Chapter 71: Awake

"I am Erden."

After the dark figure, or rather, Erden, said so, he turned and looked forward. Forward towards the young girl in front of him.

It was unknown what Erden felt at that moment, as his face could not bear any expression, but the young girl did not seem to be jovial at his sight. Afraid and confused, she took steps back nervously.

Due to fear, the young girl misstepped and fell on the concrete road.

Erden looks at the terrified girl and cannot help but want to ease her worries.

"Do not fear; I mean you no harm."

And this truly came from the bottom of his heart. But it was not because the girl was young or that she had done nothing wrong. It was Instead because this girl had saved his life!

Terra felt like sighing as he remembered what had just happened a few seconds ago.

In his dreamy state, he had almost caused his own death.

In his dreamy state, Erden had concluded that life has no meaning and that its current form of existence is obsolete. So instead of trying to understand it, he concluded that it would be better to start a new 'canvas.'

The problem is that said new 'canvas' would ultimately end with his mind, memories, and logic being erased in favor of a new one. Meaning that he would no longer continue to exist intellectually.

He would thus be reborn completely anew as something that has never been seen before in reality.

At that moment, it seemed like a great idea, but with his newfound clarity, he understood that this was no different from death.

And the main reason he ever managed to pull himself out of that abyss was only because of the girl in front of him. Had she not asked him about his identity at the last moment, he could have been gone forever. So truly, He was grateful.

"Stand." Erden raised his hands lightly. As if something were pulling her up, the young girl was once again at her feet.

"What is going on here? Where am I?" the young girl asked.

"You are in my dream."

"Your dream?"

Erden looked at the girl closely. What was currently on his mind were questions about the how and the why.

As it was clearly evident from what had just happened, the girl in front of him isn't part of his dream. This means that this girl is an independent entity in his dream.

This was likely why, each time she died, everybody would forget and ignore her existence. Almost as if she never existed to begin with. But only he, the dreamer, was able to remember her.

So Erden grew curious—why was this girl in his dream? One must know that, as a Dunegon, his consciousness is vastly different from a mortal's. Only specialized or high-level mortals would have the chance of just barging into his dream.

So is this girl a specialized being? How did she do it, and why did she in the first place? What are her intentions?

The thought of capturing the girl and forcing her to answer all his questions suddenly came to mind. But such thoughts were suppressed by his humanitarian side. After all, had she not done what she did, he really would not be standing right there at that moment. Plus, from what he could see, the young girl was really confused as to why she is here as well.

So her dream intrusion may not be intentional at all.

Still, Erden was not just going to let her go because it was not her fault. He wanted to ask her some questions, even though it would be more gentle than he originally intended.

"Yes, You are in my dream. What is your name, child?"

"My name is Sky. Sky Tieger."

Truthfully, Erden could not understand her words, but as this was his dream, her true meaning was easily understood by him. As such, her name was translated as Sky.

'Isn't that a coincidence?' Erden thought. 'The one who saved the Earth (Erde) is Sky.'

"As I have said, Sky, I mean you no harm. But I am curious how you managed to get here. Would you mind telling me?" In a calm tone, Erden spoke.

"I... it was..." The young girl started, but before she could actually go into detail, she disappeared.

Terra looked around in confusion. As he was now more conscious of his actions, Erden could control and sense everything in this dream reality.

But even when he looked through the whole world, he failed to find anything. Thus, Erden concluded that she had left his dream. Since she could come in, then surely she could get out.

So standing right there on the empty streets, Erden thought of what would be the best course of action at the moment.

Since he was quite curious to know what the young girl was doing in his dream, he could stay and wait for her to return. There was a likelihood that she could have been coming in and out of his dream each time she died.

Or he could exit the dream and go back to the real world. It was, of course, for the same reason as the first choice. Since the girl was able to enter his dream, she must be in the same world as him for her to do that. That means that if he were to look around the whole world, he would surely find her.

So Erden had decided. But suddenly, he felt something happen to his body. It was a feeling he had never felt before.

It was a change.

And since he could feel a said change while in the dream world, then it must not be miniscule or insignificant.

"I guess it's time I wake up."

...

In the mushroom forest, while the sun was setting. A creature grazed on the small mushroom on the ground. The creature had long and curly hons, as well as a thin coat of fur. Overall, the creature looked a lot like a small mountain goat.

Suddenly, the goat-like creature raised its head and looked around the silent forest. Just as before, the forest was calm and silent.

But even so, the creature jumped into a sprint after a few seconds. Sprinting through the forest with nothing behind it, the goat-like creature seemed like it had misheard, but suddenly...

Whoosh!

A white silihuet swooped down and caught the goat-like creature. Before the creature could struggle, the two flew up into the sky.

It was only a few minutes later that the white silihuet finally came down. With a simple thud,' the white silihuet landed safely on the ground. But the same could not be said for the now dead goat-like creature in its mouth.

With the creature on the ground, its image could then be seen fully. It was a 1.6-meter-tall white tiger with folded bird-like wings on its back.

While taking twists and turns along the way, the white tiger didn't take long to find its destination.

Just between two large rocks, a blue, luminous portal stood erect. Not wasting any time, the tiger entered the portal and disappeared.

...

[End of volume 1]