The Nightmare

Kael goes to sleep, entering the Dreamscape again.

Upon entry, he gets up immediately and runs to the orphanage, ignoring everyone in sight.

He goes in, also ignoring the clerk Neva, and goes to the shed where he sees Elliott lying with his eyes open, seemingly asleep.

He lifts him and leans him against a wall, then inspects him. starting by taking a good look at his eyes, which were staring at nothing.

He didn't look to be injured anywhere on his body so Kael takes a step back, stands in front of Elliott and waits patiently for something.

After a while, out of the corner of his eye, he spots a shadow not connected to a body creeping towards them.

It ignores him, phasing right through him and enters Elliott's body through his face.

Elliott's eyes turn completely white. He begins convulsing, thrashing around with his mouth moving as though he's trying to scream but has no voice.

Kael takes action, grabbing onto Elliott, he takes a deep breath, enters a surreal state and falls backwards, shattering the ground beneath him and enters a darker setting, one with a light source coming from where he fell which quickly closes as he reaches the ground.

He had entered Elliott's dream. It was similar to Kael's village mindscape but as far as he could see from arrival there was no one there.

Not a single human could be spotted but what he did see made him understand, "This isn't a dream... it's a nightmare."

There were monsters everywhere. Some coming out of houses and attacking each other.

There were two types he could see. The first were humanoid Faceless monsters around 2 meters tall, so not nearly as large as the previous ones he saw. These Faceless monsters seemed to be attacking the other types of monster in the mindscape, who resembled shadowy humanoid Octopuses. Their form is constantly in flux. Instead of a solid head, they have a swirling, mist-like core that pulses with faint, eerie light. The monsters have multiple tentacle-like appendages, but they are elongated, shadowy, and semi-corporeal. The tentacles end in sharp, claw-like tips or writhing, finger-like tendrils. The monster's body is a deep, inky black, with faint swirls of gray and white. Instead of a traditional face, the monsters have a cluster of glowing eyes that appear and disappear within their misty form. These eyes are unnervingly human-like, adding to the creature's psychological horror. Their "mouths" a swirling void, capable of opening wide to reveal rows of shadowy, needle-like teeth. So not as terrifying as the Faceless monsters but still pretty terrifying.

Though the Shadow Octopuses far outnumbered the Faceless monsters, it was clear the Faceless were far more powerful, taking on multiple Octopuses and coming out unscathed.

Just watching them battle was enough to put Kael's mind in a flux, so he moved away. Following his instincts to take him to a secure location.

Which was good because some of the Faceless monsters had gone to his previous location to inspect what had caused the sky to crack.

Kael took cover, and after getting a good grasp of everything happening the moved out of the orphanage to look for Elliott, and to also see if he can find anyone else.

With the monsters preoccupied he made his way through the town, first going home to check for anyone, but there was no one there.

He went up to the attic and discovered his sister's coffin opened with there being no one in it. "What in the-" But before finishing his sentence he heard a low growl, prompting him to run down the stairs and leave the house immediately not even wanting to know where it came from.

He ran to both his friends houses, but was met with similar results. the was no one in them.

He then had the idea to go to the heretics' church, "Maybe I can find a book or someth-" But before he crosses the window he steps back, and peeks into the window horrified to see the heretics inside.

"What could they... How could they possibly be in here?"

He listens in.

The heretics speak in unison,

"Oh sweet death,

Lord of the shroud,

He who waits,

Keeper of the final threshold.

We, the faithful, bow before your eternal shadow,

In the stillness of death, we find your truth,

In the decay of flesh, we see Your glory.

You are the end that awaits all, the silence that consumes all sound.

We offer our breath, our blood, our fleeting lives,

To honor Your infinite dominion.

Grant us the wisdom to embrace the void,

The strength to walk the path of oblivion,

And the privilege to serve as harbingers of Your eternal reign.

As the world crumbles and the stars fade,

We shall be Your instruments,

Bringing the gift of endless night.

praise be to you oh Death,

The First and Last,

The Unseen Hand that guides all to the grave."

Kael listens attentively. The priest then rises and addresses the crowd.

"No one! No one is greater than him! Do you not see! He has delivered us from the curse that plagues this village! He is our salvation, he has given us purpose and for that we will all give our lives to him! we will live for him, die for him! and of course- *smiles*, praise to God!" The crowd responds "praise him!"

Kael, kinda disturbed by what he just witnessed, silently walks away, not forgetting his objective.

He keeps running, instinctively avoiding every danger. He then hears a scream from a distance, "No, no please stay away!"

Kael runs faster, parkouring through obstacles until he reaches the building the screams were coming from.

Without stopping, he runs into it, searching room by room. He goes to the back where he hears nearly inaudible sobbing from inside the kitchen. He slowly goes in there where he sees Elliott hiding from the monsters outside.

He wonders what Elliott was running away from and if he got away safely, looking around for any unseen entity.

Not able to find any, he reaches for Elliott, "Elliott, it's me." He says with a soft voice. But before he can touch him, Elliott opens his mouth revealing shark like teeth and viciously bites him in the neck.

Kael is initially shocked but quickly regains his composure punching Elliott in the head twice, knocking him away while taking a chunk of his neck with him. he then picks up a rolling pin and smashes it onto Elliott face knocking him out.

Though he knows it's just a dream, he still feels severe pain and struggles to find his footing. Powering on he goes over to Elliott's body, "What happened to you." He thoroughly inspects the body and realizes "This isn't Elliott."

He gets up gets a towel and ties it to his neck. He leaves the house and begins walking towards a random direction, using his instincts to avoid all the monsters.

He then sees strange blue lines leading to the sky in the section of where he came from. They seem to have sprouted form nowhere, because he could've sworn they weren't there when he first entered.

"Nevermind that", he reaches up to them and 'pulls' himself up. Midair he reaches for a door and opens the space like last time.

A faceless monster looks up and spots him. It flies straight at him, but Kael simply floats through, gives it a middle finger without looking at it and closes the door.

He finds himself back in his mindscape, but he notices it's a different location this time.

Remembering his promise not to go to the gate without telling his friends first, he decides to leave, for now and wakes up, feeling as though he accomplished nothing, but feels a sting on his neck, goes to see his reflection in a bowl of water and notices a red bite mark on his neck from the Dreamscape.

Kael doesn't go back to sleep, feeling to awake to sleep but to exhausted to move.

Nevertheless, by the time morning comes he finally gets up, doing his usual morning routine. He then tiredly goes up to his parents room. Steadying his nerves he cracks a smile and enters the room, "Good morning people!" He wakes them up, their tiredness evident. "Come on iiiiiit's tiiiiiiime! *Raising his fists to the sky* for breakfast." He says with an innocent smile. They reluctantly get out of bed and make it to the dining.

While eating, they don't even notice the bite marks on Kael's neck, Garren surprisingly spoke to Kael, "I quit my job." This makes Kael stop eating.

"Wh-, oh, I understand ... I'll take over for you." Kael says. "You don't have to-" "No! I will." Garren doesn't argue further, only looking at his wife who looks back at him with the same look in their eyes.

Kael makes sure they finish their food before bidding them farewell and leaves for his friends houses.

He continues his usual walks through the neighborhood receiving the usual responses.

He makes it to Rio's place where this time Rio answers the door. "Ay!" "Ay!" they do their usual greeting. "Ay!" Rio's little brother yells from the living room adorably.

They laugh and head to Layla's home. Rio then notices the red marks on Kael's neck.

"What happened to your neck?" "Oh it happened in the dreamscape."

"You were attacked?!" "Yeah, but I'm fine, really." "Okay... but I'm not sure you can convince Layla that." "Haha, yeah I'm trying not to think about that."

They make it to Layla's house, and right before they knock, Layla opens the door. She immediately the spots red markings on Kael's neck.

She gets suspicious of what it is so she goes in to hug him. "Hey guys." she says with a smile. He doesn't find it suspicious in the slightest and hugs her back, while she inspects the bite mark.

She then speaks into his ear, "Who is she." while not letting go.

Kael's eyes widen after the question. He almost forgets what to say, but Rio informs her, "He was attacked in the Dreamscape." Kael's thoughts, "Oh thank you ×3 Rio."

Layla still suspicious stares at his eyes for a few seconds, "Okay." Then let's go of him. "We talked about this, at least tell us what you're up to first before diving headfirst into danger."

"I'm sorry, I should've told you. I just thought after all I've learned I should be able to handle myself."

Layla then asks, "So who bit you."

"A monster that looked like Elliott." They both raise their eyes in shock. They go to a 'secure location' and he then recounts the encounter. "Are they the things giving us nightmares." Layla asks. "It's possible but I'm not completely sure."

Rio chips in, "So you're saying, the heretics' god can protect them from the nightmares." "That's what they implied, so yeah that's very likely." Layla asks, "So where could everyone be?" Kael answers her, "I don't know, but the only place I didn't check was the Elders' palace, but that's because... I couldn't find it."

Layla and Rio were stunned, Rio speaks, "You couldn't find it?" "Yeah." Kael nods. "I knew those greedy pricks couldn't be trusted." Layla let's out some of her anger. "Let's not jump to conclusions. I couldn't find a bunch of houses and the ones that were there weren't the same. There were minute details that were a bit fishy. Like Miss Jae's house still had a portrait of her husband, but she threw it out two years ago cause looking at it made her too sad to leave her house." "So we're giving them the benefit of the doubt?" Rio asks. "What?! Of course not! But for now, we can't point fingers until I find out more, but there's another thing."

He scratches the back of his head. "My dad quit his job and now I have to take over for him." Layla tries to console him while Rio looks distraught. Kael looks at Rio, "I know, I won't let it happen a second time." Rio says worriely, "I hope so."

"Anyway, I better get to work, I'll meet you guys at sunset."

He leaves the two and makes his way to the delivery service building.