Zane, the Traveller

In the darkness, Claire doesn't know what is happening. She can only know that she was carried by someone along with Olivia. But she couldn't move even if she tried. She can only open her eyes for a moment and then pass out again. The pressure of losing one's life is cruel but what makes it worse is if your allies lose their lives as well. So, she decides to do her best to save them but not this time.

She wakes up from an unknown room, the floor and walls are made up of dirt from the deep caverns, slowly peeling her eyes from the tiredness of waking up. She stands up and starts to casually walk. Then she remembers,

"Olivia!" She stumbled upon the unknown guy.

"You need to rest. You have been struck by a curse as it is sucking your mana."

"Where is Olivia?"

"She is over there. I'll call you when you at least recover your mana." Claire tries to calm herself.

"Is Felia... Did you save her?"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't be able to save your friend." Claire slowly weeps from such a loss. Grief heavily pressures her as she realizes how important it needs to survive but not like this. She failed to save a friend.

"I'll explain later. Drink this." Claire drinks a black coloured drink. All of a sudden, she calms and has the need to fall asleep.

----

She is in a dark void where nothingness is imminent and constantly she brings a light to that void. She walks carelessly through the darkness, trying to reach someone.

"Felia!" Claire then rushes towards Felia while she foresees Phillia about to kill her. And so she was too late.

She then trips and falls. As feeling the ground with all of her foolishness, she got in contact with blood through her cheeks and palm of her hands. She then realizes that she lost everything.

"No... It can't be... Olivia, Felia..." It was alright to die a few times but losing their lives is more agonizing than hers.

She then wakes up from a nightmare.

-----

"It was just a dream..." Claire stands up once more and carelessly walks through the dark. She tries to find someone since she is a bit alright now. And soon, she finds that guy again.

"It's you. Come, let's meet your friend." Claire follows him. She then sees Olivia in a horrible state. "The sword that was stabbed to your friend is a curse coming from my master. It couldn't be healed since it is sucking her mana from the caster. It wouldn't stop until she dies from mana sickness."

"I see. How can we cure her?"

"Only light magic can break the curse. You also got cursed, how come you are alright?"

"Oh about that. My mana just replenished so I used colorful humanity to nullify the effects of the curse."

"Which means, you can also break the curse of your friend."

"I'll try." Claire then uses her ability colorful humanity to dispel the effects of the curse.

"So you really are the goddess she told me about."

"May I ask? Who are you? Since you helped us from coming to the nightmare dungeon, which means you are also a traveller, am I right?"

"I'm a traveller to the nightmare dungeon. I've been lost and when I find some humans along the way, I help them with whatever I can."

"I see. My name is Claire Valentine. This is Olivia Fear."

"Zane is my name."

"Alright."

"When your friend is better we should head back to the nightmare dungeon. You got somewhere else to go right?"

"Yes. Thank you very much for helping us. You even helped me restore my mana by that mysterious drink."

"Oh that's the blood of the parasitic worm." Claire is about to puke but she somehow manages to get rid of that desire to do so.

"So that was it... Well either way thank you."

After a few hours, Claire couldn't handle wasting any second on leaving Olivia. And for sometime, she wakes up slowly.

"Claire..." Olivia says.

"Olivia! I'm glad that you're alright!" Claire embraces Olivia as she was in love by the charm she has on her.

"I feel like I'm in heaven right now." Olivia drools over her ecstatic manner.

"It seems you are alright." Zane appears with some food offered to them.

"Thank you very much. What is this?"

"It's a fruit from the abyss. It is very nutritious that can heal any injury and can bring back your energy."

"I'll trust you on that." Claire eats the fruit and somehow she feels like fire is burning inside her but afterwards she feels the best. "That's sweet." Olivia tries it also and she feels in her best condition.

"Who are you?" Olivia asks.

"I'm Zane. So, what is your destination towards going to the Nightmare Dungeon?"

"We will be about to go towards Luke's dreamland."

"I see."

"Why not come with us? Since you are lost. Why not join us up until we reach my destination and we will return you back to the nightmare dungeon when our mission is complete."

"True. I should accompany you two. Since the threat you faced before is still coming to get you, we can always get in my room to evade her."

"That's correct! Now let's go!"

"Wait a minute. How can you safely travel through the Nightmare Dungeon? It's like a labyrinth. It won't tell you which way it is. Now that I mentioned it, there's definitely many monsters that lurk in each turn."

"That's where you come up, you will guard us as we head on to the Nightmare Dungeon.

"I see."

"Actually, I stole the core of the Ghost City."

"Ghost City huh? I arrived there once. Wait you stole the core? How about the Death Angels?"

"Well, they killed us but I have spare lives so we barely made it."

"I see. So the core will lead us to the destination you desire?"

"Yes."

"That's understandable. Alright, after we prepare, we should head back."

"Now it definitely sounds like an adventure!" As they manage to prepare, they go back to the Nightmare Dungeon to travel. Over 3 hours of marching, they faced many monsters and as Data-kun leads them towards each turn. They for once took a break.

"Let's rest for now."

"Why don't we head back to the room you just summoned?"

"Well, it requires mana to summon so it wouldn't be wise to keep wasting any more mana."

"I see, let's take turns who will keep a lookout."

"That's agreeable." Zane agrees to Claire's statement.

While they rest for that moment, Claire thought, "I've never really tried using my other ability known as possession." As recklessly waving her hand while casting the ability Possession. She accidentally used it on Olivia.

----

*Olivia's POV begins*

I never had a real family before. At first, my life was mundane. Having to experience life as a source of boredom, like living a life is to face any boring activities like birthdays, Christmas, and any other forms of celebration. I never got to meet my real parents since I was an orphan. I got adopted by an average family. Soon, when they witness my amazing skills as a soldier, they praise me for that. Giving all I want but it was never enough. I felt like boredom is killing me, for me life is a poison.

After I turned 10, I joined the academy. With my skills, I can graduate as a soldier. But do I really need to live just for this? I have pondered about it. All the responsibility, this life that someone gave me, it's sickening. It's like I'm already dead inside, I had yet no one speak of this to anyone. All this time I kept it a secret. That's when I met her, Claire Valentine, the target that was forged by the Dominators. I was thrilled to see her picture, filling her with colors. This is the ideal life I wanted, a colorful life. It's like I fell in love... wait I fell in love with her, a fellow female individual. With all these cursed boring activities, this is the only chance I get to turn all my life around and finally get what I deserve, for once to be happy. But she died trying to accomplish her goals, try not to die. I failed her and now this is my punishment.

All the heavy burdens forced me to commit suicide. With all the grief and agony, I tried my best to save her. I prayed to God once, and it worked. She appeared before me, another Claire. And this time I will serve her with every bit of my soul and body devoted to achieve her goals. Whatever it is, I will do my best to save her even if it means risking my life for it.

*Olivia's POV ends*