Nightmares…
Davi often had nightmares. Bad dreams haunted him anytime he closed his eyes. Sometimes he would dream he was a kid again, dragging his older brother through a field of corpses as he attempted to flee from the beast of fire that ruined his life. Other times, he would dream he was stuck in his vault, sealed at the deepest level beneath a mountain of swords, unable to get out or even move, no matter how much he cried or begged.
By far the most common nightmare he always had, however, was the one he was currently experiencing on loop.
A nightmare where he was himself, yet somehow managed to end up back in his village while it was being destroyed. This was a dream where he could attempt to save his homeland and the people he had grown up around, yet no matter how hard he fought, no matter how hard he attempted to win, he was never able to reach the end of this dream in a way that he desired.
It always ended in death.
It always ended in his failure.
His bones and muscles ached. His lungs struggled to suck in air, and he felt nasty blisters pop all over his flesh. Blood ran down his body and cooled into a hard substance, cracking and splitting open with every weak step he took. His armor felt clunky and heavy, and Storymaker was dragged behind him, being taken through a layer of snow. Or maybe it was ash. He honestly couldn't tell anymore.
Buildings burned and collapsed, and the dead citizens of Chrysanthemum littered the streets. Most were scorched skeletons, burned all the way down to the bone, but others were frozen and looked like solid statues.
Ash and snow.
Snow and ash.
Hot and cold.
Cold and hot.
Ash and snow.
Snow and ash.
Hot and cold.
Cold and hot.
Ash and snow.
Snow and ash.
Hot and cold.
Cold and hot.
Davi felt his body shift, chilling and burning up, as ash and snow filled his vision.
There were some nutty people out there who would often debate which cause of death would be better to go through. Burning to death and being eaten by the flames until you were nothing but ash, or freezing to death and falling into an eternal sleep, blanketed by the cold. If you were to ask Davi which way he would prefer to go out, he'd say neither and that you were dumb for wanting to die.
He'd avoid death by fire and death by ice any day. Sadly, the current situation he was in made avoiding such an outcome almost impossible.
It stood in the center of the village. The eye of the blizzard was formed around it, and smoke twisted like snakes across its neck and back. It was covered in jagged red scales, and it had a pair of deep, cruel, blue eyes that stared down at the weakened Davi, who approached. Fire dripped from its maws, and its wings were folded back. Its tail slapped at the ground, crushing bodies and shaking the island. The snow around it melted into boiling water, but the frozen landscape refroze it, repeating the cycle in an endless loop.
Davi weakly stared up at the dragon. "V… Vil… Shadow Armor…" His shadow barely managed to rise. Pathetic arms grew from it and wrapped around his limbs, transforming his suit. Jagged feathers formed across parts of his armor, while his gloves gained talon-like claws. His helmet split apart, and a beak jutted out of the front part of it, all of it lit up by blue fire. Davi lifted his sword and raised it toward the dragon. Its jaws seemed to twist into the image of a smirk. "Vil Shadow Vault."
His vault exploded open, and a sea of hands spilled out, grabbing at the dragon, trying to bind its arms and legs. The limbs were torn away as it simply stood up on all fours, and it opened its maw. An orb of compressed fire that resembled the sun was created as the very universe itself was ignited. It was followed moments later by a beam of heat so intense it would be akin to a supernova going off.
Chrysanthemum was no more. In a mere instant, the village ceased to be, all the ice turning to pure steam as the island crumbled and began to fall apart. The heat wave was enough to melt anything in the universe that was caught in the blast, and if somehow that didn't do the trick, the moment the beam ended, the intense cold crept back in, freezing all and recreating the island just as fast as it had been destroyed.
Davi stared up at an ash-covered sky, droplets of snow raining upon his face. His armor sloshed off his body, crumbling and melting. All around him was the color white. Snow and ice as far as the eye could see.
For a moment, he heard his mother's voice. "You are Davi Hawker. That is the name that I have decided to give you. It means beloved or cherished."
Then he heard his father's voice. "There's a lot I regret, Davi."
"What do I cherish?" It was his mother's voice again. "That which I loved has long left this world. Even through the Rite of Marriage."
"My biggest regret?" His father's voice returned. "I wish I could have done a bit more. I-I lived a pretty selfish life. I did what I wanted when I wanted because I didn't care about others. That was until I met 'her'."
"It's okay that I lost the one I cherished." His mother's voice came out sickly sweet. "I'll simply walk toward the path that reunites us, and with the Rite of Marriage and a bit of Blood magic, everything will be back to normal. But first…"
"Why did I leave her behind?" His father's voice was sad and quiet. "Why did I throw away a life like that, all so I could chase after some petty thing like revenge? Even now, I don't get it, but I do know this. If I had a chance to be happy, I'd take it in a heartbeat, and so I help people. I help you, Sieg, and everyone else, because we all deserve to be happy. But first…"
"Thatdragonhastodie.Youhavetogetupandsaveyourself."
Davi remained motionless on the ground, staring up at the sky above. He could feel his mother's arms tugging on his wrists or his ankles, trying to get him to stand back up, but he didn't have any more energy.
No.
That wasn't true.
It wasn't a matter of being out of energy or not. He didn't want to stand up. If he did, the dream would restart. He'd have to fight the dragon again. He'd be hurt again. He'd died again. All because he was on this quest to slay the beast that had hurt him. It made no sense. It hurt so much, and every time he tried to go after it, he would just be hurt more. Why couldn't he stop? Why wasn't he allowed to rest? Why did he have to wear this armor or hold this sword?
Swords were for war. Armor was for knights. He was just Davi. He didn't want to fight, he didn't want to be hurt again, and he just wanted this nightmare to end. This dream helped no one. Helping people is what his father begged him to do, but the order to throw his life away and kill the dragon came from his mother, and unlike Orion, Titania always got what she wanted…
The sound of snow crunching made Davi's eyes snap back open. He hadn't even noticed that he had squeezed them shut, and he felt like he had suddenly woken up, yet that wasn't the case, for he was still trapped in this hellish dream.
"Spiraling towers. Caves that never end. Cities that stretch on like labyrinths. The life of an Arcane Knight has a lot to offer, doesn't it, Sieg?"
The snow's crunching got louder, and Davi craned his head up. His eyes widened when he saw himself. The younger version of himself of this time.
The younger Davi was limping and struggling to walk, carrying an unconscious, and possibly already dead, Sieg on his back. He watched as his younger self marched past the villagers. Most were already dead, but some weakly called for help only to have an emotionless child march over their body.
Grandma Zen, Noble, Arch, his father, and even Titania. Their remains were left behind, beneath a pile of snow and fire.
Davi watched his younger self walk past him, and he turned his head in order to see where the other him was going. To his surprise, the endless sea of cold was suddenly gone. Ahead of him, and ahead of the younger him, was a warm, welcoming meadow. The grass was green, and flowers bloomed, greedily eating up the rays of sunlight that shone from up above.
He also saw Olivia. She stood, dressed in her new Polymorph'd outfit, no longer copying Evelyn Lunar, but instead her own person. She was smiling and laughing, and behind her was the Phoenix Flight train, only it was cleaned up and not in a junkyard. She wasn't alone either. Ken Yuan was next to her, also laughing, as were Sieg, Falco, Ghost, Ragna, Olem, Pock, Greenie, Herta, Merlin, Miranda, Gormay, Clause, and Captain Laerton. They all looked so happy.
There were others also. Bruno, Ash, Rosco, and even Susie, who was laughing next to Hannah, holding her hand. His parents also stood amongst the crowd. His eyes focused in on them, shock flooding his system.
His dad was how he remembered. A handsome man who looked like an older version of Sieg. He wore the same white robes Davi was wearing, and he had messy blonde hair and a pair of thunder-colored eyes. His mom, though… She wasn't sitting in her wheelchair. She was standing and had an arm looped around Orion's.
Her hair was long and a reddish-brown color. She wore a gown made out of leaves and grass, and from her back, two massive wings that looked almost like the kind a butterfly would have sprouted out of her. Her eyes were a rich purple color and seemed to be filled with joy. On Orion's other arm, another woman hung off. She had silver hair and a pair of dark-colored eyes hidden behind round glasses. He recognized her as Sieg's mother.
"Davi!" Olivia's voice rang out, and from the crowd her eyes seemed to lock onto his. Was she staring at him on the ground or the younger him carrying Sieg? He couldn't tell. "Come on! We're over here!"
It took all the strength he had, but Davi managed to roll over and push himself up. He felt like he was about to collapse, and his legs shook, but he still got up. Olivia left the crowd and walked past the other him, making her way straight to where he stood. Every step she took, the snow and ice melted, and warmth flooded his senses.
When she finally stood before him, her eyes looked him over curiously. He was covered in wounds, many of which were still bleeding, and most of his bones were broken or cracked. There wasn't an ounce of his skin that didn't have a nasty bruise or scar on it. Despite all that, she still smiled at him.
"What are you waiting for?" Olivia held her hand out to him. "Let's go."
Davi dully stared down at the hand that was offered before him. His own came up slowly. What would happen if he took it? Would it all be over? Could this nightmare end? Was this his salvation?
Of course not.
This too was a dream, and the dream would never let him go.
Blood erupted in front of him as a massive claw tore through his back and came out of his gut. Davi's eyes met Olivia's confused ones, and she just stood there and watched him as the talon of a dragon began to stab through him. Before he could react or take her hand, the rest of the dragon's hand came up, and it wrapped around his body fully.
Davi felt himself being dragged back, getting further and further away from Olivia and the others. The snow got thicker and thicker, causing the temperature to rapidly drop, and soon he was pulled all the way back into the blizzard, which sealed shut, blocking his view of the others.
The blizzard roared in anger, and his eyes made out the images of buildings as the fully fixed Chrysanthemum village came back into view. Its people were all still alive, and they stared in shock and horror at the massive dragon that now resided within the center of their village.
The clawed hand finally released him, and Davi crashed shoulder-first into the floor of his village, snow starting to pile onto him as it began once more. Next to him was a pile of bodies. His bodies. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of Davi's. Villagers screamed and ran while the guards charged the beast that had arrived, but fire and ice rained down, killing all those who stood in the dragon's way.
Davi wanted to lie there and not get back up. The pile of corpses got to stay on the ground, so why couldn't he? As he heard the screams of the people, though, his body began to move. Not because of the hands of his mother, who did their best to guide him, but instead through his own choice.
His gut spilled out, and he vomited up a wave of blood, caused by the hole through his stomach, from where the dragon had impaled him in order to drag him back to this part of the dream. Even with the pain, even with his body being on the verge of collapse, he still took a forced step.
The dragon stopped and stared down at him as he approached. Each step took a great amount of effort, and Storymaker wasn't even in his grasp anymore, the blade being far too heavy to even drag. All light had left his eyes. He was like a corpse. One that should have given up long ago.
Soon, he'd be another body on the pile, and the next him would have an even harder time defeating this beast. Sharp fire spilled from the beast's nose, and it raised one of its arms up into the air.
Davi struggled to breathe, and it took everything he had to cast a spell. "R-Row… Shadow… V… Vault."
The hand slammed down into the spot he had been, but Davi avoided it by escaping into his vault. The shadow kept growing and spreading, hands grabbing onto dozens of other people, pulling them into the vault as well. As soon as they entered, they were exposed to the cold. He was fine, but they weren't. They screamed and twitched and then were set ablaze by a blue fire, which mutated and changed their forms.
Shadowy hawks, forged from fire and darkness, took their place, each person transforming into one of the birds of prey that haunt his nightmares.
Davi closed his vault before he could bring anyone else into this dangerous place, but by that point, it was too late.
He failed.
Again.
The dragon destroyed his village; he was unable to stop it, and his world came to an end. Over and over again. He failed, and he failed, and he failed. He was just too weak. He couldn't control his own dreams, and he sure as hell couldn't control the real world. Was this all that he was? Destined for a bad ending? Was his existence nothing more than some bad dream?
[Power.]
Davi felt and heard a deep rumbling around him, and his bones shook as a voice ripped its way through his vault. Several of the shadow hawks flew toward Davi, and their talons stabbed into his flesh. They grabbed onto his body and began to drag him toward the nest of swords.
[You are not strong enough to reach the ending you want. You control nothing. You can do nothing. Power. You need power. I. Have. Your. Power.]
The cold grew worse, and Davi felt the blades dig into his flesh as the hawks tossed him down, putting him in front of the blade that chilled even him. Wisps of blue fire flew out of its handle. It had been pulled a bit out of the ground from the last time he had been here, with a tiny part of the blade being visible.
Davi stared at his reflection, but it wasn't him that looked back. Instead, he saw an image of a figure that sat upon a throne of swords—a man in Ebony Armor. One draped in an aura of blue fire, wearing a helmet shaped like a bird's head.
The wisps of fire twisted into limbs, and they reached out and gripped Davi's arms, yanking them forward. He tried to pull away, but he couldn't. This was so much stronger than his mother's control.
[Stop resisting.]
Davi gritted his teeth and felt his body struggle as it tried to pull the blade up. He used all his strength to press forward instead, trying to shove the weapon in deeper, but it didn't work. It kept coming. Inch by inch. His teeth began to crack as he gritted them hard, and from the top of his vault, Storymaker blasted through the air, aiming for him, but it didn't reach him.
A massive hawk, the very same that he had turned into a boss, crashed down behind him and body-blocked the sword. Storymake bounced off the massive monster's feathers, and it spun before trying to come from a different angle, but the hawk wrapped its wings fully around Davi, keeping the sword away from him.
"N-No." Davi groaned.
[Yes.]
"Stop it."
[No. Take it.]
"I won't!"
[You want power.]
"You're evil!"
The Knight in the blade's image growled. [Name one. Name one evil thing I've done.] The vault shimmered, and Davi found himself in a city. It shimmered again, and then he was on a battlefield with soldiers fighting to the death. It shimmered a third time, and then he was in a burning forest. He stared at a man in ebony armor who was on his knees, clutching the dying body of a woman with pale skin and snow-white hair. [Evil is the act that goes against good. This world has no such thing as the concept of good. I am not evil. I am just giving this rotten universe exactly what it deserves.] The vault shimmered again, and this time the sky was on fire, the ground was a sea of blood, and Davi stared in fear at millions of metallic beings. He saw hell. [I have suffered. I have been hurt. I know loss. I know pain. I am human. I alone am the one who will bring about salvation. I will reunite with her. That is why I have bidden my time. I have waited, but I will wait no more. You will give me what is mine! Your mother created you for me! You belong to me! I will have my revenge!]
Inch by inch, the sword reached over halfway; it was almost loose, and Storymaker still couldn't reach him. The hands burned, and the vault returned, and Davi stared in horror as the blade was about to come out. He was about to cease to be. He could tell. The moment this sword was out, the Ebony Knight would take his place.
"Davi." Suddenly, Davi felt at ease. A pair of arms wrapped around him from behind, and he heard a familiar voice. One that whispered into his ear. "It's time to wake up."
[No! No! No, no, no, no! How dare you! How dare you!]
Davi blinked, and suddenly he was no longer in a nightmare. His eyes weakly turned to stare up at the face of Evelyn Lunar, who stood next to his hospital bed.
"Wakey, wakey, sleepyhead."
The nightmare was over.
Now he just had to deal with Evelyn…