An Englishman in Castle Aincrad

Floor 25 - Chapter 3 - Sweet Dreams are Made of This...

Kizmel knew fear. 

She remembered the stories of the Sandman from her childhood, and she remembered - with almost perfect recollection - holding her sister close the evening after they'd been told that story. Not only that, but she was a seasoned warrior at her majesty's service throughout the war, and she had fought resolutely with little cause to pause... but this? She was terrified. Her body felt as if it were no longer her own, as if she were watching her own actions from outside it, with some unseen and despicable force puppeteering her body...

"Foolish children of the tree, you know not of the forces you dabble with..." The voice of not only herself, but almost everyone present spoke, seemingly detached from their own bodies too...

And as suddenly as it had started... it was over. She felt back in control, and whatever unseen force had invaded her mind and body was gone, hopefully for good, despite the cold shiver still running down her spine.

''-zmel! KIZMEL!'' As she returned to her own presence, she noticed that Koharu was shaking her by the shoulders and shouting in frantic panic. It was slightly distracting, she thought, but she was glad that she had realised that something was wrong at least.

''I-I am fine... I think.'' She replied, regaining her composure somewhat. Her hands still shook ever so slightly, but she supposed that wasn't too much of a concern about now. She had, after all, just been possessed by some mystery entity, so the shakes were more to be expected, she reckoned.

Still, she wondered, and despite all that had happened; almost everyone around her being possessed by an unknown entity... everyone just went back about their day. No talk of anything unusual, nary a blink of confusion from anyone but herself. Phillia said it best herself... ''What just happened?''

''I think we just watched the world stand still...'' The blacksmith, Lisbeth answered, but she sounded far from sure of her own answer. ''Please tell me I'm not the only one who is absolutely freaked out right now?''

''Nope.'' Phillia answered curtly. Kizmel could always count on the copper haired girl to cut through the awkwardness and get straight to the point, and here was no exception.

''Certainly not.''

''I would suggest we find somewhere that is not here to continue this conversation...'' The young girl, Seven, answered with a fair amount of uncertainty in her voice, as well as more than a touch of unbridled terror in there. Not only that, but she was shaking even worse than she had found herself, as well as having just finished muttering reassurances to herself under her breath...

''Agreed. We'll had back to our lodgings on the last floor, that should be safe enough.'' A new side to Koharu emerged, she thought. In the time they'd known each other, she had always been by the knight's side, and as such, the... eccentric personality often made itself more known than the quiet and reserved girl. Though she'd shone on the battlefield more times than Kizmel could really count, it had only been now where she'd really seen Koharu taking charge of the situation, and a warm feeling radiated through her; that of pride. She really had grown into someone worthy of the title Pagoda Knight, Kizmel thought wistfully.

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Not for the first time, Jet found himself wishing he was someone else. Also not for the first time, he found himself surrounded by nightmarish monsters. It was, however, the first time he'd found himself surrounded by these monsters, whilst in a town that resembled somewhere he'd visited as a child, whilst the creatures communicated in... well, even he wasn't sure, but it sounded like some kind of beeps, screeches and scratches.

The creatures they found were unlike anything they'd ever seen, especially given how quickly four more had spawned to replace their two deceased comrades...