The next morning, He woke up groggily, not because he couldn't sleep, it was because he had a nightmare.
Having nightmares for him was an occasional experience, if you don't include the one that his Supreme self caused.
He thought he had already dealt with the pain of leaving his family behind, but unfortunately he hadn't. In his dream, he had returned home, to be greeted and loved by his family, spending quality time together, it was just as he remembered, the lively, cool and loving feeling of home.
But then he saw it, his family wasn't his family, they were marionettes, all of them, were marrionettes, and worst of all, at the end of the strings was him, the one controlling his parents was all him, the shock and guilt gnawed at him til he woke up this morning.
..
.
"Haaaa…" Merlin sighed as he scrolled through his communicator.
"What's with you? That's the seventh time you've sighed this morning?" Silver asked softly.
He pinched his brows and sighed again.
"I'm sorry… it's just a nightmare I had"
"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.
"Thanks Silvy, but I'll be fine" He gave her an encouraging smile.
"That's good, because you need to start cooking" Silver smiled back.
He chuckled and stood up.
"Haha… and I remember a time I once forced you to eat"
As he walked towards the kitchen he reminded.
"And please wake Ari…"
..
.
A while later, he came out of the kitchen with newly prepared dishes, and he saw Ariel, still with her bed head, sitting on the couch, wearing his shirt, and safe to say it was rather a cute scene, he naturally liked bigger clothes, so as Ariel wore them, the only thing visible was her head and her feet.
"Good morning big brother" Ariel greeted with a small yawn.
"Morning Ari… now go clean up or you won't eat" he gave her a smile.
Ariel's eyes widened as she looked at him.
"B-but…"
"No buts…" he shook his head and smiled, "If you don't come back fast I'll eat your food"
"Ah…" Ariel turned frantically to look at Silver, Silver just ruffled her hair and nodded to her.
Ariel nodded back and immediately dashed into the room. He turned to Silver and asked.
"Now what exactly was that 'nodding' thing between the both of you? And where did she get my shirt from?"
"That was her telling me to protect her food, and as for the shirt… I don't know" Silver answered calmly as she started eating.
'Protect her food? How did you even get that message just from her eyes… sigh .. I'm not even going to think about it anymore'
He sighed inwardly and started eating his food, a minute later, Ariel came out, they all ate until they were satisfied and he cleaned up.
An hour later, Silver came to him with an absurd decision, one that had him more mentally stressed than learning pure physics first thing in the morning.
"Merlin… I'm going out with Ariel" Silver said calmly.
"Huh?" Merlin's head tilted slightly as he processed the words he heard "wait what?"
"I said I'm going out with Ariel…" Silver repeated again.
"Huh? Why?"
*I want to see around, and Ariel is tired of staying indoors" Silver explained.
As she finished, that was when his brain took in what she was wearing, unlike her regular plain clothes, Silver was now in a set of clothes that looked aesthetic, except, they were not matching at all.
It was kind of expected, he had noticed her off fashion sense ever since he brought her back, but since she never went out, he didn't bother with it, however this time, she was planning on going out, and her dress…
It looked good, just that they felt off, just like how Red with White looks good, but with Orange, may seem a little off, they still look good, however, it's not exactly the combination you'd expect.
"Fine… it's not like I can change your mind anyway, but first, you need to do something about what you're wearing" He pointed out.
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Silver raised an eyebrow.
At that moment, Ariel walked out of the room, she too was dressed, however her looks were way better than Silver's, she wore a white skirt with a fluffy pink hoodie and her hair was carefully styled.
"There…" he pointed to Ariel "look at what you're wearing compared to that… it's obviously not good enough"
Ariel, who didn't have any idea of what was going on, came to him and twirled.
"Big brother… is my dress good?"
"It's very cute Ari… you look beautiful" He smiled.
Ariel nodded happily and said.
"It's big sister that picked it for me"
"Huh?" He looked at her outfit from head to toe, then turned to Silver and did the same, then with a flat voice he asked.
"Do you not like yourself?"
Silver rolled her eyes, "I don't like pink"
'The color isn't exactly the problem…'
He sighed and pinched his temples, then he stood up, walked into his room, picked out a white jacket, then walked into hers and brought out a black sleeveless gown.
"Here… wear this instead" He folded them and placed them in her hands.
Silver looked at the clothes, then at him, then she sighed and walked into the room to change.
As she left, he thought 'Doesn't she know that the fashion trends from over 500+ years ago and that of now are different?... Sigh… what a hassle'
A few minutes later, Silver came out looking completely different, the dress coupled with her face and the vibe she was giving off made her feel like a beautiful untouchable ice princess.
'Good thing I'm not going with them… if I even walk near them I feel like I'll be mistaken for a servant' He sighed inwardly.
The calm and cheery contrast of Silver and Ariel was really good looking, if he's added to the equation, it becomes something like 'The beautiful young ladies and their man friend…', no matter which angle it's looked at from, he really wasn't worthy enough to be included, he could alter his appearance with his ability, but his pride would still be hit.
"You look good" he complimented.
"If you run into any problems, don't panic and just call me, as for how to call me, remember that repeat after me game in Karlax, just say the words again…" he gave her some advice, however for some reason, Silver simply shot him a deadpan look then turned away and started walking out.
As they walked out of the door, he stood at the porch and waved.
"Bye bye Ari"
"Bye brother" Ariel waved back.
"Bye Silvy…"
"See you later Merlin…" Silver didn't wave, but she offered him a light smile.
After they left, he sighed and walked back into the house, then he laid down on the couch, as his mind fell back to his nightmare.
He knew from LOTM that dreams like those for seers usually hold some kind of meaning.
'Is someone digging my grave in my previous world? Do I even have a grave?'
He sighed as multiple thoughts flashed through his mind, in the end, he gave up and decided to sleep while waiting for Silver and Ariel to return.
..
A few minutes later…
His eyes were closed but his mind was still working, for some reason, he wasn't falling asleep, and he was beginning to get mentally exhausted.
'Fine… let's try another method'
He took a deep breath and started counting in his mind.
'One sheep, two sheep, three sheep…'
..
.
One hour later…
'Three thousand seven hundred and twenty two sheep… three thousand seven….'
"Aaaah… why am I even counting again?" He sighed helplessly.
"Man… it sure is boring, haah… I feel like I'm forgetting something" He thought for a few seconds, then it finally came back to him.
"Ice cream, that's right… since I'm free, I might as well"
He got up from the couch and went to change his clothes to one more fit for the outing, then he picked up a pen and paper. He wanted to leave a message to tell Silver about his whereabouts, but as he wrote the first three words, he immediately remembered.
'Why the hell am I writing when I can tell her through my soul sea?'
Immediately he remembered, he immediately went into his soul sea, after sending the message, he looked at the door, then he walked till he stood outside his soul sea, he looked around the gray fog, and after he saw nothing but open space, he nodded his head and turned around as an idea formed in his mind.
He left his soul sea, and with a snap of his fingers, the piece of paper burnt down to ashes, and with a wave of his hand, wind moved the ashes out of the house.
He nodded and then took his communicator and walked out, as he closed and locked the door, before he started walking, he held his communicator and sent a text to Cassie.
.
—Merlin : Hey Cas…
—Merlin : I'm coming around to pick you up, and I'm not using my regular appearance, so please tell the firekeepers to not chase me off.
—Cas : Oh okay… I'll be expecting you Merlin.
.
As he saw Cassie reply, he was a little surprised, but he guessed she probably asked one of the firekeepers to help, or at least used their eyes.
He sighed and walked forward, he had browsed out some locations around through his communicator, and he was planning on getting one ice cream from each of them, that would equal to twelve, but he wasn't worried about finishing them because if him and Cassie couldn't, then he'd take the rest home for Ariel.
As for the reason he was buying one from all, he obviously wanted to know the best, once he found out, then he'd buy a lot, he really liked ice cream, probably because he needed the sugar back when he was still overworking his brain in college, but some way through, he slowly came to love it, but during his stay in this world, he hadn't gotten a chance to try it, until now that is.
..
.
After he finished buying the ice cream, he saved them all in the dimension ring, then he immediately entered his soul sea, from there he turned to Cassie's star and saw her location, she was on the chain breaker in the Ivory castle.
The last time he and Sunny sparred there, he didn't explore the place because of Rain, but now he was going to get the chance, well not now since he wasn't staying on the Ivory castle, but he would do it later.
He left his soul sea, then the next moment, he entered the spirit world, as he appeared, he immediately caught sight of the Transcendent Beast, as its eyes locked with his, it immediately lowered its head in fear and floated away, He wasn't surprised by its action, after all he was the one who sent it to its death.
'Don't blame me little one… blame Ki Song, I was just following orders' he sighed inwardly.
He looked around some more, then he realized a few things, first, things he kills regularly go to the shadow realm, but those that die in the spirit world move on to become spirits.
'So do I have to collect these things to grow my domain? No… I doubt it works like that… meh, I'll figure it out later'
He reigned in his stray thoughts and focused as he immediately left the spirit world, he reappeared right on the same place he and Sunny had sparred, the aftermath was still visible in the ground.
He ignored the look of the place and started walking towards the tall castle, after a while, he arrived at the bottom of the Ivory tower, then he looked around, there were people moving in and out of the tower, some were just hanging about discussing, some were also working.
He walked towards the group that were chatting, however before he could reach them , he was able to see it, a large wooden ship with a tree growing on it, floating near the top of the Ivory tower.
'The Chainbreaker huh…'
He stared in awe for about ten seconds until a voice shook him off it.
"Hello… who are you?" One of the people who were chatting earlier was now talking to him.
"Hey… I'm Jayson, I'm here to see Lady Cassia, she's expecting me" Merlin spoke calmly and formally.
"Ah… Lady Cassia did inform us of something like that, I'll take you to her right away" the second person said as he walked forward.
Merlin raised a hand to stop him.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine on my own"
As he finished speaking, he immediately used blink and appeared right in the deck of the Chainbreaker, startling the people around.
"Sorry for the intrusion, I have a meeting with Lady Cassia" he waved his hands as he walked forward.
The people nodded in understanding as they unsummoned their weapons, their reaction time was truly top tier, however if it came to it, he could flatten everyone on board in less than thirty minutes, and if he used the cloak, then two minutes is enough.
He entered the ship, and through his intuition, he was able to find the room Cassie stayed in, he stood in front of the door, and as he was about to knock, Cassie's voice sounded.
"Come in…"
He was a little surprised that she was able to sense him, but he remembered one of her abilities allowed her to see a few seconds into the future, so she must have already heard him knock.
He opened the door and walked in.
"Yo… Cassie"