Chapter 48: Dreaming in the Battlefield
Aeon found himself in a dark space.
He looked left and right, but he couldn't see an end to it. There was absolutely nothing there except an empty plane. He tried to yell, to call out to Suri and the others, but when he opened his mouth, he realized that he couldn't make any noise, or at least he couldn't hear himself. He struggled to scream as loud as he could, but he failed again and again.
Ultimately, he decided to move forward. He picked a random direction and started walking.
An hour passed.
Then two…
Then three.
Aeon stopped. He couldn't see himself progressing. It seemed like he was stuck in a loop. But what was he supposed to do? Is there any point in moving? When Aeon was about to give up, he suddenly saw a light shine. Aeon beamed with joy! He rushed towards the light as fast as he could and it continued to grow bigger and bigger. Indeed, he was moving.
He got as close as he possibly could and squinted in order to avoid being blinded by the bright light. After a few moments, however, he realized that he couldn't feel any pain in his eyes. The light had no effect on him. He stopped squinting and stared directly at the huge sphere of light in front of him.
Now that Aeon thought about it, there was nothing special about the thing. It was just a sphere of light. Nothing more, nothing less. He tried touching it as well, but as his fingers touched the sphere, he felt nothing. He was about to move forward when he suddenly felt a faint feeling of familiarity with the sphere. He felt like he knew the sphere. Like he had seen the sphere somewhere before. He just couldn't put a finger on it.
Aeon shook his head. There was no meaning in staying together with the sphere if it had no way of helping him escape the dark place. Now that he knew he was moving forward, Aeon continued walking. Strangely, he felt peace in the dark space. No matter how long he walked, he did not feel impatient. Also, he did not feel tired.
After another three hours, he saw another ball of light. Just like before, he approached the sphere and touched it. The strange familiarity was also there, just like before. For some reason, Aeon could tell that he was now touching a different sphere of light, even though they looked completely the same. Again, he left it and carried on.
Aeon repeated the process patiently seven more times.
Currently, a sphere was by his side, silently glowing. He had now touched nine spheres of light in total.
Suddenly, he thought about something. He screamed at the top of his lungs, but, as always, it didn't make any sound. He didn't care though. He was like a child who suddenly found out about a mystery. He moved away from the sphere, and instead of walking, he started running. For the first time in more than an entire day of walking, he felt impatient.
Because he realized what the spheres signified.
From another perspective, this should have been completely obvious. But when the person himself is dreaming, everything becomes natural. Nothing would look completely out of place despite how impossible things could be.
In a sense, Aeon had just woken up.
The dark space was his body. He was trapped in his own consciousness, only aware of his own current state.
The spheres of light were the hooks for his Tenro. He needed to find his heart in the dark space and take out the thread. He wanted to see what would happen to his own body if he connected them himself.
He knew the direction towards his heart. It was simple! He just needed to deduce its location based on the spheres he passed by earlier.
He ran and ran, passing by several other spheres. He smiled as he touched them with mirth. He realized that it wasn't just him moving. The ground was also moving in order to assist him in his travel.
After some time, he couldn't touch the spheres anymore. He could only catch glimpses of them. They would appear and disappear from his vision because he was already moving at an extreme speed. Aeon laughed as he marveled at the dark space that he thought was his cage.
After only a few minutes, Aeon saw his heart. Well, it did not appear to be his heart, but he was certain that it was.
It was another sphere of light. It was just... a lot bigger. One could even describe it as enormous. Also, it had an extra feature to it. There was a long thread floating around the sphere of light, appearing to be safeguarding it, but only one part of the thread touched the sphere — its end. The thread moved slowly and fluidly as if it was underwater.
Aeon smiled crookedly. He didn't imagine the thread to be so huge and thick. It was at least as thick as his torso. Slowly, Aeon approached the heart. He went past the thread and entered its domain. Gently, he extended a hand towards the sphere of light known as his heart.
The moment his finger touched the sphere, the most amazing thing happened.
The thread stopped moving altogether, and it started glowing brightly. But just like earlier, no matter how bright its glow was, it had no effect on Aeon. Aeon was able to witness the entire thing. After the bright glow reached its peak, the thread expanded outwards, increasing the size of its domain. It just continued expanding and expanding.
Just when Aeon thought that the thread would snap, it suddenly shrunk, compressing towards the sphere. A criss-cross of the thread passed right through Aeon's body, but it didn't cause him any harm.
After the phenomenon, the thread disappeared.
Once more, Aeon looked at the sphere. He cocked his head to the side when he noticed nothing different about it. Aeon felt completely disappointed. He was about to turn around when he suddenly saw something move towards him.
From the center of the sphere, something black emerged.
It was the thread, but it completely lost its glow.
Aeon felt a hint of sadness when he saw it move. He slowly reached for the thread. Unlike his previous encounters with the sphere, instead of touching its surface. his hand went right through. His hand inched closer towards the black thread, and finally, they touched.
He pulled on it.
A sense of peace and calm overwhelmed his entire body.
Aeon retracted his hand out of the sphere. The thread was still in his own hands, but after a few moments, it started hovering above his head. He looked at it for quite a bit before he ran back. He needed to tie it on the first sphere of light. Before leaving, however, he gave his heart one last look, then his thread. He noticed that the thread was just floating, following him wherever he went.
Suddenly, the world quaked. Aeon lost his balance, and he fell to the ground. When the shaking finally settled, and the world resumed to its previous peace, he stood up. A sudden sense of urgency overtook his consciousness and he rushed towards the first sphere. Without even needing to think, he headed towards it.
Aeon saw the sphere in just a few seconds. He was already used to moving at extremely high speed in his own consciousness. When he encountered the sphere, however, instead of reaching for the thread and tying it on the sphere, he reached for the sphere first. The sphere shrunk and hovered in front of Aeon's palm. He gently closed his hand, taking hold of the small sphere. He grabbed it and placed it on his chest.
The sphere of light integrated with his body. Before Aeon even realized what he was doing, the deed was already done. He didn't know what happened, but he felt that it was the right thing to do. He carried on to the next sphere.
Then the next.
Then the one after that.
Aeon moved at the speed of light, but it did not seem to be hindering his progress. Every sphere he passed by, he grabbed using one hand then he pressed it on his chest. He did not miss even one of them, and everything was done in order.
When Aeon reached the 239th sphere of light, he slowed down. He wanted to cherish the moment. Once again, with practiced movements, Aeon reached for the sphere, grabbed it, and pressed it on his chest.
Aeon smiled and he looked up towards the roof of the dark place, where there was just an empty void. He expected it to suddenly light up. He expected himself to finally exit the dark space known as his consciousness.
But…
Nothing happened.
Aeon felt dread.
What was he supposed to do now?
Aeon felt like going back towards his heart, but when he faced ahead of him, instead of facing endless darkness, he saw…
He saw light!
Impossible! He didn't miscalculate the number of spheres he touched. He was sure that the last one he touched was the 239th. He thought about a possibility but immediately dismissed it as impossible. But now that he was in the situation, shouldn't he at least try?
He moved forward, but he didn't touch the first light he encountered. He went straight towards the sphere that was calling for him. One that he did not recognize. He grabbed it and pressed on his own chest. Aeon did not feel resistance or anything. It integrated just right.
Then, he felt another sphere calling for him. He looked around. After pinpointing its direction, Aeon rushed towards it.
He took it, too!
Then the same thing happened after that, another one called for him.
Then another!
Then another!
Then another!
After grabbing the 464th sphere, time slowed.
The dark space exploded into bright light, covering Aeon's entire field of view! All he could see was white, white, and more white!
….
Suddenly, both his hands moved, grabbing his swords, Verdure and Zephyr.
He cut the rope that bound him.
He stepped on the ground, twisted, went past the falling Suri, and slashed at the gigantic leopard who had its mouth wide opened.
Shing! Shing!
A horizontal slash with Verdure!
A vertical one with Zephyr!
The force of Aeon's slashes blew the grass away.
Two sword lights flashed through the air, slicing the body of the leopard in four parts.
Aeon looked back, both his swords by his side, "sorry I'm late."
His eyes exuded a new kind of sharpness.
….
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone