"Nero! Epsilon! Come back here and help me move this stuff."
Epsilon sighed, jumping down the stool at the counter, making his way towards the back of the store. Nero who was half asleep just a short distance away, was shaken awake as he then followed in suite. The two arrived in a dark room, filled to the brim with card board boxes that contained random junk.
Buried amongst them was a man of average height. He was well built with hazel brown hair, and wore a brown apron on top of his ruffled clothes.
"Hurry and pick those up.", he said as he pointed to the small pile of boxes in the corner.
Nero scrubbed his still exhausted his eyes, as he spoke with slight irritation.
"Father.. you woke us up to carry a bunch of trash?"
"Us??? You were the only one sleeping! I've been at the counter all day!"
Epsilon shouted at his brother with irritation. That seemed to shock him fully awake, as Nero then shouted back at him too.
"Thank you for being such a hard worker, our future has never been brighter! Genius!"
"What the hells your problem?!"
The twins quickly began to bicker and argue with each other, as their voices grew louder and louder. But it all ceased the second they felt the firm grip of a giant clutch each of their heads.
Their father, Anton, had a smile on his face, but it also looked very forced.
"What did I say to you two about fighting between each other??"
Instantly, the two boys forgot that they were bickering. Anton sighed, as he turned back around and picked up a large box with some effort.
"Now hurry up and carry one each, we need to take them back home. And Nero, for your liking this isn't trash, this is treasure!"
Nero sighed as struggled to pick one up. Despite how it looked, whatever junk... valuables was inside of them was stupidly heavy. Epsilon on the other hand, carefully scanned his father, noticing something was up with him.
In fact, something had changed about him a couple days prior, but it was never this obvious. He was surprised the Nero didn't say anything about it even.
"Father? Are you okay?"
Anton jumped up in surprise, but he looked at Epsilon carefully with a gentle smile on his face. This time it wasn't forced, and it even carried a faint air of sincerity. And yet, it looked like he was using a great amount of effort just to maintain it.
"I'm fine. Just feeling a little dizzy."
In hindsight, he wished he had said more that day.
**
Epsilon awakened on a bed of dried leaves. Sitting up, he stretched before suddenly flinching in pain. A terrible stiffness struck his neck
'Even those crap beds back at home were better than this...'
No matter how many nights he spent in this place, he could never grow used to it. Sighing, he summoned a pair of boots that he had dismissed before sleeping, and took a look at his runes.
Name: Epsilon
True Name: End Of The Unbound
Rank: Dreamer
Soul Core: Dormant
Soul Fragments: [368/1000]
Memories: [Maddened Frenzy], [Best Friend], [Crossing Tunic]
Echoes: —
Every time he looked at them, a small tear streamed down his face. All the memories he used, didn't even belong to him. They were just Ki Song's left overs that he loaned. Once he found suitable replacements, he would have to give them back.
That Soul Fragment counter was something to smile about though. It was too bad it would stop growing like that soon.
Memory: [Best Friend]
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Type: Weapon
Memory Description: [A fine blade once owned by a wandering warrior.]
It was a double edged, Silver short sword with a wooden handle. A little bit uncomfortable to wield, but perfectly fine to cut through the flesh of Nightmare creatures.
Memory: [Crossing Tunic]
Memory Rank: Dormant
Memory Type: Garment
Memory Description: [It's a beautiful day today isn't it?]
He never understood that description, not that it was important enough for it to matter. It was all lost history anyway.
Standing up, he arrived at the edge of the small little tree house he built as a temporary shelter, and looked up at the massive one that Ki Song was currently residing in. Sighing, he began to climb.
**
Well, before that, he caught a small glimpse of something in the sky. Well not the sky, but the roof? The ceiling of the cavern?
The sight was often repetitive, with the same glowing dim rocks that illuminated this place like the sun, but today, there was something different. There was a small white light flickering in the distance, one which Epsilon faintly recognised.
'That couldn't be..'
Activating his dormant ability, Epsilon boosted his own physical prowess as he climbed up to Ki Songs resting place without delay. Of course, she was already awake, and fiddling with those.. bombs.
Hearing the sound of someone climb in, she quickly turned around with her blade in hand, but huffed a breathe of relief just to see it was Epsilon.
"What is it?"
"Lend me your telescope, quickly!"
She was slightly hesitant, but it seemed very urgent so she didn't dwell on the thought. A ray of sparks then shined, as a long, 3 sectioned tube with a glass lens on each side spawned in her hand.
She tossed the telescope to Epsilon, who caught it with ease. It was a memory that could zoom up to 100x away, letting the user see dozens of kilometres in high detail.
'Legacy's are nifty...'
Epsilon aimed it right at the small white light shining in the distance, causing a light smile curl on his face once he saw it.
"What do you see?", Ki Song asked.
"I think... I think I can see Smile Of Heaven?"
Her eyes widening, she rushed over to Epsilon and snatched the telescope away from him quickly. Gazing through it, she too could witness the glowing white spirit drifting aimlessly in the sky.
"Is that really her?"
Epsilon nodded. She wasn't aware of her Dormant ability, and the only ones who had even witnessed it till now, were the people Gracia had selected for her cohort.
"She must've been drifting around for a long while now."
And what was worse was that the light was growing dimmer. She seemed to be going farther and farther away.
"She's going in the wrong direction! We need to get her attention somehow."
They couldn't create a beacon, because that would alert all the other Nightmare creatures of where they were too.
"Are you suggesting we go to her instead? Because I don't think that would work out."
"Why not?"
She lent the telescope back to him, but this time she aimed it right beneath the glowing light. There, Epsilon could see a cluster of trees rustling frantically.
There was a horde of Nightmare creatures trying to reach her, but it was obviously proving fruitless. Not that they would be able to harm her anyway. However, if Epsilon and Ki Song were to try reach her instead, the Nightmare creatures attention would be turned to them. At that point, they would be the ones in danger.
"Well what can we do then?? We can't just leave her behind."
She looked at Epsilon with a blank expression.
"You... you really want to just leave her there??"
"It's not like she's in any danger right? She'll be fine, we need to think of our own survival first."
'Ha..'
How could he forget that Ki Song was a loner? She never even tried to make any friends, nor did she have any expectations for anyone else to help her. Everything she's done, was for her own sole benefit.
"But you helped me? So why won't you help her?"
"I didn't help you because we were companions, I helped you because you made a good porter, it was simply the most logical thing to do. And Besides, you running around the place naked would be a foul sight."
He thought that they shared some kind of common ground at least, even if she was a legacy. But that was not the case at all.
"Are you forgetting that you can't survive in the dream realm on your own? No one can! You can't honestly expect to be able to get to a citadel without taking some kind of risk, right??"
She sighed,
"You're right, no one can survive the dream realm alone. But you're also forgetting that it takes a single bad bud to ruin the bunch. If I rely on you guys, can you guarantee that my life won't be in danger if I follow your reckless ideas? The greatest mistake that anyone can make is putting themselves right in the midst of danger. The people that don't get into trouble at all, are the ones who survive. If I want anyone as my companion, it would be someone who sees the same logic as me."
So she was incredibly meticulous.
"The answer is simple really. Saving her just isn't logical. Although we may benefit from an extra teammate, I don't believe that risking our lives is worth it. Unless there's a guarantee, then I refuse to take that option."
He wanted to argue against Ki Songs logic. But, she was completely, and utterly correct. He knew that very well, because even his [Judgment] attribute, which was logic personified, was telling him that going after Smile Of Heaven would be a mistake.
It seemed like he would have to abandon her.
'But if that was Nero, would I also leave him behind? Would I stop chasing my dream because this stupid attribute told me it wasn't the optimal choice?'
No. No he wouldn't.
He gave Ki Song a harsh stare, but he could see in her eyes that she had no intent on saving Smile Of Heaven.
"Someone I cared for very dearly told me that my dream was stupid. That it was impossible, and that I would die if I kept chasing after it. And yet, I keep striving for it anyway. I want that impossible, and completely illogical goal to be within my reach."
Ki Song snickered.
"So what are you trying to say? That you understand you're a fool?"
"If I want to achieve my dream, then I need to make the impossible, possible. If I can't even do something as meagre as this, then how can I ever hope to reach it? Don't you too have a dream that your willing to risk your life for? You can't possible expect to achieve it without putting your life on the line, are you? That would just be delusional."
She looked like she wanted to say something, but the words didn't come out.
"You want companions that see the same logic you do, I think your right about that. A successful cohort is one where every member has the same vision to achieve a goal. But I want to be surrounded by people who want to achieve the impossible too. If that means I can't work with you any longer, then so be it."