Ray - Voices (3)

“...here? Hey, you okay?” Demoa’s voice sounded muffled but unmistakable.

Ray spotted her near the shelter where the tools and troughs for the work area were kept. Demoa wandered in a panic, calling for someone, her face almost as pale as the moon.

“Demoa, what in the name of the Light are you doing here? Are you insane?” Ray shouted over the constant rumble coming from above.

The young woman flinched noticeably and spun toward her, hair clinging wild across her face, sweating, then almost immediately turned away and called out into the night again.

“Hey, are you still here? Is everyone okay? Please, I can’t imagine what would happen if one of those… things came down here and got you…”

No answer. Only the wind’s wheeze.

“Demoa, what are you doing?” Ray called again as she reached her side.

“Ray, I… nothing, I thought I saw someone here…” Demoa sounded shaken and confused, though it was clear she was lying.

“TELL ME RIGHT NOW WHAT’S GOING ON!” Ray snapped.

She still carried the rage inside her, the hatred for the dark things and the blackness that had clung to her soul.

Demoa flinched.
“Ray, I—it’s not—”

“She’s looking for me!” came a voice suddenly from some bushes that curled around the trunks of a small stand of trees.

Ray recognized the voice and hesitated. Before she could say anything, Rad crawled out of the bushes, pale as ever, with that same hint of arrogance and shadow in his eyes. She wrinkled her nose in disbelief and turned to Demoa, nearly wanting to grab her by the collar and shake her.

“What is he doing here?” she gasped, swallowing the rest of what she had meant to say.

“Ray… please, you can’t tell anyone. I couldn’t be without him. We agreed he’d stay nearby so we could still see each other. When those… things attacked, I got so scared for him. Please, Ray, you don’t understand. I can’t be away from him. I can’t bear it…” Demoa gasped, pale green tears glinting down her cheeks.

She trembled pitifully, wringing her hands.

Rad moved over to her and pulled her quickly into his arms, shooting Ray an angry glare.
“Shh, calm down,” he said as gently as he could.

Demoa let out a sobbing laugh.
“Really, I should be the one saying that…”

Ray shouted in outrage, stamping the ground.
“You can’t be serious! The rules are clear: no acquaintances on the monastery grounds, none! You’re supposed to find yourself.”

“Ray, I have! I know who I am, and I know I want to pursue my goals with him. Why shouldn’t I already spend my time with him here? Isn’t it madness to deny that?”

“Yes, you haven’t seen how powerful her Lucidity already is. She even has more than Eri…”

“I didn’t ask you!” Ray snapped at Rad. “Stay out of this. You’re not lucid; you don’t understand. You don’t know the danger of being reckless.”

“And you do? Didn’t you wake Elga? Who are you to preach to me with your hypocritical lectures?” Rad shot back, turning with Demoa in his arms so that he stood between her and Ray.

Calm. Calm. Don’t do anything. He’s an idiot who doesn’t know what he’s doing… Ray tried to steady herself, yet she realized her body had begun to glow.

Part of her wanted to scorch him and chase him away, but he wasn’t worth it.

“Fine! Do what you want!” she spat, turning away.

“Wait, Ray, you won’t tell anyone, right?” Demoa’s voice trembled.

Ray studied her, then Rad, who still clung protectively to her.

“I don’t care. It’s your responsibility, not mine. I’ll listen to Eri’s words. I won’t let anyone distract me from my path. I think I’m almost there already. Still, if you think Eri doesn’t know what he’s talking about, or if you think you know better, fine. Do what you want. But promise me this: when it all goes wrong, you’ll come to me!” Ray burst out.

Demoa nodded, trembling.
“Thank you,” she whispered.

The warmth Ray felt for Demoa pulsed within her, still strong. Quickly she tore herself away from the two of them and ran back up the slope to help the others.

Not far from the pond, a desperate young man crawled away from the snakelike monster. It had clearly herded him with cruel delight out of the pagoda and down the hillside. His limbs dug frantically into the dry earth as he tried to scramble away.

Ray didn’t hesitate for a second. She forged a blade of light, gripping it tightly in her hand. She had no idea how to fight with such a thing, yet she didn’t need to. She only needed creativity. Holding the radiant weapon in both hands, she leveled it at the beast, then thrust her Lucidity forward. The blade grew at a furious speed, lancing into the monster. Its thick body was pierced like butter, and it shrieked and thrashed, though it still lunged for the man.

Damn it, again! Ray cursed inwardly.

She pulled her Lucidity back, and the blade shrank once more. Shifting the angle of the weapon slightly, she thrust it forward again, driving it into the creature’s neck. Still it pressed toward its victim, though now pitifully, as two great holes burned into its body, thin steam hissing from the wounds where Ray’s blade had seared through.

Ray didn’t let up. Again and again she retracted the blade and hurled it forward until the monster was riddled with holes, writhing in death throes before them on the ground.

“Thank you… thank you…” the man gasped, but Ray was already charging on, the blade still in her hand.

She realized there weren’t as many monsters as she had feared, only a handful in the end, most already brought down by the combined efforts of the students and monks. Yet not all had been defeated.

On one of the nearby platforms, Novis was still locked in battle with his statue. Its countless swords rained down on him without pause, black in the moonlight, whistling as they cut the air toward him in sharp, unrelenting rhythm. Each blow rang with a hollow clang that echoed through the terraces, sparks of Lucidity and shadow bursting where his body narrowly slipped between them. He moved with impossible speed, weaving through the storm of blades, every motion instinctive and raw, his Lucidity stretched to the very edge.

Even from where she stood, Ray could see the tremor in his arms. His breath came in ragged bursts. The flow that carried him moments ago now faltered, breaking into desperate, jerky dodges. He was tiring. The statue, tireless and precise, pressed closer with mechanical grace, its eyes dim yet burning with that ancient, soulless purpose.

Soon he wouldn’t be able to dodge in time.

Ray clenched her jaw and raised her light blade. She drew in her focus and sent the weapon flashing forward. It sliced across the night in a beam of brilliance, but one of the statue’s many arms intercepted it with ease. The clash sent a shudder through her mind. She felt her Lucidity collide with the darkness like oil meeting water, twisting, repelling, making her stomach turn. A shock of nausea hit her as if she’d struck something rotten.

She staggered, pulling the Light back into herself, the blade collapsing into a trembling thread of radiance in her grip. No damage. Nothing.

What should I do? Think, think, there must be something! She squeezed her eyes shut for an instant. Be creative. You only need to be creative.

She tried to imagine the blade shifting into something sharper, something faster, but her concentration slipped. Another light-shroud? No, it would tear it apart. A spear, a projectile? No, it would just parry it again… think, think…

Ray’s chest rose and fell in frantic rhythm. The air stung her lungs, dry and metallic. Her thoughts blurred; her own Lucidity flickered like a candle drowning in wind. She could only watch Novis move—wild, cornered, beautiful in his persistence—fighting for his life inside the Dream.

And then, in that helpless moment, something inside her went quiet. Not peace, but something colder. The fury that had driven her until now ebbed away, leaving only exhaustion and a hollow ache. Her fingers loosened around the hilt. For a heartbeat she stood motionless, paralyzed, her mind blank as the Dream roared around her.

Then came the Light.

The entire slope and the buildings began to glow. At first it was faint, a soft gleam that shimmered through the stone like breath beneath skin, but within seconds the light swelled, spreading through every grain, every wall, every blade of grass. It was almost like the auras Ray had seen around other lucid ones, yet far greater, vaster, as though the whole mountain itself had become lucid.

A shimmering brilliance washed over the monastery, flooding the terraces and towers in waves of white-gold radiance. The air thickened with warmth and sound, a trembling hum that made the ground vibrate beneath her knees. The monsters still visible froze mid-motion, their shadows twitching against the walls like broken limbs. They let out furious, wailing cries, howls that cracked and warped as the Light touched them, stripping their darkness apart thread by thread.

The glow deepened to a molten brightness. It wasn’t gentle. It was holy and merciless all at once, a force that didn’t simply illuminate but judged.

A sharp scent rose in the air, spices and bitter herbs, like smoke from sacred incense, so strong it stung her throat. The monastery itself seemed to awaken. Stones shifted. The ground trembled as if something ancient stirred beneath it.

Then came the retaliation.

Spikes of rock and crystal thrust upward from the soil, laced with veins of pure light, tearing through the air in jagged bursts. They pierced monstrous bodies mid-scream, impaling them clean through, and where they struck, the light flared brighter still. The creatures writhed, their forms unraveling into vapor and ash, their shrieks fading into the great chorus of humming radiance.

The Dream trembled with it. For a moment, Ray thought she could feel its pulse—steady and alive, the heartbeat of something vast and old that had simply chosen, for one instant, to intervene.

It lasted less than ten heartbeats. Then it was over.

The glow withdrew as quickly as it had come, slipping back into stone and air, leaving behind only silence, the faint scent of scorched earth, and the melting remnants of what had once been monsters.

Ray sank to the ground in exhaustion. She still had enough reserves to keep fighting until dawn and beyond, but the stress had worn her out in another way. With a sigh she sat back in the cool grass, tilted her head, and closed her eyes.

“Thanks for the help.”

Ray blinked and saw Novis looming over her, a grin on his face.

“Didn’t do much,” she said with a shrug.

“But you tried. You didn’t give in. You’ve no idea how terrified I was of that Crippler. Such a wretch. I’m surprised I held out as long as I did. Thank the Radiance Stirleo came back from his cultivation in time,” Novis answered, dropping down beside her in the grass.