Garden Of The Abyss

"Emilia!"

He yelled out, opening the window, but he could hardly focus on his own voice as the distorted faces that made up the horizon continued to heckle him from the depraved heavens.

What's going on? I closed my eyes for a second…so why? He thought.

After rushing through the inn, looking for his companion and finding no trace of her, he left through the entrance, finding himself on the gloomy streets of the hell-turned capital.

It was completely different from the oceanic, serene space he walked through before: the stone-paved streets were etched in blood and soot, houses were set ablaze, and screams, belonging to women and children alike, rang out through the city.

Am I dreaming? He asked himself.

He wanted to believe as much, but as the smoke filled his lungs, smelling the abhorrent stench of flesh burning, it all felt too real.

Even more, the heat of the flames that ate away at Yulimium could be felt against his skin; the warmth of its destruction.

None of it made sense: he knew how exhausted he was just moments ago, but now he felt wide awake, panicked with a hazy mind. He turned side-to-side, unknowing of which direction to go, or what to even do.

Looking up again, the sight of the laughing, yet grieving sky made him uneasy as magenta lightning began to coil his form.

…I'm starting to get annoyed now, he thought.

Launching into the sky, he brought himself up like a reversed lightning bolt, overlooking the city as he found a new realization: the city was floating.

It was nowhere near the ground, and from what he could see, the ground was desecrated and lifeless, occupied by groaning, dead trees.

"Hye-hye-hye-hye-hye!"

The accursed horizon heckled him, prompting him to chuck a serving of magenta lightning towards their crimson form, but they only dispersed momentarily before restoring, continuing their ear-filling laughter at a higher volume.

"This sure doesn't feel like a dream, but it looks like one…" He mumbled, tightening his fists into a ball.

As he shot back down to the city, crashing down like a strike of lightning, he began to explore its streets from a closer view.

Still…it's the only thing that makes sense. I've never heard of territorial magic that takes a complete one-eighty like this. What was it called again…"lucid dreaming"? When you're dreaming, but aware of it. Are my dreams really this messed up? And…so vivid? He questioned.

While trying to follow the source of the gut-wrenching screams, he found it impossible as they seemed to come from every direction, leading to him checking the burning streets aimlessly before–he found something.

"Gyek-gyek-gyek."

An inhuman, monstrous creature walked on all fours, though each leg was a humanoid arm, walking on flesh-showing hands as its torso possessed no eyes, but a large, vertical mouth stretching down its torso.

It stood in the burning promenade, already consuming something of flesh.

A monster? I've never seen one like this, he thought.

As it noticed him, its large set of teeth began rapidly chattering, slamming so aggressively that it produced an ear-piercing noise as it began to walk towards him with its unnatural, grotesque form.

With a snap of his fingers, he launched a quick, seamless bolt of lightning at the four-armed, quadrupedal creature, using the force of his swift magic to reduce it to an exploding mass of chunky bits.

"Disgusting," he muttered.

Though as he began to try and move past it, he watched the creature reform from the almost endless bits of flesh it was scattered into, reforming within moments before returning to its weird, vigorous chattering.

"Huh? What's going on here…?" He questioned.

This time, as he snapped his fingers to summon a destructive bolt of lightning–nothing.

Not so much as a spark emitted from the fingertips of his gloves, causing him to pause for a moment as the grotesque fiend began to move towards him, unveiling its lengthy, abhorrent tongue from its torso-maw.

Snap, snap, snap.

Nothing, nothing, nothing.

I'm not out of mana…so what's the deal? He thought.

"Blitz."

He tried again, this time using the name of the magic he wished to usher, but–nothing.

It was then that he realized something somehow even more daunting: he felt his reinforcement completely whisked away, a feeling he hadn't felt in years.

"Ah…not good," he said with a wry smile.

There was no time to ponder the reason for this abnormality as he was forced to retreat as the tall, flesh-eating abomination chased towards him, sprinting on its palms as he sprinted without direction around the south sector.

It was real: the fear he felt rushing through his veins.

That settled it for him–it couldn't just be a dream. As the soles of his boots ran across the stone, slick with blood and grime, with the scent of putrid death traversing his nostrils, it was real.

It was more real than what he felt in what he was certain was "reality", there was no mistaking it, he told himself.

After turning a few corners to try and lose it, listening to its heavy stomps and clattering behind him, he checked the first home, turning its knob as it miraculously wasn't unlocked.

Lucky! He thought.

Without hesitation, he swung the door open, slamming it shut behind him as he stowed away in the random home.

Huffing and catching his breath, he backed away from the door, wiping the sweat from his chin as he peered out the window, keeping low as to not give himself away.

It's some sort of magic. It has to be. If it's not territorial magic exactly, could it be…"dream magic"...does that exist? I've never heard of it, but practically any kind of imaginable magic exists, so I wouldn't rule it out–especially now.

But the question is: who the hell is targeting me? Briswall and the two Argonauts with him aren't supposed to be here for two more days, so what the hell? He thought.

"Not bad…I'll give you that," he said wryly, keeping himself tucked against the wall as he listened to the monster's footsteps beyond the door, "You've really got me on the ropes here…"

Take away magic, and I'm no different from a normal guy. That's the cruel fact of this world, isn't it? Still…to make an unkillable creature, and to take away my magic–I must be facing quite the powerful mage.

I like to consider myself a competitive guy, so…I'd prefer not to lose. I've got an up-and-coming guild to represent, you know? He thought.