Nightmare Mythos

'I think that's our cue…'

Cesar and Arnold looked at each other and understood the assignment right away.

It was a tacit understanding to realize what type of situation should they put themselves into and not.

Whatever was about to happen in that castle, it was none of their business.

Both of them looked at Apathy whose eyes were glued to the castle, a sense of familiarity washed over his face.

He then looked back and reminded Cesar, "Good luck on your way out, Sparrow. Again, I'm really thankful for your actions. To give my gratitude for letting me enter this fountain, I'll give you a location that Deceit might be interested in looking,"

Apathy slowly approached the castle gates as he added, "At the South of this world, in the Ten Thousand Slopes that you lowly humans like to call, a Higher Nightmare Creature is trying to use his consciousness as some sort of conduit to produce unimaginable powers. If he's interested in taking back his prior knowledge, that consciousness will be very necessary to regain some important ones,"

Apathy paused the moment he was one step away from entering the castle door. Then, he glanced back.

"Get out, now."

With those words coming from the owner of the dimension himself, Cesar and Arnold hopped into the gaped hole that remained open most of the time of their conversation.

Closing the hole while seeing that Apathy's back already disappeared, Cesar and Arnold began to work.

They went to look out for any nearby vehicles and soon found a desolate situation that they hadn't seen a while ago.

Both their faces churned upon looking at the streets filled with nothing but blood and corpses. They seemed to have been massacred by an entity that Cesar and Arnold wouldn't imagine fighting alone.

'Is it Apathy? Is that Nightmare always good at hiding the madness inside him? Judging the corpses, it belonged to the villagers and some military men…'

Thinking that they had just escaped from one insane Nightmare, their gaze instantly got attracted in one direction where a different kind of corpse presented itself.

A gigantic Nightmare was lying dead with its innards mercilessly cut down.

Such creature that would've been impossible to come at such area was lying dead on the ground.

Cesar and Arnold both looked at each other, not even daring to imagine that made the monster at its death bed.

However, they already had suspicions that it was Apathy' works.

The reason they haven't seen this situation earlier was probably because of the same Nightmare's doing.

By not agitating Cesar and Arnold, he created a fake scenario where every villager must've been away or hidden within their eyes.

That only meant Apathy had been waiting for the whole time which makes every word he uttered earlier right.

Who knows, really?

'That Nightmare… Just how many surprises can he show me?'

Cesar got distracted by his own thinking that Arnold was the one that found a vehicle for them to use.

Arnold starts up the engine before calling Cesar to ride as well.

Leaving the Hidden Village of the huge forestry where the Fountain of Promises is located, Cesar and Arnold set their gazes forward and never looked back.

It was right for them to do so.

After all, the scene that had been once in that area was gone.

There weren't any seas to keep the Fountain of Promises hidden anymore.

…

Leaving the huge forestry, Cesar remained quiet about what happened there.

He could feel the deep sense of curiosity coming from his side. But as long as Arnold didn't ask anything else, Cesar knew he wouldn't entertain him.

Of course, he could've answered to make Arnold satisfied but he knew some secrets had to remain hidden.

But Arnold seemed to respect the boundaries between them.

Just as he had given the piece of advice from Cesar, Arnold understood how keeping the secrets can help a person in case a situation arise.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Hence instead of asking for such sensitive advice, Arnold put his focus back on the current situation of the world.

"We have to be ready if the way between the Revolutionary Army escalated in a way that the Academy could've been already affected,"

Cesar was slightly shaken at first before nodding once.

The situation of the Revolutionary Army had already gone beyond repair.

They have drawn the first blood by carrying out massacres in different parts of the cities in the world, putting everyone's lives in jeopardy.

The Powerhouses would also want them dead as well, which also includes all the traitors in cahoots with them.

Going back to the Academy now might be a long way to go.

"By the way, congrats on becoming a Captain,"

Cesar frowned while slowly looking at Arnold.

Arnold smiled, "Even with a lot of strings attached to the banquet, it was still to reward you for your contribution to humanity. No one must've congratulated you because of how fast the events had transpired in only a couple of weeks so I'm doing it on their behalf,"

Arnold grabbed something from his pocket and handed him over a badge, "This is your credentials in case someone questions your authority. You can say that after the Academy, you'll immediately get this title behind your name. You're an acting captain Cesar now,"

Cesar received the badge but did not believe that Arnold was doing this right now.

But if he was given the badge, Cesar felt like Arnold was forgetting something, along with the rewards he received.

"Now hold on, where the hell is my money?"

Arnold remembered what happened to his supposed money before answering, "Who knows? It must've been under the Castle Hearth's debris now or got burned by the explosion. Anyway, why do you want the money? That badge is the most important thing you can receive as a student right now. No one would believe it hence you're given one to flaunt it around like a trophy,"

Cesar's face cracked as his head slumped.

"My money… burned down…"

Thinking about that notion inside his head repeatedly, Cesar and Arnold made their way towards the nearest city to continue their travels towards the Academy.