A month had passed.
The Twilight Glade stretched pale and endless, its trees half-lost in mist that coiled as if alive. The basecamp—once chaotic with training—had settled into rigid order.
Alex stayed at the edge.
He did not train with Sera, Milo, or Liora. He did not speak unless necessary. There was no need for camaraderie, or trust.
The Celestial Compass hovered faintly in his hand, its needle fixed north, trembling with impatience. Invisible lines cut through the forest—paths only he could see. Void Gate vectors. Probability seams.
The Instructor's voice carried from camp.
"Your objective is to locate a newly formed Void Gate and return to Earth. Expect resistance—natural and otherwise."
Alex already knew.
The mist parted.
Milo noticed first. "Do you see that?"
Something enormous moved between the trees.
Seven meters tall. Humanoid. Armor of living gold, jagged and ornate, radiating dull yellow light. A halberd rested in its grip—longer than a siege engine, etched with runes that bent the air around them.
Each step pressed the earth flat. Yellow vines recoiled from its shadow.
"This isn't a monster," Sera whispered.
Liora's tendrils tightened. "That aura… it's wrong."
Alex crouched behind a fallen trunk.
The pulse of void energy was unmistakable.
Not fear.
Recognition.
The Golden Knight tilted its helm—not toward him, but close enough. Patient. Deliberate.
It had come.
Alex's wings tore free.
Black feathers unfurled as maddening fire ignited in his eyes. Ascension carried him forward in a blur of motion, Frenzy Magic screaming through his veins.
The clearing warped around him.
The Knight raised its halberd and swung.
The blow could have split the glade in half.
Alex dodged—not reacting, but anticipating**. He struck back, claws trailing violet flame.**
The impact rang like a cathedral bell.
The Knight barely moved.
Each exchange was asymmetrical: Alex chaos, speed, fury—
The Knight inevitability.
Sera and the Instructor moved instinctively, erecting barriers, drawing its peripheral attention. It allowed them to.
Then the Knight turned.
Slowly.
Its halberd swept not toward Alex—but toward Milo.
The intent was unmistakable.
The strike was not quick.
It was precise.
Milo didn't even have time to scream.
Silence followed.
Alex felt something tear.
He surged again, wings flaring, Frenzy Magic consuming all restraint—but a single parry sent him crashing through twisted trunks, skidding into yellow vines that recoiled as if burned.
He rose shakily, fire still blazing.
Milo was gone.
The Knight watched him.
Waiting.
Alex understood then.
This thing wasn't hunting.
It was teaching.
He retreated.
Not in panic—but necessity.
Ascension hurled him skyward as shouts echoed below. He didn't look back.
The Golden Knight did not pursue.
It stood unmoving, immense and perfect.
— — —
Alex fled until the forest thinned.
Ahead, a structure shimmered—tall, familiar, wrong.
A Void Gate.
The Celestial Compass screamed in his grip. The needle spun violently, pulsing with warning.
This isn't real.
The gate bent reality without anchoring to it.
A Nightmare.
Before he could pull away, darkness folded inward.
— — —
Time fractured.
Sound vanished.
Then—
— — —
[ VOID NIGHTMARE INITIATED ]
Designation: Second Nightmare
Challenger: Lumen of the Void
Progress: Unknown
— — —
Alex landed on a glowing surface beneath an impossible sky.
Crystalline structures floated without logic—plazas, towers, spires bending inward on themselves. Figures watched from afar, luminous and indistinct.
A presence formed.
Not hostile.
Not kind.
"You are not ready," it said. "But you are necessary."
Alex flexed his claws, Frenzy Magic licking at the edges.
"Necessary for what?"
No answer came.
Only the pressure of inevitability.
He stepped forward.
Madness steady. Wings folded. Will intact.
The Second Nightmare had begun.