"Hmm?" Nox let out in question as he looked around him.

He was surrounded by a cluster of trees, indicating that he was deep in the forest, but he never recalled stepping out of the cave.

"Look out," A voice suddenly snapped him out of his thoughts only for him to turn and see what looked like a scythe made of complete darkness heading his way.

He tried teleporting only to realize that he was being kept in place by multiple hands made of shadows.

Nox braced himself for the impact, only to feel a warm liquid hit his face, slowly, he opened his eyes only for them to widen.

The Scythe was right in front of him but it had completely stopped moving and on it was Elias who had a blank, lifeless expression as blood dropped from where the scythe pierced him to the ground.

His body was yanked back into the darkness before Nox could react.

"W-what the hell is going on?" He let out as he tried teleporting away again but the hands got tighter around his feet.

They soon pulled him down, slamming him to the floor and restricting him from moving.

Soon enough, a black shadow landed in front of him and for a moment, Nox thought it was an Eclipsed, until he tilted his head a bit upwards.

Standing before him, with his uniform in complete tatters and blood dripping down his face was Levi.

He had both his daggers in hand as he defensively covered Nox, but it was useless because a second later, his body fell to its knees and Nox realized that his head was gone.

The shadows finally released him, and Nox quickly crawled away from the headless body.

From the shadows, a being started taking shape but before it fully could, a finger snap was heard and everything froze, even the sounds disappeared.

"Now now lady Oracle," the voice of a man was heard behind him and Nox immediately felt dread like never before, "no cheating, else you'll ruin the surprise."

The person finally arrived before Nox but he could barely make out his form, all Nox knew was that he'd die if he didn't run from this monster, but everything refused to move.

He felt like a small prey in front of a bigger predator and there was no escape.

The man..or whatever this was crouched before Nox before saying, "I think it's time to wake up, little light."

The moment his words reached Nox's ears, the ground opened and swallowed him, literally.

The last thing Nox saw before he fell was the creature behind the man. It seemed like a man, if men were made of shadows, had deer like horns and a white mask made of bone.

He felt himself endlessly falling, but before he could reach the bottom, his eyes snapped open, presenting him with a view of the stalactites jutting from the cave ceiling.

For a moment, he didn't move...well, rather than didn't, it was more accurate to say he couldn't.

Remainants of the fear he felt in that dream still gripped him, and he had to slowly let out his breaths before calming down.

"It's just a dream," he muttered, but even he wasn't so sure anymore, every sensation felt so real.

Slowly, he sat up from his makeshift bed before turning to the side, Elias was fast asleep but Levi's bed was empty, which meant that he was on look out.

There was a divider between them and Lorenne, again, thanks to Elias.

Nox slowly stood up and approached Levi who was sat close to the cave's entrance, he turned to Nox before turning back as he continued looking outside.

Nox silently sat on the opposite wall wa they both looked into the endless night.

"Bad dream?" Levi asked.

Nox was still not used to the fact that he could talk but was choosing not to, still Nox hesitated, unsure how to even approach what he had seen, or felt.

"…Yeah," he finally muttered.

Levi didn't press, preferring to go back to looking outside the cave and leaving Nox with his thoughts.

Nox very much wanted to dismiss it as just a dream, maybe due to the fact that they unexpectedly fought a tier 3 Eclipsed.

But there was this nagging feeling that whatever he saw was more than just a dream.

Especially given the fact that the man had mentioned something about the headmistress. Maybe she was trying to tell him something?

"Here," Levi suddenly interrupted his thoughts and he looked at his extended hand.

"It usually helps my sister calm down after a nightmare," He explained, using a lot more words than Nox had ever heard from him.

"Thanks," he finally had a chance to look at what was handed to him.

It looked like some type of candy with a small wrapper which Nox slowly peeled, and was met with a transparent looking candy.

"What's this?" He asked as he held it up, small luxuries like candies were hardly, if ever seen in the Slums, so it made sense that he had no idea what that was.

"Jelly beans," Levi simply said, "it's good."

Nox thought about it for a while before tossing the candy into his mouth. He was tempted to chew at first but the moment it touched his tongue, it melted, flooding his mouth with a sweetness so delicate he had to pause.

"Woah…" he whispered under his breath. The flavor was almost floral, with a hint of something crisp.

The candy also tasted cold, like it had some mint in it, not that Nox would know what that was either.

But Levi was right, this jelly bean worked to calm him down from whatever nightmare he just had.

"I'm sleepy," Levi suddenly stood up.

"Yeah, I'll take next watch," Nox said before adding, "um, you don't happen to have more on you, do you?"

Levi looked at him for a second, before extending his hand and dropping four more jelly beans in Nox's hand.

"Thanks," Nox said and Levi just nodded before heading towards his bed.

Nox turned to the skies after putting one more jelly bean in his mouth before whispering, "what the hell is coming?"

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