Chapter 3: Daydream; Part 2

  Cerea found herself sitting, and her hands covered her ears. As she regained her senses, she heard growls and footsteps approaching her. In a forest which was supposed to be full of monsters, she encountered the first at that time.

  It was the first time she met that kind of formless monster, and she had no idea such existed since it wasn’t in her prior knowledge. It was twice her size, and had an eerily huge mouth facing upwards with a width that could devour her in an instant. On its body were elongated wiggling... arms? Paws? Legs? She couldn’t confirm which since it changed continuously, molding to different shapes. Moreover, its pure black skin seemed to absorb the plants around it. Everything close to it dilated, thinned, and slowly revolved around it. What is that thing? She thought.

  She stepped backward, and eventually tripped on a protruding root. The figure loomed over, its mouth bent toward her, and released a stench of blood. Cerea covered her nose, and breathed through her mouth. However, the smell was too overwhelming for her that made her almost lose consciousness. From the moment she fell, her legs won’t move anymore as if it was dug into the ground. She closed her eyes in fear of knowing what was in the mouth of vile monster. She threw her knives, but the sound of it hitting never came. Instead, she heard a gurgling voice.

  A strong wind blew past her. Silence enveloped the surrounding once again.

  From the briefing earlier, the instructor said they’ll be picked up when they’re discovered. It gave her a glimmer of hope. She relaxed her overly tense body, and heaved a sigh of relief. The mentors prevented them to equip their weapons, and told them that they could be rescued from the trivial monsters in the area.

  As she opened her eyes, there was nothing but the darkness in its purest form. She felt as if something was crawling towards her. So she instantly leapt backwards. She was not swallowed yet, apparently, and her ability to maneuver returned. The mouth still faced her, and on its right, its arm-like things were still wiggling and extending toward a certain direction. The knives she threw earlier protruded on its left.

  “Why aren’t they helping me?” She spoke in a very low voice, looking behind the monster and hoping a rescue would come. What if she was truly spirited away?

  The still monster, slowly went toward the direction where its hands directed. Cerea attempted to run the other way. A knife swished before her eyes, barely missing her nose. She stopped on her tracks and looked again at the monster which had the other knife aimed at her. It seemed to urge her to go to that certain direction.

  Since the monster moved sluggishly, she ran past it while retaining eye contact. It never attacked her, fortunately. The forest gradually became similar to what it was: the species of trees varied again, and the wild plants went past her knees no more. As she continued, she found a beaten path that appeared to be used regularly. No wild plants grew, and no trees blocked it.

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  At the end of the path, there was a huge moss-covered manor. Its fa?ade was full of cracks, and the collected dust almost buried the fading white-paint. The glass-less window frames were bent, and the open door was mystifyingly undamaged.

  “An abandoned manor?” Cerea pressed her temples, thinking why the monster led her there. Other than overwhelming her with its terrifying figure and nauseating stench, it did nothing else. She was perfectly fine which made her feel weird after experiencing such an awful event.

  Contrary to the manor’s fa?ade, the entrance hall was undeniably clean and without a broken furniture or a grimy and dusty floor which she expected it to have. Instead, it was thoroughly empty—like a prison. No ornate paintings hung on the wall, no door which should lead to another room, no stairs to the second floor, no candles nor fancy chandeliers. This emptiness felt like it formed something inside her. Or rather, it drained something from her. As if pulling ‘it’ from herself, and taking it to a place which shouldn’t exist.

  She took a deep breath to relax her mind. She noticed a thick tome lying further in the hall, and picked it up. The first few pages within it were blank, then she came upon a page where a young man was sitting on a prairie staring at the cloudless sky.

  Cerea lost her consciousness.

  When Cerea woke up, she learned that an instructor found her unconscious under the shade of an oak tree, gripping the fifth stone. Even though she didn’t personally brought the stone back to the guild, she still passed the first test in the advanced training. She was especially excused since she was under the authority of Mr. Anders.

  When asked about what happened, she explained that exhaustion had taken over her, and she took a rest once she found the last stone. She hid the story about her strange experience, and decided to not tell anyone about it, not even to her parents. The incident was an oddity, definitely. And the stone she never found somehow landed in her arms.

  On the very night of the same day, her dreams about the certain man began. It was a simple and repetitive dream. She awoke to an eerily silent prairie. The wild plants, the cloudless sky, and the young man — frozen. As if time doesn’t move in this place; an entire world of its own. Tranquil. Serene. Lifeless. Despite of her attempts, she wasn’t able to come closer to him. Every visit was just looking at him from afar, a ceaseless dreams about a person she never saw before.

  The man had messy obsidian black-hair that was not taken care of, with strange symbols written on his left arm, and a face that seemed to be yearning for something. The young man didn’t feel threatening, but she felt disturbed. How could someone look gentle yet ominous? Why does she even dream of this place?

  Chapter 3 End.

  Extra:

  I'm sorry for posting updating so late. (?_?”)