Chapter 100: The Realm Speaks

While Nymeria and her father were busy talking, Reynold was busy listening.

His mind already concluded quickly as he heard about the military recruits list. He even weighed his options fast.

In his mind, staying here at the academy had no real purpose for him anymore.

The army camp would offer him the hard exposure and brutal strong training he desperately needed to go out in search of Gwyn.

More than that, the army will also give him a better chance to quietly place clues about his parents’ deaths without drawing the direct eyes of the higher-ups.

And above all, there would be a lot more freedom there than inside these academy cage walls.

Reynold let out a quiet sigh, as he shifted on the sofa, and said slowly.

"I want to join the recruits too," Reynold said.

Hearing those words, Nymeria turned her head around with her eyes flashing with pure disbelief. "Absolutely not."

Reynold stared at her without blinking. "Why not? I want to go, and you can not change my mind."

The Viceroy turned his his gaze toward Reynold. "What is your name, boy?"

Reynold swallowed hard before lifting his chin. "Reynold Starweaver."

Hearing that surname, the Viceroy raised a single, thick eyebrow. "Starweaver? The boy with the three dragons?"

Reynold let out a single nod.

Beside them, Nymeria turned back to her father. "No, Father, you can not..."

The Viceroy raised up a hand, as he cut her off. His eyes were fixed on Reynold. "I believe the boy is old enough to make his own choices. If having his name on the recruits list is what he wants, then we can make that happen."

Nymeria gritted her teeth, as her her hands curled into tight fists at her sides. She opened her mouth.. "Father, listen..."

Before she could finish, Nyx sounded too "Put my name on the list too."

Nymeria snapped her head toward Nyx with her eyes wide. "Fu*king flame, what is wrong with the two of you?!"

Nyx just shrugged her shoulders slowly. "There is nothing really here for me at the academy anymore so there is point in staying."

The Viceroy let out a low rumble in his chest as he nodded. "Done. I will get both of your names on the roster."

"Thank you, My Lord," Nyx and Reynold said in near unison.

Nymeria grit her teeth. "Fine. If they are going, I am going too."

Her father nodded slowly. "Then it is settled. You all have tomorrow to go say your goodbyes to the ones you are leaving behind. You leave the day after tomorrow."

They nodded. The Viceroy turned and walked out of the room.

The moment the door closed Nymeria turned around to face Reynold and Nyx with her hands already flying through the air as she gestured wildly. "Are you both out of your minds?! What were you even thinking?!" She said in frustration. "The army camp is not some game! It is the real reality of life and a much more brutal environment where all the bad things and atrocities go on behind closed doors, and powerful people just get away with it!"

Nyx crossed her arms. "I get that you are worried, Nymeria, and your worry is valid. But we are not children anymore. For a child to learn how to walk, you have to let them walk, fall, cry, stand up, and walk again. And, you are not doing us any favors by trying to protect us like this. And besides, we are the exact same age as you."

Nymeria’s furious eyes shifted from Nyx to Reynold.

Reynold simply shrugged his shoulders and pointed a thumb straight at Nyx, and said, "What she said."

With that, Reynold let out a yawn as he stretched his arms, and mumbled, "... I am fucking hungry."

Location: Endless Realm.

Valerius’s mother was lying flat on the endless burning desert sand.

She was already very weak, and her body was drained of all the strength in her.

There was no point in screaming out for help because no one would ever hear her voice. Any shout she made will simply returned to her in her own tone, but only deeper and slow.

This place was a dreaming consciousness, and a dimension where time did not pass in hours or days, but in centuries.

Why Valerius banished her here was because it would be completely impossible for her to ever find a way out or use her magic.

The thousands people before her who were thrown into this Endless Realm, did not make it out alive.

Valerius’s mother just lay like a broken doll with her face full of mess. Her skin was pale and cracked from the dry air.

She rolled weakly over on the ground helplessly.

Just then, she started hearing a a strange sound.

Faint, tiny whispers were sounding from under the desert sand.

Valerius’s mother froze before she slowly raised her head to stare at the shifting sand under her palms. After a long moment of hesitation, she pressed her ear back down directly against the sand and her eyes widened instantly.

"It’s... it is the memories of the previous exiles," she muttered slowly with her voice trembling in disbelief.

She jerked her head back up, and stared wildly at the sand before pressing her ear down again. She whispered into the sand, "Can... can... you...hear me?"

The sand under her cheek shifted a little.

Her eyes went wide with her heart already hammering against her ribs.

She asked again: "Is there... is there any hidden water or stream in this desert?"

Instantly, the sand shifted more violently under her ear.

She let out a gasp. If this realm could actually hear her... and if there was a hidden water source somewhere in this dunes... all she had to do was find it, survive long enough to learn how to read and speak the language of the sand, and master it. And once she is familiar with it, she could finally bargain with the desert itself to let her control it.