Caius’ POV
Leona’s strange words echoed in the quiet room, while Elliot and I remained frozen in our places for a few moments.
A few moments were enough for something to click in my head.
I stared at the terrified girl in front of me, who seemed to be slowly regaining her sense of reality, her breathing becoming more stable.
"Was it another vision?" I asked calmly, waiting for her answer.
It only took a few moments.
"Yes."
Finally, her voice carried some rationality.
So that’s how she got out of the Nightmare Flower’s effect... but even so, it was still strange.
I mean, Leona hasn’t even reached Rank 3 yet, so she shouldn’t be able to break free from it with a vision... or maybe she can.
I don’t know.
But one thing was certain—this vision wasn’t good, and she had awakened.
From beside me, Elliot’s voice slipped out hesitantly.
"What did you see?"
A strong tremor passed through her body, but she quickly pulled herself together to answer.
She raised her hand and wiped the tears from her eyes before looking at me with her blue eyes.
There, I saw it.
Fear rooted deep within her... pure fear.
"I don’t know... the world, our whole world ended."
She bit her lip hard, trying to suppress the fear and stay calm.
"And everything died."
Silence.
Silence filled the dimly lit room once again.
The only sounds were the mixture of wind and rain outside.
And the loud rumble of thunder.
"A-Are you sure?" Elliot asked, his voice filled with doubt.
She shook her head, her soft and hesitant voice recounting what happened.
"I don’t know... I was in a dream where I returned home and met my parents."
"Then I stood in the garden watching some strange blue flowers... until they withered in my hand."
Her body trembled as she recalled the feeling.
"Then I found myself in another place... I don’t know, but I felt like it was our world."
She bit her lip, thin lines of blood forming on it. She stayed silent for a few moments, and we didn’t rush her.
In the end, she continued on her own.
"There I saw... everything drowning in blood, and something killed every living being... even things we’ve never seen or heard of before were there."
I frowned as I listened to this ominous vision from this seer.
In the game, Leona’s visions were among the most accurate in the world... so most of what she saw eventually came true.
What a mess.
A storm preventing us from moving, a Nightmare Flower trapping the other three...
And now an ominous vision that left Leona in this state.
"W-What... or who did that?" Elliot asked, his voice carrying a hint of fear this time.
The trembling returned to Leona.
"I don’t know... I couldn’t see it."
From the side, I heard Elliot swallow hard, not knowing what to say or do, while Leona fell silent again, her eyes losing focus.
With a long sigh, I pushed myself to my feet and clapped my hands.
The sharp sound echoed through the small room, snapping the two of them out of their daze as they looked at me.
"Alright... alright, don’t stay like that."
I focused my gaze on Leona.
"Just because your first vision happened doesn’t mean the second one will... at least not anytime soon."
"And we have things to deal with right now if you don’t want something bad to happen to your friends."
At my words, Leona turned her head toward Izel and Ellen, who were lying nearby, as if she was only now realizing their sleep wasn’t normal.
"Why... what’s happening?"
I gave her a brief summary of the others’ condition.
That helped her regain herself a little and snap out of that state.
"All you have to do is stay here and guard them while Elliot and I go deal with that thing."
Now that Leona was awake, there was no need to take the risk of going alone... after all, I wasn’t even sure I could kill it myself.
Leona nodded without hesitation, finally focusing on the problem at hand.
"...I will. Just be careful."
I nodded as I turned, reaching out to grab Elliot, who still seemed lost in his thoughts.
I grabbed his shoulder and dragged him with me.
"Come on, don’t just stand there frozen."
As we left the room, I glanced back at Leona and left a few words behind.
"Don’t tell the others about that vision if they wake up... we’ll talk about it later."
With that, Elliot and I left, leaving Leona behind to guard the place.
We walked through the dark corridor, our footsteps drowned by the storm.
Beside me, Elliot stayed silent until we reached the broken wall at the end.
"What do you think about what Leona saw?"
I stared at the raging storm outside.
"It doesn’t matter. Whether it’s death or fate, both are inevitable... what is meant to happen will happen no matter what we do."
"Whether we know about it or not... it changes nothing. Only strength does."
Beside me, Elliot seemed deep in thought.
"You accept that too... just like that?"
I shrugged.
"It’s just a vision. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the future."
He turned to me.
"What do you mean?"
"Leona still doesn’t fully understand her power. Maybe that vision doesn’t represent our future at all, but she thinks it does because of what happened before in Asfaria."
I sighed, feeling Leona finally stand up behind us.
"Doesn’t matter. Let’s deal with this small problem first."
With those words, I jumped outside, feeling the heavy rain slam into my body and soak my clothes in an instant before my feet landed on a large piece of debris.
The moment I landed, I was completely drenched, while the strong winds battered my body.
In the next moment, Elliot landed beside me, his voice cutting through the storm.
"Where do we start?"
I pointed forward.
"It doesn’t really matter."
Essence surged through my body as I stepped forward, Elliot moving alongside me.
We ran across the ruins, jumping over the streams of water formed by the heavy rain.
The plan was simple.
Sweep the surrounding area with my senses until we found what we were looking for.
Neither of us spoke as we pushed through the storm. Occasionally, the world lit up around us as thunder roared.
Even though I appeared indifferent to Leona’s vision, that was only because I had a rough idea of what she saw.
After all... her description matched only one entity.
...
At the place where Caius and Elliot had jumped, Leona stood staring at the raging storm ahead.
The traces of tears had disappeared from her face after she washed it to wake herself up.
Although she had calmed down now and the effect of the vision had faded, her thoughts kept returning to what she saw.
Especially one thing.
The thing that made her react like that before... the thing that planted that fear inside her.
The same entity she couldn’t see.
But in the final moments before the vision ended...
She felt as if it looked directly at her.
As if it saw her.
Under the roaring storm, a faint whisper escaped her lips.
"Golden."
...
While Leona guarded her companions, Elliot and Caius ran through the surrounding areas searching for the Nightmare Flower.
At the same time, inside the others, the cycle of nightmares continued to progress and change.
Under the night sky, smoke rose into the air as red flames erupted, devouring the familiar building.
The same hospital where Kyle’s sister... Mia... was staying.
Kyle had just arrived, watching the hospital burn, fear filling his face—shock and pure terror.
In the next moment, he lost his composure, rushing through the crowd toward the entrance.
"Mia..."
He ran straight into the flames, his essence-enhanced body breaking through the wall of fire.
Beyond it, smoke filled the place, making breathing nearly impossible, while flames consumed the walls.
But Kyle ignored the burns forming on his skin, covering his mouth as he endured the burning in his lungs and rushed inside.
Until he reached a familiar place... the reception desk.
There was the kind receptionist.
The woman who had always taken care of him and his sister.
But this time, her smile was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, her body was thrown near a wall, red flames devouring half of it, burning it in a horrific way.
Kyle gritted his teeth, his heart sinking deeper than ever.
Without hesitation, he kept moving forward, pushing through the flames until he reached the room he was looking for.
Along the way, he was burned multiple times, his body covered in wounds, but he ignored it.
Because the sound he heard made him wish the ground would shatter and swallow him whole.
It was his little sister’s screams as the flames devoured her alive right before his eyes.
A scream that tore through the air itself.
A scream that made every hair on his body stand on end and shattered every thought in his mind.
"MIAAAAAAA!"