Chapter 16. Tears of an Angel

Rather than finding himself sprawled out on the floorboards of his tavern room, Valorth once again found himself navigating his spirit body as he opened his eyes.

The mysterious expanse of white clouds stretched out ahead of him. Now growing accustomed to the experience, he started to question exactly what the location was.

Does this realm belong to me? he thought brazenly, before waving away the highly unlikely idea.

Eventually, the world around him began to shift. Colour gradually bled into the realm until a scene appeared beneath his spiritual vision.

The scene revealed the snowy edge of a cliff, overlooking a vast, unfamiliar white plain far below. In the distance was a city unlike any Valorth had ever seen. Its buildings, sculpted entirely from snow, stood spaced apart across the frozen land, and their placement left wide stretches of untouched whiteness between them.

At the city’s heart rose a towering spire shaped like an icicle. On its face was a massive door, hinting that the spire was perhaps some sort of castle.

Valorth's sights then turned back to the cliff’s edge, where a shadowed figure stood, overlooking the city as though he were its ruler. Behind that figure stood another, towering and giant.

The giant figure's voice came first, deep and powerful. “Since your... argument with the Angel of Melodies, there have been no sightings of her.”

Although the faces of the figures were obscured, Valorth felt as though the giant’s words troubled the figure at the cliff edge. A few moments of only the wind passed before he replied.

“Is it truly by my own folly that I've lost my Kacel?” the figure questioned with sincerity.

At that, Valorth now understood who the figures were in the vision: Angel Armaneus and the giant who had once delivered him the Blade of Kacel. His attention spiked as he tried his best to glean what information he could before the vision faded.

“No, Armaneus. You could not have known that the war would become what it has,” the giant spoke in a more casual manner. “You couldn't have known that our enemy would be so powerful.”

Enemy?

The words of the giant seemed to strike deep at Armaneus, as Valorth believed he heard a muffled noise coming from the angel’s lips.

It was the sound of sobs.

“Ḣ̵̛͕̙̎͒̒͗̚͜͝͝e̷̢̪̟̣̦̠͛ shall pay.”

Suddenly, a distorted voice left Armaneus’ figure, words that seemed to crash into Valorth's spirit like unseen power. The force was so strong that he forced himself into darkness, ridding the scene from his vision.

Only moments later he felt his eyes bulge open, staring up at the ceiling of his room. His body refused to move, yet he could feel his heartbeat vibrating through the floor beneath him.

His clothes were drenched in sweat, and for a moment, he thought that he was going to die, or was being possessed by some sort of demon.

“Valorth?” a worried voice came from the side. “Valorth!”

It was Adion. He quickly placed his hand on Valorth's shoulders, shaking him from his strange state. Upon contact, Valorth found that he was able to move again, and his body forced him to take in deep breaths of air.

Adion returned to his bed, keeping a close eye on his friend whilst allowing him to recover. Valorth focused on the sunlight shining through the window, which helped bring him to a state of peace.

Once calmed down, he took in a final deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Thanks... I thought it was over for me,” he said quietly.

Adion looked at his friend with a raised brow before letting out a laugh. “Was it a nightmare, or sleep paralysis?”

“Both,” Valorth replied dully, not yet daring to recall the memories of the vision. He decided he would tackle that later.

For now, he rose to his feet and stretched out his body. As he did, he noticed Dante wide awake in his bed and well rested, though the young boy had a hand on his forehead as if in pain.

“Did you have a nightmare as well?” Valorth asked playfully, donning the clothes that he had taken off before sleeping.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“No, not a nightmare. A dream.”

Dante's sudden response took both of them off guard. It was clear that something was on his mind, so they waited for him to continue.

“I-i'm a Dreamer, that's my heart type... I found out in my sleep.”

The three of them stared at each other afterwards, at first struggling to process what they had heard. After a few moments, Valorth and Adion rushed over to sit down beside Dante, both wearing excitement on their faces.

For the first time in years, they had discovered a new heart type, making five in total.

“Are you sure about this? I mean, a hundred percent sure?” Adion asked, unable to contain himself.

Dante visibly became flustered. “Yes. It's like I was filled with new understanding about myself. Things that had been there since I ate the heart, but could only see now.”

That makes sense. It's exactly how I felt it.

But the Dreamer type... I would have never guessed there was such a heart.

In an attempt not to encroach too much on Dante's privacy, Valorth asked him subtly, “Was the dream related to your powers?”

The young boy nodded his head. “It's like I was awake and dreaming at the same time. And then...”

Dante paused mid-sentence, causing Adion to look at him strangely.

“And then what?”

“I... I can't remember. I only remember discovering something else about my powers, but it's slipped from my memory.”

A thud sounded through the room as Adion gripped hold of Dante's shoulder a bit more tightly than he should have. Dante winced at the pain, which made Adion loosen his grip slightly.

“Come on now, we haven't done all of this to be left on edge. If you've discovered another one of your powers then you need to try your best to remember. You never know when we'll need it.”

Yet the words seemed to have no effect on Dante. He placed his hands on his temples and rubbed his head, trying his best to remember.

“I-I can't. It's like my body doesn't think I'm ready to remember it yet. I can't remember!” Dante's voice became high-pitched as the pressure started to get to him. Meanwhile, Valorth sat on the sidelines, watching the boy carefully.

He felt something starting in his heart, but similar to Dante, he was struggling to draw it out. He tried his best to focus on whatever it was, but it was to no success.

It was only after he placed his hand on Dante's shoulder in order to comfort him, that he came to a sudden discovery. The stirring in his heart grew stronger, and his Eye of Remembrance activated against his will, the sound of shattering glass spreading throughout the room.

Dante looked over at Valorth, and their eyes met each other’s. At that moment, Valorth stared into his very soul.

He felt his spirit leave his body, which felt similar to being drawn into the domain of an angel. He understood nothing about his journey, as it displayed to him only darkness, until eventually, he arrived at a location which he believed resided inside Dante's mind.

For a while, he remained in the darkness, hovering there like a star. And then, a scene started to unfold before him.

Dante sat in the darkness, hugging his knees as though he was in the corner of a room. Standing over him were two adults, who Valorth guessed were his parents, as he recognised the woman from before.

The father, who seemed to be a drunkard, lips moved aggressively as he flailed his arms about the place. Valorth couldn't hear anything, but he could tell that he was angry.

Seconds later, the father kicked Dante in the face, which seemed to be the cause of the boy’s black eye. Valorth wanted to intervene and go to his defence, but his spirit was unable to interact with the scene.

He realised shortly afterwards that he didn't need to.

From the darkness, the world began to stir. At first it seemed only a ripple sliding through the shadows, but slowly the ripple took shape. A white, chalk-like outline sketched itself around a looming figure that resembled something vaguely humanoid, yet was disturbingly elongated and almost cylindrical. Its body held no clear features, except for two long, tubular arms that dangled to the base of its form. Near the top, two white dots marked eyes, and below them gaped a single, perfect circle that was wide enough to swallow a human whole.

As the roughly three-metre-tall sketched monster arrived at the scene where Dante was being beaten by his parents, it moved with efficiency to encroach on the father. The speed at which it glid left the man no time to react. Using its arms, it grabbed hold of the man's waist and lifted him, comically devouring his entire being.

The mother strangely didn't seem to react at all, and if the monster wished to, it could have devoured her too. However, before it could come to such a decision, a smile spread across Dante's face, and the scene slowly faded away.

As Valorth was slowly returned to his body, a thought played on his mind more present than any others.

It was the first time he had seen Dante smile.

---

After being thrust back into his physical body, Valorth found himself overwhelmed with exhaustion, and a migraine attacked his temples, forcing him to clasp his hands at his head.

He took in deep breaths as he looked around the room. There, Dante sat on the bed staring at him with wide eyes, as though the man had done something miraculous.

According to Dante's reaction, such a fact might have been true.

“My dream...” the young boy said, looking around in disbelief. “I remember it all!”

Adion, who hadn't experienced anything that had just taken place, looked between his two partners with confusion. He scratched his head and asked Valorth, “What did I miss?”

The migraine had now slowly subsided, but the exhaustion was there to stay. However, most importantly, Valorth's body and mind felt different. Through his interaction with his new ally, Dante, Valorth was certain that his heart had fed him his third Rememberer power, not including the nightly visions.

“I've awakened another one of my abilities,” he said, struggling to believe it himself. “It seems that I'm able to help others remember forgotten memories that they're desperate to rediscover.”

Adion's eyes went wide in shock. They then both glanced over at Dante, who still seemed to be in disbelief as to what had just happened.

“And I believe that Dante has remembered one of his powers too,” Valorth finished.

Dante, finally exiting his daze, looked between the two men and nodded his head proudly. “Yes, yes! I remember my entire dream, as well as the power I discovered.

“If I focus, I think... No, I'm certain that I can temporarily summon the last monster of my dream into reality.”