The margrave roared, "Is anyone out there?"
A warrior in dark clothing entered the room and knelt before him.
The margrave glared down, anger still seeping from his eyes. He shouted, "Find out who it was! They've destroyed two of my masterpieces in the last few days! How dare they!"
The kneeling guard stammered, "My... my lord, the Archduke is on the move right now. If we send our people to investigate... he will definitely find our trail."
The margrave shattered another vase in his fury. "Damn it! Valerius, just what kind of secret are you holding that even our masters warn us not to provoke you?"
The guard remained silent, his head bowed before his master, who was clearly beyond reason.
The margrave gritted his teeth. "Investigate silently. If anyone discovers your trail, just kill them. They're only experiments, anyway."
The guard nodded, then left the room with his master's grim order.
Argent Spire Academy,
After returning to the academy, Silas, Rhys, and Jacob all stumbled back to their dorm, utterly exhausted. They fell asleep the moment they touched their beds.
Meanwhile, Draven, Kael, and Theron returned to their private apartment. They too were tired beyond what they had imagined and collapsed into their own beds.
That Night,
Draven was suddenly jolted from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes, unsure why a sudden shake had woken him. He forced his eyes open, only to find he was not in his room.
"What? Where am I?" he wondered aloud. "Wasn't I sleeping in my room a moment ago?"
He stood up from where he had been lying and looked around. He was in a beautiful field, lush with green grass and dotted with countless vibrant flowers. The sweet scent of their blossoms filled the air, and tiny, colorful butterflies danced from one flower to the next, enjoying their meal.
Draven moved forward, the garden growing more and more beautiful until he reached a luxurious, open-air courtyard situated over a serene lake. The scenery was mesmerizing, but the same thought echoed in his mind: Where am I?
He walked onto the wooden bridge that connected the garden to the floating courtyard. As he crossed, he saw water lilies floating on the surface of the clear blue lake, where swans moved with a majestic grace.
When he finally reached the courtyard, he saw someone sitting at a table in the very center.
She was a girl so beautiful that any other woman in the world would fade in comparison. Her hair was as black as coal, with a beautiful, intricate mark between her eyebrows. Her long, dark hair was loose, and she watched Draven with an interested gaze as he approached.
Draven's expression turned grim. He couldn't sense her level at all, as if she existed outside the system of power he knew. His hand reflexively went to his waist, searching for his sword, only to find nothing but air.
"Damn! Even my sword and space pouch are missing," he murmured to himself. He looked at her and asked, "Are you the one who took me from my sleep?"
The girl chuckled, a sound like soft bells. "Am I? Do you think I would do something like that?"
Draven's frown deepened. He could feel an immense power radiating from her, a power great enough to kill him a thousand times over.
She stood up. Draven tensed, but she didn't come toward him. Instead, she walked to the edge of the courtyard and looked out at the swans playing in the water.
"Draven," she said, her voice soft but clear. "You don't know me right now... but you will know me in the future."
"Who are you? And what do you mean?" Draven demanded.
"Didn't I already tell you? You'll know when the time comes. For now..."
She waved her hand, and a massive projection appeared in the air before her. Draven stepped fully into the courtyard, his eyes locked on the vision.
He saw countless monsters poised to attack humanity. Beside them stood thousands of black-cloaked figures, commanding the horde. The scene was horrific. The monsters swarmed over villages, attacking civilians, families, and even small children. All of them died gruesome deaths.
The girl's voice turned rough with sadness. "This is what they want to do. They want to kill everyone..."
She looked back at Draven. "You don't have enough time, Draven. Be careful. And become as strong as you possibly can before the catastrophe occurs." Then, she seemed to remember something else. "And that human, Silas... be wary of him... He... he is..."
Before she could even finish, Draven roared, "Don't you dare say anything about Silas! He is my love, and I will kill anyone who dares to touch a single hair on his head!"
The girl met Draven's furious eyes, and a chill ran down her spine. She took a half-step back and sighed. "Draven, he is not simple. You'll understand later. But before that, you must become powerful enough to stop this."
Draven wanted to ask more, but she suddenly pointed a finger at him. A gentle white light bloomed at her fingertip and shot into Draven's chest.
He gasped, waking up abruptly in his bed, drenched in a cold sweat. He was breathing heavily, his heart pounding.
"Did I just have a nightmare? Sigh... It felt so realistic." But in the next second, his eyes widened in shock.
In his hand, he held a single, perfect flower . A flower he had just seen in his dream.
Now he knew. The things he had seen were real, and the dream held a huge secret about his life.
He murmured to himself, his voice shaking, "How... how is this possible?"
The next morning, after freshening up, Silas headed toward Draven's room to meet him. On the other side of the academy, Rhys and Jacob did the same, making their way to their boyfriends' apartment. They had all taken a leave from their classes for the day so they could finally relax.
Silas knocked on the door, but no one opened it. He knocked a few more times, but still, there was no response. Frowning, Silas took out the key Draven had given him and let himself in. He entered the room to find Draven still asleep, a cold sweat covering his forehead as if he were trapped in a terrible nightmare.
Silas immediately rushed to the bed. He checked Draven's temperature, but instead of a fever, he felt that Draven's skin was unusually cold. He began to shake him gently. "Draven! Draven, wake up! You're having a nightmare."
After three or four attempts, Draven suddenly woke up with a jolt. He saw Silas leaning over him, still shaking his shoulder, his eyes wide with concern.
Draven's heart was pounding, his breath coming in heavy gasps. Without a word, he immediately pulled Silas into a tight hug. Silas, surprised but understanding, rubbed his back soothingly. "It's okay, Draven. You probably just had a bad dream."
Draven, however, knew it was more than that. He had seen the projection again in his sleep, the vision playing out repeatedly after he'd first woken up. It had to be a clue, something important.
He looked at Silas's face, his own expression gloomy, and said, "Silas, I saw something in my dream last night..."
Draven didn't let go of the hug, but his grip loosened slightly as he pulled back just enough to look Silas in the eyes. His own were wide and haunted, still reflecting the horrors he had just witnessed. His breath was still unsteady.
"It wasn't just a nightmare, Silas," he began, his voice low and hoarse. He spoke slowly at first, as if struggling to piece together the surreal events in his mind and make them sound sane. He described the sudden shift from his own bed to the impossibly beautiful garden, the scent of the flowers, the way the butterflies danced in the air.
As he spoke, Silas listened patiently, his hand still rubbing Draven's back in a steady, calming rhythm, his expression one of gentle concern. He assumed Draven was just recounting a particularly vivid dream.
But then Draven's tone changed. It grew more serious, laced with a tangible sense of awe and fear as he described the woman by the lake. "I couldn't feel her power at all, Silas. It was like she was nothing... or everything. And she knew my name."
At this, Silas's hand stilled. His brow furrowed, his full attention now locked on Draven's words.
Draven's voice became more urgent as he recounted the vision she had shown him. The massive, horrifying projection of the monster army, the black-cloaked figures commanding them, the brutal slaughter of innocent people. His eyes were unfocused, staring past Silas as if seeing the gruesome images all over again. His grip on Silas's shirt tightened unconsciously.
When he got to the part about the woman's warning, he hesitated. "She... she told me to be wary of you, Silas. She said you weren't simple." He immediately shook his head, his eyes refocusing on Silas with fierce loyalty. "I didn't let her finish. I told her I'd kill anyone who tried to hurt you."
Finally, with a trembling hand, he pulled away and opened his palm. Resting there was the single, impossibly perfect flower from the dream, its petals glowing faintly in the morning light.
"And then I woke up," Draven finished, his voice barely a whisper. "And this was in my hand."
Silas stared at the flower in Draven's palm. Its delicate petals seemed to hum with an otherworldly energy, and its existence here, now, in the mundane reality of their dorm room, was undeniable proof. The dream wasn't just a dream. It was real.
As that chilling realization settled in, a sharp, metallic chime echoed inside Silas's head, followed by a series of urgent, ice-cold notifications that flashed across his mind's eye.
[Ding!]
[WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!]
[An unknown entity is attempting to pry into your being!]
A wave of dread washed over Silas. Before he could even process the first alert, another one followed.
[Ding!]
[System initializing emergency safety measures!]
[1%... 2%... 3%...]
For a split second, Silas felt a bizarre, invisible pressure, as if unseen eyes were trying to peel back the layers of his very soul. Then, just as suddenly as it began, it was gone.
[Ding!]
[The entity has retreated!]
A final, sobering message appeared, its tone a stark command.
[Host, you must reach a higher level as soon as possible. Otherwise, you will have to face these beings without sufficient power!]
[System is shutting down for five minutes to complete recalibration.]