Lord Shadow

And that is what is gnawing at him right now

This feeling of forgetting something important is really gnawing on him right now. The more frustrating thing is that this is his instinct reminding him that he is forgetting something

After all, if you forget something, how could you remember something you forget? But his instinct told him that he was really forgetting something important.

He remembers bits and pieces of what happens after he comes out of his seclusion. But did he meet anyone after coming out?

What did he do?

That memory suddenly seems blank. He is sure this is one of the side effects of the affliction he

He looks at Katarina and then smiles bitterly. This is not the time to think about things he couldn’t even remember.

Right now, the first thing he needs to do is to at least stave off this effect of this affliction. Azief could only refer to it as an affliction because he did not really know how to categorize the kind of diseases that he is being afflicted by right now

Azief then said

“And if what you said about the Oracle is true, then this thing is not really without a solution. I must meet her first to determine whether I should change the plan or keep going with it”

He said but his voice is getting weaker. And he feels sleepy again.

And some memories he tries to hold on is trying to slip away from him again

Azief clenches his fist trying not to fall asleep, but the feeling is just so strong

“I need to sleep. Send all the guards away. You alone are enough” Azief said this before he suddenly closes his eyes.

He could hear some faint noise of Katarina calling his name but right now he is so tired that he could not even hold on and simply went to sleep.

…

He is sleeping and now he is dreaming.

For the first time since he had returned from the Time Space continuum, his mind has never been so clear.

He is now dreaming

But this dream…he knows that he is dreaming. It has never been this vivid. And what does he dream of?

A river.

A gushing river.

And he is standing on the banks of this river.

In the distance, he sees a person.

A white beard, a jovial face with a slight tan, and behind the back of this person is a rattan basket

He looks like some kind of an old farmer. Yet everything about him exudes some kind of sacred aura that is inviolable.

And everything from the clothes he wears to the basket behind his back, each and everything is uncommon.

Everything seems to have some kind of energy to it.

That person suddenly looks towards him.

Azief tries to look at this person, trying to see his expression and trying to remember anything he could

For the first time in his life, he never felt that a dream could be this clear and could be this easy to remember

Most of dreams he had were always like a mirage. When he gets up after a sleep, the dreams would disappear.

Of course, after the Fall, he could still sleep. Even after he broke through to Disk Formation he could still sleep.

But at that time, even though he is asleep he rarely dreams. And he himself rarely sleeps.

Because there was no need to

This dream is different. It did not feel like a dream. But yet, at the same time he knows he is dreaming

Why? Because his mind is clear. He knows right now he is on the island of Arturia. He knows there is Katarina beside him

He knew he had just felt sleepy and then went to sleep with Katarina holding him.

So, this is a dream

But this feeling of the river, of this person in the distance, it felt like he is here on the bank of this river

Azief also tries to look at the river, but he could not make his head look toward the river. This is why he said it is a dream

In some of his dreams, he could not control what he did in those dreams. It is more like watching a drama unfolding before your own eyes

Just looking at the person in the distance

And the moment Azief saw this person face, he forgot the face of this person

He knows then that this is not ordinary dream and that person is not really a person. Not human.

A being of power beyond comprehension.

Azief with his realm could perceive many things.

There are not many things and concepts in this world that he could not perceive.

But those beings he could not perceive is what he called a being beyond comprehension.

It is like a mortal trying to see the true form of a Chthonian being.

It is akin like that.

Of course, Wargod, Odin, Wukong all of these beings that speak and walk with him usually restrain their divine visage hence most people could perceive them

Odin and Wukong for example took the Aspect of the Stamp of Faith that they have in various worlds.

The Odin he saw is what the version of Odin would be on Earth. After all, in his Earth and in many other Earths, there is mythological stories about Odin.

So, when he appears in front of mortals, he usually dons this image that has already strongly been associated with him

The same for Wukong who takes the appearance of the famous Sun Wukong.

But now, in his dreams, he met a being that he could not understand and could not perceive so much so that his own brain is trying to protect him by erasing the memory of this being immediately after he remembers it.

The image he had before of the jovial face….was that something he sees or is it something his mind made it up

And suddenly he felt like he was being pulled away by some force

“Wait, wait!” Azief tries to jump to that being but then the space between them seems to stretch out infinitely

Azief suddenly felt a premonition that this being is important. He did not know what for, but his instinct is telling him right now

He jumps and he tries to dash but no matter how hard he tries, the distance between them does not close instead it keeps stretching and the pulling sensation become stronger

“Just a moment!”

And he woke up

..

Azief woke up and he frowned. He could feel he was holding something.

Argh! He had a headache

This is not natural.

He was dreaming. He felt that he was dreaming. Nut now as he tries to remember what he is dreaming about, it felt like a mirage

Trying to grasp it, it disappears.

He shakes his head and then he looks to his left.

There is Katarina beside him.

She is holding his hand, and she lays her head on the bed.

Azief could not help but smile a bit

Azief movement make her sit straight. She looks at him and the worries is etched clearly on her face

Azief smiles bitterly.

He wanted to say not to worry too much but he knows it is pointless. If Katarina is in the same position he is in right now, he also could not help but worry

As long as they both know each other’s heart, there is no need to say too many words

“You woke up”

Katarina looks at him and he smiles

“I woke up” for a moment there is silence between them. He saw the orange hue coming from the windows and felt the wind breeze and he sighed

“How long I have been asleep?”

“Three days”

Azief frowns.

“Did anything happen to me when I was asleep” Katarina sighed

“Your energy was….” She seems to find it hard to describe it.

“Weird” Azief could tell time has passed. He clearly remembers it was not sunset when he fell asleep. Now, the sun is already setting.

Even if he did not stand up and see the outside, he could tell from the colors of the sun

He expected he was only sleeping for a few hours, but Katarina answer shocks him. Not a few hours. But a few days. This is not something he had expected.

But one thing is clear. He felt a little bit more…clear now that he had slept

Azief tries to get up and Katarina squeezes his hand.

“Are you sure you are alright?” Azief smiled and nodded

He got up and then he closed his eyes.

The first thing he uses is his Divine Sense.

He wanted to check his own body and with one scan he could tell that some of his energy is now clear.

But that affliction is still there.

The only weird thing about this affliction is that there is no source.

It is not in the flow of energy in his body, yet it affects his own energy and even affects his mind and memories even though right now he is in energy form

This is really something he is curious about

He got up and hugged Katarina.

“Hmm?”

“I miss this. Hugging you” And then he kisses her on his forehead

“And this”

And then he kisses her on her nose. and then he kissed her on her lips. And she blushes a bit. It is not like she could not stop him

But she did not stop him. Then

Smiling Azief chuckles

“And also, this”

And Azief shows her a smile that she had never seen before. And for a moment, Katarina also smiles

Outside of this island, the world is in chaos, the Seven World Powers scheming and full of intrigues, above the heavens, the great beings watch the mortal with scrutinizing eyes

But even with all of this…..Azief choose to cherish this moment.

This present.

Full of love, full of affection

..