Chapter 14：Nightmare

Swish, swish, swish. Dylan was silently swinging his sword in the outskirts of barracks. The sun had not yet to be risen and the birds still slept. The silver glow of the fading moon cast a soft light over Dylan's earnest figure. With every swing, he attempted to dissolve the ominous thoughts pecking at him. He had already been doing so for as long as it took for his shirt to soak with sweat and cling to his skin. The anxious sensation did not disappeared even when the first rays of light shone and the birds sung in the sky.

"C-captain!" A messenger came running into the barracks. He panted and huffed, chest heaving up and down with difficulty. Concern, fear, and sorrow was clear on his face.

"What's wrong?" Dylan wiped his sweat with a white towel and asked. His face was hardened and his voice, stern. The tingling sensation eating at him grew stronger.

"T-the saint, she, she's gone missing!" The messenger yelled. In a flurry of disbelief, Dylan grabbed onto the messengers frail shoulders and clenched them to the point of almost breaking. He shook him, the poor guy's eyes spiralling with dizziness.

"What'd you say? Who's missing? Who's gone missing?" Dylan almost screamed, he felt his composure slipping away from him and irrationally hated the fumbling messenger. He must've heard wrong, that's can't be true. Someone is playing a trick of him. Dylan tried to convince himself.

"The saint...Sir Matthias returned alone. He-" The messenger was interrupted by Dylan who dashed off in search for Matthias. Surely he would have more reliable news. He sprinted through the barracks, casting wind magic on himself to speed up. In only a few minutes, he made his way across the castle grounds, to Matthias' residence amongst the royal mages.

In the mage towers, healers ran frantically like headless chicken. They buzzed around like bees, busy and occupied. No one even glanced at him when he barged in rudely without even knocking. The mages shouted, they panicked and screamed over each other.

"The genius healer is here." Dylan managed to make out. The genius healer was a young mage, he was one of the most respected of the mages for his skills and knowledge in regards to healing magic. For him to be here at the mage tower was rare. Dylan would have usually been curious about such a thing but today was not the day. He had other things to be concerned about.

Dylan made his way through the crowd and arrived at the room he was familiar with. He furrowed his eyebrows when he saw the flock of mages crowding around the door. He pushed the crowd away, some of the mages were shocked by such rude actions but shut their angry mouths when they saw who it was.

Matthias' room was brightly lit up by a magic spell. His room consisted of a single bed, many bookshelves that lined up along the walls and a large desk. The desk was full of stacked books and opened ones with scribbles written all over it. The ground was not free from the stack of books either.

Upon entering the room, Dylan was assaulted by the familiar stench of blood. The respected mages of the country crowed around Matthias' small bed and hid him from Dylan's sight. But this made Dylan anxious. Was someone injured?

"Excuse me for the interruption, respected gentlemen. May I ask for your business here today?" Dylan took in a deep breath and spoke in his usual calm and polite voice. The mages turned their heads to look at him, they recognised him at once. He was the country's pride, the Golden Fenrir.

"Sir Dylan." An elderly mage spoke. His face distorted with anguish as if he were reluctant to speak of something. Dylan walked up to them, he couldn't wait for the mage to speak.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Dylan catches the sight of a figure drenched in blood. His breathing was laboured, his eyes tightly shut and only the heaving on the chest showed that he was alive. The man had short brown hair that curled to become even shorter. His baby face was pale and sweaty. Dylan recognised the man as his best friend, Matthias.

"...What happened?" Dylan knew not to lose his composure like he did earlier. He was already reflecting on his immature actions, instead of losing his cool, he should've let the messenger finish speaking.

"According to the soldiers at the gates, he passed out in front of the gates. He was alone and when they went to help him, one of them heard him say, 'Sherry is gone'." The mages sighed and reported to him. Dylan clenched his fist. He took in a deep breath and exhaled to calm himself down.

"How is he now?" He asked, his voice shaking.

The healer shook his head slowly. "I've casted a recovery spell on him but it will take awhile for him to wake."

Dylan was silent. He stood frozen on spot and did not move. On his face was a complex myriad of emotions. The mages looked at each other and at Dylan again. They nodded and bid him farewell. When they left, Dylan sat beside Matthias' bed. He looked more stabilised than before but still in great pain. Dylan chanted a cleaning spell on Matthias, removing the blood and sweat. He moved Matthias' hair out of the way of his eyes and saw Matthias twitch his eyes.

"I, I couldn't protect her, Dylan. I let her die in front of my very eyes." Matthias cried. His voice was choked with tears as he sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. "I don't even know how I'm still alive. I just knew that I had to let people know the truth."

"What happened?" Dylan's voice was cold and anxious.

"We will traveling along the main road when a group of masked men started chasing us. They were very skilled and on par with Frin's top groups so the guards sacrificed their lives to save us." Matthias could not continue speaking. The tears overwhelmed him so Dylan waited until he continued. "We escaped into the forest. The men were hot on our trail and we couldn't run anymore. I cast the strongest spells I knew but the men evaded with ease and easily got to me. Then, in front of my very eyes, a sword was stabbed through Sherry's chest."

Dylan froze. He couldn't seem to hear what Matthias was saying anymore. All he could think of was Sherry. The image of her walking with her back to him, her head turning around and a smile like the flowers blooming on her face. Blood dripped down from her lips and that beautiful smile was no more. Her figure disappeared into petals, and she was gone.