As the sun was about to set Lily started to grow tense as Ray showed no signs of waking up, sitting beside his bed she observed his condition once again but failed to get any new result shaking her head helplessly she went back to her seat to continue her reading.
Time passed by and soon another hour passed by, when Ray finally opened his eyes sat up straight and looked around with a confused look.
"So you finally decided to wake up huh thought I'd have to waste more time looking after you." Lily casually commented, but Ray's reaction to her voice was anything but casual. He sprung to his feet looking at the source of voice with his guard fully up taking a defensive stance.
"Who are you? You think I'll fall for such a low level illusion" he asked in a chilly voice as his eyes darted around the room looking for escape routes.
So I'm in Realm's infirmary but I was clearly on the battlefield could it be they are trying to get some information out of me through this illusion. That doesn't seems to be the case I think their victory was already secured when they assassinated our three S-class heroes. So what the hell is happening...
"Have you finally lost your mind." a cold voice brought him back from his thoughts as he looked towards Lily who was giving him an icy glare which sent shivers down his spine,
"A....Ar...are you Dr. Li...Lily?" he asked stuttering his mind already blank.
"Oh so you do remember, now get lost before I make you forget about your existence." she said with a really creepy smile on her face.
Without responding his body moved on its own as he dashed out of the infirmary for his life. Still trying to process what is happening to him, he choose to go to his dorm room. Scanning his watch against the lock he opened the door absent minded and walked inside the room.
As he entered his room a wave of nostalgia hit him, this was his room for 6 years that he spent in Realm. Moving his stuff off the bed to make some space he collapsed on the bed and once again started to process all the events chronologically.
We were supposed to rescue the survivors near the main battle front but were intercepted by a horde of demons I tried to take down their leader, to buy us some time to escape but failed then I was flung away by a blast and then...
I don't remember hmm...wait I guess I awakened my stigma and tried to use its power as a last ditch attempt but I remember nothing happened and when I opened my eyes I was here. Nothing makes sense, am I missing something or I am just trapped in an illusion but Dr. Lily seemed kinda real...ack don't wanna think about it.
Twirling a lock of my hair I tried to figure out my situation if this is an illusion then how can I break free from it and if it isn't then what the hell happened to me. As I was repeating this action suddenly I sat up and looked at my watch, quite an old version either the illusionist is really proficient or I am really...
Not getting distracted by my thoughts I navigated the various holographic screens from my watch to open the calendar, so the date is set to 12 years back when my first lesson at Realm was supposed to be a day after tomorrow.
I don't think there was any important event during this time so what type of information could they learn from it, unless they want to know how we trained our younger generation.
No that doesn't seem to be the case as they could easily learn that from fiends or spirits.
There is something that I'm definitely missing or overlooking... oh right my stigma if even I don't know what ability I awakened from it then there is no way for that illusionist to know about it...
Yes I can try it, if I can still activate my stigma and use its power than this is not an illusion but I am actually a 'returner' and if it fails then I better find a way to escape from this realistic illusion.
Taking a deep breath I went in front of the mirror and activated my mana circuit, as my mana started to gather in my eyes a strange pattern started to form in them. When I looked at my stigma pattern formed in my eyes my vision darkened and I found myself floating in an unknown location.
The place was completely dark and the only source of light was a strange hourglass pattern on the floor which was glowing with gentle white hue, I looked around to find a gigantic snake forming a circle around the hourglass while eating its own tail...
"Took you long enough to arrive here Rayar Davis" an ancient voice resonated inside his head.
"Wh..who is it?" confused and alerted he frantically looked to see who was speaking to him.
"It is me child the one who gave you a second chance to see how you will change what lies ahead..." the same ancient voice replied.
"Are you inside my stigma?" Ray asked completely baffled
"Yes and no child, for what you call a stigma is just a mark connecting us the great ones to our chosen followers..."the snakes voice continued
"Ah so um what do you need these followers for elder for, to collect some sort of faith or something?" Ray questioned the giant snake
"A smart one aren't you while it's true that other great ones require the power of faith to anchor their existence to reality I am an exception to that rule because... I.am.Eternal..." the snake opened its eyes its pupil reflecting Ray's young figure, "A pity you are too weak now, we'll meet again child when you are stronger and can at least handle the power that knowing my name bears..." the snake said before closing its eyes as darkness fell again.
Ray found himself standing in front the mirror inside his room his back completely drenched in cold sweat.
'What the hell was that supposed to be...' he thought before collapsing on his bed and falling asleep.