Nightmare Mythos

'Women with their unstable emotional state, damn it!'

Joshua gently pressed his lips onto Reyna, trying to calm her by kissing. He didn't know if it would work, and was merely using his experience and learnings that doing this action can help someone regain their calmness. Even if that kiss didn't mean anything, at the very least, it could help the person feel reassured.

Explore hidden tales at empire

"Mmph!"

And by the looks of it, doing the kiss helped Reyna regain a bit of her emotional state as her eyes turned wonky when her eyes regained focus and spotted that she was kissing Joshua.

She got flustered and mostly embarrassed but instead of escaping from his grasp, Reyna remained in that position and continued feeling the warmth Joshua was willingly giving.

'Uh, you can remove—'

Joshua wanted to leave as this wasn't part of his plan but Reyna didn't give in as she motioned a tighter hug, completely leaving the man embarrassed as well.

As their boats swayed through the currents of the water while the fins started to become stable after the noise coming from the wooden platform abruptly stopped, the two kissed each other gently and softly.

…

"…"

"…"

With their backs against each other, complete awkwardness surrounding them, the two were hugging their knees unsure what to reply. As of now, they would've already talked and bantered like they always did after passing through countless hurdles together but nothing like that happened.

'He was the first one to kiss me… My first kiss for goodness sake! Did that mean anything? Did it mean something? Why isn't he talking to me? He should first talk to me and tell me something! Gosh, this is awkward. Why is my face burning though? Even though he has a big body, he's really gentle— Ack, he kissed me! Why am I even thinking of some lewd things?!'

Tucking her head closer to her knees while glancing back, only to see the same huge back being motionless, Reyna wanted to say something but it seemed Joshua beat her to it.

With an apologetic tone, Joshua stated, "That didn't mean anything. I apologize if you got violated. I did what I can do to reduce your state of losing control,"

For some reason, Reyna felt 'irked' upon being told that the kiss didn't mean anything and she was violated when she was the one willingly pushed for it to happen. It annoyed her for some reason but her rationality took over and sighed.

"Again, you saved me. Thanks…"

"Yeah…"

Reyna who still had a question left in her mind couldn't help but ask, "That kiss. Did that mean nothing?"

Not wanting to look back as she raised that matter, Reyna's heart pounded fast. Now that she thought about it, Joshua was the only one who accompanied her time in this place most of the time.

Her memory of Joshua flashed before her mind.

Even though most of them are in Still Waters, she was able to know a lot about him.

They traveled into the Still Waters and faced hurdles together. She didn't know when was the time she felt glad that someone was in her company and made her feel safe. With him, she felt like she could conquer the world.

That was probably why she didn't like the answer she received earlier.

After a moment of silence, thinking that she wouldn't receive a reply, Joshua finally voiced out in a normal tone.

"Hey, I could see something,"

Reyna was about to get annoyed when her question was left unanswered but after realizing this wasn't a normal spot where one can make jokes, she violently shifted her head, thinking it was one of the Nightmares or another natural occurrence in the Still Waters.

It was neither of them.

It was a shore.

And a few more distance at their landing point was a wooden ancient door waiting for them.

…

Walking through the sands of the shore as they started sprinting away from the water, not wanting to stay a bit longer than they were supposed to, Reyna and Joshua approached the door.

An old-looking door has never been this good in their eyes. It was standing motionless at the wall water wall between the Still Waters and the unknown terrain outside.

But being in an unknown terrain rather than the Still Water was better at this point. The moment they saw the wooden ancient door wasn't locked, they darted their way inside with triumphant expressions.

"Yes!"

Their joy of escaping the place could never be put into words. All their efforts on keeping their focus up momentarily diminished upon seeing that the wooden shelves didn't threaten them at all.

However, that was their mistake. Reyna might've made the same mistake again but Joshua wasn't that kind of person.

He had been mindful of their surroundings for most of the time they were in Still Waters, and he was so tired all around his body that the only time he hadn't put his guard up was when they entered.

Because of that one action which isn't even considered as a mistake at all, a huge shadow went behind Reyna's back.

Carrying a single long sword in its hand, the Nightmare had a book swerving in around its front. Its nose was deformed with a glass hanging at its bridge.

"!"

Feeling shivers down her spine, Reyna couldn't help but glance back before watching the same creature that Joshua's eyes had been stuck ever since this creature appeared swiftly.

Reyna's mind raised as she did everything she could by trying to use her Technique or Facet but all of it was futile as the great sword of the Nightmare was already between her face.

'Fuck—'

Slash—!

Reyna got herself violently thrown out as she saw Joshua stepping back as well by saving her life for the third time.

"Joshua…"

Suddenly, a low gasp escaped from Reyna's mouth upon diverting her gaze to Joshua's right arm. In there, she saw one of his arms were gone, cleanly cleaved by the Nightmare's sword.