Chapter 10: Much Needed Information
Navin, who had organised his thoughts, looked at Selina and found that she was still in a state of shock.
"Jaden..." he called out. His voice was low, but it echoed like a drum within the silent room.
Jaden turned his head to look at him as he waited for Navin to answer the questions plaguing his mind.
"Do you still remember the mortal realm?" Navin questioned, but his expression conveyed that he had no expectations of answers.
Jaden blinked a few times in bewilderment at that. He knew that he was good at acting - another skill he had learned during his photography challenge days - but that didn’t mean they should treat him like a dumb kid. He pouted inwardly out of displeasure.
"The realm of all living beings?" Jaden answered with a slight puzzlement. Even if he knew about the ’mortal’ realm - Earth - from his past life, it didn’t mean the ’mortal’ realm here was the same one after all.
Navin’s expression turned a bit colourful as he nodded at Jaden’s answer. Others also had the same reaction.
Selina had her head lowered; she was clenching her fists so tightly that her hands had gone pale.
"The ’mortal’ realm is the physical realm where all living beings exist... The ’dream’ realm, on the other hand, is like a semi-physical realm - the beings here are both physical and not at the same time."
Jaden tilted his head at Navin’s explanation and thought of it for a few moments.
’So... Is it like virtual reality? It does sound like a very advanced version of it.’
He, however, could not voice that thought. He didn’t like dying from embarrassment either, after all. He questioned.
"Is that not an illusion then?"
Navin shook his head and explained further.
"What truly makes the ’dream’ realm different from an illusion is what it has. The ’dream’ realm allows one to awaken their grimoire at the age of eighteen... one must enter the ’dream’ realm if they wish to awaken their grimoire."
’That... even I - son of the mayor - don’t know anything about that...’
He wiped away all thoughts and asked.
"What if they don’t enter the ’dream’ realm?"
"Then they don’t awaken their grimoire." Jamie was the one to answer him.
Jaden looked at him and nodded.
’That sounds like a heavy loss...’
"The ’dream’ realm is full of mysteries; it holds structures which aren’t recorded in our history... and some of these structures, like the church, allow one to awaken their grimoire," Navin added.
Jamie, who had been silently leaning on the wall after his previous outburst, spoke.
"However... not everyone wants to tread this realm of unknown danger."
Jaden turned towards him and asked in a dark tone.
"Danger?"
Jamie nodded at him and answered gravely as he clenched his fists.
"The ’dream’ realm is full of unseen and unknown nightmares... and every place here can lead to death. The very place we stand at right now is a perfect example of it."
"Nightmares as in the star beasts?"
Shelly, who had been standing beside Selina like a statue, answered in her usual flat and indifferent tone.
"Nightmares are different, star beasts are different."
Jaden looked at her with a perplexed expression as he thought.
’Can she be normal for once?’
He didn’t dare voice his thoughts, though. As was said before, he doesn’t like dying.
Navin also looked at Shelly with a frown as he shook his head and clasped his hands together. He put his elbows on his knees as he closed his eyes and began explaining.
"Star beasts have mana cores, so they can only use mana like us... Nightmares, on the other hand, have what we call ’spirit cores’, which give them specific abilities instead of access to magic; however, if a nightmare needs to increase its rank, it must feed on the souls of living." He opened his eyes at the end,
Jaden suddenly felt a shiver running down his spine. His expression turned dark as he turned to Navin and questioned.
"Then why do we enter the ’dream’ realm? ...it sounds idiotic."
Navin smiled a little at his words. He shook his head before continuing.
"Because if we don’t, they will come to us."
The room suddenly felt much colder after Navin said that; it was as if those very words carried more weight than anything spoken before.
"I see... What’s a grimzone then?"
Selina had considerably organised herself. She looked at Jaden with a painful look, she bit her lips, and they bled a little before she answered.
"Grimzones are the locations within the ’dream’ realm we have no information about."
Jaden raised an eyebrow at her explanation and questioned.
"So we entered the city without knowing anything of it?"
Selina nodded at his question as she once again lowered her head, seeing her like that hurt him for some reason. But he didn’t want to ask her about it.
’Is it because of the illusion?’ he thought. Maybe his emotions were being manipulated by the city.
"Can’t we just run away from here then?"
Navin smiled at that and looked at the others before replying.
"I wish it were that easy, Jaden... but you see, this city is pretty dangerous as it manifests illusions as semi-physical entities, making them real yet fake at the same time, and it also uses hex magic to keep us within the walls."
Jaden suddenly felt a bad premonition as he thought of something that shouldn’t be possible.
"D-Does this grimzone eat away one’s memory over time?"
As soon as that question left his lips, the room darkened, and everyone’s expression turned complicated.
Shelly looked at him with her glassy grey eyes and answered in her usual tone.
"The longer the hex, the more memory is lost."
Jaden’s eyes suddenly turned wide as he questioned with quivering lips.
"H-How long has it been since we entered the grimzone?"
Selina lifted her head, her violet amethyst-like eyes turned dull as she answered in a low voice.
"It’s been a year..."