Chapter 2:

Chapter 2)

Avalon


 “Ogata…?”

I was woken up to the familiar voice of someone calling out my name. My eyes opened up, trying to adjust to the light that welcomed me. Did I pass out?

“Oh, you're okay!”

I saw Iris and Barsanti standing over me, Iris looked like she was ready to cry, while Barsanti kept a stolid expression as he watched me wake up.

“Uh, how long was I out for? What happened?”

“Iris told me you ended up passing out while you killed the nightmare the night before. We had to carry you back after she told me what had happened.”

“Oh, I did that? I don’t remember, but I think I saw something like a nightmare...”

“You aren’t dreaming, you really did kill it. Iris told me you were able to whip out some sword to do it as well.”

I recalled what had happened once he mentioned the sword that I apparently withdrew from my hands. It was a katana, and I was able to cut the nightmare in half and it dissolved in the air. Iris was helping me by trapping the nightmare with her eyes.

“Yeah, but it was a strange sword, wasn’t it?”

Iris placed her hand on her lips, like she was trying to recall what type of sword it looked like.

“Ogata, are you able to take out your sword again?”

“My sword? I can try, but I don’t think I’ll be able to do it again.”

“Don’t worry, if you did it once, you can do it again. Just remember what it looked like.”

Remember what it looked like, it had the normal hilt of an average katana, but the blade was longer than a typical one, I think I had a good visualization of what I held yesterday.

It took some concentrating, but the katana’s hilt began to emerge from my hands. The blade of the katana slowly appeared, gleaming like it did the night before.

“Where did I see this type of sword again?”

“It’s called a katana on Earth. It’s from a country named Japan, where it was created.”

“A katana? I think I did hear that name before, from a land pretty far from here…”

Barsanti closed his eyes, then opened them again with a smile on his face.

“Well, I can’t really remember, but your sword does look strong. It was able to cut a pretty strong nightmare in half. Iris wasn’t able to do that.”

“I was caught off guard, okay! I didn’t expect its claws to get larger!”
“Excuses! You are a member of the Rebellion! You shouldn’t let a nightmare get the best of you!”

“Shut up! You don’t get it at all!”

It seemed that Barsanti ended up ticking off Iris, who stomped upstairs to one of the bedrooms to be by herself. Barsanti kept a straight face, only until he noticed I was looking at him did he spark a smile.

“Maybe I was a little too harsh on her? She only just joined as an official member, after all.”

“There’s a rebellion group? Against who?”

“Mm, I'm not really a part of it anymore, so I can’t say. I bet you’ll learn more though once you visit the elders. They are basically the masterminds behind everything.”

Again with the elders, Barsanti and Iris truly do seem to take them seriously, like they are all knowing beings.

“I guess so.”

“Say, so how were you even able to take out a sword anyway? It even took me months just to barely hold it, since it kept dissolving.”

“I don’t really know myself, Iris just told me to imagine what it felt like in my hands, and what it looked like, and it just appeared.”

“I guess the elders were right, it only took you one day to withdraw your sword!”

“Is it really such a hard thing to do?”

“Of course it is! The members of the rebellion usually take months to accomplish what you did. The strongest member took about 3 weeks, you did it in about a minute!”

Hearing that made me feel good, that I was able to do what even the strongest person couldn’t for 3 weeks.

“Well, now that you’re able to hold your sword, it means your strong enough to do a tiny bit of training with me.”

“What? Really?”

Barsanti held up his hand, creating an ‘OK’ gesture with his fingers.

“When can we start?!”

“Right no-”

“Hold it!”

Barsanti wasn’t able to finish his sentence, as Iris, stepping down the stairs, intruded into the conversation. She looked like she wasn’t going to have anything get in her way.

“I need Ogata to come with me into the city. I need to do some investigating about that Nightmare.”

“What? What was so important about that nightmare that you have to stop Ogata from doing his training?”

“What’s important is this.”

Iris threw what appeared to be a shard into Barsanti’s hands, who looked puzzled.

“What’s this?”

“It was found when the nightmare dissolved. It was glowing red, but now i’m pretty sure it’s faded.”

“Okay, so why is it important?”

“In short, it allows someone to control a nightmare. If they are able to capture one, they can place this shard into its body and control it from a distance. Mind control, basically.”

“So you think someone was out to get us?”

“Ogata to be precise. It ended up in Ogata’s room, completely ignoring me until I stopped it from killing him. The controller must have been close, if it was able to move the nightmare to its own liking.”

“So what were the other nightmares that you found?”

“Just remnants of civilians that the controlled nightmare killed. I think they had to get stronger to be able to get close enough to Ogata, so they went around the city, which is why so many people ended up dying the past couple days.”

“How would they know about Ogata though…?”

“That’s the reason we’ll be investigating. Whoever was controlling the nightmare still has to be in the city, I’m sure.”

If someone was out to get me, that means they must also know the reason why I was chosen to enter this world? Or perhaps someone sent them to kill me, which was sickening to think of. Who would try to murder me?

“So, when are we going to go investigate?”

“Right now. Put this on.”

Iris tossed me a cloak similar to the one she wore right now, with the same patterns and color. I put it on through my head, and adjusted the fit around my shoulders.

“Why are you giving me this?”

“So you don’t look so out of place. At least with that cloak you will blend in a little better. Your clothes make you stick out.”

“I see. Thank you.”

“Looks great on you Ogata! Once you finish up helping Iris, we can start training.”

Finally, I would be able to get stronger in this world. If I wanted to survive, I needed to learn how to adjust to the rules and the power. But first, helping Iris is the first thing on the list.

“Alright, let’s head out.”

Iris walked past Barsanti and I into the front door. I followed right behind her, making sure not to be left behind.

“Good luck you two!”

Barsanti waved us goodbye, as we both left the shop and into the busy streets of Modena. Iris had been looking back and forth between the streets.

“So, where to first?”

“Let’s head this way. It’s the main plaza, so we can ask people if they have seen anything suspicious.”

We began walking towards the plaza. I followed Iris as she walked through the crowds of people, while I stumbled across, making sure I didn’t bump into anybody. Sometimes I’d accidently hit a rather small person, and I would apologize before embarrassingly joining Iris again.

We had made it to the main plaza, and it was amazing to look at. It was a large open area, with lots of flowers that surrounded the small plots of grass. Many buildings surrounded the area, seeming to be clothing and food shops mainly. In the middle of the plaza was a large statue of a stone man, who I did not know.

“Hey, who is the statue in the middle?”

“I don’t know, they say he was a legendary warrior in the past, who was the founder of Modena. He ended up dying in a war, but nobody found his body.”

It was a huge statue as well. He was holding a large sword, and wearing armor that looked almost fantastical. His sword pointed behind us, while also looking the same direction. I saw a small group of people crowding the statue, I thought I saw some of them giving signs of prayer.

Iris started to ask around the plaza about any suspicious activity about the nightmare that was roaming the city, trying to find out if they had seen a person acting strange outside.

Much to our dismay, there was little to no luck when trying to get any information. They either said they stayed inside their house, or they were asleep. Not one person knew anything about a strange person.

“There really isn’t anybody who knows anything?

We decided to take a break and sat on one of the tables near a restaurant. Iris crossed her arms as she watched the crowds of civilians walk around the plaza. She seemed like she was daydreaming about something, possibly about the stranger.

“So, what will you do now…?”

“We might as well head back to the shop, it looks like we won’t find anything decent here.”

We had put back our chairs and cleaned the table from our trash, when I looked at Iris, who seemed to be staring at something in the distance. She kept a stern face, like something was bothering her.

“What’s up, Iris?”

“Look at that hooded person over there.”

“What?”

Iris pointed towards the area she was looking at, and sure enough I had also seen the hooded person she was talking about. They were wearing a full black hood, their facial features masked. They walked awkwardly across the plaza, like they were searching for something.

“Don’t you think it's strange how that person moves? And the way they are dressed, like they don’t want themselves to be exposed…?”

We continued to stare at the hooded person secretly, watching their every move. They would walk around the plaza, periodically staring at the flowers, or buildings before moving again. They kept looking around the people like they were scared someone was watching them.

“Do you think that’s the person who was controlling the nightmare?”

“Possibly. They could be searching for a shard, or something else… But until we see anything suspicious, we shouldn’t act.”

It was probably about 2 minutes since we last spoke that the hooded figure began to do something strange. They stopped in front of the large statue in the middle of the plaza, and appeared to place something on it. They then stepped back, before admiring the statue.

“Perhaps…?”

I looked at Iris, who began to illuminate her eyes towards the statue. For a second she stared, then suddenly began speaking rapidly.

“It’s definitely that person! They just put one of the shards on the statue, I zoomed in on it. We have to capture them now!”

Before I could say anything, Iris jumped over the fence of the restaurant, and began running full speed after the hooded figure, who had noticed her. I jumped across the fence as well, watching as the hooded figure run away from the both of us.

“Get back here! You won’t get away!”

The hooded assailant was strangely fast, able to keep distance from Iris as he ran into one of the busy streets. I managed to catch up to Iris, who began to lose sight of the hooded figure.

“I have to keep using my eyes to find them…!”

Iris’ eyes kept illuminating, tracking the hooded figure as they moved quickly around the civilians that walked.

“We’re gonna lose them, Iris!”

“I still have sight! They won’t get away!”
“Look, they turned towards a corner!”

I said that, as the hooded figure dashed off to the right. Iris had lost her vision of the figure, but continued towards the direction it ran off to. We turned the corner, and it was as busy as the street before.

Iris tried to use her eyes vision to locate the hooded figure, but it was no use. I couldn’t see them as well, it looks like they had disappeared.

“Damn! There’s no way they got away that fast!”

“Wait, Iris!”

I had to run with Iris as she kept going through the street, trying to find any hint of the hooded figure hiding. We had ended up in the middle of the road, before she finally grew out of breath, still looking at all the directions where they could have gone.

“There’s no way… They got away…!”

“Listen Iris, it’s fine! We can ask the people around here if they saw them run into one of the alleys!”

“It would be no use! They would just end up running away again!”

“Then what do we do?!”

“I don’t know now…!”

Iris caught her breath, before standing up straight again. She looked down the street, before looking back at me.

“Let’s head back to Barsanti for now!”

We both dashed off towards the shop where Barsanti was tending to. We opened the door and found him sitting at the desk reading a newspaper. He turned our way and saw us gasping for air before standing up and greeting us.

“Woah, what happened? You guys look like a mess.”

“We might have found the person who has been controlling the nightmares.”

“Really? Did you get them?”

“Does it look like it? They got away, but we found a place where we could potentially catch them again.”

That’s right, I remember seeing the hooded figure place something on the large statue in the middle of the plaza, but I couldn’t really tell what it was at the time because it was so far away. Iris probably knew since she was able to see with her eyes.

“Iris, what did they put on the statue?”

“It was one of the shards that we found on the nightmare we killed, they hid it in one of the small cracks where nobody could find it.”

“Why would they put it there?”

“I have no idea. Maybe if they were caught, they wouldn’t be found with the shards on them.”

Iris walked back and forth to the room, looking down at the floor as she paced.

“Or perhaps they were going to use it on us because they knew we would find them, and are planning to ambush us with nightmares?”
“Could be a possibility.”

Barsanti put on a hat from a hanger, and put his hand on the doorknob and opened the door.

“Well, while you guys plan out whatever you’ll be doing, I have some errands that need to be done. I’ll be back in a few hours!”

Barsanti closed the door behind, as Iris and I both watched as the room fell silent. I turned towards her, as she went ahead and grabbed the newspaper that Barsanti had been reading. I sat myself on one of the chairs in the shop, and stared at all the exotic pieces that were hung all over the walls.

Some of the items that were sold here were relatively normal, like clocks or sets of glassware, and even paintings. But some of the other items found in the store were relatively weird. Like paintings of disturbing images, or equipment of things I had no idea about. I even saw a weird looking bird sleeping in a bird cage on the roof that said ‘NOT FOR SALE’.

“Does Barsanti own this place?”

“Yeah, after he said he retired from the rebellion, he ended up buying this building and turning it into a pawn shop. He travels all over Avalon to find weird things to sell. The things in this shop are what he finds.”

I wonder why he even retired in the first place. Is he unable to help them, or did he leave on his own?

I was wondering, when I noticed Iris had been tinkering with the small shard she had kept from the nightmare. The red glow it had when she first showed it to us faded, leaving only a stone.

“Did you find something that has to do with the shard?”

“I did. This shard allows a nightmare to take the form of a being, dead, alive, or inanimate. That person must have stuck this shard on a dead body to create the nightmare.”

“How would it be able to make a nightmare out of a living person?”

“They would probably have to stick the shard on them when they’re alive, then they turn into a nightmare once they are killed. It’s a weird concept, but it’s like transforming a person into a monster.”

“Weird.”

“This shard doesn’t have any power left in it, so it won’t be able to form a nightmare. It’s just a regular piece of stone now.”

She played with the stone in her hand, until it ended up crumbling in pieces onto the floor. It had looked like a small sense of an aura left the stone, before vanishing.

“We have to stop that person from putting shards into anything else. This city will end up being destroyed.”

“So how are we going to stop them? They ran away before we could catch them. They’re too fast.”

“That’s why I have a plan.”

“Hm? What is it?”

Iris walked over to the chair I was sitting on, and started to discuss the amazing plan that she thought of to lure in the hooded figure. It wasn’t what I thought she would think of, to say the least. It was definitely strange.

“That’s the plan. Doesn’t it sound amazing?”

“No it doesn’t! Not at all!”

“What are you talking about? All my plans are always good. They always work as well!”

“We’re gonna die…”

I started begging Iris to switch the plan, but she put her foot down and said “Either you follow my plan or you die.” I even kneeled and begged Iris. We were arguing for a while until Barsanti eventually finished his errands and came back to the shop.

“Yoo-hoo! I’m back!”

“Oh, Barsanti. Welcome back.”

“What were you two doing while I was gone? You guys are practically tugging at each others hair.”

“Ogata thinks that my plan to capture the Nightmare is bad. You don’t think my plans are bad, do you?”

Barsanti seemed to have something in his throat, since he started to cough hysterically as soon as she brought up the plan. He recovered from his coughing, before carrying an expression like he was almost about to break into the most horrific laugh of his life.

“Yeah, her plans are always great…!”

“See? What did I say? Barsanti used to help me with missions, and he’d always agree with my plans.”

“That’s because your sister would have hated me if I didn’t!”

“Quit talking about my sister!”

Iris knocked Barsanti in the head, leaving yet another bump, as he limped himself over to the shop desk while wincing in pain.

“Alright, in one hour the moon will rise, and that’s when we’ll get ready to ambush the enemy.”

“Is there anything you need me to do?”

“Just stay here at the shop for now. Contact me if that person comes here instead of the plaza.”

“Got it.”

“Ogata, make sure you’re prepared.”

I wasn’t prepared. I needed to mentally prepare myself for what was coming to me, and there was no backing out of it.

We stalled out the time in the shop, having random conversations about what came up in the town, any news from other cities, stuff that I didn’t really have a say in. I just watched the clock tick by as the hour hit 9:00.

I had almost dozed off by then, until Iris alarmed me that it was time to go.

“Wake up Ogata. It’s time.”

“Oh no…”

“Whether you like it or not, it’s time for you to be a hero right now. Let’s go.”

“I’ll see you two later!”
Iris closed the door, leaving only the two of us together outside in the night. It was chilly, and I could see my breath as I breathed. There wasn’t any sign of people outside, which would allow us to get to the plaza and fight our opponent easier.

“Alright, once we get over there, the plan starts. I’ll tell you what to do.”

**

“I’m gonna die…”

I was sitting on one of the benches at the plaza in the night, while Iris was watching me from a distance. She told me that being out in the open was the best way to get the enemy to go out of hiding, and so she thought that I would be the best bait for it.

The other part of her plan was for me to yell that I am right here in the plaza for the enemy to hear. I would keep doing that until they showed up, and that is when we would ambush them.

“This is the worst plan in the world…”

“Don’t worry, it’ll work. Just do as I said and they’ll appear to attack you.”

Inflicted by Iris’ words of encouragement, I took a deep breath of air before I was ready to injure my vocal cords.

“I AM RIGHT HERE SITTING IN THIS BENCH IN THE NIGHT WITH NO ONE AROUND ME. I AM ENTIRELY UNARMED WHILE I AM SITTING AT THE PLAZA!”

I yelled as hard as I could, hoping that my voice would be enough to gather the attention of the enemy. It was embarrassing to do so, since I thought I heard some laughing in the distance. I looked at Iris, who despite hearing my embarrassing yell, was focused on me like I never even said anything at all. She was definitely serious about her plan.

I thought I heard some rustling in the distance, but it was instead just a small animal who was scavenging for food from the restaurants. It was silent after I had yelled, and I feared that I would have to yell again.

“Hm?”

I thought I heard footsteps from the distance, but I figured it was just my imagination. It was only until after the footsteps turned into a sprint did I start to get nervous. I kept myself on the bench just like Iris said, waiting for whatever was approaching from the dark street.

“What the hell…”

A voice emerged from the darkness, still masking the person who spoke. It was only until after their body could be seen that I realized that this was the person who we had seen at the plaza the other day.

“Was that?!”

They sounded pissed off for whatever reason, taking large steps towards the center of the plaza. Their long torn hood fluttered as they took each step, still masking their face. They wore an all black outfit, most likely to blend in with the dark in ease.

“Are you the person who’s been creating the nightmares?”

“That doesn’t matter right now. Why did you scream like that?! Was that to get my attention?!”

“Umm… Yeah.”

“That’s so stupid! That was your idea to find me?!”

“It’s a good plan. You were dumb enough to fall for it.”

Iris, who had been hiding in one of the bushes in the plaza, emerged as she withdrew her sword. It glowed with aura, and she pointed it towards the hooded figure.

“Ack! I see why he was doing this in the first place! It was because of you!”

“How do you know who I am?”

“Who doesn’t? You’re Iris, of the rebellion! From the clan of Mystics!”

“Tch. You sure do talk a lot, don’t you?”

“Oh no, not at all. I just love toying with my victims. You’ll die soon, so you won’t be hearing me talk for much longer.”

“You won’t be talking for different reasons.”

I was still sitting on the bench when they were arguing with each other. I didn’t really know how I would be able to sneak past Iris, so I sat patiently.

The hooded figure took out a small blade from his pocket, the size of a small dagger. He flipped it over so that the blade would be held at an angle, and then glanced towards me.

“Ugh!”

“Ogata, run towards me!”

The hooded figure ran towards me with his blade ready to swipe, as I desperately climbed over the bench. I barely dodged his attack, as the blade whiffed past my elbow. I managed to reach Iris, and withdrew my katana.

“I’ll stop him with my eyes, you go ahead and attack!”

“Me?! But I barely know how to use this thing!”

“He won’t be able to move, so it’ll be easier for you!”

“Quit the small talk and fight me already!”

The opponent was closing the distance between the two of us, when Iris jumped back and illuminated her eyes.

“Move out of the way! I can’t see them!”

I stepped to the side, as Iris’ eyes continued to illuminate. I’m guessing that she wasn’t able to see the hooded figure since I had been blocking her view, so she wasn’t able to use her power. The hooded figure raised his hand to slash me with the blade, when he was suddenly frozen mid attack.

“Damn! I should’ve known!”

“Now, Ogata!”

“Right!”

With my katana in hand, I prepared to swing the blade across the man’s body. I charged as the opponent struggled against Iris’ eyes, twisting my hips to launch my katana.

“Hah!”

I raised my katana in the air, and swung the blade with force.

I was surprised, however, when my blade stopped mid way during my swing. The enemy somehow managed to break out of Iris’ trap, and had stopped my katana with his small dagger.

“How?!”

“You really don’t know how to use a sword, do you?”

The opponent parried my attack, knocking me back from my feet for a moment. He lunged forward with his blade towards my chest, when I was able to regain my balance and nearly dodge the blade.

“I’m sorry, Ogata! It will take time for me to use my power again, so just hold him off for now!”

I was on the defensive now, as the hooded figure continued to press against me with the swipe of his dagger. I was able to guard against the attacks with my blade for a while, but the increasing pace of his attacks caught me off guard, as he managed to cut me on my forearm.

“Hngh!”

“Hahaha! You can’t even handle a dagger! You were too weak to face me!”

“Shut up!”

His taunting only angered me further, and made me lose track of where his attacks came from. He was able to land more cuts on me, cuts on my arms and my stomach. Iris continued to track the hooded figure’s movement, waiting for the chance to freeze him again.

“I’ll finish you where you stand! Die!”

The enemy cut me one last time on my arm, weakening my grip on the katana. My heavy breathing and blurry vision did not allow me to see where his next attack came from, when I suddenly saw his cloaked arm raise and aim for my heart.

Was this going to be my end? Where would I go when I’ve already died?

“Not yet!”

“What?!”

My blurry vision managed to refocus, as I saw the hooded figure’s blade inches away from where my heart was located. Iris’ had managed to stop him in time, as I saw his angered expression cover his face.

“Move, Ogata!”

“O-okay!”

Iris was sprinting with full force towards the hooded figure, with her sword towards her side, she ran and jumped into the air, and swung her sword downwards.

“Ugh!”

The hooded figure was able to break free from her trap just as her sight of him was broken, and jumped back towards one of the plots of grass in the plaza.

“Y-you! You dare attack me?! Wait your turn like a good little girl!”

“If you want to keep talking, go ahead. I’ll kill you before you finish a syllable.”

“Ngh!”

The hooded figure stepped back a tiny inch, keeping his guard as Iris slowly dragged herself closer towards him, her sword pointing towards his head.

“You can’t kill me! I won’t allow it…!”

The hooded figure yelled, and desperately reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a small shard. I was able to tell right away what it was, and I saw that Iris realized too. She loosened the grip on her sword momentarily, as the hooded figure smashed the shard on the ground.

“Kill! Kill both of them!”

“Ugh!”

The shard broke, scattering many pieces of stone around the area he stood in. After a second, a small, black mist began to rise from the ground, small particles could be seen forming. As the mist grew, the particles did as well, and soon enough a large nightmare the size of one of the trees in the plaza formed from the broken shard. It’s white twisted eyes focused on Iris, and it’s large jaw hung open, it’s large, sharp teeth covered in saliva, dripping and creating large puddles on the ground. It’s giant hands carried claws the size of swords, and looked sharp enough to cut a building in half.

“What did you do?! You are going to destroy this city!”

“That was my plan after I was going to kill you two! You’ll die here! Hahahaha!”

The hooded figure ran towards one of the dark streets, his cloak flying in the air as his body slowly faded into the darkness. The only thing that now faced us was the giant of a nightmare.

“Ogata, hold on! I’ll defeat the nightmare!”

The nightmare roared, a loud screech that could pierce your ear drums, it’s saliva dropped everywhere on the ground as it’s scream echoed through the city. The lights of the surrounding buildings turned on, and the people of the city could be found running away from the creature.

The nightmare noticed the civilians fleeing, and soon glared with a hunger in its eyes. He turned and lowered his arm to grab one of the people, but Iris had managed to block its large hand with her blade.

“You should be focusing on us…!”

She struggled against the nightmare’s hand, but her balance on the ground slipped, and she was being pushed back by the giant hand. She looked like she was about to faint, and the nightmare created a wicked smile, so wide it displayed all of its sharp teeth.

I have to help. I was still laboring from the injuries that the hooded man had given me, the cuts were deep and left me with large amounts of blood on my arms. I felt like I could barely lift my katana, but it was fortunately light enough for me to still hold it with difficulty. I slowly stepped towards the nightmare, and I suddenly began to sprint. The adrenaline that rushed within me controlled my body, as I was aiming to slice the creature.

“Ogata!”

“HAAAH!”

The nightmare was too large for me to slice its body, so I instead aimed for its achilles instead. I held my katana horizontally, and cut the nightmares left foot. Black ooze fell from the cut, like spilled oil. The nightmare screeched in pain, moving its focus towards me as its large hand left Iris’ blade.

“Fight me, Nightmare! I won’t let you destroy this city!”

The words came out of my mouth, like I was shouting at the big bad boss of a final level. I stared at the demon as it stared back at me, it felt like I was going against the world, it felt like I could accomplish anything.

It’s large foot raised slowly, and crashed downwards on me. Its movements were slow, enough for me to run away as its stomp trembled on the ground. It’s large body was as if it was in slow motion, which gave me an advantage to evade its attacks and keep cutting its weak points.

I saw Iris, who had been given a chance to escape from the nightmare, directing the civilians of the city where to go to escape. It was lucky for us that the nightmare kept its focus on me, since I wouldn’t dream of what would happen if it ate more humans.

“This way! It will lead you out of the city and into the gray path! Run towards the hill!”

The nightmare’s hands reached out to grab me, as I moved around its body to avoid being captured. I tried to cut its right Achilles, but it was troublesome to reach its foot when the nightmare’s arms kept distracting me.

The nightmare would get lucky and actually get close to my body, but I was able to stop its attack with my katana, slicing its hand as it shrieked and recoiled back.

“Ogata! I’ve finished evacuating the civilians, I’ll help you stop this monster!”

“Please, stop it with your eyes when I say so!”

I saw her nod, and keep her eyes focused on the nightmare as I twisted and turned from its advancing attacks. It had stomped its large foot on the ground, and for a second it stood there to start its next attack.

“Now, Iris!”

“Right!”

Her eyes illuminated, ceasing the nightmare’s body movements. I dashed towards its foot the moment it stopped, and reached for its right achilles. Iris’ powers had been broken, and its foot was beginning to rise as I closed the distance between us.

I managed to cut its right achilles, a deep gash that sprayed black ooze, the nightmare roared in agony as both of its feet had now been cut at their weakest point, leaving the nightmare to fall as it lost its balance on its feet.

“It’s down! Kill it!”

Both Iris and I leapt up from our position, our swords weighed down our hands as we synchronised our steps towards the giant of a nightmare. Black ooze continued to fall from the giant’s feet, like an oil spillage gone wrong.

“Climb the nightmare Ogata!”

“Got it!”

I saw her jump up the nightmares foot, and disappear through his giant legs. I had no idea how I would be able to jump at the same height as her, but I could not dwell on what could not be done, but what had to be done.

“Hup!”

I don’t know how I did it, but I imagined myself jumping up like an animal, a rabbit jumping over a tall fence. Just like how I was able to survive the fall from the window the night before, I was able to create energy from my body and will my legs to jump towards the sky, clearing the nightmare’s foot by inches.

It was like jumping through a hurdle, right after I had cleared the obstacle, I found myself running along its leg, its skin felt mushy, like mold. I sprinted across, and saw Iris, who had just been a little farther ahead of me.

“What now, Iris?!”

“Once you reach its stomach, jump and pierce its heart! You won’t be able to reach it by yourself, so synchronize yourself when I say so!”

I had managed to match her distance, now running with the same foot placement as her. We reached the nightmare’s giant stomach, and I prepared to leap towards the sky once she told me to do so.

The nightmare, who was trying to regain its composure, noticed us running along its body and tried to intercept us with its hands. Like toppling trees that fell from a cliff, its hands reached to pick us out.

We both dodged and weaved, small holes that allowed us to creep by the nightmare, we were now in distance to reach its heart.

“Now, Ogata! Jump!”

We both leapt into the air, confusing the nightmare as its hand still tried to grab us. Our swords pointed towards the nightmares heart, it stared in terror as it could do nothing to stop us. It began to screech maddeningly, breaking the windows of the surrounding buildings.

“HRAAAAAGH!”

Together, our swords pierced the nightmares skin, it was just enough to resist its thick muscle, like a drill going past titanium. We had barely managed to reach its heart, but it was just enough, as the nightmare soon ceased its scream, and fell silent, staring at the sky.

“Move! If you fall into the nightmare’s particles, you will die!”

The nightmare’s body soon dissolved, the black particles formed and withered away. I sensed the danger of those particles, and jumped off the nightmare’s body, and onto the ground next to Iris.

We watched as the nightmare’s enormous body soon corrupted, the particles gathering in the distance, and then disappearing from existence. There was no longer anything in the plaza, except for Iris and I.

“We… did it…!”

My body felt numb, the feeling I had when fighting the nightmare was like no other, the adrenaline still rushed throughout my body, it felt like my heartbeat was going to jump out from my body. My head feels dizzy, like when you stand up too quickly and begin to blur. But I saw clearly that the nightmare was no longer.

“I’ve never seen a nightmare as big as that one before… this is strange.”

Rather than celebrating our victory against the monster, Iris instead expressed a perplexed expression, as if something was not right.

“How were they able to create a nightmare just from the shard? They had to have needed an object or person to enable the process, and even then, a nightmare that big is just…”

Iris walked towards the statue in the middle that housed the proclaimed hero of Modena, and studied the small cracks and holes that surfaced. She poked around the statue, still keeping the same puzzled look she held.

“The shard is gone.”

“The one that man placed on the statue?”

“Yes. There should have been no way that he could have grabbed the shard from where he was. Someone could have stolen it before we got here.”

“Is there any way to find out who stole it?”

“Unfortunately, there isn’t. They might not know what the shard is for, but it could lead to an even bigger problem if the nightmare is stronger than the one we fought.”

That sounds bad. If a random person were to accidentally break the shard, it would end up killing a lot of innocent people. And who knows how strong this nightmare could be, we barely managed to defeat this giant one.

“So what can we do now? Do we wait for the man to come back?”

“If it comes down to it, we’ll have to wait for new reports of suspicious sightings in the area. If we weren’t able to find where he went off, I doubt we can find him now.”

“Damn…”

“I need to explain to the civilians that it’s safe to go back to their homes, you can go ahead and brief Barsanti on what happened, I’m sure he’s still in the shop waiting for us.”

“You don’t need my help?”

“I got it, thank you.”

Iris took one last look around the plaza, making sure the shard hadn’t accidentally fallen from the statue, and soon walked off towards the dark streets after finding nothing. She turned around towards me at the last second.

“If you see any nightmares, make sure to finish them off. They should be weak enough for you to have no problem with them, but I believe there are no nightmares left in the city for now.” She turned around, and disappeared in the darkness after warning me. I was left alone in the dark plaza, and not a moment later I had begun to walk towards the location of the shop.
Momentie
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Joe Gold
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