It was the first time Uriel had a nightmare.
Generally, he never suffered from them. When he slept, his consciousness traveled to his mental space to rest, giving only the sensation of sleeping. But that night was different.
In his nightmare, Uriel was unfathomable and inexhaustible darkness. His mere existence was enough to consume reality itself. His blackness could extinguish the brightest stars, the most tireless life, and even death itself.
Yet, despite his infinite power, he was being shattered and torn apart.
He felt a pain like he had never experienced before: his existence was being ripped away piece by piece. He observed with hatred and fury six entities that lacked form or meaning — those concepts were too small to describe them — but he could feel them.
Staggering, on the brink of death, he could only flee, trying to escape those beings that wanted to mutilate him.
In his escape, more of himself was torn away, becoming smaller and weaker. As his pathetic existence slid across all of creation fleeing from those things, he could only run. However, he failed: he was repressed by something greater that finally overcame him.
Enormous unbreakable chains intertwined around his formless existence, imprisoning him.
His instinct only repeated one thought: Flee.
He shook the chains, destroying some, but more emerged to imprison him even tighter. He felt an indescribable pain that invaded his entire body, making him scream in agonizing torment. He was taken apart piece by piece, torn and deprived of everything.
Feeling one of the chains give way, he used it to escape. He slipped through the broken link and managed to flee an infinitesimal part of himself.
He shot out like a black comet and crashed against a hard surface, destroying everything around him in a monstrous explosion.
Slowly, he stood up. His body took on a humanoid shape that poured rivers of darkness, which filtered into the earth's soil. He took one step, then another, continuing without direction. His body was mutilated and completely destroyed; he knew the end of his existence was approaching.
After advancing for moments or an eternity, something blazed before him.
A massive mass that rose above the world, surpassing the very heavens. It was a titanic and monstrous corpse whose black and vile blood seeped and ascended, impregnating existence.
Uriel reached out his hand to touch the corpse.
He drew closer, just inches from touching it. However, the darkness that seeped out took on a humanoid form, leaving only two blood-red eyes, and stood before him, blocking his path.
That being opened its mouth and spoke in an extremely serious and angry tone.
"Damn it... I only let my guard down for a second," said a voice extremely familiar to him.
"That doesn't matter," Uriel replied, reaching his hand toward the other humanoid made of darkness.
"It's better that you wake up and forget you had this nightmare. You're not ready for this truth yet."
"Wai—"
Uriel woke up with a start.
"Argh," he grunted as he felt a sharp headache.
He had had a nightmare, though he couldn't remember what he had dreamed. He sat up, noticing he was sweating cold and his heart was beating strongly. He brought a hand to his chest, feeling uncomfortable and empty for some reason. Little by little, his heart calmed down, as did his breathing.
Uriel did not sleep for the rest of the night. He stayed awake, staring into the void.
---
When the suns rose again, Ananke woke up and with that, she finished exploring the Spell of Nightmare Temple. When she finished, she left the temple, concluding the tour of Weave, which had taken her a week.
During those days, Uriel had no new nightmares, nor did he speak with Shade, who strangely always seemed exhausted.
Finally, his stay in Weave came to an end. The Time Killer had been repaired thanks to the help of the Riverborn. Since the Supreme Tyrant — whose name he still had to give but hadn't — watched over Weave and controlled the corrupt abominations, adding them to his domain, he provided a vast amount of dark essence in his soul.
Using the leftover essence, as well as numerous fragments of transcendent and ascended souls, he created multiple memories and special enchantments for Weave, so they would endure once he left. He trusted that once they succeeded in their mission to destroy the River of Time, they would survive to return for them and take them to Fallen Grace.
Once back on the ship, he observed Cronos, who wore a bird hat on his head.
"Master, welcome back to my crew," Cronos greeted.
"Cronos, where did you get that hat?"
"I created it with a soul fragment. I call it the Bird Hat."
"I curse my own being for showing you what One Piece was."
"Too late. Now I will become the King of the Pirates in search of the greatest treasure of all."
Uriel rolled his eyes.
"By the way, welcome aboard, Ananke. Come, I need to bind you to the ship so that time does not affect you during our journey."
Ananke nodded and followed Cronos to a large, complex circle full of symbols and runes that glowed faintly.
Once Ananke was safe aboard the Time Killer, the ship sailed from Weave under everyone's gaze, watching the imposing vessel drift downstream, wishing them success on their journey.
At the prow, Cronos looked toward the horizon.
"Alright, set course for Twilight. It's time to go snake hunting."
***
(Nata: Your honorable writer here, leaving a note in this chapter. Seriously, it's been several chapters since I last left one. Anyway, it'll be brief. I suggest you check out a new story I'm creating called: "The Rebirth of the Mountain Bandit."
It'll be quite interesting, I can assure you, unlike the previous one that I had to delete due to lost chapters and discouragement.
Seriously, I had around thirty chapters ready before losing them all. Well, that's all. I'll upload the next chapter in a few hours.