Chapter 9 - Fear

The Imp stared forward at all of these new things that he had never even imagined could exist, and was soon faced with Avalin leaning down toward him, pulling him out of his nearly petrified state. "Come on, don't stop walking." She told him with a frown, and the Imp simply looked at the red thing in front of him and began to follow the three things again, all the whilst still staring forward at this wondrous sight, although it soon snapped out of it when the Imp started to feel incredibly dizzy and nauseous, and simply felt like running away.

"Hm? Why'd you... Oh come on, the Imp again? What's it this time?" James asked annoyed, staring down at the shaking young monster, and Thomas quickly took a look around and then slapped his forehead with a sigh.

"Right, I forgot... The Lake God scares off Monsters, doesn't it?" He pointed out, and Avalin looked at the Imp with a nod herself. "Then how can we bring the Imp to town with us? We can't just let it stay out here, it's just going to be killed by some random adventurer..." She said and crossed her arms, and Thomas scratched his neck in thought.

"Well, it seems to trust you a good bit, and Monsters are scared of the Lake God because of the Aura it gives off... That kind of stuff can be overcome with a high enough Willpower Stat, so... Maybe with your help its Willpower stat can rise a bit more?" Thomas suggested, before then continuing, "We'll go and get rooms in the Inn while you're out here with it, and at the very least I'll come back in a bit before training. How's that sound?" The Blue and Silver thing pointed out, all the whilst the Imp was still just standing there, trying to figure out what was going on, while he stopped being able to hear what the things were speaking about.

He didn't really understand much of it anyway, so it didn't realy matter if he listened to them or not in the end. Right now, the Imp just wanted to figure out what exactly to do. He wanted to collapse right there, or just turn around and sprint off, but the Imp knew that he couldn't do that. At the mere thought of fleeing, he was faced with fear just as strong as he was feeling at the thought of getting closer toward that lake.

And the Imp's mind felt like splitting open because of just that. Whenever a single thought appeared in his head, the pain just got stronger, letting the Imp even ignore the notification that popped up soon after the pain started.

Just a little while later, the Imp could feel the pain get less and he regained his ability to think, and immediately saw two the same notifications, as well as one long one.

[You managed to fight off against mental pain. Willpower +1]

[You managed to fight off against mental pain. Willpower +1]

[Your mind is exhausted. In order to be able to break out of the ownership, ensure that you are always in a conscious state of mind]

Confused, the Imp stared at the notifications without even getting the gist of what was there. He now recognized about half of the letters, but even then, that didn't allow him to know about words he never heard before.

So, the Imp swiftly tried to turn away from the notifications while holding his head in pain, before he noticed that he was suddenly further away from the large structures. Turning around, the Imp could then see Avalin standing there, looking down onto him.

"You better now?" She asked with a smile, and the Imp was about to immediately reply with 'Yes' like he did to any of her questions, although he noticed that he actually slightly understood what she was saying. He knew that she was asking him if the pain had gone away!

"Yes!" The Imp then replied, this time truly meaning its reply, and another notification appeared in front of him.

[Beginner Common Language Comprehension Skill leveled up]

"Good. Now, do you want to try to get back there again?" Avalin asked, and the Imp didn't really manage to reply before its head began to hang low, because it was as tired as it never was before all of a sudden.

"Come on, wake up! We need to get going!" The Red thing exclaimed, and immediately at hearing her voice again, the Imp snapped its neck upward while another notification appeared in front of it.

[Beginner Exhaustion Resistance Skill Leveled Up!]

All of a sudden, the Imp could notice that it didn't feel nearly as tired as it did before, even if its body still felt quite heavy and sluggish, and it soon heard the red thing's voice again.

"Huh? Oh, well, I guess if that works, then..." Avalin muttered to herself and then looked down at the Imp with a stern expression, "Get started! Hurry! Toward the Inn!" She exclaimed and pointed in the direction of the large buildings, and immediately, the Imp's body began to move on its own, and he could hear Avalin speak from behind him again.

"Eh? Wait, am I an idiot? Of course commands would work!" The red thing whispered and began to follow the Imp, although he soon stopped moving again, because the sharp pain returned to his head as he started to play with the thought of fleeing once more.

"Imp! Go!" Avalin exclaimed, although her voice seemed rather conflicted at the moment as she was staring at him hold its head in pian. And then, the fear of not following the command heavily overwhelmed of the fear of getting closer to the lake, but just for a few more steps, and then the fear toward the lake returned stronger than ever.

[You are fighting against fear itself. Willpower +1]

Slowly, the Imp managed to cool down his head again and took a few more steps forward, but now the Imp really couldn-

"K-Keep walking!" Avalin yelled out toward the Imp in a stutter, and he immediately felt his feet move on their own, as he continued to move toward the large structures against his fill.

All the time, his mind was screaming, wanting to make him run away immediately, and whenever that happened Avalin would give the Imp another command to move forward, albeit ever-the-less convicted to do so. A handful of notifications appeared while the Imp was walking, and they always seemed to make it at least a tiny bit easier to keep going, although taking a bucket of water away from the ocean didn't make a difference either.

But soon enough, these notifications stopped appearing altogether, and his body continuosly felt as tired as it could be. And then, the Imp just couldn't take it anymore, and his body collapsed on the grass.

All he could see at that time was the darkness of the inside of his eyelids, while the outside was pressed up agains the dirt. His body was just stuck like it was, and he couldn't keep going no matter what happened.

It was as if his whole body convulsed at once to make any sort of movement impossible. To the Imp, it seemed somewhat as if he was about to die, although he soon felt something tugging on his arms.

For a few moments, the Imp thought that it was Avalin pulling him back away from the large structures again, but he was soon shown that it was the opposite, as his body continued to cramp up in response to seemingly getting closer to what caused his immense contradictory fears, until he just stopped somewhere on hard ground and kept laying there for another while, until he seemed to be able to calm down somehow.

That took quite a while in itself, however, and his fear was replaced with another emotion when he heard a certain thing's voice, although he still wasn't able to see him.

"That lazy bastard. Why'd you let it sleep on the grass?" James asked angrily, and next, Avalin's voice could be heard again. "He wasn't sleeping, he fell unconscious!" She exclaimed, and for a few moments, there seemed to be complete silence, while the Imp was just trying to concentrate on not passing out, because it for some reason instinctively knew not to do that at the moment.

For a little while, both James and Avalin seemed to start yelling at each other again, before the Imp felt a cold hand touch his forehead once they went quiet. Just momentarily, he was startled at the sudden feeling, but soon it seemed to help him calm down somehow. It was as if his body relaxed, and the fear of everything just disappeared at the same time, before the Imp was slowly able to stand back up and open his eyes.

He was now far closer to the big structures than before, and all around him, numerous things were walking around, staring at him suspiciously and full of fear.

And the Imp returned that by feeling scared once more as well, although this time it wasn't such overwhelming fear as before, instead he was just slightly startled and chose to hide behind of Avalin.

"Good... looks like you're better again, huh buddy?" The red thing whispered with a relieved sigh and looked at the Imp standing behind her, before scratching her cheek. "Now, let's try to get a bit closer again." She suggested, before grabbing the Imp by his hand to lead him forward as if he was a child.

A few times, it felt like the Imp would end up far too scared to move on again, but for some reason, with Avalin's support instead of her commands, he was able to continue on forward, until they stepped into the largest structure in the area before heading off up the stairs toward where the blue and silver thing was standing.

"Huh? You're here already?" Thomas asked and then looked down at the small Imp, still attached to Avalin's hand, "And what exactly are you doing there?" He then asked with a wry smile, before Avalin shrugged.

"He acts like a kid a lot of the time, so let's just try and treat him like one. Maybe that's going to help get him through town?" Avalin suggested, and once more, Thomas looked at her with a wry smile.

"'He'?" Thomas asked, and Avalin sighed deeply before looking at the blue and silver thing annoyed. "Yes, 'He'. And don't start in the same way as James now, I'm not in the mood." She exclaimed rather angrily, actually squeezing the Imp's hand tight enough to make a red notification appear.

[-2 Health]

Immediately, Avalin loosened her grip and looked to the side at the Imp, "Oh, sorry! Did I hurt you?" She asked with worry in her voice, and the Imp just tilted his head to the side. He once more wanted to just answer with 'Yes', but this time again he actually somewhat understood what she was asking him, so he said the opposite, "No..." He muttered nervously, because it was the first time that he said this word, and Avalin just smiled in relieve.

"Alright, I'm glad..." Avalin whispered to herself before Thomas looked at her with a deep frown. "Right... Let's go to the training rooms in the bas.e.m.e.nt for now, James is there already as well. I think we need to talk about this."