[Nick's PoV]
"What do you mean, Avatar of my Nightmare?"
Ethos smiled at the question, though his eyes showed a slight annoyance. Nick really didn't understand anything that was going on–why was he in a room with Fynn, why his father was just down the hall, why a 30-foot-tall giant skeleton boss was suddenly some biker punk.
And frankly, he didn't care because he had to wake up. Juliana was in danger, and she needed him. They were so close to completing their first dungeon, and after all of his powerups, he knew the later ones would be much easier.
Besides, the difficulty of this one was obviously a fluke if the boss had some all high and mighty purpose as an 'Avatar.' Whatever that meant. He didn't even have a tattoo on his head, so it was pretty clear Ethos wasn't all that.
"Well, I think it is quite clear. Though, I am a few eternal cycles old. I've even watched the Tower of Eternity rise and fall multiple times. You are a mere tadpole, so I guess you wouldn't know much. Eh, all in due time."
Nick's face fell as he grew annoyed. Ethos was one of those people that wasted time with riddles. If the game world had a skip dialogue option, he would certainly use it here.
Though he did say something important–that he's watched the Tower of Eternity rise and fall multiple times. In Aether Babes, it was made very clear in the story that when the Tower fell, everything crumbled away.
Which meant that Ethos either didn't know what he was talking about or he didn't really exist.
Nick threw the clipboard to the ground as he said, "If you're only going to waste my time here, let me wake up. Unless you're that scared I'll kill you."
Ethos' eyebrows perked at Nick's threat. Then he made a gesture with his hand and a screen appeared before him.
Nick's status.
"It says here that you are level 5. Pretty close to a transcendent level, but still. So, so far away from being able to kill an Apostle. Heck, you haven't even awoken your Walker heritage yet."
Confusion washed over Nick and mixed with annoyance.
He had to go and kill the rest of the monsters, level up, and save Juliana. But at the same time... Ethos was right that Nick knew next to nothing. A lot of this game was different from what he knew, even if the basic mechanics were similar and exploitable.
An easy example was these 'Walkers.' The only kind of enemy with that title he knew were Endwalkers, and they were named that purely because they were the endgame bosses.
Yet he had some kind of race called a [Dragon Walker], which he didn't question too much at first, thinking it was just some kind of op race only he got. A normal cheat that would be found in these crazy worlds so that the protagonist could be a self-insert powerful macho man typa thing.
Apparently, there were more of these op Walker things, though, if it was described as a heritage.
The truth was, there were so many things different from the game he knew that it was probably best to learn now rather than later. Even if he was in a hurry to wake up.
He didn't even know how he got there, so nothing suggested he could just come to this place on a whim. It was even called a Nightmare–something that only came at the worst times.
Ethos smiled as he walked past Nick, hands tucked in his pocket. He stopped by Fynn's deathbed and said, "Soldiers are quite the oddity, aren't they? They don't have quite the power of their mentor, nor do they have the knowledge of an Apostle. Still, they have quite the fascinating quality of tenacity, wouldn't you agree?"
Nick didn't move from his spot, but he absorbed every word Ethos said all the same. "He's more than just a soldier. He was a comrade, could've been a friend."
Ethos cackled. "Friend? No, my liege. He's a soldier, through and through. All he knew was fighting, all his world knows is fighting. All any world knows is fighting. Don't piss on the dead by imposing your own ideals. He is a soldier, and a damn good one at that."
Nick fell silent against Ethos' words, unable to silence the messenger. Its very existence revolved around words, so it was only natural such a being could hold authority against even an Emperor.
"For now, your Nightmare will only see his reflection as pained and filled witb strife. In time though, you will learn. In the Aether, his true resting place, he's found peace."
Nick looked out of the room, to the place he was told his father was at. "So this isn't real. I can't speak with my father?"
"You can speak to your reflection of him. His true soul though... no. I'm afraid you can't. What would you say, anyways?"
What would he say?
His father had been dead for years at this point. Instead of becoming a doctor like he had promised, Nick squandered away the rest of his first life with games. Falling into depression basically spat in the face of all of his father's dreams for his son.
There was nothing he could say that would make him proud, not yet. And he had already said his goodbyes.
"I'd like to leave now."
Ethos laughed again.
"Then leave."
Leave? He wasn't being held here?
"It's your Nightmare. You can come and go whenever. The only question is, if you are truly willing. Ah, but you aren't completely willing right now, are you? The unknown scares you just as much as your friends dying then?"
Nick stood rigid, wishing he could deny such a claim but unable to all the same.
Ethos laughed a final time before saying, "Well, I think Juliana can handle a messenger's messenger. My liege, what would you like to know?"