บท 1: 01Nightmare

[𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄: 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐔𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐋. 𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐔𝐄, 𝐈 𝐔𝐒𝐄 ?? ?? 𝐒𝐘𝐌𝐁𝐎𝐋 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒. 𝐀𝐍𝐃 << >> 𝐒𝐘𝐌𝐁𝐎𝐋 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐔𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐒. 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐔𝐒𝐄]

"In your life, you'll lose things. The things you love, the things that you want to protect, the things that you desire. They will leave you. Such is life."

"You may get hurt, your heart may break, you will cry and be devastated. But you should never stop. Never give up hope, for the memories you made. "

"The memories you made, your heart held, from then on, yours alone. To protect those precious memories, you will continue to live, so will the memories, along with you."

**Indistinct whispers**

**Screech**

**Screen cracked**

**Blood seeps out**

"You need power?"

"Join me and I will give you all the power you want."

"Come on… Come and jump. See this, right here? It's waiting for you. All you need to do is, jump."

**Roar**

**Trumpet**

??They are called totems.??

??Left one is ours, Silvermane Lions.??

??Right one belongs to the Breastooths.??

**Hissing**

**Crying**

??Humans as such. Give them an inch, they will take it to a mile.??

??We Should kill him.??

**Haunting sounds**

"As your master, I can only expect one thing from you. Life is precious, so you shouldn't kill."

**Leaves falling. Winds billowing**

**Rustling**

"Young man, it's just a misunderstanding. We, six brothers, have a family. They are waiting for us. Let us go. Please..."

**Sudden gale**

**Evil laughter**

"Inexperienced brat, how dare he threaten us? He deserves it."

**Gasp**

A young boy woke up from a terrible nightmare. He placed his hand on his chest to ease the suffocation he was feeling moments ago. He was heavily panting. His face glistened with a thin sheen of sweat. His forehead was throbbing with pain. He looked at the ceiling blankly. His eyes were red and filled with confusion.

He spent a few minutes looking at the ceiling. Then he raised his upper-body and placed the pillow vertically against the headboard before leaning against it.

"This dream again?" The boy muttered as he pulled his hair, "What are they even trying to tell me?"

The boy shook his head. He couldn't tell how many times he had experienced the same nightmare. Every time they came, it puzzled him. It made him think.

It was like a never-ending jigsaw, where half of the pieces were missing. It all started on his tenth birthday. He didn't know why and how. All he knew was, it would leave a deep impression on him as well as his lifestyle. The past three years were torture to him.

Every single time, it felt like they were trying to change him… To control him…

He tried everything he could. He went as far as to meditate before going to bed, but no matter what he tried, nothing worked. He sometimes doubted that a ghost possessed him, however, the priest his father hired found nothing.

When he found his parents were extremely worried about him, he lied—telling them that the nightmares had stopped. In the end, he could only endure the pain all alone.

What was the dream trying to tell him? Were the dreams foretelling something? Did that mean something would happen to his family?

He would absolutely not let that happen. He had to become strong and protect them from all harm. They loved him, and he desired to protect them.

He was already incapable of killing. Why would it try to hold him back? Moreover, from what? He decided that the nightmares had to stop, at any cost.

Who was that naked lady at the riverside? Why was she asking me to jump? I wish I could. She was so beautiful. She looked like a fairy. He wished he could drown himself in her eyes. They were so magnetic. But the river… She said it was waiting for him. Why would it wait for him?

The boy took a deep breath and released it. He propelled his legs to spring out of the bed.

As his feet touched the ground, the blanket slid, and his naked chest slowly came to view. He stretched his taut muscles. Although he looked 13 years old, his body couldn't lose compared to some of the veteran knights.

The young man felt his stiff muscles and did some basic exercises. He frowned. The dream came to his mind again. He couldn't stop thinking about it.

He stopped exercising, walked over to the window, and slid open the curtains.

Behind the curtains was a glass window, the rigid bars supporting the adjacently placed glass panels on it.

After he slid the curtains open, the unceremonious sun rays filled the entire room and basked it in its golden glow. He covered his eyes and let them adjust to the morning glow of the sunlight. He took a deep breath as the fresh air of the morning hit his face. Everything felt so fresh. It let him forget about his nightmare.

After his eyes adapted to the light, he placed the right hand on the panel of the window. He arched his back and peered outside.

The trees, the sun, the vast fields, the birds… Everything felt so refreshing.

As the sun rays lit up his bedroom, one could see the room was built solely with stone bricks and had simple decorations giving it a rich experience. While the lavish wooden works dominated half of the room, the other half had ample space to practice the sword.

The bedroom was clean and tidy, apart from the blanket, half-hanging from his bed.

He had his hands spread apart, welcoming the morning sun and the fresh air. It filled him with immense joy and satisfaction.

From his bedroom on the second storey, he could see the beautiful village that was filled with laughter and hope. When he saw the village, all the previous anxiety vanished. It was replaced with determination. Determination to protect them from all harm... Determination to protect the smile on his parents' face.

From the beginning, the Ashtide family reigned over Ashton village. Not the obnoxious lordship, but the competent one who treats the villagers like a family would.

The Ashton village was located at the southern corner of the Windville rural district.

Being the capital city of the Whitewind, one of the three states of the Weindo, Windville was prosperous and filled with riches.

The Windville district was divided into the urban district and rural district. Whilst most of the nobles stayed in the urban districts, newborn nobles managed the undeveloped areas like the rural districts.

Ashton village was just under the dormant volcano, which had not erupted for the last one and a half-century. However, when the previous eruption occurred, the magma filled the surrounding barren lands, then the time had changed the once-barren lands to fertile ones.

It had also given birth to a strange tree called 'Ash tree'. Ash trees had two uses. One was the wood, which was hard, strong, and durable; well-suited for the lavish pieces of furniture.

Another use was the fruits that came from the tree helped the fire manipulators to gain and increase control over the fire element.

The village had formed 500 years back, and the Ashtide family could be considered as the oldest family and ancestors of the village. Even after the many ill experiences, the Ashtide family chose to not leave the village and swore to protect it

The main reason behind their decision was ash fruits. When the Ashtide family found the ash fruits were edible, they treated them like any other fruit and ate them regularly. After a few years, under the ash fruits essence, their blood mutated and awakened the rare element, 'Ash'.

The ash element was the combination of fire and wood.

If a family wanted to become a noble-family, the first thing they would need was the mutated bloodline with the element.

Ashtide lineage carried the mutated bloodline, and they were once a great family, however, after the hero, Williams Ashtide, died 150 years back, their fate sealed, and they were destined to become a normal family.

They were destined not because they didn't have talents, but Williams' Ashtide took away the spells and the techniques of the Ash element.

Without them, the ash element was not worth a tinker's damn.

A few years later, Ashtide's downfall started and the once great noble family degraded into a mere merchant family.

And the only reason they were not robbed was because of Hero William's noble sacrifice to save the continent. If not for sacrificing himself, by now, the continent would've been littered with monsters and human corpses.

Thus the 'Noble-hall' swore to protect the Ashtide family and the village as long as they would exist. After all, in this 'self-preserving' world, even offering protection was rare.

For this reason, not to mention the bandits, even the other noble-families didn't dare to rob the ash fruits.

At most, they would make a business deal, and few greedy nobles would associate with the bandits to pillage the merchant wagons.

"Arthur, get ready, and come down!" A voice pulled him back to reality. He turned towards the door and replied, "Yes, mum!"

"Don't daze in front of the mirror, and hurry!" His mother's voice rang again.

"I know, I know. I won't!" Arthur yelled back, his voice carried traces of embarrassment and protest.

Arthur ran inside the bathroom and saw the wooden bathtub filled with hot water. He quickly removed the clothes and walked over to the mirror.

Standing in front of the full-length mirror, he stroked his cheeks. The small reddish bumps under his hands marred his otherwise handsome face.

He had deep-set eyes with a beautiful diamond-shaped face as if the master artist had carved it. His pale complexion stood out in contrast to the dark and overgrown hair. The dark pupils, big nose, straight eyebrows, and slight acne added nothing but charm to his face.

"I should find a way to remove these pimples," Arthur mumbled in a dissatisfied voice as he traced his face with the fingers.

He didn't spend a lot of time in front of the mirror today. Perhaps, it's because of the nightmare, or maybe because of his mother's words.

Arthur held the linen cloth that was placed on the stand before the mirror. Underneath it was a small sachet. Opening the sachet, he found the powder he was looking for. It was the ground sage which was used for brushing teeth.

He applied the ground sage onto the rough linen cloth and brushed his teeth. After he finished brushing, Arthur went to the wooden tub and submerged himself in the hot water with a relaxed expression.