Five Arabian Nights

But not all emotions were innocent or mature

For some were not impure and childish

And dominated a great portion

Of the Human Mind.

Because wherever intelligent thoughts were

Roamed the thoughts full of flaws and holes.

Like an imperfect factory that had room for improvement

The Human Mind always had room for change.

And although change is considered to be

One of the strangest and most feared thoughts of all

It was absolutely necessary to confront

Any habits and desires that harmed those around oneself.

To hate with a hatred greater than hatred itself

Or to love with a love greater than love itself.

No one but oneself can decide on picking a side…

Chapter 6

The Third Day

Jaune stood in front of a rusty door.

After spending a peaceful second night in a doubtful afterlife, the blond found a door sitting in the midst of a blue flowerbed. It had gained plenty of rust on its entire structure, so the knight had to smash the knob to open the door. Since he was not a strong knight, it took him several tries to pry the thing open.

He opened the door, finding a long hallway that led to another door.

Strange.

It seemed that these dreams really did have some sort of chronological order to them. Jaune had first encountered Bell, a mindlessly happy child, before meeting Lilium, a child who overcame an overwhelming sadness with his help.

If he was meeting these children, perhaps there would be someone else waiting for him within the dark hallway?

He had the choice of either staying in this paradise or exploring the depths of an unknown world. Deciding to overcome his own problems, Jaune had affirmed himself to go through any trials and tribulations that could get in his way.

After all, Bell seemed extremely curious as to what the dark hallway contained. Lilium frowned and inched behind Jaune, covering her white flower in case something popped out of the dark area and tried to hurt it. The blond did not know why the flower had begun to glow, but it did. And it did so in a fashion similar to Bell's glowing. It had a tinge of yellow compared to Bell's white-bluish light.

Without a warning, Bell suddenly left Jaune's side and ran into the hallway.

"…! Hey, wait!"

Taken aback by how the glowing girl jumped into the hallway first, Jaune mustered up his pride as a manly man(?) and walked into the hallway as well. Okay, he may not be manly, but he aspired to be manly. That alone was enough of a reason to march into a dark hallway he never saw before.

Or maybe it wasn't.

Regardless of his thoughts, he followed Bell. He heard the peaceful and innocent bells chiming throughout the cramped hallway full of rusted walls. A single lightbulb stuck to the dirty ceiling.

And a strange smell of oil caused Jaune to cringe in disgust. It felt as if he just jumped into an uncleaned factory.

Lilium stuck closer to Jaune as he followed Bell, who eventually halted in front of the end of the hallway. Another door stood in front of the three.

Jaune turned around and- much to his expectations- found the door he came from to be missing. Realizing that the three could not turn back, Lilium stuck even closer to the blond knight.

The idea of fearful children around him made Jaune somewhat wary of his surroundings. As strange and untouchable they seemed, he did not want to see anything bad happening to them.

Jaune took several steps forward and reached for the door knob. Much to his surprise, the knob had not rusted, allowing him to open the door smoothly. Taking a deep breath, the blond opened the door.

He was right. The new location he found himself really was a factory.

He did not expect, however, what kind of factory it would have been.

Blood trickled into thousands of transparent pipes placed within a gigantic room, the bodies of people lying here and there. Those who had their blood drained were separated of their heads, each of which were equipped with some sort of metallic plating before being attached to empty suits of armor. People were being used to fill in whatever was being built.

The factory itself functioned in a chaotic order. Nothing felt right; everything felt out of place. Jaune could not understand why such a room existed. He felt his blood cool… before boiling at an immense degree as he reached for his sword. He had not used the weapon ever since he came into the afterlife, but indeed, he did have it. Though he could not have used such a pathetic weapon against supernatural entities such as the ones he encountered in the mansion, perhaps it could have some use in a technological area like a factory.

As he delved deeper into the factory, he discovered that the suits of armor equipped with helmets were sent onto a conveyor belt. In fact, there were so many conveyer belts in the factory. Too many conveyer belts, too many people. But before his blood boiled and made him act irrationally, the blond knight saw something that made him pale.

Cardin Winchester, a student who had toyed around with his life, was among the bodies that were about to be torn into two.

He watched as the auburn-haired boy joined the legion of lifeless machines as he was sent down another conveyor belt. And then the blond realized something.

All of these people.

All of these people were familiar.

He saw Cardin's lackeys joining the metallic legion, then some people who caused pain to his father. And his sisters. And his mother. Everyone who had made his entire family filled with nothing but despair and rage. And soon, Cardin popped up again, and everything seemed to loop by the time Jaune completely realized what this factory actually was.

Why, he thought in horror. But it was only natural. A coward had so much to hide, one of them being the entirety of his emotions. Within said emotions lay a lack of maturity that described every single bit of his impressions on others' flaws. He had completely forgotten his ability to become enraged…

So why was this place so violent? Gruesome?

Did he really want all of these people to die?

Was this what he really wanted to happen to them?

And it disgusted him how joyful he initially felt when he saw Cardin to be among these people. Naturally, people had disgusting traits of their own. Their redeeming feature was the ability to feel guilt for such hatred.

Yet, he was unable to feel guilt. Instead, he felt a rage growing within him.

"How…"

Bell's bright demeanor had vanished, her eyes widening at the sight of death. She then let out a sad chime, covering her eyes with her feathery arms as she hid behind Jaune. Lilium teared up at the sight of death all around them, and she shivered when Bell threw her arms around her neck and buried her glowing face into her shoulder. The two children of joy and sorrow trembled before the might of raw anger. They wanted to do something, but all they could do was wait for something to happen.

Then, something approached them.

A metallic figure that did not look similar to the people being encompassed with armor appeared. It walked towards Jaune from afar, its complex armor structure intimidating the blond. The armor itself already looked deadly enough, but what caught Jaune off guard was the sheer lack of humanity within its mask. The short orange ponytail on the back of its head made the figure look as if it were on fire, its pitch-red visor giving it an even less human look.

It continued walking towards the Arc. As it continued walking, it generated two blades of cyan plasma.

Jaune then realized the newcomer was hostile.

"Go back," Jaune told Bell and Lilium, both of them trembling at the sight of a dangerous figure. "Now!"

The essences of joy and sorrow softly ran towards the hallway they had initially come from and closed the door. Jaune turned to ensure they had shut the door before facing his foe again.

Where there was joy, there was anger.

How did the words ring so true?

Gritting his teeth, Jaune Arc took out his shield, completing the Corcea Mors stance he donned ever since he joined the acclaimed Beacon Academy.

The double-bladed figure's eyes sparked a deathly red as it began to run towards the knight, its blades clearly designed to cut down those that opposed its cause.

Without any room for second thoughts, Jaune roared as he charged towards the menace of the factory.

…

…

…

The Third Day - END-