'Huh? Where am I?'
'Right I have fallen asleep'
'Finally'
'Does that mean I can rest now?'
'Can I really forget all my worries?'
'I can, right? Not like it's my fault'
'That's right. I did my best'
"Strike harder"
'Who? Father?'
"You can do it. Just do your best."
'Ah.. right'
August found himself on the same rocky mountain where his father used to train him. With a regular practice metal sword in his hand, August was standing before a huge boulder. The boulder had many scratches on its surface but none of them were deep enough.
A self mocking smile appeared on his face slowly as he realised the scratches were all of his useless attempts to break the damn rock. It was like his fruitless attempts were staring back at him, mockingly.
'That's right I gave my best. I can rest now'
Looking at his slowly losing grip on the sword his father's voice resounded in his ears suddenly.
"Have you finally exhausted yourself?"
August, as he heard those words he desperately tried to look for his father but there was no one in the sight. A wave of emotions overwhelmed his thinking as his eyes began flowing with endless tears,
"Tell me son, are you feeling tired?"
August fell to his knees while crying like a toddler,
"No, Dad I …I am not tired. Not yet. But I …I have failed you."
No one spoke for a while as the tears kept flowing from his eyes endlessly.
"Good you're not tired. That means you can still try."
'What?'
August looked above at the towering boulder before him with blurry vision,
"Can I really?"
However, the reply never came but in its place August remembered something important his father had told him once.
'That's right I can try. No matter if I fail, no matter how many times I fall, I will still try, I will keep trying till my last breath.'
He grabbed his sword and stood up with determination. He wiped his tears and inhaled deeply. Then he looked at his weapon, surprisingly it wasn't the normal practice sword but he was holding the dark blade of Fallen star.
Suddenly a chill ran down his spine as he endured the influx of abnormal anger inside him. The blade stirred his deepest darkest emotions and converted them into anger, and lastly it converted his anger into rage.
August lifted his blade and struck the surface of the hard boulder with world shattering force. With a powerful slice like this, the rock was instantly severed into two equal halves and then, the aftershock hit its every atom, making the rock break into pieces.
'Thank you dad. Now I know what I had to do'
Fallen on the wooden floor inside the saint's carriage, August woke up suddenly. His breath was ragged and teeth gritted which was as he knew the influence of Fallen star. Apparently August drew his blade just before he was about to fall asleep.
He had anticipated that this strange phenomenon which only he was able to resist up until now would ultimately intensify and will try to catch up to him. Therefore he thought of using the effects of the fallen star on himself as counter.
He thought maybe receiving a sudden wave of anger might help him wake up and it worked. However, the effect of anger was not anger at all but rage. August could not afford to fall into a mindless state nor could he fall asleep.
That's why he grabbed the sharp blade of his dark weapon by his hand and brushed his hand against its surface causing him to inflict a cutting wound on himself.
Blood dripped down the black blade as August pulled the weapon back in its sheathe.
'This have to do for the meantime'
August was using the pain to keep himself from sleeping and from falling into rage by constantly holding the Fallen star unsheathed.
Now he was sober enough to at least think for sometime. He had to figure out about this strange phenomena faster than the sleep could catch up to him.
For some reason he knew where he was supposed to find any clue.
'The tranquil ocean'
Come to think of it, when the group arrived within the vicinity of that ocean August started having this strange urge to sleep all of a sudden. Not to mention he noticed Miles and some of the maidens already asleep. Which did not seem like a big deal to him at first but now when he thought about it.
'I have to reach the ocean'
August left the carriage while stumbling on his footsteps. However, he soon realised that the place was far …very far away from here. Nor did he know how to steer one of the carriages. On top of all that, he was on a time limit. He had to solve this whole thing before this strange phenomena forced him to fall asleep.
Not only that, he had to make sure to come back quickly, the maidens and the Saint weren't safe here at all nor were they in a position to defend themselves.
'Dammit! Dammit!'
August gritted his teeth in natural frustration and not under the influence of the fallen star. At that exact moment he heard a loud scream coming from inside the forest.
It was about an hours long distance from here to the ocean and August could not possibly afford to waste this much time.
Therefore he ran, in the opposite direction, that led him straight into the dark depths of forest.
Far into the darkness after searching for about half an hour August had finally found what he was looking for. He slowed down concealing his footsteps and there before him, under the lightless shades of tall trees —was a beast of darkness seemingly feeding upon another one.
August spread out his senses, he was closer to the creature. The creature might surely have sensed him too by now and the only reason it had not fled yet would only mean that it did not see August as a threat at all.
This was the biggest gamble he was playing with nothing but his life on the line.
The creature of the darkness seemed to be a fierce beast of mediocre size. From what August was able to deduce by his senses, the beast had four long legs and a feline nature. Which meant it had claws to tear flesh apart and it also meant its jaw would also be deadly.
However the reason August chose this particular creature was because of its silent nature. The beast never screamed while the others did which meant it would be dependent upon its agility and silent movements rather than fierce head-on attacks.
Well, it could also mean that this beast of darkness would be the one to lay traps. Which was definitely possible but that was why August considered it a gamble.
Time was running fast, the one thing August wanted was fast movement and what he could not do together, was to fight whatever lived inside the ocean and look after the group. So he has to depend on fast movement.
Even though August had gone very close to the dark beast it wasn't even flinching from the spot. Which could mean a number of things, maybe the beast did not recognize August as a threat to its life at all or maybe there was something else it was more worried about.
At that exact moment something lunged at the dark beast from the deep darkness.
As the creature suddenly exposed itself, a sudden powerful presence overwhelmed his senses. The creature of the deep darkness growled and sunk its fangs inside the skin of the dark beast. The beast did not let out even a sound but slithered in pain that much August was able to sense.
Law of the wild.
The weak get devoured by the strong.
However, today August could not let that happen. He needed the dark beast.
'No'
August came out of the darkness raising his sword and coming down on the creature of dark depths with enormous force. The creature did not receive any grave injuries but only its vision went fuzzy for a moment making its grasp on the dark beast loosen up a bit.
That was all August needed, he jumped on the back of the dark beast. The beast regained its footing and started to run forward. Not the direction towards August wanted to go.
From a nearby tree, he grabbed a thick wine and quickly wrapped it around the neck of the dark beast. With two ends of the wine in his hand August pulled them with all his might strangling the beast to a stop.
As soon as the beast realised, it began shaking its head vigorously. However, August's grip on its neck was firm as ever.
August pulled the wine in a direction he wanted to lead it but it was also understandable why the beast was reluctant to do just that. Because the creature which had almost taken its life was hidden in the same direction.
August continued to pull the wine in the direction causing the beast to finally change its route. The beast finally started running, its speed kept on increasing while heading towards the deep darkness.
As they were about to reach the same spot where it was attacked a while ago August let go of the wine and stood on the moving beast's back holding his sword high. The creature was evident to ambush them this time.
August sensed something in the deep darkness and he jumped on a branch of a nearby tree knowing well that the creature would not spare him any glance when its prey happened to be just before its sight. And that was all August needed.
With a powerful strike he cut the branch of the tree on which the creature was waiting to ambush its prey. With a loud shudder and roar, it fell on the ground with audible impact.
'Strike before it strikes you'
August quickly jumped on the tree branches and then landed on the back of the beast again. Then picking up the wine again, he steered the beast towards the direction of the ocean.
The wind flew faster, the world around his sight went blurry when the four legged beast started to move at its top speed. Sitting on the back, August was struggling to keep himself from falling.
Four paws of the dark beast touched the ground beneath without making any noise. Even, it never accidentally brushed against a tree to make a leaf fall. and the speed on which it was travelling forward was simply unimaginable.
The speed also ruled out the possibility of being chased by any predators.
August was assured that he would reach the ocean quickly like this, only he had to pull the wine occasionally to keep the beast on the right track.
There was a worry about what might happen to the group when there wasn't anyone looking after them. What was worse, they were all asleep and in the most vulnerable situation.
August wasn't sure what might happen to them, but he was damn sure that they would all die if he failed to break this strange spell of slumber.
Not only that, he had to do it all under a time limit, endangering himself by falling asleep on the way.
Also he wasn't sure if the Fallen star would be able to wake him up next time.
'I have to remain conscious'
"Don't fall asleep. Don't fall asleep."
While August was experiencing the urge to sleep again he was determined to resist it fully this time. Moving faster than the wind itself, riding on the back of a dark beast, he had done many impossible things in a very short amount of time without thinking much nonetheless.
If he could do all this, there was a hope that maybe he could figure a way out to solve this sleep problem too. Only he had to believe in himself.
A faint smile appeared on his lips, "belief again ha?"
With that August was heading towards a place he knew nothing about. Not to mention it was a race against time on top of all that.
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