"You always come to me instead of Erika when there's something like this."
Anastasia complained about Jean's way of doing things. Of course, she was the most reliable, intelligent and beautif- kuhum, she was the most reliable person Jean knew, so it made sense.
If she had a nose, it would have reached the moon because of how prideful she was right now.
"Just listen."
"I'm all ears."
"You're missing one and literally not."
"Oh shut it."
Jean went on to describe his dreams to Ana, from even the most minute to the most prominent details, Jean told it all, but when he finished,
"You sure you don't want to tell Erika this?"
Anastasia didn't understand a single thing, she knew he got this ability from a successful adaptation but she didn't know there were different types of dreams, she thought it would show him the future and that was it.
"From your experiences, what do you think happened?"
"I don't know?"
"Think a little more."
She let out a quiet groan as she compiled the information given to her. First, the illusionary spell, she didn't understand it well but it seemed it worked like if-statements. Second, grade I's, it sounded paradoxical but it wasn't like she hadn't seen them before.
"Grade V to grade I?"
When a Zirtue of the fifth grade evolves to the next category, the grade I created would still have the grade V's abilities to some degree.
"Is there a Crab-V on this island?"
"If there's a mother, then there should be?"
"Alright, that makes sense."
If Jean remembered correctly, after the first mother appeared, sightings of Tree-V's became more frequent. It made him grimace but there was nothing he could really do.
"I am curious about one thing."
"Hm?"
"If you know there will be an illusionary spell, why would you be worried?"
"I am not worried about the mimicry's abilities but the mimicry itself, illusion or not, doesn't change the fact that it's a grade I and can kill all of us without a moment's notice."
"Then why not tell Erika? I don't think you can kill the grade I anyways, let's just flee."
"Call it pride, I am tired of running away and letting calamity befall everyone yet again."
"This and that are different."
"So, conclusion?"
"*Sigh* Go watch the sky. I shall make sure none is hurt."
"Sounds good."
Before crawling up the stairs, he went to check the two prominent sights in his dream. Neither the hole in the ceiling nor the endless flight of stairs were here, which was good news or not?
Crawling up the stairs, he quickly left the shelter. Watching Jean's figure leave, she remembered about the duel she had with him a few minutes ago.
Though she had wanted it to be an opportunity for both her and him to realise what his new abilities were, it ended with none really going all out. 'Symphony' and then a sneak attack, how lame.
Why was he so confident that he could stop the grade I? Because of his dreams? How daring, he couldn't stop what happened to the Haven and yet he was still so stubborn.
But she trusted him, the person who led the first revolution and the most experienced of them all. She still couldn't shake off the feeling that he was being arrogant though.
Looking around, she could see the Union's members clearly, Erika flipping through the book, Aceso and Iris sleeping next to each other. The meatshield hugging his weapon and the cockroach was running around...like a cockroach.
It didn't look like anything was going to happen to them.
She got up and went to where her followers rested.
***
The sky was of stars, the ground was of stone and sand. It was normal. There were no corpses of any Zirtues, he and Ana had disposed of them well, leaving no opportunity to attract stronger Zirtues.
Unless all of the crabs they had killed until now were of a collective then it would make sense. He then sat down, when the stars were at their brightest, it would mean the sun was at its furthest, in other words, midnight.
He then hummed a song, the silence scared him. This and 'Symphony' was of the same song that was famous quite a long time ago, not that he remembered its name.
Soon, they would have to deal with food problems and that was when Jean predicted the grade I would strike. Still, it wasn't bad to be a little cautious.
The only reason he had made the choice to not tell Erika was that she would try to evacuate all of them first, which would put a massive strain on the more ordinary people.
'Saying more ordinary is such a pain, I'll just call them ordinary.'
The ordinary people had different needs and diets, and in order to have them not die, he had to fulfil those needs and diets. But in doing so would attract stronger Zirtues which would lead to the sights in his dream.
Thinking about it, Jean was convinced that they were still holding a grudge against him for what happened to Haven. And he was not going to let something like that happen a second time.
'...'
Jean stopped humming and started to appreciate the things around him, though it was dry, flat and full of sand, it carried history. Though the sky was of stars that had died long ago, it carried hope, the light from something that was dead travelled so far and so long to reach him.
He would try to be like that light, undying in its resolve. Eventually, the stars grew dark and the sky became bright, day had come.
He dropped back into one of the tubes and was relieved to see nothing had happened to the people. Erika was STILL flipping through the book, Aceso had awoken, Andre was sleeping and Anastasia was with her followers.
The normal people were also getting up.