Nightmare Mythos

"Who the hell are you?!

Cesar watched the situation unfold in his eyes with a questioning look.

Aspirer, the assassin that he received information from Karl, and the person he killed along the way he used his Floor of Darkness, had his head decapitated and was currently talking to them.

However, looking at the Trinity's reactions, this action wasn't their own doings.

"What do you think? I know you guys will strike a deal with Deceit. But hear me out, Sparrow! Once the Seed they were talking about had sprouted, they would surely kill you! The only reason why they haven't done it was because you're integral to their plan!"

Doubt tilted his head to the side as if to question before asking, "And what do you think our plan is, huh?"

Then the same Nightmare looked at Cesar and added, "Instead of killing this… thing from the start, I'm showing it to you that whatever was coming from this mouth is utterly false."

Cesar could only remain silent, not knowing who to believe the two.

These Nightmares are in the league on their own, and their plan is beyond his capability to scratch yet, which is why it was better to be the listener for now.

He was barely scraping on their level of the field but he shouldn't get involved right away where he'll either get enemies rather than allies.

Soon, after the face hadn't said anything, Doubt crushed it using his bare hands. The blood that was supposed to splash around never came, instead, it became disgustingly whole and the Nightmare ate it with one bite.

"Yummy,"

Doubt then shifted his gaze to Cesar and smiled, traces of blood still on his lips, "We got a deal? We wanted to hunt the bastard that wanted to tarnish our name. Who knows if we're looking at the entity we were talking with just now? Whatever the case is, that depends on us,"

They already had given Cesar a piece of Deceit's consciousness and a location for Soul Scholar. If he rejects them now, who knows what could they do?

"All right,"

"Great, we'll contact each other through other means" Doubt happily clasped his hands before replying, "We'll take our leave now. Good luck with your endeavors,"

Doubt's heretics were the first ones to leave. Next was Prejudice's men while the third one was Hate's heretics who give him quite a disdainful before leaving.

After a while of silence, Cesar's tenant inside his head voiced out.

"Did you believe any words they have said?"

Cesar chuckled and replied shortly, "No,"

"Good," Cedeit seemed affirmed, "Those guys aren't our allies nor our benefactors. Continue making contact with them, but don't you ever put your trust. We'll try to take what they have while in this deal,"

That was exactly what Cesar was thinking. Without even worrying about anything else, they slowly made their way out of the rooftop, thinking that the day was finally done.

But suddenly, Cesar finds his steps erratic.

"Uhm, Cesar?"

Feeling dizzy all over his head, Cesar started to fall down and immediately fainted.

"What the?!"

However, an individual who was quietly watching the situation halfway through the occurrence at the rooftop, swiftly made her move when she saw Cesar lose consciousness.

"Wait, you are…!"

Cedeit who was fully conscious, weirdly looked at the figure trying to help Cesar.

…

"Ugh, where am I…" Enjoy exclusive content from empire

Cesar touched his aching head while slowly blinking his eyes open.

The moment he regained his full vision, he found himself in a hospital bed. The design and the setting itself didn't differ from the time he woke up after escaping The Void which made him think he went back in time.

"That's fucked up…"

That thinking was erased almost immediately when a pillow was thrown at his face and repeated his words.

"It is fucked up,"

Cesar went to look at the side and saw his group quietly looking at him at the side. Leah's group and Vin were also included.

Cesar's mind instantly stirred upon realizing the person he wanted to see the most wasn't there and immediately demanded.

Sitting down on his bed, Cesar massaged the bridge of his nose and declared, "I want to see Arnold. Where is he?"

For some reason, his reckless actions when he just went through the most obstacles irked the group and Quentin himself complained on their behalf.

"For goodness' sake, Cesar! You've been out for a couple of days after Jacqueline retrieved you from the rooftop! We saw bodies littered around there and then you fainted! And now you woke up, you think you're back to normal? You're clearly not!"

Cesar scratched his ears and complained himself, "Ugh, so noisy. All right, just bring him here to me, please?"

Leah started to get annoyed by his actions as he wouldn't have been in this state if someone had been beside him on the rooftop. However, Cesar just had to hide solely because of his own reasons that they still couldn't fathom to conclude.

She retorted back, "Cesar, you can talk to him once you're condition is back. We couldn't risk you fainting again. Do you get us?"

Even Reyna had to interrupt, "That's right, Cesar. It's the last day of the banquet. You can rest for the day when you get the trip back to the Academy. We'll even let you be,"

Cesar was starting to get annoyed as the very thing he got when he got his consciousness up was irritating demands when his request was simple.

Trying to keep a level head just like what he learned from Syros, Cesar took the stress by breathing it out.

Once his head got relaxed to a certain degree, Cesar dropped the news.

"I'm dying,"

"…"

The group became quiet.

"My condition is something that famous doctors or alchemists can't even cure. Even you, Amar." Cesar halted to give himself some time to breathe, "However, I just found my cure to this hopeless condition of mine the night I fainted so my situation isn't as dire as I thought any longer. And Arnold is someone who is aware of what I want. So please, give him to me now,"

The moment those words were out from Cesar's lips, the room became still that the only thing they could hear was Cesar's unbalanced breathing.