• tab Allester was in the forest again. There was a lot of turning before he stopped in front of an abandoned cabin. Well it wasn’t abandoned anymore since he declared it his own. It wasn’t torn or worn out, just cold. The inside has only one room then a bathroom and that’s it. Only one bed was there and it was at he back corner. An old kitchen table was in the middle of the room with nothing on it. The wooden floor was covered by a white fuzzy carpet that looked like it was made with the smoothest fur, maybe a monsters fur because no regular animal could have it. In the kitchen was a fridge with no food, a counter, and a sink.
    tab He set Cillia on the bed and just stood. Within a minute, she was already shivering. I don’t even have a blanket, he thinks. His dark cloak was the only thing he had and he didn’t want to give it up. Not unless I want to freeze tonight. But Cillia needed it more and he knew that. When you perform the bond with someone, you start to feel everything they feel. You can feel their pain, their emotions, and their thoughts.
    tab Allester lowered his gaze and took off his cloak. He held it out in front of him before putting it over Cillia’s freezing body. It’s only been a few seconds once he felt the coldness in the air. He walked to the opposite side of the cabin and laid on the fuzzy carpet, facing the ceiling. It was even colder because the night breeze was breaking in from beneath the door. His heart rate slowed as he relaxed, feeling the warmth Cillia feels, ignoring the pain she still has from the Honstuki. Just what I need, forced to use artificial heat. He sighs and drifted off to sleep.

    tab Trisa held Reyn in her arms as she stared at Ania who was keeping a distance between them. Ania expected Trisa to be scared, but she wasn’t. What she showed through her eyes was determination, and strength. It’s been this way for awhile after Yohnssha the serpent left.
    tab “If you’re a monster,” Trisa finally says after some thought, “then what that snake says is true and you want me to become your user”
    tab Ania nods. “Yes” her voice was smooth and kind, unlike the other monsters.
    tab She takes a deep breath and exhales. “I’ll think about it—if you take me to Cillia” becoming a user wasn’t what Trisa had thought she’d ever become, but Ania wasn’t like the rest of the killing beasts and Cillia was in danger. “Take me to her and well see what happens”
    tab That was all she needed to hear. “Get on” and the air around them seemed to get lighter. As if gravity decided to take a break.

    tab Back in the cabin was dead silence. Two hours past and it turned 3: oo A.M. It was dead silent other than crickets outside. Cillia wasn’t moving, wasn’t even making noise in her sleep. Allester, meanwhile, was starting to breathe quicker and sweat dripped down his face.
    tab He was having a nightmare. This was the first one he ever had because he doesn’t dream—no monsters dream, and because of that he thinks whatever is happening there is real. He was inside a volcano, standing on a rock that floated across magma. The air was sizzling and all steamy. Everything looked red and bright orange. It was suppose to be hot but Allester couldn’t feel a thing. Red magma boiled under him. Nothing happened for awhile. And then there was a shout. He couldn’t make out the words, but the second time he heard it.
    tab “Don’t leave me!” it was a girls voice ringing from all directions. The steam was so thick that he couldn’t see anything. Then something gurgled towards the surface. It was pinkish and looked like…a body. It was a man, a human. More and more rose up till they covered half the magma. “Don’t leave me!” she shouts again.
    tab Say something, Allester screams in his mind, SAY SOMETHING! No matter what, though, he couldn’t manage to make out a sound. He doesn’t even realize why he’s so panicked, why he’s so scared, why he’s so desperate to make the dead humans vanish. He has seen plenty dead people in his time; he even killed a lot on his behalf, so why feel this way? A volcano is also nothing to worry about too, so why be so afraid?
    tab Then he wakes up, already sitting. His breathing was still quick and sweat came more than before. It was warm, and he was confused. He never knew what it felt like to be frightened. He never knew what it felt like to feel any of those emotions that were witnessed in the nightmare.
    tab Then a tiny voice, Cillia’s voice, said, “Don’t…leave me” she was still asleep.
    tab That’s it. It was in the dream, and Allester recognized that voice. “It was you” he scowls. Sharing a dream wasn’t what he had thought was an affect for performing the bond. Now he has to deal with it every night for his whole life. This is getting hard to deal with already. And he leaned back against the wall, determined to sleep no more.

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