Nightmare Mythos

He knocked once to the door.

"Yes?"

The domineering voice of a woman with a mix of gentleness at it called out to Baron from the outside.

With a slightly hoarse voice, Baron replied, "I'm here to report something to you, Madam Deane. This is Sergeant Baron from Captain Vin's squad reporting for duty."

The woman inside the room amusedly caressed her soft cheek before she mused, "Vin? Ah, the woman's most desirable man, the broker of a woman's heart, Vin?"

Baron, unable to contain her nervousness from the inside, couldn't help but shift his respectful tone to a voice full of hastiness and uneasiness.

"Madam, there's no time for jokes. You're the only personnel in this base that holds the highest position where I could report the findings of my captain in that cursed city… Please, you have to see my report," Baron paused, "And… and, I think I lost full contact in that place."

For a brief moment, there was only silence. Baron waited impatiently, his hand already clutching to the door knob so that he'll have to barge inside as soon as possible.

He's only here to report his findings and give the stacks of paper containing it before dashing away outside to group up with Vin and inform the rest to leave the city immediately.

The mission doesn't matter, the ones alive needed to leave.

Deane, the madam that Baron was talking to, swiftly changed her stance upon hearing the change of tone in his voice and immediately answered

"What are you waiting for? Get inside,"

Baron entered the door hastily and saluted once before handing over the stacks of paper that contained his report. With a bow, he exited the room just as fast as he entered.

Deane watched Baron's back turned to the nearest corridor, his rushed footsteps almost made him disjointed.

"Let's see… a report huh,"

Deane grasped the report paper in her hands as she mused evenly, "City of Wheels. A case about the mysterious disappearances of its people. He said that he lost contact with that area. It just seems impossible to happen,"

Deane's gaze slowly read its contents, her eyes slowly went down. As she did, a frown surfaced on her delicate face, the hazel eyes observing the contents slowly turned solemn.

"This is not a normal case a mere captain like him could handle… This… How is the time there so late…"

Deane felt shivers down her spine as she realized a bit of the situation happening in the cursed city. It might be because the city is far from the military base itself or something not too important but the ones handling this mission must've neglected how alarming the case is.

"Ah shit… this is supposed to be my rest day. I just came back from the mission earlier…"

Deane scratched the back of her head with annoyance before she stood up and ran outside, in the same manner as Baron.

"Gods… I hope the students who got transferred there will be safe. Ah shit, ah shit!"

Throwing the paper of her hand away as she ran, there was a line of text that made her realize the gravity of the situation.

/Report for City of Wheels

Submitted by: Baron

Date submitted: 29th of July/

…

"Bluergh…"

As he watches the commander of the City of Wheels bleeding with no explanation whatsoever, Cesar remains frozen at his place.

It didn't take too long, probably a few seconds, until he recollected himself and looked around to see the hidden threat that made Vin feel so vulnerable but he couldn't see anything.

"Commander!"

Just as he was about to dash towards him, Maine already made her move and quickly assisted the falling Vin.

Everyone followed up soon.

Upon seeing a closer look, Vin appeared to be visibly weak. His complexion was bad to the point that he looked like he was dying as he continuously coughed out blood. He was shaking, he was tired, and his health was worsening.

"What is happening to you, sir? Please speak!"

Maine demanded as she tried her calm herself down, her hand placed on different kinds of places of Vin's body, trying to assess the situation.

Vin momentarily stopped coughing, trying to voice out something but only the movement of his lips was comprehended. He tried very hard and finally managed to tell two words out of his mouth.

"Time… Leave…"

With a clenched fist, Cesar turned around and ran towards the box of flare shells before grabbing a single bullet that was much different from the rest of the flare shells.

Loading it with his gun, Cesar pointed it upwards before shooting with it his one ear covered. It whistled through the sky before it blasted into splinters, forming a cascade of explosions.

Fireworks keep popping out. On such occasions, each squad has one to use on their flare guns. It only signals one thing and that is something went wrong in their search.

It was just unfortunate that it happened on their side.

Crackle!

As the fireworks popped into the sky, Vin lost consciousness.

…

With the chief of command missing in action, Maine had taken jurisdiction as her position in Vin's squad is third, with Baron coming next. Now that the two of her superiors were gone, it was only natural for her to do it.

Nobody interjected the notion.

Because of this, the security surrounding Vin was very tight. It's only been an hour since Vin's condition was made public and right now, the doors within his room were in complete lockdown.

The whole building was completely guarded up to the bone.

Instead of waiting outside the said building, Cesar and the rest of the group were in an abandoned house. Confused and tired, nobody even starts a conversation themselves, afraid that what happened to Vin will happen to them as well.

Remembering how he bled out buckets of blood as if it were just water was a very traumatizing scene for them.

After all, Vin was suffering from internal bleeding.

Because of this, they had to watch out for what caused it or how it even happened in the first place since they were with him most of the time.

As of now, every operation has ceased to stop. It was the right time to look through the answers to Vin's irregular situation.

'Just what happened to him?' Cesar mused inwardly as he began to rake up his mind for answers.

Most of the time they've been here, almost everyone hasn't been involved in anything relating to an enemy at all, whether they were Nightmares or Shaded.

For Cesar, it was the heretic.

For Quentin, it was the penetrated reality.

As for Vin, he involved himself in every situation that he came across, and the only time he involved himself regarding Nightmares was both the heretic and the penetrated reality.

For the former, it was the time when someone was following them up through a hotel that Cesar immediately reported. The second time was when he came across the individual face-to-face.

However, there was no physical contact happened at that time.

As for the penetrated reality… there was such interaction.

'Is it that time?'

Cesar couldn't help but remember the display of prowess from Vin when encountering the one manifested penetrated reality in the middle of the street.

Whatever he did that time, he was the only one who knew about it.

If so, how are "Time" and "Leave" connected to the current predicament?

'Don't tell me when he had peeled off his skin that transformed into a fragment and stuck it onto the pierced reality, there was something else he had seen that borne fruit at his situation?'

Cesar massaged his forehead, still completely in the unknown but he felt he was closer to the truth as the words Vin had uttered were enough to solve the pieces together.

"Time…"

What does time involve?

The day and night. Dates, months, years, a lifetime, or even the time concept where it is an indefinite continued progress of existence, that kind of time.

Of course, Vin wouldn't give such complex details.

For most of the time Cesar had observed him, Vin preferred to be fast and immediate in actions and not waste any time.

"Time…"

Suddenly, a cold realization hit Cesar right into his core.

The four corrupted areas.

The four red zones where time didn't work properly, as if they were completely frozen. The three former red zones Low Whispers, Mendeleev, and Snickering Bridge might not appear to be the case but Vermillion Painted Hand was different.

There was a physical representation where the time inside indeed to have paused.