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nLiam felt like he was going to drift to sleep. He was so… peaceful.

nHe’d never been that way since… well, forever.

nHis paranoia and desire was always at the forefront of his emotions, never letting him any reprieve.

nHe immediately realized how dumb that truly was.

nPeople needed rest!

nThey needed to relax after some time.

nAll this talk about power and ambition and this and that… who cared about any of that?

nKilling so many people because of a stupid dream… even his own mother died because of it.

nHe was still weak.

nEven now, he couldn’t protect her even if she was alive.

nDid Liam not have anything else to do? …Of course he did!

nSleep.

nLiam wanted to desperately sleep.

nHis eye drooped drowsily again and again, but it would weakly flicker open once more.

nThe grip on his blade’s hilt grew loose, but something made him re-adjust and tighten it again.

nWhy?

nDidn’t he want to relieve himself of the suffering? Of the pain? Of the paranoia and difficulty?

nLiam wanted to sleep!

nHe wanted to sleep!

nSLEEP!

nSLEEEP!

n“NO!”

nLiam’s grip tightened on his short-sword, his eye bursting open.

nSPURT!

nInstantly, he stabbed his left thigh with it and used Thicken to get rid of the fatigue dulling down his senses.

nThick, warm blood poured down his leg, but that helped balance his cold skin.

nJust like he thought, the pain paired with his increased mental strength blew away the silent assault on his consciousness. The thing that attempted to override his bodily controls recoiled.

nLiam felt anger churning in the depths of his soul.

nAn icy pressure overpowered the cold air surrounding him.

nGuilt, weakness, worthless ambition and stupid dreams?

n“If you think my dream is as weak as your worthless tricks, think again!” Liam thundered.

nLiam pointed his index forward.

nA volatile, crimson ball shot through the air and lingered unstably for a split second, before—

nBoom!

nInstantly, all of the fog was blown away, revealing Liam’s crew huddled around a skinny, fog-made wraith, oozing thick mist from its figure.

nIt had an ethereal, semi-humanoid form, floating freely with the wind around it. Faint, ghostly lights were on its blank, featureless face. Eyes.

nRin, Nord, Nessa and Gerald looked entranced, their irises rolled back in their heads as they stumbled with their heads hanging loose.

nThe wraith let out a disturbing screech, pointing its thin ethereal ‘hand’ at Liam.

nAt once, everyone from his crew started to rush at him like zombies, their movements awkward, as though controlled by an untrained puppet-master.

nLiam’s cold expression didn’t change.

nRunning forward, he passed Nessa first, chopping her once at the back of her neck after dodging a wide swing and knocking her out cold.

nGerald followed closely behind, and a similar attack sufficed for him.

nRin was next. She flew in the air to land a flaming punch, but Liam’s katana hilt landed on her abdomen, making her hurl and fall on the floor.

nNord attempted to land a flurry of speedy leg kicks, but Liam grabbed him by the ankle and pulled the boy’s face to his knee.

nHe made sure not to use excessive force. After all, he didn’t want to risk killing them and attempting to complete the rest of the mission alone.

nThen, it was the wraith’s turn. It turned around and desperately tried to speed away, but Liam didn’t dare let it.

nHe activated Fleeting Foot and rushed to its side, his blades flaring with dark flames.

nAt once, his katana and wakizashi blurred, corroding parts of the wraith until it turned into a shrieking wisp of air – eventually puffing out of existence with one last hiss.

nThat felt satisfying.

nLiam hated being controlled.

nHe already was, but not at least not literally. Having his dream demeaned was not something he took lightly, either.

n“I’m not one to be deluded by the illusion of peace.”

nWith a scoff, Liam turned around and tended to his subordinates.

nHe carried each one of them on his back and shoulders, making his way to a secluded cave he spotted not too far away.

nNow that Liam’s vision wasn’t obstructed, he took a good look at the landscape.

nThere were small hills made from obsidian rock and soil ahead, covered by bony trees with blood-red leaves on them, which made way to larger mountains further up in the distance.

nLightning hadn’t stopped striking those peaks for even a moment, the bright flashes of red tearing through the darkness provided by the clouds.

nLiam barely caught sight of hidden shadows creeping through those areas, but their silhouettes were too shrouded to figure out what they were.

nShifting his attention to the borders where they climbed atop of, there were more wraiths, wandering around aimlessly and oozing thick fog.

nEven the spot where he’d blown away the fog using his chaos, another wraith quickly formed and covered it just as fast.

n‘How do they form like that? This place lurks with danger at every corner,’ Liam thought with a frown, entering the cave.

nHe made sure there wasn’t anything living in that spot, before dropping his human luggage on the ground.

nThey couldn’t erect a base as of now. Gerald was given the artifact for that, but he was still out cold. He took a moment to take out his provisions and fill his stomach.

nThe first to wake up was Rin, her eyes weakly flickering open before she flinched aware and hectically scanned her surroundings.

nAn aching pain assaulted her abdomen, making her let out a soft grunt, but when her eyes fell on Liam, she gave him a ‘what happened?’ look.

nLiam gestured towards the ghostly creatures in the distance. By then, Nord followed by the rest slowly awoke.

n“You can begin documenting whatever that is. They have some sort of mental ability that forces one to fall asleep, giving them control over the subject if their consciousness isn’t strong. Darkness and presumably fire could vanquish them easily. That aside, we’ll work on finding a suitable place for a base next.”

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