Leon sat on the twenty-seventh stair, the cold stone biting through his cloth as he held the limp form of Dusk in his hands. The feline’s eyes were rolled back, lost in whatever twisted paradise the mist had conjured for him.
*Slap-slap-slap.*
"Wake up, Dusk..." Leon muttered, stinging the cat’s face with sharp, rhythmic slaps to break the ntal tether.
*Blink-Blink.*
"M-Master ?" Dusk’s voice was a frail rasp as his eyes finally focused, darting around the dim stairwell in utter confusion. Leon set him down on the stone floor. Dusk staggered slightly, shaking his neck to clear the mist from his nose before instinctively licking his paws to settle his nerves.
"Where are my females and all the food?" Dusk asked, his voice trembling with a mix of longing and bewildernt as he searched the empty air.
"You dumb fuck... Did you really fall for the illusion?" Leon asked, watching him with a neutral, almost weary expression.
"B-But... Master, it was so real. I didn’t even rember anything about you or anything else when I was in there. Actually, I didn’t even rember anything about my own life," Dusk admitted, his tail drooping as the false mories began to evaporate like steam.
"That’s one of its specialties," Leon explained, his gaze fixed on the churning white veil below them.
"An illusion this strong never works if all your mories are still intact. It strips away your mories but enhances the raw feelings of pain and suffering you’ve carried with you, your entire life.
That void becos the source of a desperate greed, a hunger that seeks any pleasure the illusion offers. You end up accepting it because you have no idea how you arrived there, only that the lie feels better than the truth."
"But... Master, how did you escape out of it?"
"Let’s just say that I used everything I had in to get out," Leon replied. "I rember now... I was moving too fast, jumping onto that stairs without examining it first. I landed on it by mistake, we both inhaled the mist, and got lost in the dream."
Dusk looked up, his eyes wide and suspicious. "What if this is also an illusion? What if the mist is just playing with my mind right now?"
"Check your mories, dumbass. I just explained all of it." Leon said simply, his expressions straight and cold.
Dusk paused, his ears twitching as he sifted through his mind.
"Oh... right, right. I rember everything now master. So, it can’t be an illusion because I have all of my mories. But master, how are we going to pass through it ?"
Without a word, Leon reached into his inventory and pulled out a coil of sturdy rope.
"Good thing I always carry this around," he remarked, his fingers working quickly to tie a secure knot around Dusk’s waist.
"Master, are you going to throw down there?" Dusk asked, his fur beginning to stand on end.
"No, you will go there on your own while holding your breath. Rember this: don’t breathe, even for a second. You will go down two stairs, shift into your true form, and co back up. If you aren’t back in ten seconds, I will pull you out with this rope." Leon explained with a neutral expression.
"But master... what if the mist cuts the rope?" Dusk asked with a confused expression.
"Don’t worry, I’ll take care of that as well. For now, go."
"As you commanded, master," Dusk replied, stepping toward the edge of the clear air.
"Threads..." Leon whispered.
Glinting faintly in the dim light for a second, invisible strands of mana erupted from Leon’s body, weaving a protective, reinforcing web around Dusk’s waist.
’This should work, It’s not just about the rope anymore, the mana threads would act as a secondary lifeline that the mist couldn’t easily sever.’ Leon thought as a smile appeared over his face.
As Dusk reached the final step before the white abyss, he paused and looked back at Leon.
*Nod.*
Leon gave a sharp, reassuring tilt of his head.
*Nod.*
Dusk mirrored the gesture, sucked in a final lungful of clean air, and vanished into the fog.
The mont he disappeared, the rope in Leon’s hands went taut with a violent jerk. The fibers groaned under a sudden, unnatural tension.
"Fuck..." Leon hissed, digging his heels into the stone and gripping the line with everything he had. But it was futile...
*Tch.*
The rope snapped, the severed end whipping back toward Leon.
"Fucking hell..." Leon growled, his hands moving to the mana threads to haul Dusk back by force. But before he could pull, a massive, obsidian-furred paw erged from the swirling white.
Dusk climbed back onto the twenty-seventh stair, his massive original form silhouetted against the gloom. He shook himself out, chest heaving.
*Cough-Cough.*
Small wisps of white vapor escaped Dusk’s mouth as he cleared his lungs.
"I did it, Master. The mist tried to worm its way inside , but I didn’t give it an inch. I didn’t breathe."
"Very good," Leon said, standing up and dusting off his clothes. "Now I know for certain, it can’t take over our minds if we don’t let it in."
He looked down into the depths, his eyes cold and determined.
"Now it’s my turn. Dusk, I’m going down. I should return in about thirty minutes. If I don’t... well, there’s nothing you can do about it anyway. Just stay here, take a nap, and do not go down at any cost. Even if you hear screaming for help, stay put. Do you understand ?"
"Y-Yes... Master," Dusk replied, his voice heavy with worry. "But will you be able to hold your breath for that long?"
"Don’t worry," Leon said, a wide smirk touching his lips. "I can hold my breath for around forty-five minutes."
"As you command, master."
Leon took a massive, lung-expanding breath, sealing his lips tight and centering his focus.
*Shhhhhh.*
"Here goes nothing..."
"HUP..."
With a controlled burst of speed, Leon plumted into the white silence of the mist.
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