FAKE DREAMS (PART 2)

Jaxith stood calmly in the mist, his horse by his side, everything was quite except some random movement here and there that can be detected near to him, but nothing further could be detected.

Jaxith tried using his strong smelling sense to detect Irene but there was nothing, like she had disappeared.

"Just as I've read before about these creatures, their mist act as a firm sound and smell insulator making detecting them very hard, not to mention the blinding mist it creates, now I even can't detect Irene and that is not good, if she didn't wake up soon and that's something I doubt she can, that thing will feed on her soul, I need to find her or kill it, any of these choices must be done fast before it's too late.", Thought Jaxith while carefully observing his surroundings because now he can't fully depend on his senses as any sudden movement will be sensed in a very close range making it harder to counter his attacks.

And the first attempt from the Onohly didn't take long as expected, the horse suddenly neighed while looking backwards and Jaxith immediately activated his negative abyss, quickly accelerating his motion then doing a quick turn and slashed a long appendage with a sharp metallic edge at its end, a strong sparks emitted from the collision between the sword and the appendage and immediately the appendage was withdrawn back from where it had appeared, Jaxith cooled down and stopped his negative energy, he didn't want to overuse it and find himself breathing hard in a position where he can be attacked from any direction.

"Now it started treating me like an enemy not as a prey anymore, looks like as long as you're sleeping, you're dying slowly, now I'm awake, still a bit lightheaded but awake, that makes me as the enemy trespassing its own territory.", Thought Jaxith, he suddenly felt a sudden motion to his right and immediately he turned to face it and just before he use his sword he froze, he saw Irene getting closer.

"Jaxith? Where are we?", Asked Irene, Jaxith felt a bit of relief.

"By the great gods, I was afraid that something bad may have happened to you.", Said Jaxith before he lowered his sword and took a step towards her, but suddenly the horse neighed loud again gaining Jaxith's attention and again there was another appendage coming from behind Jaxith at his feet before he used his negative energy to low block it with his sword, after the failed attempt the appendage retreated again.

"Damn it, that was a close one, it targeted my leg to slow me down if it's not for the horse, Irene stay clo-.", Said Jaxith while looking back where Irene was standing to find nothing! Jaxith stared in shock, hallucinations, but how? Isn't he awake now? He started feeling blur in his sight, something was wrong and he started hearing other loud voices in his head before suddenly the horse neighed again alerting Jaxith and he blocked another attack, followed by another and another from different directions until it stopped, Jaxith stopped his negative abyss and collected his breath.

"I need to find a way to get close to Irene, prolonging my time in here would weaken me more, looks like the mist itself holds a hallucinating toxin, not just a shelter for the Onohly.", Said Jaxith before looking at the horse, he noticed that the horses ears were moving continuously in every direction before it stopped to focus in a certain direction, then he moved his head towards this direction and neighed loud, Jaxith quickly blocked the attacking appendage which came from the same direction that the horse was looking at, the appendage retreated back in the darkness of the mist.

"He noticed every move for the beast, his senses are working well! he didn't fall asleep too and also doesn't seem like he is having any trouble with any hallucination.", Thought Jaxith before the horse's ears focused again on a specific direction and after a moment it changed its direction before neighing again, Jaixth did the same as always and the appendage failed to hurt Jaxith again, Jaxith looked carefully at the horse.

"The beast changed his position from a place to the other and the horse detected it perfectly between its transition, that could come in hand perfectly.", Thought Jaxith before he stretched his shirt above his chin to cover his nose and mouth, he wanted to decrease the amount of the toxic gas as much as possible and so decrease the fake visions so as not to fall into mistakes.

"Come on, Irene we're late for the announcement.", Said Leo to Irene who was descending the stairs below the trapdoor leading to their hideout, just after she reached its end both of them sprinted across several tunnels to reach a red ragged cloak, Leo remove it to the side and entered the room behind it where there were several sounds indicating several persons talking in there.

"Come on, Michael is going to start.", Said Leo, Irene followed him inside the room to find it crowded by the members of the shadow seekers, Irene looked at all of them, the lively atmosphere, the laughs and their lovely chats, she smiled and she started tearing, Leo noticed her.

"Why're you crying now?", Asked Leo, Irene looked at him while wiping out her tears.

"Nothing, I thought that I've lost all of you.", Said Irene happily.

"Lost us how Irene? I feel like you're bluffing.", Said Leo.

"When that a-.", Stuttered Irene, Leo looked at her in wonder.

"Whaaaat?", Asked Leo while shaking his head, Irene paused for a moment.

"I-I, I don't know, I actually don't remember, and I don't know why I got this feeling that something isn't right.", Said Irene while looking confused.

"Now you're officially a lunatic, a class A for sure, maybe that suits you better than that smart thief you think yourself you're.", Said Leo before bursting in laughter, Irene looked at him angrily.

"Funny, Leo, at least I don't get caught by old women while snatching their purses in the market, a***ole.", Said Irene sarcastically, Leo's laugh turned into silence after hearing that, there was another familiar laugh from behind him.

"She got you again man, she rocked you, HAHAHA.", Said the other one, that was Flen! Their other friend.

"Hey, Flen, how are you? I somehow feel that I missed you too and I..... don't know why.", Said Irene.

"Because I'm the most beloved guy in the seekers and when I'm gone for a few hours everyone misses the best.", Said Flen proudly.

"She is just missing everyone today, Flen, and she doesn't look good.", Said Leo in worry.

"nightmares again?", Asked Flen in a caring attitude.

"Actually I don't know, maybe I was in a strange dream, I don't know if it was a nightmare or much more realistic than just a dream, or am I in one?", Said Irene before she felt a sudden pain in her head, a strong concussion that disappeared as fast as it appeared, she put her hand on her head immediately and felt a bit of dizziness.

"Hey watch out!", Said Leo while hurrying to hold Irene who appeared for a second that she will fall but she kept her balance and raised her hand to stop them.

"I'm fine, I'm good, it's just that I feel that something is wrong, something is missing, something I don't remember.", said Irene.

"Irene, surely you're not fine, it's clear that you're suffering.", said Flen worriedly, it was clear that she isn't fine as she claims to be, she was even sweeting, she looked at Leo carefully.

"Hey Leo, do you remember the person I asked you about?", Asked Irene, Leo looked at her wondering about her question.

"What person?", Asked Leo, Irene looked at him in shock, she asked him about someone before they entered the hideout, how could he forget? How could she forget too? Irene was mesmerized before she noticed Michael entering the room, she stopped him before he got deeper to tell his announcement.

"Hey, Michael, I-I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry about everything I've done, I know you've always been a trustworthy person and that's why Lance left the charge for you, I just couldn't handle the change and was against every decision you make, I made a big mistake that made me loss all of you.", said Irene in a fast pace and looking regretting, Michael looked at her, he looked worry from her incomprehensible talk.

"Irene, I'm happy that there is some of development between us finally, but I'm afraid that I don't understand what you mean, young girl, I sense that you're afraid from something, come on you can talk to me.", Said Michael trying to comfort Irene while softly patting her on the shoulder, she looked at him in worry.

"I just fail to remember what happened, Michael.", said Irene while being on the verge of tears.

"Hey hey, no need to panic, take a deep breath, maybe it was just a dream, like any of your other dreams, but be sure that I'm by your side, and not just me, everyone in here is a brother that you can depend on, I told you once and I'm telling you again that whenever I treated you hard it was for your own good, to be more self dependent and stop you from getting yourself hurt or something worse, I know you've a good a heart, you want to help everyone, if you just control your temper a bit that will be better for yourself before anyone, so just leave it all behind.", Said Michael calmly, Irene listened to him while staring, a tear dropped from her eye, she felt sad, but she still doesn't know why, she wiped her tear before looking at Michael again.

"Sorry about that.", Said Irene while smiling.

"You got nothing to apologize for, Irene.", Said Michael while smiling.

"Before you go I've an important question Michael.", Said Irene.

"Go on.", Said Michael.

"There is a man that I need to find, his name was.....", Said Irene before stopping.

"Who?", Asked Michael.

"Leo, I asked you about him, do you remember?", Asked Irene.

"Irene, you didn't ask me about anything.", Said Leo, Irene again looked at him in fear.

"But how don't you remember? I clearly remember that I told you about someone when you found me on that haystack, I just don't know how I easily forget him although I remember him helping me.", Said Irene, Michael, Leo and Flen, all of them looked at each other in wonder, like they were listening to a lunatic.

"Irene, I think that you're getting your dreams confused with reality, no one ever has helped you outside the shadow seekers, you must have been....., imagining things.", Said Michael seriously.

"THAT WASN'T A DREAM.", Shouted Irene, all of them went quiet and looked worried, she noticed that she started getting angry again.

"That wasn't a dream, you gotta believe me, it felt real, there was someone helping me, I-I just can't remember him, I can't understand what's happening and I feel that everything is falling apart.", Said Irene while crying, she paused for a little before looking around her, everyone was happy.

"Although what's going around me now feels good, a feeling that I missed, voices I thought that I won't hear them again, it also feels wrong, feels like it's not in its place, I know I sound crazy, but there's something wrong and I don't know how, it's just wrong.", Said Irene while the tears were running on her cheeks, Michael took a step closer to her before kneeling.

"Maybe I'm not understanding you clearly, young girl, but that doesn't mean that I don't understand your feelings now, you're lost, right? You feel alone although everyone is around you, fake dreams, right? Whatever it's just enjoy it, even if it's not real, maybe that will be the last time we've a day like this, who knows what will happen in the future, just go with the flow, Irene, and don't get harsh on yourself, that will be better for you.", Said Michael while wiping her tears, Irene looked at him before looking to Leo and Flen who looked worry because of her.

"I'm happy to see you, guys, I really do, but I'm sorry, I can't hide my feelings easily like that, it won't make me comfortable.", Said Irene before she noticed something in the middle of the crowd of the seekers.

There was a strange red light emitting from the middle of the crowd and strangely enough no one was noticing it, like it wasn't even there, Irene started focusing on it.

"Irene? Irene?", Said Michael whose sound started fading gradually as Irene's focus increased on the light.

The light source became more visible as it got closer gradually to Irene while passing easily among the crowds and finally it appeared, it was a large red cloud, a bit taller than a normal human, but that wasn't the weird thing, it had two completely white eyes! They were visible among the complete red cloud and they looked at Irene directly in her eyes, everything around became slower and all Irene could find herself able to focus on was the cloud and only the cloud.

A little numb ached her hand fingers, she wasn't feeling them, the feeling grow stronger as the cloud got closer to her, everything was getting fading around the cloud as if Irene was forced to only focus on it, her breathing became heavy, her body became colder, the chilling was intolerable, slowly it felt like she was freezing and above all she was paralyzed, unable to move even a muscle, she was terrorized by this overwhelming nightmarish being, she decided to close her eyes for a few seconds, maybe she will wake up, she slowly closed her eyes, at least her eye lids were the only thing she can move, and in just a second after closing her eyes she started remembering Jaxith.

"You don't want to do it, believe me.", She remembered Jaxith's words the first time she met him and tried to suicide but in a blink he reached her, now she understands how he reached her fast like that (because of the negative abyss), she remembered everything that he did to stop her from ending her life, how he gave her hope again, how he solved her situation with the mayor, stopping the assassin that was after her and even letting her for the first time in her life get near to an animal.

"Easy there, just relax don't get tensioned like that, you don't want him to feel any fear from you.", His words echoed through her mind, like he was guiding her, she then decided to slowly open her eyes but what she saw made her gasp from fear.

Whatever the cloud was like has now changed into a humanoid form and was directly standing in front of her, although that was clearly not a human as it was even taller, the red cloud is now having arms and legs, although it was still covering all the body, it was like Irene was standing in front of a red shadow, she felt the bleached white eyes staring at her carefully before the strange entity slowly started raising its right hand towards Irene, she started panicking but she was still paralyzed, still freezing from feeling cold, she felt the heat from its hand as it get closer, Irene immediately closed her eyes from fear, she even wasn't able to scream, the feeling that she was helpless was more terrifying than the situation itself.

The hand finally reached Irene's forehead, she felt a sudden burning sensation, a pain that disappeared fast.

"WAKE UP.", Said a deep frightening voice, that wasn't a human, the voice was frightening although it wasn't shouting, this particular sound made Irene more afraid from that cloud more than the scarlet giant, just after the entity finished its words Irene felt a sudden rush of memories, memories she hated to remember, the view of her slaughtered friends, blood sprayed everywhere, limbs scattered on the floor, the assassin standing in the middle of the room watching her before slowly walking towards her, she now remembers well what truly happened, all what she was feeling before the cloud appeared was just fake feelings, fake dreams, imaginations that cannot occur in reality anymore, those who she used to have fun with are already gone.

"WAKE UP.", Said the voice again, it was trying to push Irene out of that dream by making her feel all the sad memories that she barely overcomed.

"Noooooooooo.", Screamed Irene loud as she finally waked up, her scream caused a quick vibration through the mist that it reached everywhere around it that even the mist couldn't hold it and insulate the sound, the scream was strong and wasn't normal, the amount of divine energy in it was abnormal, the scream was in the form of a blue wave of divine energy, the young girl was in a shock from everything that she couldn't control whatever was affecting her.

Jaxith noticed the loud scream and felt the mist around him get vibrated by the resonating scream, the horse neighed loud before galloping and neighed several times after it.

"That's Irene's sound, she's screaming, we need to get as fast as possible, the sound came from this direction, come on.", Said Jaxith while pointing in the direction from where Irene's scream was produced before mounting the horse which immediately started sprinting towards the sound, Jaxith was holding the sword in his right hand while his left hand was grasping the horse's bridle, several appendages tried hitting Jaxith at this moment and it was expected but Jaxith now has already studied all those attacks and deflected them easily, his main goal now is to reach Irene, after that he can deal with the Onohly without being worry that she might get hurt.

Irene was sitting while leaning on a tree, she was alone in the mist, afraid and shaking from fear, Jaxith wasn't by her side this time, crying lonely, she is missing her friends again, that cloud made her live the same horror once again, she felt like she was there again, and then she remembered that a moment ago they were with her, even if all of that was fake, but she saw them, she felt their happiness, their talks and laughs, all of that made her want to go to the past and prevent that disaster from happening, but that's simply not possible, she looked down before she heard a little move across the tree above her, she slowly raised her head and looked at the source of the sound which was the branch of the tree, and just in a second an appendage appeared and launched directly at Irene!