Lucid Fake

Oracion's POV

"Whatcha heading out for?" Freya's groggy state asks as she notices my sudden movement off the bed.

"Heading out to the area I'm typically guarding, essentially where Indura is meant to accompany me to" I answer her while dressing myself accordingly.

"Aren't you going with Requis or someone?"

"Nah, she's probably busy doing something elsewhere. Speaking of which, you've barely spoken to Indura. I know you're only half siblings with the two, but even you make more of an effort with Requis, what's up with that?" I ponder, never able to pinpoint those two's relationship.

She sits up after rubbing her eyes a bit, putting on a more concerned look. "Who do you think stalks him when you're all gone? Besides going out with my own group to the Veil, we aren't asked of much here. So what better time than to see what the kid's up to?" She smirks, dragging her gown from the bed before beginning to neaten it out of habit.

"Maybe we shouldn't be using the words stalk, that feels like a bit much." I respond with somehow more concern than not knowing at all.

"Hunt? Track? Trail?" She tries to answer, and yet it only gets worse the more she continues talking.

Placing both my hands on her arms to pause her movement, "How about...we keep it to...look after? Yeah see, that has a semi-sane ring to it."

I lay my chin on her head, ""Know when you'll be back?" She moves her hair, causing my beard to itch a bit and force me to pull away and satisfy it.

"Uhhh, not too sure. Just don't wait up for me, cool?" I try to answer with honesty but she mumbles a bit as if dissatisfied with it. "Freya" I try getting her attention as she continues mumbling. "Freya!" I call out.

"That's me!" She responds cheerfully as if she wasn't chanting under her breath. "Come back whenever! I'll be about myself actually, I just remembered I promised Aeron to help test out some other weapons he's making, he might of even finished yours by now."

"Overnight?" I question.

"You're implying the man sleeps at all." She sighs as if feeling pity for him.

I place my hand on the door while begging to slide it open when her words resonate with me a bit, "Saying this...I never have actually seen him sleep." I comment.

"See!" She shouts in disbelief.

"I'll be seeing ya" I call with a wave as she gives me a farewell with a grin and thumbs up, weird, even for her standards.

-

Just as I continue making my way to the gate, I notice Akira, leaning against it as if attempting to support himself.

"You alright?" I ask, extending a hand to him and more than anything, surprising me with the acceptance of my help. Firming my grip on him and forcing myself to not pull away from his sudden icy cold grasp.

"I'm fine." He quickly answers, at first seeming as if he was avoiding eye contact with me. But I realise he's simply staring off at the Veil. "Do you think it blocks out the sun too?".

As far as I'm aware, it doesn't but nonetheless I try to entertain it a little bit, "Because you're cold?" I answer with a question.

He stares off a bit, almost as if not even hearing me and so I try to change the subject, "Why are you even here? We're defending against a breach tomorrow, get some rest, okay?"

He turns away from the outside, deciding to look me in the eyes for one of the first times. "I-was...told..." He points to the gate, sliding his finger down in the air as his train of thought passes. "Why am I...here?" He asks me.

"Go home, rest yourself." I advise him. He promptly follows this with a droopy turn, barely lifting his arm up in an attempt to say bye but not a single word leaving his mouth.

I'm aware the rest of my group besides Requis probably wouldn't do the same for me, but nonetheless as the leader, I can't have them dying out there cause of such a silly reason as having a cold.

I sign my hand over to the actual guard of the gate, Casei, barely keeping himself awake as he sways in and out of consciousness. Thinking it's best to leave him be, I walk past and into the outside.

The nature here's near enough as fertile as our home, individuals taking animals that they've grown since the beginning of the village and cultivating the land but ultimately deciding to leave a vast majority of the Veil's insides to be nature conserved. The greenery spreads throughout, blooming into different colours down the trail I walk. Pink, green, violet, spreading themselves along the bushes and growing further between trees.

After some minutes of walking, I notice the turning where I typically have to separate with my group. Heading left and immediately spotting the decimated land of broken stone through the tree linings that open up just in front of me. The bodies of the Shadows disintegrated and vanished as usual, their purple hue almost seeming as the source for why the environment becomes a warped violet. Something that can be said similarly for the outside of the Veil, an easy sight through as the volcanic land spills far. Visible cracks, unstable terrain of unknown glistening or dull materials, something that has yet to be explored by man and honestly, I don't see a reason to.

As I move along the land, I feel pebbles beneath my feet crack under my weight as fail to avoid them. Something's caught my interest if I'm being honest, a large pillar with an irregular shape that's sticking right between the Veil, almost as if stopping the curtain from touching the ground. On first glance, I'd believe it to be completely natural...but there's some lines in it that are way too smooth to not be intentional, something similar to the ruins not far from our home. Just as I go to examine it further, I spot another one, not too far but a decent space away. Curiosity hits me as I go to check on that one as well, at least that's what I would say. If I didn't spot a certain individual doing exactly the same.

"Sneaking off!?" Requis screams over to me from the other pillar, picking up an awkward jog towards me as we meet half-way.

"So, what are you doing here?" I fold my arms, interested for what she has to say for herself.

"I swear I just asked you that!" She shouts, standing beside me as we walk together towards yet another one, beyond the current one she was checking out.

"I wanted to find out why so many come here, but not over on Akira's side? That and..." I pause my words, rubbing the back of my head from a little bit of embarassment.

"You wanted to see if you could fully protect Indura with that rundown area?" She fills my sentence with a wink to her eye.

"And how exactly did you know that?" I ask with interest.

"You hate coming out here, I know that much about you." She teases before stopping just before the pillar, falling to it with a hand sticking out and continuing her sentence, "So, what's up with these? I've never seen them around Akira's area either!-" She raises in volume when a woman approaches her from behind, yet another person from my own group, Letha.

"What in the fuck are you doing here on your own!?" Requis asks her for me, in a rather...uncivilized way.

She completely ignores Requis. "I came to get back my sword from the day we went out, Oracion." Instead looking directly at me like a lost puppy despite being older than me.

"So, how come you're still here? Can't find it?" I ask.

"I did...but-"

Requis interrupts, "Go-on." she states, trying to be part of the conversation.

"It's right there." She points next to us...next to the Veil, outside of it in fact.

"Oh that's gone, absolutely vamoosed, we'll get you another one." Requis places an arm around her shoulder, bringing their faces closer together.

"It was family's heirloom of sorts...even if it's a little bit dangerous, I need to get it back." She informs us. "It's just weird though. I dropped...it way closer to the trees." She points behind us, something that was by far more than 100 steps away.

"You sure you didn't throw it or something?" I ask.

"Not at all!" She defends herself.

"Well alright then." I quickly answer, turning towards the Veil with full motion.

Requis' hand suddenly slams onto my shoulder, forcing me to stop momentarily. "Woah woah, you don't actually want to leave through there, do you?" She questions me.

"Just for a second, problem?" I answer, confident that there are no shadows here.

She lets go of my shoulder, slapping her own face as if trying to wake up from a bad dream, "Freya's going to kill me if whatever's out there doesn't kill us. Hurry up." She waves at it for me to pick it up.

And so I step through, this seemingly 4 step journey feeling like a thousand as a feeling a wave of electricity passes through me. The air suddenly becomes significantly thicker like the world itself is stealing the air from me. The material of the earth causing a crunch beneath my boot, quaking almost and if I'm honest, scaring me a little bit. But nonetheless, I pick it up and spin back to the Veil.

With one hand, I extend it to Letha. But she steps back. Her skin beginning to sweat and her body suddenly trembling in an unexplainable fear. "Letha are you okay?" I ask.

"Why do you know my name!?" She shouts at me, pulling away but Requis quickly grabs her and tries to calm her.

"It's Oracion, what do you mean?" Requis explains as I reach further, trying to give her the sword.

"No! Who are you!? Who said you could leave through the Veil? I don't know anyone back at the vill-" She stops herself from speaking, holding her head as if suffering from a migraine. "How old am I?" She asks with a cold dead tone. She looks down at herself, "Who's body is this?". She begins tapping herself, looking around erratically with a burst of energy. "Where's Xandier!?", She begins thrashing before halting entirely, "Wait...I know. I remember." She backs away from Requis aggressively, prompting me to quickly enter through the Veil again.

Her hair whips the air as she turns away from me, "Requis help me, I was with my famil-". She turns around to me, "Oh thanks Oracion, I won't forget this." She takes the sword from my grasp, holding it dearly to her chest. "See you tomorrow" She kindly bows just as she leaves back towards the village.

"I...um." Requis tries to answer what just happened.

"Why didn't she remember me? Did the Veil do that?" I ask her. Turning to her and getting closer, "You remembered me right!?" I hold her hand, squeezing as if trying to deny what just occurred.

She squeezes back thankfully, "Of course I remember you! I don't know what was up with her, or this place. But that did anything but reassure my worries for Indura...what the fuck."