wasn't in a hurry

But where did he know this from? A game he had played? A novel he had read?

The crimson word soon melded with the others, each one flattening outwards over his illusory form as if they had been made of liquid. Soon, he had been coated in a thick layer of impermeable armour, faceted with sharp, angular plates that had been layered over one another like roofing tiles.

He raised his hand, which had been obscured by a menacing gauntlet inlaid with gold, his entire body trembling.

Resting in his palm was an ornate onyx sword, marred by the scars of flame, cruel in how they swirled into its surface. It seemed that once, these damaging impressions had been inlaid with gold to try and repair it, just like the armour had, but to no avail.

"What... what is this...?"

Puck tilted his head as he moved beside the armoured Hero, smiling faintly.

"Your first Sorcery, I presume. Welcome to the Endless Dream, dear Hero."

Kaede took a step forward, his grasp tightening around the blade.

In a swift instant, he struck into the air. A sable sheet burst outwards from the sword, the air around him exploding in a mixture of black and gold flames.

"Ah-! Fuck!"

Kaede recoiled as he grasped at his shoulder, a malevolent pain radiating throughout his body. His muscles were still weak... they couldn’t yet support this sort of power.

But despite his suffering, he couldn't be torn away from the sword. Kaede marveled at the ornate lettering engraved into the flat of the blade.

'Shroud of the Onyx-Eyed Empress'

There it was again... this title of great significance.

Then again, if he couldn't remember its origin, had it ever been significant at all?

Perhaps he had merely been mistaken.

What was certain was that he had been afforded power. But what did it matter? Even if he was truly a Hero that was meant to defend against great dangers for the sake of this world's people, he was still dying...

"It’s nice, isn’t it? There's much more where that came from. After all, if one must Dream to grow stronger, then isn't this Endless Dream perfection for a sorcerer? You're quite lucky, you're one of the first humans to enter this land of fairies." Puck chuckled. "Well, how about it? I can teach you quite a lot, if you have the time."

Kaede reached out and touched his fingertip gently to the crimson lettering on the blade.

He watched as it dissipated into a pool of words, wisping around his arm as the gauntlet did the same. The armour gradually returned to him, word by word, until his transluscent skin had gained all of its pallid colour back. He let out a sigh, stretching out his arms before turning back towards Puck.

Kaede was enamored by how it all worked… but his attitude remained the same.

“Stop with the fancy, stupid magical gestures. Just show me where the cure is.”

Puck raised his hand, pointing towards a vast stretch of land in the distance. Jade hills rolled afront a dizzyingly-wide plateau, a treacherous and incomprehensible darkness swirling in its center like a lake of shadow. In the center, there was a marble castle with swirling spires as tall as the clouds, with a distinct shift in the tone of the sky’s colours. Dark, grey, foreboding, it was…

…entirely average for this sort of setting.

But there was something about it that didn’t leave Kaede disappointed at all. It was the fact that he hadn’t noticed it until it was clearly pointed out to him. Like it hadn’t existed until it truly mattered.

Had this been a product of his illness, or the castle’s nature itself?

“It’s up there. In that big castle. I was already on my way there when I heard of a Hero who had come from afar.”

“So bring it over here then.” Kaede shrugged, clearly not understanding.

“Can’t. Fairies can’t fly in the Endless Dream. It’s like an accountability thing. We’ll have to go on foot.”

“Are you serious? You want me to play adventure?”

“Why not?”

“Kill yourself. Send me back.”

“What about the cure? If you go back now, won’t you just experience endless torment?”

“I was ready to kill myself long before you came along.”

“Then why haven’t you?”

He did not offer a response.

It had been a month since he had grown ill. Kaede had been fit by most modern standards… but most of his muscle had atrophied. He was unsure how he was still standing. He was doubly unsure how he had been supporting such a large suit of armour.

Was this a product of his new ability, or the nature of the Dream? If he returned now, would he really lose this state of normalcy he had craved for so long?

Why did it have to come at the cost of so much effort?

“Then, if you won’t accompany me, I’ll go alone. I only thought you might be interested.”

“Why do you want to go there so badly yourself? And why did you think I would be interested?”

“Because the danger that the Hero must face lies deep within the castle.” Puck shrugged, turning his back and walking in the opposite direction without a second thought.

Kaede quickly followed, his brows furrowing.

“What danger?”

“It’s of no interest to you.” Puck responded without turning his head.

“Could it implicate the Healer?”

“The one who cared for you? Do you care for her?”

“No.” Kaede spoke in a dark tone.

“Then why ask?”

“Kill yourself.”

Puck tapped his sleeve and reached within it, procuring a pipe before it instantly caught alight with flame, burning away until only smoke remained. When he placed it against his lips, the area around the two seemed to be cloaked in a constant, mind-numbing reverie. Like true peace had been born from the smoke that poured from his mouth.

“Do you know how this world will die, dear Hero?”

Kaede shook his head.

“Enlighten me.”

“Gods.”

“Gods?”

“Gods. That’s it. Plain and simple. Gods will destroy this world.”

“Aren’t Gods supposed to be loving?”

Puck let out a hearty laugh. It was as if it was the funniest thing he had heard in months.

But then his expression suddenly grew serious, shaded by anticipation and horror. His gaze was fixated on the sky, a portraiture of swirling, radiant colours.

“There’s something out there, beyond all those clouds. Something that wants its children to be born, perhaps. Using the human realm like a giant egg, it’s a wonderful idea. But it’s devastating for everything around it, this Dream included. Those children aren’t human, you see.” He placed a hand on Kaede’s shoulder, his grip tough as steel. “They’re Gods.”

Kaede’s eyebrows shot up as he retorted. “Gods? You’re speaking of them like monsters… aren’t Gods just supposed to… exist? Why would they have to be born?”

“Because all things are born, as simple as all things die.”

Puck cleared his throat and threw the pipe to the side, allowing it to dissipate into wisps of light as he brushed away a hanging sheet of ivy and thorns.

“Recently, a Deity finally finished its awakening process. The devastation throughout all realms was intense. I heard that the human realm nearly lost a continent to an overwhelming tsunami. This event was probably the reason you were summoned. The humans were fearful, and wished to try and use their one and only true power of the Hero to ensure their safety. Well… this is how it turned out, of course. It’s a brutal process, awakening. I am sure that one day, a powerful God will be born, and it will destroy… well, everything. Perhaps the next God to awaken will be the one to erase it all…”

He glanced up and down at Kaede, grinning.

“Do you know what a God is surrounded by while it awakens, Kaede? Its lifeblood, the sustenance it feeds itself with while it grows. Without it, the Godhood would kill the fledgling God before it could even be born. It would destroy it from the inside without anything to help it adjust… but this is simultaneously your cure. I think a little bit of this essence will fix you right up.”

“How?”

The two continued walking through the grove, Kaede measuring his surroundings attentively. He was loathe to be attacked out of nowhere again…

“The essence of Godhood is filled with impurities, but is so incredibly compact with the raw life necessary to sustain the birth of a God. The awakening process, as far as we know, is an incredible length of time —usually centuries— which is determined by the purification of this essence, this lifeblood. In the meanwhile, the lifeblood constantly sustains the birthing God through nutrients, but also regeneration derived from it. These Gods would land in various parts of the human realm, causing devastation, calamity, and destruction wherever it chose to develop after it had done so. But before then, it was a simple, docile monument. Not hurting anything, not moving or speaking, just a statue of a figure cast in amber hue. Thus, it became common in high-ranking circles to harvest the lifeblood of a God as it began its awakening, since this dormancy would last for centuries at a time.”

As he paused, he suddenly drew Kaede’s attention to the plateau once more.

“So your illness can’t be cured by any medicine, sorcery, or philter…” Puck reached out a hand and gestured flamboyantly towards the castle in the distance. “…how about the lifeblood of an emerging God?”

The two stopped before a patch of moss growing harshly against a patch of rough stone marked with many angular depressions. Puck reached out with his foot and cleared away the moss, Kaede taking two steps back in the meanwhile.

There was the shape of a person in the stone.

The meaning of the crater surrounding them suddenly became apparent.

Puck grinned slyly, glancing over at Kaede.

“That’s right. They aren’t waking up in the human realm anymore.”