Dawn- An age of Darkness

I thought it'd be very hard to fall asleep with Ve right next to me, but apparently, it wasn't hard at all.

And I fell asleep almost too easily. 

How did I know?

Because, apparently, I was still conscious and currently being hugged by the spirit. The spirit was sleeping rather peacefully and just hugging me. It wasn't painful and it wasn't uncomfortable either. I had two options, try the same thing I tried yesterday, or at least try to get some rest. After all, for the last three nights, I didn't have as much sleep as I should have. 

But wait, was this really getting rid of my fatigue? Or was the spirit just sucking all my life instead? I didn't feel anything though. 

"Tell me? Why are you doing this? What do you want?" My lips didn't move. I really was asleep. 

Obviously, the spirit didn't even wake up, let alone answer me. 

I sighed inwardly. 

Well, I didn't feel that bad and I was strangely calm. 

Maybe, this wasn't so bad. And I had a body pillow too. So I tried closing my already closed eyes and leaning against the spirit, hoping to rest a little. 

'There's someone here-'A thought floated in my head but it wasn't mine. 

And a second later, I woke up. 

'Shit.' And once I was awake, I found myself leaning against Ve- hugging her rather tightly- she was fast asleep. 'Weren't you supposed to be waking me up?'

But wait, what was this feeling?

It was almost as though, something- something was watching me. And didn't the thought in my mind also mention that someone was here?

I hadn't moved my body yet and hadn't looked anywhere, but I had a feeling there was something in the room, and it wasn't a spirit. It was something more than that. 

The feeling was similar to being in a forest and there was a distinct scent in the air. It wasn't quite rotting or like that either. It was almost like a metallic-iron-like smell. Blood? But the smell was faint and it was mixed with some sort of perfume similar to the one that half-demon used to wear. 

I didn't move my head and just used my peripherals but it was impossible to tell with just the lights of the stars. And not to mention there was a good one-fourth of the room I couldn't see. 

So, I came upon a plan.

The plan being- I closed my eyes and released a dense ball of light a bit too rapidly. A second later I opened my eyes and surveyed everything with a small ball of light. 

Something fell on the floor from the ceiling, writing a little: it didn't make any sound though. 

My companions were still asleep. So much for keeping watch. 

I didn't give it any chance and pinned it to the ground by grabbing both of its hands. Obviously I was using imbuition on my clothes for better mobility. 

With my mana reserves expanded I could use it a lot more frequently. 

"Who are you and who sent you?"

The thing was black and it squeaked it. Was it even human? I didn't think so. 

There was no answer. 

The black strands were actually hair, rather long curly hair. A girl? No, it wasn't human. 

Red eyes, fangs. An undead? No, it had skin and so maybe a half-dead? No, half-dead's didn't have fangs. Then what?

And damn, this thing was strong. It struggled and almost threw me off. 

It struggled so frigging much that I was almost overpowered. "DO you GUYS MIND Waking UP!"

Still no response from my companions. 

Since I was holding the thing down, I couldn't form light and the small light from my Imbuituion wasn't really that much to see its face. 

"Whoa! Whoah!" it almost threw in a split second and jumped out of the window, breaking all the glass in the process. 

Fast.

I picked myself up and looked out, smalls shards were still falling out and I almost cut myself with one. 

I didn't see anyone down there but I did see that thing flying though. It had wings, like a bat? 'SO, it was a demon?'

"What happened!" Someone knocked on the door.

I yawned and went to the door, unlocked it. "Nothing much, just an assassin I guess." Well, probably. Apparently, Gorgon was on the other side. "You were here all along?"

"I requested to be assigned to this post, but, kind of fell asleep." Gorgon smiled awkwardly. Meaning, whoever did this, might had also put something in his food too. 

So, this was preemptive and well planned. I really should have bought Alisa with me. 

Sigh. 

"Try to be a bit more careful, but as you can see, you don't have to worry about me."

"Your friends are heavy sleepers huh?" He looked behind me. 

"More or less. Good night." 

Needless to say, Ve and Biteria were still sleeping. 

"Night."

Gorgon left and I locked the door again.

Both Ve and Biteria were still sleeping peacefully. It was almost as though sound didn't exist for them. Biteria I could understand but Ve too? Wasn't she supposed to be a god? I guess technically she was a half-god, or a goddess if she liked that word. 

I sighed and lied down on the bed. It was a bit strange but I didn't necessarily felt any bloodlust from that demon. Though I guess it was either good at concealing itself or maybe I was just too sleepy. 

I wasn't sleepy anymore, and the fact that it could very well come back just someone later was a good enough reason for me to stay awake, for the next ten minutes that is. After that, I again fell asleep. 

How did I know that?

…

…..

***

I noticed some things about his darkness. One, whenever I woke up here, I felt nothing, no emotion in particular. And there was always a sleeping girl hugging me. The moment she'd wake up, I'd also wake up. She looked like Biteria but her hair was black. And instead of bunny ears, she had ordinary ears but long ones like an elf. 

There were certain ways I could wake up the girl, one being kissing. Others included tapping her nose, or maybe pinching her cheek and all that. 

When I first woke up in this place, I couldn't move my body but now I could basically even sleep in here if I wanted. And I kind of had two hands here- I guess dreamland really was dreamland.

It was weird. 

The place itself was vast, or maybe it was small. I didn't know. I couldn't see anything besides the girl anyway. I didn't even see the bed, I did feel it though. 

There was no sound- and I didn't feel like it had any place here either. And strangely, I liked the quiet, it gave me more room to concentrate on my breathing. Though the breaths from the girl next to me were very distracting for some reason. 

I tried channeling my mana in here and nope, nothing. I did feel just a fraction of my mana though- definitely not enough to light up a small ball. 

The feeling was actually very similar to the times I usually get summoned to the bottom of the ocean or maybe that other dark place where the goddess of darkness was sealed. 

Back then I couldn't even feel a shred of my mana- so this was maybe an improvement?

These things were getting awfully confusing though. 

Since I was bored and basically had nothing to do, I tried to remember Anverosa's words about mana and all that. 'Infusing mana like life essence, huh?'

I basically had all night, assuming I didn't get killed in my sleep. I actually could have just woken up and tried to stay awake but it was kind of pointless considering how sleepy and tired I was: I literally fell asleep after thinking I wouldn't.

Besides, I didn't actually feel any murderous intent from that flying monster thing. I wasn't naïve enough to think it wouldn't try to kill us though. I was probably just consoling myself though. 

I did get the impression the spirit would wake me up like last time, if it did come back, so yeah, I just didn't worry about it. 

Too optimistic?

Probably. 

But anyway, I tried to infuse mana with my blood, the healing kind. And hoped I didn't die. 

I could feel small amount of mana and that was it. But it was better. Better than trying with all of my mana and failing miserably. 

I tried to infuse mana- failed. I tried again and felt something but failed. 

I tried hard, I tried again and after who knows how many times gave up. 

Apparently, I could feel mana, move it around, but infusing it- whatever that meant- wasn't possible. I did feel a bit warm though. Well, at least I didn't burn.

I sighed. 

"Maybe, try imagining it like water flowing instead?" A voice came, a very smooth, clear voice. I looked around but didn't see anyone. And then I realized, there was someone right next to me, all along, I turned to my left and the spirit was awake. She smooched me.

And a second later, I woke up.

It was morning. Ve and Biteria were already up, I was the last. 

The moment I woke up Ve grabbed my shirt and shook me. "Why didn't you wake me up?" 

Biteria shared her conscience, nodding vigorously. 

Me?

Blank stare- nothing more- nothing less. 

At least I didn't feel tired anymore.