I Had A Dream

MSG – Volume 1 – Chapter 1

Fingers bent backwards, clearly broken. Legs not even present, chopped off. Blood dripping, the wounds from his torture session were left open.

They had used healing magic on his body so much so that his body had 'adapted' to it and hence rendered it ineffective. Pain was now absent as his Pain Tolerance had leveled up to the point that it had morphed into Pain Immunity, so they switched to a different kind of torture—the emotional kind.

He could only remain motionless, no matter how much he tried, as he watched the last two people he cared about in the whole world being tortured relentlessly in his place and being healed just like he had. He had gone through it so he knew just what kind of hell they were going through. The helplessness was magnified by the fact that he could not even choose death. He was incapable of moving his own hands to rip end his own life to escape this hell.

'Why?' This was a question that he could not bother to ask for he already knew the answer. 'All just because some being with an unattainable amount of mana in their body said that something was going to happen, they believed it beyond all reasonable doubt.' 'They moved out to carry out such vile acts with neither hesitation nor mercy.' 'They took it as an opportunity to carry out their deepest and darkest desires!' 'Prophecies… Damn prophecies!' he cursed internally. 'Damn prophecies! I hate prophecies!' 'Prophecies! Prophecies! Prophecies! Prophe—'

"—cies!"

Finally opening his eyes while panting heavily and sweating profusely, his sanity soon returned as he felt someone else's presence. The serene aura, the gentle touch, and the soothing voice that called out his name.

"Solon!"

He blinked a few times in quick succession as he felt her move her hand to his chin and then turn his face so that their gazes met. Light skin, and orange hair. A beautiful mature face with naturally full lips and thin neat brows. She appeared to be in her 30s. The woman whose brilliant yellow eyes he had stared dazedly into for the past half minute was none other than Eleftheria, the third wife of a certain renowned self-righteous Count, Spyridon Rafflesia, and above all also his...

"Mother Ria," He only managed to address her when he regained his faculties after she pulled him into a hug.

He did not realize it, but tears had started trickling down his cheeks while he was fast asleep, experiencing the recurring nightmare. "It's okay, baby." She rubbed his back in an attempt to soothe him. "Let it all out."

Her words and actions served to spur him to let go and allow the tears to pour out like his tear ducts were a broken dam. Time marched on and soon he had cried for a third of an hour. Even though the tears stopped coming, and his breathing had slowly come to be stabilized, his head remained buried between her ample twin peaks. It took another five minutes for him to withdraw himself from her embrace and reach for his face in an attempt to wipe it clean with one of the sleeves of his pajamas.

He was stopped by Ria who offered him a handkerchief; "Here. Use this." He did not refuse and soon his face was all clean but his eyes were still slightly red and his lashes damp. He sighed audibly before looking up from the handkerchief to meet his mom's gaze. "I'm sorry mother…" he said. "But…"

She raised her hand, signaling him to stop, as she said her piece; "You can't tell me." she knew what he was about to say as they had been through a similar scene an unhealthy number of times already.

"..." He had no words to refute her so, all he could do was bite on his bottom lip.

"I understand." She pursed her lips as she rose to her feet, looking down at him with a motherly look; one that embodied a blend of worry, and affection. "It's fine. You can tell me everything whenever you feel that you are ready."

As she spoke, she turned to leave, stopping after opening the door. "I just hope that you will be ready soon." She said without looking back. "Always remember that although we may not be related by blood, I love and care for you."

Even after she had left for a few minutes, shutting the door behind himself, he continued to stare absentmindedly at the door. His facial expression only changed when he was snapped out of his trance by a sound that reminded one of the seas: a mixture of wobbling water and gusts of air.

Looking up at the stone ceiling of his room, he saw a black circular distortion from which someone came out. Initially all that could be seen was a pair of perfect white feet but soon the individual 's full appearance came into view as they floated in the air before him.

There she stood at a height of 6 and a half feet with the help of no footholds. Her pale skin that looked like she had never seen the light of day was draped over with a set of black and gray garments that exposed the sides of her laps, her shoulder, the sides of her abdomen, and her cleavage which wasn't as exaggerated as he had imagined a goddess' to be.

Her body was so well proportioned such that if she had any more than her pair of double Cs it would be running the work of art that was her figure. This perfect sculpture-like being had long white hair that fell down her back, ending at her waist with curly black ends. As she stared down at Solon with her pair of eyes that reminded one of the night sky, her full lips were curved into a smile.

His eyes could not help but wander to her neck and high cheekbones for a moment after eating her up with his eyes alone. Though once his eyes fell on that cheeky smile of hers that revealed her gap teeth, his expression morphed into one of seriousness.

"Why are you here this time, Lilith?" he asked with a stern expression on his face. "Or should I call you the Goddess of Night, Astraea?"