Raizel (pov)
Raizel look at the Sliver haired girl, who has a thoughtful look on her face as if she is thinking about something very deeply.
"Are you ready" said Raizel as he look at changing star.
Coming out of her state Nephis looked at him and nodded.
She got into a position of fighting.
Both Raizel and Nephis stare at each other waiting for the other party to attack first.
'Should i used a bit of my strength, since it her we are taking about, i mean i am already stronger than Caster who is a legacy.'
With these thoughts, Raizel then suddenly disappeared from the place he was standing, he appeared in front of Nephis, startling her. His first collided with her stomach, causing her to gasp in pain. But Raizel wasn't finished as he created some distance between them and landed a impressive down kick right on her face.
Her face got slammed into the floor hard like a basketball.
Raizel looked at her condition and thought.
'Did i go too hard ?'
Since he could feel the pain of other, he was right now felling the pain of Nephis too. But the pain was nothing to Raizel who has been though various tortures.
Raizel then quickly got out of his thoughts as he stared the fallen girl.
Nephis weakly stand up, blood was coming out of her nose and mouth as she panted roughly for breathing. Her eyes were now full of seriousness.
She backed away a few meters.
Raizel looked at Nephis with his same emotionless look.
'So she is getting all out, huh'
Raizel could tell from the flams that were glowing in her eyes.
Suddenly Nephis advances at Raizel with full speed like a racing car, she throws a powerful punch at his face, which was dogged by Raizel with ease, he landed a powerful punch on her chin, Nephis counterattack a punch on Raizel face which he easily dogged but at end movement she changed direction of the punch to to his chest which he dogged again.
Raizel punch landed right at her chin making her backed away a few meters again, she gasped in pain while holding her blooded chin, but Raizel wasn't finished as quickly appeared in front of her and swiped her feet away.
Nephis finds herself in the air in the next second, then she receives a powerful kick on her stomach.
Nephis body was forced upward before falling towards the ground, She again tried to stand up. Only to fall miserably.
THUD!!
Raizel look at the pitiful girl who is gasping in pain without any emotion in his eyes, Nephis was holding her stomach, her face was covered in blood and busses.
She looked at Raizel with her blood shot grey eyes, before losing consciousness.
"sigh"
Looking at her condition a sigh escape from Raizel mouth.
'It seems like i have gotten a little far.' thought Raizel as he looked at the one of the future strongest saints, who right now laid on the floor, in a pitiful condition.
'Can't leave her like this...'
He then picked her up in a princess style and started walking out of the training room.
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Nephis(pov)
Nephis jolts wake up, her eyes were widden.
Before she grained the clarity of her surrounding, her hands immediately reached her neck and stomach to search for any injuries.
'I'm alive'
She was overcome with relief.
She then check her surrounding and found out that she was in the medical wing of sleeper. A place she frequent visit because of her hard training and her bad habit to get hurt in the process.
But their was a one question in her mind.
'Who brought me here'
Since she doesn't have any friends, so it rise a question in her mind.
"Ah you are awake"
Suddenly She heard a voice to her right side, turing her head around, she saw a women who looks to be in her twenties wearing a long lab coat, walking in her direction with a clipboard in her hands.
She then reach towards Nephis, and started examining her body, after a while she said.
"It's seems like your injuries are healed"
Nephis nodded her, then she opened her mouth.
"Who brought me here"
She request, but to the women it sounded more like a demand, rolling her eyes the women replied.
"Well it was a beautiful girl with violet hair who bring you here"
'A girl with violet hair ? Is she talking about Raizel !!, but why would she do that ?'
She thought since she didn't have any relationship with the her, then why would she helped her.
"Well if you excuse me i have other patients to attend."
With that the women in the lab coat, quickly took her leave.
Nephis body relaxed and fell back on the bed.
'She could have killed me'
She could have, but she didn't
The very nature of this statement confused her.
Ever since she was young she has close encounter with death but had always thought skill or luck she survived.
And now, their was a situation where she has no chance of survival.
She was going to die.
But she didn't
She simply lived because the girl didn't have any intent to kill her.
This very aspect of the thought terrified her but also at some point comforting.
'She is not my enemy'
She sat up looked out of the window, she took note of the dim but still present light and was relived to find out that it wasn't dark.
'It seems only a few hours have passed.'
Standing up she did a few stretches before leaving the room and checking out of the medical wing.
'What should do i do now ?'
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Two weeks later
In those two weeks, Raizel routine was like this, Training, eating and talking with Cassie, he also did some sword practice in combat classes alone, since he didn't want others to find out about his sword style.
Their was also one variable that keeps on interrupting his training time, and that variable was Nephis who after getting beaten by him would always come to get more beating.
Raizel didn't like the way she tried to order him around, he knows that she has no social skills, to her she is asking for a request but to others it sounded more like a order.
She would say to him, that things like "fight me" or "I challenge you".
So to get rid of her fully, he decided to accepted her challenge, in that fight he absolutely destroy her to the point that even her aspect couldn't fully heal her. From the rumors he got to know is that she has been in the infirmary for atleast a week, before getting discharged.
After getting discharged Nephis hasn't bother him that much, she would immediately run away the movement he got close to her.
Raizel also spend some time of his in the library to increase his Knowledge about the geographical structure of the world even though he already know but still decided to go to the library.
Now in present time.
Raizel was sitting in one of the empty table in the library browsing thought some pages.
The title of the book he was reading was **History of the world**.
Raizel was looking at the context of the pages.
A few decades ago before Nightmare Spell appeared, the planet was just starting to recover from a series of devastating natural disasters and subsequent resource wars. The planet was not in a good shape, compared to the past. Many are dying of hunger and poor living conditions just because of what humans have done to Earth.
'It is not clearly written how and why the war started.' thought Raizel, he found it strange, but he know the answer to his own question too.
Before the nightmare spell, the world was at war and so many natural disasters were taking place.
The war started because Raizel great-grandfather, who was feeling board so he decided to start some war for his entertainment.
He manipulate the powerful country A to attack the second powerful country B, and seeing the two powerful country at war the others also took this as an opportunity and side themselves with the one they wanted to support.
And with so many country at war, the third world war started, because of the third world war a lot of humans died.
This whole thing was called the Dark times, in the human history.
'That was the story behind the start of the third word war.' thought Raizel, these were the things he learn in his family library, he then flip the page.
Before the Dark Times Antarctica, was covered in ice. The melting of all its ice was one of the reasons that caused the Dark Times.
Globally, sea levels surged, drowning numerous cities and forcing billions of people to relocate. Despite the fact that only a small portion of the landmass was submerged by water, many of the civilization centers were located near the coasts. The world's infrastructure crumbled as billions of refugees sought shelter after they were all gone.
Endless natural disasters, global infrastructure destruction, and resource scarcity fueled an escalating series of wars. Orbital kinetic strikes, nuclear warfare, chemical warfare, bio warfare, everything was used. In the end, the population finally stabilized to some extent, at which point the appeared Nightmare spell.
'Right the melting of the ice in Antarctica.' thought Raizel as he know that it was not the natural disaster, but a man made. It all happen because of the war, because of the war, the pollution level was increased in the air, making the ozone lair slowly break, it is the lair that used to covers the whole earth to protect the earth from the harmful rays from the sun.
And because of the break in the ozone lair, the heat increases the days become longer even in winters, and because of the sudden change in climate. The ice that used to cover the Antarctica started to melt raising the water level.
And after that what happens everyone's knows.
"Sigh"
A sigh escape his mouth as he closed the book, he then fell into deep thoughts.
'Now that i think about it, all the information i have found about the history is nothing but a context of what happen after, not why and how it happened.'
Raizel didn't know why is that, because only the information of the aftermath not the reason behind it, not that he wanted to read it, since he has read all the information about the history of the world in his family library, which is a collection of vast books, each book contain a history of something, that if someone were to read those things they would surely go mad.
'I also can't find the books on old religions.' thought Raizel, not that he wanted to worship them but to see if they had a similarity with the Dead Gods.
"sigh"
A sigh escape his mouth as he stood up from the chair and left the library.
As Raizel was walking the hallways he could see a lot of sleepers giving him awkward glances.
'Right this too.' Raizel remember that just yesterday, every sleepers come to knows that he is not a girl but a boy.
It all happens when he after the fight he moved towards the boys locker room to change his clothes, which were sweaty, so inside the locker room their were some guys who got shocked and scared when they saw something they couldn't believe existed.
And yeah after that rumors spread that Raizel was guy not a girl and that the spell didn't make any mistake in the naming process.
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Raizel was sitting in a meditative pose in his bed, his eyes closed his breathing stable, tiny dark particle were floating around him, giving a look as if his room is covered in small Led lights, he was sweeting bullet as the particle were increasing from time to time.
Suddenly all the dark particle vanish as if they didn't even exist in the first place.
Raizel opened his eyes, his eyes were crimson red in colure way too different from the previous purple colour.
He raised his hand, and suddenly all the furniture in the room started shaking, expect for the bed he was on, a few second later all the furniture started levitating in the air.
But then suddenly the chair got broke into two, not only the chair but the wardrobe, the mirror all of the things were getting broken into two.
The broken parts of the furniture's that got separated, were now turing into a long stick shape with a pointy end.
It looks like a spear, now all the parts have taken the shape of a spears, then suddenly all of them started getting covered in a thin layer of fire, the fire doesn't seems to be damaging them, it seems to be acting like a protective shield around them.
'Success...' thought Raizel, as he looked at the work he did, he had been using his ability telekinesis to see how much weight he could lift, but that not the only thing he wanted he know that he could even change the property, matter and size of the object but for that he would need a powerful energy so that why he used Aether instead of essence.
And now looking at the result it seems to have worked.
Suddenly Raizel felt a drop of cold liquid on his face, he wipe the liquid and saw that it was crimson red in colour.
'Blood...' thought Raizel, it seems he has used a lot of Aether to the point that into creating these spears, he quickly took out a white handkerchief and wipe the blood off his face.
After wiping the blood, Raizel burn the handkerchief, then he controls the spears towards the target that hanging on the wall, it was a small teddy bear, he then launched all spears towards the target, the spears priced the teddy bear in half destroying it completely, some of the spears even destroyed the white wall making a large dent in them.
Looking at the target condition, which seems to be burning, Raizel knows that the attack was powerful, he them lowered his hand, he waited for a few minutes for his Aether to fill back up.
'This much should be enough.'
Raizel then sapped his fingers as clothes started appearing in his body, it was black shirt, with black pants and formal shoes.
He then walked towards the door, after opening the door, he started walking towards the direction of the cafeteria. Reaching the cafeteria Raizel saw.
The cafeteria was full of Sleepers, but no one was talking. Everybody seems to be in low spirits. The cafeteria was unusually quite, to the point that he could only hear a few mummers, their was no usual laughter or boisterous conversations, only the Legacies remained calm and collected. However, Raizel could see a hint of deep fear in their eyes.
'Right!! today is the winter solstice, which mean last day on earth.'
Indeed today is the last day of all the sleeper present, after today they will be transported to the dream world.
Unlike all the sleepers presented Raizel doesn't looked tired. He walked toward the counter and to order a strong black coffee with sugar, he sat on his usual place.
"Good morning, Cassie" said Raizel to the blond girl, he could see dark aura surrounding Cassie, a aura of sadness, depression, and someone who has lost their will to live.
Cassie looked up, she doesn't seems to be in low sprits, but yet with a tired smile he replied.
"Good morning, Raizel" she said her voice sounded low and timed.
After that she went silent, non of them said anything for the whole while.
'She sure is quiet for someone who talked a lot.' thought Raizel as he knows who Cassie would always liked to chat a lot.
But today she was very quiet, Raizel knows the reason for that too.
'She doesn't know if she will survive or not, but she has already thought that she will most likely died.'
Raizel doesn't blame her, anyone would have lost themselves if they were in her situation, for Cassie to held this long is commendable.
'I think it would be better for me to stay silent too.'
Raizel know that even if he were to say some encouraging words it will only gave her false hope, which she knows.
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In the evening Instructor Rock gathered all the sleeper in the entrance hall of the Sleeper Center and led them outside.
In the snowy parks that surrounded the white building, other Awakened were leading their own batches of Sleepers to the same destination. It was the Academy's medical center.
The center looked more like a shrine than a hospital. Its interior contained both highly advanced technology as well as some of the best Healers among the Awakened. For the duration of their first journey into the Dream Realm, the bodies of Sleepers would be kept safe in specially designed pods and sustained by the magical powers of those Healers if anything unfortunate were to happen on the other side of the Spell.
Raizel looked at front and saw that all the sleeper has a surprise expression on their faces, because after entering the medical center, Instructor Rock did not take them directly to the wing containing Sleeper pods.
Instead, he led them to a comparatively deserted floor and then opened the doors to a spacious gallery that was brightly illuminated by the beautiful crimson rays of the setting sun.
The sleepers saw rows and rows of wheelchairs. In each wheelchair, there was a person with a blank, strangely peaceful expression on their face. All these people were completely silent, motionless, and still. They did not show any reaction to the appearance of guests.
'Hollow' thought Raizel as he guessed the identity of the people in wheelchair.
Hollow are people whose souls were destroyed, leaving an empty body behind.
Usually, when a Sleeper or an Awakened perished in the Dream Realm, their soul is destroyed and the body dies with it. But if not, they become a Hollow. This is when their physical body still lives on even when their soul has died leaving just an empty husk of a body that still lives.
There are instances when a mundane human can become a Hollow outside of the Dream Realm. There is a very small chance of a powerful soul attack creating a Hollow. Beings capable of dealing with direct soul damage are very rare and almost never happen.
In the eerie silence, to the point that everyone was able to hear their own heartbeat.
The deadly silence which was broken by Instructor Rock who has a solemn look on his face as he look at the people sitting in the wheelchair.
"There is a reason I brought you all here. Look well and remember. Some of you may know who these people are... for those of you who don't, they are called Hollow."
He gritted his teeth.
"Each one of them was once either a Sleeper or an Awakened. Some of them were weak, some of them were strong. Some were even incredibly powerful. All of them have perished in the Dream Realm."
Instructor Rock glanced in the direction where Raizel, Caster and Nephis stood, and then added:
"So don't die out there."
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Must read :: I have been seeing a lot of people hating my work, some even gave 1 star reviews, while some basted even decided to report this story, so tell me should i continue this story or not. i mean what the point of continuing the story if people are just going to report it.