At the southern part of the city the reinforcents were making their way towards the frontline. They were moving along a very wide road, that let six tanks pass side by side.
There were more than a hundred tanks, self-propelled artilleries, APCs, and other military vehicles moving fast. The convoy was defended by 20 ascended and two hundred evolved, plus tens of thousands of regular soldiers.
The road was straight and empty. They were making good progress, it would take another 5 minutes to reach the first of the reserves.
The convoy was lead by a small car, which held this company's commander. An ascended of no real renown. He was an alright leader, nothing too outstanding or degrading, but there is a reason he held the sa position in the past two years.
The ground shook below their feet again, causing the evolved driver to freak out a bit.
"Calm down, its just the wallbreakers. Our walls are more than thick enough to last until we arrive. Not like we will be needed. After the transcended take care of that whore they call leader, everything will be much easier."
His voice was calm and seemingly bored, but he had to wipe his sweaty hands on his pants every few monts.
"B... But... She is here too..." Said the driver in a squeaky voice.
The ascended knew how he was talking about, heck everyone would've known. Even a random holess person heard of the Deathless Phoenix.
"Well, she will be taken care of by one of the transcended, but we don't need to worry about her. We just concentrate on our part and..." He was about to say more, but suddenly the driver slamd down on the brakes.
"Why did you stop?" He demanded. Behind them the whole convoy ca to a staggering halt.
"Soone is standing there!" Said the driver while pointing.
The ascended followed his finger and sure enough soone stood in the middle of the road.
The person was about fifty ters away, which made it harder to make them out. They were of smaller stature, their body was covered by a dark robe, hiding everything about them.
The weirdest part was that the person just stood there, unmoving. The commander looked at them for a few seconds, before deciding to take care of the obstacle quickly.
"Open fire with all high-caliber machineguns! Try to keep the road as intact as possible!"
He spoke into his watch, transmitting his voice to every vehicle in the convoy.
It only took a second for the ssage to get through, and soon all the weapons roared as bullets rained concentrated to a specific point.
The gun smoke made it impossible to see if the person was dead or not, but there were very few people below transcended that could've survived such barrage.
The area was deathly silent as the commander waited for the smoke to clear, which happened quite quickly. His eyes bulged as he saw the sight in front of him.
In front of the robed figure the ground was destroyed sa as on their side. It was like the bullets curved away in a large wedge shape. The person stood there unperturbed.
"So that fucker has a shield... Let's see if they can survive this!" He whispered to himself before opening up his watch again.
"Every tank in the front. Shoot one salvo at the lone form standing there!"
He shouted into his watch's microphone.
He and the driver waited in silence for a few seconds, but non of the tanks shot. He opened his watch again and shouted the sa command again... Nothing.
After that he cursed the watch, saying its a shitty communicator. He was about to get out of the vehicle when the driver said, "Uh... The person is doing sothing!"
The ascended's head snapped towards the lone figure, and sure enough, they were slowly raising their hands. It gave an ominous feeling to the commander.
His eyes beca sleepy. He turned towards the driver to say sothing, but the driver was already fast asleep. He yawned and tried to fight against the exhaustion, but at so point his eyes closed and didn't open again.
He woke up with a fright in a strange place. It was a large island floating in the nothingness. He was standing at the edge, and from there he saw thousands upon thousands of similar islands.
Each were different in so way. His own had a small wooden house. In the doorway a woman stood holding a babe. It was his ex-wife and his son, that he never actually got to et.
They were his greatest regrets and deepest longings. He wanted nothing more than to be with them again, away from this useless war... It was his most sacred dream!
He began to run towards them without care, but suddenly he realized that sothing was wrong. As he got closer to the house he noticed the imperfections. He stood about thirty ters away, when he noticed that his ex-wife had no face.
From far away she seed real, but upon closer inspection she was just a woman with a similar figure and nothing real about her.
The whole apparition about the house and his dream fell apart. He moved as quickly as he could, but it wasn't fast enough.
As he turned around a huge clawed hand descended on him cutting five lines across his chest. He fell backward, terrified. The wound wasn't bleeding, but it caused a lot more pain than it was supposed to.
Finally his eyes landed on the huge figure standing above him. It... No! She was was four ter tall. She had no face. Her body was dark gray, and oddly voluptuous. But what really gave him horror was her hands.
Her fingers were about fifty centiter each and razor sharp. They were like small swords as she brandished them.
The commander blinked and suddenly the female monster was gone. In her place only a beautiful brunette stood with a baby in her hands. Her eyes were accusing as she stared at the ascended.
"Why did you join the army? We could've been together!" She said in a sad and angry voice.
"No... No you aren't real... It's that monster who's doing this!" He spoke while shaking his head desperately.
The woman smiled a bit cruelly, the babe cried in her arms and she started breastfeeding him.
"Am I not real? Isn't this my body, my voice, my judgent, my temper? You think this isn't your son? He was born a few months ago, you know... You never even ca to visit him! Do we really an that little to you?" She said angrily, but as the baby started to squirm she cald down a bit.
The ascended knelt on the ground. His hands holding his head. His mind was all confused. He didn't know if this was real or not, but he wanted it to be... He wanted nothing more than to be with his abandoned family, to make the past right.
"Are you truly real?" He asked in desperation, his eyes teary.
The woman looked at him with contempt, but then it turned into an uncertain smile. She knelt down next to him with the baby in her arms.
"Do you think he isn't real?" She asked, while moving it towards the ascended.
The baby seed a bit uncomfortable, his little arm kept grabbing onto things, like her mother's hand and the cloth he was wrapped inside. His eyes turned to his father, it was the exact sa color as the commander's.
He slowly reached out with a finger and the babe imdiately began grabbing onto it.
"Do you really want this to be reality?" Asked a voice, that was similar but a bit different from his wife's.
The ascended's eyes never left the baby. On his face a bright smile rested as he nodded.
"Yes... More than anything..." He answered in a choked voice.
"Just take my hand and it shall be yours!" She said, the voice wasn't even remotely similar to her wife's at that point, but he was too focused on his son to care.
A small feminine hand appeared in his periphery and he took it without a single thought.
His body instantly went rigid and he began to float. He felt his soul leave his body and move towards the four ter monstrous figure that appeared at so point. She reached out her hand where the soul landed.
The ascended watched in terror as the sa scene repeated itself on all the other islands.
On each of them people were crying and accepting hands, only to give away their souls to this monster.
He turned back to the creature and with his last breath he asked, "Who... Are... You?"
The female laughed on every single island. Only now did he realize that they were the sa person. She stared at the soul inside her long clawed hand, then with a quick move crushed it.
The last thing the sad and scared ascended heard was the answer to his question...
"I'm The Sleepwalker... Goodnight!"
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