42 The Slumbering One

All-encompassing darkness surrounded the lonesome pair as they stared out into the void. The seemingly endless expanse of black covered everything in this desolate world — it was a bleak sight to behold. Reed put his hands on his hips and let out a long, low whistle as he looked around halfheartedly.

"You brought me out here for this? Are you for real, Lu'um? Not the glittering city made of gold or the magnificent crystal palace, but this godforsaken void?" said Reed. He jokingly put his hand around one of her shoulders and said, "I didn't know you were such a romantic, Lu'um."

Reed leisurely gestured at the vast stretch of nothingness and cheerfully said, "Where to, milady? Here, there... or perhaps nowhere?" He chuckled softly and took delight in making a fool out of his unamused companion who looked at him as if he were an idiot.

"Very cute, Ka'an. Still, humor is a good sign — it shows a person's inner strength and their resilience to suffering," she said. Lu'um tapped her foot and a small ripple formed underneath her like the flow of a shallow wave. The tiny wave carried a modicum of glittering specks of light as it traveled away from them off into the great beyond.

The little wave eventually disappeared into the darkness and Reed shrugged his shoulders in confusion. "What was that all about? Was that supposed to do someth-"

Reed quickly turned around and suddenly swallowed his words as he curiously observed something afar. It happened suddenly without any warning — he felt his spine chill when he detected a surge of Anima on the horizon. It felt like someone had set off Joyous Divinity's solar engine...

He suddenly felt another surge towards the east and then another one in the south. It kept happening at an ever increasing rate, and he quickly became incapable of keeping up with the surges occurring everywhere. It was as if hundreds of thousands of Joyous Divinities had awoken in an instant.

"H-Hey, what did you do?! You feel that too, right?!! Holy shit, what the hell did you do this time?!" Something had woken up — across the void, tiny motes of light shone in the far reaches of space. They twinkled brilliantly as something approached them at a ridiculous speed.

Reed couldn't see it, but he clearly felt the distortions it caused as it approached the pair. Its movement caused enormous ripples that shook everything it passed. An innumerable number of stars warped and made way for whatever was coming. It terrified Reed to the bone and he instinctively began channeling Anima out of pure reflex.

Lu'um grabbed his hand and said, "Relax, Ka'an. I assure you that no harm will come to you; there is no reason to be alarmed. The Slumbering One has existed long before all things in creation. It possesses a profound connection to all those who would walk the path — to the top of the staircase and beyond."

Stars shifted and winked out of sight as the presence drew close and massive waves of starlight crashed into them fiercely. The world went white and Reed shut his eyes in pain as the starry sky itself crashed down upon him. He quietly groaned as he rubbed his eyes and forced them open despite the pain he felt.

Reed let out an astonished gasp and nearly fell on his ass when caught sight of the being that stood- no, towered above him endlessly. His body spanned an entire sea of stars and his presence alone caused the world to tremble in terrible awe.

Perched upon one of his shoulders was an eagle that looked larger than all the world. The majestic creature spread its colorful wings and a deafening boom struck Reed. He covered his ears as he waited for the awful ringing sensation in his ears to subside. A single feather slowly fell from one of the eagle's wings and Reed felt his blood freeze.

The feather alone was larger than the entire continent of Mulia as it descended upon the pair like an apocalyptic meteor at a snail's pace. Even so, it was so large that it would be impossible to dodge it, much less escape the surrounding destruction it would cause once it struck the ground.

Reed took a couple of steps back and scowled at Lu'um in fury as he channeled every mote of Anima he could handle in preparation. "Goddammit, Lu'um! Why can't we ever visit normal places?! Why do you always drag me out into your madness?! And why do I always keep trusting you?!!"

He was about to tear his way out real-space in a last-ditch attempt but Lu'um stopped him with a single word.

"Look," she said as she pointed up above at the sky. Reed disdainfully snorted as he looked up and said, "Yes, I'm very much aware of the giant fu-"

It was gone. It'd disappeared in the blink of an eye. A single colorful feather about the size of his forearm gently floated down in front of his face as if was calling out to him. Reed caught it — absolutely dumbfounded.

An ancient, withered voice spoke from within Reed himself and said, "Blessings to you, Son of Tonalnan and Daughter of Meztli. I welcome you to the Land of Twilight under the rights given upon you by birthright."

The starry giant slammed a single palm down upon the pair before they could even realize it and the world blurred and morphed until it resembled a foreign shore. The sea was oddly at peace, so much so that it appeared like a mirror in the night. Three familiar moons hung up in the sky as their perfect reflections gleamed upon the sea...

From the sea, the man came out peacefully. He wore a dark tunic fashioned out gold and sapphire linen that gave him the aura of a noble person. What caught Reed's attention the most was what laid upon his head. A withering crown of flowers weakly glimmered in the dark like a fading candle.

The man smiled when he noticed Reed's gaze and said, "Such is the consequence of one who has lost his way, little sun. Take heed and never follow my path — learn from where I have failed instead — so that you may avoid this... lonely fate."

Lu'um bowed in the man's presence and said, "O Slumbering One, we have come before you to request your assistance in assesm-"

"I know why you are here, childe," said the man. He gazed at the three moons in the sky and said, "They have long since informed me of what has occurred down below since the last eventide. I know what you've done and why you did it."

"What happened is unprecedented — even I have never seen anything like this happen over the course of a hundred complete revolutions. I can no longer see the future as before; an ominous haze obstructs me from seeing the coming days..."

The man sighed as he thought about it all and said, "As a result, I can no longer guide you to the other shore as I once did for your predecessors. Even worse, I can tell that neither of you have made your eternal vows, either."

He vanished and suddenly appeared in front of Reed like a ghostly apparition as he inspected Reed from head to toe. After the man finished, a grim expression formed on his face. His eyes flickered for the briefest of moments before he regained his composure and inspected Lu'um next.

"I see now... the current situation is far worse than I could have possibly imagined," he said. He looked at Lu'um calmly and said, "I see that you completely unsealed your mark of burden, but..."

"Yes, Slumbering One, the situation is dire... who could have guessed that the descent would have caused this much regression? Even so, we cannot be too hasty, lest we cause a total connect-collapse. We would lose our final hope and we would lose all."

What the hell are these two talking about? Marks, vows, revolutions, and the future? They might as well have been speaking a different language at this point. Reed sighed and massaged the brow of his nose in frustration...

The man nodded slowly and snapped his fingers, summoning his eagle from beyond the void. It let out a mournful cry and landed on the man's shoulder as it waited for its master's command.

"Time is of the essence and yet, the work you've given me will probably be the hardest thing I've ever done. You sure know how to put an old man to work, little lass."

"These times are trying for all of us, O Slumbering One. There is naught we can do except hold firm and keep to our course, as we have always done."

The man bitterly laughed and muttered a string of intelligible syllables that sounded harsh to the ear, much like nails on a chalkboard. The three moons in the sky lit up like enormous spotlights and shone with a dozen times the brilliance they had before.

"I hope he feels the same way you do about our difficulties. He understands that this will cause excruciating torment, yes? Is he prepared for what is to come, daughter?"

"Excruciating torment? Excuse me, but who will experience this? Certainly not..." Reed choked on his words when he saw the guilty face Lu'um had as she looked at him. She didn't dare look him in the eye. Even the man and his eagle appeared slightly doleful as they glanced at Reed.

"Forgive me, little sun, but this is for your own good even if you do not understand it. It will all make sense in time, I promise."

The man flicked his wrist and Reed suddenly flew, hurtling towards the stagnant ocean like a human cannonball. A second later, he crashed into the dark depths of the sea and a mysterious force pulled him down beneath the water's surface.

Reed desperately struggled for his life but no matter what he did, it mattered little. He sank like a rock and thought nothing could be worse than this.

As if to punish him for his ignorance, the three moons in the sky directed their radiant moonlight at him as he sank down below.

That night he learned that things could be worse — much, much worse.

His silent screams filled the seas and the waves above raged like never before.

A storm was brewing on the shore... formed from the torment of a single soul.