Elizabeth had been training for a few hours before she decided to stop, not because she was tired. Strangely, she was still full of energy, energized even, and she felt she could train for hours and remain that way for a long while.
She didn't know why, although she was starting to suspect it had something to do with her aspect. It was still the only thing she didn't fully understand. How it worked, why she felt like this, or why she wasn't exhausted after drills that would have normally left her drained, she couldn't tell. It remained a mystery.
She stopped training simply because it was getting dark. She couldn't determine the exact time, but the fading sunlight proved enough. She wanted to reach the city before it grew too dim. Although she was still clumsy and not completely at her best, she felt she could manage now, and if things went badly, she believed she could at least run away.
So, without further delay, she started walking toward the city, her dagger in hand. Half her mind stayed alert, while the other half observed her surroundings. The golden ship was truly impressive, and she doubted she would tire of looking at it any time soon. Her attention drifted to the massive obsidian pillars in the distance, then toward the giant she had seen.
Tessie had once told her that when nightmares begin, they tend to show key points or information related to them. She was certain what she had witnessed mattered, although she didn't know which part was important. Too many things had happened at once, the desert turning into an ocean, the blinding light, the gigantic titan being chained by the ship's golden chains.
If she wanted to end her nightmare, those were the clues she needed to understand.
'The nightmare spell isn't asking me to kill the thing, right?' she wondered.
If her true objective was to kill that monster, things would become complicated. She didn't believe it impossible, though. If there was one thing the spell made clear, it was its fairness. All the trials it sent people into were fair and solvable. If her nightmare's goal truly was to kill that giant, then there had to be a way to do it, and she simply had to figure out how. Fairness didn't make the nightmare any easier. People still died. It was a trial at the end of the day.
She walked for hours until she reached the outskirts of the city. From afar, she had thought the distance was only a few minutes, although that was not the case. The place was so huge that it deceived her entirely.
'Do I have to explore the whole city before I find clues about my nightmare?' she wondered. She hoped not. There was never exactly a time limit to nightmares, she could take as long as she needed, and whether she survived was up to her, although spending an enormous amount of time searching the city felt like a tedious task she didn't want to undertake.
The moment she entered the city, she heard it. A song, a beautiful melody, yet something about it felt wrong. The sound didn't enter through her ear canals. It flowed directly into her thoughts. The music suddenly stopped, or rather it continued, but she tuned it out because she was already on high alert, the music was strangely distracting, her dagger raised as she moved deeper inside.
She had noticed overgrown plants around the ship, although now that she was inside the city, the abandonment was unmistakable. The place looked desolate and had been empty for years. There wasn't a soul in sight. The buildings looked untouched and intact, which didn't reassure her in the slightest. From the architecture alone, she knew this must have been an important city. For people to leave it behind, something significant had occurred.
Several theories came to mind. Perhaps the people who used this ship no longer needed it after reaching their destination, although that didn't explain why the ship itself was abandoned. Or something had chased them away. Or something had killed them all and left nothing behind.
She leaned toward the last option, grim as it was. Was it wise to enter a place where a nightmare creature capable of wiping out an entire civilization might be waiting? Maybe her nightmare trial was actually to find a safe way off the ship, although knowing what lay outside, she would rather not. All of this remained speculation, with no solid evidence to support any of it.
She continued walking for several more hours. Eventually the sun set, and she was plunged into darkness, or she would have been if not for the golden glow that illuminated the city.
"And here I thought the city couldn't get any more beautiful," she murmured. At night, it was even more magnificent.
She walked on. It was still strange that despite hours of walking, her body showed no signs of exhaustion. She was certain it had something to do with her aspect, perhaps one of those passive aspects. If so, what was the condition for it to work? Before she could dwell on the thought, the other half of her consciousness alerted her. She focused on it and noticed something odd. The music in the background had grown louder, and it sounded close.
'Have I been walking toward the music subconsciously?' Earlier it had been soft enough to ignore, although now it was impossible to overlook. She had planned to investigate the source in the morning, yet she was already near it.
Since she was close, she decided to investigate. It might even be the clue she needed to end her nightmare.
As she approached, the song changed. Its beautiful melody twisted into something dark and ominous. She made a mental note of the strange shift as she moved closer. The nearer she got, the darker the tone became. Finally, when she was one turn away, she heard a voice.
"Oh free me from this mortal shell of mine, let me be in your embrace, oh mother, why do you hate me so?"
The voice sounded odd. It followed the melody's rhythm, although it felt unnatural.
'So I'm not alone after all,' she thought, though she doubted it was human. Like the song, she didn't hear the voice with her ears. It echoed directly in her mind.
She approached cautiously. When she reached the final corner, she took a deep breath. Her mind shifted into battle mode, prepared for whatever waited. She exhaled and peeked around the corner.
Her eyes widened.
"What… in tarnation is that?"