Time passed easily as I meditated, my awareness sharp despite the stillness of my mind. I had long since learned how to track time without the need for a clock or the sun's position. Exactly one hour had passed since I started.
As I opened my eyes, I felt a weight on my shoulder.
Turning my head slightly, I found Ark asleep, his head resting against me. His breathing was soft and steady, his expression peaceful.
I smiled.
Ark looked completely at ease now, for someone who was always so tense and filled with doubt. Seeing him like this, I didn't have the heart to wake him just yet.
Minutes passed as I remained still, letting him rest. The air was cool, the night silent except for the occasional distant sound of wind against the academy walls.
Eventually, I decided it was time to get up. Carefully, I shifted my position, adjusting so that I could lift him without waking him. With slow, deliberate movements, I slid one arm under his legs and the other around his back. He barely stirred as I picked him up.
Taking a steady breath, I channelled spiritual energy around us, forming a thin barrier of air to cushion his body. With some effort, I lifted him slightly off my arms, using the energy to help carry his weight.
It wasn't easy. Although I had a lot of control and high spiritual density, I didn't have much practice with telekinesis, and maintaining this level of control while levitating someone required a lot of focus.
Still, I managed.
With slow, careful steps, I floated him toward the window. The glass pane was already open from earlier, allowing me to slip him inside with ease. Once he was on the ground, I climbed in the window,w too, and picked him up before heading toward the dorms.
I reached into Ark's coat pocket and pulled out his room key. Finding his room didn't take long, and I opened the door.
The room was modest, similar to my own, though it had two beds. One was perfectly made, untouched. The other had a few scattered belongings—a sign that it had been used.
I frowned slightly.
Ark was the only one of us who had a room to himself. While that might sound like a privilege to some, it wasn't for Ark.
Having a dorm room to yourself and no one to talk to can be isolating, especially for someone with Ark's mental state.
I made my way over and gently placed Ark down on the used bed.
I removed his shoes and put them by the door, then his shirt, to allow him a more comfortable sleep.
As I pulled his shirt off, I noticed a few old scars and bruises.
'So it wasn't just verbal abuse...' I thought to myself as my mind switched between anger and empathy.
Pushing the thought for now, I pulled the blanket over him, and he shifted slightly, letting out a peaceful sigh.
His hand gripped the fabric loosely, his brow twitching as if caught between dreams and wakefulness.
Then, in a faint whisper, he spoke. "Jack… don't leave me… please…"
He was still asleep, and his voice was barely audible, but the fear in it was clear.
I paused.
For a moment, I simply stood there, watching him. Then, quietly, I sat down on the other bed.
I stayed.
I looked around the room but didn't see much that belonged to Ark.
There were a few books and a few odd items on his desk.
One book caught my eye and I walked over to get a better look.
I picked it up and read the title
[Legends Hidden Behind The Veil Of Time]
I was shocked as I had this book myself.
They were two of only 100 suspected remaining copies after the holy kingdom killed the unknown author and burned all copies they could find.
It was a book containing many legends and stories from all over the world, but one thing most people didn't know was that several of the stories inside it were the origin stories of heroes, primogenitors and gods.
I opened the book and found Ark had marked a certain story, one of my favourite stories too.
[The Moonlit Path]
It is an interesting story about a hunter trying to feed his village in a terrible winter.
The hunter goes into the forest with their twin brother every few days to hunt, but in the last hunt, his brother fell off a cliff and broke his leg. Now alone, the hunter must bring food for his entire village alone, but all the animals have left the area, and he can't find anything for weeks.
Stricken with worry and desperation, the hunter calls out to the world and asks for help. What he didn't expect was for something to answer.
Luna, the Moon Spirit, appears in front of him and offers help, but he must become a beast to hunt for food.
The hunter accepts and transforms into a wolf with white fur and can now find and hunt food for his village, but sadly, the village doesn't trust him anymore, and he is chased away but doesn't leave them alone and continues to provide food for them.
When the winter ends, the wolf, seeing that the village can survive until the next winter, leaves with Luna.
Now, in that village, deep in the mountains, a white-furred wolf can be seen hunting during the winter, and food will mysteriously appear on the doorsteps of hungry villagers.
I smiled, remembering the story as my mother read it to me as a child, and it was also my first time learning about Spirits here in Primus outside of what Brakos tells me.
Not finding anything else of note, from my ring, I pulled out a book on magic theory that I had stored away earlier. With the dim light of a lamp on the nightstand, I began reading.
The night stretched on.
Eventually, after finishing the chapter, I closed the book and stored it away.
I looked over at Ark and saw he was sleeping soundly, but that only caught my attention for a second before I noticed something else.
Ark's ears had grown bigger and now resembled a wolf's ears
I noticed something move under the blanket beside him, and that was when I noticed a white and fluffy wolf tail poking out from the edge of the blanket.
I smiled, seeing him show something he had hidden so far... wait, why had he hidden them?
I have my suspicions as to what Ark is, but he has told everyone he is a Wolf Beastman, but beast-men aren't able to hide their animal feature, so what is his plan for that and more importantly, why would he hide them in the first place?
I sat there, worried and contemplating the reasons behind it, but eventually decided to leave it for the morning.
I waited for a few more minutes to make sure he was sleeping soundly.
Looking at the clock, I saw it was 1:24.
Deciding it was time to get to bed, I stood, preparing to leave, but as I turned toward the door, I heard it again.
"Jack… please…don't leave… "The same whisper. The same fear.
I hesitated.
Looking at him again, I could see that his fingers had clenched around the blanket. His breathing had quickened, his expression no longer peaceful.
A nightmare.
Worried, I moved back to his bedside and knelt beside him.
Gently, I placed my hand on his shoulder, trying to wake him just enough to pull him from whatever haunted his dreams.
It didn't work.
His body tensed, his breath coming in uneven shudders. Whatever he was seeing, it was keeping him trapped.
I frowned.
This wasn't an ordinary nightmare.
Placing my palm lightly against his forehead, I pulled out a purple flower from my ring and placed it under his pillow.
Then I whispered. "Lavender."
A soft glow filled the room as a swirl of violet mist materialized from under his pillow.
The mist moved from the pillow to around the ceiling and swirled around Ark and me.
I looked up at the mist and smiled.
The mist shifted constantly, forming vague shapes—scenes of dreams and flickering emotions that drifted like smoke.
Her presence was gentle and kind, yet it carried a great power I was all too familiar with.
"Jack," a voice echoed from within the mist, soft and feminine. "You don't call on me often. Who is this?"
"A friend," I said, looking down at Ark. "He's trapped in a nightmare. Can you help?"
Lavender swirled around Ark, brushing against his forehead.
Her presence soothed him almost instantly. His body relaxed slightly, the tension fading as she worked her way into his dream and easing his mind.
This was Lavender, a Dream Spirit. She has the power to cause people to fall asleep, to enter people's dreams while they sleep, read minds, see memories and even bring others with her.
She is one of my more recent contracts but has become very useful in information gathering and crowd control when facing large groups.
I watched the mist converge around Ark slightly as it started to give off a slight yet warm glow.
For a moment, there was only silence.
Then, her voice returned, tinged with something… unusual.
"His trauma runs deep," she murmured. "I can feel it even from the farthest parts of his mind. If I go deeper, I can see what happened to him… Do you want me to?"
I paused again and thought.
To know exactly what had shaped Ark into the person he was now… to understand the depths of his fears… It would be easy to just say yes.
But that wasn't my choice to make.
"No," I said firmly. "Not without his consent."
Lavender was silent for a moment. Then, her voice took on a joking tone. "Are you going to ask him for consent if you-"
I cut her off before she could finish. "What will happen will happen," I said quietly. "And only when the time is right for both of us."
Lavender hummed in understanding and returned to being serious.
The mist around Ark shimmered slightly, her power gently weaving through his mind, pushing away the nightmare and replacing it with something warmer, something peaceful.
His face softened. His breath evened out.
He was finally resting.
I let out a quiet breath.
Standing up, I glanced at the second bed.
I considered leaving, but… after what had just happened, I wasn't comfortable with that idea.
Instead, I turned to Lavender."
Stay with him," I said. "Make sure he keeps dreaming happy dreams."
"Of course."
With that settled, I pulled off my hoodie and lay down on the other bed.
The mattress was firm but comfortable enough.
As I closed my eyes, I let myself relax, knowing that if Ark needed me again, I was close enough to help.
~~~~~~
[The Next Day]
I woke up pretty early as the sun shone directly into my face from the window.
I looked at the clock and saw the time [7:23 AM]
I smiled as I sat up.
It took me a moment to realize where I was, as I was still tired.
I looked around and, for a second, thought the room had been rearranged or that I had gotten drunk and ended up in the wrong bed, even though I don't drink, ever.
It took me a moment to realize I had fallen asleep in Ark's room.
(If you compare the layout of our rooms, Ark and I sleep in the same bed, so when I woke up in the other bed, I got confused.)
As I looked around, I finally remembered what happened last night with Ark and saw him sleeping soundly in the other bed.
His ears and tail were still showing.
I smiled as I spoke,
"How did he sleep?" I asked
Lavender, still floating around the room, said, "He slept like a baby. Though I can't say I didn't look at some of his memories. He doesn't show it, but it does seem like he has some sleep deprivation."
"Has he not been sleeping properly?" I asked
"No, it's more like I can't get a good night's sleep, usually from nightmares. Based on what I could find, this was the first time he got a good night's sleep in months, possibly years," she said, concerned.
My face paled slightly.
"Interestingly, the nightmare he had last night was about you leaving him behind, but it never triggered so long as you stayed here."
I turned to Ark and smiled.
'I should have him talk to someone. Maybe Terra can help him break out of that shell and realize how he feels.' I thought as I leaned back and waited for Ark to get up.