chapter 26: Two distant but related dreams

"Ahhhhh…." A sigh was all that was able to come out of mouth. After all what happened, I understood nothing of it and normally I wouldn't let this bum me out but for today I'll let it happen.

What lay Infront me was a white ceiling and by the brightness that stung me eyes when I opened them, I could only assume it was day, or that someone was flashing a light in my eyes. A part of me wanted it to be the second option just for the laughs.

It was the first though. Sitting straight up the first thing I did was to examine my physical and mental condition and as expected, well not really expected, I was stronger than before both physically and mentally, I felt I could handle more than what I usually could.

'I guess witnessing my death through foresight and nature and then proceeding to ignore the backlash and active backflow and a spell as well as maintaining it, contributed.' Who am I kidding? Of course, what I went through would make me stronger, as long as I lived afterwards that is.

These thoughts belonged to none other than Nobe. And yes, he too has these kinds of thoughts after all as a time user he has seen a lot of things.

'The fact that I lived means that Jethro did something to me, after all that my body was about to kill itself, as for my mind not much was done with it during all that after all nature handled everything for me, so I rule out the possibility of random mental trauma although physical trauma is still up for guesses'

A habit Nobe had developed was one of focusing on entirely himself after a fight or anything that would have him resort to time spells. One may think this is normal for anyone, it is but when Nobe does it it's a bit different. He considers possible problems that he may come too if he was damaged or drained during a fight and this led him to plan for his actions until he's 100% sure there are no problems with his mind and body.

It provides him a goal and since his survival is at stake he really can't fuck it up. When others usually do this they do focus on themselves, but their thoughts begin to waver depending on their situation while some tend to not bother at all. Even if there is a reward right in front of him, he shall first finish a full diagnosis of himself, his condition, and surroundings, since one can never be too sure and after all, he has all the time he needs.

Naturally Nobe's habit kicked in again, since his condition was normal, not much was to be considered there and he also knew that he was still in school grounds and that put him at ease. Next was where he was. It was clearly obvious that he wasn't in his dorm room since that had a dome for a ceiling.

'A bit too flamboyant now that I think about it.'

Finally turning his head around, he found himself in a normal bedroom, 'probably in an apartment.' He thought. Confused on why he was here and who brought him here, he a calm beautiful voice rung from the other side of the door.

"If you're awake you should come out, I made breakfast."

With just the sound of the voice, Nobe begun imagining things, how she would look, her age, height, tendencies, likes and dislikes. It wasn't something he would normally even think of or even consider but a random thought sprouted in his head that solidified the more he thought of it.

'A sound user?'

Such a thought wasn't ungrounded, after all sound users are able to invoke emotions in a person with their voice alone and another thing there are famous for is manipulation. Since it's hard to detect the mana invoked into sound, they are able to subtly change one's emotion for their liking.

'So now I have to watch out for a sound user? Great. Well since I'm in good shape I might as well use this.'

Nobe raised his hands and hovered them on his hears, more specifically his fingers and proceeded to twist his hands. A magic circle soon appeared hovering close to his ears then disappeared, since it's the mana that's invoked in sound that affects one's emotions or mood, Nobe decided he would use a spell that he would slow down the mana around his ears to the point of stopping. With this whoever's voice that was wouldn't affect him as much.

'I do kinda feel bad though, she hasn't shown any hostility towards me and here I am doing something like this. But as Averi said, 'you won't be able to feel bad if you're dead'.'

Slowly getting out of bed, Nobe check if was wearing something and luckily he was, though it wasn't what he was wearing before he was happy that he had clothes on either way. Slowly Nobe approached the door, it was white in color with a golden handle but what stood out most of the door was its design.

On it was the intricate design of a tree colored in gold like the handle, its stem was thick and tall, below it was its roots that encompassed the entire base of the door and at the top was its canopy that encompassed the entire top of the door, multiple leaves were depicted fall off, but not a lot and from the depiction Nobe guessed that the season was more of spring than it was fall but he also had some doubts.

Taking a minute to admire the beauty of the door, Nobe thought in admiration, 'What a beautiful door, the one who made it must have put a lot of time and effort in this, it's so detailed I wonder how much it cost.'

After his staring Nobe reached for the handle and pushed. A strong current of wind pushed against his face a long with the leaves that it carried, what lay behind the door was a grassy field that stretched far, in what he assumed was the center of the field lay the very tree that was depicted on the door that he'd just walked through, albeit not gold and bigger and more majestic.

Under it was a woman who sat on a normal chair at a normal table with, from what he could see from where he was, a normal breakfast. Looking around once more to clear his confusion, Nobe noticed that the door he had just walked through vanished leaving him more confused. As natural, Nobe assumed the woman seating at the table was the owner of the voice and with nowhere else to go, Nobe walked towards the grandiose tree.

***

Black.

That's all I could see. I could hear no one and nothing but the sound of my own breath and heartbeat. Where I was ?, I really couldn't care as of now, it didn't matter. Who put me here? I had a guess but either way it didn't bother me, what's done has been done but to the person who put me here, could you have at least put me in a bed ?, or something soft?.

I was laying on the cold hard ground. When I woke up I could see anything and that was a problem enough as is but soon I discovered I could sense anything either and I don't mean taste or presences and what not, my passive, spatial awareness, wasn't active. And this naturally meant something happened to me.

Getting up and patting myself I began my contemplation.

'I feel no presence around me, even without spatial awareness I'm still able to perceive things better than others. I can't see anything, nor can I hear anything, is this a spell or a skill? The last thing I remember are the moments before my duel. The darkness is usually associated with fright and fear so why aren't I scared? Who brought me here and why?'

Since I no Idea where I was, I had no goal, even if I wanted to escape where would go and how would I find my way?. So I just stood still, for how long I don't know, after some time my senses became clearer, but it was still dark, but despite that due to my senses clearing I could feel that there was no obstacle around me.

'By the way, why can't I feel any mana here? And can I use my element here?'

These two thoughts sprung up in my head, I don't know why I didn't think of not using my element before but the mana less zone I'm in is really a new to me. Taking a deep breath I realized why I didn't bother with my element before. If my passive isn't well, active, then I'm unable to use my element since spatial awareness shall always be active as long as I'm able to use my element.

Suddenly the memory of before my duel popped up once more in my head, the fading of my senses and my welcoming of it. I guesses that where I am had something to do with that after all, my memories end there.

A second latter I felt tense and swung my fist behind me. Turning around and jumping back I took a stance as I looked at what's ahead of me.

"And here I thought you couldn't sense me, respect."

A man said with a tone laced with amusement. I crouched down and did a sweeping kick behind me where the voice came from, he just made a simple leap and smiled while he walked backwards. In all honesty I didn't even know here was behind me at the start I just got the feeling one gets when someone looks at them for too long.

Who he was? I wasn't interested, but why I'm here? This guy was clearly my best guess.

And that very man was looking at me with a smile on his face