𝙸𝚜𝚎𝚔𝚊𝚒 𝙶𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚆𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚐: 𝙵𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚎 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚁𝚒𝚜𝚎

Chapter 5 [I Expected More Skeletons]

Her eyes shot open in shock. She found herself completely surrounded by nothing but shadowy darkness. She was completely alone.

"....." She tried to call out but no words would come out of her lips. She even tried to scream. Nothing.

She felt her heart thumping faster and louder. Even surrounded by what she could only guess as a flickering abyss of darkness, she felt trapped more than ever. Isolated even.

Where was she? She blinked, completely bewildered by it. Is this a dream? Then why did it feel so rea—

She flinched when a single ball of fire suddenly appeared before her. Then they started dancing? Yes, these red flames were dancing, untouched by the darkness that caressed her so. In fact, the darkness curled away from the strange ball of fire as if it was threatened.

Her grey eyes widened as more balls of fire appeared, encircling her close. They were red much like the first one. The darkness practically scrambled away from the dancing flames. Away from her.

Now no longer trapped in complete darkness, accompanied by mysterious balls of fire, she felt at ease. She didn't know what came over her when her hand had reached out to touch one of the flames. The fire was playfully flickering underneath her fingertips. Surprisingly, it didn't burn her but rather was simply warm. A small graced her lips as she could tell they meant no harm to her.

Yet, she felt her heart had dropped when an unfamiliar voice echoed. Her body turned tense but it wasn't out of fear. Rather but out of submission. Authority was clear in their voice.

"We will meet soon"

————————————————————

Tsubaki shot up from her bed, gasping out loud. She clutched her chest still feeling whatever she had felt in that...dream. Nightmare perhaps?

She released a sigh when her grey eyes caught sight of the room and the familiar sword that haven't left her side since. Right, she wasn't even in her own world.

Since arriving in this world, she would wake up each day still convinced that this whole world was a mere fragment of her imagination. She thought it was nothing more than a lucid dream. However, much like many times before as she opened her eyes, she was proven wrong.

Now she was getting strange dreams? Could she even call it a dream? It felt so real and seeing how she was now in a fantasy world, chances of it being something else entirely is highly possible. She felt her anxiety rise.

'Perhaps it was a warning? Premonition? Or even illusions created by the enemy—'

Tsubaki's train of thought was halted when someone knocked on the door. She blinked at the door as the familiar voice of Madia was heard from the other side.

"Lady Tsubaki? Sorry to disturb you but everyone else is waiting for you"

"A-Ah right!" The short-haired girl scrambled out of her bed. She had forgotten the plans made for today. "I-I'll be down in a moment! Thank you!" She made haste to get ready. She didn't expect to wake up so late—there are no alarm clocks here. So with a quick shower and change of attire, she rushed down to join her party.

And whatever that strange dream was, it was pushed back of her mind. For now...

————————————————————

"So you found us a dungeon already?" Tsubaki gleamed at Ermes, who was puffing his chest proudly. "Of course! I got some intel thanks to my sources," a glint shined from his toothy smile.