I had a funny thought… why sweet dreams tend to be easily forgotten… while nightmares tend to be remembered for so long and hard to discard from our minds?
Who knows…? Do you know? I don't know.
******
…
"Huh… the knight captain actually did accept my self-made story about Marco," Scias thought to himself, he neglects the mercenaries praise to him.
He then stands up and wonders, "now... how am I s-supposed to c-carry you guys... at least you shouldn't be unconscious Marco, so each of us will carry these girls with us," he said offhandedly.
"Oh… explorer Marco, huh?" said the girl mercenary. "Don't worry, we'll cover it up for ya, tee-hee," the girl added with a smirk on her face.
*BONK!
One of the mercenary bopped her head, "Yow! What's that supposed to mean, Siege?!" the girl mercenary yelled, she rubs her head in pain.
"Oi, oi, you just wanted to be treated to booze don't you?"
The girl stunned. She can't avoid that. She then slowly looked at Scias then she says: "Ehehe,"
"What do you mean by 'ehehe'? Huh?" Another mercenary retorted funnily while nudging the girl.
"Don't worry, Scias, we'll all help you out, mate," the mercenary thumbed.
Scias slightly shows a scent of smile, "I appreciate that," he said.
"BUT! We're not gonna carry them on our backs you know?" Another mercenary stated funnily.
"Then, how are you going to…?" Scias asked wondrously with a soft deep voice.
"Oh… that? Well, check this out…" one of them turned around, "GET US A CART, QUICK!!!" He yelled towards the working soldiers like a banshee. Scias got captivated by these mercenaries actions.
"Ten Four! Getting a cart, five minutes!" one of the soldiers shouted from the distance and ran off.
******
The sun has set on the horizon, everyone has returned to the town. Everyone cheered over the returning soldiers and mercenaries, the knight captain informed the beast has been slain, but due to Scias' request, the captain didn't mention that Scias DID the bidding, instead, he said that they fought altogether. Forty casualties in total and 144 injured counted from three days earlier.
Scias rides a horse cart with two soldiers driving it. They stopped in front of Nina's house and put Nina and Aily to rest after giving them a bunch of Elixirs.
Elixir is a potion that restores stamina, mana energy, and some injuries to completely back normal. But it didn't help recovering them from unconsciousness.
Next they stopped at Marco's house and did the same thing as they did to Nina and Aily.
"Good work, Sir Scias," One of the mercenaries complimented. Scias nodded and bailed out of the cart. "See you later, Scias~!" one of the mercenary waved at him. As the cart left him, Scias headed to the mercenaries dorm to end the day.
As the night falls, soldiers are returning back to their homes as well. The knight captain cannot celebrate their victory at all, knowing that the beast was one of Areda Island's protector, if he allowed celebrations, it will only make the people of Areda look savage, where the people kills their own savior.
But in this case, it was Ordan's self-will that led to this incident. Even so, the captain refused to celebrate and commanded everyone to go back to their homes and forget what happened today.
Midnight, Marco's house.
It's dark in his house with only one light sourcing from an activated light bulb on the table in the dining room.
…
Inside the mind of the young explorer, is a living hell of nightmare.
*GRRROOOOAAAAN…..!!!*
Marco heard a scary groan coming out of nowhere in his dream, "W-What the hell is this?!" he was extremely scared by it.
RRRRRRRRRRRGGHHH!!!
He heard grunts, roars, screams, and many more. It was bizarre. He couldn't help but tried to cover himself inside his dream. But his self-conscious prevented him from doing it.
*REaaaLLLIzzze…!*
He heard a voice, but it's too hard for him to catch. He's too scared.
*AwAAAAAAkkeeEEEEENNN!!!*
*PRROOOOtttEECTttT!!!!!*
Multiple lines of oddly voices keep barraging his mind. Marco tried to fend the noises but he couldn't do anything to stop them. He's bound inside his own dream.
*DRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT*
....
....
"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH—*BUGH*—ouch,"
…Marco woke up from his nightmare and rammed his head to the brick wall beside his bed.
"Hah... hah... i-it was just a d-dream...? O-Ow... my head hurts..." he rubbed his head.
"That was one bizarre nightmare... it literally scared the heck out of me, heheh…" he tried to relieve himself from stress.
He then checked the dark surroundings while still in bed. "Huh... it's my house… I believe I was fighting with Ordan... Oh, shoot, Nina, Aily!" just when Marco about to get off his bed he noticed a paper at the desk beside it, there's a written letter. He then takes the letter... It's Scias' scribbled handwriting.
"Marco, don't you worry about Nina or Aily... they're fine. Take your time to rest. Sincerely, Scias," end of the letter.
A brief silence, Marco's face is written out: "The hell is this…?"
"H-H-H-Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah?!" he exploded, "Oi, Scias! The heck is the meaning of your writing here?! D-Did you save me back there?! Dammit, man!" he nagged relentlessly.
He then hopped back to his squeaky bed, and began to think what actually happened, "Aaah... damn Scias... you need to rework on writing letters, man... But I guess he was on point after all, he wrote that Aily and Nina are fine,"
Marco then flipped the pillow to the other side and then he laid himself down. "Guess I'll talk to him about this later,"
*Zzzz…zz…
Marco quickly fell asleep without his blankets on. He didn't realize that some parts of his body were bandaged.
He quickly dismissed the dream he had, and continues to sleep normally.
Fortunately for him, the nightmare didn't come back. But it left him a massive scar in his mind that will last ages to forget. Why would it? It's just a bizarre dream, is it not?
Apparently, it's not as simple as many would think. That dream…
…reminded him of the darkest day of his life that had scarred him for life he wanted to forget so badly.