The Gray One

"H-h-how--?!" Eva stammered as she retreated from Arimane's touch. "Y-y-you—!"

"Calm down," he snickered. "You're going to bite your tongue."

"As if that alone could make this worse!" She retorted reflexively. "Ah…" She promptly covered her mouth and ran behind Rakna. She stuck her head from behind the therian's back and glared.

"What? You're not going to question me anymore?" Arimane laughed and eventually turned his attention toward his nephew. "Well, Rakna, good to see you," he smiled. "You grew up nicely."

Rakna shook his head wryly. "This is the third time for me though."

"So it seems," the Kind Demon grinned and extended his hand forward. On cue, a shadowy aura bubbled up on top of Rakna's chest and ejected something from inside his soul. The latter didn't even have time to blink before it was over.

Arimane, on the other hand, caught the object; a book bearing his name. "What a great catalyst you made," he commented, absorbing the book through his palm.

"That…" Rakna narrowed his eyes. That was the 'biography' written by Fray. The very same that had caused a specter to manifest in his Soul Realm and convey the foretelling of his death.

With closed eyes, Arimane hummed quietly. "I see," he nodded and opened his eyes. "I'm caught up to everything now."

"…did you, by any chance, just peek at everything I've done since I got that book?"

"Indeed," the god smirked. "Absolutely everything. Congratulations."

"…"

"Hahaha, no need to make that face. My incarnations already took care of teasing you, I won't do it again. I'm not that boring of a person," Arimane shrugged. "By the way, I'm going to clarify this upfront; the last lines of that book are not my own prediction," he added more seriously.

"The Inner Echo also said he didn't have that kind of information," Rakna supplemented.

"Mhm," the silver-eyed man hummed positively. "The answer lies in Nyx. Or to be exact, it has to do with Tiamat. When helping Kim Shin-Woo return in time, she kept some of the 'timeline' with herself. It synchronized with the vision you showed to that girl and 'updated' the book."

Arimane rubbed his chin for a moment. "Oh, well, it's not that important. Most importantly, that time rewind must have been my handiwork too to some extent ," he grinned. "I managed to push back a soul into the timeline of a singularity buried deep in Meuro… damn, I'm good."

Rakna rolled his eyes. "Of course, you'd consider that more important."

"Marginally, yes."

"…I'm not the only one who changed here," the therian said. "I don't think I have ever seen you so… normal," he uttered. It was hard to tell for people who didn't know him, but this version of Arimane was definitely unlike the Inner Echo trial.

The man in question blinked a few times before chuckling. "Hey, you can't blame me. That vision of me you fought was created by your outdated perception. Back on Earth, during those times, I was still half-insane," he snorted as if his words were somehow amusing.

"…"

"Well, awkward topics aside," Arimane tilted his head. "We don't have much time to ourselves so let's make this more productive, shall we?"

"What do you mean? Are we in a hurry?" Rakna retorted in confusion.

"If it was up to me, no. But unfortunately, you are saddled with a lot of troublesome things right now," Arimane shook his head. "First of all… let's deal with the Dream 'he' gave you. Breksta, you can come out."

"Who--"

"Hello!" Before Rakna could ask who that was, a pleasant feminine voice echoed behind him and someone's hands fell on his shoulders.

"Eh!?" Eva was startled at the newcomer who leaned down to look at Rakna from the side.

It was an exceptionally charming girl with long ash-blonde hair. Her pink eyes were misty, as if covered in fog, but were simultaneously filled with life. She smiled brightly. "We are Breksta. We have heard much about you from Arima," she spoke happily.

Rakna gawked at her in pure confusion. "…uh?"

"We can feel the good dreams embracing you," she continued unabated. She put her arms behind her back and twirled on her bare feet to face him. "Your nightmares lay defeated," she said with a soft smile. "We are happy for you."

While Rakna and Eva were still stunned, Arimane cleared his throat. "Let me introduce you. She is called Breksta; it's a name I've given her. Her true identity is the Dream World's Will. But to be exact, the more common term would be 'Dream Realm'."

"…you mean…" The therian's expression twitched. "Those… 'Realms', with a capital 'R'? The only frame of reality that is supposedly perfect…?"

"Exactly," Arimane grinned. "Most of the Realms have what we call a 'Will' or a 'Lynchpin'. That is to say; a leader. They are, usually, naturally occurring consciousnesses. Breksta is essentially a sentient amalgam of dreams born at the center of the Dream Realm."

"…" Rakna silently observed the woman who beamed at him.

"Ah!" Eva suddenly exclaimed in realization, standing up and pointing accusingly at Breksta. "It's you, isn't it?! You're the one who detected us! I knew the Kind Demon couldn't find us so fast!"

Breksta nodded. "Yes, we sensed the Dream of our Guardian in you," she explained cheerfully. "It is rare, you know? We have never seen our Guardian bestow anything unto others."

"Your Guardian…? Don't tell me…" Rakna furrowed his eyebrows.

"Azathoth," Arimane interjected simply and everyone looked at him. "Breksta found you because of the Dream he exchanged with you."

"What do you mean by Guardian though? I mean, I understand the idea of sharing the concept of 'dreams', but how is that thing a guardian? He doesn't strike me as a creature willing to protect."

"Hm, well, it's a bit of a complicated topic," the god raised one finger. "But to be brief, it has to do with the definition of an Outer God. You probably don't know how they're born, do you?"

"No."

"Simply put, Outer Gods are like shadows," Arimane stated. "The shadows of the Greater Realms, that is. Imagine that each Realm casts a shadow on an imaginary plane. From there, an Outer God emerges. Due to their identical causes of birth, they're symbolically siblings."

Rakna scowled. "Does that mean there are as many Outer Gods as there are Realms?"

Arimane shook his head. "It's more nuanced than that. For example, Azathoth is special amongst Outer Gods since he is the combined shadow of both 'Dream' and 'Nightmare'. But, yes, generally speaking, each Realm has an affiliate Outer God. But don't mistake them for being subordinated. They have no duties toward their respective Realms; they're widely independent."

"Then why 'Guardian'?"

"Because they're still the first line of defense," Arimane answered. "Their life is tied to the Realm they were born from. In that regard, Azathoth is in a comfortable spot. He has two lifelines. Not to mention the Dreams and Nightmares are interdependent and mutually self-replicating."

"But that's the exception," he added. "All Outer Gods ultimately default to protecting their Realm if it's threatened by an external force. They would die if they let it happen, after all. Outer Gods they may be, but they can't escape their self-preservation instinct. Even if the enemy happens to be someone like me, who can fight them head-on, their only choice is to act in defense."

"…okay. Thanks for explaining that, I guess," Rakna uttered and looked at Breksta. "But… what is she here to do?"

"Nothing scary," Breksta smiled. "The Dream you own must be assuaged. We are going to make it fully yours. Please leave it to us." She extended her hand as if requesting his in return.

After a brief hesitancy, the therian silently placed his hand in hers. Without delay, something of indescribable profoundness caressed his soul. He stiffened slightly in surprise, but nothing close to discomfort.

It felt like she was carefully tying a string around a foreign force inside of him. Then, she fished it up to the surface of his soul before gluing them together. Just like that, she gently established an invisible link between the Dream and his Soul.

"It is done," Breksta said with a bright expression and let go of his hand.

Rakna didn't reply right away. Instead, he stared at his palm intently and a sense of déjà vu made his lips twitch. Currently, an open eyeball incrusted in his hand was staring back. It had a shining black outline, a purple whirlpool for an iris, and a familiar golden cross streaked by a red line.

Before he could ask anything about it, the eye closed as if going to sleep, and not a single trace of it was left on his skin. He tentatively closed his fist a few times and probed the 'connection'.

It had felt like an alien object when Azathoth gave it to him; now it truly was a part of him. It was still incredible to him that a miniature world could be 'owned' so casually though.

"Ugh, another annoying thing to parse," Eva was the first to say something about it. "At least, it's somewhat possible to encode," she sighed. "Really. If you accumulate too much off-encode data, you'll turn into a glitch, big brother. Be careful."

Rakna raised an eyebrow at her. "Should I be worried?"

"I don't know. It never happened at your scale before," she deadpanned.

"…"

Arimane snorted. "Bicker later. There is one more thing to be done," he said and caught both of their attention. "Young miss, how long till you can bring Rakna back to the System?"

"Eh? Me?" Eva exclaimed. "Um…" She looked down briefly. "Roughly one more minute?"

"Hm…" The god narrowed his eyes and glanced at Breksta. "What do you think?"

"It should be fine," she responded with a serious tone. "The Gray One operates meticulously. So much so it borders pedanticism. The chances they will act with you here are low."

"Then—"

"Wait…!" Eva interrupted Arimane, her eyes suddenly shaking. "I'm losing bandwidth!" She stood up nervously, her hands swiping several times across her terminals. "Something is jamming my signal!"

Arimane's expression immediately darkened as he also began to sense it. "Well, damn. You were saying?" He threw a wry grin at Breksta who could only purse her lips uneasily.

Rakna stood up as well and looked around. "…I'm not going to lie. Ever since I landed here, it felt like something was prodding at me nonstop. I initially thought it was you, old man, but changed my mind when you appeared."

"Heh," Arimane smirked. "Your intuition is as freaky as ever."

"So? What's the other reason you're here?"

The god chuckled and casually took a lollipop out of his inner pocket. He ignored the blank and exasperated look of his nephew at that and popped it into his mouth. "You know, I wonder if luck is actually on your side or not," he eventually said. "Yet, the World loves you. That's for sure."

Arimane closed his eyes afterward as if listening to something. "Krynox told me that Luck is not granted because the World wants an individual to succeed. Karma, in general, is a value of your potential future; Luck is granted based on that. But there's a caveat. Luck is solely given to those who need it."

"Krynox… I've heard that name before," Rakna muttered.

Arimane chuckled. "He's happy to hear it. Krynox is a 'Will' too, by the way. But he's a far more complex entity overall, so let's not waste time on that."

"…"

"That said; back to what I was saying. Take me for example. My Karma is basically negative. My current power is built over the life force of my enemies and sheer conquest. I never needed luck; therefore, I don't have any. It's fascinating, really. Those who don't need it are abandoned."

The therian scowled. "So… my luck is a result of the World, what, hoping I survive my future?"

"Pretty much. Heck, having me as your relative might be your luck as well."

"Right. But why are you rambling to me about this?"

"I'm just saying," Arimane shrugged and glanced to the right from the corner of his eyes. "It's no wonder you need that much luck… when you're ill-fated enough to brush shoulders with three Outer Gods in the span of a day and have one of them chase you."

"Wha…?"

Rakna didn't even have time to digest those words before the scenery abruptly changed. In the blink of an eye, the verdant planet turned 'gray'. There was no warning, no gradual progression, and not a single noise.

No other color was to be found anywhere else other than on Rakna. Even Arimane himself was grayed out by the phenomenon, though it didn't seem to affect him negatively. The therian stuck out like a sore thumb on the other hand, like some poorly colored character in a black and white photo.

Arimane had shed his smile and replaced it with a straight line. Breksta's expression was distant and filled with tension. Eva was beyond terrified, but Rakna was… unaffected.

The Madness knocked on the door of his sanity and sealed away any possible fear.

He knew exactly what kind of being was causing this now. Slowly, the therian looked at what his uncle was observing and he trembled. He had been prepared to protect his mind from harm, but what he got instead was a harmless but disturbing sight.

It was himself. It was an exact, grayscale copy of himself. The insipid color only varied in shade to match the clothes he wore, but it never reached a true black or white.

And most importantly… its face was missing. This imitation was perfect down to the last strand of hair, yet the face was a harrowing vision of horror. It was a sunken skull, with bottomless eye sockets full of gray mist.

But Rakna couldn't possibly describe it as a skull and stop there. Because those weren't bones at all. They had no cracks; the jaw was not hollow; the nose blended with its vicinity; and the teeth seemed to be fused to the bone instead of attached. There was only one way to say it; it was as if the flesh on this thing's face had been shaped like a skull.

The copy's head rotated mechanically and aligned its 'eyes' with Rakna's.

"This is what you lured here," Arimane spoke up, his voice strangely accompanied by white noise in this grayed environment. "The Gray One... Outer God of Death."