In the waking world…
Sunny stood up from the bed, he still vividly remembered the conversation with Merlin, with a sigh, he stood up and walked to meet up with the others.
As he arrived, he saw the cohort sitting in the open space, they sat in different chairs seemingly engaged in a discussion.
"Sunny… you're back" Kai called out as he looked towards his direction.
He nodded in reply, then he picked up a chair and sat down.
"Merlin said he'd stay in that state for a while, something about finding a solution to the problem of the great clans" Sunny summarized, but seeing their confused expression, he proceeded to tell them about what happened in the dream, but he didn't include the discussion between Merlin and Hope.
After he finished, Effie spoke up.
"So… that means he's going to be taking a long nap while we'll be out here receiving the heat of the clans and the government?"
She shook her head as she added in a slightly aggrieved voice.
"The moment things become unbearable, I'm waking that pretty boy up…"
"We should trust Merlin, knowing him, he probably has something planned" Cassie intervened as she spoke to Effie.
"Did he say anything about the helper he's bringing?" Nephis asked.
Sunny shook his head twice as he replied.
"No, he didn't have any intention of explaining either, for now all we can do is wait"
He didn't have any issue with waiting, considering that he and Cassie's problems with the great clan were still not settled, he was counting on Merlin providing him a solution.
"I guess waiting it is, but you guys are in charge of my food till he wakes up" Effie grumbled as she stretched in her chair.
Sunny sighed inwardly, then he spread his shadow sense till its maximum, through the shadows, he could sense multiple people nearby watching the building closely, he also recognized some approaching shadows, those belonged to Master Jet and Saint Cor.
A few seconds later, the two of them walked through the door, drawing the attention of the cohort.
"Master Jet, Saint Cor, welcome" Kai greeted and the cohort greeted too.
"Yes… where is he?" Saint Cor asked as he looked around, earlier he had received the news about Merlin's awakening and the near death situation countless government officials had experienced, so he was determined to have a talk with Merlin to settle things before the great clans start flooding in like sharks drawn by blood.
But Cor was disappointed by the news as Nephis spoke.
"According to the officials, Merlin has awoken and has become an ascended, but he is currently unconscious due to some situation"
Cor narrowed his eyes as he stared at the cohort, then he nodded and asked.
"And what of the fact that he nearly ended the life of everyone present here, do you also have an explanation for that?" His voice was stern as he tried to pressure the cohort.
This time it was Cassie that replied calmly.
"We're guessing that it might be unconscious use of his abilities due to his awakening"
"So you mean to tell me that an ascended nearly took the life of over twelve awakened, six ascended and one transcended?" Saint Cor asked, his voice filled with doubt as he added.
"And you expect me to believe that power is in the hand of a mere ascended?"
Sunny shrugged internally as he thought back to Merlin's feat on the forgotten shore, compared to killing over a thousand nightmare creatures in ten seconds, what is a dozen or so awakened soldiers, under that might, even a saint would struggle, not to mention all that was when he was still a sleeper, now that he had become an ascended, killing a saint didn't really sound impossible.
Meanwhile Cassie replied again, with not even a waver in her voice.
"That is what we all felt and witnessed, if we want to know more about it, we'll have to wait for him to return"
Saint Cor thought for a while, then he sighed and walked away, the cohort then turned to Master Jet who had been quiet since they entered, Jet shrugged at their gazes then calmly replied.
"Don't look at me… it's the higher ups that are stressing over him, the only reason I'm here is because I was the one who watched over him during his first nightmare"
"I understand, but Master Jet, why are the higher ups so concerned about Merlin? Even Nephis didn't draw this much attention despite her status" Kai asked confused.
Jet shook her head and sighed.
"You don't get it, it's not necessarily the government being impatient, over this year, the great clans have been putting pressure on the government concerning Merlin, some of them demanded that he should be moved into one of their facilities… seriously, who knew that the seemingly lazy sleepers I dropped off at the academy would now be the cause of my endless stress"
Kai nodded in understanding, personally he knew the reason the great clans were fixated on Merlin, after all, his deeds on the forgotten shore were much more impressive than what most people would achieve in their lifetime.
"Thank you for helping with moving him Master Jet" Sunny thanked her as he returned to his chair, with his shadow sense, he could feel the number of people in the area slowly increasing.
'It seems someone has leaked Merlin's current location, after all the moving was a covert one… but who would do this?' Sunny thought inwardly.
"It's okay Sunny, it's better as whatever went wrong happened here" Jet smiled softly.
"So, how long is he planning on sleeping?" Jet asked again, but the next moment, the alarms in the building started sounding out.
Sunny searched for the problem with his shadow sense, but he was stunned at what he felt, or rather what he didn't feel.
Saint Cor immediately walked out of the hallway as he stared intently at them, then he spoke in a tense voice.
"It seems Ascended Merlin has disappeared"
"..."
The cohort was left speechless as they immediately rushed to Merlin's room, as they reached there, the door was already open, and the room was empty with no sign of Merlin, but the strange thing was that he never left through the door as it was Saint Cor who opened it after he felt Merlin's presence disappear, and even if he didn't need the door to leave, there was still no trace of him inside the building.
Sunny stretched his shadow sense far and wide, but even he couldn't sense Merlin's presence anywhere, he turned to Nephis who was staring at him and shook his head, he honestly had no idea where Merlin had gone or how he left in the first place, but he guessed it had something to do with what they discussed just recently.
'But didn't he say it would take a while, this is less than ten minutes' Sunny sighed inwardly.
…
Meanwhile Merlin was currently standing in front of a very beautiful scenery, the spirit world was filled with swirling mass of indescribable color that felt both far in the distance and an arm's length away at the same time, the place had no concept of direction or distance, it just seemed to stretch endlessly, up and down were depending on your perspective, and left and right were simply suggestions.
Merlin gazed at the beautiful space in front of him, then he frowned slightly, compared to the spirit world described in the book he read, this one was empty, too empty, the spirit world was supposed to have spirits, but this one was simply desolate, less like a spirit world, more like a cheap imitation simply for the purpose of travel.
He retrieved a coin from the dimension ring and flicked it into the air, the coin traced an arc before landing on the back of his palm, heads, that confirmed his suspicions that this spirit world was simply a cutout from the original, probably another gift from the dominator of the spirit world.
Merlin sighed helplessly as he thought back to the trials, after facing the crimson terror, he confronted a fallen titan next, with his abilities, he was able to defeat the titan easily too, then his last opponent was a corrupted beast, it was safe to say that without memories or weapons, he wasn't going to fight in close range, so he simply took a step back and began spamming all offensive recorded abilities he had, including the recent ones he recorded from the saint in Sunny's second nightmare.
There was no way a mere corrupted beast was surviving that onslaught, so it is not wrong to say that he breezed through the trial and finally succeeded in unlocking the fourth part of his aspect legacy, earning him one of the true cowardly abilities.
Immediately he got the ability, his immediate thoughts was to locate Silver and bring her out of the forest of Civilth, so the moment he woke up, he immediately disappeared into the spirit world, but after arriving here, he immediately realized that he had skipped a few steps in the search and rescue sequence.
For one, he didn't even know her current location, and he hadn't discussed with her the changes of the world he was bringing her into, it was like trying to prepare a cake and buying all the condiments but not even buying the flour.
He immediately shook his head, then he once again divined his safety, after confirming his current location was safe, he immediately moved into his soul sea, as he arrived, he had a small chat with Ariel, then he turned his head towards Silver's point of light, with a thought he dismissed the other high back chairs and table, leaving only his own, then he immediately touched her point of light, the next moment, Silver's figure appeared in his soul sea.
"Woah… so interesting, do it again" Seeing this, Ariel cheered and clapped happily as she stared at Silver in awe.
Silver, who suddenly appeared, snapped out of her daze and turned to Merlin.
"Child…" she spoke in her soft, tender voice, but she looked downwards only to find Ariel standing there holding his hand as her eyes beamed in delight.
Silver looked confused as she alternated looks between Merlin and Ariel, then she finally asked.
"Merlin… who is this little one?"
Merlin smiled and introduced them as he brought Ariel forward.
"Silver, this is Ariel, my… little sister, I guess" then he gestured to Ariel "and Ari, this is Silver… my big sister, I guess"
Silver lifted an eyebrow at his description, but she eventually sighed and greeted Ariel.
"Hello child, you can call me Silver"
Ariel smiled brightly as she nodded and spoke in a cheery voice.
"Since big brother is big brother, then you should be big sister, I'll call you big sister"
Silver was taken aback slightly, but she recovered then offered Ariel a smile.
"What ever you're comfortable with little one"
Ariel nodded happily, Merlin ruffled her hair then turned to face Silver and said.
"Well I brought you here because I finally have a way for you to leave that wretched forest"
Silver nodded calmly then asked.
"Are you confident you can escape from Thorax this time?"
Merlin sighed as he thought of the cursed terror that was probably patiently waiting for his return, but he had a plan for it, if it worked then he would escape freely, and if it didn't, then the waking world would have to deal with a cursed terror, at least that would give the sovereigns something to do for the meantime.
"I have a way, so you shouldn't really worry, the main problem now is you… I'll need to tell you a few things about the outside world so you wouldn't seem too conspicuous" Merlin calmly explained.
"Alright I'm listening…" Silver nodded and waited for his response.
Merlin proceeded to explain the do's and dont's of the waking world that he could possibly explain, he wasn't sure about a few considering that he had spent only a month there, but he still gave her the general idea of things. Silver and Ariel listened attentively to his words, and when he finished explaining, they nodded in understanding.
"Alright…since that's done, it's time to begin" Merlin clapped as he cracked his shoulders.
"Okay… I'll be waiting" Silver nodded, then he cut the connection between them, sending her back.
"Ooh big sister's gone" Ariel's eyes sparkled like she was watching some magic show, he chuckled at her enthusiasm as he focused on Silver's location through her star.
"Alright I'll be right back Ari" Merlin said as he left his soul sea and returned to the spirit world.
As he got there, he immediately focused on the scene he remembered through the star, and then he reactivated the travel ability, within a second, the scene in front of him stirred, then he immediately appeared in front of Silver.
"No time to waste, let's leave" Merlin spoke quickly as he placed a hand on her shoulder, but the next moment, a crushing pressure descended on him, followed by an order.
"Don't move!"
By the time Thorax gave the order, Merlin had already turned around to face him, with his hands still resting on Silver's shoulder.
"Thorax… you really have no idea how much I want to punch your smug face in" Merlin gritted his teeth as he spoke with unconcealed anger.
Thorax didn't reply as he started walking forward towards them that were frozen in place, but Merlin simply chuckled and spoke in a mocking voice.
"Hey… I'm guessing the god you serve so much didn't teach you about loopholes"
The moment his words landed, he and Ariel immediately disappeared from their location as Merlin entered the spirit world, as he did, the crushing pressure and the order given by Thorax immediately lost its effect.
"Looks like my plan worked" Merlin chuckled as he turned to Silver who was looking around the empty space.
"How?" Silver asked after hearing his words.
"It's rather simple, He said I shouldn't move, so I didn't, I just stood still and changed the location instead, if we leave this place now, we'll eventually return to the position we left, so in a sense we haven't moved at all, so we didn't break his order, only using a loophole to counter it" Merlin explained the situation clearly.
Silver nodded then she asked again.
"So won't he follow us here?"
Merlin smiled and shook his head.
"If my conjecture is right, then he has no way of entering this place without my help"
His words were based on the fact that Thorax's main ability was mimic, not copy, if it was copy, then the abilities would follow the fundamental process of the original, but since it was simply mimic, the abilities are only similar not the same.
For example, an ability that had devastating firepower, but drained the life of the user in every move, if Thorax mimicked such an ability, he would only mimic the devastating firepower as he has no idea of the backlash, and thus he would be safe from it, but as it has advantages, it also has disadvantages, for example, his current situation, to Thorax, he simply teleported away, as that is what he witnessed, if he mimicked the ability, it would only be teleportation, because Thorax has no idea that Merlin is using the spirit world as a means of transport, so inevitably Thorax has no way to enter the spirit world.
"I see… thank you Merlin" Silver smiled softly at him.
He smiled back and replied.
"You're welcome… now, let's go back"