A short update for the day is here! This chapter might contain a tiny bit of spoiler for Amber's proposal event with a bit of twist added. Enjoy!
Wishes, Dreams, and Memories
Chapter 19 – The Monster and the Voices
Amber never really thought something was completely out of place. She lived a normal life even after waking up from being turned into a monster and remembering her dragon friend. Everything was normal, until she had strange dreams whenever she fell asleep. When she woke up, she found herself in a different place than the one she remembered sleeping in. Had she been sleepwalking?
Sleepwalking might be normal for someone like Clorica, but not for her. Things went even more bizarre when she woke up and found herself deep inside the Yokmir Forest in the middle of the night instead of her own bedroom. It was the same place she slept for hundreds of years to help her best friend and the same place she woke up after that long slumber. If she could sleep for hundreds of years and wake up in the same place then, why couldn't she now?
Amber looked around the dark forest clearing with the same voice in her dreams echoing in her head. She could feel that the voice became clearer when she was around the forest, calling out her name over and over again. It was a familiar voice, the one she had heard before she had become a Guardian. It was the same voice who cried out in pain when she woke up from her slumber.
It was the voice of the monster. The monster which was fused with her when she became a Guardian seemed to be a lonely monster in Amber's eyes, pleading for Amber to become its friend. The butterfly girl had made friends with the monster after its defeat against Lest, preventing the monster itself from returning to the Forest of Beginnings. The monster decided to stay with Amber, sharing the same body as she lived herself a normal life.
The monster lived peacefully within Amber's mind, until her recent visits to the forest had tainted the monster's thoughts. It wanted to take Amber's body as its own, living its life an innocent human girl people liked. It wanted to live a new life in which its existence was acknowledged by many people. Sharing a body with another soul wasn't enough to satisfy the monster, as both souls had to compete for their own existence within the body. It had to get rid of Amber from her own body to be able to fully control her body, but it needed more power to do so.
"Hello?" The monster was surprised when Amber called out in the seemingly empty forest, "Is anyone here?"
The monster realized that Amber was calling out to the voices it made when she was sleeping, "No one's here, Amber. It's just you and me."
"Hm?" Amber looked around in confusion, "Where are you?"
"I'm here, Amber. I'm the one who shared the same body as you," The monster replied in her head.
"Oh, it's you," Amber let out a smile, "Where have you been, friend? I can only hear you in my dreams lately."
So, she noticed. The monster realized that Amber could remember its voice even from her dreams as they shared the same body. Amber might have found out easily about its intentions of taking of her body, but the girl was too innocent to believe it. It needed the right moment to take over her entire existence, so it had to go along with living an innocent life with this innocent human.
"I haven't got enough strength lately", the monster lied, "This forest gives me the energy to stay conscious for now."
"I see… should I visit the forest more often for you to recover?" Amber asked, completely unaware of the corrupted runes within the forest.
"Yes, but we can come back here tomorrow," the monster slightly took control of Amber's head, making her look up at the pitch black sky, "The sky may look as dark as the night sky, but it's already morning now."
"Huh?!" Amber looked around the dark forest as the monster let Amber control her body back, "But it's really dark around here…"
"It's the dark fog surrounding the forest," the monster responded, "This is the energy of the forest that I use to heal myself. It's going to be at its strongest at night, two days from now on."
"Then you should be healthy enough if we come back here at that time, right?" Amber concluded, assuming the monster's silence as an approving nod, "Let's go home for now, shall we? We can hang out here tonight when the sun is down if that's what you like."
"True," the monster replied in a happy tone, "I'm going to recover faster that way."
The female Guardian left Yokmir Forest, which had completely been surrounded by some dark fog, and headed back towards the town. The morning sun was the first thing to greet the butterfly girl as she walked out of the foggy area, but she could feel that her body wasn't well rested.
Amber let out a soft yawn as she passed through the gate, getting into the lively plaza as the townspeople had begun their morning activities. She went back to the flower shop in her tired condition, greeted by the surprised female elf.
"Amber, where have you been since this morning?!" Illuminata asked worriedly, "Did something happen… wait, let me solve this mystery of your disappearance!"
"It's fine, Ellie," Amber gave her usual comforting smile, "I went for a walk to the forest really early today."
"Oh, is there a mystery in the forest?" The self-proclaimed detective reached for her monocle in excitement, "Leave the mystery-solving to me, the Great Detective!"
"Well, there is one thing…" Amber's reply made Illuminata even more excited, "The forest is so dark even when it's already morning now. I think there's some dark fog around it…"
"Dark fog?" The excitement suddenly disappeared from the detective's face, "I think Arthur or Frey might have said something about some dark fog being a bad thing…"
"It can't be that bad if it can heal someone, right?" Amber's question brought some confusion to Illuminata.
"The dark fog that can heal someone… Well, that's something new!" The excitement came back to Illuminata's face, "This is a new lead to this case! Good job, my assistant!"
"Thanks, Ellie," Amber let out another yawn before rubbing her tired eyes, "Um… can I take a nap upstairs? I feel a bit sleepy today…"
Illuminata let out a chuckle as she nodded, "Of course! You've earned yourself a well-deserved rest for the day!"
"I see," Amber let out yet another yawn as she approached the stairs, "See you later, Ellie…"
Amber took the stairs to the second floor and headed into her room, immediately throwing herself into her bed. The bed felt good as she felt tired all over for no reason, letting her tired body rest. Her mind went blank once more as she fell into a deep sleep, only with the monster's voices echoing in her head over and over again.
"Leave the town and let me recover, Amber. It's the only way for you to save me, your dear friend."