War of Dawn

Chapter 10: Stand Firm

Date: 1003 After Dawn, September 4th

Another month and half has passed since Hilda's first mission. She's been hard at work to strengthen herself, having gone back to the nonstop training regimen Ryouma had originally put her through. Things are far from ideal yet, as she still finds herself trembling when fighting Revenants, but she's gained enough focus to at least keep herself level-headed when engaging the creatures. She's already raided another seven small enclaves – none near populated regions, of course – with Ryouma and Vanessa. Thankfully, there haven't been any other close calls since the first.

Overall, Hilda's been capable of keeping her mind under control. During the day, at least. There are some nights where things take a turn for the worse, though, and this is one of them.

Hilda finds herself – a child, once again – amid an endless darkness, without anything or anyone around her. The only sound that can be heard is of her crying, quivering in fetal position. That changes quickly, however. From the dark, small red shapes emerge, roaring and moaning liked crazed beasts. They all turn and begin converging on her. She stumbles and runs away across the dark.

Tears stream down Hilda's eyes, fading into nothingness as they fall from her cheeks. Fear gripping her mind, she cries out: "No, no, no... Please, no...! Someone help! Please!!"

Her gasping, strained voice is occluded by the shapes' monstrous roars. There is no help but, in her path, she finds a simple bronze knife. The moment she picks it up, the creatures surround her. One steps out the group and shambles closer and closer. Hilda grips the knife firmly and attacks the shade. Her heart pounds as though it'll burst as the knife runs deep into the creature's chest.

Blackened blood pours off the wound but the shade quickly recovers. It grabs Hilda by the arm and pulls her close. Face-to-face with the creature, the red mist that hides its face fades away... and reveals Hilda herself. Her skin is rotted, flesh drooping off her bones, and she bears empty white eyes stuck in an insane glare.

Hilda screams in terror, her piercing voice echoing across the darkness, as her undead self grows and erupts into a red light. The light envelops everything and as Hilda is falling into its depths, she wakes up.

Shaking something awful, Hilda takes in a raspy breath – she's back in her room in Valarheim Keep. She rises off her bed and takes a look at the mirror at her cabinet. Indeed, nothing has happened. She's the same as always, aside from the cold sweat in her forehead and the tears in her eyes. Wiping her face clean with her bed's blanket, she lies back down and closes her eyes. This isn't the first time she's had this nightmare over the past few years and it likely won't be the last. She can't change what happened, so the best she can do is simply let it be.

She cannot go back to sleep, however. After an hour of trying to do so, Hilda gives up and decides to start her day earlier than usual. And it is a pretty simple day, initially. She'd been on a mission yesterday, so she's not expected to receive anything today. Thus, all the following hours are dedicated to eating breakfast and training. Training in the morning, training at noon and training in the early afternoon. Paula is nowhere to be found – likely busy with her job for Eliza – and Ryouma spends most of the day on assignments or training some High Scions.

That changes as the sun starts to set, however, as he sends Hilda a message asking if she'd accompany him on a "different kind of mission". She hasn't anything better to do so why not?

Ryouma's message said to meet him in the Hall of Soldiers if she agreed so she heads there straight away. No one is there yet, however. Maybe she got here faster than he expected, she figures. While waiting for him to arrive, she spots Alexandra coming in from the room with the Prime Gate Crystal.