Chapter 32

A soft droplet sound hit the water next to Amay's ear, forcing her to awaken suddenly. Her eyes opened up to the nothingness of darkness above her. There were no stars nor moon—just blackness. Amay could feel herself floating on some liquid. She turned her head slowly to look at the liquid before fully sitting up to look at her surroundings.

"Nothingness..."

Amay could hear her thoughts loudly speak as if her mouth was speaking, but she didn't feel it move.

"Am I dreaming?" She asked herself.

Her red eyes looked to her left and saw nothing but a red ocean and a starless night. She looked towards her right and saw the exact same thing. She then looked down at her own body and realized she was naked. She also realized that the scar on her chest was wide open, and a black liquid was sipping out in a small stream turning the red water black around her. Her body started to tense as she thought the pain would set in, but the pain never came.

For a moment of hesitation, Amay thought about touching her wound, but she decided against it. "What was the point of touching it if it didn't hurt," she thought to herself. She then heard something catch her ear.

Her head turned in the direction of the sound and tried to listen to it for a moment. She then realized it was someone crying—a woman crying. Amay couldn't understand it, but she felt drawn to it. She then got to her feet and faced the direction of the sound with was facing left. With a deep breath, Amay began her walk.

As she walked through the emptiness, she tried her best to keep an eye out for anything that stood out. However, she realized it soon became pointless because there was nothing but her. There were no lights in this void, but she could see the difference between it and the liquid below her as it faintly lit up the area. Yet, nothing visible stood out to her—only the sound of the crying.

After walking for hours, she couldn't tell if she was making any headway or if the area changed. In her mind, she felt like she was walking for an extremely long time, but she didn't feel tired or even the slightest bit exhausted. The crying sounded closer, and Amay could make out something ahead of her.

Amay came to a dead stop as she finally saw the source of the crying. It was a woman hunched over crying. Well, what looked to be one. It was a black mass in the form of a woman with visible red marking on it in the form of scars coving her body. What drew Amay attention the most was its hair. It flowed as if it was underwater and somehow connected to the void around them. Amay could only tell it was her hair due to the unnatural deep red tent that boarded the outline of the void.

A deep gulp came from Amay's mouth as she could feel a mixture of emotions coming from the woman. She could feel anger, guilt, sadness, but the one that stood out the most was fear. Amay couldn't tell if the woman was the one feeling fear or was it herself. She instinctively took a step back, causing a splash and massive ripple in the water. Her heart dropped as she looked at her mistake before realizing the woman's crying had stopped. Dead silents filled the area as both of them remained silent and waited for the other one to do something.

The hunched-over woman's bones audibly cracked as she turned to face Amay. Her face sent a chill down Amay's spine. She looked exactly like her, but she had visible red tear marks down her eyes. And her eyes. In comparison, her eyes were nearly the same look as Amay's; however, they were lifeless and soulless. It was as if the person had died on the inside completely, and what was life was the creature before Amay. Although snake-like, her pupils had four sharp points that almost looked like a tilted four-sided star, a deep reddish-pink.

Amay didn't break contact with the girl's eyes out of pure fear, but to her, it felt as if she was staring past her. It was as if she was looking at Amay's very essence.

"Who are you?" Amay finally built up the courage to ask the creature. She could feel tears forming and falling from her eyes.

The woman spoke, but no words left her mouth. Amay only saw her mouth move.

"I said, who are you? And why do you plague my nightmares!" Amay angrily asked the woman, unsure why, but she felt familiar.

The woman's mouth moved again, yet nothing came. She then raised her finger and pointed it straight toward Amay's open hole between her chest. A red light immediately left Amay's hole as if on cue with the woman's finger.

A cold chill went down Amay's spine as the woman was talking about her crystal. She quickly covered her hole and took a step back. Yet the moment she took that step, a solid black tendril came from the liquid and wrapped around her arms. She tried to pull away from it, but another quickly wrapped back around her arms and her legs. It seemed the more she struggled, the tighter and heavier they became.

Amay began to panic as she looked at the tendrils and realized they looked and felt soft, almost like silk. She tried her best to move, but they kept her in place. She then looked back towards the woman and nearly jumped out of her skin when she realized she was in front of her now. A creepy smile stretched across the woman's face as she looked down at Amay.

She then moved one hand and placed it gently on Amay's face. This caused Amay to jump as she felt how cold her hand was. Yet, it felt comforting. Amay could feel herself relaxing and felt calm by her touch. It was as if all her struggles and worries were fading away. She felt relaxed with the being, but her tears still fell as she couldn't help it. On the inside of her own body, she was screaming and scared.

"Shhhhhhhhhh," The soft and calming voice of the woman reached Amay to her core. Even the water they were standing in ripped around them from her simple words.

Amay's eyes went wide as her entire body went ice cold. She barely could take her eyes off of the woman.

"You do not need to fear," the woman's voice softly spoke. The woman raised her sharp bone finger and slowly moved her hand towards the hole in Amay's chest. "I just want to be let in," she spoke again. "Won't you let me in?"

Amay barely could speak and let alone move as she could only watch the woman's hand slowly insert her. Tears fell from Amay's eyes as she tried to scream for help.

Her body then began to jerk and shake on its own.

"Wake up!" A familiar voice called out to Amay shaking the very world she was in.

"Looks like our time is up," the woman said as she felt the world began to fade and break apart. "No matter, I will always be here for you," she said, removing her hand from Amay's hole.

Everything went black as Amay's eyes opened to see Lucas violently shake her away. Amay was so shaken that she forcefully pushed him away, backed herself into a corner, and formed and held a blood dagger at Lucas.

"What the hell happened!? Where am I!" Amay said as she looked around, scared as her heart rapidly beat in her chest. She then realized she was in her own room, and Lucas was there with no shirt on and both hands up. A sharp pain shot through her chest and caused Amay to grab her throbbing scar.

"It's okay. You just need to breathe first," Lucas calmly and sternly told her as he could see whatever had happened scared her badly. He swallowed deeply as he looked at the shaking dagger and then her fearful red eyes scanning him. "You had a nightmare, and I woke you up. Are you okay?"

Amay took his advice and slowly took deep breaths. She retracted her dagger as tears began to fall from her eyes as she felt an overwhelming amount of emotions. She quickly began to wipe away her tears as she didn't want him to see her crying.

Lucas watched as she slowly calmed down and wiped her eyes. This was a rare moment of seeing Amay like this, so he slowly sat down on her bed and gave her his full attention.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he calmly asked her. He wasn't sure what she was gonna say, but he was going to try and help her the best he could.

Amay shook her head at him, refusing at first but slowly stop. She thought about it for a moment as if she wanted to. However, as much as she tried to recall what happened, she couldn't remember it.

"I...I don't remember what happened...But it felt so real," She explained to him with disappointment in her voice.

"I see," he answered her. He was surprised that she didn't remember it but knew dreams could be like that at times. "Are you alright, though? That seemed to shake you up pretty badly."

"I should be fine now," she said in a stern voice. However, she was too scared to try and sleep again."I just don't feel like I can sleep again after that."

"Ah. Do you want me to stay up with you, just in case?" He asked cautiously. Lucas didn't feel comfortable leaving her alone after hearing her very low screams for help during her nightmare.

"Don't you have work tomorrow?" Amay snapped and redirected his question back to him. She didn't want to feel like he was patronizing her or thinking less of her for having a bad dream that actually scared her.

"I do, but you seem like you don't want to be alone. Or just in case it happens again, " He nervously pointed out to her. He rubbed his wet hair for a moment as he saw her eyes go wide. A small sigh left his mouth as he had to say good but to sleeping in his own room by himself again. "Besides, I want to try out a new fighter I unlocked. Wanna help?"

Amay's face slightly blushed as she realized he actually was concerned for her. She could tell it in his voice whenever he was looking out for her. She thought about it for a moment that it would be a lot better than being in a dark room by herself.

"I guess that is fine," she said in a brave voice before looking away and timidly whispered to him. "Thank you."

"What are friends for," he said, slowly giving her a soft smile. He wasn't sure if she considered him a friend, but this was a good chance at any to see.

Amay softly smiled back as she felt a little better now that he was here to help her.