The only way out of here is to let the world burn.
There was chaos. Nephis was surrounded by enemies from all her sides. A monster ones and a human ones, it didn't matter, she sliced and burned them all. But to no avail. Regardless how many she had killed and how much she had grown stronger, she couldn't see the end of them. It was as if for each foe she had slayed, two more came to its place – stronger and more cunning, than the previous one. And yet, regardless of the circumstances, she kept fighting, because that was all she had left. She was alone.
Right?
She turned her head over. There stood a blurry silhouette of a person right by her side. Her pupils dilated and her mouth slightly opened.
"Su- "
And then she woke up.
The first thing that she registered was an armored ceiling, which would look completely mundane, if not for the fact that such things weren't supposed to be in the dream realm at all.
She instinctually tensed up and tried to make out her surroundings, but something was preventing her from moving. There was something very wrong with this whole situation. Moreover, her memories were in a mess. For example, she could by no means recall what had happened right before she woke up.
"Huh? Quite energetic, right after the morning. Well… maybe it's already afternoon, but who cares." resounded behind her a male voice.
She turned her head after the sarcastic guy, but he was out of her field of vision. How did they even manage to bind her? Had Asterion his fingers in it, or was there yet another hidden force in this world, about which they didn't have any idea? But unless it had been divine being, Cassie should have sensed at least something. There were so many questions, but almost no answers.
While she was contemplating, whether she should try to burn this whole place down, or to wait little more, the man came to her and unbound her. Nephis was so perplexed by the absurdity of this whole situation, that she only managed to stare at him emotionlessly.
Weirdly, it gave her a strong sense of déjà vu.
The man looked like he was somewhere between his late 20s and early 30s. He had short dark brown hair and an unkempt beard. The most distinctive feature of his face was a big hawk nose. Although he couldn't be compared to an average saint, his looks weren't bad at all. He wore an outdated government uniform and insignia with two stars on his left sleeve.
"Welcome to the real world, sleeper. Hope you had sweet dreams, since from now on, everything will be nightmare. But… who knows, maybe if you're lucky, you'll die quickly enough to not realize what's happening."
Wait, sleeper?!
Nephis had finally realized why everything seemed so familiar to her.
This is… exactly like after my first nightmare. But h-how? And why? Is this a dream or reality? Was she transported here by some mysterious aspect? If so, what had happened with everybody else? There are so many questions and almost no answers.
Although she had still looked calm on the outside, she was slowly starting to freak out. Honestly, it took almost all her self-control to not break out of this police station and start searching for her friends.
She had to calm herself down. If she wanted to save anything, she couldn't lose her rationality.
After settling her thoughts, she sat up. She had a slight problem with moving her body, since she was accosted to its older, supreme version of it. The change wasn't great like in the body of Nethers child, but it was still noticeable.
"Hey! Are you even listening to me?"
Nephis blinked, pulled out of her thoughts and turned her head on the awakened.
"No," she answered with a deadpan expression.
"What are- Nevermind," the man sighed resignedly. "Lisen girl, I understand you had it hard, we all did, but you need to realize, that the world doesn't rotate around you. Also, I was watching you for straight three days, so I want to get over with it quickly."
Wow, is that really good way of dealing with a child who just probably went through a traumatizing experience?
But why does it feel that there is still something missing?
Although Nephis had her doubts about the professionalism of the grumbling Awakened, she did as he said and didn't delay him for too long. After the short administrations and a little rest, the Awakened dropped her off in front of the red gates of the academy.
He didn't even bother to give me his name. Well… Whatever, it is not that I needed to know it.
There was a lot to think about.
She summoned her runes and held her breath. It was exactly the same as it had been 15 years ago. But after a second glance she realized that she had gotten a new attribute.
Attributes: [Dreamspawn], [Nephilim], [Flame of Divinity], [The Fire], [Dream On]
[Dream On] Attribute Description: "Good luck, Nephis."
She was staring at the attribute in bewilderment.
What? Does that mean the Spell wishes me good luck? I mean, that is preposterous. Why would it even want to wish me good luck out of all things? My luck has always been terrible, thank you for asking. Or was it perhaps somebody else who wrote that message? But how? And why?
She was so immersed in her thoughts; she didn't even realize that another PTV made its way in front of the gate until it abruptly stopped nearly a meter behind her.
Is every awakened working for the government so irresponsible, or am I always running into the most defective ones? The previous one at least could drive-
Before Nephis could continue in her analysis, the door of the PTV opened and its passenger stepped out. He was a diminutive teen, with dark cautious eyes. His hair was dark and messy, and he wore the same police-issued tracksuit as her. Right now, he was anxiously looking around as though he didn't want to be here at all.
As she was looking at the young boy, her hands started shaking. She finally remembered.