Chapter 32 - Wake up, Nyx!

Jasmine pushes back the figure into a corner and prepares to strike, but the shadow evades her by turning itself into smoke and ember. As the figure tries to flee, Shamir surrounds the escaping future with her sand and hardens it further to close the cracks to prevent it from escaping.

The figure inside yelled for its freedom and pleaded with Shamir while calling her by a different name - Nyx.

"Nyx, wake up! The souls across different underworlds are switching places. Mine, Valkyrie, and Mebuyan's are switching, and worst of all, Kali is invading different underworld realms! You need to wake up-," the figure pleaded, but Shamir will not hear its lies. She shut the sand tightly that only its muffled voice escaped its grasp.

Jasmine looked with curiosity as she heard Mebuyan's name. She asked Shamir what the figure meant, but Shamir shook her head and reasoned that figure might be a form nightmare that attacked them on the inn. "Nightmares dwell on their victim's past and mix it with their lies to catch us off guard. I'll keep this alive for now and interrogate the fiend later,"

Shamir powers her magic as she begins to return Jasmine to her mind and wake them up back to the inn. The two shared this moment and agreed on a plan – Shamir will attack the soldier and cause a diversion while Jasmine will sneak and destroy the Priest's staff to stop the spread of the nightmare.

The two woke up in the inn as a second had just passed since they fell asleep. Shamir cast a veil of purple sand around them to keep them awake from the nightmare's influence. Shamir can create this veil to wake the townspeople up, but it will expend her magic quickly and not enough to fight off their attackers. For now, she must put her faith in Jasmine to follow thru with the plan.

As soon as they began to stand up, the inn's doors broke as the soldiers rushed in. Shamir summons a massive wave of sand to push the soldiers down the stairs. "Release these people from your nightmare, Preist! If you want me, then I will gladly trade myself for their freedom."

Their gaze of malice towards Shamir gave her a sense of dread. And something else. Somewhere, in her mindscape, the figure within screams for her. To let go of her dream and wake up. She shakes herself and focuses on her fight.

"Come out there, thief! Return our King's treasure, and we might spare these people. After all, they are under our jurisdiction." the Priest continues to taunt Shamir.

Jasmine exists through the window, jumps to the roof, and evades the Priest's gaze. Days of training have pushed Jasmine to be agile; this instant, Jasmine is thankful that Leshin and the others were patient to teach her. "Looks like I owe Leshin an apology," she says as she makes her way across the roof, inching closer to the Priest. From above, Jasmine can see all the villagers sleeping on the ground, murmuring in their sleeping of something dire. And in the middle of it, she can see the Priest and his staff.

The staff is spewing that sleeping mist continuously. Jasmine needs to get a good angle and wait for that perfect moment to strike. She climbs to a higher structure and prepares herself to lunge at the staff and break it with her knife.

The inn's window breaks from Shamir's huge sand fist. Soldiers are tossed around like toys as Shamir effortlessly them out. Shamir sense something is wrong. When she fought the soldiers at the inn, their movement and attack were erratic and dysfunctional. It seems as they don't have any bone structure as they fail their weapons around with difficulty. And right now, the soldiers get back up after receiving such a beating from her.

The Priest taunts even further, "Do they feel pain? Yes. But Phronesian soldiers are durable and stronger than those of Zeus' or Athena's."

With a snap of the Priest's finger, the soldiers removed their cloaks and revealed Shamir their secret. Puss and rotten flesh cover their flesh, expose muscles, and visible decayed bones that make up their body. Then thousands of scarabs began to crawl from within their bodies and heal their broken parts. All of these soldiers are like the ones that they fought in Antrian. Upon closer inspection, all weapons have the same marking that only the Chronicler can read.

Shamir needs to defeat them all by herself and save the people from the Priest's grasp. Shamir struggles against one; how can she fair against ten? She steels herself and tightens her resolve.

"Oh, so our information was right. The first three saw you on Antrian, and now you have somewhat traveled back here in a week!" The Priest laughs as he grabs one scarab and places it on his ears. "These little creatures are a marvel. Not only are they difficult to die, but they also act as an excellent tool to spy on you."

The soldiers then began to talk. One by one, they all greeted her like an old enemy. They were yelling at her that she must return what she stole. Give them back the artifact that their founder owns—the very being of Phronesia.

Shamir's patience has run off and breaks! She had enough of being labeled as a thief. "What are you talking about?! I didn't steal from anyone! I am a guardian whose goal was to eradicate the nightmare plaguing this world! I defeated it before and left Tymar to chase it to Antrian. I never even visited Phronesia in my life! So tell me, why does a Phronesian Priest like you wield its power? Why are these people after me?!" Shamir's anger intensifies as the sand around her violently twirls, preventing any scarab from reaching her.

The Priest stumbles from Shamir's word. He knows this is the one they are after. There is no mistaking it. The scarab in his ear saw a ship crash-landed nearby, and from it saw Shamir. He is astonished by Shamir's conviction. He stood firmly answered her, "Is this what the power you gained from being a guardian? Washing away the sinful actions you made into a dream? You cant even face the very own nightmare you created, and now when retribution is at hand, you feign ignorance because 'you forget'?"

"I was am a Tymarian at birth. This continent is at war between Phronesia, Delphone, and Olympians. When the nightmare arrived, no one even noticed its action. All of your pissing contests made the nightmare roam free. Zeus was too lazy to command the Olympians, Athena and Ares created the Delphone to create a 'better' kingdom than their father, and Phronesia claimed to be a better ruler. The people suffered more under its influence. I used the Ritual of Power to become a guardian to combat as a plague of a never-ending nightmare was attacking Tymar!" Shamir yelled in frustration. Her sand reacted to her emotion and became a sand storm that shreds every stone and wood around her.

The Priest raised his staff and pointed it towards the sky. "Then we have ourselves a thief and a liar! Have at her boys!"

The soldiers charged at her at full force. Since they constantly regenerate, the soldiers willingly jump into the sandstorm and force their way in.

"Wonderful, isn't it? This is Phronesian magic that raised the dead and gave them new life. Soldiers, kings, queens, and legends of old are in our command!" The Priest boasts of their newfound power and even goes on that their undead army will conquer this continent and best King Zeus.

The soldiers confidently walk toward the sandstorm. Their flesh was torn into pieces the moment they set foot near her. They scoffed at it and readied their weapon. But something was awry. Their flesh is not healing, and their scarabs are dying faster than they can regenerate.

"Do you not smell it? This place has villagers that made the best bread in Tymar. My sands carried all of their ingredients, and look what I found." Shamir showed a sack of chilis and a bottle of vinegar. "I have delt them before and know that even the tiniest scarab can regenerate one of you. So, why not throw in some of their natural killers in my sand and let them burn until they cannot heal!"

The tables as turned! The soldiers ran from Shamir, but her sand locked them in place. The sandstorm began to damage their scarabs and place those ingredients deep within their bodies. Slowly, all of the bugs in their bodies began to die. Fear began to spread amongst her enemies, and they began to yell for the Preist's help, but he too was powerless to stop such an attack from a guardian! The sandstorm intensifies as the soldiers begin to decompose. The bugs holding them together dwindle in number, and soon, the soldiers cant even maintain standing and begin to collapse.

The Preist knows that he is beaten and thinks of running away, but Jasmine attacks him at the least he expected. She jumped at the top of the building behind him and broke the staff with her attack.

Jasmine turned around and knocked the Priest off his feet!

When the dust settles, all of the soldiers have turned back nothing to a cloud of dust, and the scarabs are either dead or dying from the vinegar and other powerful spices that burn them.

Shamir approached Jasmine and congratulated her for winning her first fight without bloodshed. The Priest, though defeat is still put a smug on his face and began to taunt his captors.

"Don't celebrate yet, thief and her young apprentice." he snarled at the two while admitting defeat. "My scarab already escaped from here. Before you cast your magic, I have it instructed to report back to Phronesia. You cannot hide! They knew scent and now know your face!"

Shamir grabbed the Priest and pinned him harder to the ground. "I never was and never will be a thief. And if Phronesia wants me so bad, they will have to bring more than undead soldiers to deal with me ."

Jasmine chimes in and asks the Preist what did Shamir stole from Phronesia, not that she believes in that anyway.

"The artifact of the first queen of Phronesia was stolen. And the King of Phronesia saw it himself that she stole it from the royal palace." the Priest goes on with the story to intrigue his two captors. As he does this, his hands reach the destroyed staff. He holds on to it and summons the last of its powers to drag Shamir and Jasmine to sleep. But when he executes his plan, the girls laugh at his feeble attempt.

"I can control sand, manipulate memories and dreams. This is the reason why you can put my friend and me here to sleep. And soon enough, I will wake every one of the villagers and secure you as our prisoner." Shamir says as she holds the Priest with her sand to prevent his movement.

"So is that is the reason why there are white golden sands in every villager's head? You manipulated them to submit to your will?" The Priest asked as he pointed out what he saw.

Jasmine remembered that she was scratching her head every morning only to find this dandruff on her head. And now, with every villager lying down on the ground, she can see there is dandruff on every villagers' head.

For a moment, Shamir was speechless. Jasmine looked at her friend. Were her feelings for her ever genuine? Were they even friends to begin with? Or was just this all a construct of her powers. Jasmine felt betrayed, and for a moment, she could not rely on her feelings towards Shamir.

"Who are you?" Jasmine says the sound of disbelief.

"Jasmine, I mean no harm, but I promise you that I didn't do it," Shamir replied, trying to calm her friend.

The Priest realized he had hit something deep within them, took this opportunity to break it further. "You said it yourself. You can manipulate memories. My staff can only put people to sleep and dream of their nightmare but never to manipulate one's memory." He looked at Jasmine and tried to make a compelling case. "Your face says it all, young one. Have you seen this memory manipulation before? Am I right?"

"You did this before to the Aswang and another when the guardians are having an argument at the clinic at Vale. Why do it to the Tymarians and me? What are you hiding, Shamir?" Jasmine pressed further, but Shamir asked not to judge her, for it was not her doing. She admits doing it before on Vale but never when they arrived on Tymar.

Hearing Shamir the first time, the Priest was puzzled by this information.

"Shamir? Is that your name now? That is new. The King knew your name as he overheard you yelling your name from your successful heist. You go by Nyx, the very same name of the Mother of the Tymar."

"It's that name again. The figure you captured earlier refers you that name too!" Jasmine asked Shamir to tell the truth.

Shamir truly doesn't know. She genuinely is confused, and she, too, is at a loss. No words came out of her mouth. She tries to make sense of everything, but even her friend, Jasmine, is doubting her. And deep inside her mind, due to the negative emotions she is feeling, the sand that holds the figure manages to escape her prison.

"Damn it, Nyx! Why do you do this to your old friend Hades?" the figure says as it walks around Shamir's mindscape. And in this golden fortress of a mindscape, Hades inspected a huge hourglass in the middle of it. From there, Hades can hear Shamir's internal thoughts. The pressure of their accusation of her hiding something began to affect her mind. The golden floors began to crack, and her memories, which are flags at a distance, were being torn by huge sandstorms. Hades turns around to see the hourglass began to break with every word of 'Nyx' is uttered by the Shamir.

Hades took a closer look and saw something inside of the hourglass. A woman of beauty and grace lays inside in a fetal position while hugging an item of pure light. As he lay his eyes on it, he smiled to see his friend. "Ah! There you are, sleepyhead! Wake up!".

Hades tapped his friend to wake, and as she opened her eyes, the item she was carrying exploded blinding light! And without warning, Hades was pushed outward of the mindscape and back to his own back at his realm. Here found himself sitting beside the sleeping body of Nyx. Hades is sure he is awake, but he guessed that Nyx doesn't want to be disturbed. He respectfully left his friend and decided to report all of this to his wife at Elysium.

But little did Hades know, he did wake her up. Not on her original body but one she made with the Ritual of Power. Shamir's consciousness was dragged back to the hourglass in her mindscape as Nyx took hold of her body. As Nyx opened her eyes, she was greeted with villagers sleeping on the ground, a little girl who kept calling her Shamir, and a Priest that kept taunting her.

"Silence," Nyx says in her breathy voice. The sand acted differently this time. Shamir handled her powers with care and grace. But Nyx was different. The sand viciously entered the Priest's mouth and filled it all with sand until he could not squeal anymore.

Nyx turned around and smiled at Jasmine. "I am sorry, Chronicler. For the longest time, I have wanted to meet you. But I just can't until now. The circumstances have forced me to be awake." Nyx says as she stretches her body and gives a huge yawn.

"Are you Nyx?" Jasmine asked as she noticed the air around her had changed. Kind and sisterly demeanor was immediately replaced with something older and grumpier.

"I am. And I've been following you thru my dreams, Chronicler. And I need to confess; it was me that put that memory manipulation all over this town and your friends. But I cannot manipulate you. Something within you prevents me or anyone from harming you, and I guess it's the White Chronicle that does that. "

Jasmine held Chronicle tight to her chest and remembered the bookmark she had. That lady within the bookmark did give her some defensive capability ever since at the island against Daija. She figures that Nyx's action was also considered harmful. Thus the Chronicle prevented that from happening.

"Do you and Shamir share the same body?" Jasmine asked as she thought this was a case of a dual personality order. She does recall that this is one of the common troupes that her mom would see on her late-night soap operas.

"No, when I dream, Shamir will wake. And when she sleeps, I take control of this body. It's a bit complicated than that, but I guess that would be the gist of it." Nyx's answer seems to calm down Jasmine.

Nyx was about to continue, but she sensed strong vibration thru her sands. A powerful and fast being approaches from a distance, hurling itself at top speed.

Nyx then summons a dome of sand atop them. In a few seconds, their sand dome was hit by something powerful! Again and again, powerful blows are delivered to the dome until it cracks.

"Chronicler behind me!" Nyx shouted as she prepared quicksand around them. As Nyx let down her sand dome, a streak of lighting approached them but was immediately trapped in the quicksand. There they look upon their attackers and are surprised to find Kislap and Kulog. Their eyes are bloodshot red, and they are raging.

Jasmine yelled at the two to stop, but the two guardians won't listen to reason. They began to dig their way out, but Nyx made sure they would sink up to their neck just enough for them to be stopped.

"They are not listening, Chronicler. Let me take care of them; then we can ask questions afterward."

Before Nyx could put the two guardians to sleep, her sand from the outskirts of the town detected multiple footsteps. Some were light-footed, and two were definitely heavier than the others. Nyx looked above the night sky and saw an unusual cloud formation forming above them.

"The guardians are here!" Nyx yells as she readies her sand for their attack.

Normally, Jasmine would be happy to see the guardians return. But this is not the reunion she expected. Right now, she doesn't even know if she can trust Nyx. But given the circumstances, it remains to be seen.