Underneath the Silhouette
Chapter 92: A Lucid Dream, a Loose Lip

Chapter 92: A Lucid Dream, a Loose Lip

"You have to go!" a familiar, booming voice roared, filled with a desperate urgency.

Eirin’s body turned behind her, and there, amidst the apocalyptic landscape, she saw the familiar, gentle giant. It was Girak, his colossal body covered with fresh black burn marks and fissures from the relentless fire surrounding them.

Eirin couldn’t understand the context, the meaning of this vivid nightmare, but the giant reached out and pulled her small, dream-body hand, which appeared to be glowing with an intense red color. He then carefully carried her, covering her with his huge, boulder-like body, shielding her from the inferno.

Girak ran with Eirin in his arms, his massive strides shaking the dreamscape. He ran through a terrifying sea of fire, with massive explosions erupting constantly behind them, sending shockwaves through the air. Eirin still couldn’t understand what kind of dream this was, why she was seeing Girak, and why she was reliving such a catastrophic event with him.

"Stop right there."

A cold, commanding voice, devoid of emotion, sliced through the chaos.

The giant abruptly stopped, and Eirin’s eyes, still beyond her control, gazed at what stood directly in front of them. There stood a woman, her features strangely blurry, indistinct, as if shrouded in mist, but her eyes... her eyes glowed with an intense captivating emerald hue, a stark contrast to the blood-red sky. She radiated immense power, an aura of terrible beauty.

"Please, spare this child. She did not do anything wrong, she’s innocent," Girak pleaded, his booming voice tinged with raw desperation, directed at the emerald-eyed woman.

Eirin couldn’t move, couldn’t even blink; it was as if the dream was fully in control of her movements, an unwilling spectator to a traumatic memory. The ground beneath them trembled violently as another massive explosion from behind them permeated their ears, a deafening roar that shook the very foundations of the dream world.

"Go!" the woman’s cold voice commanded, and with a surge, Girak moved.

"Eirin!"

The teenage girl’s eyes snapped wide open. It was the same familiar, startling way she always woke up from these same mysterious, terrifying dreams – a sudden, jarring expulsion back into reality.

"Oh, god. I thought you weren’t going to wake up," Coleen sighed, a sound of relief. Eirin then scratched her head, disoriented, as she looked around the familiar dormitory room. Her forehead creased in confusion after seeing how dark it still was outside, the morning light not yet piercing the windows.

"I’m sorry, did I disturb your sleep?" Eirin yawned, stretching her stiff limbs as she sat up straight. "We just back from the mission and I—wait, the weeping bindweed! I need to bring it to Ms. Jenkins right away!"

Coleen gently held Eirin’s arm, stopping her from moving from the bed. "They already got the weeping bindweed, Ei," Coleen said, her voice soft but firm. "And... you’ve been asleep for two whole days."

The revelation left Eirin baffled, her mind struggling to reconcile the missing time. "Ms. Jenkins said not to wake you up, that you needed the rest, but I was afraid you would never wake up again," she added, her eyes wide with lingering concern.

Eirin pressed her hands to her temples, trying to process this new, disorienting information. "Wha—why? How?"

"That’s what I was wondering about too," Coleen said, her brow furrowed in sympathy as she gently rubbed Eirin’s palm, a comforting gesture. "Do you want to eat in the cafeteria with me? You’re probably feeling lethargic after such a long sleep."

Eirin readily agreed, her stomach rumbling faintly at the mention of food. She quickly changed out of her pajamas and went out of the room with Coleen, the familiar routines of Academy life a strange comfort after her recent ordeal.

As they walked, Eirin tried to recall more details of her vivid dream, wondering if she could dare ask her friend about it, to share the unsettling vision of Girak and the emerald-eyed woman.

On their way to the bustling cafeteria, Eirin noticed students still outside of their rooms, even though it was nearing 10 o’clock in the evening. They were laughing and having fun, chatting with each other, their voices echoes cheerfully in the hallway.

It hadn’t even taken that long, perhaps only a few days, for their mission to finish, but for Eirin, having lost two days to an intense, dream-haunted sleep, it felt like weeks, an entire lifetime had passed.

"Say, Coco," Eirin began, a sudden thought occurring to her, the image of Girak’s tear-filled eyes flashing in her mind, "are you familiar with the name Nævi?"

Coleen stopped dead in her tracks, turning to look at Eirin, blinking several times in surprise. Her cheerful demeanor dissolved into one of serious contemplation. "Where... where did you hear that name?" she asked, her voice hushed, a hint of awe and fear in her tone.

Eirin looked around, ensuring no one was close enough to overhear, before leaning closer to Coleen’s ear. "We actually met a giant named Girak in the Slumbering Slopes," she whispered, "and he kept calling Shade and I by that word, ’Nævi.’ He seemed to think we were someone he knew."

Coleen nodded, her lips pursed in thought. "Hmm, it is quite familiar, and it’s giving me actual goosebumps just hearing that name," she said, her voice still quiet. "I think I’ve read it from a very old, obscure book back at our manor when I was younger, one of the forbidden texts. If it’s a name of an extinct type of ligma, she’ll know about it."

"Who?" Eirin asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.

Coleen sighed, a dramatic flutter of her eyelashes. "Calixta Winters."

Eirin nodded, a firm resolve setting in. She definitely had to ask Calixta about the name "Nævi" soon, the haunting dream still clinging to the edges of her mind like morning mist. The cafeteria bustled around them, a symphony of clanking cutlery, hushed conversations, and the occasional burst of laughter.

"I do wonder why I keep dreaming such scenarios," Eirin sighed.

"Maybe you’re the reincarnation of Neyi—or whatever their name is," Coleen shrugged.

"That was random. Where did that come from?"

Coleen smiled. "I’m reading this new and hot novel. I think the title was Under the Shadow, and teenage girls were all going crazy for it. The female lead was the reincarnation of someone powerful before—oh! Speaking of going crazy, yesterday the girls in our class were going ballistic after seeing how small Shade Cromwell had become," Coleen said, a mischievous twinkle in her winter-gray eyes as she speared a piece of bacon with her fork.

"I know, he could be adorable as a child, with those big eyes and that pout, but he’s still Shade Cromwell. He’s still rude and annoying, even in miniature form. He was cuter when he was that age, though unstable." Coleen wrinkled her nose in mock disgust, yet a faint smile played on her lips.

Eirin chuckled, a genuine, bubbling sound. It felt like it’s been so long since she’d heard Coleen complaining about Shade Cromwell, their usual banter a comforting return to normalcy amidst the recent chaos.

"Aren’t you even curious why he turned the way he is now?" Eirin asked, leaning closer, lowering her voice slightly.

Coleen raised a perfectly sculpted brow, a theatrical gesture. "Nope. Not in the slightest. I just know that whatever situation he’s in right now, he absolutely deserves it," she declared with a decisive nod, causing Eirin to laugh even harder.

"I’m wondering, though, what the cure is. How would he turn back to normal? Or is he gonna grow again, slowly, over years – then we’ll be older than him, towering over him in class!" The thought sent Coleen into a fresh fit of giggles, her shoulders shaking.

Eirin wiped a tear of pure mirth from her eye, her stomach aching from too much laughter. "Alright, alright," she managed, regaining her composure. "This isn’t much of a secret, but I don’t think Shade Cromwell would appreciate everyone knowing about it." She glanced around, making sure no one was paying them too much attention.

"What is it? Tell me!" Coleen prompted, her eyes wide with curiosity, leaning in expectantly.

Eirin cleared her throat, a small, dramatic pause. "The nymph said that for the curse to be lifted, he must be... kissed by his true love, or something like that." She finished the sentence quickly, almost blurring the last words.

Coleen’s jaw dropped, then she let out a scoff. "What kind of fairy tale rubbish is that? True love? In this Academy? You’re telling me Shade Cromwell, the most insufferable boy in Senerra, has a ’true love’ who’s just going to magically appear and kiss him back to normal?" She erupted into a peal of disbelieving laughter.

Suddenly, a loud, sputtering choke cut through the cafeteria’s ambient noise. Both Eirin and Coleen immediately looked behind them, their eyes scanning the tables. There, a few feet away, sat Sapphire Blouin, her normally adorable face now streaked with vibrant blueberry soda. She coughed violently, her eyes wide and fixated on Eirin.

"T-True love’s kiss?" Sapphire sputtered, her voice barely a whisper, yet loud enough to carry.

Eirin flinched, a cold dread poured over her. ’Oh, well. Shade didn’t explicitly say we should keep it a secret, did he? It’ll be fine... I hope?’ the teenage girl thought, trying to rationalize her accidental revelation—well, her accidentally letting someone else hear it, that is. A tiny hint of mischievous satisfaction mixing with her sudden panic.

However, she was wrong. Terribly, horribly wrong.