A strange encounter

The day after the {if@ fight_option > 0}serpent{elseif fight_option < 0}kraken{endif} attack is eerily uneventful. Your routine carries on as usual: you train with the girls in the early morning, spend the majority of the day in the medical ward, reconvene with the girls in the evening, and head over to Alicia’s to spend the night. Like the night before, you don’t have the energy to mess with the caramel-skinned, nightgown-wearing noblewoman and head straight for her bed. Unlike the night before, she lets you do this without any resistance: instead of the loud, albeit short-lived, complaining of last night, tonight she watches you quietly as you crawl under the bedsheets. It doesn’t escape your notice that one of the straps of her nightgown is hanging down past her shoulder, or that it’s the only thing she’s wearing. You also don’t fail to notice how her eyes light up when you enter the room, and how that light fades away as you pass her by in favor of the bed. She wants you to **** her, and the neglect you’re showing now is going to make her realize that soon.

You could break her any day now. But not tonight.

Tonight, you just want to sleep.

…

The weightlessness returns. Before you even open your eyes, you know you’re in the endless, black void with the strange light and the woman’s voice. Something is different, though. You feel… denser. Still weightless, but it’s like all the empty space is wrapped loosely over your body.

You open your eyes. There is the light, brighter than you’ve ever seen it but still shining through some kind of screen.

Then the voice comes, and it is clearer than you’ve ever heard it before.

“We meet at last.”

The screen visibly tears, and the black void is instantly filled with white light. The blinding brightness fades as quickly as it came, but it leaves your surroundings mysteriously changed. Instead of the black void, you are now laying in the bed that you fell asleep in. You sit up, noticing right away three important things: first, you still cannot feel the pull of gravity nor the embrace of the heavy bedsheets; second, your mind can’t single out any one dress in the wardrobe from the rest, nor one item of jewelry on the desk from all the others in the collection, and third, the chair has been moved to the far wall, directly in front of you. On that chair sits a woman you’ve never seen before.

She has a pale complexion, yet appears radiant with life. Snow white hair is tied up at the back of her head, and falls straight down to her ample bosom in the front. Her pearlescent eyes watch you with tempered weariness as your gaze travels downward. Unfortunately, she’s wearing a light gray dress and gloves combo, which covers every inch of her body below the neck. The dress, while boringly prudish, is nonetheless stunning. Laced with golden thread, the garment is covered in imagery that you would describe as ‘celestial.’ The centerpiece of the design, located just below the sizable bust that the conservative dress desperately tries hide, is a depiction of a crescent moon overlooking a body of water. It’s obviously quite an expensive dress, which makes you wonder what kind of NPC you’re dealing with here.

“I’m impressed that you managed to block me out for so long,” says the woman. Her voice matches the one you’ve heard calling to you from the black void: like silver and honey wrapped into one package. “Especially given that you seem like a perfectly ordinary human.” She cocks her head slightly to the side, as if to see you from a different angle.

“I’d like to think I’m unique in some ways,” you say after the silence lingers a bit too long between you. “I am human, though.” Your comment brings a derisive smile to the pale woman’s face. It’s unclear which part of your statement has made her so smug all of a sudden, but you don’t like it either way. “So, why have you been trying to invade my dreams? And who are you, anyway?”

“You were last seen in Evris {if@ BKnowsUrDL = 1}eighteen{elseif BKnowsUrDL = 2}seventeen{endif} days ago,” she says.

Wait, you think. Did she say Evris? As in, the real world town? None of the NPCs have mentioned anything about the real world before.

“Surely that’s not enough time for a human to escape my reach, no matter the cycle.”

Cycle? Reach? What? “You’re throwing a lot of info at me that I don’t really understand,” you say.

She raises her eyebrows at that. “Is that so? Well, it doesn’t matter I suppose. Now that I have you here, we can get down to business.”

Alicia’s room shifts and changes until you find yourself standing on the main deck of the Ishelle. You try to move, but it seems you’ve been locked in place by whatever mysterious power is running this dream. The white-haired woman, now standing at, or just below, your height, remains at the same relative position to you as before. She takes a moment to look around, mostly with her eyes while barely moving her head at all. Knit eyebrows and pursed lips surface as she examines the scene.

“Traveling east? You must think little of me,” she says, a bit of an edge mixing into her silvery tone.

“Sorry, but I honestly have no idea who you are,” you say. “We sort of skipped out on the introductions.” You pause for her to respond, but she gives you nothing. After a few seconds of heavy silence, you say, “I’m Evan Reynolds. I’m a mage and an adventurer, I guess you could say. As for what I think of you…” You take a moment to look her over one more time. Her conservative dress makes it impossible to gauge her figure beyond the large rack ballooning out from her chest, but her snow white hair alone is enough to give her an enchanting aura. Her pearlescent eyes could pull you in for days, while her pale skin radiates motherly warmth and kindness. “I think you’re incredibly beautiful.”

The pale woman narrows her eyes at the compliment, apparently not pleased to be receiving it from you. She opens her mouth, like she’s about to say something, but then suddenly turns her gaze skyward. Wide-eyed, she watches the sun and the endless blue sky for several seconds before returning her attention to you. When she does, her derisive smile returns.

“So you thought you could hide in a pocket dimension?” she says. Your surroundings start to change again, this time falling away entirely until you are both floating in the black void once again. “I must admit, it did buy you some time, but it’s all over now.”

Hide in a… so she doesn’t just know about the real world, she’s from it? Wait, how is that possible?

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Demon Lord Evan Reynolds,” she says. Grabbing the skirt of her dress, the woman curtsies to you and suddenly sprouts giant, dazzling angel wings from her back. Without raising her head, she says, “Now that I’ve found you, I expect it will take a few days for my sister’s forces to come and kill you. Do relax and enjoy the time you have left.”

With that, she disappears, and you feel yourself waking up.