Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!-Chapter 1348: Alma
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When she finally realized that she wasn't alone, and that there was someone that loved her dearly, the girl broke into tears, hugging her dear grandmother with everything she had. It seemed that what she experienced was but a bad nightmare, one that her grandmother helped her wake up from.
However, as she hugged her grandmother and apologized to her for having been mean to her, her grandmother spoke strange words, as if she knew that even this was also a dream.
As she smiled happily while in tears, and felt her grandma's kiss on her little forehead, she proceeded to gently pat her pink hair, smiling gently at her.
"You have to go, Alma…"
Her words were filled with love and compassion.
She wanted this child to keep on living after all.
"Eh?"
"Please wake up… Before the big bad monster eats you… please, escape."
She held the girl's little hands tightly, looking at her into her eyes.
"What… do you mean?"
The girl was confused, she didn't even understand what her grandma meant by this.
But…
"Wake up, dear… I know you can do it."
Her grandmother hugged her tightly, as the girl continued crying, unable to understand, until she felt the entire forest around her beginning to turn into light.
FLAAASH!
"W-What's happening?!"
The girl saw her own grandmother turning into particles of light as well, disappearing.
The darkness that had swallowed her before followed her.
"T-The darkness…! Wait, this is still a dream?!"
"There's not much time left… My dear, please escape."
Her grandmother used her light, encompassing her granddaughter with everything she had.
"G-Grandma? What's wrong? Why are you doing this! W-Why are you disappearing?!"
Her grandmother smiled at her, as the darkness rapidly began to creep around her, forcing her down.
Yet she fought, resisting, as she manipulated the last bits of light.
"You have to live… Alma."
Alma was moved towards the skies, where there was a large crack in the sky, and there she flew away.
Farther, and farther away from her grandmother.
"No… NO! Grandmaaaa!"
She suffered, screaming as she saw her grandmother rapidly become swallowed by the darkness, slowly turning into particles of light.
"I love you… my granddaughter…"
Before disappearing completely.
"NOOOOO!"
The girl saw the light encompass her completely, as her eyes truly, and finally opened.
She felt her entire body was sweating constantly, she was gasping for air, and dark branches around her body were squirming like worms.
They had been recently torn apart from her body, as they were all wrapped around her, draining her of her life.
"A-Are you okay?!" A little girl with short black hair wearing glasses asked her.
"Huh?" the girl gasped, looking around. "W-What? Eh?"
She noticed another girl on her other side, with silvery-white hair and red eyes, who had torn apart all the vines and roots trying to eat her.
"You were all wrapped up on these evil plants! They were sucking your lifeforce! A-Are you alright?!" she asked.
"M-Me? lifeforce?" the girl looked around. "W-Where is she? My grandma! Where is my grandma at?!"
She quickly stood up, trying to run away, but hitting the Snowman behind the girls, falling back into the grass.
"Uwah! So cold! My face's frozen!"
"It's not frozen, don't worry," the black-haired girl said. "But you might need to eat something warm, perhaps!"
"A-Ah… Where… Where am I? I'm in the forest? But grandma had… my grandma…"
The girl quickly started crying.
"W-what's wrong?"
"C-Calm down…"
The two girls that found her quickly hugged her, trying to comfort her, she would have tried to push them away, but didn't really even have the force for that.
"I saw her… grandma disappeared! D-Does it means she's dead?!" she cried.
"W-what? It must have been a dream! Calm down, you're finally awake now…" the white-haired girl said.
"Yeah! It's not a dream anymore, we promise!" the black haired girl said.
"B-But… really?" the pink-haired asked, while sniffing and crying.
"Yep, so calm down, it's alright now."
"Yeah… it's ok to cry sometimes I guess, but there's no reason! You're alive and well, right?"
"Hmm…"
The little girl sighed, looking at the two girls that had saved her from the evil plants that the other said were draining her lifeforce.
"Where… am I then?" she asked, looking afraid.
"This is a Dream Realm- No, Nightmare Realm," explained the red-eyed, white-haired girl. "It was created by a powerful Nightmare Demon! And we're looking a way out while looking for my friends- Wait a second…"
The girl suddenly glanced at the pink-haired girl with surprise.
"Y-You're… Are you Alma? Alma!"
She hugged her even tighter.
"Eh? How do you know my name?! Wait, who are you? And you?"
She looked at the two, as they decided to introduce themselves.
"I'm Francisca… you can call me Francis, or Fran!" said Francis, with a gentle smile, readjusting her glasses.
"I'm Nyx! You can't remember me? I'm Maria's little… little sister," Nyx muttered, every time she said that she always felt kind of wrong.
"O-Oh…" muttered Alma. "I'm Alma I guess… And no, I don't think I've ever seen you before, Nyx… nor Francis for that matter…"
"Y-You don't remember me?!" Nyx gasped. "Wait, why are you a child though? Hmm… weren't you like seventeen or something?"
"S-Seventeen?!" Alma gasped. "I'm only like six!"
"Huh… Something weird is going on in here…" Nyx rubbed her chin, squinting her eyes.
.
.
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The Nightmare Demon of Childhood glanced at the scene in front of him in utter disbelief! Not only those weird Snowmen fought the Nightmares, but they beat them! Well, only one, the other was slain by Nyx's much more superior strength than he had anticipated.
"The Nightmare of Stress and Responsibility were defeated?!"
He was breaking his own nails while biting them, his childish face distorting into pure wrath.
"WAAARRGH! DAMMIT!"
He started smashing the ground furiously, only for his eyes to widen even more as he noticed something, the children had already found another, and freed her!
"N-No way, already they're…! Ah! I have to stop them somehow but…! I spent most of my Nightmare Energy on making those two Nightmare Seeds germinate…"
As he stood up and floated around, trying to find a way, his eyes suddenly glanced at a certain thing, a sealed power.
"Oh, wait a second… I think I could make this work… somewhat."
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