A Crude Necklace

Nico felt oddly warm. A nice subtle warm that wasn't too overbearing. It felt good. Like a warm embrace from someone he held dear to him. And the warmth completely drained him of his need to do anything. Nothing at all seemed to matter.

Afterall it was alright just sitting here. Wherever he was.

He thought maybe he'd open his eyes to see.

But everytime he did, he saw a myriad of broken sights. Hundreds of eyes that didn't belong to him instant. The complete implosion of so many sensory details derailed his mind. The pain was too great compared to the warm comfort of emptiness.

So he did just that. Just sat there. Doing nothing. Seeing nothing. Hearing nothing. Saying nothing.

But something nudged him when he opened his eyes. Something he caught from one of the eyes...A crude necklace.

It was his necklace.

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Naren skid through the rough stone floors of the infernal Lastlight. Bringing his arms over to protect his head as his left shoulder to his full impact. His skin scraping off as heat blistered everything else.

Naren bit down as his body continued sliding from the sheer momentum by which he was expelled out of the beast.

He had no idea why exactly he was spit out, but he couldn't care to answer.

As his slide came to a slower halt, he flipped into a ravenous hole opening into an endless void. Barely catching onto the very edge of the rocky walls.

He was sure his shoulder had been shattered by the impact. Even his legs felt strained, not to mention the immense heat that was gnawing away all over his body and the stinging from his exposed flesh.

Naren held on with one hand, pulling himself up, just over the surface where he met face to face with a princess who pulled him out the rest of the way.

She took one look at his wounds and limping posture before removing the white bud from one of her ears and rummaging through her backsack.

"What a bunch of subpar soldiers."

Naren winced as Yuna splashed alcohol over his scraped up arm, wrapping it in tight gauge whilst also slinging his other arm.

"Only as good as my lady-."

Naren was cut off by the shrieking dream eater. Falling down to the ground as he wriggled, trying his hardest to ease the pain, but with only one hand to plug a ear it was quite ineffective. Though, it quickly faded as he felt the outside world's noise quickly muffle out, in exchange more a melancholic and warm melody.

Looking up, he watched Yuna place the white buds in his ears, shoving a palm sized device into his pocket that was connected to it.

Naren could finally settle down a little as the melody continued in repeat, soundly oddly similar to a lullyby. His eyelids growing heavier as he let out an exasperated yawn.

But before he could fade to sleep, Yuna slapped both his cheeks, turning his face towards the Dreameater in one rough movement as her screaming voice barely whispered through the melody.

"That whole thing is just an outer shell! It's real body is still that icky eye on your shoulder! And look!"

Yuna pointed at the beast which was flailing around. It's body seemingly pulling itself apart...Almost as if the parts making it up were rejecting it.

"The necklace! When that necklace dropped it started acting crazy...What's the necklace mean? As long as we can pressure it more with it, as long as the husks begin pulling each other out, the beast'll be vulnarable!"

Naren stared at the beast then his eyes danced around to see what exactly Yuna was talking about. Then he caught it.

A single pretty rock attached to a string. A very crude and primitive necklace if you can even call it that. But where did he get it from?

That's right.

He took it from the girl who died holding onto him. The one who told him to save her brother?

Naren's eyes widened as his brain put the obvious puzzles pieces together. The pieces he'd completely ignored up until now while he was overly obsessed with everything else.

Nico was her brother.

He's trying to get the necklace.

Naren moved Yuna's arms off his face as he dashed towards the necklace. His body screaming out in pain He could tell now that his feet were fractured. Every stride sending a course of pain through his body. And every step made the damager worse. But he ignored every bit of it. Or more accurately, he couldn't care to listen to his body at that moment.

Naren slid, grabbing onto the necklace.

"Hey! Big-eyes!"

The beast shifted as it's man eyes sprouted out, scanning for the voice until they all narrowed in on Naren. Then even more closely on the object Naren dangled in his hands. The beast completely lost it's mind, it's body stretching and convusling as it fell to solid ground.

The giant beast crawling over to Naren.

Naren continued shaking the necklace, but didn't run. Instead, walking over to the very edge of a bottomless crater. His arm dangling over it.

"Lemme tell you a secret! This is actually a key to where your sisters at! Wanna know?! Then go ahead and tear yourself apart!"

The beast shook violently as the husks within it began to fight amongst themselves. The single act of revolution from Nico completely throwing the beast into chaos. As a reslult all the husks were ripped from their quiet warm oasis. Now clawing at themselves to make the pain stop.

Though at that same moment, something else was able to claw out. Due to the irregular state of the Dreameater making it unable to mend itself, it's body beginning to sizzle and glow as smoke escaped every cavity.

The beast flailed around, hitting it's body against anything it could. Flames dancing around as the ground began to crumble in a more aggresive manner.

Naren and Yuna running around avoiding being sent to oblivion.

Then it finally had enough. In one more ear-piercing screech the beast tore itself up, piece by piece it's hands materialized pulling each layer off and off until it grew smaller and smaller.

Until it finally disappeared, leaving a single figure grinning manniacally in the smoke. A squirming eyeball on the tip of his broken katana.

"Eatin me ? Wasn't happenin' fuck-face."

Cairo slowly ramped up the heat in his hands, his katana slowly glowing orange, but before the Dreameater could be burned to a crisp Yuna jutt in.

"Soldier, bring me the Dreameater!"

WIthin the blink of an eye, Naren bare foot graced Cairo's blade, the white buds falling out of his ears. His opposite foot already spinning at Cairo's head, the flat top of it digging into the one-eyed shinobi's face as Naren disappeared once more.

The next moment, Naren was standing atop a glass shard by Yuna, the Dreameater squirming trying to latch into his skin once more.

"Eeep! Get this shit off me!"

Yuna pierced the beast with a long black needle, right through it's pupil. Her hands shaking as she whipped the blade, sending the parasite skidding through the remains of Lastlight.

In the next moment, Naren watched her pitch-black eyes glow, a slight whisper under her breath as he gaze focused on the pitch black needle-like blade shaking violently in her hands.

"Go on Midas...Take what not belongs to you..."