Suddenly, a group of warriors from Aplos move towards Iancu, and in response to this, he activates his legacy, which increases the gravity around them all.
I instantly ran over to Iancu, and grabbed his arm saying, "What are you doing?"
He breaks the grip I have on his arm and says, "Let go of me, and tell these bastards not to touch things they don't own."
Looking at Iancu, I notice he is holding something that looks like a weapon, though it is completely unfamiliar to me. Its design is nonstandard, kind of like Anto's lightning dagger.
"Orb, move out of the way," I hear Buloke say behind me.
Turning around, I see he is filled with rage, so I get in front of him and say, "Please just calm down, getting angry won't help anything."
"HE HIT ONE OF THE KIDS!" Buloke says as he points at Neem, who is crying.
Maple, who is holding Neem, says, "Orb, this isn't right."
Iancu then says, "Well, none of you should be here in the first place, you're all just skipping your other duties!"
"I understand, but getting angry won't help anythi-."
Before I can finish, Buloke hits me across the face, sending me to the ground.
Buloke isn't as aggressive as he was when we first met, but that side of him will come out when something happens to a member of Aplos. Still, if he and an emotional Iancu fight, blood will be spilt.
Suddenly, I hear Maple say, "Please stop."
Standing up, I get in front of both of them, and I look at Buloke and say, "Calm down."
Ignoring me, he uses his right leg to try and kick me in the head. At the angle he is going, it will just knock me out; he does still care.
I effortlessly dodge the attack, and then with my elbow, I hit him in the kidney, which makes him crouch to the ground. Then I grabbed his head using my legacy and proceeded to hold him down so he couldn't move away.
"Please stop!"
As I do, I start to hear muttering with my keen hearing.
Looking over to the rest of Aplos gathered, I see they are looking at me with fear. Then Buloke says, "Why are you siding with this outsider over us?"
This causes a few others to say, "I thought you were one of us."
"We accepted you, but you let an outsider hurt us."
"If you won't protect us, we will protect ourselves."
Maple then adds fuel to the fire, saying, "Orb, this can't be let go, Neem is just a child."
The cries from the people get louder. Then in my peripheral, I notice that Suzuka who is near Maple, is holding her hands on her head. It seems all the chaotic thoughts and emotions are negatively impacting her.
Getting angrier by this situation, I shout, "SHUT THE HELL UP!" So loud that humans would even struggle to hear what I said.
Then I say, "If you idiots think for a second I don't care about you, then your brains are rotting. I am not picking an outsider over any of you; I am trying to figure out what the hell happened. When something is important, you don't just get overly emotional and start acting neurotic, you shut up and think to get the best answer, you morons!"
My words and my tone get them all to shut up, and as that happens, Avram walks up to Iancu and says, "Why?"
Iancu, seeing his father's look of disappointment, gives his father what he was holding and starts to run away. As he does that, I hear Suzuka sneak away as well.
Buloke, who I am holding down, says, "I have calmed down, so please let go of me."
"Oh alright," I say as I get off of him.
Buloke then says, "So what do you want to discuss then?"
Maple moving in beside him says, "Orb, regardless of whatever you say, you won't convince me that Iancu shouldn't be punished for this."
"Right," A group of calm, but quietly angry members of Aplos say.
I know she is trying to look out for Aplos, but she really is just adding fuel to the fire. It seems Maple is trying to use this incident to cement herself as a leader, but it might not turn out so well for her if she ends up leading everyone off a cliff.
Before I can say anything, at a perfect 90-degree angle, Avram comes and bows down in front of everyone, then says, "Please forgive my son."
Buloke is about to say something, but then Maple comes in and says, "Do you think that will be enough?"
"No, I don't, but I believe I can give a good explanation for his actions. After that, you can decide whether or not to judge him. But I have to call Ivana, Gheorghe and Wadim first."
"Ok, good, ahead, but make it quick."
-Break-
Φ Avram, sitting in front of all of us, looks down on us with his workers, Iva, and says, "Me, Iancu, Ivana, Gheorghe, and Wadim are what would be known as nightmares by the outside world."
Sitting beside me, Orb says, "I heard people call you guys that a few times on Skydust."
Ivana, Gheorghe and Wadim stare at Orb, strangely, then Ivana says, "I thought you would know, considering Captivant's wife was one of us."
"Ehh, Draga was?" Orb's hair turns Rosewood, and then he rubs his hair in annoyance and says, "Captivant, you bastard, always leaving information out?"
I guess Rosewood means he's frustrated.
Avram says, "He probably thought the face you would make when you first saw one would be funny, but he still could have explained what a curse was to you."
I then say, "You mean what Suzuka has."
"Yes, but to give a definition of a curse, I would say it is a change in someone's soul that leads to a change in their body. Suzuka's curse makes it so she can feel people's emotions and hear their thoughts, which indirectly makes their spirit energy flow around her."
Grabbing an item, Avram says, "This is a ruler made from the bendy bones of the wonderbeast, the Nord cat, and as you can see, as I bend it, the shape returns to normal but is just slightly off. This is how Suzuka's curse works: it is a light curse.
But if I bend it to the extreme like so, even though it tries to return back to its normal shape, it simply can't. And that's the type of curse we nightmares have.
By altering our souls to the extreme, our bodies go through permanent physical changes, and those who are cursed to this extent are called nightmares."
The room falls silent as they understand what Avram, is saying. Orb then asks, "How is it even possible to interact with one's soul?"
"There are some beings in this world who have somehow gained such abilities, but usually this is caused when one comes into contact with a demon."
With fear in my voice, I say, "Demons are real." This causes everyone in the area to have faces full of fear."
In a calming voice, Avram says, "Very, but don't be scared because if you ever come into contact with one unintentionally, you would have to be seriously unlucky. All of us here inherited our curses from our parents. Where we are from is filled with descendants of those who have been cursed."
Buloke, still in a bad mood, says, "So what if you're cursed, that still doesn't explain Iancu's actions."
"Buloke is right," I say as I compose myself.
Avram holding up his finger says, "All nightmares share 4 things in common. First, each of their bodies is physically far stronger than that of humans.
Second, they all manifest some kind of ability. Mine makes me take on all the qualities of a vampire, Ivana over there can control her hair, and Gheorghes skin is harder than most metals.
Third, we are all incapable of using spirit arts and have to rely solely on physical abilities. And finally, all of our bodies degrade far slower after death."
Suddenly, Orb's hair turns black, and he stands up, saying, "I get it now." Then he runs out of the room.
"Orb, where are you going?"
"So it seems he has realised," Avram says.
"What are you talking about?"
"Our abilities are not spiritual like legacies; they are physically embedded into our bodies, and our bodies remain fresh for a long time after death. Unlike wonderbeasts, it doesn't take great levels of expertise to understand our inner workings.
Due to all of these things, nightmares are usually hunted to be made into equipment, called cursed weapons."
In that moment, many people in the room come to a realisation, but the one who this hits the hardest is Maple.
"If one were to make armour out of my body, it would regenerate as long as it had blood. These weapons could be used by anyone, and humans are easy to restrain unlike wonderbeasts, so it is quite cost effective.
Due to this, kidnapping and grave robbing are very normal nightmares. But while I was aboard, I made sure to always buy any cursed weapons I came across, so we could bury them if I ever returned home."
Getting up, Avram bows again and says, "I am sorry for Iancu's misconduct, but please understand that to him it looked like you guys were just playing with a corpse."
Many in the room start to make faces of guilt as they realise that their anger was overblown, but no one makes a panicked face than Maple herself.
Getting up, she says, "Sorry!" And then she runs out of the room with tears forming in her eyes.
-Break-
Location: Orb's mansion
ΦSitting against a wall in a corner, I look down and say, "Stupid idiots."
"You see that bad attitude of yours is why no one likes you."
Looking up, I see an annoyance with a fox mask on. "I am not in the mood, so go away before I drain you dry."
With annoying energy, Suzuka says, "I would also be in a bad mood if I were all alone like you are, but can you blame people for not being around you, considering how annoying you are?"
I just look away, ignoring her insults, but suddenly I feel the water on my head, then hear, "Grow little seedling into a decent existence."
"That's it!" I shout as I kick her.
Recovering from my blow, she charges at me and attacks me.
-Break-
ΦRunning in through the main doors of my house, I am stunned as I see the mess all around me. Hearing the sounds of two children fighting, so I run upstairs towards the bathroom where is see Iancu and Suzuka fighting.
Getting in between them, I say, "Stop."
"He hit me!"
"She started it!"
I then smack both of them incredibly hard across the head, and then in a demonic voice, I say, "STOP DESTROYING MY HOME!"
Hearing my expression and red hair, they both calm down and say, "Ok."
"Now, Iancu, instead of making yourself look like an idiot, please just explain yourself, you're a nice person, so stop acting like you aren't."
"I am no-."
Before Iancu can finish, I hit him in the head and say, "Shut up."
Suzuka laughs, and says, "Serves you right."
"Don't think you're getting off easy. Why the hell did you start a fight with him?"
"He is always so smug, so I wanted to kick him when he was down."
I headbutt her and say, "Don't start fights!"
As Suzuka holds her head, I say, "Iancu, my problems led to the desecration of one of your people's bodies. I apologise, but if that is not enough, request anything you want from me."
"Ok then," Iancu says with delight.
Moving towards the toilet in the room, Iancu rips it out of the ground, which causes me to scream.
"I always wonder how you have a sewage system."
"You bastard!"
Looking down the hole, where the toilet once was, Iancu says, "There is something down there," And then jumps down.
Following him, I say, "Don't jump into strange holes."
Behind me, Suzuka says, "Don't leave me behind!"
When we all land, we are dumbstruck by a giant underground area, with pipes filling it. Iancu says, "Time to figure this out!" And runs ahead with me and Suzuka following close behind.
As we move through the hole, we see pipes connected to the places where water is in the house.
Iancu then says, "This whole place is odd, but what is confusing is that there is no ice or frost against the area where pips move through, but against the walls of this underground area, there is ice and frost. It is like the ice or frost never reaches the pipes."
Taking another look, I see some ice and frost against a pipe, then I say, "No, maybe that isn't correct, it is more like all of the ice and frost left the pipes."
"Why?"
"Maybe so they could work."
"But who would do that?"
"There is only one answer to that," I say, moving ahead.
When we reach the bottom of this area, Iancu says, "Unlike the rest of the walls, which are just frozen dirt, this bottom area seems to be pure ice."
Looking at me, Suzuka says, "Orb, can't you just convert this to snow?"
"Let me see," I say as I do it.
As the area is converted into snow, all three of us fall through it, and as we fall through it, we are greeted by the strangest thing we have seen yet. A place with a giant tree at least 80 meters tall with orange leaves, and underneath that tree is what looks to be a city covered in an area surrounded by lush green leaves.
"What the heck!"