Chapter 195: Dreams

Chapter 195: Dreams

On reflex Anya swung her fist at the beast she felt her fist contact the beast’s head. Her fist struck one of it’s teeth and it felt like she was punching a wall of metal. Then Anya blinked, and the creature was gone. She was now standing in a strange black world. She spun around in bewilderment, this world was empty. Just a black void.

Anya reached out into the darkness as if expecting to grasp something. Then she realised that her hand wasn’t in pain. She had just punched that beast at full strength, she was sure she might have broken her hand when she felt the shock of pain. But now? She flexed the fingers of her right hand hand felt nothing, no pain, no discomfort, nothing.

“Huh, this is weird.” a childlike voice said.

Anya spun around in the direction of the voice, and she screamed. From the sound, she was expecting this young boy, but what she saw was this small monster. Its body was covered in a pure white carapace. It had a bulbous, long head and glowing red eyes as it stared at her through the shadows. It had four arms that lay relaxed at its side, each hand tipped with black claws.

It crossed a pair of arms across its chest and cupped his chin with the right hand of another pair of arms.

“You aren’t supposed to be here.” the monster said.

Then Anya felt her blood turn to ice as she felt another presence appear. Anya felt her legs give way as she felt this crushing pressure bear down on her. Her hands hit the floor as she struggled to bear the load on her trembling shoulders.

Then she heard this bestial growl echo out across the dark expanse.

“You think so? Huh, looks like we need to work on this then.” the smaller monster said.

Then another growl, this one seemed to vaguely convey interest.

“Really? Hmm, I suppose you are right, she is still intact.” the small monster said as she sensed movement near her. She raised her head and saw that the creature had knelt down in front of her and was examining her, its red eyes narrowed in interest.

“Yes, a strangely well-formed discarded item,” the little monster said, and Anya felt her arms give as she fell face-first into the cold, dark floor. It was only then that she realized that the floor was made of black slime.

She was slowly sinking into it...

There was another growl, its reverberations shook the very world and each tremor sent shockwaves of pain throughout her body.

“She won’t last much longer in our presence. She has to return or be destroyed,” the little monster said, and somehow, in her delirium, Anaya realised something. She was in the presence of a god, a god so powerful that she couldn’t even survive in its presence.

“A pity our time together was so short. Farewell.” the little monster said.

Anya gasped for air as the world returned, she was lying on her back, gasping for air. She had a pounding headache and every nerve in her body felt like it was fried.

She gasped as she rolled over and curled up into a ball. She could feel the cold grey soil beneath her and it was such a blessing. She was alive, she was back, not in whatever that horrible place was.

Anya heard the sound of running footsteps and saw someone fall to her knees in front of her. She felt a wary hand on her shoulder, and she looked up to see the Wrath Demon Regari staring at her in concern.

“What did you do?” Regari demanded at something.

“She triggered one of my defence systems. If I hadn’t reacted fast enough she wouldn’t have a soul right now.” this deep growling voice said.Visitt novelbin(.)co/m for the latest updates

Anya sat as Regari supported her back, her head still swimming. She looked up, took in the all to familiar giant monster and screamed...

◦◦,`°.✽✦✽.♚.✽✦✽.°`,◦◦

Hmmm...

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...

That is weird, I put in the [Soul Sunder] defence adaptation on a lark but I didn’t expect it to be tested so quickly. I realised what was going to happen the moment that girl raised her fist so I had enough time to react to sever the connection.

Not sure what she experienced in that fraction of a second but from my testing on some of the other idiots here, they go through this religious experience or something. It usually ends up with the person in question worshipping me.

I glanced down at the girl has thrown herself into the ground, forehead firmly pressed into the dirt.

“I’ll do anything please...” the girl sobbed as she grasped at the dirt.

And there it is...

Powerful stuff, this Soul Magic thing. It seems all my fancy manipulations of the Faith of Order were just a waste of time. I can easily just use this to create a group of devout followers. Although, the people who receive this do tend to end up as terrified lumps. So I would probably have to tailor it a bit. Make it a bit more holy and shit, maybe throw in some choirs and fancy lighting effects. Give it more pizzazz, as they say.

“You can start by bringing that one around this town, let him see what your town is. He just might persuade me to spare all of you.” I said as I pointed at Regari.

Regari just looked up at me blankly before pointing at himself.

“Me? I get to decide?” Regari asked in confusion.

◦◦,`°.✽✦✽.♚.✽✦✽.°`,◦◦

“So how exactly did all of you survive here?” Regari asked as he sat next to Anya. They were both by the lake as she gazed hollow eyed at the eerily still waters.

“Because of this.” Anya said as she listlessly stared at the water.

“So water is important, but I assume there is something else to it.” Regari stated.

“Its magic, if fills the soul and the body. But if you use it too much you could lose yourself. We call it the Lake of Dreams.” Anya replied that her mind was barely in the conversation.

“Lake of Dreams? So what you get trapped in a dream if you go down there?” Regari asked.

“Yes, some do take it. They say it’s beautiful but you eventually die. The Lake can nourish our crops, heal our bodies but if we abuse it, the lake destroys us.” Anya replied.

“How is it beautiful?” Regari asked as he leaned towards the water.

“It shows you a better world, or so the madmen say. It also apparently gives wisdom and visions. Those who succumb to the lake become great leaders for a time. But eventually the dreams grow corrupted, they grow paranoid, start seeing horror in every shadow. The only notice what is wrong and they do everything in their power to destroy it. In the end we have no choice by to put them down.” Anya replied.

“So I supposed drinking it is out of the question.” Regari said as he tossed a rock into the lake. The rock went in without so much as a splash. It just seemed to slide under the mirror like surface not even creating a ripple.

“You can drink it, in fact I think I need one now.” Anya said as she leaned in and used her hands to scoop out a handful of water. She hungrily drank it and her eyes visibly cleared slightly.

“Feeling better?” Regari asked cautiously.

“Yes, as long as I don’t drink much more I will be fine.” Anya replied.

“The Great Beast, that ancient from before. He wanted to find out how this place has become so calm, so developed. I assumed its this lake?” Regari asked.

“Yes it fights back despair, but use it too much and you will find yourself even worse off.” Anya said as she shook her head rather violently as if to clear her head.

“Sounds like something really useful, any idea how it got here?” Regari asked and Anya just shook her head.

“They did say an Angel once drank from it’s waters, but we don’t know which Angel.” Anya replied.

“An Angel? I suppose a story like that would stick around.” Regari said.

“It's a very old story, no one knows if its true.” Anya replied with a shrug.

“Yeah I suppose you never really know with some things.” Regari mused.

“So what happens now?” Anya asked despondently. Regari knew that feeling of whatever control of your life you thought you had was just a giant lie.

Lies do not save, faith does not preserve.

Such is the nature of this world. Deny the cold logic of reality at your peril.

“What always happens, the ancient and powerful will decide your fate.” Regari replied with a sigh.

“We never have a choice do we?” Anya said.

“No, not really. The strong do what they will, the weak suffer what they must.” Regari said and Anya could only nod despondently.

“Is it cruel? That ancient I mean.” Anya asked warily.

“He calls himself the Great Beast, or at least that was the title he was given.” Regari said.

“Title?” Anya asked.

“Yes title, another member of his group said the ancients rarely used names. They were all so singular that names were unnecessary, so they used titles.” Regari explained and Anya nodded in understanding.

“Makes them feel like gods...” Anya muttered and Regari nodded.

“Yes, they tend to seem like that.” Regari replied with a sigh.

Then he turned and saw the Great Beast at the edge of the lake, curiously peering at the water.

*Splash*