After a short visit to the Imp King's domain, which had some light thanks to lava and artificial light sources such as torches and braziers, it was back to the same darkness that greeted Lucius at the start of his final exam. He wasn't delighted by this change, but it was to be expected. He quickly summoned his lightsword and made it shine extremely brightly to light the area around him. To his surprise, this didn't have the effect he expected it to, and he barely lit a small circle around him. Dissatisfied with this, he sent out a flash of light towards the sky to light the whole area, but the flash of light flew up and quickly disappeared into the fog-like darkness. Realizing that his light would be of no use to him this time, Lucius started panicking. His ability to manipulate light was the only trump card he possessed, and seeing it so ineffective greatly affected his morale.
To add insult to the injury, Lucius suddenly tripped over and fell face-first to the ground. What an embarrassing blunder! Besides embarassing himself, Lucius also made himself vulnerable to a sudden attack, so he quickly tried to rise to his feet. When he did, he was surprised to see that he wasn't in complete darkness anymore. In fact, it was questionable if he was in the same place at all, because in front of his eyes was the Holy River, stretching into the distance in all its holy glory. But that was impossible! The Holy River was in Elysium, and he just left Elysium behind him and went through a portal that took him... Where? He didn't ask the master for the location of his mission, but then again, his master would probably mention if the mission took place that close to home. No, it was simply impossible that he was in Elysium.
But despite what common sense was telling him, there was no doubt that the Holy River was actually in front of him. He could clearly smell the refreshing water and feel the calmness of this natural sanctuary of the angels, and yet... Something was off... He couldn't put his finger on it, but the whole situation filled him with that uncomfortable feeling when you're somewhere you shouldn't be.
Well, there was an easy way to dispel his doubts and check if this really was the Holly River. He approached the water and kneeled down. Then he put the blade of his lightsword in his palm and quickly pulled it away, cutting himself. Warm blood started dripping from the cut on his palm. He was careful to make the cut as small as he could so he wouldn't jeopardize his mission with this self-inflected wound. And after all, if his little experiment succeeds, there won't be any wound at all. So, Lucius put his hand into the water to see if this truly was the Holy River and if his wound would be healed. The water felt exactly the same, and for a moment, Lucius absolutely believed that he really was at the bank of the Holy River and that the master had accidentally sent him here.
However, it was when he took out his hand from the water that he realized how foolish he was to doubt his master. His wound was still there. What is more, the water of the Holy River completely ignores occasions when it is mixed with blood, removing it from existence along with one's wounds. This river did not do so, and it has now started becoming red. At first, it was just the blood that came out of his hand, and it was barely visible to the naked eye, but soon the water started turning red rapidly, and it was not long before the whole river became red, almost as if he had completely tainted it with his blood. Even though he knew this was not the real Holy River, it was very disturbing to witness.
Now there was no more doubt. He was definitely not home. He didn't have an idea where he was, but one thing was for sure: wherever it was, it was somewhere very, very bad.
"Luciuuuus!" called a familiar voice.
He froze in place. If it wasn't alarming enough that anybody was addressing him at all in this cursed place, the voice that called him belonged to nobody else than the woman he knew as Rebecca.
He turned around, but there was nobody behind him.
"Lucius!" the voice came from another direction.
Again, he turned around but found nobody. The voice then came from the third, fourth, and fifth directions, but he didn't turn around to try and find Rebecca, for he understood well that there was no Rebecca here. But the voice kept calling him, and he clenched his fists and closed his eyes, refusing to react. Rebecca's voice suddenly multiplied, and many voices of Rebecca started overlapping, calling for Lucius, who tried his best not to react. Then there was another sound that was steadily becoming louder than the callings. It was the sound of laughter. The laughter gradually increased in volume until Lucius could barely hear his own thoughts. The noise became too much for Lucius, and he covered his ears with his arms, still holding a sword in them, in case he was suddenly attacked, but it was useless. It was impossible to get away from this unholy racket.
"Wait... Why is this happening to me? The holy river, Rebecca's voice? I've already discovered that it's an illusion and that it's not real, but why am I seeing it in the first place, and why does it feel so real? Is this some kind of magic that the demon has, or is there another reason for it? The demon I have to defeat... The master told me they call his kind the sleep demons. Could it be that I'm asleep and this is a dream?" Lucius thought to himself, trying to figure out the situation he ended up in.
The sound of Rebecca's laughter promptly stopped and was replaced with a single sound of a person clapping.
"Congratulations. It took you quite a while to realize this, but then again, I shouldn't be surprised. It's not like you angels are known for being all that smart to begin with. All you do is spout nonsense about religion, God, and other fairy tales, but when the time to use your brain comes, you are slower than eternity itself." spoke the demon, for he undoubtedly was one, still using Rebecca's voice.
Now, this was too much. Not only did this bastard ridicule him in Rebecca's voice, but he also heard Lucius's thoughts as if he were telling them aloud.
"But if this is a dream… How did I end up in it? I am not sleeping; I'm still awake. I passed through the master's portal only minutes ago, and neither I felt sleepy nor have I fallen asleep! It's not possible. He's lying! These are all some kind of illusions he's trying to confuse me with." Lucius thought, trying his best to stay calm despite the demon's provocations.
"I'm afraid you are wrong, angel. You show a lack of faith, like Doubting Thomas… But it is true, whether you like it or not. You are in a dream, and you are sleeping. In fact, you fell to the ground like a log. You thought you'd tripped over something, but you have fallen asleep instead."
"If what he's telling is true, then I have to wake up as soon as I can, any way I can!"
With that in mind, Lucius started pinching himself, hitting himself, slapping himself, and focusing his mind on waking up, but it was all for naught. The bloody river was still in front of him, and the sound of the demon laughing at his efforts in Rebecca's voice still echoed in his ears.
"You can give up, angel. You will never wake up until I wish you did, and I'm afraid something like that is not among my collection of wishes. Still, I'm not that surprised you didn't realize you are sleeping. After all, for a being that never has to sleep, it's impossible to recognize something you've never experienced, right? But the fact you could have avoided this if you had just listened to your master makes this situation more hilarious than it has any right to be!"
"He knows!"
"Yes, I know! You couldn't force yourself to sleep, so you just waited the right amount of time before returning to your master. Now, you will pay for that stupid mistake with your life. But before that, given that the figure of the master is the only thing you know of, I too will teach you something. Oh, yes, yes, I will! I will teach you about your fears and fill your heart and mind with them so much that in the end, you will beg me to end your miserable life!" threatened the demon, laughing in Rebecca's voice.
As Rebecca's roaring laughter slowly morphed into the laughter of a male person, Lucius, realizing the graveness of the situation he's in, slowly began to fear for his life. And he wasn't yet aware that he was soon going to fear a lot, lot, more…