4 months before the first incident.
—This will be the final phase— said a boy, with tousled brown hair, with a beard that looked a week old, the boy was going through the clouds as if he was flying, but no, he was falling, very slowly, but he was falling, and in the middle of this glide he seemed to be enjoying himself, or at least that could be seen in his expression.
He flew through a few houses until he fell again as he approached a town, until he landed firmly, bending his knees and resting one hand on the ground to soar back up into the clouds and glide again. In this way he approached a house, the one he was looking for. He jumped onto the balcony and found a girl sleeping on the other side, he went in through the window, he literally walked through it; and that was one of the advantages of the dream world, if you got used to it enough you could just walk right through things; Once inside he observed the room a bit he looked around with his eyes and noticed some things that were familiar, he took a few steps until he was close to the sleeping girl, he observed her a bit until he gently touched her forehead, the girl woke up startled, she sat up quickly on the bed and looked up to see the boy in front of her, he watched him for a while, he was wearing short brown gloves that matched the boy's leather jacket, black pants and high boots.
—What's wrong?— asked Leon when he noticed that she was staring at him.
—I can't get used to waking up like this said the girl— who had already gotten up and was waving her arms as if trying to get used to it. She was wearing white clothes, a trench coat that came up to her boots, which were black unlike her clothes, her greaves were white with blue tints, and her blonde hair was tied up in a bad ponytail.
—That's why you haven't been trained to consciously enter the astral yet.—
The girl raised her shoulders, trying to evade her responsibility.
-That's why you're going to keep helping me enter, isn't it?" she faked a grin.
Leon grimaced, retorted with his tongue and went over to the window to jump through.
-Wait!" the girl shouted as she jumped after him, already seeing him in the air and falling into the next house, she gave a soft jump and started flying in Leon's direction, and just as she was about to claim him for leaving her behind, she heard him speak.
—Look Pax— Leon pointed to the horizon in front of them —I will never tire of this world.—
This made the girl, Pax, look up and see a few more people flying around, she watched the sky that looked like a sea of stars and a vast aurora that adorned the sky as far as the eye could see.
—Let's go! We have to see it up close!— shouted Pax as he flew ahead of one of the giant spirits that were streaking across the sky.
"The astral world, a place that is there, in our reality, but people are not able to enter, at least not consciously, but some of them, without realizing it, enter through their dreams.... " Pax was thinking about it when she stopped to look at Leon "and others, they take it to the next level."
The blonde girl watched Leon while she thought about all this, since this man was the one who showed her this world, while Leon jumped several times next to Pax until they were at a reasonable distance, Pax asked.
—Really, when are you gonna fly? I feel like you're lying to me if you don't.
—I'm serious when I tell you I can't fly, I fall, very slowly, but I always do.
Leon stopped on a terrace and started to make small jumps, falling slowly to prove what he was saying, until he stopped and turned around, something had caught his attention enough to keep him quiet and focus all his attention on it. Pax, even after looking at Leon with a frown, had noticed it too, a strange, tense feeling.
—What's that?
—A dangerous place...but we'd better go, it's better to avoid trouble for now.
-But what is it?
As he said this, they prepared to leave, but were interrupted by the sudden appearance of a girl, slim, petite, with bright red hair and beautiful intense blue eyes.
—Meave!— Leon said with obvious surprise.
—Amm... I felt you nearby and decided to come and see what you were doing. Did I disturb you? The red-haired girl looked at Pax, trying to examine her and understand the situation —Training, maybe?— Maeve said, trying not to make her uncomfortable.
The redhead looked at Pax, trying to examine her and understand the situation, but not wanting to make it uncomfortable she spoke quickly but Leon spoke fist.
—It's more like a long tutorial.
The girl went down to the terrace, and Leon came closer to her, scratching at his beard as he saw the heavy gaze of the red-haired girl.
—I know what you're going to say, but listen...
—If it's who I think it is, you're going to be in a lot of trouble.
—It's like a farewell and to be honest, she's very talented you know.— Leon approached the redhead and crossed his arm over her shoulders while smiling at her.
Meanwhile Pax watched them from the heights until she came down, softly placing her right foot as if she didn't want to make any noise, but quickly walked up to them.
—By the way, I actually came for you. Ariel took a job that's too much for him and I wanted you to be there, just in case something happened.
Leon stood thoughtfully for a moment, rubbing his beard.
—Why did he take it?
—I heard it, it was a challenge.
—A job? —Pax spoke in an attempt to enter the conversation.
Leon exclaimed profusely before he began to speak.
—It's not that way, is it? —Leon pointed to where a few minutes before, they had looked.
—Well, I'm afraid it is— the redhead said with a grimace. —I tried to avoid him, but you know, he's proud.
—You don't put people's lives at stake out of pride, I'm surprised Yuri or Coralie would allow it— Leon walked in the direction of the disturbance. —That's a job for someone first class.
—Weeeell... technically Ariel is now a first class— said Meave as she fiddled with her fingers —A couple of things happened while you were gone.
Leon sighed again, resigned as he put his hand to his face.
—Okay, let's go. Pax, we're going to a disturbance so stay close and you'll be fine.
Pax nodded being somewhat confused. This girl appeared and Leon was more serious too, they hadn't even introduced themselves she thought as they were on their way, just to where they had had that strange feeling.
—I like your name, Pax, it's unique— Meave smiled friendly as she flew at her pace.
—You think so? I thought it was weird but thanks emmh...— the girl paused, waiting for the redhead to tell her her name.
—Meave, my name is Meave.
—It's certainly prettier yours, Meave.
They flew on for a while as Leon jumped up and down from time to time.
—May I ask you, what is a disturbance?
Meave thought for a moment as she squinted her eyes —Mmh, it's something like an anomaly in the astral energy. This can give way to the entrance of entities from the lower astral or some "being" even but being so it would become a rift.
—Why does that happen?— asked Pax with genuine interest.
—Well, it could be many things but basically, it's because in the physical world, that place has been charged with a lot of negative or dark energy.
Pax looked at her with curiosity while Meave simply kept her eyes straight ahead, she wanted to ask more but the girl's expression said she wouldn't say much more.
—And as you may know, the onironauts like Leon or myself are the ones who take it seriously and take care of these jobs- Meave showed her a friendly face as she finished her sentence in an effort to appear more sympathetic.
Pax responded to the smile in the same way but she still had several doubts that made her become so engrossed that she didn't realize when they had already arrived if it wasn't for Meave holding her hand.
—We're here— Meave said as she let go of her hand to descend.
Pax also looked down at a large rustic-looking house with wooden walls here and there, stone finishes and large windows. Without a doubt, it was the look of an old house, although the windows showed that they were trying to renovate it, although the most remarkable thing was not the look, but the vibe it gave off: heavy and depressing, even from a distance.
As soon as they came down, they saw a boy outside the house and it wasn't until they got closer that they noticed him, but not because the boy was hiding or had little presence, in fact on the contrary, his presence was strong, it was just that it was overshadowed by that of the big house and next to this boy was Leon.
—So, this is the house they were talking about— asked Leon as he approached from behind.
— Yes, the amount of negative energy gathered here is impressive, don't you think?
—Hey, you took the job, you're not chickening out, are you?— shouted Meave.
She was smiling, she enjoyed the boy's discomfort and Leon who was smiling also put a hand on his back.
—Come on, we're here, go and wake up the more lucid one, we've got your back.
The boy was looking more and more doubtful but he still moved forward, Pax lost sight of him and after trying for a few seconds, Leon pointed his hand towards a window, there was the boy next to a sleeping woman, she saw how he put his hand on her and in the next blink of an eye they were already back, he had woken up the girl who was notoriously confused.
—Hello, I'm Ariel and we are the ones who....
Leon interrupted Ariel by stepping forward next to the newly lucid girl —Wait, something is wrong...
The confused girl looked at Leon for a moment, soon after she turned to look towards her house and seemed to get scared, she took a few steps backward and tried to take cover with Leon and Ariel.
—Here they are back. —said the girl shyly
-What happened, Leon?— asked the red-haired girl when she saw Leon frown.
Pax didn't see that yet, but when she paid attention saw a lot of entities, dark figures and silhouettes, she could distinguish an obese-looking one, another tall and thin, a being with extremely long arms and many more looming everywhere.
Ariel looked nervous and had a sweaty forehead and a frightened expression and Pax who was concentrating on watching the house, started walking towards the house, enraptured by that strange aura.
—Half of her is still there— Leon whispered as he looked at the window and saw the girl's body still there and in the periphery of his view he noticed Pax —Don't go any closer!
Meave reacted to Leon's shout and quickly approached Pax to go back with her behind.
—I know you have a strange sense of attraction, but if you get carried away, you'll fall into horrible places.
—Sometimes they can call you, sometimes it teleports you there, like a nightmare, other times, those entities, beings from the lower astral can take the form of someone you love or loved and make you believe many things...— said Leon with a stern tone.
Pax wondered a lot of things after hearing that, if those beings would be so dangerous, if that is what causes the nightmares and a lot of other things at the same time but she was interrupted when she heard Leon speak.
—Only half of her is with us, it could be that those entities are using the most lucid one, to be able to manifest in the physical world or...
—Ahhhh!
They all felt it and instantly became alert. Leon was the first to react, they didn't expect it, but the girl in the house had been sucked through a hole in the floor and, although he quickly jumped to try to hold her, he couldn't reach her.
—Shit —said Ariel, stretching his arm in the air when he couldn't reach her either.
—They're not going to let her go— Meave spoke with a somber look.
—In her room, there was the other part!
Meave's face paled when she heard that and she only stammered something before she could do anything else, but Leon without hesitation appeared in front of the girl so fast that she didn't notice him. As fast as Meave noticed the girl flying through the window she caught her and pulled her with a kind of red thread while she had also put herself in front of Pax to cover her.
—Ariel, a barrier— Maeve's shout had brought Ariel out of his trance to react quickly and cover them in a barrier.
—What's going on...?!
Ariel, can you contact Coralie?— Maybe said quickly, ignoring Pax's question.
—I can't get that close, the energy from here cuts my link.
—Then go where you can, we'll take care of it.
—What about them?— asked Ariel before leaving.
—Create a barrier for the girl, Pax will wake up.
Both Pax and the girl had a face of fear and bewilderment but they saw how around them, a kind of translucent green energy began to cover them. —Calm down, don't leave this cube and I'll make sure nothing happens to you. Pax, I need you to leave, wake up— Meave mentioned as reassuringly as she could, because although she trusted Leon, she could not risk anything happening to either of them. Meanwhile, Ariel had already gone ahead.
—Yes, I just need to concentrate.
Pax closed her eyes tightly hoping she could do it faster but a loud explosion made her lose her concentration and look at the source of the sound but they only saw a curtain of dust.
—Hurry up Pax!— shouted the redhead as she banged the bucket a bit to get his attention.
—Sorry...
As soon as the dust dissipated, Pax was interrupted again by another strong blow on the cube, this one was from Meave's body since in the small moment that Meave turned to look at them, a sort of jet black tentacle hit her squarely, pushing her against the cube that only shook a little. When both girls looked up, they saw that the house and several meters around it, including the ground, were destroyed. But that was not the worst of it, Meave had not noticed until a few seconds later, a strange feeling of enclosure, she tried but could not feel anything from the outside, nor Ariel's presence.
Leon who had been thrown into the air with the explosion, saw a tentacle going towards Meave, he noticed a couple that were going for him but he dodged them by letting himself fall in a dive, dissipating the dust that had been raised and falling right at the base of the tentacles. The two that went for him he destroyed by stepping on them and the one holding Meave, he held it with his hand, crushing it.
—Woah...
Pax said dumbfounded as she saw the man standing in front of her but before she could relax a loud scream was heard from the house. The scream reverberated inside Leon's body making it difficult for him to move.
—Shit—Leon said as he tried to turn around but could only look over his shoulder as a direct fist came at him.
The blow was so hard that it knocked him down and cracked the floor where it hit.
Meave turned to look at Pax with concern but quickly changed his expression to a calmer one. "They'll be fine as long as they don't leave the cube."
Meanwhile Leon quietly recited a phrase before he began to glow with a pale light —Leo-style, Antares.
His body was illuminated in a powerful light and soon the ground as well, this seemed to immediately affect the jet black beast that was on him and although he tried to remove himself, the whole area was filled with that light before he could and apparently, this hurt the entity greatly. Leon took advantage of this to attack several of the entities that were there, until he could be closer to the girls.
"I can't feel anything from outside, not even Ariel," said the red-haired girl to herself.
—I can't wake up either...
—This has become dangerous, we have to end it now, Meave— said Leon as he came out of the explosion of light he had made until he arrived next to the girl.
—Antares won't be enough?
—That thing is about to become a being of the lower astral, if it took one day more energy from the girl, we would lose it and that would become.
Leon explained as he adjusted his jacket and stood guard next to Meave.
They were ready to attack as soon as the attack dissipated, but what they did not expect was that this entity would take the opportunity to devour the other entities that were in the house to recover the wounds and gather enough energy it needed.
—Oh shit, I didn't see that coming— said Leon with a surprised face while he turned his gaze to Meave.
—Is it eating the others to steal their energy...?
Leon started to run towards the entity and in the same way, entities that were still there flew to stop him. Meave reacted immediately he saw Leon run and also quickly approached and noticed that the entity was slipping away to continue gathering more energy.
"Are they sacrificing themselves?" Meave thought as he ran to the side and clasped his hands together at the side -blood style-.
Meave said before pulling them apart and pulling out a red sword and slashing at one of the entities that came to stop her.
"I wanna help" Pax thought even though he could see that they were quickly breaking through and Leon was close to catching up, but he soon realized that Leon was staggering.
And what was happening to Leon was one of the effects of the transformation of a being from the lower astral, it distorts your ideas, takes away your center of balance and to most onironauts, forces you out of the astral world.
"How did you transform so fast? No, it wasn't that, since we arrived he already was, but he hadn't begun his metamorphosis " Leon analyzed the whole situation as he supported himself on his knees. On the other hand, Meave was watching the situation from the air, and seeing Leon affected, she decided to attack from afar, taking advantage of the fact that the being from the lower astral was still with his guard down without completing his metamorphosis, So, the redhead took a firm stance, raised one of her arms to the level of her eyes and the other one was completely stretched out, pointing towards the being and between her arms she materialized something like a red arrow, she held her breath and with great power the arrow shot out.
Pax, together with the girl from the house continued watching the battle from the cube, they thought that Meave's way of moving was very elegant, they also thought that just with that last attack everything would end, but in the blink of an eye, they saw that being completely changed and not only that, it was just a few centimeters away from reaching Meave —No!— the girl in the house who just looked at everything in silence, was the only thing she could say.
Meave, seeing how fast the being had moved, simply thought that he could not avoid the blow and just closed his eyes tightly waiting for the blow but as soon as he opened them he was in a completely different place.
But what did he...? —Meave wondered, but quickly realized, "LEON'S TECHNIQUE!
Meave turned around and saw that where he was, Leon was there, holding the being. The boy looked at the being with a frown and, quickly turned his gaze to Pax, who was looking at him with an expectant look....
More than a year ago.
Leon looked at the blond girl, with the same scowl and the blond girl was expectant to what he had to say, he swallowed heavily although his mouth was dry so his next words came out with a raspy tone
—But I don't want you to g....
—No— Leon interrupted sharply —Why do you care now? You should have cared when you were with him.
—So it didn't happen.
Leon sighed and looked around: the house where he had lived for a couple of years, the pictures of the various trips he had made with her, carefully placed so that none of them were in the way of the other's view on the shelf.
Then he turned his gaze to the living room, where there were clothes on the couches, part his and part the girl's, reminding him of the bad habits they both shared. Then, he turned his gaze back to the girl, who was expectant of what he was going to do. The boy was just standing in the doorway, averting his gaze, or so it seemed to her.
-I'll come back for my things later," said the boy before turning around and picking up a suitcase he had on the floor, walking away from the girl.
Pax raised her arm as soon as she saw him leave but she didn't do anything else either, her arm barely raised when she stood still for a few seconds and then slowly lowered it, her mouth was ajar as if she wanted to say something but she couldn't articulate anything either, she could only watch him with a lump in her throat and she was completely messed up.