Volume 5 – Chapter 129(Mary Skelter: Nightmares(Part 1))

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Author Note:

[ ] = When Twilight is speaking.

{ } = When talking through Telepathy.

' ' = When thinking in your mind.

<<  >> = When talking with your Pokémon or Tamed Beast.

--- --- = When describing a certain period OR Another place.

** ** = Point Of View, i.e., POV

/// /// = In Call

" " = System and when talking to it.

「 」 = Thoughts being heard

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What used to be one of Japan's busiest cities

Has disappeared from the surface of the Earth.

*

Today, where the city used to reside

Is now a huge crater as deep as dark as the abyss,

adorned with the most outlandish of environments.

*

Among them is an unusual tower, so to speak,

that points towards the white moon above the skies.

*

The people that thrived in that city

are now monitored by creatures known as "Marchens"

who unduly tortures the people day in and day out.

*

Time has passed to where the name of the city is lost. 

Now people there refer to this living hell as…

*

…the unescapable living prison – Jail…

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A girl could be seen lying on the dirty ground, completely unconscious. Her hair was pale blonde and chin-length, with two locks of shoulder-length hair framing her face. He also had two light-blue Inteyvat flowers pinned on the right of her head and two pale blue feathers tucked at the left.

That girl was none other than the Traveler, Lumine.

She came to this world a year ago but remained comatose.

At first, Marchens thought she was dead and planned to leave her be, but then they sensed light breathing from her, so they captured her.

But because she remained unconscious, Marchens couldn't torture her as Jail loved to hear its victim's screams. Still, if someone like Lumine had remained unresponsive for this long, the Marchens would have already given it to Jail to feast on them.

However, they didn't—not because they didn't want to, but because they sensed something from Lumine that disgusted them. Yes, it was not fear or her strength but something inside her that made Marchens keep their distance.

In the end, they left her as it is.

And finally, after a year, the girl woke.

The corner of her eyelids twitched, and she opened her fiery-gold eyes.

The first thing she saw was the iron bars a few steps away.

Trying to adjust her eyesight according to the dim light coming from outside, she checked herself.

She was lying on the ground with her stomach, and dirt had already made her way to her exposed skin and clothes.

Putting her hands on the floor, she raised her body to stand up.

Lumine: Kuh…

But then she received a severe headache, almost making her fall again.

While holding her head in pain with one hand, she placed the other on the wall to support herself before slowly sitting on the ground and leaning on the wall behind her.

Gasping for breath, she decided not to think deeply about something and focus on the thing before her.

Checking her surroundings, she confirmed that she was in a room all alone, and the iron bars on one side clearly stated that she was in a prison.

Lumine: So...how do I get here?

As she considered it, the headache returned. But this time, she was prepared for it and tried to look past the pain. When she was done, a shocked expression appeared on her face.

'Lumine: Except by name, I don't remember...…anything......?'

She tried again, but it was to no avail.

'Lumine: Just what is going on!? What am I doing here!? What crime have I committed to be imprisoned!? Who brought me here!? And what is this place!!!!?'

As she was having a panic attack, the answer to her last question appeared in her mind on its own.

'Lumine: The unescapable living prison...... Jail.'

With this, she slowly started recalling the information about Jail. Taking some time to digest all of this, she sighed.

'Lumine: Even if I don't have any memories of the past, the knowledge I have obtained before is still present.'

This calmed her down somewhat.

'Lumine: I better investigate before deciding my next action.'

Standing up, she walked towards the bars. Though they were made of steel, she could tell that with her strength, breaking them wouldn't be an issue.

But then she felt something uncomfortable pocking at her neck and stopped.

Frowning, she removed her long, two-tailed scarf and found two things.

The first was a piece of paper folded neatly, and the second was a small black cube with a string attached around it.

Both were placed in a way that could be hidden from the eyes of others.

Deciding to open the note later, she checked the cube.

She looked at the cube to see if she could find anything but failed. She tried to break it with strength, but the cube didn't budge.

Getting frustrated, she threw it on the ground and started stomping on it.

A few seconds later, she stopped and saw that the cube was still the same. She even felt that the cube was mocking her, saying, "Is that it?" Of course, this was just her imagination, but right now, she was not rational enough to think about it.

In fury, she raised her hand, and a silver sword appeared. As she grabbed its handle tightly, wind gathered, coated the blade, and she swung it.

SLASH!!

DANG!!

BAM!

There was a sound of metal colliding before the cube smashed into the wall.

While the cube remained unscathed, it helped to release the blonde's pent-up frustration, which had accumulated since she had woken up in this unfamiliar situation with no clue what to do.

Showing a triumphant smile, she put her sword away but stopped halfway.

She moved her head like a marionette and looked at the sword in her hand with a dumbfounded expression.

Lumine: WHAT THE!!!!!

She shouted in shock because she hadn't realized when a sword had appeared in her hand out of nowhere. Fortunately, Marchens had already taken the prisoners away for today's torture and weren't near, or they would have come to check.

Taking a deep breath, she composed herself and looked at the sword. She touched the sword to confirm whether it was a real sword or some dream.

Feeling the cold touch and hardness of the metal, her doubts were clear.

'Lumine: How the hell did I make it appear?'

She thought of putting it away but did not remember how. Hence, she followed her instinct, and the sword disappeared.

'Lumine: Woah!'

She did it a few more times and unsummoned it in the end.

Next, she checked something else.

Bringing her hand in front, she followed her instinct again.

WHIZ!!

WAIL!!

Suddenly, wind gathered in her hand.

'Lumine: Amazing…'

She thought while looking at the air in her hand in fascination. She can tell that she had complete control of this force.

'Lumine: Just what am I? I can't be human since they can't do what I am doing. I can't be a Blood Maiden either, as even Blood Maidens can't summon their weapons out of nowhere. And I even feel my wind is not as normal as I think.'

Dispersing the wind, she checked the paper, which she hadn't yet.

Slowly, she unfolded the note and saw what was written on it.

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Do not leave your cell until you filled the Cube to 1%, or you will die.

Always keep the cube close to you.

Never stop practicing your Martial arts, Weapons, and Elemental power.

Start practicing your new power because only that power can fill the cube. Soon, instructions on how to harness it will appear.

Never trust anyone immediately; Jail and Marchens are not your only enemies.

Build your team with those who can fight alongside you, and you can entrust your back to them.

Train them, guide them, and become their pillar of support. Even if you cannot save everyone in your expedition, you should always stand in front of everyone and take on everything.

In that way, not only will you have no regrets, but others will also follow behind.

And... Climb the tower and break away from this prison called Jail.

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'We' await you and your team once everything is over.

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That was the end of the message.

Lumine: ...…

The Blonde turned silent after reading it. She didn't know who wrote it, but she felt that that person was very important to her—more than anyone else.

Hence, she spoke subconsciously.

Lumine: I understand.

But then her eyes opened wide as the text on the note started disappearing.

Lumine: Wha---

Before she could do anything, the paper turned blank.

While she was still baffled at this, new text appeared on it.

Lumine: This....

Returning to herself, she started reading it and realized it was the method for harnessing the power the note had mentioned before.

She kicked the thought of leaving the prison into the curb and walked back before sitting down and leaning on the wall.

She was entirely focused on remembering everything written as she feared these texts would disappear, too, like the previous ones. And she was not wrong. After an hour of reading and ensuring she remembered everything to the last dot, she stopped. When she did, the text disappeared in the next second.

Seeing this, the Traveler let out a sigh of relief.

She then checked again and found nothing else written on it. Still, instead of throwing it away, she kept it with her.

Next, she walked to the black cube still stuck in the wall and pulled it out.

'Lumine: The message said I shouldn't leave until I fill it to 1%. But how do I know how much it's filled?'

She thought and started poking it. And when she touched one of its sides, numbers appeared.

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??????: 0.00%

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Lumine: Ok, this helps.

Saying she wore it again and hid it under her scarf. This time, she placed it so it wouldn't irritate her like before.

Lumine: Still, now I know that the wind I can use is an elemental power...…. Alright, let's focus on learning this new power.

Next, she closed her eyes and started practicing according to her memorized method.

Like this, time went by.

When she woke up after sleeping the next day, Lumine practiced her martial arts for three hours. Then, she took a half-hour break and practiced her swordsmanship for another three hours. After another half-hour break came three hours of elemental training.

Next, she took an hour's break before spending five hours learning the new power. That's how the sixteen hours of her day passed.

As for the remaining eight hours, she used it to get a good sleep.

Because Lumine had been unconscious for a year and her cell was at the end of the corridor, no Marchens bothered to see her, giving her plenty of time for herself.

While training, Lumine also realized that she was proficient in martial arts, swordsmanship, and elemental power, as if she had been using them for years. Too bad she didn't have any memories of it.

She learned from the knowledge she had retained that once some started practicing for the first time, there was a limit to how far they could reach. After that, one must enter a life-death struggle to improve further. And once you reached the limit in a life-death battle, the path forward depends on the person itself.

Lumine could tell that she was already past the second stage as, with each passing day, the more she practiced, the more she improved, even if the improvement was slight.

She often wanted to leave the cell to find something better to eat. Still, she kept the note warning in mind, suppressed it, and ate the leaves growing in the cell to fill her stomach. Of course, they tasted horrible, but they gave her enough strength to go through the day.

Fortunately, she didn't have to eat them much for long. Why? Because as she trained with her new power, her body started to strengthen, decreasing the integrity of the food as this new power replenished her energy.

That's how her days continued.

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Three Months later.

After finishing all the training of the day, Lumine lay on the ground and was about to close her eyes to sleep.

Before she did, she took out the cube hiding in her scarf to fill it with her power. That's her daily routine. She put all the new power she had gathered during the practice into the cube before going to bed.

Lumine: Tomorrow will be the day I will leave this room.

She muttered while looking at the numbers on the cube.

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??????: 0.99%

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It really took her three months to fill this much. Even she never thought it would take this long.

Lumine: What a Gluttony.

She spoke before her hand, which was holding it, got covered in a beautiful golden energy. This was the new energy that she had learned all this time.

The cube hurriedly absorbs all of it. Once it did, it started glowing, making the blonde cover her eyes.

A second later, the light vanished, and Lumine saw the cube again. This time, the text changed.

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Adepti Energy: 1.01%

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*A/N: Please throw some power stones.

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