Nightmare

It was the usual nightmare.

Grandpa…

GRANDPA…

No…………

I was crying.

It didn’t matter how many times I experienced the nightmare beforehand, every single one felt like it was my first time.

I held his cold, pale body in my dark-red hands.

Blood everywhere, I was helpless and lost.

I didn’t know what to do.

Suddenly, laughter started reverberating in my ears from all sides…

People were ridiculing us…

They wouldn’t stop laughing…

They were getting hysterical…

I didn’t know where they were.

Why were they laughing?

What was so funny to them?

“ha HaH AH HahAH HAhaHAhah”

Why are you laughing?

“ha Ha HA AHAh Haha HAHh aH hAHa HahAHha HAHAha”

What did we do to you?

“haHa ha aHahAH Hah ahA ha AH ha HHAAha”

Why are you—

“hA haaaA Hha ahA aH hAHa HahAHha HAhaH”

Stop…

“HA ahA ha haAH hAh hAAHAHhaHAH AhAhaH”

Enough…

“HA ahaAHAHA HAHAH HahAH hAh hA AhAhAhaH”

…you bastards…

“HAAHHAHAH haaaA Hha ahA aH hAHa HahAHha HAhaHAHAHHhaHAha”

I WILL KILL EVERY SINGLE FUCKING ONE OF YOU

My body was shaking… was it the fury I was exhibiting?

Were my emotions boiling over?

I didn’t know what was happening…

“…zenzo…”

“…Zenzo…”

“ZENZO, WAKE UP!” shouted a girl’s voice.

It was Anna. She was jerking me awake, with tears in her eyes.

She wasn’t alone either, there were other people inside my room; a room which for some reason had a big hole in the ceiling now.

They all had very troubled and compassionate looks on their faces. Did I do or say something in my sleep?

“Zenzo… are you ok?” Anna asked fearfully. “You looked like you were suffering… you are sweating a lot… let’s change your clothes…” she said, calling for someone to bring some spare attire.

Growing accustomed to it over countless numbers of times, I didn’t even notice that I was entirely drenched in sweat, yet again…

…seriously… what a pathetic and miserable existence…

“You are ok now, Zenzo…” said another familiar voice. It was Braun.

“…what happened?” I asked, looking for details.

They exchanged glances between each other.

“Uhm… you were having a nightmare… right?” asked Anna.

I nodded darkly.

“You were… speaking out loud for some time… then—”

“…what did I say?” I asked.

“You kept… calling out to your grandpa…” said Gyorn, “Then… you started hollering that you will kill some people… what happened, Zenzo?” he asked.

I looked down at my bed.

“…I was… holding grandpa’s body right aft—” I almost threw up.

“…right after his execution… then… for the first time ever… some people started laughing at me… and him…” I said as I clenched my fists.

“Well… it’s good you are awake now… We were really worried about you… we would have woken you earlier, but you wouldn’t budge for the longest time…” said Gyorn.

“…how long...?” I asked quietly.

“Half an hour,” he responded.

“…thank you for waking me up…” I said.

“It was all Anna’s work,” he said.

I looked at the girl beside my bed, whose bright hazel eyes illuminated by the lantern, were filled with tears. She looked burdened with worry – she was probably crying for a while.

“…thank you… Anna,” I muttered gratefully, clutching my heart.

If she hadn’t stopped the nightmare, I would still be experiencing that mockery...

She remained silent. I could tell she was slightly frustrated at me.

“…uhm… what is that?” I asked, pointing at the hole in the ceiling.

“Huh? Oh… in the middle of your nightmare… when you said you were going to kill someone, you… damaged the ceiling…” answered Braun.

“…sorry…” I said guiltily, “…did the rubble hit any of you?”

“No, uhm… you… completely pulverized the part you attacked…” he clarified.

“…what?” I asked in confusion, “…how?”

“…we don’t know.”

After this incident, I was rightfully tasked with fixing my own ceiling. Gyorn volunteered to help me while Braun was explaining what happened to Xax.

It was hard work, but Gyorn was more than used to it.

At some point he stopped.

“Say kid, you can use magic, right?” Gyorn asked.

“…yes,” I answered.

“Which elements?” he asked.

“…all of them…”

“Can’t you accelerate this process with your Earth magic?” he asked me in confusion.

“…oh… I don’t have a good enough control over the elements… I have been practicing, but I am still a beginner… I can’t use it to do such a complicated job…” I said quietly.

“Well, we all have to start somewhere. You can use more magic than anyone in here put together, so don’t be too pessimistic,” he said, “give it a try.”

“…can’t Dr. Lobaum use magic too?” I remembered.

“No, that creepy old fart uses ancient magic. It’s based on incantations instead of actual elements like yours,” Gyorn explained, “you know about the Offensive mages, don’t you?”

I nodded.

“None of them use ancient magic either,” he said. “Alright, go on. Try… uhm… ‘summoning’ some earth where the hole is.”

I turned away from Gyorn and faced the hole, concentrating hard.

He was surprisingly considerate and supportive, so I didn’t want to disappoint him.

I stuck out my hand and hardened earth began forming at one of the edges, filling in the ceiling little by little.

There was but one flaw. The ceiling was not smooth anymore.

There were spiky and thorny edges protruding everywhere along my creation.

“…sorry,” I said as I finished covering the entire hole.

“It’s alright, we can trim the excess parts off. You did good,” he said.

And so we started evening out the surface.

“Say, kid. You want to try using some wind magic to cut this stuff off?” Gyorn asked.

“…I am not sure wind magic is capable of that… especially mine…” I responded.

“Wind magic can do a lot more than this, trust me. Country-scale mages can sever mountain tops with wind magic,” he said.

“…how do you know this? I thought you don’t wield magic…” I inquired.

“I’ve seen it myself,” he pointed at his bright orange eyes.

I gasped and fell backwards.

“Hey, kid. Are you alright?” he asked concernedly. “Are you still feeling unwell?”

He bent down towards me.

They were gone.

His eyes returned to their natural, brown color.

“…sorry… I think I just hallucinated…” I replied to him. “…for a moment… I saw you have orange eyes...”

There was a slight pause.

“HAHAHA HAHAHAH HHAAAHAHHAHAH” he laughed. “Ah… Ah… I haven’t laughed this hard in my entire life, kid…”

“…you are not offended?” I asked him embarrassedly.

“You said it yourself. You hallucinated,” he said, still recovering from his laughter, “besides, that was too funny to take seriously. I wish I could have seen Xax’s and Braun’s reactions…”

After we finished trimming the parts of the ceiling that were sticking out, by hand, we went to join Braun and Xax.

“Zenzo. How are you feeling?” asked Xax, referring to my post-nightmare condition.

“…I am… alright…” I said.

But I lied.

The nightmares were slowly making me lose my mind.

They were taking quite a big toll on my mental health.

“…do you know—” I decided to rephrase my question.

“…can you help me… get rid of them? …please…” I asked Xax.

For a short moment, he was visibly stunned.

Shortly after, his face turned extremely serious.

I think he realized that the nightmares were not doing me any favors.

“The quickest way… would be for Lobaum to restrict or alter your memories…” he said sternly.

“…anything but that… please…” I requested.

“That will be our last resort, and even then, I would advise against it unless your condition gets worse…” Xax said. “Another way, would be to visit the sacred waters belonging to Asclepius, the god of medicine.”

“Brother… are you by any chance referring to —”

“Yes,” said Xax interrupting Braun. “Whether the stars have aligned in your favor, or you possess utmost rotten luck, it so happens that you won’t even need to travel for days on end,” said Xax grimly.

“They are located in Neveria.”