Chapter 89: And again

Lud found himself talking to Kuo in a similar way as in his dream, and this time the conversation was not about the reason why Lud was asked to meet Kuo, but rather what Lud had to do exactly.

Lud says to Kuo, who is barely holding in screaming because he is suffering. "I have come to understand that I have to kill Samael somehow, but how do I do that?"

Kuo rambles "He asks how? How?! I want to know myself! Know how to end this fucking suffering that I have every waking moment! I..."

Then Kuo’s head drops for a moment as if he had become limp. After a moment, he says calmly "I do not know anything further than that. I... I apologize for not being able to help. But how did you find out that the reverse dreamer needs to die?"

Lud says "I saw you explain it in a dream I had that looked similar to the conversation we are now having. But still, do you have no leads to give me?"

Kuo starts shouting again as he twists his head furiously "Dream? What kind of bullshit explanation is that?! I have yet to ask for a favour in the dream realm, but you just know?! Don’t screw with me! Come here and kill me! I’ve been suffering so... so long and you come to talk to me with that bullshit! You are the only one who can rid me of my damned existence! You... Only you damn it! Just!...."

Kuo’s head went limp again for a moment before speaking with his fleeting sanity "You must... go talk to... talk to... talk... th..."

Lud asks desperately "Who? Who do I need to talk to? Don’t drop out just yet. Who? Who?!"

Kuo starts to twitch and scream "Asking asking and asking! Don’t waste our time and just come here and kill me! You... you damned imbecile! Do it! Do it now! Just fucking kill...!"

Mirlinda says as the place is shaking "We cannot let this continue any further, your majesty! We must stop here!"

To Mirlinda’s plea, Thews responds by saying "Very well" and then holds his hand as he utters "Continue your slumber. The undead one. For you shall not conquer this world today."

And as Thews said those words, the chains around Kuo began to glow in violet hue. As Kuo furiously twisted for a moment, the tremors soon ended as he began to sleep once more.

Lud says in disappointment "Again, I’m left with more questions than answers. Who do I need to talk to and why?"

Thews says "I don’t know the answer myself, but what I can tell is that the dead have become more restless as of late. It is as if, something other than Kuo is raising a fuss."

Lud ponders out loud "The dead have become restless? That didn’t happen in the dream I had."

Thews shrugs and says "You really have weird dreams my guy, but nevertheless."

Thews turns to Mirlinda behind the portal and says "Thank you for your assistance in this matter Dutchess. Please inform me immediately if Kuo shows signs of waking. While I doubt the current undead issue is his fault, we can’t completely rule out that possibility entirely."

Mirlinda says "Understood. May your return safely back to the afterlife, your majesty."

Thews nods and shuts down the portal. Then he says to Lud "You should also contact me if you find anything relating to why the dead have become restless."

Lud says "I was going to do that even if you didn’t tell me. Still, thanks again."

Thews nods and then returns to the afterlife.

Time passes and Lud lives his life like nothing is wrong. Then, at some point, he looks at the date and says "It was around this time when Li ended up merging with that dragon titan. Thinking back, I wonder what actually happened after they awoke."

Then Lud was hit with a sudden headache that came out of nowhere and his nose started bleeding. As the headache worsened, Lud started hearing a ringing sound that increased in volume as the headache continued.

Tifa rushed to Lud’s office when she noticed something happening to her darling. She asked "Are you okay? Do you know what is happening to you?"

Lud could barely hear as the ringing sound got louder and louder. Tifa held Lud in her arms as she was trying to figure out what was happening.

For a second, Tifa wished for Maumar’s help, but then she thought that he would have acted by now if it was something that could end the world they were in.

Eventually, Lud passed out from the pain and went unconscious. This time, he didn’t start dreaming. He was fully unconscious.

Lud stayed unconscious for almost a whole month before waking up, still with a headache. He then heard Zenith calling his name, not his title, in a worried voice as she asked "Are you alright?"

Lud asked "What happened? The last thing I remember is having a throbbing headache and that annoying ringing sound. At least the ringing is gone and the headache is more manageable, but still, what happened?"

Zenith tells Lud "We still haven’t figured out what happened that day, though we have few theories."

Lud asks "Theories? Can you tell me more?"

Zenith says "I don’t think it is my position to tell you. I should call for your wives and Mr. Li."

With that, Zenith left for a moment and soon Tifa, Sarah and Li came to his bedroom. Sarah was in tears and jumped to Lud’s bed and hugged Lud so hard that Lud almost passed out. Lud tapped Sarah’s back so that she would loosen her grip. Sarah did loosen her grip, but didn’t let go.

Tifa said as she took a gentle hold of Lud’s hand "All of us have been worried when you were in coma. Do you feel any discomfort?"

Lud said "I still have a headache, but it is much more manageable than before I... Wait, you said I went into a coma? How long was I out?"

Li answers "Almost a whole month."

Lud says "Almost a month, huh. Did anything happen while I was out?"

Then Tifa explains, "You had plenty of visitors from all around the world, even some gods came to visit and give out their own theories. There were also few events where people who didn’t favor our kingdom tested our unity when you were in the coma, but those were easily managed."

Lud says "I see. Now what are the theories you came up with?"

Li explains "One of the theories was that your alternate selves went out of control for some reason and your mind couldn’t handle them and you were comatosed because of that. One other theory had to do something with that prophetic dream you had. Those people who knew of that dream mostly pointed their finger to the latter, though personally I think that both theories hold true."

Lud thinks for a moment and comments "I see."

Then Tifa asks "Did you dream about anything while you were in the coma?" Lud said "No. For me, the time I was comatosed felt like it went by in an instant."

Tifa says "Then that is troubling."

Lud asks "Why?" and Tifa says "More and more people have stopped dreaming altogether and Un’I is out of reach, even for gods."

Lud asks "Do you think it had something to do with why I went into a coma?"

Li says "Me and most gods think that is the case, though since no dreamwalker has been able to leave the dreamrealm, we have no way to confirm this."

Lud says "So people have gone in to investigate, but they have not come back" This makes Lud think for a moment and then says "Is there any way that a dreamwalker can send other people to the dreamrealm?"

Li says "As far as I understand it, it is fairly simple, though they are hard to find at the moment."

Lud says "I see." Then he had a thought and Tifa stood up as she shouted "Absolutely not! Don’t even think about it!"

Li was confused and asked "What did his majesty think?"

Tifa said "This dumbass thought that he should go to the dreamrealm himself since he might be connected to why this is happening."

Sarah strengthens her grip and shouts "No! I won’t let you! I won’t!"

Lud says "But it is the only thing that might solve this."

Tifa says "That might be, but we don’t know if this is as serious of an issue as it looks."

Lud pleads "I think that people not being able to leave the dreamrealm is quite a serious thing."

Tifa says "Still. We won’t let you."

Then Li interrupts "I think we should let his majesty do this."

Tifa looks at Li and says "Not you too. Do you have any idea how risky it would be? We just got him back."

Li explains "I have had talks with the Pope of the Holy church of Lutah and in one of the conversations we talked about the prophetic dream and how it could be possible."

Tifa asks "What does that have to do with..." but Li interrupts to continue "The Pope suggested a theory where a reverse dreamer could pull off a miracle by reshaping a reality to only be a dream for person as special as our majesty, making mistakes in the dreamed reality to have no consequence."

Tifa says "That is... well... it might be possible, but..."

Lud interrupts and says "The thing you call a prophetic dream felt like a reality to me, so the Pope’s theory might be onto something."

Tifa argues "Well even if that was the case in the dream, who is to say a reverse dreamer could pull it off again?"

Lud says "I already know a reverse dreamer and I think the message the Undead king gave me has to do something with it."

Tifa says "Okay. Let’s assume you go there. Then what? You’d be stuck there like every dreamwalker that had tried."

Lud says "The undead king said that I must find a way to kill him peacefully. What if I kill him unpeacefully?"

Tifa asks "What is that going to accomplish?"

Lud says "I don’t know, but... I feel like I’ve done this before and failed."

Li says "Like a dream you can’t quite remember. Or even... A déjà vu."

Tifa tries to think of more ways to discourage the idea, but she can’t think of any more ways.

Then Sarah says "What if it isn’t really that serious? What if this isn’t an emergency?"

Then suddenly, Atkoosa appears and says "Unfortunately, the situation has become critical."

Li says in an irritated tone "I don’t recall giving you permission to eavesdrop. Let alone interrupt our conversation."

Atkoosa says "It is the gods’ duty to keep an eye out for mortals, but anyways. Ao and Kuukun felt a huge disturbance from the star elf and moon elf race where a huge amount of them suddenly fell into disarray. After investigating, it appears that the hivemind "Them" found some way to take over the Wefantz system. After doing so and, when they didn’t know how to spread further, found the dreams that their victims felt as something to aspire to be able to do themselves. Thus, they evolved to be able to dream, and with that, managed to assimilate Un’I. Now the dreamworld is in chaos."

Lud says "Then we have no time to wait. Can you find us a dreamwalker who can send me to the dream and do what must be done."

Atkoosa says "I have already asked Ao to find someone and it is only a matter of time before we hear the good news."

Lud says "Great, then..."

Lud looks at Tifa and Sarah as he says "I’m sorry, but... I have to do this."

Both wives can’t think of anything to say. Not until Tifa brings out her fleeting thought "Then... We will not be real and will only remain as one of your dreams."

Lud says "I’m sorry."

Tifa takes a deep breath and then says "Well... I’ve been handed shit hands many times before, so this is nothing out of the ordinary."

Lud says "Thank you for understanding."

Tifa shrugs and says "Just make sure to treat the me that is about to become the actual me with lots of love. And..."

Then Tifa sends thoughts to Lud through telepathy that Lud himself can’t access, but noticed she sent a message to the future Tifa.

Then Ao appears with a man who has a feathery cape around him and says "Brought him. Do what must be done."

The man sighs and says "Well. I’ve never imagined my ability to be able to make me an executioner, so this is new. Now, the guy in the bed is the guy you want me to sentence to death?"

Ao says "Your words don’t please me, mortal."

The man says "Yeah yeah. Now if the lady hugging the guy would let go of him, we can start."

Lud says to Sarah "It is time Sarah. Thank you for worrying about me so much."

Sarah doesn’t let go and simply keeps hugging Lud. Lud asks "Sarah. Please."

Then Sarah says something that no one in the room expected: "Take me with you."

Lud blurts out "What?"

Sarah demands "Take me with you to the dreamworld. Then I’ll let you go."

Lud says "There is no reason for you to..." But Sarah interrupts Lud and says "There is. I want to be with you as long as I can."

Lud mutters "I..." and Sarah questions "Or... Am I a burden to you?"

Lud says "No that is not..." Then Lud gives in and says to the man, "Dreamwalker, is that possible?"

The man says "I mean it is a pain in the ass to send two people to the same place in the dreamworld, but I can do it."

Lud says "Then please, proceed."

The man sighs and says "Both of you, lie down and give me your hand."

Lud and Sarah do so and the dreamwalker does his thing.

After a while, Lud and Sarah find themself in the dreamrealm and see that it is completely infested with the hivemind’s organic matter.

Sarah asks Lud "So... What now?"

Lud thinks for a moment, until something in his head senses where he needs to go in order to find Samael. He grabs Sarah’s hand and says "Follow me. I think I know where to go. Avoid the hivemind as much as you can."

Sarah nods "Okay" and both of them travel quite a way in order to find Samael while dodging the dangers that the hivemind has brought to the realm.

Eventually, the two find Samael in quite bad condition, though not infected with the hivemind or its body.

Samael smiles and says "Good. You are finally here. I don’t think I need to explain what you need to do now, right?"

Lud confirms "No. But first, how do I kill you so that you can do that thing?"

Samael taps the left side of his chest and says "Just stab me in the heart and I’ll die like other people would in the real world."

Lud says "Okay, but... how are you exactly going to make this reality just one of my dreams?"

Samael says "Well, if a mature reverse dreamer is killed without the proper means, their mature body in the real world will go out of control and start wreaking havoc."

Sarah says "But how is that supposed to solve the problem?"

Samael says "Well, since my real world body won’t ever find peace, it’ll instinctively forge a solution that ends its suffering. As for how long that’ll take... Well, that is a whole other matter."

Sarah questions Samael "So your body will be wreaking havoc for who knows how long, until it finds a solution? Am I getting this right?"

Samael says "Pretty much."

Sarah shouts "How are you sure they won’t just destroy the whole reality as a solution?! Do you have any guarantees?!"

Samael says "Well... The world is going to end anyways if we do nothing, so might as well."

Sarah shouts "Are you out of your mind?!"

Samael chuckles and says "Well, since we have living proof that when I lost control in Faust’s so called "prophetic dream", I think we have a good chance that my real world body will find the same solution."

Sarah shouts "But you are just gambling with the world on a line!" Then she turns to look at Lud and asks "Right Faust?"

Lud says "I mean. I don’t remember what actually happened at the end of that dream."

Sarah says "So we have no guarantee that it’ll work!"

Lud says "But I believe... that if the whole world would end, Maumar would have stepped in by now."

Sarah says "That’s..." but doesn’t find words to argue against what Lud said.

Samael says "So... now that we have an understanding..." But Lud interrupts Samael and says "Before we do this, I have to ask, how do I actually give you the actual peaceful death when I wake up?"

Samael says "Who knows."

Lud is surprised and says "Who knows? You mean even you don’t know?"

Samael responds "I mean I am the first ever angel who has reverse dreamer syndrome that has matured. There is no reference in this world of how to deal with a mature reverse dreamer, so you’ll have to figure out how to properly do it in one of the new realities."

Lud asks "If we don’t have a reference of how to properly do it, then how do you know your real world body will react the way you think?"

Samael raises two fingers and says "Two reasons. I have a feeling that it’ll happen the way I expect it to go and then I have faith that it’ll do."

Lud says "So we are working with hopes and prayers."

Samael says "Sometimes a person just needs to have faith. Doesn’t matter for what. Maybe even faith in themselves."

Lud stares at Samael, who hasn’t stopped smiling this whole time and then makes a decision. He summons a sword from thin air since they are in a dreamworld and walks closer to Samael.

Then he asks "Are you ready?" and Samael nods.

After a moment of hesitation, Lud jabs the sword through Samael’s heart. Samael takes an opportunity to put his hand on Lud’s shoulder and says "Don’t worry child. I forgive you. But please... *caugh* *caugh* ... Find a way to forgive me for having to put you through so many dreams in the future. Like... *caugh* *caugh*... *CAUGH* *CAUGH* *CAUGH* ... Like think of this as an opportunity, to... *caugh* *caugh* ... to find the best possible...

path"

Then Samael becomes limb and falls to the ground.

Sarah says "So now it is done." and Lud responds with "Yeah."

There is a silence between them for a while, until Lud says "Let’s sit here together. I think it’ll take a while."

Sarah gets close to Lud and both of them sit on the ground and lean on a wall. They keep talking about some random things in life. They burst jokes and they laugh.

A while passes as they converse, and after a moment of silence, Sarah says to Lud "Faust."

Lud asks "Yeah?" and Sarah says "I also ask you to do the same thing that Tifa asked. Could you do that?"

Lud says "Sure." and then there was silence.

After a while, Sarah says "Faust." Lud responds "What is it?" and Sarah says "Please don’t forget the me that was now in the future."

Lud responds "I won’t. I will try to keep all of you in my memories, no matter how many times I have to repeat this."

Sarah leans her head on Lud’s shoulder and then they keep waiting in silence.

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They wait.

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And wait.

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