A Friendly Dinner

Sitting down on the chair, which was just the perfect size, Free relaxedly placed his arms on the armrests and watched the boy at the other end of the table.

Upon sitting down, the brown-haired boy immediatly grabbed the napkin holding his utensils, carefully unwrapped it, and laid it down on his thighs.

Manners...is he rich?

In his town, no child had the privilege to worry about stupid things like table manners.

Free recalled watching boys and girls messily gobble down food with their hands, not caring where it got on their faces.

After pausing for a moment, Free did the same, feeling the gaze of the boy locked onto his mask.

Leaning backward, the boy suddenly blurted out.

"Interesting wings you have there; reminds me of something...ah, right, what should I call you?"

Since they were at opposite ends of the room, the boy's voice was practically a yell, bouncing off the stone-brick walls and echoing through Free's ears.

Sinking into a deep thought, Free attempted to think of an inconspicuous name, but before he could even open his, the boy suddenly said.

"Oh, I have an idea! Why don't we choose each other's names? I'll call you..Icarus."

Nodding his head, Free simply answered.

"You'll be...Da-"

Interrupting Free mid-sentence, the boy yelled from across the table, pointing at his ears.

"WHAT WAS THAT!? YOU HAVE TO SPEAK UP!"

Shaking his head, Free leaned forward and screamed back.

"DAGR!"

Nodding his head, Dagr paused for a moment before asking confusedly.

"The light deity?"

As an avid explorer of the desert, Free was, of course, interested in reading about the past.

Unfortunately, the past was misty, with the small numbers of the books in the orphanage always contradicting each other.

One name always popped up, though.

The one who had lost the war.

Dagr.

Seeing Free's expression remain neutral, Dagr paused and questioned.

"You're not gonna question my naming sense? Icarus was quite the character, you know?"

Thankfully, Icarus was a name that had popped up in countless books Free had read.

Although all of the tales had varied in plot, one thing remained constant.

Icarus sought freedom.

Whether it was freedom from the sun god, intense heat, or overgrowing agriculture around the world, Icarus was always a rebeller against the higher-ups of the world.

Sighing, Free shifted forward in his chair and smiled.

"Isn't it time? Our time in this dream is limited, so we should get the most information out of it."

Tilting his head in response, Dagr chuckled, seemingly brushing off Free's comments, and answered.

"You know the moon out right now isn't just any moon, right?"

Sighing and leaning back in his chair, allowing the two front legs to go off the ground, Dagr continued.

"In the entire history of the world, I don't think I've ever heard of a dream containing two conscious people."

"Sure, you might see someone in a dream, but never would that person think it's real life. They would have no idea that everything they're seeing and living is part of your dream."

Nodding his head, Free inwardly sighed before picking up one of the many forks before him.

Well, there was no point in pretending; Dagr likely already thought he was a commoner due to his lack of information.

Tapping the table, Dagr chuckled before saying with a smile.

"You know they prepared me for all types of situations...but never this."

For some reason, at the very moment, Free started to grow drowsy, as keeping his eyes open became harder and harder with every passing moment.

Suddenly, Dagr jolted forward, the two front legs of his chair banging against the ground.

"I guess we'll be seeing each other quite often...every night."

Subconsciously stretching his arms behind his back and cracking his knuckles, Free simply tilted his head.

For some reason...perhaps it was the drowsiness of the mental strain of being doused with fire many times, but his brain was...clear.

Words came out of his mouth before his mind could even process them.

"I wish you were a girl..."

"*PFFT*"

From the other side of the table, Dagr suddenly broke into a fit of laughter, desperately covering his face.

"Y-you sure are doing a good job keeping me awake."

Free's mouth stayed open, allowing his inner thoughts to flood out without any filter.

"No, seriously, what the hell am I supposed to do? Eat dinner with you every night!?"

On the other side of the table, Dagr grasped the white tablecloth and banged his face against the table, trying to contain his laughter.

"*PFFT* HA."

It seemed that he, too, was letting his inner emotions fill out due to the drowsiness.

Pointing at the empty plate before him, Free yelled with all his might.

"AND, WHERE THE HELL IS THE FOOD? WHY IS THERE JUST THIS BIG ASS DINNER TABLE FOR THERE TO BE NOTHING!?"

Raising his trembling right hand forward, Dagr desperately screamed out in between short breaths.

"s-stop, I-i can't t-take it anymore."

*WHOOSH*

As a gust of wind flew through the empty room, Free's body fell forward, too exhausted to hold itself up anymore.

*BANG*

Free's lifeless head banged against the table, trembling one last time, before halting permanently.

Opposite him, Dagr's head had already frozen, and his eyelids slowly shut until his eyes were no longer visible.

In the room with the two sleeping boys, a loud voice suddenly sounded.

[Blood Dream #1 has begun.]

...

...

...

Gazing at herself in the mirror, Dawn paused.

The mask was so...colorful that it was basically a painting.

Below her holes in the mask for her eyes could be seen a beautiful mountain range, colored grey, with a vivid blue lake and massive green forest near her chin area at the mask's bottom.

Above her eyes was the rising sun, shining down at the grey mountain, while surrounded by the light-orange sky of early morning.

Not a single part of the mask was left uncolored, and there was clear detail everywhere without any neglected spots.