章 19: Paralysis Demon
The creature in the room watched in silence, it's form seemingly bleeding into the shadows of the dim room.
It's subtle grin widened as Ragna, Layla and Cera fell into deep slumber.
All of them fell into a deep and unnatural sleep, their breathing synchronized, like it was guided by some force.
This tower, with its room of just some simple furniture wasn't just a rest place, it was a trap for travelers inside of the dream realm, the creature in the corner creating the illusion of a secure place.
Time passed as minutes turned into hours yet none of the three stirred.
The creature was waiting patiently for the three of them to slowly die because of hunger since the creature had no physical body.
Of course that would take weeks tho because of their dormant bodies but the creature had time.
On the other side, one of the sleeping humans was panicking.
This sleepiness was a mind attack but since Ragna had the amulet of clarity against it, he wasn't fully asleep, like Layla or Cera were.
Yes, his body was sleeping but his mind wasn't.
He just laid there, looking up at the room, being scared and panicking, not understanding what was happening.
He wanted to move but his body just didn't respond.
He was in a state between being asleep and awake.
Suddenly, in the corner of his eye, Ragna saw a ghastly figure moving towards them and grinning like a hunter who had caught his prey.
As the creature who didn't have a physical body looked over them, he saw that Ragna's eyes were open, which made him look confused.
But suddenly it understood and grinned more.
The creature loved scaring and playing with humans, watching them slowly die.
And it now knew that the young boy in front of it was somehow awake, even if his body wasn't, meaning that he was watching it right now but couldn't do anything against it.
The creature floated nearer to Ragna, now being right over him and gazing down at Ragna.
It's grin grew more, wanting to come over as menacing as it could.
It couldn't attack nor touch Ragna because of its ghastly body but it wanted to scare Ragna and make him go crazy.
It started showing its sharp teeth and made movements of punching Ragna even if he physically couldn't but it still had its fun.
'Dumbass thinks I'm scared of it. He looks like a ghost of a halloween party. Im rather scared because I don't know how the fuck I am going to get out of here.'
***
As days passed, Ragna slowly gave up.
Layla and Cera were completly asleep, not realizing the situation they were in, how anyways.
The creature still played with Ragna, never getting bored of it.
Ragna's mind completly broke. He didn't know how much time passed but not being able to move, being stuck with only thoughts, knowing that his body could give up at any moment, was complete hell.
His mind had already crumbled.
But maybe because of his [Fated] attribute, something finally happened.
Ragna heard the door open and someone stepping inside.
Ragna didn't see her but a girl with purple hair had stepped inside, her eyes closed right now.
"Still so thirsty ... haven't drank anything in weeks. I would have died already if I was a normal human ..."
When Celeste finally opened her eyes, she didn't expect to see what she did. Her friends, Ragna and Layla and also some small creature, all sleeping in a bed, their bodies looking weak while a ghostly figure looked at her with shock.
Seing the creature, she started manifesting a memory, which appeared in an instant, not needing time to fully come to life. It was a purple dagger that had a weird aura around it.
Without even giving the creature time to react, she dashed forward and thrust the weapon at it but it went just through it.
The creature grinned, thinking that it was just a normal dagger which couldn't hit him since he didn't have a physical body but suddenly, the dagger started shining inside it and literally just deleted a chunk of its body from existence, making it die instantly.
And the next second, all of them suddenly woke up.
***
Ragna gasped for ais as his body jolted awake, his chest heaving heavily.
Ragna blinked, trying to adjust to from the paralysis back to the real world, Layla and Cera of course doing the same.
In the next second Celeste dashed towards Layla and hugged her tightly with a big smile.
"Ah, I knew you would be here, it was just a question of time till I found you, Layla ! But it seems like I came just in time."
Since Layla didn't have a charm that protected her against mind controls, she of course didn't understand anything. In her mind she just normally woke up, seeing her friend Celeste suddenly there.
"H-huh, what happened. Why are you here Celeste ?"
Ragna just watched with a unreadable expression.
'Where's my hug at ... why is she ignoring me'
And Cera just looked confused before falling asleep again.
'She slept for multiple days and she can still fall asleep ?!'
Ragna cleared his throat, gaining the attention of Celeste and Layla.
"I'm also here you know."
"Oh, how could I forget you, my first best friend !"
***
After explaining the situation to them, since Ragna was the only one who really knew what happened, they finally started talking about normal stuff again, talking about how their journey went inside of the Dream Realm.
"By the way, does one of you have ANYTHING to drink or something like that ?", asked the physically worn out Celeste.
Without answering, Layla started manifesting her fruit memory and gave it to Celeste
Since it always regrew after one bite, she could eat as much as she wanted, the freshness also satiating her thirst.
After she was done, she gave it to Layla, who also took a few bites since she was asleep for multiple days.
"Uhm ... I'm also hungry, you know ?"
Both of them looked at him before Celeste spoke up in a teasing tone.
"I still don't trust that you can only drink blood. You defenitely have a fetisch of drinking blood from young girls and saying that it's your flaw."
".. First of all, I can eat and drink normal stuff, it just doesn't do anything against my hunger and thirst. Second of all, I'm not acting to have a flaw like that ! Why would I want to drink blood of others ?! And I've survived of blood for the past few months so doesn't that show that I'm not lying ?"
Celeste laughed while Layla was already preparing to cut herself slightly.
"You're such a tease, Ragna boy."
***
After they were done with their antics, Ragna woke up Cera since Celeste wanted to know who she was.
(Wake up, sleepyhead.)
(Mnhnm, just 5 more minutes ..)
(I won't let you sit on my shoulder anymore while we travel if you don't wake up now.)
Cera instantly opened her eyes and shot up, her small demonic wings flapping in the air.
(Cera ready to do anything you want !)
She then noticed Celeste
(Who is that ? An enemy !?)
(Of course not ! She's a friend of mine and she'll be traveling with us from now on.)
Ragna then turned back to Celeste.
"She's a Echo of sorts but not exactly. I got her from my Aspect Legacy and I can talk with her over my mind. She's and Awakened Beast but I'm pretty sure that she can grow stronger, her name is Cera, by the way."
At the words of an Aspect Lineage, Stars appeared in Celeste's eyes.
"You got an Aspect Legacy ? As a Sleeper ? Will you make a Legacy Clan ? You'll make me your wife, right ... RIGHT ?"
Celeste moved nearer and held his arm while looking at him with stars in her eyes.
"... I haven't decided on that yet and If i ever create a clan, I defenitely won't marry you, you creep."
Celeste gasped and looked shocked.
"How could you! You monster !"
After that all of them just laughed before decided to finally leave this tower.
Their cohort now consisted of three persons and one echo, who had a real personality tho and couldn't be fully commanded like others.
They descended the tower's step, walking out to the ominous landscape of the Dream Realm again, white sand under them, distant shapes on the horizon and the dark sky, which came from the veil, hovering over them.
——-Author's Notes——-
Words: 1432
Sorry for late upload.
I aciddently fell asleep last day. I will upload another chapter today tho to make up for it.
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週次パワーステータス
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