The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 84

Chapter 84: Lisa’s nightmare

Five times.

That’s how many times Lisa felt herself die in this nightmare. It was a different setting each time and with different people, but she was always killed by one person,

Line.

And every time, one person she treasured called her weak, as she struggled with the pain of being stabbed.

In the sixth nightmare? She gave up. No crying, no calling for help, no pleading.

She just sat there with hollow eyes that matched Line’s, waiting for his dagger to snuff the life out of her only to be revived again and again, in an endless cycle.

But this time, something happened that hadn’t occurred in any of her previous deaths.

Lightning flashed through the dark forest she stood in. It’s flash was barely noticable at first but it started increasing both in size and intensity.

It continued until Lisa finally noticed and raised her head to the sky. Even the approaching Line and the ‘Reid’ leaning against one of the trees looked up.

In the dark sky was what looked like a glowing dot of white light moving through the flashing lighting.

They observed as it grew bigger, no, it was getting closer and soon its form was clear to the three observers.

A blue wyvern wrapped in sparks of lightning, descended from the skies.

Lisa didn’t dare to hope, thinking this was just another phase of her nightmare. Until she felt a subtle pull within and focusing on it made it clearer.

Her wyvern was trying to snap her out of the despair she was falling into through their connection. Her eyes gained light again and she smiled in relief. Help had finally arrived, wrapped in lightning.

Line had to act fast and jumped back because a bolt of lightning slammed into the position he previously was in. The ground where he previously stood was now scorched, smoke rising from the spot. The strike sent shockwaves through the forest.

The Wyvern let out a growl at line and ‘Reid’ as it landed by Lisa’s side. It had felt Lisa breaking throughout this entire nightmare but unlike the real Reid who couldn’t summon Nyx or any of his forged-beasts,

Lis’s was somehow brought into her nightmare and was separated from her. It had been struggling to find its tamer across different nightmares but it was always a moment too late, until now.

It was currently completely pissed due to the emotions it felt from its tamer, and it planned on releasing all that anger on the two he assumed were the culprits.

Lisa stood straight by her forged-beast, her hope rekindled.

Line stood there, quietly watching with his hollow eyes as just the presence of a single wyvern ruined all the effort he just went through to break Lisa. He slowly opened his mouth as he spoke,

“How is your beast here?” he said, though there was no change in his expression.

“It doesn’t matter. Even with your forged-beast by your side,” he took a small pause “You’re still weak”.

Lisa slowly breathed out, calming herself. Recalling the past nightmares made her tremble but her wyvern’s presence helped calm her down as her face took a determined expression.

Without giving her a chance to think, Line dashed forward with ‘Reid’ by his side. The dagger that was lodged in his head was now in his hand as he quickly approached.

Lisa froze for a second, spotting the dagger that had caused her death the previous five times but she quickly recovered and with an order, she was wrapped in a lightning by her wyvern and moved her out the attack’s path.

It then launched itself towards Line and Reid who hadn’t recovered from their sudden movement. It left behind a trail of lightning as it approached them. Getting close enough, it swiped its lightning covered tail at them.

The tail struck the fake Reid, sending millions of volts through him, completely frying him. His charred corpse fell with a thud as smoke rose from him before crumbling to ashes.

Lisa felt conflicted as she watched he forged beast kill someone wearing Reid’s face but she quickly reminded herself that none of this was real and to get out of this nightmare, she had to do what she must, even if it meant killing Reid’s look alike.

Line on the other hand twisted his body, his movements impossibly fluid as he narrowly avoided the tail. While executing that movement, he stabbed the dagger on the wyvern’s tail, which would have been a stupid decision but instead of getting shocked or fried by the lightning,

The dagger was lodged in the wyvern’s tail causing it to roar in pain. With another swipe, its tail slammed into Line’s ribs, sending him crashing into one of the trees.

But he somehow, the dagger disappeared from the wyvern’s tail and reappeared in Line’s hand. He stood up again, a terrifying grin was on his face as he rushed at the wyvern again.

Lisa, not wanting to sit back and do nothing, also rushed forward while still wrapped in lightning as a protection means but it also boosted her speed to impossible levels. She felt the power course through her veins as she moved.

In the perspective of any other tamer below gold rank, she would seem to have suddenly vanish and reappeared behind Line.

Line spun just in time, raising his hand to block Lisa’s lightning coated hand that was aiming for him. The moment he hand connected with the weapon, a jolt of electricity shot through him which surprised even Lisa.

She had thought lightning didn’t work on him, but instead of wasting time on those thoughts, she decided to capitalize on the advantage, since Line seemed stunned now.

She ducked low, sweeping his legs from under him.

Line fell, but before he touched the ground, his body twisted in an unnatural angle as he landed on his feet again.

But before he could recover, a lightning storm struck him, enveloping the forest in a bright flash of light.

The lightning storm didn’t stop until Lisa was sure that Line was nothing but a black spot on the forest floor.

The lightning finally ceased, leaving behind a crackling silent and a huge crater where it struck.

A cloud of smoke rose from the crater and for a moment, nothing seemed to come out of it, Lisa silently observed.

Then suddenly, from within the blackened crater, a faint sound—laughter.

A low, raspy chuckle echoed through the forest, growing louder, until a hand shot out from the smoke.

Lisa took a step back, disbelief and frustration surging through her. How?!

Line emerged, his body charred, his clothes burnt beyond recognition. His dagger was still in his grip, but his face…

His hollow eyes locked onto Lisa. A grin, wide and unnatural, stretched across his lips. His burnt skin cracked as he moved, yet he didn’t seem to feel any pain. Instead, he looked amused.

“You thought that would be enough?” he asked, his voice ragged but mocking. “How disappointing.”

Lisa clenched her fists, her heart hammering against her ribs. No matter how much power she unleashed, no matter how much pain she inflicted, he wouldn’t die.

Her wyvern growled beside her. It had poured its rage into that attack—millions of volts, an unrelenting storm—and yet, Line stood there, laughing.

His laughter abruptly cutoff as he faced Lisa. His grin was gone and his charred face now held an annoyed look.

“I guess you got lucky this time” he said, and slowly Lisa observed the forest around him fading “we’ll meet again, Lisa.”

With those words, Line disappeared alongside the forest and everything else, leaving Lisa and her wyvern in the dark void.

An unknown amount of time passed when she suddenly heard a call.

“—a” the voice sounded faint as if the speaker stood at a distance from her but it started getting cleared.

“Lisa” she recognized the voice, it belonged to Reid and the louder thee voice got, the more he felt a pull towards it.

_______

“Fine, you win.”

Were Owen’s words but that didn’t cause Reid to drop his guard, as he kept his focus on Owen who found a place to sit.

“Relax kid” seeing how high on alert he was, made Owen chuckle “we’re being watched by the commander, there’s no way I’d use a dirty trick to win against you.”

Reid relaxed a bit but not completely. He turned to his still sleeping friends before turning back to Owen.

“Why are they still asleep?” He asked.

Owen was back to his tired and sleepy self so he just glanced at them before letting out a yawn.

“They’ve been trapped in my domain for too long so it’ll take a while before they wake up” he explained as he switched to laying position.

“You really are a monster, kid” Reid heard Owen muttered “maybe even more than they say I am.”

Reid didn’t mind his words, he walked towards his team and tried to shake them awake.

“Lisa” he crouched by Lisa first and gently called out.

He had to call out to her multiple times before her eyes slowly opened.

“Reid?”

She questioned as his face seemed a bit blurry.

“Yeah, you’re okay n—” before he could finish, Lisa tightly wrapped her hands around him, enveloping him in a hug.

Reid, although surprised at first, returned the hug and slowly patted her green hair.

“It’s okay, you’re okay now” he quietly whispered, high enough for only her to hear.