Inner Worlds: Das Reich der Träume

[Draconilian]

OOC

Danny strolled through the mall, blank store signs around and the white floor reflecting the ambient light. For some reason, in his dreams, there was never any source of light, but everything had a sort of dim filter on it. It was usually the first tip for him that he was in a dream. There was nothing around, he was just wandering aimlessly, giant pretzel in hand. The salt tasted good, and it was toasted perfectly of course. He didn't know how long he had been here, like most of his dreams, things just seemed to happen and make sense, even though it really shouldn't. Finally starting to actually think in his dreams, he wondered about what to do. Thankfully, right next to him, a once blank store sign lit up with words

“Ah, Gamestop, might as well see if they have anything new or up for demo.” Inside the store, a large flat screen TV was playing a mix of trailers, Destiny, Street Fighter V, and other games lined the shelf.
That was the first clue, none of the games in the store had been released yet. It got through his hazy mind, dream, yep.

“Ah, I see” he muttered to himself. The things around him bending slightly more to his will, the half eaten giant pretzel levitated out of his hand. And was no longer half eaten. While he probably could just warp around, he preferred to walk around his inner world, see what it shows him. Everything in the Gamestop was probably meaningless. Instead, he walked out of the store, and after about another ten minutes of walking, he reached his restaurant. The sign was blank, but unlike the others, it had some focus to it, colored green at least. Nobody was there, but food and drink materialized anyway.. Salmon, with Romano cheese and steamed broccoli on the side. The Grilled fish was good, but he didn't get time to enjoy it. Left half-eaten. Something was wrong in the Mall. Everything here should be controlled by either his conscious or subconscious. Provided he was lucid. Danny knew the giant black monolith that just erupted through the floor right outside the Tavern was not supposed to be there. “Whoa.”

Still with some control, Danny knew nothing could threaten him in his dreams. He flicked his right wrist and a broadsword appeared in his hand, The weight was exceptionally low, and he could use it fairly well. In theory at least. The base of the black spire started to ripple, and plenty of generic enemies from all sources, zombies, shadows, aliens, poured out of it. While he could probably just will them away, or do something else to destroy them all at once. Danny preferred to fight for real. The mass of enemies didn't just ignore him of course. He was the only living thing in this world. With one swing of the sword, Danny bisected his assailants. “Right, one, two, three...” He counted the enemies he downed, blood splattering on the floor in multiple shades. This was out of the ordinary, but he was having too much fun to care.

Danny started caring when his weapon stopped cutting. It was like the blade became a hologram, passing straight through the next enemy with no effect. “Oh shit” This shouldn't be happening. The reality of the situation hit him harder when, well, he got hit. A bolt of plasma zipped through the air and caught him on the shoulder. The burning was unbelievable, like somebody had just stuck magma to his body and it was slowly dissolving him. There was nothing left to do, the number of enemies pouring out of the monolith didn't stop. He just ran. At a normal, human, pace unfortunately, hampered further by pain.. More spires started appearing, producing more strange beings.

“Go faster dammit! This is MY dream!” Not anymore unfortunately. He was cornered, three mobs of danger closed in on him, back to the wall. And the real, severe, pain tipped him off that he shouldn't just let himself die. Just as he was about to get hit again, the wall behind him became intangible, and he fell through outside. Nothing else came through, and he was just in an empty grassland.
“never seen this before...” He wondered what was happening. The burn on his shoulder vanished too.

There was nothing around him, just the immense building that apparently held his subconscious, and a door behind him. “A door in a dream, with nothing behind it and an ornate design. Seen this before... Worth a shot I guess.” The door shifted in color constantly, and had a patterned flame around the edge, but he didn't feel any heat from it.. He grasped the handles and pulled it open, it took more strength than he expected. But when it was fully open, showing a shifting kaleidoscopic pattern, it sucked up everything, Danny and his world.

“Is this still a dream or what? And where am I now?” The setting was now a volcanic wasteland, “Looks just like-” He was cut off by pain
Worse than getting hit by plasma, infinitely so. And it covered every bit of him. The dreamer screamed, but he couldn't hear his voice. He may have made no sound at all. Pure agony shot up through his body, and a feeling of dread, like incoming death, flooded his mind. It got exponentially worse, with no clear ending. And then, just stopped.
Danny had no strength to get up off the ashen ground, he just waited. For what felt like half an hour. But was probably only a matter of seconds. He was a little surprised when the pain came back, much less severe though, and apparently focused around his feet and toes. He pulled himself upright to check them. As his shoes came into view, he was astonished to see them changing shape, warping near his toes, until several sharp claws burst out of his feet and ripped his shoes entirely apart. The changes ran up his feet, layering scales over his skin and lengthening his feet, his legs warped too and had an entirely new structure, digitigrade. “What the-” The scales kept moving up his legs, the pain wasn't bad, just a little soreness where the changes were, and he shoved it out of his mind to watch the rest of his transformation. A tail came out of the base of his spine, already covered in scales. He was getting taller too. The armored scales ripped through most of his clothes and started going down his arms, his fingertips gained claws as well. The strangest part was probably his face, changing from a flat human face to one with a muzzle, horns, and a slightly longer neck. He had to close his eyes during this part. When he opened them there was only one part left, wings. It was easily the most painful, like having the skin on your back ripped off forcibly. Danny yelled from the pain, but it was more of a roar now, with accompanying fire. By the end of it he blacked out again.

“Am I still dreaming?” The Dragon gripped the ground and pulled himself up, seeing the aqua colored scales on his body as he did, “Guess so...” Hesitantly, he unfolded his wings, slowly pulling them up and down. The thought of flight was tempting, but he wanted to know exactly what was going on before he wound up crashing from the sky. He stood up on two legs, new leg structure making him stumble a bit before his tail adjusted automatically and balanced him. Danny took a few steps, it was strange, but not too difficult. “Hmm,” the area around was mostly ashen wasteland, with a large volcano emitting smoke and a small amount of light in the distance. The skies were dark and cloudy, but he could still see fine, either his vision was very good, or sight worked on slightly different rules here. Probably a combination of both. “Now which way to-” The Dragon's mumbling was cut off by a rumbling sound in the distance. The ground shook under his feet. Danny's first thought was a volcanic eruption, he was only half right, something came out of the volcano, but it was no standard lava. A darker red burst out of the volcano, and the smell of rotted flesh filled the air. Far worse to his stronger sense of smell. The Dragon just watched in awe as blood shot into the sky and covered the ground near the volcano. Out of the blood pools, shapes started to rise, some dripping blood and revealing deformed skeletons, some remaining covered in blood, or perhaps made out of it. Wide eyed and acting on instinct, the blue colored Dragon turned tail and dashed. After only a few steps, he dropped down to all fours, keeping his pace, speeding up a little in fact. After he had gotten some speed, he dug his front claws into the ground and pushed off, getting off the ground and furiously flapping his wings. A few strong motions got him into the air, and built in motor skills put him into a glide. Flight speed was enough to get him away from the horde of death, and when they were out of sight he finally got to appreciate exactly what was happening. Flying was great. It couldn't last forever, Danny's still untrained motions exerted more energy than was necessary. The landscape around had changed a little, instead of volcanoes, ordinary mountains and rocky crags, not the safest place to land. But there were no other options. Danny dipped down slightly and tried to gauge the angle he would need to avoid a crash. He undershot it a little, and wound up sliding on a cliff. His sharp claws dug into the rock and served as good brakes, but it was still a poor landing. “So... Tired...” For the third time in a row, Danny fell unconscious. Fourth if you count going to sleep before the dream that started this mess.

Danny felt something poking him on the face, keeping his eyes closed “Mom you know I'm off today, leave me alone... eh?” A shrill voice, definitely not his mother's, answered.
“I ain't your mother human,” Danny opened his eyes, he had fell asleep resting his head on his forearms, and in front of him was a small creature, about a foot in height, tapping his snout with a twig. The creature slightly resembled a frog, but on two legs, and carrying what seemed to be a hiking pack,
“ahhhh,” Danny knew what was coming, by habit he twisted his head into his elbow, the sound of the sneeze wasn't quite loud, but it sounded different, like a small jet engine. As indeed, when a Dragon sneezes, fire bursts from their nostrils. He was mildly surprised to see the fire didn't scorch his scales, or that he didn't even feel it at all, but just accepted it as part of his new anatomy. “Don't touch my nose.” Keeping his head resting on his forearms, he collected some thoughts for a moment, and finally inquired of the small creature what exactly was happening. “This isn't a dream is it? What is going on?”
“hee hee, alright, I guess you should know. This is the world where all your thoughts go. It's a world made from human minds. We know it as Purgomorta. And before you ask, we are Demons, thoughts given life. But you are a Human, and you should probably go back to Earth.”
“but, I don't even...” Danny looked down along his arm, scales a reminder of his new form. “I don't look Human, I'm a .. Dragon I guess?” Danny didn't really know what to make of what was going on. He did know all the pain he had felt so far was real though. Thinking back to The Matrix, “If I die here I die in reality...” he whispered to himself.
“We can tell you are human, don't ask how, we just know. What you are now, I don't quite know, but I do know you oughta get back to your world. As you saw, your arrival awoke that” The frog creature gestured to the volcanic ashlands that Danny had just come from.
“Wha-, but how?” Danny remembered that he had gotten here from a strange door in his dream, but there didn't appear to be one... “Oh, that. Narrative convenience I suppose.”
Indeed, a door, blank and white, not unlike the door to his room in fact, was in the corner of his vision.
“Since this is your first visit, and a Human hasn't come here in a very long time, we'll let you off with a warning.” The creature winked. “Now shoo, ah, and take this.” It fished through it's pack, producing a small square shaped object, which he placed on the Dragon's wrist. The small square lit up, showing a screen, and a wristband materialized, perfectly fitting the Dragon's arm.
“Alright... uh, thanks, I guess...” And the Dragon got up, entered the door, and left Purgomorta.

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Danny woke up, for real this time. “Weird-ass dream, but... I bet my watch is going to-” He picked up his watch off of his nightstand. And indeed before his eyes, it changed shape, turning into the more advanced one he had been given in the 'dream' “Figures.” With a sigh, he examined the gift, it looked a lot like his phone scaled down to wrist size. It was indeed touch screen, it had all the basic features of a watch, and several ones that just displayed a black bar with the word 'locked' on it. The only unusual feature that was unlocked, was what appeared to be a compass. He would have just written it off as well, a compass, other than the fact it didn't display anything clearly. Just an arrow constantly spinning and shifting positions with some static.
Sick of mysteries, Danny put on his new watch and went about his day as normal. Nothing would happen to him until that next night.

[Rtron]

Richard was tinkering in the workshop that is next to the library, when the sirens went off. "What...that's not right.." He muttered. "Better check it out...pity I never got to finish this.." He said, making a vague hand gesture towards the pile of parts. They came together and formed an assault rifle. Richard stared at the gun, perplexed, before shrugging and taking it. Stepping out of the workshop, he followed the vague and indistinct shapes of soldiers rushing towards something. Richard followed at a more sedate pace as this was his dream, his world. What did he have to fear?

He let his mind wander, and only snapped back to the task at hand when a familiar smell reached his nostrils. The smell of burning flesh. He stopped and looked about all in front of him. It was a mini wasteland, smoking craters, indistinct flaming corpses. Richard took a step forward, warily raising his gun. He made it a good distance into the field before he suddenly stopped. "What the hell...?" He peered at the giant wall of flames that surrounded the Base Camp. There was a break in it, a hallway. That was strange. The wall never had a break in it. Just as Richard was about to explore it, the bombs started raining down. At the first whistling sound, Richard dove into the nearest crater, and shoving aside the vague corpses of soldiers, curled into a ball to protect himself as best as possible from the shrapnel.

After a while the explosions stopped. Richard peered over the edge and let out an explicit, profane tirade. Why? Base camp was no more. It was a flaming pile of rubble. "Son of a bitch..." Richard muttered one last time before turning towards the hallway of flames. No where else to go now. After a few minutes of walking he was through the flame hallway and standing at a door. It looked singed. No wonder, being in the middle of a giant hallway of flames. Richard grasped the door with both hands, realizing with a start that his gun was gone, and heaved. The door opened easier than expected, though instead of stumbling backward when it opened, Richard stumbled forward, and remembered no more.

When he awoke, Richard was in a dark, cavern like area. It was unlit except for a single light, that much to Richard's surprise, came from Richard himself. Chuckling slightly in his confusion, Richard wiggled his glowing fingers, lit up as if they had a glow from the inside, like putting a flashlight in your mouth. The cave appeared to be growing hotter. Richard shifted and pulled on his shirt, attempting to get air flow. The heat only rose. "Dang...it's getting hotter and hotter.." Richard panted before getting up to explore the cave.

He never got that far. As he got up, his hand burst into flames. Richard screamed, and fell over trying to smother the flames out, to no avail. They seemed to be spreading about his entire person. To his horror, Richard watched in a haze of pain as his hand began to burn away, bits of flesh disappearing and flames poking out. The last he saw before his eyes melted from the flames beneath them was his entire hand appearing to be made of flame. A few minutes after that, he lost consciousness. For the second time in this dream.

When Richard awoke, he groaned, then froze. It sounded like multiple voices speaking at once. Getting up once more, Richard looked at himself. Then shouted, hearing those multiple voices do the same, in shock. His entire body was made of flames. Richard took a few deep breaths, still hearing the multiple voices do the same, then looked about the cave, which was remarkably better lit, trying to find a way out to take his mind off of the fact that he was made out of fire. Richard glanced about and noticed a small opening. He walked over, burning the ground as he did so.

"Blast it's to small for me to fit through." He muttered. Then, he suddenly chuckled. "Let's fix that." Richard had no time to wonder why he had said that, for he felt himself changing form. "What the-!" Was all he said before he was clambering through the opening as a small lizard before returning to his original form. "Wow. That was...interesting.." He muttered to himself. He glanced around at his location. A large rock pile in the middle of a desert. "This just gets better and better." He muttered. Then, something peculiar happened. A sharpened stick poked through his lower belly. "What the hell?!" He shouted in surprise before turning around.

What greeted him was a shock. It was a small worm. Well, to be more precise, it had the head of a sand worm, like from DUNE but the body of a pig, with the hands of a bird. Strange to say the least. It jabbed at him again. "Stop that." The creature made some guttural sound, before jabbing at him again.

"Stop." Richard repeated. The creature just jabbed at him again, despite the fact that it's sharpened stick was little more than a very burnt club now. Richard attempted to grab the spear the next time it jabbed at him. To his and the creatures surprise, the part of the stick he touched turned to ash when he attempted to hold it. The creature dropped the now useless weapon and fell to the ground, blubbering.

"Please don't hurt poor Xhalin! He meant no harm, he was only scared by fire-lizard-human turning into fire-man-human!" The thing wailed in a nasally voice. "Look I'm not going to-" Richard began, but the creature, apparently Xhalin, was going off again. "Xhalin heard screaming so he turned to find out what was going and he saw a human come out in a small form! So he thought it was lunch! Then the human grew bigger!" Richard tried again. "I'm not going to hurt you. I only want to leave this place." The creature stopped blubbering so pathetically and regarded him with bulbous eyes, a solid color like dirty water.

"You're not?" he sniffled. "No, I'm not. I just want to leave, wherever...here is." Richard said, gesturing widely. "You want to leave Purgomorta? That's easy. The first time anyways, just go through the door." Xhalin said, pointing towards a door that looked much like the one to Richard's room. "Thanks...er..Xhalin." Richard said before going to leave. "Oh! Take this with you!" Xhalin called out, tossing a necklace to Richard. "Okay. Thanks I guess!" Richard called, catching the Necklace and leaving as quickly as possible.

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Richard awoke in a cold sweat, everywhere except his face that is. "Right. Crazy fucking dream. No more mixing Asian Chicken with spices, and Rum." Richard muttered to himself. He started to get up to start his day when he felt something in his hand. He slowly uncurled his fingers to reveal a ruby flame necklace in his hand, the same one that Xhalin had given him. Richard stared at it for a moment before putting it on with a sigh. The flame seemed to be moving. "God. Dammit." Was all he said on the matter before getting on with his day.

[Terminal]

Hirune's eyes opened. She was new to lucid dreaming, and as she had not yet gotten the hang of it she often dreamed normally until, abruptly, her perception shifted. The way the world was seen within an unconscious dream was intimate, but depersonalizing at the same time. Lucid dreaming was more grounded and stable, in a manner of speaking.

She was in a vast hallway of what might have once been an opulent manor, the surroundings having been twisted and warped. Hirune wasn't even a third as tall as the walls reached, and the width of the place would not have been unseemly for a throne. The hall, and the rest of the manor as Hirune had seen in previous dreams, was derelict and consigned to ruination. The carpets and tapestries were torn and faded, furniture, too small and ill-fitting for the enormous dimensions of the rooms that housed them, were broken and aged beyond use. Old paintings were filled with torn and faded canvas, once-elaborate wall sconces were rusted and loose. Holes riddled the wooden floor, walls and ceiling - and from the damaged ceiling, into the mansion streamed light. It was barely enough to illuminate each room, and overall darkness was the presiding master of the realm.

Hirune was not afraid of the dark - she knew this place to a degree. It had fascinated her since the first night when she had seen it. The wreckage of the manse was full of curios and relics of indiscernible purpose, waiting to be found. Looking about, she immediately saw an intact sidetable along the wall with an elegant vase perched upon it. She picked it up, carefully examining it and turning it over in her hands - and nearly dropped it when a silvery, liquid substance dribbled from the dark mouth of the vase and onto the floor. Peering within, however, she saw nothing but darkness. After thinking for a few moments, she left it lying on its side on the floor. A continuous stream of the silvery fluid poured out from its depths, rushing across the floor before draining into the depths of a space where several floorboards had been pulled up.

Hirune didn't touch the vase or the liquid after that - she knew mercury when she saw it.

She walked briskly down the hallway, peering about attentively for any familiar signs. Last time she had been here, she had found a library and a book entitled The Fall of the World: The Truth About Enlil and Marduk - but it had been trapped beneath a fallen bookshelf, and she had woken up before she could read it. She wanted to see if she could find the same library again, if possible, but the mansion was like a maze. Every time she had visited the strange world in her dreams, it always seemed different. She could barely even keep the layout of the halls and rooms straight, as they seemed to shift even as she explored them. The only stable area was a dilapidated parlor, typically being the first area she rediscovered and acting as a hub for the surrounding tangle of distorted halls - and Hirune knew she would be coming across it momentarily.

Sure enough, the darkness that loomed ahead of her faded slightly, revealing a once-lavish parlour room furnished with heaps of broken chairs with torn upholstry, a cracked mantlepiece and several drawers and cabinets in various states of disrepair. There were windows within the room, but Hirune felt only a vague pang of anxiety as her eyes swept over them - they were all shuttered. She might have suspected they could have been opened from the outside, by for some reason she couldn't quite put her finger on, she knew that would be difficult. There was little chance of them being flung open suddenly.

There was a sudden surge of movement, and Hirune let out small, startled cry in surprise as a small, hunched and lithe form of tangled black hair and pale skin shot past her, vanishing into one of the many large pits punched into the floor.

"Was she searching for or gazing upon stars?" Said a voice far above and behind her, sounding like a knife cutting into ice. It was too much, too soon - Hirune shrieked in panic and leapt forward, putting distance between herself and whatever had spoken. She turned as she did, glimpsing a tall and looming form cast in darkness - and then, she fell, an overwhelming force pressing down upon her from above.

"As was, as will. A path chosen, a tribute paid, but nothing gained." The Looming Visage continued to speak as it pressed through space, eclipsing the faint light streaming into the room from the damaged portion of the ceiling above. Its voice continued to seethe through the air like brittle metal being rent.

"What was once six is now but two. There is no Lambent Light, for there is Conjoinment. There is no Umbral Shadow, for there is Transient Shape..."

Tears streamed down Hirune's face as she gaped at the impossibly tall figure. She couldn't move so much as a muscle, she couldn't even breath - she could only stare. She was beginning to lose hold on her conscious grasp of the dream, and if that happened she would fall into a dreamless sleep. She had already tried to will herself awake, and she could feel her eyelids tightly shut where she lay in bed, but she could not force them open.

"...There is no Abeyant Motion, for there is a Path. There is no Veracious Truth, for it has been Freed. "

It was then that Hirune noticed something else: The shutters across the windows were shaking. And though the light from the damaged ceiling was eclipsed by the tall figure, she could still see its streaming rays along its frame - and they were flickering, as though something was passing in front of the light. But still, she could not move.

"All that remains...the Empyrean...and the Sanguine..." The Looming Visage moved once more, a rag-like appendage flickering in the darkness and producing an object covered in in a violet veil of cloth. Hirune immediately recognized it - has she been able to tremble, or close her eyes, she would have done both. She attempted to ready herself for the unveiling of the handmirror the tall being now held, and knew now that this was no lucid dream - but a nightmare. Since she had turned eight, she had been terrified of both windows of mirrors, because of the things she had begun to see peering through them at her. Nothing as crude and tangible as some childhood monster - but things she recognized. Things she had never seen before but instinctively knew of...

Pitiless, Horrible Reflections.

The Looming Visage moved once more, but did not unveil the mirror. It simply let it fall, still veiled, to land on Hirune's knees where she knelt on the floor.

"The time has come for the choice to be made. You must either Awaken or you must Fall. Awaken or Fall. Awaken or Fall..."

A loud thud echoed from behind the Looming Visage as something heavy hit the floor, followed by a guttural growl.

"Awaken or Fall - Choose one or the other, but You. Must. Run." The Visage stated in its cloven voice, like metal being ground and shredded - and suddenly, Hirune felt the massive pressure keeping her pinned in place recede.

She ran.

Clutching the Sanguine Mirror to her chest, she ran from the Looming Visage as the shutters across each of the windows in the parlor began to break apart as weapons rent through them. from outside. From behind her, where the Looming Visage had confronted her, she felt as much as she heard the massive wave of pressure that began to roll throughout the room...accompanied by howls and bestial screams of pain. She did not turn back to look at the source, but she soon learned what it had been anyway. As she ran down one of the enlarged halls leading away from the Parlor, three creatures jumped down from one of the holes in the ceiling, the light exposing their monstrous forms - three bird-like creatures with the wings of an eagle, covered in fur and with the heads of wolves and the bodies of vultures. One of them wielded a long, finely-wrought halberd between the talons of its legs. They turned to look at her as she ran past them, eyes filled with hunger as their hackles raised and they began to snarl.

Hirune continued to run as the sound of flapping wings and talons clacking on hardwood flooring filled the air behind her. The shutters covering the windows all along the hallway continued to shudder and develop cracks as creatures tore at them from outside with fang and weapon alike. As she ran, more of the harpy-like creatures continued to enter the mansion through the holes in the ceiling above, all giving chase to her as she fled.

Eventually Hirune reached the end of the hall, and she stopped dead in her tracks, eyes wide with fear. The room she stood upon the threshold of was the mansion's foyer. It was a large and wide room, devoid of any furnishing - and here, there were no windows, nor any tears or jagged holes in the floors, walls or ceiling - the only light came from the hall, now swarming with wolfheaded harpies, and even shadowed as it was by wings and feathers, there was still more than enough to illuminate the thick, ornate stone door set in the wall across from where Hirune stood.

And throughout the room echoed a slow and heavy scraping sound, of wood being dragged across wood. Its source was invisible, and Hirune had no desire to uncover it. She had attempted to visit the foyer twice before, and both times she had been forced to turn away by an overwhelming and gnawing sense of urgency and fear that told her that the foyer was one such place where she should not go. Something dread and perilous lurked therein, and that had not changed - she took one step into the massive, empty room and cringed, her breath whistling between her teeth as her arms and legs trembled, her fingers tightening around the Sanguine Mirror still clutched to her chest.

Fortunately, her fear of being torn to ribbons and eaten alive by a Murder of wolfheaded Harpies won out against her fear of an unseen and intangible threat only marked by a sinister, scraping noise. She closed her eyes, and tried to block out the noise of the scraping, instead listening to the howls and snarls and barks of the dozens of harpies pursuing her. It worked - she charged across the length of the foyer, so large and massive that it took her nearly half a minute to reach the thick stone door on the opposite side. Harpies had poured into the room behind her, filling and circling about in the cavernous expanse of the distorted entry hall. The scraping noise had gotten even louder, the insistent dragging of wood across wood ringing in Hirune's ears with all the terrible force and power of a dam bursting open. But, with feathers beginning to fall past her face from above, she found the strength to open the door. Despite being heavyset and made of stone, it swung openly smoothly and easily, seemingly weighing nothing at all, revealing...

It was the last thing she saw before she woke in a cold sweat with a panicked shriek. Panting, she looked around her room, the hands of the woodwork clock on the far wall telling her that it still early in the morning. What she had seen had been nothing - it had all just been a dream. A bad dream.

Hirune's eyes drifted downward, and she saw the Sanguine Mirror, still veiled in violet cloth, lying atop her sheets.

She had left it in a drawer of her dresser when she had been getting ready for bed.

Even after moving out to the couch in the living room, Hirune didn't get anymore sleep that night. The Sanguine Mirror remained unmoved on her bed.

[Celestial]

Moonlight spilled onto the circular groove as the stars, bathed in the beautiful blue of the far reaches of space, scattered across the black tapestry. Out in the vast ocean of the stars, humanity could only fathom what lay within its unknown folds. The great frontier, worshipped through fiction and the imagination of the mind, lounged untouched as humanity could only look up. One could reach for the stars, but the nearest was millions of light years away.

Cordelia sat upright in a stool as her pencil traced along the smooth texture of the canvas. Her lips tilted into an upward smirk. The sheet use to be a creamy white, but it was littered with charcoal etchings and smoothening darkened shadows here and there. Indeed, the paper was nothing but a mess – a beautiful mess. Various shades of grey surrounded an intimidating face. She had been working on this concept character for a while now. A few weeks ago, a local development company that was slowly crawling into the big leagues of game developers had contracted her. She had sent in her portfolio; they had sent her the specifications. It was a surreal experience, life changing.

Her face was taut for concentration as a breeze whisked within the small tent. She shivered and put down the pencil then looked around. The tranquil landscape before her was as beautiful as the first day she had arrived here. At first, she thought it was a simple dream – a damn good one too. However, after the consecutive nights that she had arrived here and could control what she did within it, she knew it was something much more than a simple dream. It could have been lucid dreaming like the movie Inception. However, the wonders of this dream world didn’t stop there. She could remember exactly what she did here as if she were conscious. The paintings, the songs, and the very fruit she ate. They all felt so unbelievable real.

As she stood up and stretched her sore back from having sat in the same position for what felt like hours, she heard laughter erupt from behind her. She turned and smiled. It was her again; the brunette who had always visited her. The intimacy and closeness the two felt was surreal, it was as if the girl were her best friend.

The brunette gestured to the canvas. “As ever, your work is as beautiful as ever, dearest.” She walked in as she stood before it. “It’s hard to imagine that those within your world can make it move. Is it magic? How can they make a picture move?”

Cordelia grinned as she wrapped her arms around her imaginative – yet real – friend. “Animations. Animators take the concept art – the very image you see right now – model it and program it within a program. I’m not an expert in that though. No ma’am! I just give face to what the developers want. Honestly, what do you think? Is it good?” Pursing her lips, she regarded the heroine before her, her neat, uncolored hair spilling down her shoulders. “I’ve been looking at it for too long, so my personal opinion may be … biased. A fresh pair of eyes will do. So tell me, what do you think? Maybe the proportions are off, or the shapes are too ci—“

“I think it’s wonderful,” replied the brunette as she held Cordelia’s hands in hers. “The eyes. What color will they be?”

“I’m thinking violet?”

“A spectacular choice.”

Cordelia laughed. “Do you ever disagree? You’re not saying things just to be nice right?”

The girl turned and grinned. “There’s never anything for me to disagree with. If I did, I assure you, you would know.” She was about to speak, but her head snapped to the East. “Something’s here.”

Cordelia blinked. “What?”

At once, she was led out of the tent as the moon’s light began to turn a deep red. She could place the feeling, but she felt strangely ill at ease. Something unseen grazed across her back. She turned to look. Nothing was there.

“This hasn’t happened before.” She turned back and her companion was gone. She muttered to herself in surprise, “that hasn’t happened before either. Wh—“

Suddenly, she felt an unbidden compulsion as her feet, reacting without her control, moved towards the opening. The grooves around her began to darken as she felt fear grip her in its unseen grasp. She didn’t want to go to the darkness of the exit. She had never dared venture past it; she never saw a need to. Then, as if a rope was pulling her, she rushed towards the exit as she felt positive g’s press down on her. The feeling was like roller coaster. She felt her stomach plunge as she screamed within her mind. She hated roller coasters. She hated them; she hated them.

As quickly as the sensation arrived, so did unconscious take hold of her as it embraced her within its vast embrace.

---

Cordelia awoke as the smell of fetid earth flew through her nose as she breathed in. She erupted into a coughing fit as she covered her face with her arm. The air was acrid as it hurt to breathe. She saw virulent flames stretch in the horizon, similar to that of raging forest fires. As she took a step forward, she felt an agony, surpassing anything she had felt before, pierce through her body. She crumbled to the floor as she screamed. Her eyes were wide with fear as she was down on all fours.

Hers arms began to grow abnormally long as they indented in the middle. She felt her bones snap as tears welled within her eyes. It was only a dream; it was only a dream. She kept telling herself that as she closed her eyes tightly. Then the weirdest on sensations occurred as she felt something furry graze her cheek. She squinted through her tears as she saw what was happening. She was white. Abnormally white. It wasn’t her skin though but fur. She was growing fur! She was about to touch it, but a surge of fresh torment pulsed through her face her mouth began to lengthen and widen as a muzzle soon appeared. She couldn’t take it anymore. Not wanting to see anymore, she fainted.

---

Cordelia awoke again, as she blinked. She was still in the same place with the distant flames raging in the distant while the Earth still smelled rotten. She couldn’t help but notice that her sight was considerable sharper at a distance. Her hearing was even sharper as well, for she could pick up the slightest of sounds.

As she stood up, she arched her back, which, to her surprise, didn’t straighten. She tried again and met the same resistance. She made to speak, but a low growl emitted from her che—“

She looked down and almost nearly fainted again. There was fur everywhere! Then, from the darkness of the woods around her, a voice cracked out with an ice-like tone.

“So the human lives? Oh don’t look so shocked; I’ve seen it all.” A pale feminine-like monstrosity walked from the shadows as, where a head should have been, sat a snake-like structure. It was curious, as it was terrifying. “Don’t look so baffled. Have you not turned into a … animal yourself?”

Cordelia, meaning to speak, growled as she scoffed in annoyance. “This is all a dream isn’t it?” She murmured in surprise; telepathy was the way to communicate was it? “I’ll wake up and forget this ever happened.”

The demonette tsked as she sauntered over. “On the contrary, this is all very real. Welcome to Purgomorta human. You’ve come to a place where your kind isn’t welcome. Leave now; next time we’ll have to eat you.”

Cordelia stiffened as she felt her powerful wolf limbs flex.

“Don’t get all abashed now,” said the demon. “Before you leave.” The creature walked towards Cordelia as her snake-like lips touched her forehead. She felt a burning sensation as a mark slowly began to paint red across her forehead. “You’ll find out in time. It is a gift. Goodbye human.”

Before Cordelia could consider what had happened, she felt darkness take her again.

---

She woke up with a start as she glanced around her room. She jumped to her feet as she crossed to the mirror. She had remembered everything, and she was fearful of what she would see. Soon enough, she arrived before the small rectangular mirror as she saw herself dressed in her baggy shirt that stretched across her legs. She sighed in relief, as there was no read mark on her forehead.

As she walked back to her head, a small red twinge bled through her shirt. The dread returned as she stretched the collar of the shirt down. Her mouth fell open. There, right below the her throat resided an arrow-like marking in red.

[Rtron]

Deep in the volcano Danny had flown from, darkness reigned. It was complete and utter. Not even a sound could be heard. Until the volcano began erupting. Almost immediately after Danny had left, two bright red lights appeared in the darkness, like orbs of blood. In front of these orbs, images of the three humans who had entered Purgomorta flashed. Danny, turning into a dragon then flying. Richard, turning into a being of flame. Cordelia, turning into a wolf and receiving her mark. A deep, dark, voice filled with menace resounded throughout the darkness. "So humans have arrived at Purgomorta once more. Good. The time has come then." Outside, the volcano began to shake and rumble even more, spewing out blood. A seemingly endless fast moving stream. When it reached the base of the volcano, it pooled into an ever growing puddle of blood. From it, more and more shapes of the dead began to rise. Instead of walking away, or even moving, they simply turned to face the volcano. When there was a large army of the bloody forms, the blood stopped flowing suddenly, as if someone had plugged up the leak.

Then, the volcano itself began to shake. It vibrated and shook and rumbled. It exploded into rubble without warning. The undead gave a unified roar of triumph and excitement. Darkness began to rise from the ruins of the volcano, condensing into a form. A laugh that sent shivers down the spine of all who heard it rang throughout the land. Something had been awakened by the arrival of humans. Something old. Something powerful.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Richard stared at the bloody mess that was in his kitchen. He sighed, then walked back to where he had snatched the pistol from. All I had wanted to do was make a sandwich. It was the afternoon of the day of the dream and the necklace. Richard had thought nothing of it, figuring he had forgotten the necklace from some where, and had continued on with his normal day. He was taking a break to grab a bite to eat from tinkering in his work shop, when something began rattling in his cupboards. Curious, Richard had opened them to see what was rattling them. Inside was a twisted version of the Easter bunny. Small, with blood red fur and flaming eyes, this bunny had hands and fingers like a human, walked like a human, had claws on it's feet, and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.

They stared at each other in surprise for a few moments. Then, with an evil cry of joy that sounded like 'Lunch!', it leapt at his face. Shouting, Richard grabbed the thing and threw it from him. It landed near the knife rack. It glanced at the knives, then at Richard, then grinned. Richard had only time to say, "Oh shit." Before it began chucking the knives with lethal accuracy at him. Richard ducked as another knife flew towards him, and ran to where he stashed a gun. There was one in every room of the house. Pulled out the drawer, ducking again, flipped it over, and grabbed the pistol.

He dove behind the counter as a butchers knife slammed into the wall beside his head. Without further adue, he rose from cover, and began firing at the thing. Unfortunately, the thing threw a knife as soon as he rose and it slammed into his left shoulder. Ignoring it, Richard continued firing. "Die! Die! Die!" Richard shouted, punctuating each word with a gunshot. He didn't stop firing till he was out of ammo. What was left of the creature was a bloody mess, barely recognizable any more, that spread all over his counter and knife rack.

Richard walked into the bathroom, and taking a deep breath, pulled the knife out. He stifled a curse, and applied some bandages. "I'd better start carrying a gun around with me." He said to himself with a sigh. That would most likely not the last he saw of those type of events.

[Draconilian]

Danny had gone about his day fairly normally. Trying to keep his mind off of the strange events in his dream and it's apparent affects on reality. It was fairly weird to glance at his watch by habit and see an unfamiliar shape, but he tried not to mess with it too much.


The few Demons who had found portals out of Purgomorta were starting to surface, mostly in unpopulated areas, scouting and bringing news back to the leadership. The boundary between Purgomorta and reality was still there, but had a few holes. These portals would only let the smaller Demons through at first. As the boundary degenerates, more portals will open, and war will be declared.

“Poor human, didn't even know what he did.” The Demon that directed Danny out mere hours ago was observing the Volcano, as the forces it spawned planned and fortified.


“Three guys coming up the left. Let's see if I can get them.” Danny finely adjusted the aim on his scope, a little bit up to account for drop, and squeezed the trigger. The bullet zipped through the air and took down the first enemy. He tapped the button to spot the other two, without the element of surprise, he would have trouble getting the other two with his rifle. Thankfully, two of his team were down in the building near the enemy squad. Information blinked up on Danny's view that confirmed the other two foes were downed. “If only real combat was this fun. Right back guys, getting a bite to eat.” The designated sniper was generally a slow and safe position. He wasn't in any risk of getting killed while he was away from the game.

A miniscule portal formed underneath the couch upstairs, a small puddle of green goo oozed out and congealed into a single slime. Another scout of the Demons. Danny's watch should have alerted him to the portal breaking open, but his understanding of it was too low for even such a basic function. The small slime oozed through the game room, and the portal it emerged from blinked shut.

“What, the hell is that.” Confronted with a small puddle of green ooze in his game room, Danny didn't really have a response other than to stare at it. It was now slightly bigger than when it came out of the portal. The slime was slow moving, but clearly dangerous, considering it seemed to be dissolving the carpet below and emitting a hissing noise. “Acid? Definitely, um, um, baking soda! That should work.” Mumbling to himself as some basic chemistry came back to him. Keeping a close eye on the slime creature as he left the game room, he hurriedly dug through the pantry for the baking soda. “Aha! Still got some left.” Danny sprinted up the stairs two at a time and hoped that the problem wasn't much bigger in the minute he left it.

Thankfully it wasn't, the slime creature was now almost a foot across, but still didn't seem to be making any overt moves toward him. He took the baking soda box and tossed it into the slime, watching and hoping it wouldn't make too much of a mess...

The slime creature wasn't really aware of it's surroundings, barely developed since coming through the portal. But the baking soda made sure it never survived to awareness. As the cardboard box entered the mass of slime and started to dissolve, then the plastic bag inside dissolved, the base did it's job and started to react violently with the acid slime. Bubbles started slowly forming from the inside, then the reaction spread all over the slime pool and neutralized it entirely, just like an elementary school baking soda volcano, only not contained. The foam created a very large mess though. One that could take some time to clean up... In theory... Strangely, Danny's watch blinked as the reaction finished and the foam started to fade away. Shrinking down and vanishing entirely.

Sighing reservedly, knowing things could only get stranger, Danny started looking through his watch's options again.

[Terminal]

Hirune hummed to herself as she pulled the last strand of stripped bark taut across one of the many joints of the now completed twig Effigy she had been making over the past several days. By now, it perfectly resembled the Effigy she had seen in her dreams several nights ago, by now merely a vague blur of distant memory, only half-remembered. And since that, Hirune's night had been dark and dreamless, despite her attempts at inducing a lucid state. She was not perturbed either by this or what little she remembered of her dream - she was sure that she would manage to return to the Manse in due time, and the twig-like figure was but another mystery of that vast and dark maze to be uncovered.

"Hmm. You seem to be done..." She muttered to herself, lifting the Effigy from the table and testing to see that its limbs all bent properly and that its head could turn. That was always the most difficult part, but she found the extra effort more rewarding. The sight of an Effigy hanging from a tree, with idly drifting limbs and arms swinging in the breeze, seemed more aesthetically evocative to her than if they were still. And with their heads able to turn, with their gemstone eyes it always seemed like they were looking right at you...

Hirune blinked as she examined the Effigy's head, which was currently bare and bereft of any gemstone eyes. "Oh! Silly me, it seems I forgot your eyes." Hirune said, sighing as she set the Effigy back down atop the coffee table. "You wait here, I'll be back shortly." She got up from where she was sitting in front of the living room couch, and headed off for her room while continuing to hum. Several seconds of silence passed, and everything was still. Abruptly, the air along the ceiling of the room wavered, as though a heavy gas was present, and a small portal formed. A sheep-headed demon poked its head through the interplanar gap and looked around - not seeing any humans, it slithered downwards, its body - that of a snake - lowering the sheep's head down to the couch before the end of the tail untied itself from an unseen anchor and dropped down to join the rest of the demon's body. The sheep's head gazed across the top of the couch with its dead, black eyes. The living room was openly joined with both the kitchen and the entrance, with there being three doors other than the front lined along parallel walls. One was opened to a room, wherein the demon could sense the presence of a human. The sheep's head licked its chops and began to slither onto the floor and across the carpeting in order to obtain an easy meal...

Something snagged against the demon's tail, and it paused. It experimentally tugged the length of its body forward, trying to loosen the scraggly and wooden object that was pinning its tail in place, but to no avail. The demon's eyes narrowed as it remembered the twig Effigy that had been lying on the table - it must have been another demon that arrived even earlier than they had! Still, if it was a demon, it had looked to be even weaker than a minor, mindless insect. It was made of sticks and plant matter. The demon was wrought of pure will and thought - the fight would be no contest. The sheep-headed demon drew back its body and lifted itself back over the top of the couch.

As the demon effigy had suspected, the effigy person was animate, and stabbing at the demon' effigy's tail twigs with its arm of twigs flesh, the tips of each twig finger lodged firmly in the couch. Something felt immensely and profoundly wrong about the situation to the demon effigy, but there wasn't time to dwell on it while the effigy person was attacking them. The sheep's effigy's head frame bleated scraped at the effigy person and lunged at it, hoping to dislodge the construct being.

Hirune's reverie as she sorted through her gemstone collection pouch in her room was broken as she heard several shuffling and scraping noises coming from the living room, along with what sounded like - oddly enough - a lamb bleating. She strode over to her bedroom door and looked out into the living room, seeing nothing amiss - the Effigy was still where she had left it on the coffee table and nothing looked to be out of place. She gave the kitchen a glance just to be sure before retreating back into her room, having missed the fact that the Effigy and the top of the coffee table were both covered in blood splatters that were rapidly vanishing, as if being drawn away from the world.

The Effigy person raised its frame head slightly to face Hirune as she left the living room again, the demon's effigy's blood ichor flaking off of its bindings skin and vanishing into thin air.

Back in her room, Hirune returned to her gemstone collection pouch and, saving herself some time, dumped out the contents onto her bed. A handful of blue topaz stones, several small broken pieces of coal, strands of dead plants, two small marble-sized chunks of amber and some specks of dirt came tumbling out from the small bag as she overturned it before setting it down and retrieving the bits of amber. Hearing a chime from her computer desktop, she moved to her desk and saw that things of interest had updated. She wasted a few minutes reading through the continuation of the newest storyline before closing the window and opening her auto-tarot program.

After messing with the settings a little, she managed to lay out a basic star spread of cards for the reading of her immediate future. The program drew the Fool first, followed by the Tower, with the third being the Wheel of Fortune, the fourth coming up as Judgment, and it ending with the World.

'In essence (although interpretation could vary I suppose), currently I could go almost any number of places.' Hirune thought silently to herself, retrieving what she had taught herself through repetitive practice and use of the auto-tarot's index. 'I am both naive and young, unburdened by the concerns of the world and either unaware or ignorant of what lies in store. Fittingly enough, the second card shows what I literally cannot see or determine at the moment, which would appear to be great change and upheaval. The Wheel of Fortune for the third card is tricky - it represents what I can influence and change. It can be associated with fate, balances, choices, novel occurrences, cycles, all sorts of things. The fourth card represents what I cannot escape or evade, and Judgment specifically stands for both rebirth, reconciliation and new beginnings, along with absolution, release and unfettering. The final card represents what I can take from the whole mess, with the World being the least informative card I could have drawn here. It only means that whatever I get, it will be 'complete' and it will be vaguely good, or at least in line with what the rest of the cards in the spread foretell. Pretty typical stuff. I've never gotten a spread quite like this one before, but I'm getting the hang of how these layouts work now.' Pleased that she had managed to decipher the card spread's apparent meaning without having resorted to using the auto-tarot index, Hirune closed the program and left the room in order to affix the bits of amber to the effigy's frame.

888888888888 Purgomorta 888888888888

~There are four Awakened with doors bridging the Waking World and Purgomorta currently. Three are closed and stable. The mosaic boundary is being channeled across each in a stable through-form that eventually returns, harnessed by the wills of the humans in the Waking World. The fourth door remains open, and the continuous diffusion of the mosaic boundary is causing an accelerated conjoinment of overlapping areas in both worlds. During this window of time, our ability to project our own wills across the boundary into the Waking World will reach its first apex. This must be exploited to create as great an impetus as feasible to encourage the Awakened to ensure the fourth door is closed. If the door is not closed before one of the other three forces seizes control of the area, it will doubtlessly be destroyed, resulting in total collapse of the local boundary and permanent overlay of the Waking World by Purgomorta.~

~Rest assured. As great an impetus as is feasible has been created in order to encourage the current slew of Awakened to close the fourth door.~

888888888888 The Waking World 888888888888

Several hours later, a small meteorite the size of a basketball entered the Earth's atmosphere and disintegrated as it fell through. A single chunk, approximately the size of a grain of rice, fell in the middle of a populated city and struck a bronze statue in the middle of a local park, decapitating the figure and flinging it clear from its base to bounce several meters across the neat grass before obliterating several carefully maintained hedges. The tiny sliver of rock from above buried itself in the base the statue had rested upon, forming a decently-sized impact crater amidst the stone. It would be hours before there was an actual response from officials, and hours more before anybody would even think of removing the tiny sliver of stone. Unfortunately, the World did not have that much time.

It had exactly one hour and forty-four minutes.

Within the depression it had gouged in the pedestal of stone, the small and precarious sliver of foreign rock began to emit a faint and eerie, if barely perceptible light as a demon began to coalesce background radiation to form a body for itself.

[Celestial]

Cordelia lounged in her dorms commons. Pair of black in ear earphones were lodged in her ears as she sketched quickly on a piece of white printing paper. Ever since her last dream, she had been forever thinking about the serpentine thing she had seen in her dreams and the other events that she witnessed as well. As she daydreamed, her hand moved on its own. An outline, with great detail, of a wolf stretched across the paper as her eyes moved to it. It was a large thing. Its eyes were a golden blur – as she had seen in her dreams – as a red mark was left imprinted on its snout.

“Cordelia?”

The blonde looked up and smiled. Julia, her roommate, stood at the door as she walked on in. “Hey.”

“You’re still up? You do know that classes aren’t canceled tomorrow, right?”

Cordelia raised an eyebrow as she put her drawing to the side. “Why would it be canceled?”

“Have you taken a look outside?”

It was storming. Plumes of snow began to accumulate as a gale rapped against the window. The visibility was poor as the distance was shrouded in a grey-white fog. She didn’t understand it herself, but, even though seeing with the eyes wasn’t feasibility, she could see with a different medium. She could hear where the snow hit the nearby buildings. She could smell the dampness of the slush filled streets as they contrasted against the drier snow on the sidewalks. It was the oddest thing; she could tell where everything was without looking.

“Don’t tell you me you haven’t noticed?” Julia walked over to where Cordelia sat and looked at her picture. “Another drawing? Wow … I thought you only did concept art. This is beautiful, girl. Have you started looking into animal works?”

She blinked. “What? Oh, ya. I thought a nice change in genres would be nice.” She couldn’t tell her friend that she became the wolf within a dream. She didn’t even want to share the fact that she woke up with a red tattoo etched onto her chest. That’s precisely how rumors began. “You’re serious though? Classes are still running – in this type of weather?”

Julia smirked. “Welcome to the Midwest! I heard in South, a few inches of snow would cause a statewide shut down. Accidents, closings, the works. Here? We get foots of snow, and we’re still trucking along in this … wonderful weather.” Julia pouted as she brought her hand to her face dramatically. “Oh how I crave the warm beaches! Can Spring Break come any slower? I mean, Winter Break was awesome, but I don’t think I can wait until the spring.”

Cordelia laughed as she took out her earphones. Her iPhone had long since run out of batteries. She didn’t even notice until now. She quickly got to her feet as she folded her drawing and tucked it in her sweats. “I’m going to take a quick shower. Meet you back in the room after?”

“Lets head back together. You didn’t bring your stuff with your right?”

She chagrinned. “I guess I didn’t.”

Her roommate laughed as she got up and walked towards the door. “We’ll get your stuff, then you can go. It’s an odd time for a shower, but whatever works for your Cordelia!”

“Why? What time is it?”

“1:30.”

She grinned innocently as they walked back towards their room. “Guess I must have lost track of time. Phone died.”

“That’s what they all say,” replied Julia. “Come on then. We both have a bright and early day tomorrow.”

---

She threw her towel over her shoulders as she finished dressing. After a nice, long, brushing session, Cordelia pulled on a baggy sweatshirt that stretched down to her knees. She wore some sweatpants as well.

As she took a swig of water and rinsed out her mouth, she heard something move behind her. She hadn’t realized anyone else was in the bathroom but her. She turned to say hello to her fellow night owl and stood stock-still. She stared in consternation as a water-like thing slowly flowed towards her.

Forgetting about her things, she found strength in her legs as she scampered out of the bathroom. As she rounded the door, the things rushed through the cracks and chased after her. She had to be dreaming. She must have fallen asleep standing up while in the shower. Risking a glance back, the thing was still chasing her as she was slowly running out of room to run. At the end of the hallway, she saw a bright, red exit sign.

Think girl! Water is chasing you. Water! Jesus, can anyone see this thing but me? Enough of that! Water … water … water … Ice!!

The idea popped into her mind almost instantly as she rushed for the exit door. She heard a whooshing sound as she ducked. It was either luck or providence that the watery arm missed her and splashed against someone’s door. She silently mouthed a sorry though she had nothing to do with it.

She pushed open the exit door as wind whipped against her face. Her hair began to freeze as her feet began to tingle and sting from the coldness. The thing had followed her out as it began to slow. That was a good thing; she could put up with the discomfort. She ran in a circle as the water demon followed as it slowed with every second.

Soon enough it came to a halt as it stretched its arms out and began to freeze in the below 0 weather. Making show it stayed that way, Cordelia walked up cautiously and poked it; it didn’t move. The touch felt unnecessary though, for the musty odor that the thing gave off was no more, as if the odor was the signifying factor that determined if it were alive or dead.

Nodding to herself, she quickly went back inside, as she was wet from the melting snow. Shower encore I suppose …

She backtracked her way through the wet hallway and grabbed her things in the bathroom and quickly made her way to her room. She would think about this in the morning. As she walked back, her hand touched the mark on her chest. Suddenly, what happened within her dreams suddenly didn’t feel like a fantasy anymore. It felt very very real.

---

Within the darkness of a cavern - residing by the desolated forests - a being stirred within its depths. A serpentine thing stirred as its head watched a dais with a bowl in the middle. She watched with interest as her water demon was tricked and frozen. The wolf-girl had turned her play thing into an ice sculpture. A low rumble emitted from her chest as she swept the water, and the image disappeared.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have let you live, dearest wolf," said the demonnette as her words had a lapse from its slithering tongue. It hissed. "You have become in inconvenience; I hope, for your sake, you never come back to Purgomorta. A warning then."

She stirred the bowl of water again as she began to add oddities into the water. It turned a murky violet.