CHAPTER 254: A DREAM

"Hey, Sofia." He greeted her, and her eyes lit up slightly. She stopped focusing on the fact that the two of them were together.

Her hands had been behind her back; she walked close and brought out something. "This is for your birthday," she said. It was a polished brown wooden box.

Riven was stunned that she had gotten him a gift. He took it and slowly opened it, and inside was a ring with a blue gemstone.

When Mia and Riven saw the ring, both of them were stunned.

"A ring?" Mia asked. She looked at Sofia like she could not believe it.

"I got it from the Council of Mages. It’s a special ring that can block attacks up to fifth-circle spells and techniques," she said, with an innocent smile on her face.

Riven heaved a sigh of relief when he heard what it was for. He pulled the ring out and placed it on his finger.

"It will activate when you are in serious danger," she added.

"This is really great, Sofia, thank you," he said. She hugged her. She was shocked by the hug, so much that she couldn’t even react.

He let go and looked at her face, which was slightly rosy now.

"I have to go now. I’ll talk to you guys later," he said and left them.

Mia stood there staring at Sofia. She folded her hands. "Nice game, Sofia."

Sofia simply smirked and walked away.

Riven, on the other hand, walked through the hallway with a smile on his face. He looked at the ring a couple of times. Someone had actually gotten him a gift.

But he had more important things to do, and that was to start studying, practicing, and blacksmithing.

[....]

A few days went by, and it was a Thursday. Everything had finally gone back to how it was, and the school was in full throttle.

Riven was on his way from a class when he spotted Quin standing outside the class. They locked eyes, and then Quin started walking.

Riven wasted no time and followed behind him. He caught up and walked beside him.

"Seems you have been taking classes seriously," Quin said.

"I have to. I need to grow stronger," Riven replied.

"That’s good," Quin said, and then pulled out a letter. "There is an issue, and as it stands, the Golden Set is one of the groups that have been chosen to deal with it." He held onto the letter, not handing it to Riven.

"This letter comes from the crown, and it seems there is a mission for each one of you. For some reason, monsters have started leaking out of dungeons, and it is causing a lot of damage," Quin said.

’So it’s started already, the Monster Wave Arc,’ Riven thought.

"Something is causing the monsters to rush out, and most of the time, a few that have red glowing eyes are seen, also with red crystals when they are killed. They are more vicious than the others," Quin said.

"And we are supposed to help fight this?" Riven asked.

"Yeahhhh—" Quin was answering when a massive shadow covered the entire school.

Quin looked out of the window. There was some sort of massive cube up in the sky.

Riven saw it and took a step back. "No, this can’t be happening," he said.

Quin turned and looked at him. "What do you mean?" he asked. He saw the fear in Riven’s eyes. He stretched out his hand and grabbed Riven by the shirt.

"What’s wrong? What do you know about that cube?" Quin asked.

"That cube... we have to evacuate. The entire kingdom is in danger," Riven said and tried to get away, but Quin held on to him tight.

’How is that cube here already? No, everyone is in danger. It can’t be now, it’s far too early. Shit, I have been thinking everything would follow the progression of the book. I should have known this would happen,’ Riven thought. He looked at Quin.

"We have to leave, and leave fast. Find safe places and hide. That cube is extremely dangerous, even for you, Quin. It’s the demons. It’s from them. You have to trust me," Riven said.

Quin frowned. He was about to force the question out of Riven, but then suddenly, a massive beam of light shot from the cube in the sky and slammed into the school ground. It was massive, it shook the ground, and a wave started spreading out.

"Run, we have to run!" Riven yelled. He forced Quin off him and jumped through the window. He slammed into the ground outside, got up, and started running.

Quin wanted to chase after him, but there was something more important now. He flew out of the school and into the air, rushing forward.

Riven, on the other hand, started looking for Noel and the others. He rushed around the school and finally spotted Noel, who was also looking at the light, not knowing what was happening.

He rushed toward Noel. "Noel, runnn, runnn!" But before Noel could hear him, a blast of light engulfed him, and he vanished.

Riven was stunned when he saw this. He looked in horror. "Noel, no," he muttered.

What was the cube that brought this light? It was the greatest machine of the demons. It was a device connected to the Demon Continent, and whoever was touched by the light would be transported somewhere into the Demon Continent.

Riven recalled it was used toward the end of the story. It was the demons’ greatest move, taking different people away from different continents. And there, those people would be ripped apart and killed. If they weren’t, then the harsh environment would do the task.

Riven knew that right now, hundreds of students had been sent to the Demon Continent, including Noel.

As soon as the thought reached his head that Noel was transported away, Riven stopped. He turned around and ran toward the light.

"I’m not losing my brother," he yelled, jumping into the light. His body vanished as soon as he entered, and so did everyone in the academy, except Quin.

The light went beyond the academy and stretched through the capital. By this time, people had started hiding for safety.

When the day came to an end, over forty percent of the entire Kingdom of Vermilion had been teleported away.

Quin tried to reach the device, but no matter how hard he tried, he failed. Some force pressed against him. Even he, the strongest human, couldn’t get to the device in the sky, and then all of a sudden, it vanished.

Riven’d eyes shot open, his entire body was covered in cold sweat, bus bed entirely soaked, his hear best so heavy that it hurt.

A dream.