Ghost sat on his bed. After saying his goodbyes to Caelia and the others, he went back to his room.
"Mordret... What an interesting name."
With how Caelia looked when she asked about the name Mordret, she clearly remembered someone with that name.
Most likely she gave him the name of someone that is either dead or lost.
And that Mordret must have a huge effect on her life.
"Well, that will work well with my plan."
If he could use her attachment to the name Mordret, he could easily manipulate her to his desire.
Ghost laughed and lay on his bed.
"How much I await that day..."
***
Caelia sat on a chair in front of her mirror, brushing her hair.
Tomorrow is the Winter Solace, and she will finally leave this place.
Sitting with kids that doesn't know anything about the hardships of this world was tiring.
Sighing she looked at the envelope on the table.
'What should I do about this?'
This envelope was from none other than M— ... the boy from the slums.
She didn't even need to read it to understand it's content.
It was clearly a confession.
Reaching to the envelope, she opened it, and started reading.
Most of the letter were flattery about her, and how she was an angel that protected him in his hard days.
She skipped through all the letter until she reached the important part.
"If I could meet you one more time in the old building, I would be really grateful.
Yours forever, Mordret."
Caelia looked at the last sentence.
She gritted her teeth.
"I shouldn't have spoken his name again."
Mordret the son of her uncle Anvil... was her first love. A childish love, but still.
Mordret was taken by someone in his childhood, she doesn't know much of what happened, and no matter how much she asked they didn't answer, and even her father forbid her from asking again.
And one day he returned, but he wasn't welcomed with joy, but with fear.
As a child she was she didn't understand and tell now she didn't know why they feared him.
So she played with him, he was already an Awakened even when he was young.
He created mirrors that can intimate others.
Both her and Morgan enjoyed playing with him, but one day he vanished again.
And no matter how much she asked about him, no one answered her.
So she thought he died somewhere in the Dream Realm or in his Second Nightmare.
Caelia looked at the letter again, and sighed, "Should I go?"
It was already late at night, and she already is feeling sleepy from the nightmare spell.
Gritting her teeth she stood up and wore her clothes and exited out of her room.
***
Ghost sat inside an abandoned building. It was a place that was shown a lot in webtoons and novels where the characters confess to each other.
He did his research.
While waiting, he looked around. The building has already crumbled in some parts, and the other parts will follow soon if everything goes as planned.
After a few hours, he finally heard footsteps echoing in the building.
Ghost put a smile on his face as he saw Caelia walk toward him.
"Lady Caelia, you came! You don't know how happy I am..."
Caelia looked at him and sighed, "Look, I know you l--"
As she was speaking, Ghost quickly interrupted her and spoke, "First, let's sit. Come with me."
Caelia frowned; while following him, she looked at him and noticed he was wearing gloves.
'Wired...'
Reaching a table where two seats sat in front of each other, Ghost sat on one of them, and Caelia sat in front of him.
"Look, I know you have a crush on me, and I'm sorry I can't accept it. Do you have anything else to tell me before I leave?"
It was a brutal rejection.
"Is it because I'm from the slums?" Ghost asked.
"No."
"I see... If, if I became a Saint, would you accept me?"
"No."
Another brutal rejection.
Caelia stood up from her seat and walked away, her back facing Ghost.
In Ghost's right hand a long sword materialized, its hilt painted in silver with a dark jewel in the middle.
He walked toward Caelia, who was a few steps away from him, and thrust his sword deep in her chest.
Caelia looked at the sword exiting from her chest and glanced back at Ghost.
She felt her mind being attacked; she felt despair and sadness she never felt before.
"Y-You... are... you sent... by Song?"
Ghost didn't even answer as he withdrew his sword, crushing her heart completely.
[You have slain Dreamer Caelia.]
[Your soul devours.]
Ghost felt his body becoming way stronger than before.
Looking down at Caelia's dead body, he sighed.
Even though it looked easy, it wasn't.
Everything he did tell now was made by carefully planning every step.
First, in training sessions, he made himself look weak so that Caelia would never be aware of him. The second was his act; he made sure that he looked like someone that never hurt an ant. The third and most important was the Caelia aspect.
He was sure that she somehow could see the killing intent of others toward her and how they would attack. As someone who fought all his life, he knew that her reactions weren't normal. The way she dodged and counterattacked is like she already knew where her enemy would attack before he even moved.
That's why when he greeted her and sat in front of her, he never thought of even attacking her.
Only when she wasn't looking at him did he summon the Sword of Despair and attack her.
He crouched down and searched her body, finding what he wanted.
It was the letter he sent to her.
"This saved a lot of time." He muttered.
He then summoned his runes.
Name: —
True Name: —
Rank: Dreamer.
Soul Core: Dormant.
Soul Essence Devoured: [214/1000]
Memories: [Sword of Despair].
Echoes: [Zombie Parasite].
Attributes: [Freewill], [Heaven Curse], [Unbreakable].
'I got one hundred soul essence... If she had her core filled, does that mean I devoured 10% of her whole essence? Then I should get 10% of every sleeper soul essence I kill.'
Ghost nodded his head and looked at Caelia again.
"Now to use my aspect ability." He muttered,
[Devouring the dead allows you to gain their memories.]
That was the description of his aspect ability [Gluttony]. There wasn't really information on how to use it, but he already guessed how.
Where are memories stored? In the brain. He simply needs to eat Caelia's brain.
He walked toward her head and started cutting the top with his sword.
Looking at her brain, Ghost took a breath and took it with his hand and ate it.
Crunch! Crunch!
The brain juices and blood entered his stomach.
And then something happened.
Blood started gushing out of Ghost's nose, eyes, and ears.
Memories. The life of a seventeen-year-old girl entered his mind like a tsunami.
His brain couldn't comprehend the amount of data and information that entered at one time.
Ghost started at the ceiling of the abandoned building in a daze while muttering words he barely understood.
"Sovereigns... Domain... War... Nightmare Spell... Dream Realm... Devouring... Wakening world."
He looked down at his hands and asked with a weak voice, "Who am I?" What am I?"
Were they Caeila or Ghost? Were they a man or a woman? Were they born in the slums or in the prestigious Valor clan?
Ghost started losing himself.
He asked questions and questions to himself, trying to find what is fake and what is real.
His memories fought against Caelia's.
"What is my goal... is it winning against Song or... eternal life?"
Just as he spoke his last words, a spark of clearness shone in his eyes.
"Eternal Life... Eternal Life... Eternal Life, Eternal Life, Eternal Life! Eternal Life! Eternal Life!!"
And then he remembered. He remembered the name given to him by his father. The name both of them called him by before they died.
"My name is Faraam!"
He dropped down and started taking deep breaths.
He never thought that the rebound of gaining a full memory would be this bad.
Just gaining one life made him look like this. What will happen if he gains one or two more?
"I won't use this ability again."
He couldn't lose himself.
Looking at Caelia's dead body, he gulped his saliva.
His reason for gaining her memory was to learn her swordsmanship, but what he gained was far better than that.
"They lied... hahaha, they lied to the whole world."
Sovereigns, beings that shouldn't exist, but they do. Anvil of Valor, Ki Song, and the last Sovereign, most probably Broken Sword, who already died.
These two great clans fought against each other in a secret war that no one knew about.
The Domain War. A war started to expand the sovereigns' domains, with one of the sovereigns destined to fall against the other.
The reason for this war was to protect humanity, or at least that was what Caelia believed.
The wakening world is being devoured piece by piece by the Dream Realm.
This war started so that one strong domain can welcome all humanity in the Dream Realm and abandon the wakening world.
Ghost or Faraam stood up and walked toward Caelia, raised her body, and threw her in a hole he had already dug before.
He then walked toward a pillar and struck it with his sword.
The building started crumbling, and Faraam quickly left and ran toward his room.
Opening it, he walked toward the kitchen and burned the letter.
He didn't have time to rest, as the sun of the new day rose in the sky.
Today was the Winter Solstice. The day when he will be summoned to the Dream Realm.
Faraam knew that he would be summoned to one of the most dangerous places in the Dream Realm.
And he had done everything he could to survive.
He looked at the rising sun one last time and exited his room after taking a shower.
***
Faraam stood in front of his pod.
He looked around, seeing most of the sleepers scared.
But he didn't care about them; what he cared about was how the academy would react when they found Caelia was gone.
He is sure that they will find her body soon. But would they be able to connect him with the murderer he didn't know?
Taking a deep breath, he entered the pod and closed his eyes.
In the vast, echoing darkness, he heard:
[Welcome to the Dream Realm, Faraam!]
***
Author Note:
Another long chapter, but I really wanted to finish the academy arc as fast as possible. This is my first time not using Ai at all, so if you saw that everything was good, I will continue without using it, but if it was bad, I will return.
Also, what do you think about the MC name? I took it from one of Dark Souls' legends, Faraam the God of War.
He was also known as the knight who returned from the dead or the one who had gone beyond death. As he was not only cursed by one curse but actually two and still lived.
Leave a review on this fanfic and chapter and some power stones so more people can read it.
And see you again tomorrow.