"Shone! Wait for me!" When I stepped outside, the bright light blinded me.
"Ackhhh!!!"
"Come on, you slowpoke! We're not gonna make it if you keep lagging behind!"
Before I knew it, I was already out of the cell. The outside was absolute chaos—everyone was attacking the guards. For a moment, I lost sight of Shone.
I couldn't manage to compose myself, and before I knew it, Shone pushed me from behind, urging me forward.
Time went by quickly, and somehow, we managed to escape with everyone else. With some fixed expectations, life returned to a semblance of peace. It felt almost too good to be true, as everything was moving so fast.
Shone eventually became the leader of our small group, appointing me as his commander. Our small group slowly began to expand. Though I had many questions, my increasingly busy life left no time to have a proper chat with my old friend.
Things were going great until the days of peace came to an end.
"Sir Alan, we've got reports from the outer post that people are going missing again."
"Are they leaving quietly? Well, I can't blame them. Living here, in the middle of nowhere, offers them no future. Keep reporting if you see anything else."
"Understood, sir."
"That kid sure has grown up. He was so little just a few years ago, and now look at him—married with two kids."
"Time sure has passed."
Knock, knock.
"Come in, Noir. Did you forget something?"
As the door cracked open, I saw a familiar face—the one I was so used to seeing—my lifelong friend and brother.
"Does Commander Alan have some time?"
"Oh, Shone! You could've just called me."
"I thought I'd meet my friend in person. Did I come at a bad time?"
"Of course not. It's just the daily reports—you know how it is."
"Is that so? Well, come on. Let's talk over some drinks."
"Sorry, I can't. I need to finish checking these reports."
"Oh, come on! No more work—let's go!"
And Shone dragged me out of my room, just like he always did.
"Pfft! So bitter!"
"You're still no good with alcohol?"
"Because it's so disgusting! Who drinks this stuff?"
"Heh, everyone in the world except you."
"So, tell me—how's life been?"
"You do know my life better than I do."
"Hahaha! Since when did you start cracking jokes? That was a good one."
Quietly drinking, I gave a stern look to Shone, letting him know I wasn't joking.
"Anyway, I came to talk about something important."
"Huh? Something serious?"
"No, no. Just something personal. After a long time of thinking, I've come to a decision about %*&(&."
(Ahhh, it's happening again.)
"And that's why I &^&()."
(Of course, at first, I was confused.)
"I hope you understand ^&*^&^&(."
(At one point, I even became enraged—I almost lost hope, thinking I had gone mad.)
"Sir, we're being attacked at the front lines!"
"Huh? Who is it? The robbers again?"
"No, sir. This seems to be remnants of the Vampire Queen's army."
"Damn it!"
(But at one point, I realized...)
"Sir, we've got casualties."
(...that this is—)
BOOM!
Pant pant
"Alan!!! Are you all right?"
"Talk! Try to stay awake! Don't lose consciousness! Where's the medical team?!"
(...not reality.)
"Sir, we're sorry to inform you... Sir Alan is no longer with us—"
...
"So, this is the end, huh?"
"I've experienced so many lives that I don't even remember my actual one anymore..."
"Let's see, what was my real name? Lean? No, Domen? Nah. Alan... nope, that was my 996th life. Let's see, my name was..."
"Young Master Utstate, it's already morning!"
Yawn "Morning, Penny. What time is it?"
"It's 8 o'clock. You need to get ready—your father is coming today."
"Ah, right."
(Yep, my name was Utstate von Democrat, the middle child of the Democrat family.)
"Did you have your weird dreams again?"
"Yeah, this time it was a big one... and an interesting one."
(And that was a dream—just another one of my dreams!)