Chapter 4 - A Cave of Nightmares

"Ugh, how long was I out?" Luna said as she grabbed her head. She felt a massive headache. Looking around her surroundings, Luna saw the same cave she was in before. But it was now made of grey fluffy clouds. Her vision was hazy when waking up. Everything looked a little bit blurry. Even her own hands were strange looking. They were transparent like stained glass, as if she could see the ground right through them.

Behind her looked to be a raging storm, leading to the outside of the cave. The lightning came from the cave itself as the walls shot out red streaks of light. It felt like Luna was completely surrounded by a storm cloud. She was dizzy, but took a step forwards. Her foot didn't fall though like she thought it would. "What is even going on here?"

It was like entering a dream. Everything felt unreal in this situation. That was when she noticed the large door was open. There weren't any whispers coming from the room anymore. Looking inside, she noticed the walls were strange. They swirled with red and black colors in a mesmerizing pattern. In the middle of the room was a cage surrounded by locks and chained to the floor. It glowed in a yellowish aura. Giving off an ominous feeling to it.

She slowly entered the room and observed the cage. Inside was a black shadowy figure. It looked sad and drained of life. She spoke to it for some answers. "Hey... umm Mr. shadowy person. I don't exactly know where I am. can you kindly tell me how I can leave?"

But unlike what she thought, the creature didn't even move, let alone speak. "Alright fine, be that way! I'll figure out a way out of here on my own!" Luna then searched around the room for some sort of exit. When she wasn't looking, the figure stole a glance at her. She looked strange in the figure's eyes. Something looked foreign about her compared to itself.

She was filled with life, with hope. The figure saw her legs and hands shake in fear. But she still looked calm despite this fear she had. The figure looked at its body and saddened. Something inside the figure made it speak to Luna.

"Well of course I do. That's what I-" Luna turned around in surprise. It sounded like a child just spoke to her. The figure was now looking right at her. It's black shadowy body enveloping it's glowing red eyes. There was no mouth to be seen. Just a body that looked to be made of ash. Luna spoke back to the figure with an apprehensive expression on her face.

"Di- did you just start talking in my head?" She was alarmed at the voice she heard. The figure definitely didn't fit the image she had for it. Who would imagine a child's voice for a thing that looks kind of evil.

The caged figure didn't respond to her. It faced her with a look of emptiness in it's eyes. The figure stared at her and wasn't blinking. It was like it was watching her every move. Feeling a little uncomfortable, Luna yelled at it for a response.

"Why aren't you saying anything?!" The figure blinked and stopped staring at her.

<…I apologize... I thought we were having a staring contest> Luna was confused at what exactly this thing was on about.

"No, we were not having a staring contest." Luna said in a deadpan tone. The figure looked a little dejected at her response.

The figure hung it's head in disappointment.

'What's with this guy?' Luna thought. *Sigh* "Can you please answer my question?" She then asked.

The figure asked.

"You keep speaking into my brain!" Luna reiterated.

"You just repeated what I said but with more details!" Luna could already tell this creature was not going to be the most pleasant thing to talk to. But this figure most likely knew the way out of this dream. She sadly had to listen to it's boring words and rude attitude. Luna then noticed the creature was looking right at her. Using this chance, she asked it a question she had from before.

"So why did you ignore me earlier when I tried talking to you? That's pretty rude y'know." When she asked earlier she thought that she asked kindly enough.

The figure pointed to the outside of the cave. There Luna saw them. Unusual monsters that towered over her. Their limbs showed from under their cloaks. Long arms dragged across the floor with a screeching sound. It was unnatural compared to anything Luna had ever seen before. The things looked like something from out of a horror movie. They moved like dolls with strings attached. But the scariest thing... was that they were coming strait for her.

"What the hell are those things?!" Immediate panic started to form when she noticed their approach.

The shadowy figure was now also in a panic. It looked just as afraid, if not more than Luna of those Nightmares. Luna was incredibly confused and panicked at what was even going on here. She thought at first that it might be one of those lucid dreams. Although she's never had one before so she wouldn't know. So she just asked the shadowy figure for details.

"Isn't this some kind of lucid dream?! Why are there literal nightmares coming for me in my own dreams?!"

"Yeah whatever! We can have all the fun we want later talking about this, but how are we supposed to escape?!"

"Hey! How am I supposed to unlock this thing?! I don't even have a key!" Luna shouted at the figure in frustration.

The figure spoke as if it was so simple. The Nightmares were getting closer to them by the second. There was less and less time they had available.

"No! Of course not! I'm a swordsman not a mage!" After what Luna said the figure was extremely shocked.

The figure stretched his hand out for Luna to grab.

Without hesitation, she grabbed ahold of it's hand. A couple of windows appeared before her, but she accepted all warnings without even reading what it was about. Suddenly each lock on the cage came undone. The Nightmares had just entered the room as Luna unlocked the cage. They were 5 times larger than her. Black ghoulish tentacles extended out from behind their cloaks. One of them reached out for Luna as she feared the worst.

The figure had opened up a portal on the wall of the room. It was already leaving as it yelled to her. Running after it, Luna barely managed to escape the grasp of the Nightmare. Her vision blackened as she entered the portal.