The Monster Monarch System-Chapter 195: An Illusion

"Surprise!" Rem heard when he walked into the dining room, he pretended to be flustered. After all, there must be a reason they were doing all of this and he hoped it was a good one.

He was beckoned to the dining table, Rem coming to dinner was a rare occurrence – sometimes he would be in his room silently and other times he would be out but nevertheless there was always a chair ready for the day he would be coming to eat.

There was an assortment of dishes on the table, each one cooked to perfection and Rem could perceive their various aromas... they were simply unique.

"I know you like my cooking more than what you eat in the Café," Pari said while giving him a wide smile, they were all seated in the various chairs... waiting for him.

Rem looked at the twins, both of the redheads were grinning at him. This was all the proof that he needed that they were the ones that told her, but it wasn’t a lie. He did prefer her home cooking to what he ate in the Café.

Rem sat down on the chair and looked at Lucas, giving him a small nod. He was grateful to have a roof over his head and a place where he could sleep, this was the least he could do to show respect aside from paying the rent he had forced upon himself.

Lucas burst into laughter seeing Rem’s nod.

"Stop being so informal," Lucas said, "You’re like family to us now so it’s fine to be a little carefree sometimes,"

’Family, huh?’ Rem thought as he stared at the food, the aroma quickly prompting him to take a bite, ’I can’t forget what happened to my last family...’

His dad had died to a Cavalier and his mom... she had passed away due to the stress of responsibilities put on her shoulders, he hadn’t even seen his Mom in her last month, he had been held captive by the guards for trying to steal a loaf of bread from a stall.

Rem set down the spoon and crunched steadily while raising a steaming cup of tea to his lips.

’She was pregnant before she died...’ Rem thought, drinking the tea in one fell swoop, there were a lot of things that he felt like he could have done then but he wasn’t able to do it.

"Thanks for the food, Pari, Everyone," Rem said and dove in, devouring with ease.

#####

The sounds of Luke snoring filled the room, he had been so tired after fighting the goblin and Rem couldn’t blame him, using soul energy for the first time was surely a taxing experience.

Kiara couldn’t sleep though, it wasn’t because of the snores, it was because of what she had seen, the soul energy that Rem had explained was nothing short of amazing and she wanted to try it out herself but she couldn’t, no matter how hard she tried – she couldn’t draw it out.

The door opened quickly and Rem stepped inside, Kiara sat up and looked at her Master with a bit of conflict in her eyes. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"There’s no morning training today," Rem said, calming her down, "Would you like to unlock your soul energy?"

As soon as Kiara heard his words, she began nodding quickly.

"Then follow me to the clearing," Rem said and turned around, heading out the door. Kiara followed but quickly noticed he wasn’t wearing his cloak like usual.

#####

They both stood in in the clearing, Kiara’s eyes flashed with resolve and determination while Rem stood silently.

"To unlock soul energy, you need to feel fear," Rem said, "So I’m going to make you feel a lot of fear,"

Kiara trembled, it sounded scary but she had already come all this way... What was a little fear compared to the things she’d been through?

A Crimson aura wrapped around Rem’s entire body, vibrating the ground below him as he stretched his hand forward. Reality seemed to shatter at it’s rims as darkness enveloped Kiara, the darkness felt tangible to her, it was almost like she could touch it... she could feel it pulsating around her and then it changed.

"Hey, stop sleeping Kiara," Luke’s familiar voice knocked her out of her thoughts, and Kiara looked up to see her brother looking down at her with a smile on his face, "The dungeon is great, isn’t it?"

"D-d-dungeon?" Kiara muttered, she couldn’t believe it... she was in a clearing with Rem just some moments ago, how did they make it into a dungeon?

"Yeah you were sleeping and mumbling something about soul energy," Luke said with a grin, Kiara’s face grew red as Luke began chuckling.

"Meanie," She muttered under her breath, "Was all that a dream?"

It sounded likely, she hadn’t seen Rem without his cloak on before... he also didn’t talk like that.

’It was all a dream,’ Kiara thought as she focused on the matter at hand.

"Why are we in a dungeon?" Kiara asked and Luke pointed to the figure in a black cloak leaning against the wall, she recognized him – it was Rem, the one she was used to seeing.

"Master wanted it to be our first raid," Luke said, "Don’t worry about it, He’s strong so we won’t get hurt,"

Kiara nodded and Luke helped her up, she needed to focus – it was a dungeon, not the clearing where they could be free to do as they wanted.

"Hurry up! Let’s move!" Rem ordered and they followed him, stepping deeper into the dungeon. As Luke had said, Rem was capable enough to beat every monster that stood in their way, this was only an expedition that showed them the inside of a dungeon.

Kiara felt at ease, the presence of her Brother and Master made her feel at ease as they navigated the unknown territory – she felt calm but that feeling would soon be drowned out, what lay ahead was anything but calm for the girl.