Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Fantasy Heart Awakening
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I had a beautiful dream.
I dreamed I was back in my previous life, but everything felt different.
Two new teachers have arrived at my school. They looked so much like them, like my new parents in this life.
Like the parents I had always longed for, parents who were... almost like heroes, haha.
Mirai and Louis were there.
They saved me from my abusive parents. I could finally tell them everything I had endured.
And they even adopted me.
It was such a strange, vivid dream, one I cannot stop replaying in my mind.
And yet, somehow, I know it wasn’t just a dream.
When my father unsealed the mark on my forehead, something shifted inside me.
I felt as though I had become something else entirely, while at the same time my consciousness drifted far away.
I was split into two.
One part reliving my past, the other... a beast.
As a beast, I did what beasts do, I trampled the earth, roared, and snapped at anything that came near.
And in my past... what did I do?
Almost nothing.
I couldn’t do anything, just like before.
Until they arrived and changed everything.
As I open my eyes and these memories flood back, I realize once more that it truly wasn’t a dream.
I was floating in a completely white space, looking around in confusion.
"W-where am I?"
The entire void felt strangely distorted yet utterly empty, devoid of anything at all.
Why was it like this? Where exactly was I?
I examined the composition of the white expanse...
It felt like some kind of domain. Or perhaps a realm?
Wait—a Fantasy Field? Or even a full Realm?
"Elizabeth!"
"My daughter!"
"Eh?"
I turned at the sound of my parents’ voices.
There they were, flying toward me through the white void, arms open.
I felt as though I hadn’t seen them in ages, yet at the same time I had just seen them moments ago.
In that dream, in that world, reliving my past.
A past I could never change now, but one they had helped me remember in a gentler light.
A beautiful "what if."
"Mom! Dad!"
I threw myself into their embrace. The moment they caught me, I felt safe again, truly protected.
"W-What happened? Where am I?" I asked.
"It’s complicated..." my father sighed heavily. "I’m sorry, Elizabeth... this is all my fault."
"Huh? Why?" I asked.
"I was too cautious. I held back your growth for so long that your power built up dangerously, causing this whole disaster..." He looked down, voice thick with guilt. "I... I still have so much to learn. I’m not a good father. I make too many mistakes. I’m sorry you ended up with someone like me..."
"Dad..." I could hear the raw sorrow and regret in every word.
After everything he had suffered in his own life, I never expected him to be perfect. I’m his first daughter, after all. First times always come with mistakes; it’s part of learning.
And even with that, he is so much better than the hollow thing I once called a father, a figure I can barely remember now except as someone who existed only to criticize me and my mother.
"Louis, how can you say that?" my mother sighed gently. "Don’t listen to him, sweetie. He’s just being overly sensitive. He always blames himself for everything... he’s done it for years. Not everything is his fault. Not everything happened because he wasn’t ready."
"But I..." my father murmured.
"You’re a good dad!" I smiled, hugging him tighter. "You were just worried about me... and I appreciate it, Daddy. Thank you."
"...Elizabeth," he whispered, tears slipping down his cheeks. "Would you forgive this foolish old man?"
"There’s nothing to forgive...!" I beamed. "I love you, Dad...!"
"A-Ahh... Elizabeth!" He sobbed openly now, holding me close. "I love you too! More than anything...! I’m sorry... I’m so sorry...!"
My mother chuckled softly, wrapping her arms around both of us before gently guiding us out of the void. "I’m glad you two have made up, even though you never really fought, haha. Let’s get out of here, shall we?"
"B-But what is this place? What happened?" I asked.
"It’s a long story," my father said. "But when I released your seal, your Fantasium had grown so immense that it warped reality, creating this Fantasy Field... or rather, a full Realm. You... transformed into a Grievance."
"Eh?!" I gasped. "Really?!"
"Not anymore. You’ve returned to normal," my father assured me. "But you’ve likely awakened your Fantasy Heart. We’ll have to help you train it properly so nothing like this happens again."
"Oh..."
As I sighed, I remembered Mongrel. I quickly checked my Soul Space, he was thrashing around but safe, circling the frozen blue lily that floated aimlessly.
"Ugh, what the hell is wrong with you? Why did you turn into a monster out of nowhere, stupid?!"
"Aw, were you worried about your master?"
"Shut up! I wasn’t worried! What the hell is wrong with you?! One disaster after another! Can’t we get a damn break?!"
"Hmm, good point."
As I spoke with him, my father continued.
"This white space was what remained after we fulfilled that Fantasy," he explained. "Or rather, the requirements were different, we had to complete a Fantasy that never truly happened."
"Oh..." I murmured. "W-Wait... was it weird? I... I don’t remember clearly..."
My parents smiled warmly and shook their heads.
"Don’t worry about it, sweetie," my mother said, kissing my forehead.
"You just need to know that you have us now, alright?" my father added. "And we will never leave your side... I promise."
"Eh? Thanks..." I chuckled, basking in their warmth as they hugged me again. "Umm... so what do I do now?"
"You should absorb this space," my father said. "It will become the foundation of your Fantasy Heart Domain, your own Inner Realm within your Fantasy Heart. This place overflows with refined Fantasium. You can use it, right?"
"Can I?" I tilted my head.
"Try it. If it doesn’t work, we’ll absorb it ourselves. Don’t worry," my mother encouraged.
"Um, okay! Here goes nothing!"
I extended my hands, closed my eyes, and focused on "Harmony."
FLAAASH!
The entire white void compressed toward my palm, then flowed into my body.
It surged through me, reaching my chest and settling inside my heart, blending with my Soul and Soul Space.
Are Soul Spaces and Fantasy Domains the same, or are they connected?
Hmm, I’ll figure that out later.
When it finished, we stood just outside the castle, which, astonishingly, remained intact.
"Your majesty, it’s good to see you and the princess safe!" Gigantia greeted us with visible relief.
"Indeed, did everything go well?" Vlad asked, concern etched on his face.
"It did. Be at ease, everyone," Louis nodded. "Any casualties? Injuries?"
"Some injuries, but no deaths," said a half-ice-elf, half-rabbit beastkin woman in white scale armor, gripping a powerful ice blade. I believe she’s Anastasia, a character I never created myself. "The castle reconstructed itself through the special formation you placed. The VPI is secure, and there were no containment breaches."
"That’s a relief," my mother sighed. "It looks like things ended well... barely."
"Yeah," my father said, still carrying me in his arms. "Elizabeth, once again, I’m—"
"Daddy, that’s enough! Stop apologizing!" I pouted. "This was just an accident... don’t worry."
"...Is that so?" He gave a bittersweet smile and nodded. "Thank you..."
"Ahem! Well, now that we’re here, shall we have lunch? Then we can discuss everything," my mother suggested.
"Sounds good! I’m starving!" I cheered, leaping from my father’s arms—only to suddenly rocket upward into the sky.
"Eh?"
Wait a second.
"Huh?!"
I found myself floating high above the clouds, nearly touching the stratosphere.
"A-Ah..."
The blue sky darkened, and stars began to appear.
"W-What happened?!"
I looked around, realizing that the instant I pushed off my father’s arms, I had shot upward in a heartbeat.
"It’s so big! So much bigger than the game! A-And...! Wait, where should I go?! Where’s home?!"
Confused, I tried to descend.
BOOOMMM!!!
I crashed into a wasteland, then my body hurled through a small mountain, obliterating it.
"Ouch, ouch..."
I rubbed my head, sitting in the center of a massive burning crater, as though I had fallen like a meteor.
"W-What... what is this?"
I scanned the surroundings, trying to place myself.
"I better stay put. My parents will find me, but... this is shocking."
I wandered out of the crater and realized I was in the glass desert I had seen before.
"Ah, the glass desert!"
White sand shimmered beautifully under the blazing sun. In the distance stood a towering glass pyramid.
"Ugh, what the hell is going on now?! Wait—where are you?!"
Mongrel appeared beside me, staring in disbelief.
"I-I think I don’t know how to control my strength. I shot almost into the stratosphere, then when I tried to come down, I crashed here like a meteor—boom!"
"..."
His jaw dropped as I explained.
"Elizabeth!"
"Oh my god, are you okay?!"
My parents caught up in mere seconds.
"Daddy! Mommy! S-Sorry, I think I can’t control my power..."
"I see. You’ll have to adjust slowly," my father nodded. "We can’t reseal your power, but we can do this."
He handed me two beautiful bracelets forged from his scales. The moment I put them on; a tremendous weight settled over my entire body.
"What?!"
"Training weights," my father explained. "They’ll make your body much heavier, so you won’t fly off so easily—at least for now."
"Can you test them?" my mother asked.
"Hm, okay!"
I looked skyward and flapped my wings once.
FLASH!
I rose about fifteen meters, nothing uncontrollable, and drifted gently back down.
"Ah, much better!" I said.
"Yeah, keep those on at all times for now, alright?" my father said, lifting me again. "Let’s head back."
"Wait! I wanted to explore the glass pyramid!" I protested.
"Hm? That?" my mother asked. "Isn’t that a Fantasy Dungeon?"
"It formed after the Fantasy Fields here dried up and their remaining power crystallized into that structure," my father explained.
"Fantasy Dungeons?" I asked.
"They are the remnants of vanished Fantasy Fields," he continued. "There are a few dozen scattered worldwide, each one a vast labyrinth filled with monsters and treasures. Hunters often explore them."
In the game they were just regular dungeons, but this world has turned the concept into something far grander.
"I wanna explore!" I said excitedly. "I’ll learn to control my power by fighting monsters! And... find treasure!"
"Well, it doesn’t sound like a bad activity, she’s strong enough," my mother agreed. "But not today, sweetie."
"Yeah, let’s eat first," my father said. "We’ll think about it in a year or two."
"Aw..." I sighed, disappointed, but nodded.
When we returned to the castle, a grand banquet awaited. I ate until my heart was content, pushing all the bad memories aside.
My parents, however, hadn’t forgotten. This was serious and needed to be addressed.
After the meal, we moved to the castle’s backyard. My father tapped the ground, raising a vast Realm that isolated us from the outside world.
"Alright, let’s address a few things," he said. "We unsealed your power, your Fantasium erupted, created a Fantasy Field, and you transformed into a Grievance... You really don’t remember any of that?"
"No..." I shook my head, sitting on the grass. "W-Was it bad?"
"Ah... well, it was actually kind of cute," my mother smiled.
"It was dangerous..." my father sighed. "But I’m glad you’re back to normal. Now we’ll help you properly awaken your Fantasy Heart. Stay right there."
"O-Oh! Okay!"
I stayed put while my father sat in front of me and my mother behind.
They placed their hands on my chest and back, gently guiding the Fantasium inside me.
I closed my eyes and felt the immense energy expand.
My senses finally identified it.
And what I saw was...
A sea!
"Woah!"
An endless sea of watercolor stretched as far as I could see, flowing, turbulent, wild.
Through its waves I glimpsed countless images: dragons roaring, demons laughing, the birth of a universe, its destruction.
Creation and destruction. Harmony and Chaos. Order and Disruption.
"It seems you’ve safely accessed your Fantasy Sea," my father said.
"Fantasy Sea?" I asked.
"We’ve unlocked it, yes," my mother confirmed.
"What is it?" I wondered.
"A Fantasy Sea is an inner ocean within your Heart where your Fantasium is stored," my father explained. "Yours is... immensely vast, perhaps larger than ours combined."
"Eh?!" I gasped.
"It is also where your Fantasy Aspects will blossom," my mother added. "As you advance as a Spiralwalker, this Sea will shake, giving birth to islands, then continents, until it becomes a vast True Fantasy Realm... or even a full Fantasy World."
"Ooohhh!" I felt excitement bubbling up.
"You already meet almost all the qualifications, only a few things are holding you back, but that’s for the best," my father said. "Now, with this... it should be easy. Follow the flow, Elizabeth. It will guide you to your Fantasy Heart."
"The flow?" I looked around. My parents’ voices echoed from the colorful cloud sky above. "Okay!"
I nodded and flew across the Fantasy Sea until I found the current.
I followed it as it merged with others, leading me deeper.
Until finally—
BA-DUM!
BA-DUM!
BA-DUM!
I heard powerful heartbeats. I looked up and saw a colossal mass of multicolored gases, watercolor, and flames gathering, crystallizing into a gigantic heart.
It was cracked, black-and-white energy leaking from the fissures.
"I found it! I think... but it’s cracked," I said. "But I can repair it!"
"Wait, Elizabeth, don’t be reckless...!" my father called, but I acted faster.
I pointed my hand forward and activated Harmony on the damaged heart.
The cracks sealed instantly, as though they had never existed. My Fantasy Heart regained perfect Harmony.
"It worked?!" my father exclaimed in shock.
"It did!" my mother cheered.
As they celebrated, I flew toward the rainbow-hued, heart-shaped crystal and touched it with my small hand.
"Fantasy Heart... Awaken."
The words slipped out instinctively.
The heart drew me inside.
In that instant, I opened my eyes again, feeling the rainbow energy flowing through my body more powerfully than ever.
And that wasn’t all.
Something else appeared.
A spiral.
"W-Wha...?!"
Above me loomed an endless white-and-black spiral, hundreds of meters wide, spinning in ways that made my head reel.
It emerged fully from the depths of my Fantasy Heart, awakening.
"Elizabeth?" my father asked. "Ah! She’s awakening her Spiral?!"
"Already?!" my mother gasped.
They didn’t interfere this time, letting me follow the spiral’s pull into a different dimension.
There, in the birthplace of Fantasy, where endless things appear and vanish forever, I saw it.
A vast creature of light and darkness, an endless serpent devouring its own tail, symbolizing the eternal cycle of renewal, life and death, chaos and order.
For a moment, the serpent paused and looked at me with gold-red eyes.
My mouth moved on its own.
What does Harmony and Chaos, endlessly intertwined, create?
That’s right...
"The Spiral of Eternity."
Eternity, the thing that exists within the endless cycle, that never ends, that encompasses all: from the birth of universes to their death and rebirth.
My parents stared in astonishment as something strange began to happen to my Fantasium Aura.
Slowly, it took form, a metallic being over three meters tall.
It resembled a Dragonoid Knight clad in armor of white and black scales, wielding twin black-and-white swords.
Its helmet was shaped like a ferocious serpent.
And it was faceless—nothing behind the visor except two glowing red eyes of pure light.
"W-What is this creepy thing?!" I cried.
"T-That’s... your Incarnation, sweetie," my mother whispered in disbelief. "She really... she really awakened one."
"She did," my father confirmed, stunned. "Wow... I’m speechless."
"Incarnation?" I asked. "Ah, that’s what Dad used against the Nightmare King..."
"Exactly," my father said. "Incarnations are what make Spirals unique. Each Spiral has four, unlocked as you advance your Spiralwalker Tier. Right now you’re at Tier 9—the lowest—but that could change soon. Every Spiral has its own advancement requirements. I don’t know yours yet, but let’s hope they’re not too extreme."
"Even so, there’s no rush to progress your Spiral Tier," my mother added. "You have plenty of safer ways to grow stronger. But this is a relief! With this Incarnation, your Fantasium should finally stabilize."
"Uh-huh," I nodded, still staring dumbly at the floating figure.
"So what’s its name?" my father asked.
"Paragon."
As the name left my lips, the tall, almost noble figure bowed its head in reverence.
It completely understood me.
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