Zak stands up in an instant, "Kidnapped? Where? How?!" he yells telepathically as he turns to the town, ready to sprint.

"Woah, woah. Calm down. You can't go in looking like that. You'll scare everyone." Aurora gets up and attempts to calm down Zak, but he only gets angrier. She feels an oppresive aura from him, resembling pure bloodlust. Despite her nature, even she recoils. Using her [ Appraisal ] skill, she sees an abnormal status on him, [ Animalistic Rage ], and beside it is a bar that is quickly filling up. It is around 90%. I need to be cautious...

"Please, Zak... You'll get attacked if you go into town like that." Aurora's voice turns timid, the pure rage radiating from him frightening her.

"Then cast [ Transform ] on me."

Zak's face begins to contort as he begins to resemble a beast more than the man Aurora saw him as. "P-Please, Zak... I can't cast it on another. If you want to cast it on yourself then you have to take me as your familiar!"

"If you can't cast it on me, then I'll kill you to take it."

Aurora's eyes widen as his monstrous voice directs its bloodlust entirely on her. She tries to take a step back and falls off the wagon. That bar from earlier is almost entirely full. "Z-Zak..." tears begin to form as her voice shakes, "Gabrielle wouldn't want this, right?"

"I'll just say you were killed by bandits."

"Zak?" Aurora's voice shakes nervously as Zak's eyes turn red, and the area around him begins to darken. A constricting aura of pure rage chokes Aurora's throat as she can barely breathe. What is this intense rage? The bar she saw earlier has completely filled up, and registered under his afflictions is [ Animalistic Rage ]. As he raises his claw to swipe down on her, she lifts up her hand, and a magic circle forms in front of it.

"I'm sorry, Zak!" Aurora says as yellow-tinted smoke flies out from the circle. Zak's body stops, and he falls to the ground. Confirming Zak's status, Aurora sees he now has [ Paralysis ]. Zak's eyes watch Aurora as she begins to pick herbs from nearby. She makes a small bowl with some nature magic, and grinds them together. After a few moments behind the carriage and out of Zak's sight, Aurora comes back with a bowl full of a light blue drink. She forces it down Zak's throat and his eyes begin to close. Eventually, he falls asleep.

After making sure he's asleep, Aurora enters her space, called [ Dreamscape ], to look in her vast library. After thinking for a moment, she gets up on a rolling ladder and rolls a few yards to the right on her massive bookshelf. She abruptly stops, and pulls out a massive red-dyed, leather-bound book. On the front is the drawing of a demonic skull, similar to Zak's head.

Aurora sighs, since time passes much, much slower in my [ Dreamscape ], I have around 24 hours to a full hour in the real world. Time to catch up on some reading.

She skims through the book until she finds [ Animalistic Rage ]. The whole process takes about half an hour.

Skill: [ Animalistic Rage ]

Definition: A passive skill used by sentient beasts. Though its effects are quite powerful, they cannot control it. Despite its name, rage is not the only emotional state that can activate this ability. Once the user is in an emotionally unstable state of either unimaginable rage, extreme depression, intense fear, or a mix of all three, they lose control of their body. This skill doesn't only affect them while active, however. [ Animalistic Rage ] also damages their rationality while nearing activation. They may become enraged at anyone nearby, whether best friend or just an acquantence.

Effects:

Activates itself. Doubles natural regenerative healing. Halves healing done by other on you. Doubles strength. Decreases defense by 25%. Gives user Frenzy (gives user bonus damage upon attacking). Gives user Berserk (gives user bonus damage upon being hit). Quadruples experience gained.

Aurora sighs, at least I shouldn't take it personally. Still, that was a terrifying experience, even for a masochist like me.

Why does he like Gabrielle so much? And why is he so unstable? Aurora sits in thoughts for a moment, before hesitating on a decision. Should I enter his dreams? While I won't have as much power, and it being unethical...

After deciding to enter Zak's dream, she exits her [ Dreamscape ] and hesitates above Zak's body. She gulps down her nervousness, and sits down as she grasps his head and touches their foreheads together. As this happens, Aurora feels a calm and soothing tingling sensation, like one would feel as a plane takes off.

When she opens her eyes, the sight of a busy office greets her. People are frantically running around left and right, fixing up their cubicles, tidying the various decorative plants and the floor, and preparing to make it look as if they are working harder than they already were. However, a woman stood there dazed.

"Newbie! The company president is coming today! Hurry up and help me! Tch, and he only gave an hour notice." An older man says to the confused girl. After coming to her senses she helps him out. She is quite beautiful: blonde hair, a great figure, and green eyes that would captivate any heart. Despite this woman's beautiful looks, she still looks innocent and kind. She looks a lot like Gabrielle... And exactly like me in the past world...

"Oh yes! I'm sorry sir!" She picks up a huge stack of papers before the man stops her.

"Let me take those, please prepare some coffee for the president. Since you're new, it's probably better if you don't see him right after he comes. He's the angriest then..."

The girl hesitates for a moment before handing the stack of paper to the man and running to another room, probably the break room.

A man runs straight through Aurora, freaking her out for a moment before she comes to the realization that she can't actually affect Zak's dreams. After a few minutes, a man frantically runs through the door to the office, "The president! He's here, and making his way up the elevator! Quickly, everbody!"

They barely miss finishing everything as the door opens, and a quite handsome man walks through. He's wearing a striking suit, and his face would rival even the most handsome of actors. He has raven black hair and bright, blue eyes. Though his eyes look bright and shining, they seem dull to Aurora.

He walks up to a cubicle and looks over the short wall to the woman inside. She's focusing so hard on pretending to look as focused as possible that she begins to work up a visible nervous sweat.

"Keep up the good work." The man says in monotone to the woman. Aurora hesitates a moment as she hears this, he sounds just like... No, it's impossible. I'm remembering that man now. And he also sounds like...

She quickly turns, "Yes, sir!" but as she does so, she knocks a small pen-holding cup off of her desk. As the president begins to walk past, the man from earlier with the stack of papers attempts to walk behind him. Tripping on the dropped cup, the man grabs onto the first thing he could as he drops the stack of papers, which happens to be the president. He crushes the president under his weight as he falls, and his face turns a ghostly pale as he gets up.

"I'm sorry, President..."

His wavering voice is barely audible.

"You're fired."

"Wh-what?" The man looks up at the president that had just gotten up, and the president's face looks back at the man in disgust.

"I said: 'You're fired.' Did you not hear me? Now get out."

After a moment of hesitation, the man drops to his knees, "Please! I can't afford for my wife's medical bills! And if I leave this job, I won't be able to find another in time!"

"I don't care. Get the fuck out of here, old man." The president says as he turns away, continuing to walk the direction he was earlier. The president stops at the open door, the one where the woman from earlier stands, cup of coffee in hand and a look of disdain enveloping her face.

The president walks into an office, slamming the door. As he does this the man from earlier gets up, his distraught look causing the blonde girl from earlier to recoil.

"Mr. Gilford..." She says, her voice wavering slightly.

In an instant the man's looks change as he smiles to her, "It's alright, I'll find another job so I can support my wife's surgery."

He begins to walk out, but takes a moment to stop and turn to the woman, "Please work hard, Aurora." He then walks out of the office.

Aurora's eyes widen as she begins to remember her past. Her promise with God...

"Make me forget everything before meeting Mr. Gilford... before my internship... And before meeting him."

Both Auroras run into the office the president ran into.

The ghostly Aurora begins to cry, it's you, it's really you...

However, the other Aurora immediately begins yelling. The ghostly Aurora just stares at the man standing in front of the surprised manager's desk, only catching parts of the other's yelling.

"You can't! He has to pay for his wife's surgery..."

"... you're just a piece of shit!"

"... I don't care if I'm fired for this!"

"... I bet your parents would be disappointed raising such an asshole!"

At the last one, the man looks down. However, something odd happens. He looks up and smiles to the other Aurora, "I see how it is. Tell that man that he can continue working, and he's getting a bonus."

"Wh-what?" the other Aurora seems surprised.

"My only condition is you become my personal assistant." he looks her straight in the eyes, and she looks down, looks of slight embarrassment and intense disgust both crossing her face.

"Fine... If it'll help out Mr. Gilford."

He smiles and time freezes as she begins to exit Zak's dream. No! I need to see him longer! Zachary Newman!

She's thrust back into reality as Zak enters a new dream. The sun is still beginning to set, and the air is still. Not a single breeze pushes against Aurora's skin as her dead heart begins to beat again. No more jokes, no more hiding the pain with other kinds of pain. She looks down at Zak and hugs his monstrous head. Zachary... I thought I'd never see you again. I could never make up for that night... The night you left the world. She sighs and stands up, But I need to go save Gabrielle. For me, and for Zak.