Chapter 10

"So, what are the results?" Colin asked as he replaced the battery from his halberd.

"Nothing conclusive. We have run all the screens, and it was like they don't exist at all. None of our machines can pick anything up. That's why we enlisted the help from our Tinker resources," the avatar of Dragon answered from one of the monitors he set up near his bench. Colin grunted.

"Do you find out about the reason behind the changes to Sleeper's shaker effect yet?" Colin asked, now, working on a new project, a tranquillizer. Colin had to admit that it was worrying, then again, any changes in patterns of S-Class threats were worrying.

"We haven't. One moment it was filled with all sorts of monsters then sand," Dragon answered.

"I see. I will do my best to help, please send the sample," Colin replied.

"Thank you, Colin," Dragon said with a relieved tone.

After maintaining his suit and adding his detector software to the helmet, a dragon drone dropped by with a sealed container. He opened the window. Colin idly noted the time. Thirty minutes. Dragon was as efficient as always. He admired her for this.

"Thank you," he said as he carefully took the container.

Back in his lab, Colin placed the container above his spare bench and wore some safety gloves. He punched a few codes in and with a hissing noise, the container opened. He carefully poured the content inside into a glass box. However, what he didn't account for was that he didn't close the window properly and a particularly strong wind opened it and blew into the room. The sand was carried by the wind and hit him right on the face. Colin Wallis, otherwise the hero known as Armsmaster, greeted the floor with all of his body for the sweet sleep that took him to the lands of Dreams.

Colin groggily opened his eyes. Endless sands greeted his sight. He looked around, there was nothing but sand around here. He looked up at the sky and met with…a sun? Dragon and Miss Militia were right, it seemed that he had finally driven his body and mind to the breaking point. Nothing else would explain what he was seeing, a spiky laughing sun which was occasionally firing what it seemed to be beams. Colin was pretty sure he wasn't in Earth Bet anymore. At the same time, he was very sure he wasn't in any other parallel Earths because this sun was giving logic and physics a giant middle finger. Suddenly, the wind started to pick up and a huge shadow descended. Armsmaster's flight or fight responses had gone overdrive as he faced this mountain of scales and wings. His arms instinctively grabbed the empty air before he realized his weapons weren't here. He grimaced. It was almost impossible to outrun this thing. He would have to hope for the best. The creature landed on the sand with a thundering shake and crouched down.

"This layer isn't open for visitors yet, Mr. Wallis," he heard the voice of what seemed to be a girl. He tensed at the mention of his name. He looked up at the place where the voice was coming. There, he saw a girl of 13 or 14, wearing a midnight cloak, looking at him with a neutral gaze from atop the creature's head. In her lap, a neon pink cat, casually lying and looking at him with what seemed to be amusement.

"I am sorry, miss. I don't know where I am. I just arrived here. Can you tell me where it is?" Armsmaster said in a tense tone.

"Hmm…these are Dreamlands. You are now dreaming," the girl claimed. Armsmaster clenched his fist in secret and felt pain. The girl laughed at his attempt, which left Armsmaster a little bit ruffled.

"I am afraid that wouldn't work, Mr. Wallis. You are at a deeper layer of Dreamlands," the girl said.

"Come up, we shall discuss this on the way," the girl said, and Armsmaster found himself atop the creature.

"How do you know my name? There are rules," Armsmaster said.

The girl paused for a moment before replying, "your mortal rules don't concern me, Armsmaster".

'A delusion of grandeur? It's not uncommon to find capes who think of themselves like some sort of gods,' Armsmaster noted silently in his mind.

"So, where are we, miss…." Armsmaster trailed off.

"You can call me….. Cheshire," the girl smiled, "as for where we are, I had already said wasn't I. We are in Dreamlands".

"Excuse me, Cheshire, but I found that a little far-fetched," he said. The girl grinned at his words, and he found himself gripping onto the titanic creature desperately as it sped up suddenly and flew upward. The girl and the cat didn't seem to mind the speed and position, as they were still sitting leisurely.

'Her power?' Armsmaster made an observation.

Soon, the dragon stopped and Armsmaster found himself in the pitch-black darkness of nothingness. All around him, surrounding them, were the mountain ranges scaling up to untold distance. It was as if there were no ends to their height. He peered under and found the Laughing Sun underneath blasting its beams at some sort of creature. Underneath it was the plains of endless sand aside from occasional broken structures rising up haphazardly from the sand and a bamboo forest. The entire landmass was massive. Armsmaster could tell he was very far up in the sky and yet, his sight still can't encompass all of it. At this point, Armsmaster decided that either the girl was telling the truth or this is a very detailed hallucination made by cape powers.

"So, these are 'Dreamlands'," Colin let out after a long moment of gawking.

"Yes, or rather, this underneath is the collective Dreamlands of Earth Bet," the girl answered.

"I thought this would be a bit more…." Colin continued.

"Colourful?" the girl replied.

"Yes," Colin agreed.

"It used to be. However, the entire thing was an eyesore, so I turned the entire area into this," the girl answered.

"Why," Armsmaster asked.

"At your level, I assume that you know about Sleeper power. Sleeper's power had been opening a hole into here and connecting it directly with the material world. Now, imagine this, all of these areas, filled with environments and creatures from his shaker effect," the girl said and Armsmaster felt a chill run through his spine. Armsmaster had seen recordings of Sleeper's power, and it wasn't pretty to say the least. Things from there could make Nilbog look like an amateur. At the thought that this entire area had been like that made him agree with this mysterious cape.

"Don't worry, though, I am rebuilding it. Though, you people aren't really being helpful," the girl said with a tone of exasperation.

"What do you mean?" Armsmaster said in confusion.

"Compared to the Material World, Dreams are a bit more…flexible. With enough willpower, people can manipulate and shape their dreams to a certain extent. This place was overrun with so many negative emotions that the entire Dreamlands was twisted and filled with so many rampaging nightmares that it turned into its own perpetuated hell. I managed to deal with most of it by turning the whole thing into the sand and putting Laughing Sun up there to eliminate more problems that arise," the girl said with a sigh.

"What about these mountains," Armsmaster gestured around.

"Oh, these are quarantine measures?" The girl replied.

"Beyond these mountains lies Dreamlands of the entire universe," Armsmaster stiffened in surprise at that, "as I said, Earth Bet is so messed up that its problems are starting to spread toward the wider universe, so I set up these mountains to temporarily cut off connections between Earth Bet and the rest. Hmm, let me just show you," the girl said, and suddenly the beast flew off again. After a while, it stopped and Armsmaster was greeted with the ever-so-familiar figures of three creatures of destruction, Endbringers, in pieces.

"Wha- How" Before he could question the impossible sight before him, he was cut off.

"They aren't real Endbringers, they are Nightmares," the girl said. He felt a bit disappointed in his heart.

"And somehow that made it even worse," the girl said.

"Many people don't realize this, but belief and faith wield great power. Do you know how many are needed to create a god? A mere ten thousand people, and they can create a god with enough power to rival the stars. For these creatures underneath, they are powered by the belief and faith of billions of people," Armsmaster who had been following that explanation went pale.

"I am sure you already realize why I have to set up that quarantine measure now," the girl said. Armsmaster nodded. However, he felt off. He felt like he was slipping. He heard a faint voice calling his name.

"Oh, I believe it's time for you to wake up," the girl said with a smile.

"Please visit me again after I reopen this place. As for Sleeper, I will handle it. So, please rest assure," the girl said with a wave.