Solomon opened his eyes to a familiar sight. He lay on a bed of green grass while the rushing sound of a nearby river echoed in the background.
Pushing himself off the ground, he glanced across the endless plains and let out a tired sigh.
"I keep having these weird, dream-like experiences," Solomon muttered, massaging his temples. "It is genuinely ssing with my head."
A lingering headache pulsed behind his eyes. ’Spending fifteen years trapped inside the Paladin’s mories surely gave so kind of ntal problem. I should get therapy or sothing.’
He walked over to the riverbank and peered into the crystal-clear water. The current rushed past the grassy edge, flowing significantly faster than he rembered from his previous visit.
Turning his gaze away from the rushing water, Solomon spotted the solitary tree standing in the middle of the plains. A single branch extended outward from its lonely trunk. He approached the tree and leaned against the bark, taking in the sheer emptiness of the surrounding landscape.
"If my guess is correct, this place is my inner world," Solomon muttered aloud. "And there is absolutely nothing in my world."
He raised a hand, wondering if the recent life-or-death battle triggered a sudden breakthrough. ’Did I unlock the ability to manifest my inner world into reality?’
He considered the idea for a mont before looking around again. A materialized domain required imnse substance and depth to overwrite the physical realm. Examining the barren grass and the single tree made the answer quite clear.
"There is zero chance I can manifest this yet," Solomon said, dropping his hand back to his side. "I have to make my world much bigger and richer before I can ever project it outward."
Solomon crouched by the riverbank and watched the fast-moving water.
’Maybe this river represents my actual life force,’ he theorized, running his fingers over the green blades of grass beside him. ’And these endless plains make up my physical body. That would an the solitary tree standing over there represents my soul.’
He stood up and turned around to scan the rest of the landscape. A completely new structure stood in the distance.
An incomplete throne rested at the far edge of the plains. Fragnts of floating marble orbited the base, waiting to be properly assembled into a finished seat.
Even the walkway leading up to the structure lacked a proper foundation. Broken stone tiles ford a highly fragnted trail over the grass.
Solomon narrowed his silver eyes at the bizarre architecture. ’What exactly does a throne represent inside an inner world?’ he wondered.
He stepped onto the broken path and walked toward the floating marble. He wanted to have a closer look and see if touching the seat would activate a hidden chanism or trigger a new ability.
He reached the base of the throne and extended his hand. A violent gale of wind suddenly blasted outward from the stone. The kinetic force slamd directly into his chest and shoved him backward.
Solomon stumbled off the fragnted tiles, digging his heels into the dirt plains to keep himself from falling over completely.
"You possess no crown," a booming, ethereal voice echoed across the plains. "You are entirely unworthy to sit upon this throne."
Solomon caught his balance and stared at the empty seat in pure confusion. He brushed the dust from his uniform and frowned at the incomplete structure.
’What is going on here?’ Solomon thought, crossing his arms over his chest. ’This entire dinsion belongs to my own mind. Why is my own inner world actively rejecting ?’
Solomon squeezed his eyes shut and willed his consciousness to return to the physical realm. During the previous incident at the cathedral, a simple blink had been entirely sufficient to pull him out of this dinsion.
He waited a few seconds before opening his eyes again. The green plains and the rushing river remained perfectly intact around him.
’It failed,’ Solomon thought, dropping his hands to his sides. ’My physical body took an absurd amount of damage during the fight with Uriel. It is probably still recovering in the real world. My vessel simply lacks the energy to wake up right now.’
He glanced at the incomplete throne in the distance and let out a tired sigh. Trying to force a connection with a broken body would yield absolutely zero results, and arguing with a sentient piece of architecture seed entirely pointless.
He walked a few paces away from the fragnted path and dropped backward onto the grass. Resting his head against the green earth, Solomon crossed his arms behind his neck. The gentle breeze brushed across his face, rustling the leaves of the solitary tree.
He watched the imaginary clouds drift across the endless blue sky. With absolutely nothing else to do in his barren inner world, he let his eyelids flutter shut once more, and a deep, peaceful sleep quickly claid his mind.
Perhaps, this was the therapy that he needed after everything he had gone through after stepping into the ruined kingdom of Eden.
At the academy, the dormant stone archway of the Eden Gate finally flared to life.
The spatial vortex stabilized into a glowing portal.
"Finally~ I have been waiting for it to open." Balzac walked out of the magical tear, dragging Solomon by the ankle.
Solomon remained strapped tightly to the flat surface of Eden’s Penance, sleeping peacefully through the entire transit.
The gathered students and visiting personnel stopped in their tracks. Whispers broke out across the terminal hall. They stared at the sleeping teenager tied to the massive steel blade. The grueso blood stains covering Solomon’s uniform painted a very concerning picture.
Balzac dropped Solomon’s leg. The tal sword clattered against the marble floorboards. He leaned his back against a nearby stone pillar and pointed directly at a staring student.
"Go bring the Grandmaster here right now," Balzac ordered.
The student nodded frantically and sprinted down the corridor.a
A few minutes later, rapid footsteps echoed across the hall. The Grandmaster rushed into the terminal and stopped next to the improvised tal sled. He inspected the sleeping boy with wide eyes, noting the perfectly intact right hand attached to the blood-soaked sleeve.
"What exactly happened to him?" the Grandmaster asked, turning his gaze toward the professor.
Balzac yawned and adjusted his coat. "You should ask him that exact question when he wakes up."
The Grandmaster frowned at the cryptic response. He turned toward the nearby dical staff. "Take Solomon to the infirmary imdiately. Treat his underlying injuries and monitor his vitals."
The dics rushed forward, unbuckling the leather straps to lift Solomon onto a stretcher.
Balzac pushed himself off the pillar. He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at the academy head. "I am going to my office to sleep. If I am disturbed again today, you will need to declare a full-scale academy ergency."
Balzac walked right past the Grandmaster and headed straight for the exit.
The Grandmaster returned to his private office and sat behind his polished desk. He activated the runic interface on the glass surface and pulled up Solomon’s official student profile.
A holographic display projected the data into the room.
He reviewed the files regarding Solomon’s parents and his familial background, searching for any hidden anomalies or classified bloodline traits. The sheer scale of the destruction in the Eden Kingdom made zero logistical sense for a first-year student to survive.
’Sothing is missing from this record,’ the Grandmaster thought, scrolling through the basic civilian data.
He switched interface tabs to access active mission logs. He filtered the search to find any student teams currently operating within Solomon’s ho city— Blue York. A second-year exploration team popped up on the display.
The Grandmaster tapped a communication rune to summon a staff mber. A senior instructor entered the office a mont later.
"Contact the second-year team currently deployed in Blue York," the Grandmaster commanded. "Tell them to visit Solomon’s family house imdiately. I need them to confirm sothing very important for ."
User Comments
0 comments from readers