Maraysa PoV

A dream Grimm says. His(?) dream. If this dream is his and not mine then what am I doing here?

It doesn’t seem like a dream. It feels real..too real. Grimm is quiet now, not a sound comes from his mind. Through the link I feel Grimm grow tense, his(?) mind is lost in thought. The silence remains until I can’t take it any longer.

Maraysa: Grimm ?

Grimm: …Yes?

Maraysa : You've gone quiet. Do you by chance know what's going on?

Grimm: I'm …I'm not too sure myself but I have a feeling..

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A monster, a door and a book. Grimm recounts the events from her(?) perspective. A book that had no pages, but could write itself..

A magical object perhaps ? There exists various artifacts that have unknown origins, remnants of a by-gone age . Such things are not common by any means, but they do exist. But what would Grimm be doing with one?

If what Grimm says is to be true, the book could be the reason I am here. Magic that can call beings from great distances. Summoning magic. A form of magic that can bring what the user desires to them. The cost of such a magic is great, so much so that it would require the sacrifice of mana so great it would kill any person who would attempt such a ritual. I don’t sense a shred of magic from this child. Even if he did have the magic for it, his(?) body is almost as thin as mine, the burden would have surely killed her(?).

If the book is the source of such magic, it must truly be an object of great power. But then why does Grimm have it? Who would give such a dangerous artifact to a child?

Maraysa : Grimm , where is this book now?

Grimm : I don’t know, it was in the other room behind the door.

Summoning beings from an inescapable prison , doors that defy sense. The more I think the more confused I become on this matter.

The monster Grimm mentioned, a nightmare as he(?) put it. It was the cause of all of this. Perhaps the fear he(?) instinctively acted out?

A creature that attacks dreams, monsters that can attack one's mind are common. The use of magic to influence the mind is a trick that is employed frequently, one of the first things I had to protect myself against. But it would not leave unless it was fended off. Creature like that don’t leave their victims alive..so why is Grimm here?

There was another "light", as Grimm put it. If I was one of them , there should be another. But aside form the two of us, I don’t see anyone else. In this world of nothing, Grimm and I are the only one here.

There is no mana and yet I don’t feel weak anymore. Being near Grimm is accelerating my own recovery, breathing life into my body . I feel it flowing into me from the link.

Maybe..

Maybe staying here wouldn’t be so bad, Grimm says nothing can hurt me here. And I believe him. In this dream it's just the two of us, here I feel safe. I'm away from everything now, the prison , my family, the monsters.

And I have Grimm now. Someone I can talk to, someone I can touch, someone I can feel. I want to stay here, in this dream.

Grimm: Maraysa..

Grimm's voice shakes me from my thoughts, and I dread the words that will follow.

Grimm: we can't stay here Maraysa

Why . WHY?

Why can't we stay. I'm happy here can’t you see?

I feel safe here. Nothing can hurt me , nothing can cause me pain, here there is nothing to fear. Why does he want to leave? Why does he need to leave? We can be happy here. In this little world of ours.

Grimm : Maraysa! We can't stay here.

No. I don't want to listen. I push Grimm away severing our contact.

I can't . I don’t want to leave.

My hands clasp around my ears, trying to block out Grimm's voice. I don’t want to listen, I don’t want to hear. His voice gets fainter and then stops altogether.

No sounds can be heard. Silence .

I take a take a glance to see Grimm . But I can't see his face, he(?) has his head turned not facing me but facing…a door

The door looks unremarkable, but it stands there, by it-self, not connected to anything. It the door . Grimm clasps the handle it and turns it , unhesitantly . The door pushes inward and a blinding light shines through , making it hard to see, all I can see is a shadow cast by Grimm as he stares into the light seemingly unaffected.

He's going to leave.

It's going to be the same all over again.

I need to stop him, I don’t want him to go. He can’t .

I won't-

But my legs can't move, my body refuses.

Just like last time.

I'll be all alone again, powerless to do anything.

My hand reaches for the shadow, my eyes can't see anything else, the world of white seems dim compared

to the space beyond the door.

I don't.. want

My outreached hands grow heavy, and I feel strength leaving me.

To be..

Alon-

As my hand falls, I feel something clasp it, such a soft and warm touch. A small hand that grabs mine and pulls me toward it.

"It's okay. We do this Together , you and me."

The light shines brighter engulfing the world, I can't see anymore.

But the hand that hold mine is still there guiding me along, into the light. Through the door.

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Relatively shorter one today.

The whole point of this chapter?

I don’t know more character development? Yeah lets go with that.

Notice how both Grimm and Maraysa don’t want to leave the void when they first got there?

You never really want to leave a place when you feel safe there. you can stay your whole life in certainty and never really live or you can take a chance in total uncertainty knowing full well you could fail, sometimes just the thought of that could make you want to never leave. Maybe you'll live a longer , safer life but when it;s over can you really say its one you enjoyed?

well shit i don't know I'm just a red fire ruck that writes stories about pointless things, and im okay with that.

So yes this chapter had to be done, for the story

"or maybe you ran out of ideas, and had to reuse themes in order to develop both characters"

huh? Wh-wha do you mean?

O- Oh would you look at the time I must be off.

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