Dream

Alexandria Xott used to love dreams back before she awakened, when she was still a mere child—albeit a spoiled one due to her family's status.

Back then, her innate skill hadn't awakened, and she could see. Although she had long gotten over the sadness of losing her sight, she still missed it dearly.

She missed being able to see the colors of the world. She hated only having a wireframed vision, littered with fate strings.

Her skill, Fate Sight, allowed her to see strings of fate—red strings that invaded the black-and-white wireframe world she saw.

It came with all sorts of blessings, like a very slight form of precognition. Though, it was more like having a vague feeling that something was going to happen.

The red strings connected everyone to everything. It was like a delicate spiderweb, but it would never break—only change.

But the one thing she hated most about her power was the dreams. When she first received her dreams, she was ecstatic.

She could see normally in her dreams! She could see the blue sky, the green grass. But worst of all, she could see the disasters unfolding, no matter what. Every single one of her dreams ended in some tragic way that would affect the world.

Sometimes she saw small events that would eventually snowball into big ones. She once saw a powerful awakened lose his wife, along with his humanity.

That man was named Nathianel Weath, but he abandoned that name to become Nightshade—a king-ranked summoner on the side of the Monster Legion.

Fate was a delicate string. If something huge happened, it would send ripples throughout the web and could even change some strings.

But ultimately, that was it—fate could never be broken, only changed. And that was not an easy feat.

She had only seen fate change once, and that was when the Mage Sovereign herself had saved a city from utter destruction.

But these ripples never seemed to escape her sight. It seemed these ripples even traveled through time. She could see disasters from the future but could do nothing to stop them.

She had tried to tell her parents, her siblings, her aunt, her uncle, her teacher, her classmates, strangers—anyone!

But all would forget whatever she said as soon as she spoke the words. She was cursed to see all these tragedies, but never able to change them.

It was her curse to bear, and she suffered for it. And tonight, it seemed she would suffer again. She found herself in a small town.

It was burning to the ground, with frequent explosions ringing out throughout the town.

Her ethereal form shifted as she looked around.

The people were massacred—men, women, children, and even pets lay dead on the ground.

She wished these dreams didn't affect her anymore. She had seen so much death, she should have become used to it, but she hadn't.

Even though she didn't have a body, she felt like throwing up at the horrid sight.

The invaders—deer-antlered humanoids—she recognized them anywhere. The Zelk were frequent visitors in her dreams. The Zelk massacred many, but she noticed that a large number of the dead were also Zelk.

Adventurers battled the Zelk with all they had, but she could tell they were tired. They would soon fall too.

But the most eye-catching thing on the battlefield was two figures.

The first was a Zelk with considerably larger antlers than the other Zelk—he was their leader, their captain.

The second was a young man with a bloodthirsty smile on his face. He looked ravenous, and he didn't even acknowledge the wounds he had suffered.

A red crown hovered above his head, and his grey eyes contained an animalistic slit in the middle.

She knew this young man—it was that lazy, spoiled bastard, Amit Neant! She'd heard he had gotten suspended, and his fiancée had even left him due to the embarrassing failed ambush he pulled.

She was extremely surprised to see him here, fighting for his life. He wasn't the type to fight for others.

Shouldn't he be at the Neant family home, rather than this no-name town? And the expression on his face scared her. He looked crazed, and clearly, something wasn't right.

"How can a mere soldier rank human push me this far?! How did you know of the invasion? You set up bombs all around the city before we even arrived! What in the Monistars holy name are you? Who are you? Why did you steal the artifact?!" The Zelk, clearly in disbelief, couldn't fathom what was happening.

Amit's smile grew even wider as he raised his hand, and multiple strings of Aether began to weave together to form a sword. The young man brandished the Aether sword toward the Zelk leader.

"Hurry up and die so I can get more of my precious EXP!" The amount of humor in his voice was disturbing, as though he wasn't fighting with the city burning around him, but had just told a funny joke to friends.

Amit cast a spell she recognized as [Flight] and flew toward the Zelk. The deer antlered humanoid raised his spear, ready to fend off the human.

She woke up with a start. This was the first time she had seen anyone she knew in her visions. She wondered what disaster Amit would bring.

It was clear the vision wasn't just about the invasion, although it was horrifying to see a town burn to the ground.

But it was evident that the focus was on the battle between Amit and the Zelk captain. One question burned in her mind: What type of ripple would this cause?

She wanted to know more about Amit Neant.

She got out of bed, quickly put on her academy uniform, and left to go meet a certain blonde lover of gossip. She had questions—and she wanted answers. Maybe this could be a disaster she could avert for once. She wanted it to—she needed it to!