Chapter 1)

I opened my eyes again.

Rather than seeing the night sky I had remembered moments ago, I was now met with the head of the girl who had apparently killed me. Her hair dangled right on top of my face, as she studied my facial features, she noticed I had awoken, and jumped back slightly, startled.

“Ah! I didn’t notice you were awake.”

I got up from my lying position, and what I saw in front of me would make any person’s mouth gape. The bright dazzling blue sky filled up the entire world, as the hill I stood upon could take in everything that could be seen up to the distance where the world faded. A large city could be seen in the distance, the sort of city you would see in a fantasy. Butterflies flew past my view, colored with bright colors and sparkling trails.

“Is this…?”

“Yes, this is Avalon.”

It was extraordinary. A sight nobody would ever get to see in a million years, even after the sun’s light went out. Never in a million years would I ever see such an awe-inducing sight.

“It’s true, Avalon is real…!”

“I’m glad that you are enjoying the view so much, but unfortunately there is something we need to do.”

“What?”

“I need to meet up with the rest of my comrades, who are most likely in the city that is ahead of us. If we start heading out right now, we can get to the city before night falls.”

The girl began to walk down the hill without a moment's notice, and I followed behind her, I didn’t want to be left behind suddenly. Remembering that I never even knew the girl’s name, I found it was a good chance to solve that question.

“So, I never got the chance to know your name.”

“It’s Iris.”

What an exotic name, at least on Earth. Exotic names are probably very much common in this new world of Avalon, and perhaps my name ‘Ogata’ would be exotic to them.

We had been walking down the hill for a while, until we finally got to level ground with the city. Miles of grass fell ahead of us, and a large stone path was the only thing that could be seen for a while. Iris had been keeping a steady pace for the whole time, and I was right behind trying to match her. The sounds of flapping filled my ears as I saw a large swarm of birds in the distance.

“This is bad.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Those birds are coming towards us, we need to start running now.”

Without question we began running towards a large patch of grass. The two of us hid in the most abundant areas of grass, and watched as the large swarm of birds flew closer. Instead of being your average crow these birds were almost demonic. There bright red eyes darted everywhere as they searched for us, and their wings were tipped with pointy, sharp bones that protrude. Their large tail hung loose from their body, dangling as they hovered en masse.

“What are those th-”

I couldn’t finish my sentence, as Iris placed her fingers on my lips. She looked dead in my eye and did not withdraw her finger. I looked back up towards the large demonic birds and saw they were looking at me. My heart felt like it fell to the ground, as I started to sweat as their large eyes all pointed directly at me.

I had thought they had seen me, but instead it seemed like they had only heard the small peep I had made, and were trying to locate the source. Soon they turned their eyes away from our direction, and flew past us and into the hill we were originally at. The two of us stepped out of the large patch of grass after a few minutes, and Iris looked at me with a stern expression.

“Stupid!”
Without hesitation, her hand slapped my face, My face turned slightly from the force, but I had regained myself and looked at her once more.

“What the hell was that for!?”

“You nearly got us killed! If I had not stopped you from talking, they would have killed us!”

“Oh.”

Iris’s face turned red, and put her hand on her face. She stood there for a moment, before taking a deep breath, and facing me once more.

“I wouldn’t have been able to save us from those birds. My eyes are only able to imprison one object at a single time.”

Eyes? Imprisonment? Is that the sensation I felt when I was facing the shadow when I was alive earlier? I didn’t really understand the concept of imprisonment with her eyes.

“Your eyes?”

“Yes, the race of my people’s eyes have powers unlike any other, we are able to create force upon an object within our view.”

“So you aren’t human?”

“I’m more human than you think.”

I guess it wasn’t really crazy to think that people would have magic powers in a world known as Avalon. It was weird to think how her eyes would be able to have such power, but of course I wouldn’t know unless I saw it.

“At Least they are gone now, so we should hurry up before they spot us again.”

Iris started to walk again down the grey path. The city was still miles ahead of us, but I could faintly see some of the buildings start to form from a distance.

We had been walking for a while now, the city started to appear more and more to our eyes.

“So what is this place anyway? Is it exactly like Avalon from the Legend of Arthur?”

“Arthur? I don’t know any legend of a person of that name, but yes this world is called Avalon as I’ve said.”

“So you are from this world and not from Earth?”

“Obviously so. I only found you because it was requested by my elders. Since you are even able to enter Avalon proves them right, and now we need to go see them immediately.”

Proves what right? I studied the question for a while as we continued our pace towards the city. Since this place called Avalon was a realm for the strong-willed, does that mean I am strong-willed, or did she bring me here by herself?

I couldn’t help but keep my eyes on her. The way she walks was with opulence and a strong demeanor, her grey hair stood in the sunlight, the way it bounced back and forth was hypnotic.

“You know I can sense you watching me right?”

“Ah! Er, um…!”

How did she know? Embarrassed as she turned around to look at me with a dead eye, I turned my eyes around as my cheeks felt flushed. I tried to look at something else in the distance to ease my mind from the embarrassment.

“I guess it’s only natural that you do so, grey hair is probably not very common in your world as compared to mine.”

“Ahh, yeah… Usually only old people have grey hair on Earth.”

She let out a sigh, and then faced forward again.

“I don’t find it weird when you look at me, but it just gives my senses a tingly feeling, which I don’t like. So if you can, don’t stare at me when I’m not able to see you.”

That request of hers ended up being very hard to accomplish. I tried my hardest to keep myself from looking at her, I ended up looking straight up at the sun, the weird creatures that sometimes dashed from the grass, I tried to study the details of the city that neared. My eyes felt like a magnet that needed to look directly at her.

My legs started to feel heavy and sore from all the walking we had been doing from the hill to the city, but finally we had reached the end of the path, and soon found ourselves walking through the streets.

“Wow. What’s this place called?”

“Modena.”

The city was huge. Large buildings towered almost every inch of space possible that could be seen in the area, small children sometimes would dash around the streets with other kids holding a ball or a wooden toy, street vendors had been stationed selling all sorts of items, like telling your future with a glass ball, selling weird fruits, jewelry, you name it.

Lots of civilians crowded the area that we walked. They spoke an almost alien language, but for some reason I was able to understand and listen to the conversation. They spoke about how the day was going, where they had to go next, how their job sucked and wish they went to school, sometimes I even overheard comments about me, and how I'm dressed so out of place, which isn’t to say they aren’t wrong.

“Over here.”

Iris pulled me from the crowded streets and into a small alleyway with a little shop on the corner with curtains as a door. There she yanked me inside so fast that I swear she would have snapped my neck. Inside was a small shop similar to a pawn shop, they had all sorts of unique items from small pieces of necklaces to large swords, and even armor. There was nobody to be seen inside except for Iris and I, who had been looking around.

“Barsanti! Are you here?”

“In a moment!”

From the door a man entered. He was wearing grey robes that had black linings across his shoulders, with patterns that coated the linings of his collar and sleeves. His long blonde hair was messy, and sat on his shoulders evenly spread. He had a small goatee on his chin, with a thin mustache.

“It’s been a while, little lady!”

“Don’t call me a little lady. You know why I'm here.”

The man pointed his eyes towards me and flashed a small smirk. He turned around and went to stand next to me.

“You must be the person I've been hearing about for so long?”

“I guess I am?”

He looked me up and down, as if sizing me up, then blew air out his nose quickly. He raised his arm towards me and gestured for a handshake.

“If you are the person that the elders have called to this world, then I guess that’s how it is, I have no problems with you. Name’s Barsanti Amarti.”

“My name is Jin Ogata.”

“Okay, okay, now that we’ve done our greetings and all, can we get to the main point of discussion, please?”

Iris looked like she was getting aggravated. Her eyes were dead set on the man named Barsanti Amarti.

“Of course, of course, my mistake, Iris.”

“Hmph. Now that we’re all focusing, what are we going to do about the rise in Nightmares in Modena?”

“Now that you mention it, there have been far more reports than usual, they are putting strict curfews for the people now.”

If I recalled correctly, the ‘nightmares’ they were talking about was like that thing I almost died to when I was back on Earth. It looked like almost nothing, more like a shadow than a real creature.

“Isn’t a nightmare that thing I came across back on Earth?”

Barsanti looked at me with a confused expression on his face, then turned back towards Iris with a small smile.

“You didn’t tell him what a nightmare was? You’re such a bone-head.”

“I was going to! I just ended up forgetting, that’s all…!”

Iris cleared her throat after ranting a bit, then began talking about what a nightmare was anyway.

“In Avalon, creatures known as nightmares exist through unnatural forces no one has figured out. They terrorize the citizens, and if a citizen is to die to a nightmare, they become a nightmare themselves. They have existed for as long as I can remember, and they are especially strong. I have trouble taking out a group of them, so we were lucky only one had found you.”

That was a lot of information to take in such a short time. If a person were to get killed by a nightmare, they basically get turned into one themselves, so they are technically undead? It was a confusing question to answer, but I had no idea.

“They also eat the essence of people too, which is how they end up getting so strong in the first place.”

“Essence? What’s that?”

Barsanti looked at me dumbfounded once again. He then twisted his head so fast that it looked like cap that had been popped open.

“You didn’t tell him about essence either?!”

“I said I forgot to tell him about it!”

Iris, having been red, flushed down her temper and began to lecture me once more about an alien concept of this world.

“Essence is essentially the magical power of Avalon. It is found in almost all civilians in the world, though very little can be found in the average person, with the exception of some. Essence is what allows us to create, manifest, and attack with. Think of it as a life source, without it people would basically die.”

Magical power called Essence, which was basically the life source of all civilians that lived on Avalon? Sounds reasonable to me, I guess. I guess I should stop thinking about the ordinary in an extraordinary world.

“And what’s strange is that someone from Earth like you should have no essence at all, but somehow you do. It’s small, but it can definitely be detected. It’s one of the reasons why the nightmare had found you before, and why it was going to attack you.”

“So I'm special because I have a small amount of essence unlike other people on Earth?”

“I’m not entirely sure myself. All I know is that you were to be requested by my elders.”

She kept talking about those mysterious elders who somehow know something about me, and why I was even able to get to this world in the first place. Could they have a reason as to why?

“So when are we going to meet them?”

“We can’t at the moment. They are in a different city from us, which is about 2 cities over. It’ll be a while until we get to them, but we’ll get our answers once we meet them.”

“So you can’t just communicate with them through telepathy? Or a device?”

“No.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“My elders don’t use that sort of communication, they believe it’s hard to use, and they’d rather meet through real contact, which is annoying, but I can’t say anything about it.”

“Old people, am I right?”

“Don’t joke about them lightly like that, Barsanti.”

“Aw man, why can’t you be more like your sister…”

“WHAT DID YOU SAY!!??”

That definitely seemed to trigger something inside Iris, who ended up chasing Barsanti inside the room with her fist raised high. He laughed like a little kid who won candy, and she was yelling like she just lost the lottery.

After a short outburst, she ended up knocking him right in the head, leaving an almost comically sized bump on his head, calming him and Iris down.

“Like I was saying, we can’t communicate with them without actual contact, so we’ll have to make our way there ourselves. Unfortunately that will take a while, since I have some business to attend here in Modena.”

“What is it?”

“You know how I told you that nightmares eat and kill people for their essence to grow in power and size, well, there seems to be reports of people going missing in the area of Modena we are in, so I need to find the nightmare that’s causing it.”

“So, I guess I'll be helping you fight, since I’m the special one, right?”

“Sorry, that won’t be happening.”

I felt like I was punctured in the heart when she said that. Me, the apparent chosen one, not able to fight a monster? What was this sorcery? I felt betrayed, I felt like the world was falling down on me.

“What? Why not?”

“First off, you don’t have anything you can defend with. Second, you do not know how to use anything you can defend with. Third, you are simply way too weak right now for you to even attempt to fight a nightmare currently.”

If there was a nail on the board and somebody had slammed it with a hammer, that person would have been her. If I could I would have fallen on the floor right now. What was the whole point of me coming to this world in the first place.”

“You’re no fun, you know? Guy just wants to fight a nightmare and you won’t let him.”

“He’ll end up getting killed if he tries to fight a nightmare. Why are you so against this?”

“Because I remember when you were exactly like him! You used to get so upset when we wouldn’t let you fight the nightmares because you were still so young, you used to try and beat me up!”

“Now I will beat you up. I technically outrank you in terms of my position and, so my word is final. Ogata is staying with you for the night while I find the nightmare and end it.”

“Wow, so harsh! I can’t even help you?”

“Aren’t you retired?”

“Temporarily. I’m still stronger than you.”

“Whatever.”

Iris ended up leaving, and opened one of the doors in the shop then closed it shut. As soon as she closed the door it got super quiet in the room, it was really awkward. I was looking in the direction where Iris had closed the door when I had turned my head towards Barsanti.

“Woah!”

He was right up in my face. He was looking at me with eyes of awe, like he was staring at the most brilliant firework show ever created. He had been gazing into my eyes, like he was almost looking past them. He realized that I had been staring at him and quickly shifted his eyes.

“Sorry if that was weird, I ended up getting lost in thought.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s just… It’s so weird to me.”

“What is?”

“If this sounds rude, it’s my apologies, but how could you be the very special person that the elders have been talking about? You have little to no Essence that can be sensed inside of you, you have no sense of awareness, and you just look so fragile.”

I think I shrunk a little once he said that. Of course it was also weird to me why I had been taken into this world. I thought I had some godly powers which could defeat monsters, but I ended up being saved by a woman because I was struck with fear, and now I'm being told how weak I look.

“Ah, well… I don’t really know myself…”

“I see. Well if I could be optimistic, I would say you definitely have some power within you, you just haven’t been able to use it yet. I’m betting that with some physical and mental training, you’ll grow stronger.”

Training was probably necessary if I wanted to grow in power, just like how bodybuilders have to train at the gym to get big muscles, or when athletes train to be the best at their sport, I’d have to train to become strong. But what type of training would that be?”

“How would I be able to train?”

“I could probably help you with training, but I don’t think it would be the best time for that. Iris would most definitely get mad at the both of us for doing something behind her back, and she will definitely say no to you training with me.”

“Why would she get mad at you for training me?”

“If I had to say, it would be because my training is a little different from your average.”

Barsanti put his hands on his hips and breathed through his nose in a confident manner, with his eyes closed.

“I know I can turn you into one of the strongest people in the world!”

“You definitely know how to get somebody excited!”

“I know. Hey, did Iris ever give you something to defend yourself with? Like, a sword, or something like that?”

“She didn’t give me anything, I don’t have anything in my pockets that is a weapon either.”

Barsanti looked surprised, I guess he really didn’t expect Iris to not give me anything to protect myself.

“Wow, she really did not do her job correctly.”

Just then, the door Iris had entered slammed open, shaking the antiques in the shop from their place. She stood underneath the door frame with her hand balled into a fist on the door.

“I can hear you, you know?”

“You're so scary, Iris!”

Iris breathed deeply, which seemed to control her temper, and dismissed Barsanti’s teasing.

“I don’t have time to listen to your attempts at teasing me right now. What you should be listening to is the recent reports on the nightmare that’s been in the area.”

“What’s up with it?”

“It’s a lot bigger than last seen. One of the witnesses saw it in one of the dark corners of the street, and it’s shadow almost covered the entire wall. They evacuated the surrounding area of all civilians, but reports of smaller nightmares have been seen as well.”

“Seems like a big scare. Is it still in the area?”

“The last known location was about 20 minutes ago, so I’m betting that it’s moved from the street and somewhere an abundance of people are at. If I can intercept the nightmare before it can reach them, I can kill it.”

“Yeah, what about the other nightmares that were created from the dead civilians? You’ll have to deal with those as well before you can reach the big boss himself.”

“I have that covered. There shouldn’t be a lot of essence from the people of this city, which should make the nightmares weak enough so that I have no difficulty dealing with them. If the worst comes, then I might need to ask for help, which won’t happen.”

Barsanti smiled at Iris, like teasing words were begging to release from his mouth, which could not be contained any longer.

“If you need help, just ask me, okay?”

“I’d rather be dead than to ask you to help me with my problems.”

“Aww, I'm not an old man, you know? I’m pretty sure I'm 5 years older than you at least. I haven’t lost my edge!”

“It’s not about you being an old man, it’s that you get caught up in the action and dealing more damage than needs to be done to the enemy. You’ll end up destroying a lot of buildings in the process.”

Barsanti laughed with glee, while he scratched his head from the back.

“I guess you're right about that! I guess I won’t be helping you after all.”

“Hmph.”

I noticed that the light from the outside had gotten darker as time passed, and soon enough it looked like the sky had turned to black.

“It’ll be time for me to head out soon, I need you to stay here while I'm gone. No funny business.”

“Okaaaay.”

Barsanti sarcastically said, as Iris shot him a glare that pretty much displayed ‘I’m going to seriously cut you.’

Just then, a growl could be heard from the distance, it was so loud that it seemingly shook some of the objects inside the shop, almost like a small earthquake had passed through the city. We all looked at each other as if we already knew what that was.

“It’s near. Make sure to turn off the lights and lock the door.”

Iris dashed out from the door which flared the curtains it covered, leaving me and Barsanti together. He had already turned to shut off the lights from the main room, turning the room to darkness.

“You heard the girl. It’s best if we just let her do this on her own, even I know not to mess with a nightmare, or her.”

He quickly ushered me to one of the rooms upstairs of the shop, which had a bed to sleep on. He closed the door behind me and said “Just sit tight!” as he turned off the lights. With nothing else to do except wait for Iris to return, I sat myself on the bed and laid there, staring at the floor.

**

The wind blew against her hair.

The girl crept along the sides of the streets, peeking around the corners for the slightest evidence of the nightmare that roamed the city. The growl that echoed throughout gave her a clue, but nowhere for the creature to be found.

“How could they let a nightmare grow this strong inside the city for so long?” Iris wondered, as she tip-toed across the stone path.

The lights of the surrounding buildings had all been off, even the lamps that were usually on had been shut off. The small cries of animals sometimes filled the air, crickets and birds who she had passed by. She eyed the walls of the buildings for evidence of the Nightmare, when she finally found something that caught her eyes.

“This is it…!” Iris whispered to herself. On one of the buildings, black mold seemed to have formed from the smallest corners of its walls. It was almost like black paint splattered. Iris had only been able to tell from her eyes, which glowed through the dark as she enhanced her vision, allowing her to see every stain and texture.

She placed her hand on the black mold, feeling its disgusting texture. Small bits had stuck on to her, which she shook off from her hands. She peered into the alleyway the black mold had pointed towards to, and there she saw that the mold formed exponentially, on almost every single wall that lined the alley.

“It’s here.” Iris thought to herself. She clenched her hands into fists, as she warily walked into the dark alley. No sounds had been heard from the nightmare in a while. As she walked across the alley, she noticed a small corner that was hidden away in the darkness. She sneakily propped herself against the wall of the corner, and slowly tilted her head to see what could possibly meet her, as she formed her sword into her hand.

The small murmurs, almost alien, could be heard from the corner, it wasn’t like the cry of the nightmare from when they had been in the shop, more like the nightmare that she had killed when she protected Ogata.

Quickly, she turned the corner and raised her sword against the nightmare, who sat with its back towards her. It appeared to have been eating something, but its body had been covering it. It turned its head slowly, as its jaw hung open with a piece of meat in its hands.

“What?” Iris thought to herself quickly. “There’s no way this is the nightmare that they were reporting about. It’s way too small…!”

The nightmare that appeared before her was small in size, even smaller than the nightmare on earth, it had been chewing on an arm from a dead civilian, but that did not matter to Iris at the time. In a matter of seconds, she realized what was wrong.

A loud shriek, louder than the growl from the shop filled the air, her ears rang from the sound, and her eyes widened as she could sense where the sound had been created.

“The shop!”

Iris dashed from the corner and from the alleyway, into the dark streets as she ran towards the shop. It would have at least taken her 5 minutes to get back, but that would be 5 minutes too many. She had to sprint for her life.

“I have to save Ogata!”

**

I kept staring at the wall.

It was pitch black in the room, and my vision started to blur into black whenever I concentrated on the wall. I would move my eyes, and my vision would come back. I had a lot of thoughts on my mind that kept me from taking a break, such as the nightmare that was roaming the city, Iris fighting the creature, or how I would get back to my home.

It was so weird thinking about how an alternate world even existed without anyone knowing about it. If she had said that strong-willed people were only allowed to exist on Avalon, are there any other humans in this world? It seems that Barsanti could have been a human, his name is similar to an Italian, but it just feels like he’s not. I had also thought that the name ‘Modena’ was Italian as well. Perhaps some of the cities in this world are based on countries in my world? I suppose there could be a japanese similar civilization, an english, or even a russian civilization, or maybe this was just an exception, and i’m thinking about it too hard.

My eyesight began to blur again. I had been staring at the wall for so long my eyes had gotten used to the darkness, and it felt like I began sleeping without closing my eyes. Without even noticing, they started to close by themselves, until finally the only thing I saw were my closed lids.

Atleast, I had almost begun to sleep, when I was awoken by something thrashing in the distance. Was Iris fighting the nightmare?

I twisted my head towards the window where only the stars illuminated. The cold breeze of the night filled the room, chilling my body. The thrashing stopped, leaving only silence.

I looked at the window for about a minute, before staring at the wall again. My eyes began to feel heavy, and I once again attempted to sleep.

I had only been closing my eyes, however. I kept thinking about the thrashing noise that I had heard. Shouldn’t there have been more noise created? It wouldn’t be surprising if she killed the creature in one blow, but she did say that it was stronger than others. Could she have gotten killed instead…?

No, I definitely would have heard her scream. I don’t think anybody would die without yelling in agony. It was strange, but I could do nothing about it. My only choice is to sit in this bed and wonder if she will come back safe or not. It kept my body stressed thinking about everything, I couldn’t relax.

I sat in the room for a while. It had been silent for 5 minutes since I heard the noise, and I would have thought that Iris would have been back by now. My eyes remained closed, I couldn’t see anything in the room.

It didn’t stay silent for long.

I couldn’t tell, but it felt like something was watching me. It was just a hunch, but I could feel my body start to tickle, the feeling you get when your spine shudders. I stressed my eyes, the weird feeling that I was experiencing took hold of me, but maybe it was just my imagination, maybe nothing was there at all and my worries were just making me feel like something was there.

*Drip*

Something dropped in the room, like a small water droplet had touched the floor. Had it started to rain? No, I would have started to hear it pouring. Perhaps a water leak from the roof? It couldn’t be, I would have noticed the stains.

*Drip*

I heard it again! I started to feel the dread form from inside me. My heartbeat began to beat faster and faster, I started to sweat from fear. I tried to move my body, that perhaps I was just uncomfortable, but my stress and fear prevented me from doing so. I tried to move my body with all my might, but my mind would not let me.

*Drip* *Drip*

My heartbeat was rapid, like a gun had been repeatedly shot. My whole body felt hot, something was definitely there, it was no longer a hunch, I was actually being watched.

With every force in my body, I attempted to open my eyes to find whatever was there. It was a great struggle, my mind was definitely warning me that the thing that was watching me was not friendly, but I could not deal with the stress. I needed to find out what it was.

Finally, I was able to open my eyes. I had still been staring at the dark wall, nothing was above me, I made sure.

I then moved my eyes downwards to the wall that was in front of me. Nothing was there either. I looked to the left, darkness. The door had still been shut closed, and I could sense that nothing was on that side. The only thing that needed to be checked, was the wall with the window.

With great fear, and sweat forming on my forehead, I hesitatingly turned towards the window. Whatever could have possibly awaited me, I waited in fear.

Yet, it was worse than anything I had imagined inside my head.

It was almost like nothing was there at all, but the faint image of something had been crouched next to the window.

It was terrifying to look at. It was almost humanoid in image, its black form made it difficult to tell, but it had features like a human, but had some features of other creatures, like a devil or a wild beast.

What was weird was the creature’s jaw. Unlike his bodily features, which were transparent and black, it’s teeth--rather fangs--were completely white. They were clean as well, like stark paint completely covered them. From his fangs dripped saliva, the droplets that fell were the sounds of water that I had been hearing. From the floor the saliva formed a puddle, droplets still falling.

Its eyes were what frightened me the most. They were like light bulbs that had been attached to where his eyes should have been, and illuminated brightly in the dark room. There were no pupils or veins, it had no eyelids or tear ducts, it was just a round light bulb.

But that wasn’t the frightening part. What’s frightening was that even though from its eyes, there were no pupils that could be seen…

It was looking directly at me.

It’s saliva dripped as the seconds passed by. It’s stark eyes kept watch over me, like piercing needles that stung and shocked. It captured every faint move I made, it felt like it could look at my fear.

There were no movements from the two of us. We each stared at each other, except only I was the one in fright. It did not move from the window, instead it held its position, only looking at me.

I would have thought that Barsanti would have noticed that the creature was here, and would come to fight it off, but the nightmare made no sound when it appeared at the window. It was so silent that it did not alarm Barsanti, who must’ve fallen asleep in the other room.

“Ogata!”

I thought I heard somebody in the distance, it was faint, but it sounded like they had been calling my name, but perhaps I was imagining it.

“Ogata!”

I heard it again, closer however. Could it have been Iris who was calling my name? Had she survived?

“Ogata!”

It was definitely her. Her voice sounded like it was directly under the wall where the window was.

The nightmare must have noticed this sound as well. For a second it looked down towards the sound it heard, and saw the presence of Iris. It bared its fangs wildly, and then looked back at me.

It crawled from the window and stepped on the floor of the room I occupied. The nightmare stepped on the saliva puddle it had created, covering the sole of it’s abnormal foot. I could see its fang grow larger, sharper as it moved slowly towards the bed.

“Ogata! Move!”

Iris, who was suddenly at the window, yelled at me as the nightmare was preparing to claw at me. I managed to move in time as she said that, as I saw her purple eyes glow with power.

In an instant, the nightmares black transparent body turned a faint purple, ceasing its movement. It looked like it froze as soon as it stepped forward to attack, as if time stopped only for the creature. I looked at Iris, whose eyes still illuminated as she stared at the creature.

“Get out of this room now! Jump through the window!”

Without looking at me, Iris ordered that I leave the room through the window. I had no idea how far the second floor was to the floor of the city, and I did not know if I could attempt such an idea.

“What? I can’t do that!”

“If you don’t do it, you’ll die! Run to the window!”

Without giving it much thought at the time, I complied with what she said and dashed towards the window. The nightmare that Iris had ceased its movement struggled against the unnatural force, grunted and struggled as it tried to move towards me. It’s arm straightened towards my body, but it looked like the force of an elephant weighs it down.

“Now jump as soon as I fall!”

Iris, who was on the window at that moment, now fell towards the ground.

“Iris!”

I looked down towards the ground, where Iris had apparently fallen from. She looked just fine, and was still standing on her feet. It was hard to imagine though, since the distance from the window made the ground look like a skyscraper.

“T-this is too far for me to jump from!”

“Just jump now! I’ll tell you what to do!”

There were no other options, I either had to jump, or die to the nightmare, who was no longer trapped by Iris’ eyes. It twisted its head towards me and shrieked in anger. It looked like it was ready to rip my body apart.

I bit my lip, and flung myself from the window.

The fall felt like it was in slow motion, never would I have imagined that I would fall from a window this far and survive without injurying myself. I prepared for the worst.

“Ogata! Control your Essence into your feet!”

Right, my essence. I remember she told me how I had a small amount of essence inside of me, unlike humans on Earth. I never even knew what it was until she had told me I had it, so how would I be able to use it?

“Imagine you are as light as a feather! If you are able to concentrate and imagine it, your essence will be able to protect you as you fall!”

To imagine myself as a feather would protect me from falling and breaking my bones? I didn't have much time to dwell on the matter, since I was nearing the bottom of the ground. At this rate, I would definitely injure myself.

“Imagine it, or you’ll hurt yourself!”

The ground grew closer and closer. I tried my hardest to imagine my body as the weight of a feather, but it was hard to concentrate when I would most certainly fall before I could manage it.

I had no time to die here, so I concentrated my hardest, I almost forgot that I was falling in the first place. I have to think that I am as light as a feather…!

Out of amazement, something weird grew from inside my body. In an instant, it felt like I weighed nothing at all, like I was soaring through the air, or hovering down. My whole body felt like it was covered in something.

“You did it…!”

I had finally reached the ground, without feeling any sort of harm towards my body as I touched the floor. Instead it felt like I slowly dropped, a feather in the wind.

“I did it…! I became as light as a feather!”

“Good, but move, now!”

I looked up towards the window when she yelled, and I saw the nightmare dash through, its large claws pointed towards me as its mouth gaped open. I moved myself from its landing position in the spur of the moment, barely avoiding its sharp claws tearing my skin.

“Are you okay?!”

“Y-yeah!”

I now stood with Iris against the nightmare, who now hunched as it looked directly at us. It was huge when it stood, toppling over the two of us. If Iris stood on my shoulders, the nightmare would still be 2 heads taller.

“Move with me, Ogata! I will be able to guard you!”

The nightmare began to launch towards us, but Iris reflected its claws with her sword, which she drew from thin air. The sword’s blade started to glow with aura, just like before.

“Damn you, nightmare…!”

The two forces struggled as the sword and claws clashed. Iris had managed to parry the attack, flinging the nightmare back from where we were.

“We need to run Ogata! I’ll lead it where we won’t do damage to the buildings!”

She grabbed my hand, and began running through the streets. She let go of my hand and placed me in front of her, and I immediately started to sprint for my life.

“How far is this place?!”

“Not far! Just keep running, I'll keep the nightmare busy!”

I looked back, and saw the nightmare climbing the buildings and dashing through. It gained momentum with us, but was reflected by Iris’ sword when it got too close, allowing us to keep distance.

“How did the nightmare get through you?!”

“I have no idea! Quit talking and keep running!”

We ran for several minutes, it was the fastest I had run in my life. We had managed to steer clear from the buildings that crowded the streets, with the nightmare in tow. Finally, there was an open area in the city, no buildings were there to create trouble.

“Hah! Hah!”

We both were labouring hard from all the running, I had my hands on my knees, while Iris kept her stance towards the nightmare with her sword in her hands. The nightmare fell to the ground, now standing against us.

“Ogata, stand behind me! I’ll be able to finish it off here!”

I agreed, and stood behind Iris. She held her sword as if she was ready to guard the nightmare’s attack, as it lunged towards her in fury. It’s claws grew larger than ever, and scraped Iris’ sword when they collided.

“Hngh!”

She struggled against the heavy force of the claws, which seemed to be double the force prior. It wasn’t long before the Nightmare won the clash, and sent Iris flying through the air, and into the distance.

“Damn! Ogata!”

I stood in terror as the nightmare now pierced my body with its eyes. It stood in silence for roughly 2 seconds, before it opened its mouth. Its expression was almost that of a deranged smile. It took one step towards me, each slowly making their way. It felt like it was the end.

“Ogata! Listen to me!”

I looked at Iris, who kept her vision on the nightmare. Her eyes illuminated, and looked tensed as she trapped the nightmare in its position, who tried to release itself.

“Ogata, you have to create a sword in your hand!”

“A sword? How am I supposed to create a sword?!”

“Listen, it’s how I form my own sword, I created it! You need to feel the sword in your hands, and let it exist!”

I looked at my hands, which were empty. I had no idea if I would be able to accomplish such a goal of creating a sword.

“Position your hands like you're holding an imaginary sword! Visualize its hilt, and grip it!”

I put my hands in a stance, with my right hand on top of my left. I left a small area between my fingers, acting as the hilt of the sword.

“G-great! Now visualize the sword's length! Determine how long its blade is!”

I didn’t know how long the blade of a sword should be. I never really even saw a sword in real life before I had seen Iris’. I couldn’t tell how long a sword should be, but I think I knew how long it should be.

“Damn…! Now you have to create it! You have to will the sword into existence! Think that it is already in your hands!”

I had no idea what sort of sword I would create from my hands, and I had no time to think as well. Iris lost control of the nightmare, who broke free from her eyes. In a blink of an eye, it launched towards me, when I instinctively raised my positioned hands against its claws.

“You…!”

My eyes were closed, so I couldn’t tell, but it felt like something had been touching my fingers. It’s weight felt light, but it was enough that it resisted the nightmare’s full force. I opened my eyes just barely, and I saw something amazing.

“You did it…!”

In my hand was a sword. Instead, it was a katana. Without knowing, I thought of the one sword that was iconic through Japan, the katana. Its blade glistened through the night, its sharpness was mesmerizing to look at. Its blade looked larger than the typical katana, but it felt right.

“Yahh!”

I turned the katana, and with it the nightmare was pushed away. It fell on its four limbs, still looking directly at me.

“I’ll trap it with my eyes, you have to kill it, Ogata!”

Illuminated her eyes once more, the nightmare was again imprisoned, but with less force against its body. I did not have much time before it would be able to break free.

“Y-you have to do it now, Ogata…!”

I held the katana near my hip, and ran towards the nightmare, who started to break free. It looked like I had about 3 seconds before it would be able to attack me.

“My control… I'm losing it…!”

I was close enough to the nightmare, but it had broken free already. It looked like it was ready to attack, so I raised my blade against its body, and prepared to turn my hands to slice the creature.

“HAAH!”

Before it could rip me with its claws, I was able to move my body with the katana, its blade appeared to have cut its stomach. It froze before it was able to move its claw, its mouth still open as it stared at me in terror.

It shrieked in agony, its body started to dissolve into black particles as it continued to cry. Soon enough, there was nothing left of its body, except for its head, which soon also turned to particles as it disappeared into the air. The nightmare was no longer in front of me.

“Did I… do it…?”

My hands felt weak, and began to shake uncontrollably. The katana that was in my hand started to dissolve, and I was no longer able to feel its grip. I felt dizzy, like I had been spinning for hours.

“Why is the world upside down…?”

“Ogata!”

I heard Iris’ voice one last time, before the world turned black.