บท 25: Nightmare of Layla(2): Book of the Unknown
Layla's determination burned, even if the oppressive weight of the dark Cathedral loomed over her.
Her footsteps echoed through the quiet and building as she moved around in what seemed to be the main room.
Over her was a large chandelier and at her side were large, grey windows. On the ground, the room, was mostly filled with places to sit down while in the middle, at the far back stood an altar.
This place looked like a place for religious persons, except for the fact that everything was dark, decayed and long broken.
'This place is so creepy. Isn't a Nightmare normally full of action and Creatures ?'
Layla slowly and cautiously walked towards the altar and she saw, what looked like to be a book, laying openly on it.
'A book ? Why here ? I should read it, I guess. It's not that long anyways.'
Chapter 1: The birth of the Unknown
'Before the stars shone and before the earth knew the warmth of the sun, there existed nothingness. At a random point in the timeless nothingness, stirred the first of the Unknown.
Cracks in the vast void, echoes in the endless silence. Something started to exist in nothing. There was no Flesh, no Soul and no fabric.
The Unknown didn't create the Universe, The Universe was it. The first Unknown was new light in what once was nothing. The Unknown watched as it expanded over billions of years, stars shining, cosmos expanding.
And some day, other beings emerged into the ever expanding cosmos.'
Chapter 2:
'And so, the Universe grew, stretching into the infinite, spars of the first unknown splitting through it. It was not a being of thought or desires, nor a mind that planned. It was just a quiet observer, watching as he expanded.
It was the Universe, a part of it at the same time but also something beyond it, existing in something even nothingness couldn't reach.
Galaxies spun into new Unknown, all of them under the first one tho.
They merely existed as with every single blink, a new star started to burn.
Once the stars burned the brightest, the Seven gods were born out of it.'
Chapter 3: Gods and Daemons
'The void Creatures, the unknown, had lived in peace for a long time and after a while, their kin were born from a flame.
The newborns were gods. They were the kin of the void Creatures but they also were from a different nature.
The gods created life, death, water, land, emotion and everything inbetween.
There were seven gods but one was forgotten and forbidden to talk about. That forgotten god had gotten children of it's own tho, the daemons, who had come from a forbidden lineage.'
Layla stopped reading since the rest of the pages had been torn off, no, one was left.
Chapter 7: ####
'HAIL THE UNKNOWN'
Layla just stared at the book for a while, her mind being too overworked and confused right now.
'What the fuck did I just read. The first Unknown ? Does that have something to do with one of my Attributes ? It says that I have a fragment of the first existence afterall. And there a gods and daemons ? This is just too much.'
Layla held her hand against her forehead as she staggered away and sat down on a part of already fallen off roof.
Layla's mind raced with all of the new information she had gotten. The air of the dark Cathedral also seemed heavier now, like the walls themselves were watching her.
'Just let me get out of here. What kind of First Nightmare is this ? I would've rather been send into the den of Awakened Creatures.'
Layla sat still for a while, just laughing the absurdity.
'This place is fucking crazy. I'll fucking die, I'll die.'
After a while of newly formed depression, she sat up again and continued exploring. She walked away from the main room and went more to the western wing of the dark Cathedral.
***
The western wing of the Cathedral was even quieter, if that was even possible.
Layla's boots tapped lightly against the cold, stone floor as she navigated through narrow hallways.
Empty suits of armor stood at each side, spanning till the end of the long hallway she was following right now.
Dust hung in the air, illuminated by the dim light of the moon, which shone through the cracks of the broken roof.
As she approach the end of the hallway, she had found a staircase, descending lower into this unholy place.
She hesitated for a while, thinking about if she really wanted to go down there. She could've of course just turned around and left for good but she felt like she needed to go down there, that if she didn't, her death was already guaranteed.
'This is such a shitty idea ...'
Step by step, she made her way down, deeper into the darkness of the Cathedral.
How Layla still could see, she didn't know.
She found herself in an ancient crypt, unreadable runes shining dimly on the walls.
But what really had gotten her attention was what laid in the center of the room.
It was a fully black sword, A katana to be exact.
She cautiously approached it, looking left and right.
"What is a sword doing here ? Please don't be cursed, please."
As she knelt down and grazed the hilt of the sword, it suddenly shone in white color and dissolved into nothingness.
[You have obtained a Memory ...]
Layla's eyes widened slightly.
'A .. a Memory ? I have never head of a Memory that just existed in the outside world. I just touched it and it became mine ?'
Without wasting another second, she hurriedly summoned her runes.
...
...
Memories: [Unknown Whisper]
[Unknown Whisper]:
Type: Weapon
Rank: Awakened
Tier: 1
Description: "A Sword forged out of a long lost Fragment of the Unknown. It's true potential has been sealed but once it reaches it's full potential, it will be stronger than any."
Attributes: [Evolution],
Attribute Description: "This Sword can get stronger under hidden conditions."
'The strongest ? Get stronger under hidden conditions ? ... I'VE GOT AN AWAKENED SWORD ! As an Aspirant ! This is great."
Layla instantly manifested the fully black katana, wanting to be ready if anything that wasn't her moved.
As the Fully black blade appeared in her hand, she just stared at it for a while.
'It looks depressed ..., just like me'
***
After that, Layla had walked back up the staircase, arriving back inside the Cathedral again, now feeling a little bit more confident.
She gripped the hilt tightly, the weird weight making it feel like the sword was a part of herself.
But with confidence came despair since the Cathedral wasn't done with her, no, it hadn't even started yet.
While tracing her steps back to the main hall, she had discovered something that wasn't there before.
It was a singular page, one of the one that were torn off from the book on the Altar.
'Maybe I just have overlooked it in the dark.'
As she picked it up and started reading it, her expression turned grim as she felt a shiver run down her spine.
Chapter 127: The Watcher
'When the first of the Unknown awakened, so did it's shadow. The shadow was born from the spaces between light and dark. No one knew it existed wince it a physical sense, It didn't. It was just watching, observing everyone and everything, always.
It is only an observer.
You're being watched ... Layla'
By now, She had already accepted her death.
Yet nothing happened.
'Right .. right, it is only an observer, it won't kill me.'
And just like that, her confidence was already gone.
She knew that the Shadow had placed that page deliberetly on the ground, wanting her to know that she's being watched.
'I don't like this, I really don't like this.'
As Layla arrived back in the main hall, she looked around again, wanting to notice if something was different again but it seemed like nothing had changed, thankfully.
She looked through the large windows, watching the Moon lighting the Cathedral with dim light.
'I will make it out alive. I defenitely will not fall into despair.'
——-Author's Notes——-
Words: 1367
Slightly shorter chapter but I feel like the quality was really good for my standards.
Layla feels like the Mc right now even tho she isn't 😭
But it's crazy how I try harder with her Nightmare than Ragna's
It's pretty late for me so
Peace ✌️
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