15 Chapter 0.5: Another Night in Neverland (3)

And the one who fell at the short end of the stick was Nathan Cross, of all people. Of course, getting Nathan to agree to such an absurd task (that was certainly against his personality and against the punishment's rules) was no easy feat. But Lloyd wasn't the only one begging for his help. With Shogo Kuroiwa's persuasion skills — which had him bow down completely on the ground and plead for Nathan's aid to Lloyd in exchange for him, as a leader, bearing the responsibilities as he should for until the year was over or if their team was, by some misfortune, disbanded — it all worked out fine.

Lloyd felt a major strike to the back seeing Shogo, the guy he looked up to ever since he became a writer, bend down on his knees like that.

— I thought I could count on you, but not like this. And to who, the guy who mains Baiken?

But to Nathan, who has struggled to get his leader to get his act together for almost two years now, that was like music to his years. It was one unnecessary burden and responsibility on his shoulder for now.

And so there they were… two brothers, chilling on the rooftop, five feet apart because one could barely tolerate the other.

It was the dawn of night itself. The streets were quiet, and there was nothing but the constant resonance of the crickets in the distance. The only alarming presence was the wind pressing vigorously against the boys' faces, denying them comfort. Furthermore, they were high up enough to be able to gaze upon the stars that were barely visible from the ground.

Needless to say, to Nathan, who just fiddled on his phone, hoping for the night to end faster than it should, it bared no significance. But to Lloyd, who took Ludwig Cain's words to heart instinctively, it was of paramount worth.

Up in the night sky, the stars were starting to link together, forming bright mystical shapes, and fostering faint lights throughout the dark ether. It was the enigmatic constellations, the patterns of stars that often shaped and represented creatures from mythological tales.

Lloyd never got around the chance of seeing constellations in real life before, so he was always skeptical about their existence, despite believing in the fairy tales. Still, they were too far-fetched to be true, as they rarely happened to those who had the time for it.

For them to form so suddenly on this night… It was truly a blessing.

Normally, Lloyd would be prancing for such a discovery and expressing his awe towards those celestial spheres in the most vigorous manner, possibly even pulling out his phone to understand what each one he laid eyes on meant. But nothing of the sort happened. Gazing so far beyond caused his fascination to be kept in. Moments like these were rare, especially with his case, so if he wanted to truly cherish it, he must do so, take it all in, in silence… or so his grandmother would often say.

He spotted one star… and then two, linked by a line, and then three, which was yet another pattern slightly drifting back, forming opposing lines in an incomplete triangular shape. Instead of closing it all off as one would expect, a new line lengthened far off to a star that was quite the distance away. That was it. That was one constellation done before his eyes. What it was, and what it meant had no significance whatsoever to him. Just seeing a glimpse of the universe like that was enough to leave him content.

And then he remembered: he remembered way back when he was a child… way before he even thought of becoming a writer… when he wanted to become an astronaut. His parents would always laugh like any adult would at a child's ambitious dream — they were right, as he now saw it as nothing but silly delusions.

But that silly dream was the root of him becoming a writer. He would still dream on, like a bird with no feet, completely free to explore his boundless imagination.

— Dad… Grandma… I'll make you proud.

Nathan was a bit jarred by Lloyd's focus on the sky. It was odd he didn't talk or try to irk him in any way as if being there was just enough for him at the moment.

"Hey," Lloyd called out to him. He had his arms stretched behind his back on the ground to support him. "Why do you do this?"

This caused Nathan to raise an eyebrow, making him question his friend's mentality. He was on the verge of lashing out at him and telling him that he did not do this out of goodwill or because they were friends, it was all because he and Shogo forced him like little shameless beggars.

However, Lloyd's question lied elsewhere.

"Like why do you want to be an author?" He cleared it up.

Nathan sighed, relieved that the fool sitting across him wasn't as thick-headed as he thought. "I just want a respectable job to get me through this hellhole, could care less about the rest."

"So you'd be fine with being an inspector?"

"No…" He could see that Lloyd was deep in thought, and when he would be deep in thought, he would really think of the situation's flaw. "Why? You think it's not worth it?"

Placing his arms back on his knees, he answered. "I suppose not."

The conversation ended and both of them returned to their affairs as if nothing happened.

Lloyd looked back up at the sky, but the constellation was long gone. Disappointed, he laid his back on the ground, waiting for something, anything, to happen. He wanted to escape this void as much as Nathan would.

— I gotta do this for six more days? The Academy is trying to kill me here.

※※※

An hour passed, and then two… nothing happened. Everything was as quiet as the night, even the crickets that were singing in harmony a few hours ago vanished like the wind. All the constellations in the sky merged into the night sky, there was nothing to gaze upon but empty stars.

Lloyd was completely losing it; he was on the verge of scratching all the itches over his body, to crawl onto walls and roll on ceilings, all for the beloved apple he couldn't touch. Nathan, on the other hand, was still in the same position he was in; Lloyd started to suspect that it was a doll in his place or something. But it was actually still him, the power of technology in one's hands could do wonders.

— I should have swallowed the blue pill…

He tilted his head and saw Nathan speaking to someone on the phone. That was when it clicked, it seemed that he had been on a call with someone on the phone this entire time. When he realized that, Lloyd rose to his feet.

"Dude… Who are you talking to?" He approached him in a hurry.

Nathan gave him the most mundane look, "The girls… Shogo's not here for some reason, so it's just the girls."

It was true. On the phone were three panels showing the cameras of three people: Juno, Emiya, and Zoe. Juno waved without bothering to speak up. Emiya scoffed as if she spotted her long-time nemesis. The only one that bothered to give full effort into her greeting was Zoe, as usual, with her cheerful tune.

"You've been on the phone, chatting with the girls this entire time?" Lloyd was in disbelief. "Do you have any idea what it's like back there?" He pointed with his finger at the spot he was previously at. "Nothing to do. No one to talk to. It's like solitary confinement, Nate."

"We made a group call, you should have picked up."

"I don't have my phone here! In fact, why do you have your phone here? Night watch forbids that."

"For you, I suppose you're right." Nathan gave him a wry smile, the first sign of actual emotion within him that night. He was more than pleased to witness Lloyd breaking down. "But I'm just tagging along, this doesn't hinder my scores whatsoever. If it ever comes to that, this might count as overload and my scores might increase. I'll just have to thank you for that by then."

"Wha—" He was speechless.

"Score!" Emiya's triumphant tone came through the phone "I got Ishtar! Take that sucker, enjoy that de Rais of yours all you want."

Nathan turned his head away with the most distressed look as if he had lost tons of money. It seemed that they were playing (Nathan and Emiya, at least. Juno would never be into games) a mobile game, it wasn't the normal type from what Lloyd could see, but it was a type he knew he detested very much.

"Hold on! I didn't go for a roll yet. We were supposed to do it together."

"Like that's gonna make any difference?"

"It would to me." He was very serious about the whole game. Even the second near-perfect member of the team had a really embarrassing weak spot. Unlike Emiya though, he wouldn't let it get to him outside of the game. It was as if he had a switch he could turn on and off at will.

— And I thought I was a slacker…

Nathan pressed a few buttons on his screen and then it started loading for another screen, he had started the process for the "roll."

Suddenly, everyone felt the wait taking its toll as they patiently watched the screen. Lloyd, on the other hand, was waiting for a mental breakdown, the best thing that could possibly happen this night. He knew very well the system of these types of games, so he knew that luck wasn't by Nathan's side this time.

It was done. The screen finished its dramatic presentation and showed what Nathan had "rolled" for. A portrait of a pale-looking (almost ashen skin) skinny man was on the screen, his eyes looked like they were about to come off and he had the most menacing expression, almost cartoonish, smile on his face.

Nathan went quiet as Emiya tried to hold her laughter by snorting.

"It's a… double…"

Lloyd backed away in surprise. He felt like a whole aura of darkness rained down on Nathan. If it wasn't the personification of despair, then he didn't know what it was. Still, despite knowing how competitive he would be in such games, it was odd for Lloyd to see Nathan in such a state. Being in Lloyd's academic position wouldn't probably cause that much sorrow as the one before him now.

"That's unfortunate!" Juno spoke up, who was thought to have been studying when in reality, she was just as interested in the game as everyone else. "This was your seventy-fourth roll in an hour by my account. Perhaps if you had saved another batch of quartz for another roll prior to the start, you could have got the banner character. Your luck is really lost in the downpour, huh."

— Wow! She is way too into it than I thought, even did the math. What's so addicting about these games?

"I hate this game!" Nathan stood up and swung his phone around, each time, he almost let it out of his hand. "This game sucks! It's trash!"

Emiya laughed, "Maybe save some pocket change like I do, next time!" She mocked Nathan for his time-consuming strategy.

"Wait— You paid actual money for… this?" Lloyd was baffled.

Emiya had the ultimate trump card under her sleeve, the card of being the rich kid, a shameless card she wouldn't be so efficient without. But little did she know, she was deep down the well as much as Nathan was lost in the rain.

"That's sad…"

"Hey! I don't wanna hear a word out of your judgemental ass. Lemme have my win in peace."

"And that's royalty, everybody." He chuckled.

"Do you have any idea how tough I have it now? They cut more than seventy percent of my allowance because of the stupid bread or whatever incident. I usually don't care about the money, but this is just too much for punishment."

"Bread incident?"

Lloyd had no knowledge of what had transpired that morning prior to Emiya going out for the mission. If he knew, he would be a non-stop charade of snubs and nicknames for her, which she definitely did not want.

"Oh no… don't get her started on the bread incident, please." Zoe pleaded.

But Emiya was a blathering tomfool whenever her anger kicked in. She could pretty much blurt out anything that was advantageous to Lloyd against her in a fit of rage without realizing it.

"Now I can't even pass by the damn shop without a mockery fest. And everyone here is faulting me for drowning "our reputation" through the mud. The hell does it mean I represent the family? I'm just one person!"

"It couldn't be that bad…" Lloyd wondered.

"Lloyd, the woman I saved charged at me with two baguettes!"

He snorted, "Same one?"

"...yes."

Lloyd rolled on the ground with his eyes drowning in tears, exploding into great hysteria that his laughter echoed in the quiet atmosphere.

— Talk about French Justice!

"But I won't get swayed easily by stuff like that." Emiya remained quiet about it this time surprising everyone and raising Lloyd's curiosity more in the process. "Besides, I'm kinda busy at the moment, and that's indirectly helping me not think too much or act irrationally, at least, that's what it should be according to my therapist. But here I am spouting whatever shit that comes to mind, and oh my god I—"

"Emiya!" Juno yelled in an authoritative tone. Being her best friend of almost eleven years now, she was more than capable of managing Emiya. "How about continuing our make-up lessons? There are still a lot of things you haven't told me."

— Of all things… of course…

Hearing all this unfold on the phone was quite the show for Lloyd (Nathan was still pondering the worst mistake of his life), it was on par with comedic television shows he used to watch with his mother and grandmother when he was a kid.

It was then, before the rest of the night resumed its monotony, that the ground below quaked for a few seconds. A barely noticeable change to the environment, to the others perhaps, but not to Lloyd. In that moment, his mind drifted off to what could possibly be the source.

"Did you… not… feel that?" He expressed his concern.

Nathan gave him a clueless head tilt. It didn't take him a second to figure something was up with Lloyd but he did not know what. The others were still going about their night on the phone as if nothing had happened.

Lloyd turned his head to face the town in the distance. For a teenage kid, he had near-perfect eyesight, but no matter what, no one could easily spot a small detail that was miles away.

Yet Lloyd was able to see it…

An arrow… a lone arrow dropped down like lightning with very swift motion it barely made an impact in its surroundings.

Lloyd was sure he was just hallucinating, if not for the alleyway it dropped at starting to emit light from the distance. He blinked twice… thrice, and even tried rubbing his eyes, all just to make sure that what he was witnessing was true.

— That's it!

A smile formed on his face. That was indeed it. Many thoughts circled through his head at the time. First, it was the fact that was perhaps his chance that night to break out of this monotony, the reason for him being there. If it wasn't the case, then he would have at least been satisfied with his little run down there for investigation.

Yes, he had already decided to move forward, although not so blindly.

"I saw something…" He told Nathan. "Gonna take a look."

"Huh… You don't sound awfully excited like I thought you would." Nathan pointed to something that Lloyd hadn't realized.

Even though his initial reaction was that of anticipation, it slowly faded away to that of cautious interest.

"Want me to come with?" Nathan offered.

"Thought you were just gonna sit by."

"Still doesn't stop me from changing my mind."

He thought about it for a moment. It was his mission. Having Nathan do more than what he was supposed felt like an appalling move on his part, even if the person in question wouldn't bother.

"Nah!" He gave out a big heartwarming smile, "I'll be fine on my own."

※※※

The town, Clockwork Town, was as quiet as it would get — that was the true reputation it was known for. Although many favored this tranquility, Lloyd was certainly intimidated by it and seemed to him as eerie more than anything.

Evening hours were in quite the contrast to midnight ones. The streets would at least be girdled by festive lights, along with the encouraging spirits of those awake, but there was nothing of the sort now. All the street lights were in a state of disarray, leaving nothing else but the dim light of the stars in the night sky for guidance. Light and darkness stood together against the moon, forming a duality, radiating a colorless shade in the climate. The moon, albeit had no great light, shone as if this was the night of the werewolves' awakening.

Lloyd passed by the long marketplace street, which, even that, was as still as the rest. It wouldn't make sense either way for a shop to be open in the dead of night with no customers around, even the pharmacies were closed down. The atmosphere was a straight depiction of those in horror movies, especially those from the past century.

And why wouldn't that be possible? He continued his thought. It was part of fiction, a tale first and foremost, and tales likely end up becoming reality in Wonderland. His mind suddenly dwelled on all the horrific creations that one specific author could bring about in reality.

Despite these lingering thoughts of being in a horror novel, Lloyd kept his march on and took himself down the road, looking for an answer. He could not keep questioning this bizarre situation without doing anything.

The alleyway hid quite well between the buildings. Thankfully it wasn't near neighborhoods like the dragooun from that morning. But it was still within a residency area, right on the side of a RIVERCORP branch building. Lloyd was sure the arrow had struck there.

But inside… was nothing. It was dark so Lloyd could see nothing at all. There appeared to have been no one struck by the arrow. He expected to see the arrow itself somewhere but it was long gone. It would make sense if the time between when the arrow flew by and his arrival was great, but not even five whole minutes had passed.

"Wait—"

There was, however, a squared plate, a shard, placed evenly on the ground. Lloyd approached it cautiously, like a mouse who knew he was in a trap.

It most definitely wasn't something out of the trash, it was too clean for that to be the case. The plate was made in perfect condition, there was not a single scratch or fault to it. That being said, Lloyd failed to learn its correlation with the arrow, that was if it had one in the first place.

— It's just a random plate in a random place placed in a not-so-random manner. What's the big deal? Move on, man.

But Lloyd wasn't convinced with his own reasoning. Something called out to him from within the plate, he couldn't hear it, only feel it. The plate was completely black only covered by small flickering dots (due to the street lights' reflection).

Deep within was the essence of the universe, that was what he felt.

He stared deeply at the plate, feeling a great tension, the same arduous tension present when Adam faced the apple, as his mind wavered on what to do.

As the tension grew deeper, Lloyd felt light in his head. He rubbed his eyes and moved forward, but it wasn't really him, rather his body moved on its own. His vision had become slightly hazy. Everything became obscure as if a slight cloud had fogged it entirely.

The world was bizarre. Everything worsened, except for sound. It was quiet before so there wasn't much noise but the sound of the world became clearer than ever. Every little thing could be heard. The people who were still awake, prattling at night in their homes. The cat searching through the rubbish. Everything could be heard at once, yet all in an individual manner; it was uncanny.

Lloyd was starting to lose focus of his vision, as his eyelid shutters began to roll down steadily as if he had skipped a few hours of sleep and was now longing for them.

He immediately grabbed himself up at the sound of the snapping of two fingers coming from behind.

— What in the world…

※※※

When Lloyd came to, everything was nothing. The city, the alley he just stood in, vanished in a single second. A colorless void, devoid of any distinctive attributes, was before him. There was everything and nothing in there.

His eyes remained shut. He tried opening them, but everything was still the same: a total void… yet there was something different. Thoughts rushed through his mind in double. Just a few moments ago, he was standing in an alley in the city, but now here he was, standing in an endless void. He gazed at every potential corner, yet all was but the same as before.

— This is a dream… definitely a dream!

A bright flash unexpectedly struck his deteriorating vision. He stared into the void beyond, astonished by the sudden flash. Simple words could not describe what was happening before him. The once empty, and colorless void was now overflowing; overflowing, not with people, but with silhouettes, very dark silhouettes. They began to form all around the endless void with unimaginable numbers, encasing Lloyd within a circled space.

Seeing them in that manner made him think back to when he was surrounded by the undead before.

Wherever he turned, they followed. They bore distinctive shapes, one could easily tell a man from a woman, the tall from the short. From that perspective, they didn't seem random, not at all. Every silhouette seemed in a different manner in some shape or form. However, he could not tell their front from back, but he could feel their sights on him. He was being watched from all directions.

But none of those blind stares amounted to the weight of the presence behind him.

He could not see it. He could only but feel it… a burning gaze of an eye, scorching with most intent, falling upon him from behind. Its fires were spiraling in all directions like wildfire. Yet there was nothing happening, only the heat soaring as if he stood in the heart of a volcano.

Without notice, a pure bright outline of a smile was drawn on all the silhouettes' faces, all giggling and laughing for no reason.

— What are they laughing about? What's so funny?

For a second, he thought they were laughing at him for the terrible presence that stood behind.

It was then and there that the third scenario was pushed into action.

A dark sphere of malice emerged in the center, as the heat behind Lloyd started to fade away. One would naturally think that it was the presence shifting to another position, but that couldn't be farther from the truth.

This sphere, this new presence leaking of dark mud from all directions, was nothing short of appalling. There was no heat emitting from it, only nothing, complete nothing. Rage and absolute malice could be felt from deep within. It would be no platitude to say this was the epitome of all the world's evil, of all darkness, of sin itself.

That was what Lloyd felt when presented with it. Combine everything wicked in the world and it wouldn't be enough to stand against this. There was nothing more malicious.

"A blight champion, thou art." A voice echoed. Not one, but many. It was the voices of all those silhouettes, laughing whilst they spoke.

"Truly worthy. A being forsaken by humanity is thine fate."

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

"Sinful. Remorseful. That is what forms a being worthy of him."

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

"Thou art him."

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

The quiet void soon turned into a clamorous fest.

"—Gh"

The voices were rushing into Lloyd's head, striking him with an intense headache. He held both his hands against his ears and closed his eyes shut, but it was like nothing happened. Everything was still dark, he could still hear the voices piercing through his ears. He could not comprehend what was happening to him or why it was happening to him only.

Not shortly after, he felt a great weight in his hands. Looking down on them, he found the plate, the dark plate that had fallen into the alley, resting in his hands, as if he had been carrying it this entire time.

— Just… What the hell are you?

His mind slithered as he felt his consciousness slipping away once more. Darkness took hold of him. But he no longer cared whether this was a dream or not, whether he was alive or dead, he just wanted rest.

Eternal rest.

※※※

"—Gah!"

As the curtains of darkness rolled up and the light seeped in, Lloyd found himself coughing hysterically upon awakening, like a tremendous weight was lifted off his neck. But his head was still heavy as ever, feeling as if it would fall right off at any given second.

He tried to collect his thoughts and comprehend his surroundings.

It was awfully quiet.

That was when he finally snapped out of the trance and witnessed what was before him.

Puddles on the ground, that of granite texture. A ragged dumpster with a foul smell leaking out of it. There was a large fence at the end of this small place, leading to a hill.

This was the alleyway. Lloyd was back at the alleyway, back to reality.

— Is this real?

That wasn't the only question lingering on his mind.

He looked down at his hands once again. No plate. He scurried the entire alley looking for the plate, but it was nowhere to be found. There was the possibility that he had been hallucinating all that due to the need for sleep, but what he saw was far too real to be considered phantasm.

"Phantasm…" He muttered.

There was no doubt in his mind. Something was up that night. If it was indeed mere fantasies like he thought, then it would be easy to determine that it was real without a doubt. In a world driven by fantasies, everything was real.

Given that, the only right thing to do was to call for Nathan. Lloyd would rather take this all alone if it was really a matter that existed, but a little help from a friend wouldn't hurt.

And so Lloyd was given a choice once more, to take the matters into his own hands and get to the bottom of it, or turn down his pride and ideals, and enlist the help of another.

For a moment, he was keen on taking it all alone, but then he thought back to the bizarre vision he encountered in the void earlier. The words from the silhouette echoed once more in his head: a sign of great warning.

Ultimately, he decided on going to Nathan for help, it was better to be safe than sorry.

※※※

By the time Lloyd made it back, it was the dawn of midnight, the golden hour of the night. Usually, by this time, the bell in the clock tower would ring, even at night, to signify the start of a new day. It was quite odd, but the people got used to it. However, this time, there was no sound of that sort in the air, only silence.

Lloyd was too caught up in other stuff to notice though, for what he found upon his arrival was unbelievable. He found Nathan lying on the floor, deep in sleep like there wasn't any feeling better.

— This guy… I can't believe him!

This was the same guy who would scold him about principles and rules for everything. The same guy who would lecture him about being too reckless with his abilities. The guy who strived for perfection in everything, as much as Juno did. Yet here was, slacking off like it was nobody's business.

Technically, it wasn't his mission, to begin with, so there was no punishment for that at all.

Nevertheless, it filled Lloyd with rage and disappointment.

"Hey, no sleeping on the job, your rules, remember?" He called out.

But there was no response.

That man slept like a rock. Lloyd couldn't exactly blame him. The weather was nice and the cold wind was faint, and the silence was far too great. And with no one to watch over him, the atmosphere was practically begging for sloth. Lloyd would have done the same if he was alone on this mission, so he thanked Shogo's tremendous ability for getting someone with him. He thought of leaving him alone for the time being, that this was a sign telling him to solve the problem on his own.

But this was an active mission, and Nathan sleeping was quite the oddity. He wasn't someone taken for a slacker.

Lloyd slowly walked over to him and sat on his calves. He tried to wake him, but he wouldn't budge, he was plunged deep into a heavy slumber.

That was another odd thing for Lloyd. There were tons of times where Nathan would stay over for the night at Lloyd's house and sleep in the same room. Lloyd had a great idea of what Nathan was like, and he was not a heavy sleeper, not by a mile. A slight movement from Lloyd just turning over in his own bed would tick him off.

Giving up on attempting to wake him up — but not entirely — Lloyd glanced over to his other side. On the ground was Nathan's phone, wide open for anyone to go through. But that wasn't the odd thing about it.

What confused Lloyd beyond comprehension was the group call that was still going through the phone. He blinked twice and grabbed the phone for closer inspection. The three panels were still visible on the screen, the three cameras for the girls were still turned on. Lloyd could see the girls… They were all asleep. Not even in an orderly position, they all just fell asleep where they sat or stood.

Lloyd felt a chill down his spine.

"Tsk tsk tsk…" An enigmatic voice came through from behind, "They're way off to Wonderland… er- figuratively."

The presence that stood before him was enough to clear all thoughts away.

A tall man of ashen skin stood before him. His greased and slick hair, and ragged dark robe, were quite the sight for the sore eyes. Anyone would take him for a beggar if they passed him by on the street. But that was the thing. This man wasn't someone you could easily pass on the street. There was a certain fearsome aura to him. It was upon his arrival to the scene that Lloyd felt a strange shift in the air, and not for the better.

Feeling intimidated by his presence, Lloyd immediately went for his pen and took it out on the offensive instantly. At least, he was prepared that much, he thought to himself. Seconds passed by, and it was enough scrutinizing on Lloyd's part for him to have an idea of who that man was. He was not ignorant when it came to some of his studies, and this man specifically was no subject that could be easily ignored or looked down upon.

"You're—" He tried to speak.

"Yes yes yes," the man spoke in a vigorous, yet elegant, manner as he flaunted his appearance around the place, "The one from your nightmares, the thing that sleeps under your bed at night, the monster in the closet. It's all me, so let's skip introductions, kid."

Lloyd wasn't the type to listen, and he wasn't going to. A threat like that man was to be concealed immediately, even he knew that. He tried writing with his pen, but he couldn't move. There was plenty of spectral energy within him so he was well-prepared to write and fight, yet he couldn't do a thing.

He was frozen in his place. There was no explanation to it all, he couldn't understand why he was frozen, but he knew this feeling well. This dreaded feeling… a feeling he hasn't felt in so long, yet it was just then with the vision that he felt it again. The feeling when he was left alone in the amusement park at night as a child, the feeling that made his blood run cold and paralyzed him with fear. The feeling that called for him in the house of mirrors.

It was fear.

But if it was just plain fear then it wouldn't have been fine. For some reason he couldn't understand, Lloyd was starting to remember every instance in his life when he felt that same feeling of terror.

"Oh, what's the matter, dear?" The man in the dark robe chuckled. "Can't write? Forgot how to blink? I promise I am not that scary."

No matter how hard he struggled, Lloyd couldn't move a muscle. There were only the frightening jingles of a carousel faintly echoing in the distance constantly.

"Now, I don't understand why you weren't affected like the rest," the man in the dark robe grabbed the small pouch that rested on his spine, "But then again, the old man is rather sloppy with his work nowadays so it's understandable. It's a good thing he handed a little bit of his ol' dust for emergencies."

He approached Lloyd with utmost malevolent intent. Reaching for what was inside the pouch, he pulled his hand out with a bunch of golden dust resting in his palm.

"What are you—" Lloyd tried to fight back, but to no effort.

"Hush now, off to bed!"

Getting closer to his face, the man in the black robe blew the golden dust off his palm and onto Lloyd's face. With that, it vanished into nothingness as it was absorbed into Lloyd himself.

"Wait!"

It was then when it struck. There was no feeling of fatigue. He did not feel his vision deteriorating. He did not falter or move. The only thing he did was… fall; fall deep within an endless void once again. It all transpired at tremendous speed. It was as if he was being pulled out of the scene and into another. As he fell, he could see the man in the black robe and the scenery he was just in, reality itself, slipping away farther and farther before it was completely gone.

All that was left was a dark void, once again.

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