Before Lucian could return to us, he said, "There are reports of a few patients in the center of the village. We're heading there."
When we arrived at the old infirmary, the air inside was stale and suffocating. But the true weight came from the silence.
A healer woman greeted us. Her hands were trembling.
"Some of them… still haven't woken up. The ones who have… they're not normal."
Inside, there were children in a corner.
Their eyes were open, but their gazes were empty.
Some of their lips moved—but no sound came out.
Lucian knelt and looked into one child's eyes.
He placed a hand on the child's forehead, and faint blue light shimmered from his palm.
"This isn't ordinary unconsciousness," he said.
"Someone is entering their dreams… and trapping them inside."
Nina pulled out the magic detector. The device crackled.
"There's more than just mana here. Something heavier."
Orren checked his notebook.
"The villagers experienced restlessness all night. Sleepwalking, nightmares… some woke up gasping like they were drowning. Others say they saw their worst memories replay again and again."
Nina frowned.
"And some of the children… couldn't speak after waking up. As if something locked their tongues."
A chill ran down my spine.
Lucian stood.
"This creature doesn't leave tracks—it lays a feast," he said.
"It feeds on fear in the mind."
Then he looked at me.
"Keep your mind strong. We're likely targets too."
At that moment… the door burst open.
A soldier ran in, pale-faced.
"Commander Kai… he suddenly collapsed. Eyes open, but… he's unresponsive."
Lucian moved immediately.
I rushed after him.
My heart pounded like a knot in my chest.
Kai was laid on the ground. His armor removed, his forehead soaked with sweat. But his eyes… were hollow.
I knelt beside him.
"He's breathing… but unconscious."
My voice trembled.
"What's happening to you…"
Something was calling me toward Kai.
It was as if he was reaching out—begging for help.
Lucian approached.
"Back away, Elysia."
But I had already reached for him.
The moment my fingertips touched his forehead… the world slipped away.
When I fell into Kai's mind… there was only silence.
Then… mud.
And a small child crawling on his knees.
Wounded hands, blood on his lips.
It was Kai. But from his past.
In the center of the yard, a woman knelt.
Tired yet beautiful face… and pale eyes looking at him with love.
In front of her stood a masked mage.
Dark magic seeped from his fingers.
Shadows coiled beneath him, turning the earth to ash.
"Mother?" little Kai said. His voice cracked.
The woman looked up.
Her eyes held both fear and love.
But the mage raised his hand… and without a word, cast his spell.
The magic struck the woman straight in the heart.
She fell.
Eyes open. No sound.
Kai's scream tore through the dream.
I ran to him.
"Kai! This is a dream! It's not real! Don't let it win! We can get out!"
But the child didn't move.
"Every night…" he whispered. "It's always the same. She always dies here."
Tears welled in my eyes.
I knelt and wrapped my arms around him.
"I'm sorry, Kai… I didn't know. But you need to leave this memory. You can't face it alone."
The humming returned.
Darkness thickened.
Shadows stirred.
The woman's corpse twisted.
It became a faceless, deformed creature.
Dark magic still oozed from its skin, now shapeless—like hatred itself.
It fed on Kai's trauma.
Little Kai trembled behind me.
But this time—I stepped forward.
I rose.
"Let him go. Get lost."
The creature mimicked the woman's face.
Grinned with hollow eyes.
Then lunged at me.
I blasted it back with a pulse from my wrist.
It stumbled—but didn't stop.
I fought. Alone.
Kai was still behind me.
But I was his sword now.
At last…
I summoned a spear of light with my magic and drove it into the creature's chest.
It screamed.
Fell.
The darkness vanished.
The sky cleared.
Little Kai approached.
"Is it over?"
I knelt slowly.
"It's over now."
I held him close.
But then…
The body twitched.
Its eyes opened.
"Now it's your turn…" it said.
And I—
Was pulled into the mind again.
This time, my nightmare was beginning.