weakly, his face planted into the ground. He could see the red of the material he landed on.
"Coral?"
Milo realized that he was naked, so most of what happened before was simply an illusion. Lightning thundered, and Milo caught a glimpse of his prosthetic.
The three words were gone, just as confirmation.
'Such an easy failsafe, I should use this more often.'
Milo laid his head back on the coral, summoning Triscarion to use as a pillow and warmth. He was so exhausted, it was time for some sleep.