Chapter 311: Ch 310: Inside a Dream

Kael flinched as he fought back the pressure he was feeling. His tired body was protesting against any movement, but he knew that the second he relaxed, he would be crushed by the corruption.

After trying to suppress him for some time, the corruption pulled back, and Kael relaxed. His head was throbbing, and he decided to fall asleep to recover.

He landed on something soft and uncomfortable that made him flinch and nuzzle around. Before he knew it, he had fallen into a deeper sleep, catching the warm body he was lying against.

Kael only realized something was wrong once he felt the small body pushing against him. But even that stopped after a few seconds, and Kael was able to dream properly.

And in his dream, he finally saw a familiar face looking back at him.

...

Kael was standing in the middle of a forest filled with mana. The mana here was so strong that Kael was afraid he could choke on it.

He had been a Grand Master for quite a few years at this point, but he had never heard of such a mana-dense place. He wondered where it came from...

"Wait! Where am I? Which world am I in? And aren’t I too awake for this to be a dream?"

Kael questioned, finally paying attention to things that had looked normal before. And he realized that the field he was in was not normal.

Furthermore, this dream was not normal. It was a result of the magic fluctuation in the corruption that had drawn him into someone else’s subconsciousness.

Now he only needed to figure out whose subconsciousness he was in right now and why he had been dragged in here.

Magic did not happen for no reason. Even if the corruption was behind it, there would be something that connected Kael to this place.

To find that reason, he started to walk around to try and find a place that looked out of the ordinary. That would remove the filter around the scene and show him the real place behind it.

Kael had only taken a few steps when he felt a sudden presence behind him. He turned around to check who it was, only to not see anyone.

But that presence was still strong, making Kael sigh.

He recognized that familiar presence anywhere.

"Lyra, are you out here? If you are, then come out right now."

Kael tried to keep his irritation out of his voice as he watched a small body step out.

The kid standing in front of him looked to be four or five years old, and she blinked at Kael with a pair of very familiar eyes.

There was no doubt in his mind that the person in front of him was Lyra. But why was she a kid?

"Up."

She held her arms out, clearly requesting that Kael pick her up, and Kael sighed before he reached out to grab her.

He did not even question why or what was happening as he leaned down and picked her up.

"Left."

She demanded, and Kael followed her instructions without thinking. His hands and feet were moving at her command, but he did not mind it.

In fact, he preferred to follow instructions if it meant he would get to make it out.

"Stop."

The voice asked him, and Kael stopped immediately. He noticed the air in front of him rippling as it opened toward another section.

Kael hesitated to enter this new space since he was not done with his current one. But the young child in his arms tugged at his sleeve.

"Move."

That was a command Kael could not ignore, and his feet moved toward the next section. As soon as he crossed, the space behind him collapsed.

He looked back, only for the young child to grab his face and make him look at her eyes.

"Don’t look back. That space is temporary. Just follow my commands."

The young child was reassured, and there was no hint of hesitation in her eyes. She knew exactly what she wanted, and she was not hesitant to hold her words back either.

Her behavior was so much like Lyra that it made Kael smile at her.

"I understand. I will follow your commands. Tell me where I need to go."

Kael promised the young girl, who looked delighted. She huffed to make herself appear bigger than she was and then looked around.

She seemed to have immediately lost her confidence as she looked around, but then her eyes narrowed, and she pointed in a direction.

"This way. She’s there, waiting for you."

The child told Kael, and he nodded before following her instructions once more. He kept walking until he reached another intersection. But things were not calm this time.

A few monsters were roaming around, threatening to catch them, which made Kael let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Lyra, I am going to put you down and take care of these monsters. You will wait for me, right?"

Kael tried to put Lyra down, but she kept her grip on his shirt.

"No! Don’t put me down. Keep walking."

She insisted, but Kael saw no way through these monsters without getting himself killed.

"Somehow, I don’t think that’s a good idea—"

"It’ll be fine. I am here, so these things won’t hurt you. Please, follow me."

Lyra begged, and for the first time, Kael felt like he was falling into a trap by following her words.

And yet, he could not bring himself to go against her words. So he started walking and slowly reached the monsters. He got ready to cast his magic the second it was needed, but it was not needed because the monsters did not even look at him once.

In fact, Kael passed the monsters easily until he made it all the way across, and they still did not even notice him, which meant that these monsters had never been real.

The corruption had tried to prey on his mind, and it was only because of Lyra that he had made it across safely.