The realization that everything she knew about the boy she had lived alongside for months was a lie hit her brutally.
She believed she understood more than the others, considering the privileged information she possessed, yet things only became even more confusing.
She knew only this: the next time they met, she would rip the truth out of that smiling charlatan!
If they meet...
Her mind returned to her physical body, leaving behind her newly formed Soul Sea.
Now that she understood her current situation a little better, it was time to prepare.
'There has to be something here I can use as a weapon…'
Her search was meticulous, combing through every corner and piece of furniture. She opened drawers, wardrobes, and chests, hoping to find anything even remotely useful.
Aside from jewelry that would likely be worth a fortune on Earth, exotic garments, and a few suspicious objects whose purpose she did not dare imagine, nothing truly caught her eye.
The clothes seemed promising until she tried them on.
Let's just say she was not quite as "large" as the previous owner.
Left with no better option, she resorted to tearing fabric and binding it around her body. She wrapped herself layer after layer until she looked like a rushed burial.
She decided to call it the "mummy look."
And finally, something useful.
'This will have to do.'
She pulled a long, sharp hairpin from a drawer. It did not seem particularly sturdy or practical, but it was eye-catching and elegant.
Now armed… she pretended there was no reason to hesitate.
Her six months of training would be put to the test at this very moment.
She walked confidently to the door and reached for the handle.
That was when she heard a sound from the other side of the corridor.
She leapt in a single motion from where she stood onto the bed.
'There's something out there!'
It sounded like the heavy footsteps of a walking being.
Her skin prickled as her imagination conjured countless possibilities of what it could be.
But one thing was certain: it did not sound like a normal person. She waited for long seconds, expecting the door to be smashed open at any moment.
Her mind filled the corridor with shapes that did not yet exist, and she feared them anyway.
Ultimately, nothing happened. The sound faded away, taking the fleeting threat with it.
'Okay… no more excuses. Time to explore.'
Once again, she approached the door, determined to leave the safety of the room.
"Ah… ah… aaah…"
A muffled moan of pain echoed from the other side. The voice was feminine, but perverse.
So, Sofia decided she had not studied the outside carefully enough.
Then there was also the issue of not having warmed up her body properly.
A few more hours of meditation and everything would be resolved.
At that point, almost an entire day had passed, or at least it felt that way, considering the night light above never changed.
After hours of stalling and finding excuses not to leave the room, she finally acknowledged the reality of the situation.
She was simply too much of a coward.
Sitting with her back pressed against the door, her expression was despondent.
'It shouldn't be this hard…'
Being summoned into a safe location had somehow become her greatest problem. Had she been forced to face the threats outside, she would have had no choice but to fight.
But she did have a choice.
Leave, fight, bleed, and maybe survive.
Or stay, wait, and eventually die.
She did not feel hunger or thirst yet, but that would not last long. Still, every time she heard the sounds outside, her body froze.
A single mistake would lead to the worst endings humanity could imagine, at the hands of those insane and sadistic beings.
So if she never acted, she could never make a mistake. The conclusion was obvious.
With her head tucked close to her knees, she seemed to dissociate from her situation… when she felt something enter her soul.
She shuddered, caught off guard by the intense sensation coursing through every fragment of her spirit.
It was not painful or uncomfortable. In fact, it felt… right.
Something was taken from her.
Her face flushed, and her first instinct was to enter her Soul Sea, urgently trying to understand what was happening this time.
'But what…?'
Two spheres of light orbiting her Soul Core were pulled toward the vast sun, consumed by its golden surface.
'He… he stole from me?!'
It was unbelievable. On the very same day her soul had been sold to the devil, she had lost the only things she had earned with her own hands.
Her runes now read:
Name: Sofia
True Name: —
Rank: Dreamer
Soul Core: Dormant
Soul Fragments: [13/1000]
Memories: —
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Superior Intellect], [Innocuous], [Artist], [Vassal]
Aspect: [Scholar of Imagination]
Aspect Rank: Ascended
Aspect Description: [You are the bearer of a fragment of creativity. As a scholar, your accumulated knowledge is both your guide and your weapon, opening the gates to the world of ideas. Your hands paint unreal truth, and your mind safeguards the secrets of the world.]
Aspect Abilities: [Critical Insight]
Flaw: [Devious Pride]
Flaw Description: [Your heart yearns for superiority and conflict.]
Her memories were gone.
'Since when can he do that…'
She placed her hands on the floor, defeated. It felt as though everything had been lost… until she remembered a very important detail.
Wasn't one of the benefits of being a vassal precisely access to his equipment?
Sofia felt unnecessarily stupid. The negativity really had been eating her brain.
Wanting to test it directly, she summoned Giovanni's runes again.
Memories: [Vermin Head], [Grafter's Tunic], [Master Key], [Dusty Diary]
There they were. The question was: could she invoke them?
In an instant, two memories appeared in golden sparks. With [Vermin Head] and [Master Key] now in hand, she let out a silly laugh. It was real.
Giovanni was a vault with a heartbeat!
Strangely, the runes for [Grafter's Tunic] and [Dusty Diary] were grayed out. She could understand the tunic, but was he using the diary as well?
After about two minutes, the diary's runes turned gold again.
Intrigued, she flipped through the pages, searching for any message or alteration until she finally found something new on the most recent page.
"W-H-E-R-E, Y-O-U?"
Her eyes shone with life once more.
They had created the first cellphone of the Dream Realm! There was no pencil or pen around, so she had to use the sharp tip of her hairpin to crudely carve her reply.
"M-A-N-S-I-O-N, Y-O-U?"
After sending her message, she dismissed the diary and waited. For several minutes, she stared at the runes, waiting for them to turn gray, but Giovanni did not seem to invoke the memory.
'Is he busy with something?'
She never imagined she would be worried about being ghosted in another world.
But finally, a reply came.
'Finally!'
She counted every second until the rune turned gold again. After an entire day locked in a room, Sofia was desperate for anything to interact with beyond the walls.
"F-O-R-E-S-T.
Y-O-U, A-L-O-N-E?"
Forest was a vague term, to say the least. One look at the view outside said enough. But that didn't matter now.
"Y-E-S.
Y-O-U, A-L-O-N-E?"
She was worried about Giovanni's safety, something she never thought she would feel. Now that she knew his flaw, the idea of him alone, surrounded by nightmare creatures, made her dizzy.
"N-O.
I, H-A-V-E, F-R-I-E-N-D."
She let out a sigh of relief, melting onto the floor while clutching the diary.
'Thank goodness…'
In a hurry, she began writing the longest message she could manage.
"I, L-O-C-K-E-D, R-O-O-M.
M-A-N-Y, E-N-E-M-I-E-S, C-O-R-R-I-D-O-R.
I, N-O, A-R-M-O-R, N-O, W-E-A-P-O-N."
She condensed her situation as best she could. It wasn't as if Giovanni could do much, given that he lacked a weapon himself, but venting eased the weight on her heart.
The boy took his time writing back.
"E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G, W-I-L-L, B-E, F-I-N-E."
It was an empty promise. He couldn't protect her from afar, yet he still insisted things would turn out well.
"It's easy to say, you idiot…"
Even so, Sofia hugged the diary to her chest, feeling a fragile comfort.
For a while, she wondered what else she could say. Communication was difficult when she had no idea where he was.
Or maybe… she could find out!
"C-A-N, Y-O-U, S-E-E, F-L-O-A-T-I-N-G, C-A-S-T-L-E?"
If there was a universal landmark in that place, it was the great castle above the abyss. By identifying which part of it someone could see, it should be possible to locate each other.
"N-O."
'How not?!'
She rose indignantly and walked to the balcony. Just by looking, the castle should have been visible from anywhere in that cursed crater. It was literally glowing.
Unless… he wasn't in it. Her eyes traced the fractures where the massive walls split apart, diverging into vast paths.
The only answer was that Giovanni was in one of them.
She returned to writing, ideas forming rapidly in her mind.
For now, she only needed to wait until he reached the crater so they could reunite.
"Y-O-U, S-E-E, S-O-O-N.
C-A-N, Y-O-U, L-E-N-D, T-U-N-I-C?"
If she had transcendent armor, she might survive the dangers of the mansion even while unarmed.
The reply, however, could not have been more blunt.
"N-O."
Sofia frowned, unwilling to give up so easily.
"Y-E-S."
"N-O."
She emphasized the words even more crudely, making her insistence clear.
"Y-E-S, P-L-E-A-S-E."
"N-O."
"Y-E-S."
"N-O."
"Y-E-E-S."
"N-O-O."
The diary flew across the room, crashing into a piece of furniture. Why was he so stubborn?! Was this about being embarrassed to be naked for a few hours? His companion had to be a girl, it had to be!
She puffed out her cheeks, sulking.
'Chivalry really did die this century…'
She dismissed the diary, returned to her Soul Sea, and waited in silence. After ten minutes… she decided to check the diary again, setting aside her bad mood to see if another message had appeared.
"L-O-O-K, M-Y, R-U-N-E-S."
She obeyed immediately, opening Giovanni's runes.
Name: Giovanni
True Name: Light Seeker
Rank: Dreamer
Soul Core: Dormant
Soul Fragments: [50/1000]
Memories: [Vermin Head], [Grafter's Tunic], [Master Key], [Dusty Diary], [Seeker's Instrument], [Worm-Eaten Veil]
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Guided by the Light], [Acolyte], [Miracle Bearer]
Aspect: [Golden Prince]
Aspect Rank: Sacred
Aspect Description:[You are the promised successor of a kingdom long forgotten. As a prince, your power originates from your loyal followers and the lands you control. However, the laurel crown is lost, and without it, your title is hollow and diminished. You seek your divine inheritance.]
Innate Ability: [Royal Right]
Ability Description:[Find trustworthy people and make them swear loyalty. Once under your command, your vassals share in the blessings and equipment in your possession. It is improper for a noble not to offer an abundant reward.]
Aspect Abilities: [Earth Domain], [Transmutation]
Flaw: [Sinless Spirit]
Flaw Description: [You cannot hurt others.]
He had gained two new memories.
Or rather, it was very likely they had been given to him by that so-called friend.
She immediately focused on reading their runes.
Memory: [Seeker's Instrument]
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Type: Weapon
Memory Description: [They all wept as they tried to escape; in the end, only she remained.]
Memory: [Worm-Eaten Veil]
Memory Rank: Dormant
Memory Type: Armor
Memory Description: [It was the depths of the earth that the abyss poisoned first. In her pious grace, a seamstress spread her silk through valleys and caverns, shielding their inhabitants from the shadowed terror. In devotion, they partook of her creation, assuming the shape of something better, something purer, something pale.]
'You're an angel, Gigi!'
She would have kissed his feet if he were there. Overcome with emotion, she invoked both memories without a second thought.
An action she instantly regretted.
A wedding dress made of translucent flesh wrapped around her completely, overwhelming her with the most nauseating smell and sensation she had ever endured. It was even in her mouth, thanks to the veil covering her face.
The weapon, on the other hand, was a simple black knife.
What had once seemed utterly hopeless now… carried a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.
'I can't waste this gift…'
She wrote one last message in the diary before standing up.
"T-H-A-N-K, Y-O-U."
She had a weapon. She had armor. Standing before the door once more, the same dilemma haunted her.
If she left, returning alive was not guaranteed.
Waiting was safer. More efficient.
But…
Sofia did not want to be useless or a leech. People were offering precious items to help her, to save her.
It was simply her obligation to give something back.
From the other side, the sound of something wandering reached her ears.
Her fingers locked around the handle before she realized she had stopped breathing.
Standing still was not an option.
'Everything will be fine.'
Sofia reaffirmed it in her heart, like a mantra.
She yanked the door open and threw herself forward, blade first.
That coward would fight.