ೃ༄ "my sister will die if she stays in that state for too long...!"
✧──────✧
while malleus and f/n had thought they successfully sent silver, sebek, yuu, and grim back to their dream world, the four found themselves back in briar valley — or the land of briar — a few centuries back.
sebek rose up from the grass as he held his head, feeling dizzy as he looked around the area, "... huh...? where are we...?"
yuu groaned to himself as he sat up, noticing the dark area and the trees all around them, "deep in the forest...?" grim was beside him as he groaned as well, "ffgnaaaa~ did we manage to escape those gooey creatures?"
silver nodded and looked around as he helped yuu and grim up, "seems like it, but i don't know whose dream we're in yet..."
meanwhile, sebek looked like he was about to cry as he wailed, "i... i just disobeyed the young master and young mistress!!! i have done something so unbelievably rude!!!" silver sighed as he spoke, "cry all you want later, we have to figure out where we are first..."
silver took a few steps forward as he looked around, taking in the surroundings of the beautiful forest, "this scenery, the smell of the breeze... i think i know where we are."
before he could say anything else, however, silver noticed that they were about to get attacked, making him shield the rest as he warned them, "take cover!!!"
grim and sebek's eyes widened as they ducked and dodged the sniping attack as silver looked around right after, "an ambush?! where is it coming from?"
suddenly, a bunch of soldiers in masks showed up before them, screeching, growling, and snarling as the four of them backed away a bit. "w-who are these guys?!" exclaimed sebek as he backed away from them.
one of them grabbed grim as he started shrieking, "eek—?! they're wringing me like a towel?!"
the soldiers continued to screech as sebek raised a brow in confusion before talking back, "...'men of steel'...? we're not!" grim looked at sebek in a panic as he spoke, "you can understand them, sebek?!"
the third soldier screeched back in reply as sebek spoke, "it's not a lie! we're students...!" before sebek could complete his sentence, another screech was heard nearby followed by a cloud of bats flying before them, making the other four gasp in surprise. the soldiers stood properly upon seeing the bats, now being attentive as it made yuu raise a brow in confusion.
a deep voice was then heard, "what is all this noise about?" one of the soldiers then replied back, but all the others could hear were screeches. the unknown man then sighed as he spoke, "hmph... you fools, look at the energy around them. they have been blessed by our people, they are not the enemy."
"blessed...? who are you...?" mumbled silver as he eyed the masked man with a deep voice. he did not respond to silver's inquiry but spoke, "however, they still raise suspicion." suddenly, the masked man took his weapon out and swung it around for a moment.
"a magical lithic...?!" exclaimed sebek as he and the rest had their eyes wide open in shock.
"shut up, humans. don't talk too much."
before them stood a man around 158 centimetres tall wearing a mask and a hood, but his long dark hair with red streaks are still seen for the four. he had his arms crossed as the red glow in the eye holes of the mask looked back at them, sending shivers down their spines.
however, silver gasped as he noticed the little white bird flying around him for a few seconds, indicating that they are in the dream of this masked man.
"who are you guys? answer me," commanded the man as he held onto his weapon, "speak now if you do not wish to fade away like the mist on this magical weapon."
grim shrieked in fear as he hugged yuu's leg and cried out, "eek! i do not want to become emergency food!" sebek stood tall as he spoke, "w-we do not mean any harm! we are just students from a magic school!"
yuu nodded to support sebek's statement as he added, "we're from night raven college!" the masked man placed his hands on his hips as he spoke, "night raven college, huh? ...i've already said i'm not interested in a school founded by humans!"
the four flinched in surprise as the masked man raised his voice and continued, "you wish to teach me magic when all your lot can do is a child's prank magic? sending in people as if the letters weren't enough, tsk. how absurd. you really think you can teach me anything? do you take me for a fool, huh?"
grim raised his paws up in defence as he said, "what...?! we didn't say anything like that...!" silver then added, "n-no, we're..."
however, the masked man ignored their claims and continued, "i've got my hands full dealing with those pesky silver owls. i don't have time to play your games. i'll let you off just this once. get out of here, humans."
the masked man then shrieked, and the other soldiers shrieked as well. grim clung onto yuu's leg as he spoke in a panic, "why does our school send letters to scary monsters like them?!" sebek looked offended by his words as he glared at grim, "monsters?! bite your tongue, beast!!! pay attention to the mark on their armours. that is the coat of arms of the briar valley's palace guards... but it seems outdated, i wonder why..."
"the lithic... and the light moments ago... i think this person is..." trailed silver, but before he could complete his sentence, a loud voice spoke out of nowhere and approached their group.
"REPORTING———!!!"
a taller soldier ran up to them as he had what seemed to be a crocodile mask. similar to the shorter masked man, this taller soldier had a hood on as well as he saluted at the shorter one, "I APOLOGISE, GENERAL!!!"
yuu flinched a little at his loud voice, his unbelievable volume reminds him of a certain first-year standing right beside him. the masked man clicked his tongue as he spoke, "quiet down, baul. what's the matter?"
sebek's eyes widened at the mention of the name as he exclaimed in surprise, "b-baul...?!" grim looked up at sebek in curiosity, "what's up, sebek? do you know that guy?"
sebek was still surprised as he eyed the taller soldier, "n-no... it can't be..." the taller soldier then looked at the four as he spoke, "hm? who are these children?" he then noticed their ears, which made him go, "...?! those round ears... are you children of steel?!"
"they're just lost kids, leave them be," spoke the shorter man addressed as general, "what's the matter?"
"...right! please excuse me. our troops stationed in the forest have reported silver owl activities. they have set up tents by the foot of the enchanted mountain, and are wreaking havoc as we speak," reported the taller soldier called baul.
the general clicked his tongue once again as he spoke, "tsk... obstinate imbeciles. let's teach them a lesson."
as soon as the general and his soldiers are about to walk away, silver stepped towards them and called out, "please wait!!" the general looked silver and spoke, "what?"
"p-please..." trailed silver, "please take us with you!"
"come again?"
grim looked at silver as if he grew a second head, "why do you want to do that when he's letting us go, silver?!" the diasomnia second year looked at the cat-monster and replied, "we can't head back empty-handed. we'll prove our worth as night raven college students."
silver then looked at the general as he added, "we promise not to hold you back. we have confidence in our magic and skills!" the general placed his hands on his hips as he spoke in a stern tone, "i thought i said it to you in a way you'd understand, but clearly not. did you not hear me? get out of this country before it's too late, mortals."
the way the general said the last sentence sent shivers down their spines as grim mumbled, "...my fur's tingling like when tsunotaro glares at me...!"
unlike grim, however, silver stood firmly as he spoke, "we are not leaving no matter what you say! please let us accompany you!"
the general and silver proceeded to have a bit of a staring contest, eyeing each other firmly until the general said, "...............alright."
"eh?!" shrieked the four in surprise. "are you sure, general?! you're going to bring these suspicious beings with us?!" exclaimed baul as he looked at the general.
the general then leaned closer to baul as he spoke in a low tone, "that's exactly why i agreed. we can't let them be loose and cause trouble. give them a bit of hard work and they'll turn tail and run." baul understood what the general was thinking, which made him nod, "...! y-you make a fine point..."
the general looked back at the four as he spoke, "listen well, brats. i'll let you come with us in one condition." silver blinked in curiosity and asked, "what are they?"
"if you manage to hit even a strand of hair on me, then you can come with."
the soldiers started shrieking and growling as soon as their general said those words, and he held onto his weapon as he stood in a defensive stance.
"come at me, humans!"
silver looked at sebek then back at the general as he mumbled, "this is a good chance to give him a shock... but what if we won't win...? no, i shouldn't think that way..." the diasomnia second year had a serious expression on as he held his sword, "let's go!!!"
the battle soon started. sword slashes and traces of magical energy are everywhere in the field that grim could not even keep up, "hah... he's so fast! my magic couldn't hit him at all!"
yuu was standing nearby grim as he watched silver and sebek, "my eyes can't keep up... but those two are keeping up, though!"
during the fight, sebek seemed to have noticed how familiar the attacks of this masked general were, "this swordsmanship, this strength... that lithic, too...! could it be...?"
silver heard sebek as he continued to battle with the general alongside sebek, "you've finally caught on, sebek. you're right. it can only be him...!"
the general seemed displeased as he spoke, "what's all this? is this all you can do after that big talk of yours, huh?" silver groaned as he glared at the general while holding his sword up to defend himself from the lithic and spoke to sebek, "i'll keep him busy!! get behind him while he's distracted!"
"don't order me around!!! TAKE THIS!" screamed sebek as he got behind the general and was about to land a hit behind him, but he suddenly disappeared which made grim hiss, "so close!"
"i'm not done yet! FIRE!" exclaimed sebek as he summoned his fire magic around the area. the general dodged it and said, "too slow! now you're wide open!" he then got behind sebek and landed a hit, causing silver to summon his light magic on the general's blind spot, catching him off guard.
"...! tsk! from my blind spot...!" muttered the general in annoyance, but before he could do anything else, the two had already attacked him.
"NOW!!!"
after landing a hit on the general, silver and sebek panted as they slowly looked up after hearing something drop to the ground. once their eyes landed on a familiar face, they gasped in surprise.
"mere humans knocked my mask off...?" trailed the general off in surprise as his familiar raspberry-red eyes went wide. yuu's breath hitched as he spoke, "i... i know you...!"
silver stood up and immediately approached the general as he called out to him, "father..."
in contrast to silver's slightly relieved expression, the general raised a brow in shock as he coldly replied, "father? i do not have any children, much less a human one."
there was a slight hint of pain in silver's eyes before regaining his cool and chanting to himself repeatedly that this is a dream. he took a step back and apologised, "ah... p-please excuse me."
sebek, on the other hand, was pretty shocked to see his instructor in his prime, "i-it can't be... am i dreaming...? a-am i really seeing lilia-sama from his time as the general...?!" silver leaned a little towards sebek as he spoke softly, "get a grip, sebek. we're in a dream."
baul and the rest of the soldiers approached lilia as the former uttered in a panic, "ARE YOU ALRIGHT, GENERAL?!" baul then looked at silver and sebek as he yelled, "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS, HUMANS!!!" he proceeded to command the soldiers to arrest them, but the general cut them off, "quiet! they only took off my mask, i am not injured."
"but...!" trailed baul.
"you seem capable for a mere bunch of students. who taught you how to fight?" questioned the general as he looked at the two diasomnia students. "sebek and i trained under a highly skilled nocturnal fae when we were younger," answered silver.
general lilia hummed in reply as he crossed his arms, "a nocturnal fae, huh... no wonder it seemed familiar. well, it looks like you weren't all talk. very well, i'll hold my end of the deal and let you come with us."
baul seemed shocked to hear this as he looked at general lilia, "g-general?!"
"faes don't break promises. right, baul?" said general lilia, "blessed be the night." baul went speechless for a bit before nodding his head, "...blessed be the night."
...
meanwhile, back in present-time briar valley, aelyn paced back and forth in the room as she tried to call f/n a bunch of times, but her phone won't ring. she clicked her tongue as she mumbled, "why is there no signal for her?"
vincent sat up from the bed, but edward tried to pull him back down as he spoke, "vincent, lay down." the older man sighed and shook his head stubbornly, "i'm fine, edward... what's wrong, aelyn? are you unable to reach your sister?"
aelyn turned around to look at her father and nodded with a worried expression, "it keeps saying her device has no service or her phone's been turned off... i tried to contact mister vanrouge, and it says the same thing."
"have you tried silver? or baul's grandson? what about the first-born shroud?" asked edward as he sat on an ottoman chair beside vincent, looking at aelyn as he grew worried.
"i tried to contact silver, sebek, and mister idia, but their devices are out of service as well..." answered aelyn as she sighed and looked back at the cellular device, redialing all of their numbers even if it says the same thing over and over again.
"it has been two days or more since we last contacted f/n," spoke vincent in a worried tone. rachel clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes as she mumbled, "that child gives you nothing but stress even when she was younger."
vincent sighed and looked at his wife, "rachel, f/n is still your daughter even if she is cursed."
aelyn awkwardly stood there and went through the phone as her parents started arguing about her sister again. edward sighed and shook his head in disappointment before standing up and looking at the cellular device that aelyn was holding, "...if even the first-born shroud is out of reach, maybe we should contact his parents."
"what about dire?" asked vincent. aelyn shook her head in response, "none of the faculty members is reachable either, father... perhaps we should call mister and mistress shroud?"
vincent sighed and nodded, going with the last option since everyone in night raven college is out of reach. aelyn proceeded to dial s.t.y.x.'s telephone number, which only they and a select few know about. edward stood beside her as she did her thing and mumbled under his breath, "younger faes know how to use technology nowadays... i can't even work one properly myself."
"the prince doesn't really know how to use one, though..." mumbled aelyn.
"oh child, don't badmouth him," scolded rachel.
"i wasn't!" defended aelyn as she placed the cellular device next to her pointed ear, "i was just saying that his highness doesn't really know how to use it..."
"we don't really have an excuse, edward. we're just bad at technology. even vanrouge is able to use one in the academy, according to f/n," remarked vincent as edward sighed. "you can still use a phone to communicate with f/n. i can't even open one to save my life," argued edward.
before their discussion could escalate further, the line came through as aelyn spoke, "hello?! mister shroud?!"
"this is s.t.y.x.'s operating room, may i know who is speaking?" spoke a staff member as aelyn let out a heavy sigh of relief.
"this is aelyn l/n from briar valley. i'd like to speak with director shroud... if he's unavailable, then i can speak to chief shroud instead," spoke aelyn before the staff told her to wait for a moment, and so she did.
a few seconds later, a chirpy voice was heard in the line, "hello there, little aelyn!"
"ah, hello, missus shroud. i apologise for suddenly calling out of the blue."
"no, no, it's alright! i actually wanted to contact your father, too... and queen maleficia as well," replied mistress shroud.
"eh...? my dad and the queen...?" questioned aelyn in confusion as she looked at her dad before putting the call on speaker, "i turned on the loudspeaker, missus shroud."
upon hearing those words from aelyn, mistress shroud then spoke, "alright, i assume your father's with you, then?"
"yes, i'm here," spoke vincent.
"ah, hello vincent. alright, well... i wanted to contact you and the queen to inform you that... sage's island's current state is bad. there is a barrier surrounding the whole island and it has strong magical energy. not to mention, the surrounding waters have been in a whirlpool, making it hard for ships and boats to infiltrate the area."
everyone in the room seemed confused as they glanced at one another while mistress shroud continued, "...we found out the barrier is caused by your crown prince, malleus draconia, and the whirlpool... we just figured it out now that it is caused by the lieutenant colonel... they have both fallen into overblot."
"what?!" exclaimed everyone in the room as their eyes widened in utter disbelief. "n-no, it can't be...! f/n wouldn't... h-his highness wouldn't...!" denied vincent as he could not believe the news he received. aelyn's breaths were soft and erratic as she spoke to mistress shroud, "a-are you sure nee-san and his highness...?"
there was a short pause in mistress shroud's line before she responded in a sombre tone, "...yes... we were unable to contact idia about this. we were grateful that ortho was able to pass through the systems and show up as a hologram, which is why we got some insider info."
aelyn was unable to respond as she drowned out the voices of her father, her uncle, and her mother's voices speaking out to mistress shroud. her eyes were wide in shock as her gaze cast down on the floor, unable to breathe properly as her mind raced with several thoughts.
'nee-san fell into overblot...'
'nee-san's cursed... and she fell into overblot...!'
'my sister will die if she stays in that state for too long...!'
'prince malleus fell into overblot, too...'
'what kind of shitty luck is this?! to have both of the crazy powerful magicians to overblot at the same time?!'
'no wonder i couldn't reach nee-san...!'
'what do i do?!'
"—lyn..."
'nee-san... why?'
"—elyn?"
'nee-san, why did you fall into overblot?!'
"aelyn!!!"
aelyn gasped in surprise as she snapped out of her thoughts, looking back at her father and uncle with wide eyes as they both have been calling out her name for a while. she then looked back at the phone and realized the call had already ended, allowing her to keep her cellular device back in her pocket as she cleared her throat, "a-apologies, i was just... deep in thought."
"it's alright, child... we must go and help the shrouds with this," said vincent as he wanted to get up but he no longer had the same strength. still, he persevered through as he stood up. edward, rachel, and aelyn immediately approached the older l/n as vincent shook his hand to brush them off, "no, no. i can still stand, so i can still fight."
"that kind of logic will get you killed," scolded rachel as she held vincent's right arm.
vincent glared at her lightly as he spoke in a soft yet hissed tone, "at least i'll die trying to save my daughter."
that seemed to have struck a nerve with rachel as she suddenly went silent and avoided vincent's gaze. edward sighed and placed a hand on his hip as he spoke, "...there's no use arguing with you. once you set your mind to it, you won't back out. vincent, just don't get yourself killed out there. your daughters still need you."
aelyn wanted to tear up hearing this, but she didn't want to seem too weak, especially at a time like this.
"aelyn has grown into a wonderful lady. not to mention, she has strong magical capabilities. queen maleficia said it herself, she'd make an excellent sage or sorceress..." trailed vincent as he looked at aelyn with a soft smile and ruffled her hair, "as for f/n... i've raised that child into an amazing soldier. if there is one regret i have, it's that i never got the chance to give her a normal childhood. nonetheless, i trust that she'd make a great general."
the atmosphere of the room was depressing as they all went silent, save for aelyn's sniffles as she desperately tried not to let her tears fall.
"father, i am only a hundred years old..." mumbled aelyn, hinting that she was still not prepared to let her father go, but to be fair, she was never ready and will never be ready to lose a parent, just like her older sister.
"hey now, there is no need for this depressing moment. it's not like i'll actually die. come, we must aid the shrouds and try to fix this mess," spoke vincent as he patted aelyn's back, "i suppose the queen was already informed, but we need to be certain. let's go to the throne room."