Back to Ash's POV
Slowly opening his eyes, Ash found himself in a locked room with nothing around. But a guy trying to wake him up.
He felt that he didn't take his time, he didn't sleep properly. Ash was half conscious because of that.
"Oi! Ash, wake up!"
'Huh? Why do I feel that I heard that line before?' Ash thought, trying to recall when and where had he heard that. It was then that he saw the face of the guy in front of him...
"I told you. You only have one hour till our playtime. So, get up already!"
'N-No way!' Ash felt his heart sinking in the depth of a true terror.
A terror he once faced before.
'I-I'm back! To that torture! What is happening?! Was everything happened today about travelers and banes just a mere dream?!' Ash was horrified. The mere fact of all of that experience he lived, the meeting with Aeris and Nyro, the desperate attempts to save Elarion Thayr and the group at the river, all of that was just... a dream?!
"Well, do not be surprised." Reive said, with a smirk drawn on his face. The same smirk he saw before with the same words.
'What the hell is happening?! I hope that this is the dream...' His thoughts railed from his brain, trying to find any clue that this was the dream and not everything he lived in that hellish yet beautiful day as a traveler.
"Ah! By the way, sorry for that little scratches on your torso. That was the ceremony of our playtime." Reive said, his smile never faded away. His grin!
'I already know! Damned Reive!' Ash thought. All the fear he was feeling vanished as he knew the kind of pain he will get through, again.
Instead, he looked cold, nonchalant as if something had changed deep within him.
'I'm no longer a normal human. I'm the Mangle. This type of torture is nothing for me now.' Ash thought. It seemed like he really changed from a normal teenager getting tortured to a Mangle who is reliving the same torture.
'But... something is weird here. Time feels faster!' Ash realized, widening his eyes. It was then that he grasped the truth.
'This... is the dream for sure. It will end so-- No, Maybe I could manipulate the dream itself!' The mere thought of getting revenge from Reive in a dream seems hilarious.
But Ash was determined to make this come true.
Hanging on the wall, two shackles around his hands, and his legs falling freely, Ash grinned and looked at Reive.
How Ironic! Just as Ash did that, he found himself lying on the ground. A wave of unimaginable pain coursed through his whole corpse.
'Ah Shit! I can't manipulate it!' Ash surrendered to the pain just like the last time and lied lifelessly on the ground.
The dream accelerated the events to when he was thrown on the ground after a whole session of professional torture. The dream didn't even let Ash say his phrase!
'Ah Yes. The Mangle does not stay fallen for long!' he thought of saying it anyways.
It was then that the system appeared, again. Yet something unbelievable happened! After the system informed Ash of being a traveler, the dream should have ended. Instead, he stayed lying on the ground and saw Reive, who were running out of the room before the CPD comes, coming back... at him?!
Reive stopped motionless, opening his mouth to speak.
'Huh?! That didn't happen last time!!' Ash was shocked. Though, his expression was like a dead corpse.
"I'm..." Reive said, making Ash anticipate what he was trying to say further.
But, no words came after and the dream shut down.
***
"Anoo..." ("Um...")
Waking up from a nightmare into another nightmare, Ash felt a weird sensation upon recalling the events of his torture.
When he opened his eyes, he found himself lying on the ground. When did he got there?
'Strange!' Ash claimed, simply as that.
"Kimii... Daijoubou?" ("You... are you alright?")
'Huh?' Ash thought, confusion took place, shaping his expressions. When he rotated his head to the other side, he saw a girl.
Ash pulsed on his feet and staggered back.
'W-What the hell?!' Ash reddened, embarrassed, clearly because he never thought of a woman existing inside the hut.
'Am I... dreaming again? I hope I'm' Ash said mentally rather than thinking. It was then that he realized something else.
'Wait! That language...' Ash thought, touching his chin as he knew exactly what language it is.
"Ah, semimasen! Orewa genki." ("Oh, sorry! I'm good.")
That language is none other than Japanese, judging by her clothes which was a kimono, and the way she spoke, it is without no doubt that she is from Japan.
The girl suddenly widened, surprised as if she had finally found someone here that could understand her.
"Omaiwa... Nihongo ga dekiru?!" (You... can speak Japanese?!) The girl said, surprised, that looked more like a shock.
"Hai, sukoshi dekiru." ("Yes, I can, a little.") Ash replied, a smile arched on his face. It was the first time speaking with a native Japanese speaker. Let aside talking to a Japanese traveler.
The girl smiled as well and said:
"Arigatou! Hontoni arigatou! Omaino kakide watashino inochi o tasketa." (Thank you! Thanks you so much! Because of you, my life has been saved.") The girl said, making Ash question himself: when did he save her?
He only tried to save people twice, the first with Elarion and the other is...
It was then that he remembered the group of the three travelers who tried to cross the river.
That girl was one of them.
Ash's face darkened, like a dark curtain hiding his eyes and a gentle smile ran across his face. This smile was a victory embraced in sadness, and also happiness that he could save people even if it was just only one person.
"souka!" ("I see!") Ash said. He really wanted to save them all, but they didn't listen to him. Only that girl took the warning seriously. That's why Ash didn't see her when the creature's hand rose and took with it the lives of those two arrogant travelers.
At the same time, Aeris and Nyro opened the door and found them both awake.
"Oh! You woke up. That's really good! Haha!" Aeris said, letting out a laugh that washed his nervousness. He thought the girl wouldn't make it with that injury she arrived with.
"Aeris, don't be shocked of what I'm about to tell you..." Ash paused for a moment, creating a bit of suspense. "The girl is Japanese."
Aeris widened in surprise, looking at her with bewilderment. "Japanese?! If that's true, how would we understand her?" A logical question indeed.
"I understand a bit of Japanese, I will help here." Ash answered, a bit of friendly mockery in his voice.
"Then ask her about her name. If you can." Nyro stepped ahead and said.
Ash rotated to her. Her face was a mix of emotions.
"Oreno tomodachi wa omaino namai o shiritai, namai wa?" ("My friends want to know your name, what is it?") Ash said. Though that's not someone with a "bit of understanding in Japanese"
"Shizuna Shoumetsu, Shizuna wa ii." (Shizuna Shoumetsu, You can call me Shizuna.") Shizuna responded immediately.
"Soshite watashiwa... samurai da." (And also I'm... a samurai.") Shizuna added with a smile of a killer.
Ash was shocked once he heard what she really is.
"Her name is Shizuna Shoumetsu, you can call her Shizuna. And she is also... a samurai." Ash translated to them, though they knew what is her name and that she is a samurai before he did so.
The girl straightened her arm, willing to summon her weapon.
Aeris, Nyro and Ash watched with anticipation and excitement, thinking in union.
'What kind of katana would it be? Tachi? Nodachi?' They wondered.
What took shape around her hand wasn't a katana, it wasn't even a sword!
It was a long yellow-black-bent-wooden stick, a string so thin attached to the stick's ends, that looked almost like a blade.
The weapon was a bow!