-Blessed by Divinity: Eternity-

Nightmare World IV

"Is that... Is that land?"

I spoke in a hushed tone, tired out from the hours of searching for any semblance of land among this vast, near endless ocean. I squinted my eyes in the dark night sky, focusing on what I thought was an island in the sea.

Dragonite turned to where I was looking, quickly noticing something floating in the sea. She turned to me, waiting for me to make a call. I was a little uncertain as I turned to her but as I looked to the new moon ahead of us I recognised the signs. As I nodded to the orange scaled dragon, Dragonite quickly descended through cloud line, heading toward the island.

As we got closer and closer to the island, the pitch black feather in my hands kept glowing stronger. The mysterious aura felt cold in my palms, the feather unwelcoming to anyone that tried to hold onto it. Yet it was this coldness that felt all the more familiar with me. I felt the feather's strong dark aura vibrating in time with my warm golden aura.

The moment I looked back to the sea, Dragonite had already landed, allowing me off her back. As I stepped down onto the rocky shore, my knees nearly gave way, tired out from keeping the same position for hours.

My eyes quickly scanned the surrounding area, seeing an opening to a small woods just ahead of us. The shore we were stood on was the only safe place to land. Large waves crashed against the steep island cliffs, contrasting all of the other small islands we had seen up until now.

Just before Dragonite and I continued on, I felt my left eye burning up as I screamed out in pain. The dragon by my side turned to me, a worried look on her face as I fell to my knees. I held the left side of my face, feeling blood streaming down my cheek as my eye kept stinging from an unfamiliar coldness. I felt my right eye flare up, illuminating the pebbles underfoot but there was no pain from it.

Dragonite crouched down beside me, her right hand resting gently on my shoulder, encouraging me to push on. The sudden contact seemed to ease the pain, allowing me to stand on my feet. My left eye still felt cold but the pain had subsided and the blood dried, allowing the two of us to continue toward the forest.

The two of us continued on, stepping into the small wood, tall slender trees blocking out the dark night sky. As we pushed on further, the trees became more warped, twisting and turning into all sorts of unnatural positions.

Gently, I placed my hand on one of the twisted trees, feeling nothing from the dead bark. Dragonite also picked up on the unwelcoming environment, following closely behind me. I shook my head, continuing on, seeing a clearing just ahead of us.

As we stepped through, the clearing was still dark, as if covered by a veil of some sort. No trees stood between the skies and us, but it was still difficult to see ahead. I focused my eyes, feeling both of them flare up in the darkness. My right eye glowed a familiar gold, slightly illuminating what lay ahead of us. My left glowed too, but I hadn't adjusted to this new coldness emanating from it

"Aaron..."

A familiar voice spoke my name and as I looked up across the clearing, I saw something floating in the darkness.

I turned to Dragonite who only looked as uncertain as I did. I took a step forward, descending into the shallow basin that filled the clearing. There was a gentle splash of water as I placed one foot in front of the other, crossing the shallow body of water.

As I got closer, the floating essence took shape. A pokemon I had only met in the dream world had finally shown itself to me in its real form. I felt the feather in hand fade into nothingness as the pokemon revealed itself.