[Nevermore] 4 – The second dream

I kept up the pace through the rest of the day. Unfortunately, I was attacked two more times by Beowolves before the night arose. I knew that I would get attacked by Grimm on my journey to Beacon, but I did not expect to get attacked so frequently.

At this rate, I'd have to fight through an entire Grimm Horde before I reach Beacon...

With the sun going down and the broken moon of Remnant rising, I made camp, keeping my sword close to me in case the Grimm attacked me tonight, ate my dinner, drank some water, shut my eyes, and dreamed of GOLD.

...

With a start, my eyes opened, and I rose. My eyes, alert and aware, scanned my surroundings, finding that somehow, I'd ended up in a strange cave, but that's not what caught my attention. Instead, what caught my attention were two bottles that lay on the ground not far from where I once lay. A bottle with ornate patterns of gold and a strange red liquid inside it, while the second bottle was just like the first, only this one contained a blue liquid.

Without even realizing it, I reached out for the two bottles and felt a strange sense of completeness overtake me, like I was missing something vital until I had these two bottles in my hands. Strapping them to my belt, I focused on the more important thing at hand: where was I? The last thing I remembered was going to sleep, then suddenly I found myself here...wherever here was.

Checking my side, I found Crocea Mors lying on the ground. 

Making sure to grab it, I looked further down the small cavern. I found myself and froze when I spotted...when I spotted a transparent figure in a chair. A figure that had its head snapped back and stared in my direction. Its eyes bore into me, sending chills up my spine before it slowly turned its head down the large pit before it.

Gulping, I hesitantly moved forward towards the ghostly figure slumped over the chair.

Was I dreaming again? Two eerily vivid dreams in a row? 

Noticing a faint flicker of Gold by its feet, I hesitantly continued walking forward until I stood behind it. 

Suddenly, I felt something vibrating from my pocket, and reaching into my pocket, I froze.

It was a decrepit finger, and as my hand grazed its surface, the faint golden at the ghost's feet burst to life, words in a strange text that somehow I could read.

The Cave of Knowledge Lies below.

Suddenly, an ethereal voice echoed from beside me; the Ghost's head focused on the pit it sat before.

"Lord Miquella, forgive me. I will never set my eyes upon it now...your divine Halgitree."

"Haligtree?" I muttered, jumping back in shock when the Ghost's head snapped to face me before slowly turning back to stare down at the hole.

Backing away from the Ghost, I looked down to the supposed Cave of Knowledge.

Not even noticing the door not far from me, I peered over the edge, looking to see how far of a drop it was.

The Cave of Knowledge Lies Below

Part of me glanced at the golden sign again, and another part was eager to discover where else this dream would lead. Taking a deep breath, I jumped down to the ledge below me, grunting with effort but sticking the landing before jumping again off the ledge and down to the ground. 

When I landed, I immediately took stock of my surroundings, finding myself in a small chamber with a tunnel ahead.

 Yet, as I walked through the tunnel, my grasp on Crocea Mors strengthened as I felt a strange…danger to this place. Then I stopped.

Before me was a strange golden ember that floated above the ground. I felt a feeling of serenity, of peace and order, from the ember, and once I got closer and foolishly reached out for the ember to grab it or see if it was hot, the ember flared to life, and a small fire made of light came to life.

At that same moment, I felt a wave of soothing warmth consume my body, relieving the pain that lingered from my feet from jumping down from above; any exhaustion I had disappeared, and I felt whole.

A golden sign appeared beside the ember.

A Site of Grace for those Tarnished to rest, recover, and resurrect.

“Grace? Tarnished? Resurrect?” I questioned aloud in confusion at such strangeness, though part of me still believed that this was all but another dream.

Feeling refreshed and putting that thought behind me as I frankly didn't understand what it was trying to say, I moved onward, further down the tunnel, until I came into a small chamber where I could see...what are those? People?

From here, I could see two people slouched and disheveled. They were clearly malnourished and looked sickly, with how gray their skin was. They looked like literal walking corpses.

Seemingly having heard me, the two strange humans swiveled their heads in my direction and seemed to groan. 

"Excuse me...are you two alright?" I asked before stepping back on guard as the two men didn't answer me, instead unsheathing the swords at their sides and aggressively shambling toward me.

I tried to speak and calm them down but had to jump back when one of them raised their swords when they got close enough and attempted to strike.

"Woah! Calm down, I do not mean you any harm!" I tried again, having to jump back when the one that attacked me tried again.

Gritting my teeth, I unfolded the sheath into its shield form and blocked the man's next strike. Were they drugged? Why were they attacking for no reason?

The second one didn't take long to join the fight—or, more accurately, the one-sided fight—as I effortlessly evaded most of their attacks. Realizing that they would keep attacking me, I knew I had to stop them somehow without hurting them in the process.

I had no idea how to knock them out without risking a lot of damage, and I knew that no matter what I did, it would be risky due to their condition. Groaning as one of them struck my shield, I pushed forward, knocking one of them off balance before another shove sent them to the ground.

I did not waste the opportunity to run away from them.

It did not take long to find myself in a new chamber, one filled with grass and what looked to be shrubbery with a few beams of light shinning in through some cracks in the chamber's ceiling, yet, my thought was abruptly interrupted as I heard a loud 'twang' and a terrible pain froze me still as I reached for my throat, a crossbow bolt pierced right through it and poking out the backside of my neck.

Panic arose as I grabbed the edge of the bolt and collapsed to my knees, choking as the taste of iron filled my mouth and blood began to stream into my mouth, down my throat, and down into my lungs, where I began to choke.

The pain of my body trying to cough out the blood was excruciating, and in what felt like hours, my vision darkened, and my consciousness faded as blood coated my armor and everything else in my own blood.