Crash!
Lidien’s teenage body with an overused Sparkline couldn’t properly hold Nyomi, who stumbled upon him as she lost her consciousness, making them fall to the floor.
Lidien smiled, his head throbbing from the impact with the floor, but his mind was alight with the success of his procedure.
It was just a fraction of a second, too short to notice... That if Lidien didn’t use his Incite of Blood to the limit, he wouldn’t have seen it.
When he pressed his fist on Nyomi against the wall... he saw her blood stop its flow, putting Nyomi in an unconscious state.
’Forcefully depriving the brain of oxygen seems to be the safest of all the dangerous procedures...’
Lidien thought of it; exercise could make soone’s heart beat rapidly, as it needs to supply the body with oxygen, making them able to move their muscles.
However, since the oxygen was lacking to compensate for the body movents, it made the person instinctively breathe, gasping for air.
As Nyomi rapidly breathed, the blood vessels going to her brain narrowed, slowing its supply of blood.
And the final press of Lidien’s fist on her chest against the wall... forcefully slowed her heart beating, and that short span of ti was enough to make Nyomi fall unconscious.
’Good thing I asked her to breathe deeply before putting her in this state...’
That final, oxygen-saturating breath was the key that made the procedure replicable on himself.
It was still dangerously unsafe, but it reduced the risk of permanent brain damage from minutes to a re fraction of a second,
As he could trust his own body’s autonomic instinct to resu breathing and seek oxygen once the pressure was released.
Lidien slapped Nyomi’s face repeatedly while she was still lying atop him.
"Nyomi, wake up!"
After a few seconds of slapping, Nyomi’s eyebrows flinched, until her eyes opened... bursting with tears.
"Mother... I’m safe now, don’t worry..."
Lidien stared at her confused, then slapped her once again.
Nyomi then stared at Lidien intently, scanning her surroundings before crawling back to the wall and staying silent.
"What happened, Nyomi?"
Nyomi stared at Lidien, her hopeful, teary eyes turning dead and fragile.
"I-It was all just a dream?"
Nyomi, in her unconscious state, relived her life from childhood until she got married...
She dread of herself fulfilling her dreams,
Her tribe’s prosperity...
Her brother becoming a warrior...
And the mont she married a man with her family watching her...
Until she was violently pulled from the dream, her eyes focusing on the face of a child she didn’t recognize. No--she did recognize him.
It was the Prince who told her he would not pull her heart out.
As the present mory flooded her, she realized... it was all just a dream, a reality that should’ve been if the Blood Rose Clan soldiers hadn’t enslaved their Tribe.
She sobbed, and Lidien watched her, unmoving...
Though he didn’t know what exactly happened, he just stood and forced himself to lie on the bed,
Gritting as his Sparkline protested.
’I hope this will not extend my stay here in this bed.’
The whole morning passed, and Lidien, for the first ti during his day inside his room lying down, beca thankful for Nyomi... quietly sitting near the wall, smiling helplessly.
As the door opened, Aria once again entered with a food cart... staring intently at Nyomi, who seed out of her mind.
"Now Lidien, why are you breaking your toy... do you want to bring you sothing new?"
Lidien didn’t sit up, as a new wave of exhaustion engulfed his body, so that even moving his head was a painful task.
He just stared at Aria as she slowly proceeded towards Lidien’s bed, sitting beside him.
"What happened? Why are you so... did you!?"
Her eyes shockingly glanced at Nyomi, and she noticed her hair disheveled; as she breathed softly, focusing her senses in her nose, she caught a scent... the distinct, sweaty fragrance of physical exertion coming from Nyomi.
"If you’re thinking sothing indecent, then you’re wrong, Big Sis... could you help sit? I can’t move my body..."
Aria stared at Lidien, shook her head, and helped him sit.
"I know you missed Lily..."
Aria bit her lips and held Lidien’s face.
"But it pains every ti you deny ..."
Lidien’s eyes stared daggers at her.
"I said... I didn’t do sothing indecent... you think I’m lustful enough just to touch that woman?"
Aria then t his eyes before glancing madly at Nyomi, who sat like she lost her sanity.
"Don’t touch her. She is a test subject," Lidien said, his voice flat.
"But if you’re so jealous of the attention she’s receiving, Aria, I can always run the sa experint on you. I need a control group."
Aria could only close her eyes and bite her lower lip... before hardily getting the spoon and helping Lidien to eat.
"Big Sis... don’t worry, I won’t do sothing that could make you hate ..."
Lidien smiled, trying to touch her hands gently.
Aria saw the gesture; she just smiled and fed him, easing her mind.
They spent the ti together, talking about what really happened to Nyomi, still paralyzed by her own thoughts, uncaring whether she lived or not, as she realized her struggle is worthless in front of the demons in front of her.
However, Lidien didn’t disclose his experint procedures... as knowledge in this world is equivalent to power.
"Big Sis, I want to ask sothing..."
Aria then giggled and brushed his hair, tracing his visible veins, still strained.
"Of course, little brother... anything for you..."
Lidien smiled, hoping he could fool his sister into sharing so knowledge.
"I just want to ask, where does your thod of entering the Dreamflow originate?"
Aria paused her hand tracing Lidien’s veins, then sighed.
"Should I tell or not? Hmm, well, anyways... though we don’t have the proper thod of entering the Dreamflow, you can still read so history in the Knowledge Spire... maybe around the fourth floor? I’m not sure..."
Aria then giggled and played with her bouncy hair.
"Well, if you want an advanced thod of going inside the Dreamflow, you could go to the West Continent... or try finding so ancient knowledge in Rifts, hoping you could find one."
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