*ding*

[You are now in a distorted subspace, your current time is estimated to be 3 years ago. Clear the distortion to come back to the present.]

[Conceptual distortion in time -

Primary distortion : Energy

Time : 3 Years Ago

Location : Silverpeak Manor

Objective : Gather the broken pieces of color ]

Rearranging itself, the surrounding space became a richly decorated room, the kind of which you would usually find in mansions. It looked like a study, though something was obviously wrong with it. There was only black and white. Alicia, at the center of this discolored world looked down, only to see her small hands painted in the same tone as everything else.

It took her a few moments to recover from the strange sensory experience she just went through. She shook her head and gathered her thoughts.

Leaving aside the fact that just looking around might be enough to give me a headache, what does a ‘broken piece of color’ even look like ?

Refusing to stay too long in this creepy place, she started rummaging through the room, going through the bookshelves and the desk, before finally finding something in one of the drawers.

In her hands was a bright purple stone about the size of a coin. The color was so vivid that it was pretty hard not to notice it. It was translucent, not unlike a gem, and seemed to emit it's own light. Inside of it, smoke seemed to be moving, creating mysterious shapes and patterns that one simply couldn't tear their eyes off of. There was something captivating about the fluidity, the transition from a shape to another, the unseen rules behind it all...

It took Alicia a few seconds to get back to reality and store the gem away.

If it shines that much, it’s impossible to miss. That’s good news, I don’t really want to spend hours looking for small hidden items. There was no system prompt, so I'm not sure what this stone is exactly, but it must be more or less what I'm looking for.

She searched through the rest of the furniture but found nothing else.

I suppose I need to search another room, so two identical doors on either side of the room … Let’s just go this way.

She continued along a small hallway and after another similar door, entered another room. It was a luxurious bedroom this time, with another exact same door on the opposite side, though something else caught Alicia’s attention.

I guess the pieces of color don’t have to be hidden. So, this one’s white.

Learning from her previous experience, she didn't look at the stone for too long before pocketing it and storing it away with its purple brethren.

A quick cursory glance through the drawers and dresser revealed nothing more than the owner's curious taste in clothes.

I hope this doesn't have anything to do with vampiric culture, the gothic dress I'm wearing is one thing, but these... I can't even see the colors and it still hurts my eyes! Although that might be part of the problem.

Looking away, she left the room for another hallway and another door.

Opening it, she found a vast library. Dusty books filling hundreds of bookshelves, empty wooden tables and cushionned chairs... But despite its scale there wasn't a soul around.

This silence is getting on my nerves, the absence of colors makes it look like an old horror movie. On the bright side, these books might be interesting... Especially if they come from the past, for some reason old magic is almost always better than new one.

On edge, Alicia started summarily looking through the place. Attempting, to no avail, to read the title of a book's cover. The letters were garbled, mashed up and blurry, making sense of it was impossible.

That would have been too easy, wouldn't it. Either the distortion did something to the books, it has something to do with time travel, or they didn't implement them. Or is it just this one ?

She went to look at another book only to freeze when she heard a familiar sound.

*ding*

She barely but successfully kept herself from squeaking at the unexpected notification and glanced at it shakily.

[Vampires aren't the only beings that visit disruptions in time, distorted Nightmares are also known to roam these peculiar moments.]

Th-that's definitely good to know, just the name sounds bad. I really feel like you should have told me earlier though.

[It is recommanded to avoid fighting them at your current level.]

Why did you have to say it... You want me to fight, don't you ? You can't just tell a player that they should avoid something and expect them to do so... You expressedly said current level which means I'm simply underleveled, but I'll show you that levels mean nothing to the fairy of waaA-

*Creaaaak*

A loud creaking sound from the door on the other side of the room immediately shattered what little resolve she was gathering. She carefully peaked from the corner of a bookshelf, teary-eyed.

Entering the library was a vaguely humanoid dark shape wrapped in layers of shadows. Its movement wasn't fluid, it flickered like static and seemed to move more by force of habit than any conscious thought.

L-let's avoid it for now... I'm pretty sure this isn't the last one of its kind I'll meet, and whether or not my claws can even reach it remains to be seen.

Slowly maneuvering around the bookshelf so as to stay out of sight, she waited for the way out to be clear.

Minutes passed and this subtle standoff eventually ended as the shadow slowly crept through the door towards the bedroom.

As the nightmare left her sight, Alicia felt her tension leave her and finally breathed out. She gathered her spirits and headed towards one of the few suitable stone hiding spots she had noticed in the room.

As luck would have it, she found a third colorful gem; a red one. As her hand touched it, she felt warmth from the stone, not just in her hand, but her entire body. Despite the comfortable feeling, she successfully convinced herself to store the gem away.

Could it be that the nightmare is cold and looking for a way to warm itself up ?

Shaking her head at the unlikeliness of such a motivation, she got ready to pursue her exploration.

**

*

Half-an-hour of semi-silent mansion scouring later, Alicia was back in the study she initially appeared in. On the desk in front of her were the five stones she had found. The mysterious amethyst, the almost blinding white jade, the warm ruby, and then the newly obtained vibrating aquamarine, and the heavy and strangely sharp grey moonstone.

She had met the nightmare multiple time during her investigation, and was even seen by it, but it didn't seem to be hostile so she eventually ignored it as she pursued her search.

Each stone exhibits strange properties... The ruby probably represents fire, the aquamarine could be water but there's no stone for wind and grey for earth seems like pushing it...

Am I looking at it the wrong way? Energy probably refers to something else... I feel like I've seen those colors before... the six damage types? They do feel more 'energy'-like.

The amethyst could be arcane, the white jade would be pure, the ruby thermal. What's left is kinetic, chaotic and metalic... The moonstone being metalic makes sense seeing as its about gravity and the like, and the aquamarine should be kinetic, it is vibrating after all. All that's left is chaotic which should be black, where would I hide a shining black stone?

Everything's in greyscale so it's among the harder ones to see, I could have missed it if it was somewhere dark, but everything is relatively well lit. Where could it be...

Alicia's musings were interrupted by the creaking sound of the door opening. Reacting quickly, she immediately put away the stones and dashed behind the desk to hide.

Slowly making its way inside was the nightmare she had seen earlier. There was no name or level above it, it was a flickering, vaguely humanoid mass of shadows and darkness.

Pfeww... Still the same little guy.

Her expression brightned as she noticed a solid shape inside of it, something small, round and vaguely stoney.

The shadow slowly flickered around as if trying to look for something. Eventually it looked down, disappointed and went to leave.

"Please wait !", said Alicia hurriedly as she slowly stepped out of her hiding spot.

The nightmare froze in place before slowly turning around, apparently surprised.

Noticing its seeming ability to understand her, Alicia relaxed a bit and her tone became more confident.

"Are you looking for this ?", she said softly, taking out the white jade.

A flicker later, the shadow was in front of Alicia, looking at her pleadingly. She answered with a slight smile.

"I'll take that as a yes. Here."

**

*

"Say Fanny, what's it like beyond the mountains ?"

Sitting in the grass in front of the mansion were two girls.

The eldest stayed quiet for a second before her eyes left the book she was reading to look at the younger girl by her side.

"Hmm... Noisy ?"

"I know right ?! It must be ! I heard there's people everywhere ! Imagine, with so many people, so much ice cream... Probably tons of books too ! We should go !"

"One day, Helena, one day.", she said smiling softly.

**

*

Was that... memories ? Visions of the past ? Future ?

Before her, the nightmare had changed, her form more stable and girly, smiling gratefully.

Alicia was surprised at first, but smiled back and, after a bit, brought out the four stones she had left.

**

*

"Say Fanny, why is there so few people on this side of the mountains ?"

Sitting in front of the fireplace in winter, two girls.

"The Silverpeak Forest where we live is under the control of the Council of the Ancients, only members of the ancient races live in this territory, and there's much fewer of us than there is other races."

...

"Say Fanny, why must you go ?"

Behind the mansion on a cloudy night, two girls.

"... There's no vampires left on council territory, and nightmares with affinity towards time can be counted on one hand. If I don't do it, who else will ? If taking a few risks is all it takes to make sure there's still a world for us to live in, you bet I will !"

...

"Say Hele... Helena... please ...even if I disappear... please stay strong."

In Fanny's room, a day before the tear in time goes out of control, two girls.

"Fanny... you're not going, are you ? You can't be going back, right ?"

...

"Say Fanny... are you proud ?"

In front of the most beautiful flowers of the garden, decorating a small shrine, one girl.

"It's been three years and the mansion is still there, thanks to you. I can still see it, that damned time tear. You've been fighting hard all this time, I know. Even death isn't enough to stop you apparently."

"I couldn't just stand still, obviously, so I trained really hard, you know ? I thought I might be able to help. I'm strong... just like you asked. I've accomplished so much I was even invited to join the council... And yet I still can't put an end to your fight, time is beyond me. Well, at least we're really hard to kill for good so I guess I'll just have to keep looking for a way to bring you back."

**

*

As her senses came back, she could see the darkness before her receding. Long brown hair, pointy ears, crystal clear grey eyes, a cute spring dress, those were the features the shadow now sported. And as colors returned to her, so did they to the world. The colorless walls turning lilac, the paintings regaining meaning, the silence broken by the sounds of nature beginning anew...

But while the world regained its substance, the girl did not; her physicality waning with the change of palette, like flowers with the passing of seasons. And yet, as her form diminished, becoming one with the world again, she smiled. Her eyes glistening with gratitude, she spent that last moment mouthing a single word.

It echoed softly in the quiet study of the mansion. The birds silent, out of consideration, perhaps.

"Thanks."

...

Alicia stood there in silence for a few minutes, observing the place the woman just disappeared from, a small tear in the fabric of time now standing in its place.

"You're welcome, Fanny."

After a while, she reached towards it, leaving the mansion behind.