The Tower 2F: Mirror Hall

The elevator ride could have been smoother, but it seemed as though its shaky, jerky ascent was a sign of what was to greet them upon the door opening.

Atlas was the first to see the room in its entirety, but the smell and sight of blood caused The Pride to scramble out of the elevator, looking around wildly. Lurching towards them was Dr. Dream, covered in blood. His strained voice was a combination of agony and despair, and the last thing he did before collapsing was point a bloodied finger towards Marcus and Atlas.

Lisette made a sound halfway between a sob and a gag and quickly pressed her hand over her mouth, trying to focus on a clean spot on the floor. Even though the others were saying that it wasn't real, she had never seen a dead body before. Everything about it was awful, and she didn't know how some of the others could be so calm.

Amy knelt beside him, pressing two fingers to his neck. She quickly confirmed that their client was dead.

Selan stood still, her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed. Even though Dylan was most likely right, there was no shaking the feeling of seeing someone dead on the ground, covered in horrible wounds. While the others flocked to Trixie, she couldn't tear her eyes away from Dr. Dream's corpse, and repeating what he had said in her head. It didn't make any sense.

As Lute passionately voiced his frustrations, Lisette thought to herself that she didn't believe Dr. Dream, either; Atlas had been with them for some time, and Dr. Dream looked and acted like the wounds had been inflicted on him recently. It was possible, but... They wouldn't, she knew they wouldn't. Marcus wasn't like that, and Atlas didn't seem like that type of person either.

Where do we go from here? We've found the doctor, and... well..."

"Keep your guard up. Whatever happened might still be here."

That caused Lisette to start looking around in the darker corners of the room, fidgeting with one of her pigtails. "Can we go now? I... The smell of blood, it's..." she said, looking ready to break out in a run if anything popped out at them.

Selan finally looked away from the body. "Is this truly the top floor?" she asked, although her eyes were settled on Atlas. "There must be something else we can do here, somewhere else we can go." She was growing weary from having to face one trauma after another, and knew the toll it was taking on the others, particularly Trixie, but they had to keep moving.

Seventh Floor: The Laboratory

"Lute's right," Lucien forced a smile though it was clearly strained. "We'll get out of this, go get ice cream and everything will be grand." He wasn't sure if he believed his own words, he could feel his heart thumping against his chest and to be honest, he wanted to run away as well. The summoner couldn't tear his away from Dr. Dream's prone figure, and all the blood...

Everything was caked in blood, and while it fascinated him to some degree, he understood that if they didn't get out soon the walls and everything else could be painted with their blood. The thought sent a shiver up his spine. "We'll be fine," he didn't seem like he was really there. The monsters, the twisted reflections, everything that had happened to them felt so surreal. Lucien placed a firm hand on Syed's shoulder and repeated what some of the others had already voiced out. "He could've things, it could've been something else."

Atlas stood there, numb, frozen. He probably would have been stuck in a daze if not for Lute suddenly leaping up to yell.

Their questions were nothing but a dull buzz in his ears. Doctor dream, someone he and Lute had known for quite sometime was dead, covered in what looked like fresh blood, and to make matters worse, the man blamed both Marcus and him. The magician cleared his throat and took a moment to compose himself. "I...I don't know, but this is the last floor, there's nowhere else to go." Atlas frowned, "maybe he left behind a message." The man's voice grew desperate. "There has to be some kind of clue," he began pushing through fallen chairs and desks and made his way to the doctor's computer.

Xan was kneeling beside Dr. Dream's corpse, dumbfounded. They had shared a pleasant lunch with him, but here he was covered in so much blood, cold and dead. It didn't feel real, thought to be fair, nothing after those horrid dreams did. "How do we fix this?" There was no point in trying to be logical. "What if we can't fix this?" How were they going to put an end to this nightmare?

There was a curse followed by a crash. Atlas had backed up into a closet, causing a few test tubes and beakers to come crashing down.

A note from Dr. Dream said
I have you right where I want you.

None of you will be leaving this lab alive. The dream eater's power shall be mine alone. Research, haha, this gem will grant me everything I will ever need. The coliseum, the garden, those dreams, they were my doing and you, your nothing but my guinea pigs. You're all going to die but don't fret, it'll be in the name of science.

"It's a trap!" He couldn't believe his eyes, couldn't believe what he had just read. Atlas began cursing profusely.

"Amy! Xan!" Lucien stared with wide eyes, as the corpse's eyes shone red. A devilish grin lit up his face and slowly, he staggered to his feet.

A voice that sounded more like static filled everyone's heads, "toying with you was fun, seeing you all cry and scream...it makes me feel alive. He ran a hand down the side of his face, raking his nails into his cheek. Dr. Dream tore away at his own skin as black ooze seeped out of his wounds. He no longer resembled anything human.



Xan backed away, nearly knocking into Amy when she had.

The dream eater grinned from ear to ear, "you both die first!" It merely raised an arm, but it sent both girls flying across the room. "Give me fear! I taste it in the air, and it is delicious." The creature licked at its lips before clapping both hands together. The room swirled in and out of focus before the scenery changed completely.

The bloodstained laboratory disappeared completely and the guilders found themselves in a place of floating cogs, pipes and upside down staircases. It looked like the inside of a clockwork tower of sorts. "This is my world."



The guilders found themselves on different pieces of floating cogs and gears. Lucien looked down to see nothing but darkness, it made him feel sick.

Xan picked herself up and winced, still winded and sore from being tossed. "Amy, are you alright?" her eyebrows furrowed in concern before she gaped at the change in scenery. They were so high up and there seemed to be nothing but emptiness below.

"You piece of sh!t." Atlas leaped from cog to gear, disappearing as he jumped and appearing somewhere else, looking even more furious.

"Feed me your anger, your sorrow, your anguish! It only makes me stronger!" The gear Atlas had landed on began to fall and but thankfully he had managed to latch onto a pipe and not fall to his demise. The dream eater smiled before he began to transform. He became a distorted and ugly thing that vaguely resembled their greatest fears. However, it was such a mishmash of different things that a part of the dream eater looked like nothing but a garbled mess of sewn together parts and pieces.

"I am what you fear." He raised his arm and the black goop gave way to reveal a canon, he fired the first shot.

The Dreams of the Innocent are so Delicious

Thaum: The Tower - 7F (Dr. Dream's Laboratory)

Trixie felt a warmth embrace her as she remained crouched on the ground. She didn't have to look up to know it was Syed, thanks to his body structure and ring. As he tugged her closer to him, she allowed her face to drift from her hands to her chest and leaned against him like a pillow. Words weren't needed for this type of comforting, and Syed was well aware of that; just some physical reassurance that everyone's okay was enough.

Not long after, someone else knelt in front of them. Trixie managed to shift her eyes enough to see that it was Lute - that weirdo they first met at that restaurant. She hadn't seen him at all since, and yet he approached her anyway, mindful of personal space and potential sudden freak-outs. "We're going to get out of here soon, okay? All of us," he said with a warm voice.

Trixie managed a smile - a shaky one, but a smile nonetheless. She reached forward to him, as if reaching to hug, but only got her hand far enough to touch his shoulder. Lucien pitched in with reassurance as well. Trixie looked to the summoner next, then back to Syed. She sniveled, eyes barely able to keep the tears out, but her smile widened. "Thanks guys..."

A sudden crash from the opposite end of the lab caught her eyes next. Atlas continued to curse, bewildered from something going on back there. Trixie dared not ask what it was - though the thing made itself obvious enough. Dr. Dream's corpse began to rise. The prankster let out a shrill once the scientist's skin began to morph itself.

"You both die first!"

"Amy!!"

The cleric didn't even have enough time to properly defend herself with a spell. She lifted her arms to brace herself for the impact, only to be sent flying across the room along with Xandra. Trixie nearly lurched for her, but the room's sudden change in scenery cut her off. The prankster was now atop one of the many floating cogs alongside Syed, with Lute and Moira on different pieces not far from them. Trixie wobbled getting to her feet, but used Syed as a crutch. Shakily she withdrew her guns - before unloading rapidfire on the mutated monster once it finished its second transformation.



"Ugh..." Amy brought a hand to her face as she sat herself up. Her eyes were scrunched tight in an effort to soothe her dazed vision, which she much preferred to seeing the warped battlefield they were stranded on now. "What the fuck!?"

Despite Atlas' advances, the Dream Eater made its intentions very clear with who it was to target next. Its cannon was loaded, aimed right towards the two girls it had swatted away earlier. Amy's eyes widened. From the sounds of it, there were a few others on different cogs and gears directly behind the duo as well, who would be caught in the blast if they didn't react fast. Luckily though, the one Amy and Xandra were on was a feasible size.

"Get down!" she called before latching onto the metallurgist and ducking away from the white-hot blast in time. Due to their shifts in movement, the platform they were on jerked down, now out of proportion with the others that were aligned behind it. If they weren't careful with their balancing, the disorientation could throw them right to their abyssal demise below.

???

A familiar vulcanised blast of pure energy and heat shot throughout the strange new dimension’s sky, scorching a path through the air as it aimed directly towards Amy and Xandra. With quick reactions, Amy managed to pull Xandra out of the way and avoid the blast, as it collided into the environment behind – into the side of a large chequered cube suspended in the sky at a slight slant. The ground shook and trembled as pieces of dust and debris from the impact of the attack clattered down into the abyss below, and the occupants atop it; Dylan, Aria, Lisette and Kapi, almost fell to their knees from the sudden lurch. This world… it was mad and it made no sense. What in the world was… what was going on? What had happened to them?

An ominous laugh roared from the Dream Eater, another voice that was changed and different from that of Dr. Dream’s or the nail on chalkboard crating voice of the monster that attacked them. From the bubbling, writhing and changing form of their giant adversary, a face of black ink seemed to stretch out from within the mass beside where the cannon had formed. This face looked identical to that of the Pride’s first and familiar opponent… Gaoh.

Then, there was a loud roar.



Above the Dream Eater, a small figure dashed along and hopped from strange cog to eerie nail, jumping from one platform to another until she was above the monstrous foe, leaping down at him with her Fireblade instantly ignited, raised overhead. A trail of fire streaked behind her, as Estelle aimed to swing directly at where the Dream Eater’s pitch white face contorted back at them with a smile. It didn’t move, showing no signs of fear at Estelle’s approaching attack.

Truly… it was fear.

Right before Estelle’s eyes, a vortex crackling with magical energy ripped through the sky inbetween the swordswoman and her target. In it, Estelle could see more of the twisted landscape that served as their surroundings, but not what she should have seen. It was then that she realised what that vortex was, and Estelle gritted her teeth tight, baring an angry swear, as she passed through one end of the portal…

…and straight out of another, falling beneath the Dream Eater towards another large cubic shape made out of brickwork, a clock tower pitched to its side, where Lucien and Selan were perched upon. However Estelle’s fall was aimed towards the edge of this tower, angled just slightly to miss… and underneath the horizontal clock tower there was nothing below.

???!
Syed looked up to Lucien, then back down to Trixie. This place was too much for him - he was paranoid and overthought things enough on a normal day. This place just overwhelmed him, left him feeling so out of his depth that he was numb and didn't know what to do anymore.

Nothing made sense anymore. Nothing at all. But at least... at least they still had each other. Whatever happened, they all still had each other. They were his friends, and he would have to rely on them to see things that he couldn't in his current state of mind. He'll follow them right through til the end.

So when they wound up standing on these wierd floating cogs, he pushed himself up after Trixie and stood defensively beside her. He didn't want to strike out at something he didn't understand... something which was composed of their worst nightmares it seemed. Instead, hesitantly, he began to move his hands in slow, measured movements.

And slowly, the unoccupied cogs and floating metal structures began to move one by one. He couldn't do it to those which had people on them - he still couldn't stop his electricity passing from one thing to another yet after all, and he didn't want to electrocute anyone. But if he could create paths...


"IT WAS YOU?!" Moira screached towards the... whatever the fuck it was. Her fingers clenched around her sword. Over and over. Again and again. Every single loop, the blood splattering everywhere, his broken body limp in her arms... his pale grey eyes staring lifelessly...

She was going to make him pay a thousand times for that. A pain far worse than anything she had ever endured physically... she was going to give him a three course meal of it! Of course, there was the problem of her mobility not being all that great and them being stuck on some floating agility course. Even in her rage she could tell that weren't going to be a clever move.

"Buckle up, kid!" she yelled. Poor Lute barely had the time to react before she grabbed him by the collar and the belt, span once, then bodily threw the virtuoso closer towards the villain. "GIVE HIM A KISS FROM ME!!!"

Seventh Floor

"It's a trap!" Atlas shouted in warning, though it came far too late to do any good. The corpse of Doctor Dream was already coming back to life, his eyes glowing a devilish red.

Dylan automatically reached for his slate and chalk with shaky hands, trying hard to not scream in terror as Doctor Dream tore his own face off, using his nails to peel the skin away as he morphed into something far less human. The ground beneath his feet shifted as well, lifting him up into the air as the whole room transformed into a clockwork monstrosity where the rules of sense and gravity seemed not to apply.

"Feed me your anger, your sorrow, your anguish! It only makes me stronger!" The dream eater smiled before he began to transform. “I am what you fear."

The...thing before him was a garbled mess, though he swore that for a second he saw Tobias’ face staring down at him, eyes alight with a cruel humor that seemed pointed directly at him. “Ha!” he laughed, a smile upon his face. “Maybe you were - but now we’re together. Nothing can beat us!”

The Dream Eater revealed his first weapon - a canon - and launched it. Dylan was safe from that attack, but still felt utterly cowed by the attack. Sliding the chalk into his hand, he watched and thought. What could it do?


Above, Estelle jumped in an attack, trying to strike the monster from above. But it did no good, as she fell through one portal and came out the other end, falling in an arc that would just barely miss the platform that Selan and Lucy were on. “NO!” he cried, quickly sketching and willing his construct into life. The long rope fell at Selan’s feet. “Use it!” he cried. “Catch her!”

Seventh Floor

Less than a minute had passed after Selan's eyes left the lifeless body of Dr. Dream before he suddenly began to speak and move. The last thing she remembered before everything shifted out of focus was Xan and Amy being swatted away, and Lisette and some of the others shrieking or yelling.

When everything stopped spinning, she was looking straight down at a sea of nothing, perched at the top of a tilted clock tower. She immediately sank to her knees, pressing her palms on its surface. She was afraid that she would lose her balance and fall. Lucien was nearby, having found a foothold on the tower's architecture.

Thinking that there was no time to get caught up in her fear of heights, she was taken aback by the monstrous patchwork of a creature that the dream eater had become, floating above them and armed with an enormous cannon. Every so often, parts of it would become a dizzying blur and become something else, and she wondered if the gigantic shards of glass sticking out of its chest were meant for her. "Oh gods..." she whispered, watching various members of The Pride hop from cog to cog to engage with the dream eater.

Estelle appeared just above them, falling past them and out of arm's reach. Dylan acted quickly, and a rope appeared at Selan's feet, the ends thickly knotted. "Use it! Catch her!" he cried, his eyes following the swordswoman's descent.

Selan scarcely had time to think, and quickly threw down the rope. "Estelle, grab it!" she called down, holding tightly above the rope knot. Estelle caught the rope with one hand, while the other held her ignited sword away from it. By herself, Selan would have been able to support her weight, but the added density of her armor caused her to nearly pitch forward over the edge of the clock tower, and her palms and arms screamed with pain. Lucien quickly ran over to grab onto the rope as well, and used the angle of the tower as support to pull the rope back towards him. Slowly, Estelle was raised higher and higher.

Meanwhile, Lisette was busy jumping from cog to cog, a safe distance away from the dream eater. It's just like the rooftops, it's just like the rooftops... she told herself, finally landing on a cog that wasn't tilted at an odd angle. She readied her bow and began channeling magical energy into the tips of the arrows and began firing, although it was difficult to aim when she was constantly drifting in a clockwise arc around the monstrosity.

Thaum: Group B

Aria reeled back in horror as the person they had believed to be the doctor peeled off his face, black ooze dripping from the gashes. She tried to suppress the urge to run when the static-like voice filled their heads, the memory of her nightmare making her shudder and her fear only augmented when Xan and Amy were sent flying.

She whipped around, taking a step forward to check whether her friends were alright only to have her heart leap into her throat when her foot stepped through air. She fell back in time to avoid plummeting into the abyss below, skidding slightly down the slanted surface as she gaped at their new surroundings.

Just as she regained her footing the cube shook violently, almost bringing her down again as she gaped at the Dream Eater that was now a writhing mass of faces and seemingly random objects, most prominent being a large cannon and the face of a man.

Lisette had leapt from the cube and was jumping around the various floating cogs and structures, and Aria found it appropriate to do the same when she spotted Lute sailing through the air, seemingly tossed from one of the higher up structures.

She leapt from the cube onto a nearby cog that wobbled when she landed on it before jumping off again, using the floating debris to leap towards where Lute had sailed off to. She found the poor man on top of a flat and slightly slanted piece of what might have been the wall of a house, having fallen once again on his face.

They were closer to the Dream Eater now, and Aria tried to block out the various screams and screeches from the faces that dotted its monstrous body, some looking a lot like the faces of her friends.

“Useless!”

“Weak!”

“Get lost already!”

“Shut up,” she told it firmly, before turning to grasp Lute’s arm and helping him up from where he was sprawled. Luckily apart from a reddening of the nose and forehead nothing was broken, though he was a bit wobbly standing beside her. A few pieces of floating debris away Lucien and Selan were struggling with Estelle who was hanging from a rope and the two quickly leaped their way over, gripping onto the end of the rope and quickly bringing the red-headed girl safely onto the clocktower.

“It’s got to have a weakness,” she hissed in distaste, seeing from Estelle’s example that facing the thing head-on would be useless. She doubted she could get close enough to throw any knives at it, not to mention she doubted it would hurt the demon very much.

???

"Crap! I'm coming!" Lucien leaped forward, grabbing onto the rope and pulling with all his might. The tower lurched forward due to their combined weight and both the songtress and the summoner nearly topped over. "We've got you!" He gritted his teeth and both he and Selan gave the rope a tug. Estelle was now in arms reach and the duo helped her onto the tower, however, the sudden movement caused the structure to spiral down at least a few feet.

It made the summoner feel queasy, but he sucked it up and turned to look at both girls. "Selan, Leader, Are you both alright?" He gave them a concerned look before his eyes flitted to the madness that was unfolding above them. The demon now had a face and was firing its cannon in all directions. Each time the cannonball would strike something, everything would shake and cogs and gears would fall right out of the sky, they were at a major disadvantage.

"I can distract it," the summoner dug into his pocket, pulled out his card case and began fumbling with it. He couldn't use any of his heavier summons, it would simply fall out of the sky. He pulled out the cat card he had used back in weir, but found himself hesitating. What if he lost control like in his nightmare? No, there would be no time for doubts, though managing to concentrate while on unstable floating pieces of metal and earth would definitely be a feat. He bit down on his thumb and pressed it onto his card. Lucien's eyes went blank and there was a puff of smoke. Shortly after, a large cat appeared beside both Estelle and Selan.




They were falling and then suddenly the platform jerked to a stop.

Both women were nearly knocked off by the sudden halt and Xan squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to battle the dizziness. "That was some ride," she let out a breath of air she hadn't even known she was holding. "Thank you, Amy." The girl slowly got to her feet then offered the cleric a hand. Everyone was a good twenty feet above them, "how do we get back up there?"

There was a crash followed by a groan. Atlas had leaped from a spinning cog and onto a tower that had been floating sideways, his sudden drop onto the tower made it tilt and offered a sort of ramp to the girls who were stranded below. "Here, but be careful, this thing is unstable!" If the jumped off the platform they could get onto the tower. Atlas waited for both of them to jump then helped them up, the tower was beginning to spiral down due to their added weight. "C'mon, no time to waste." He ran towards the ledge, leaped, disappeared and then wound up on another cog a few feet above them.



"Don't you understand, this is my world." The bullets and arrows did nothing to the dream eater, they simply sunk into the dark ooze that appeared to be its flesh. "I make the rules and nothing you do will be able to hurt me." One of Lissete's arrows hit it right in the eye, but it didn't even wince. It simply pulled out the arrow as if it were nothing but a splinter, black ooze dripped across its face.

"You're afraid, but it's okay to be afraid." Its voice sounded like the screeching of metal on metal. "FEED ME!"

From one of the cogs a cat leaped towards the demon, raking its claws into the black goop it scratched at the things body and face but the thing merely laughed. It pulled the screeching feline off and tossed it towards both Moira and Syed. The wounds that had been inflicted on it began to heal and it let out another eerie sounding laugh. The dream eater clapped its hands once and the floating platforms the guilders were on began to spin faster and faster.

Their fear only made it stronger. The dream eater clapped its hands a second time and all the cogs began falling at maddening speed. It only took him a snap of a finger to stop their descent. He was high above them now, grinning widely. "I will suck you all dry until you beg me to kill you. I will drink every emotion, every joy, and every sorrow." Platforms and gears began falling out of the sky.

???

Pew pew pew! Trixie continued to fire rounds at the Dream Eater, but all they did was sink further and further into its oopy-goopy skin. "I make the rules and nothing you do will be able to hurt me," it taunted, removing the arrow pinned to its eye like nothing.

"That's cheating! Cheating!!" Trixie called back. She looked back at Syed, who was shifting his hands around. Some gears soon began to shift around them - horizontally rather than vertically. "Ooh!" The prankster watched with sparkling eyes. She was ready to risk jumping across the cogs and gears the way Estelle and Atlas had been, but Syed bringing some of them closer together just made things a lot easier for all of them.

She prepared to charge closer to it, aiming to snag its attention with both annoying bullets and proximity - when suddenly a large black cat landed beside her! Trixie gasped, holding her guns still on the Dream Eater but looking instead at the feline beside her. It had been quite sometime since she had seen any cats, and of course during a nightmare sequence one would pop up. "Deep breaths, deep breaths, deep breaths. It's just Lucy's. It's just Lucy's."

The cat took a moment to recover and aimed to charge at it again, but Trixie called for him to wait. As much as she didn't want to admit it, felines were much more nimble than her when it came to precise leaping and landing. After the cat's previous attempts, going at it for a straight up attack wasn't the smartest idea. But if he were to approach the monster again with something different in mind...



Atlas' efforts had tilted a tower in Amy's and Xandra's direction, giving them a means to align themselves with the others. Amy looked to the other and nodded before hitting up the building alongside her. The magician was quick to assist them, before flash stepping to a cog a level above them. The two girls moved onto another platform and continued running this way until they reached a safe spot, one that wasn't dropping out of control.

After a short breather Amy took in her surroundings, looking for who was in immediate need of a healing spell or defense buff. Anything to help. "Xandra," she said, still eying the battle area. "I can't see Marcus or Don from here. Do you think they're..." her voice trailed off momentarily. "...is that--"

Another round of loud rapidfire went off. Anyone looking in Trixie's direction could see her riding atop Lucien's summon as they encircled the Dream Eater in hopes of snagging its attention. With bullets flying in from the distance, it would be easier for the duo to dodge attacks this way. Presumably.

???

“Ughn… nn… ah!” Estelle’s teeth clenched shut tight, as she gripped onto the dangling ropes with all her strength, her body wavering from side to side, precariously balanced over an abyss of orange that would gradient into blackness. As her body slowly jerked up thanks to Selan and Lucien’s efforts together to pull her, she found herself looking down, and then instantly regretting it as she scrunched her eyes closed tight, and then focused on the platform up above, just barely seeing the straining faces of Selan and Lucien. “Why did you do that, Estelle…?” The swordswoman chastised herself with a shake.

When her body got close enough to the ledge, she swung her Fireblade up overarm, and buried the sword’s blade into the ground, using it as another tool of leverage to lift herself up. The climb was daunting, and many times she feared of dropping her sword into that awaiting abyss (it’d have been too soon to lose another sword) or of slipping from the rope entirely, but she had made it. Thanks to her friends.

It was not only Selan and Lucien who had pulled Estelle up she noticed, once she climbed over the ledge. There, at the very end of the rope was both Aria and Lute as well, after the duo had crisscrossed over the suspended path of cogs and gears to land beside them. Estelle smiled.

“Thanks you guys,” Estelle smiled, panting heavily as she strained to catch her breath. Her chest fell with a heavy ‘phew’, and with a slap of her cheeks, she psyched herself up to face that monstrous aberration above.

“It’s got to have a weakness,” Aria hissed in distaste, her fingers strumming atop her sheathed knives. But what?



“But what?” Lute ended up verbalising Aria’s own thoughts. He was still groggy and winded, first from Moira’s spinning throw of him, that ended up going off course and missing the Dream Eater to collide into the wall of a gently spinning house instead. The young virtuoso could barely see straight, and one hand held onto his dizzy head. He had had enough of ‘falling’ and hitting things today, thank you. Like Aria, he wanted to do something to help defeat the Dream Eater, but they needed a solid idea. Nothing else worked so far, and, well… if he was going to get injured again somehow, he’d prefer it being done whilst doing something useful.

"I can distract it,” Lucien spoke, and Estelle automatically turned towards the summoner, reaching out to try and stop him, but before she could his cat summon had already began working it’s way up.

“Damnit, Lucien,” Estelle scowled. She wanted to tell him to wait, to stay with them and actually think of a plan first… but she wasn’t any different then him. She walked closer to his lowered body, placing her hand on his shoulder, as she turned to her other three friends. “Selan, Aria, Lute… any of you guys have any ideas? This thing, it… damnit, if we can’t even touch it, then what do we… woah!”

Suddenly the ground beneath them gave way, and with a jerk they fell. It wasn’t just them, but it was everything around them. The smaller pieces of floating debris, the cogs and gears, nails and screws, they fell slower, but the larger platforms such as this clocktower still dropped at an alarming speed. And then, just like that, they stopped, bobbing slowly back up. The Dream Eater’s chilling laughter echoed far, far above them. Even if they could think of a plan, they had to reach it… and Estelle didn’t know how. If she had Marcus’ wind magic boosting her agility and ability to jump, it’d be easier, but he… wait. Where was he? And where was Don?

Estelle was about to ask her companions, but then the clocktower fell into freefall again. The smaller pieces of debris, those floating cogs and screws, they plummeted too, again falling far quicker. And with such terrifying speed this time to rain heavily down upon them, crashing into the ground.

“Everyone!” Estelle screamed, throwing her body over Lucien’s to protect him, her sword swinging up overhead to batter a nail out of the way.

Seventh Floor

Dylan remained where he was, holding onto his cog with one hand as he kept balanced. He watched with bated breath as Selan and Lucy lowered the rope, as Estelle caught it and was drawn back up to safety. Once the red-headed leader was safe and sound, he let out a sigh of relief and cleaned his slate, dismissing the construct. But what now?

It didn’t take long for Lucien to rebound, summoning his cat and sending in straight towards the Dream Eater. Dylan watched as the others hesitated as well - they didn’t know how to fight this thing, and it seemed to get stronger as they realized it - before the platform his was on fell out of orbit. Dylan let out a squeal as the world around him shifted, the platform plummeting down before catching itself.

"I will suck you all dry until you beg me to kill you. I will drink every emotion, every joy, and every sorrow."

Dylan clung tightly to his place as the creature laughed, his face a grim mask of determination. This was it for him. The nightmares, the horrors, the sights that they had seen - he was through with it. He glanced around, realizing that Lisette and Aria had both bounced away from him long ago, but that was not enough to discourage him. Sketching up a shield, he willed it into life and used it to deflect all the falling debris.

“That the best you got?” he cried. “A few scary images and some moving platforms? We’ve fought demons and bearons before - so just stand still so we can hit you!”

Seventh Floor

"Selan, Aria, Lute... any of you guys have any ideas? This thing, it... dammit, if we can't even touch it, then what do we... woah!"

The clock tower fell straight downward as if the invisible string holding it up was suddenly snipped. Selan screamed as she clung onto whatever she could, and a horrible, shiver-y feeling washed over her entire body. She thought they were going to fall and hit whatever was at the bottom of the vast sea of black below them, but it suddenly stopped, and the clock tower was once again suspended.

Catching her breath, Selan tried to quickly speak. "The dream eater, it feeds off our fear, maybe if we just face our--"

The clocktower fell into freefall again, cutting her off. She wasn't expecting it to happen again, not so soon, and the songstress lost her balance and slid down the tilted tower, past Estelle and Lucien, past Aria and Lute.





Lisette too was thrown off-balance by the dream eater's nasty trick, and she tumbled in the air. Kapi used his small claws to hold the flap of her bag closed to keep from flying out. With no time to reattach her bow to its sling, she had to hold onto it with one hand while reaching out with her other, trying to catch the edges of the cogs she fell past.

She saw the tower below her, nearing the platform where Amy and Xandra were bracing themselves. Acknowledging the sight of them was about all she could do before she landed on her shoulder -- intentionally, to protect Kapi -- practially bouncing before stopping at the far end of the tower.

She grit her teeth in pain and rolled onto her other side, but at the very least she was on something bigger and flatter than a cog. The tower was still falling at an intense speed, and she could see a shield weaving through the air, deflecting debris above and below her.

???
He'd managed it, at least to a degree. Syed panted a little from the mental exertion. Now, hopefully, the battlefield might be leveled a little. Now to see where the others might b-

Something jerked him hard, and he hit his elbow on the rough metallic surface of his cog as he desperately tried to cling onto it. He failed, and was sent falling.

Moira's cog had suddenly plummetted through the air much to her somewhat crudely shouted suprise, and it took all she had to stay on the thing. What the fuck?! Did the monster ever tire of playing with them?! He seemed to be getting a lot of enjoyment in reminding them that the realm was his and his alone.

Just as suddenly, it stopped and began to rise again. Moira was a little winded as she hit the cog hard, but she instinctively lurched forward with her hand out anyway to grab Syed as he fell after her. An environment like this was doubly dangerous for them - they could very easily drag each other down, especially as the cogs weren't particularly stable.

"Come on!" Moira grunted, pulling him up. "Let's smack the fucker!"

"It's not that simple is it? Nothing's working!" Syed panted, finally spotting the others below. The monster seemed to be focusing on them, they were certainly getting the brunt of it all. Please be okay please be okay...!

"Moira..." he turned his head slightly to look sideways at her. It could only concentrate on so much at once, surely. "I think it's time for you to do what you do best."

"Don't need to tell me twice," Moira smirked. And as soon as their cog was level with the others, she leapt forward with a scream, sword primed and ready to smack the fucker. Cogs and gears span gave away all around them and threatened to send them plummeting once more. As she closed in, there was a brilliant flash as Syed threw a powerful bolt of electricity at it. All he needed to do was stun it, try and get it's attention...

What he got was a horrible chorus of children screaming. His knees buckled right under him and he fell to the floor, clapping his hands over his ears in a desperate attempt to block it out. His magic was sure enough responding to his distress, sending out flashing arcs in every direction. No no no no no no no not again not again!

They were still close enough, just about. Moira could see another face forming in it's horrible patchwork body, and she was certainly not in the mood to find out what that was supposed to be. So with a yell, she drove her sword right at it...

???

The dream eater relished in their agony. It gloated and laughed, only to be taken off guard by a spark of electricity.

It spun around, eye's locked onto Moira's great sword. Oddly, it had grinned before it was sent flying back into a tower of cogs and gears. That hit had actually hurt a little...whoever this woman was, she would pay. The black ooze seeped back into itself, the creature slowly turning into a broken and bloodied version of Sonny.

"Mum, why?" He emerged from the clock tower, hacking and coughing. He was a garbled mess of missing eyes and twisted limbs. "Make the pain stop, mum!" He sounded and looked exactly like Moira's son. The dream eater's head spun a good 360 degrees before he morphed into a black bird and soared high above them and out of reach. The eerie sound of laughter filled the air and the crow focused its eyes on the matter artist. "I've only just began, boy!"

Black goop pooled around Dylan's feet. The ooze began to take shape and before he knew it Tobias was yanking onto his arms and restraining him. "Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, bad people like us never deserve happy endings." He leaned close to the man's ear and let out a sigh. "You and I are very much alike, birds of a feather flock together after all." Tobias began pushing him towards the edge and somewhere across the battlefield, children with branches for arms began crowding around Syed.

"Teacher!" They wailed, "we trusted you, why didn't you save us? Why couldn't you save us?" They all began to scream and cry.

The dream eater landed on a tower high above them, morphing back into Dr. Dream. The man gave them all what looked like a friendly smile, "enough fun and games, let's end this." Giant crows filled the air, flapping their wings and soaring around chaotically in an attempt to knock the guilders into the abyss below.



As soon as the platforms began to spin, Lucien lost all concentration. The summoner's eyes went wide...Trixie had been on his cat.

The feline was now racing from cog to gear, hissing at everything that scared it and running in an unpredictable pattern. The summoner closed his eyes and tried to get a grip on the creature. He managed to, and instead of leaping into the abyss below the cat crashed into a floating rectangle then vanished into a puff of smoke. "Kid!" He let out a relieved sigh, gave Estelle a quick thumbs up then rushed to the edge of the platform. Aria and Lute had joined them as well, thankfully they both looked alright. "Are you okay--" the platform shook once more and out of the corner of his eyes he saw Selan falling.




"This way!" Atlas would vanish only to appear on another cog. He was light on his feet, until the cogs began falling. He leaped onto a bigger platform and stared helplessly as the girls began falling even lower. The platforms they were on drifted apart and Lisette fell right out of the sky.

"Are you okay?" Xan reached out to grabbed Lisette by the arm and helped steady the girl, everything was unstable and a single step could lead to their demise. A giant crow flew past, the wind knocking their platform back and more and more crows were appearing out of thin air.They couldn't stay here. "We'll have to keep moving." Xan muttered before carefully leaping onto another cog. A giant crow sailed past and she ducked, thankfully it hadn't seen her. Judging by the mad laughter coming from above, Xan could only guess that all hell was breaking lose.

There was a flash of white and she watched as Selan fell onto one of the floating cubes. "Selan--!" Before she could say more there was a gust of air. The girl looked up to see Lucien flailing as he fell through the air, there wasn't enough time to even yell.

The summoner crashed into her and both plummeted into the darkness below.

???

Back in the laboratory he decided to give Trixie a few words of comfort, and she responded by reaching out to him. The four of them, Lucien included, remained around each other as if locked in a guardian circle of sorts… And just like that, Lute felt at peace.

At least for a few seconds before the following happened: Reanimated Dr. Dream. Landscape change. Dr. Dream turning into a monster. Moira picking him up and using him as a ninja star. Him falling on his face again. Lute had no time to bemoan his miserable fall as Estelle, who had only been recently saved by both Selan and Lucien, had already asked everyone for a plan of attack.

All wind was knocked out of him when everything fell. Lute could feel himself shifting from the toes upward; he abhorred sudden drops like these, it made him lock up and cold beads of sweat dotted his forehead. When the freefall stopped Lute wobbled on his feet before forcing himself to remain upright. The virtuoso gripped Aria’s arm tightly before turning to his other, further off companions. “Miss Selan, Estelle, Lucien!” He just had to roll call because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to-

After the tower began a slow but promising ascension, they all fell again and this time the descent was faster. Everything was a blur and Lute could hear metal banging against each other as cogs bumped against the sides of the tower. He kept switching his weight from one foot to another and it was only by pure luck that he hadn’t fallen on his bum yet; Lute could only hope that everyone else was at least still on their feet and not slipping off to be swallowed by the void below. He just kept swinging his sword in heavenward arcs to at least keep the majority of the falling pieces off of him, Aria and Estelle but some still dropped down on them.

So busy was Lute with fending off the metal hail that he realized too late that a body came tumbling past him; at first Lute thought it was Aria, but the illusionist’s scarf whipped him in the face and he was reminded that she was just right beside him. “Wait, I can catch-,” He yelled and reached out to grab the hem of her robe. As his fingers closed over the smooth cloth an inch-thick clog crashed down from above on his wrist and the virtuoso reflexively let go; the disbelief and terror apparent on Lute’s face as Selan slid over the edge was apparent enough that the Dream Eater need not summon people or monsters to torment him with.

???

“Selan!!”

The dancer’s body skidded and slipped off the edge of the freefalling clock tower, Estelle, like Lute, turning in horror moments too late to catch her. Estelle could only watch in horror as Selan fell beyond her hands, the swordswoman dashing towards the edge of the platform, her hand outstretched, frantically trying to reach and save her friend the way she had saved her. But it was too late, as a massive hulking piece of debris fell in-between her and Selan. A section of two adjoining brick walls fell from the sky, impacting against the Clocktower wall, and shattering it in two. The sudden jolt threw Selan off one end, and behind her, Lucien’s hunkered down body, whom Estelle had been protecting just a second ago before leaving to try and rescue Selan… he too slipped and fell off the other side.

She couldn’t believe what was she was seeing. The horror she was repeating. Again, she was unable to save her friends. Again she had to endure this pain, this nightmare… even though her friends could now see her and hear her, she was still too powerless, too weak to do anything, and it-

With an almighty, unprepared suddenness, the falling clock tower suddenly stopped, as did the other raining pieces of cogs, gears, ladders, cubes and debris. Their fall was altogether suddenly halted as they collided into a sea of pitch black, inky darkness, the permeable liquid being thrown into the air to rain in small droplets over the Pride.

The clocktower swayed slightly, Estelle holding her ground with the aid of her Fireblade stabbed into the ground. She could feel the black, cold sticky goo hit against her skin, and it chilled her, forcing her body to emit an involuntary shiver. Opening her eyes, she looked around her, surveying what she could of her surroundings. All around, pieces of the floating platforms that her and her friend had stood and jumped upon, all now rested atop the black sea. She could see them all, drifting some distance away from her in one direction or another. Even Selan and Lucien, the latter with Xandra, could be seen lying in a daze on a small piece of salvation. They were alive, thank Dyn.

And then Estelle noticed what was occurring to the platforms she and the rest of her friends were all on. Slowly but surely, each of the platforms grew rapidly smaller, as one by one they all sank into the oily sea, never to return again.

She wanted to run to her friends, to hop across the platforms that she could, to make sure Selan, Lucien, Xandra… everyone was alright. But one step was all she took before she froze in fear. She could see Aria and Lute right in front of them, and see the looks of disbelief etched on their faces as they gazed at something behind her. A something that threw a giant shadow over Estelle’s whole body. She turned, her hand gripping her Fireblade tighter…

…and then once she saw what was standing in front of her, she felt all strength fall from her body. Tears grew in her eyes.

A large, stocky built man stood a foot away from her, as big as Gaoh in both height and musculature stared back down at her. A man garbed in dense blue armour emblazoned in fine, golden ornate detail along the rims of the shoulder plates, chest, knees and elbows. An impossibly giant, heavy axe, the blade carved and forged in the shape of a lion, held effortlessly in one hand that would test any lesser man to hold with two. A man whose rugged facial features stretched to a frown beyond his thick beard down at Estelle, his eyes meeting hers.

A man with a gaping, sizzling hole burned straight through his chest.

“L… Lar… go…” Estelle whimpered, her knees shaking. She knew it was the Dream Eater, but she couldn't move.



“Estelle.” The Lion began to speak, his voice a booming thunder growing louder and louder. “Estelle… I died for you. For all of you. And this is what you’ve become?”

“Largo…” Estelle’s voice trailed into quiet nothingness. Largo’s, meanwhile, gripped the handle of his axe tightly.

“You disappoint me, Estelle.” Largo shook his head. “None of you were worth it.”

The Lion’s axe swung down, aimed at a diagonal cleave through Estelle’s shoulder to opposite hip. It was by pure reflex action that Estelle brought her sword up, to hold against the axe and prevent it from killing. But the action and momentum was still awkward. Even though she managed to deflect the killing blow, the following shockwave was triumphant enough to send Estelle flying back, sailing over the sea of blackness, to skid to a crash near to Dylan.

Meanwhile, on the ever shrinking remains of the fallen Clocktower, ‘Largo’ turned, taking a step forwards towards Aria and Lute. He cocked his head to the side, his eyes soundlessly judging the pair of them.

“Disappointment attracts disappointment, I see.” Largo spoke. Once more his arm and axe swung out with tremendous speed and force – an invisible blur. And from it, a sharp shockwave sliced through the air towards both Aria and Lute, despite the distance between them. A shockwave sharp enough that, were it to connect, it would sever both Guilders into two at the waist.

CITY OF THE DEAD

Dylan stared in horror at the black ooze that hung around his feet, slowing coalescing into an even eerier version of Tobias. Tobias reached out and grabbed Dylan by the arms, holding them pinned to the artist’s sides.

"Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, bad people like us never deserve happy endings." The man was so close that Dylan could feel his breath on his ear, a soft sigh brushing against his skin. He shuddered at the contact, the sheer tactile sensation making him wonder if this was real after all. "You and I are very much alike, birds of a feather flock together after all."

Tobias pushed him backwards, easing him towards the edge of the small platform. Before the shade could finish his job, though, the platform fell with splash into a sea of black liquid. The shock of it awakened Dylan from his stupor and he wrenched himself out of Tobias’ grasp. “You. Are. Not. Real,” he said with conviction, his eyes alight with a fierce determination. The image of Tobias flickered in front of him and Dylan took the opportunity to run.

Leaping from his platform, he saw Estelle clatter to the ground, apparently the victim of some attacker he did not recognize. Dylan didn’t even pause in his step, hurrying to the red-head’s side and helping her up. “Don’t listen,” he whispered to Estelle. “Whatever he says isn’t true. No matter how much it hurts, no matter how real it feels, it can’t be true.” He wondered for a moment who he was trying to convince - Estelle or himself - but it didn’t really matter. “We can still fight this.”

???

The clocktower slammed into the oily black ooze, Aria nearly falling over if not for Lute’s death grip on her arm for support. A wave of relief hit her as she saw Selan, Xan and Lucien safe and unharmed bobbing in the sea of pitch darkness. The clockwork debris around them were starting to sink down along with the clocktower they were standing on, and yet what caught her eye was the trail of ooze creeping onto the ground behind Estelle, twisting as it shaped itself into the form of a large and imposing man wielding an axe in the shape of a lion.

“Largo-“ She breathed, having heard stories of the Guilder deemed ‘The Lion’- and his death. Before she could properly react his axe had swung down, Estelle barely deflecting the blow and flying past her and Lute.

“Disappointment attracts disappointment, I see.”

Aria took a step back as Largo turned on them, gaze cold as he took in the pair. The clocktower was still sinking, black waves lapping at the brick and stone and bringing with it a half formed figure that rose up besides the illusionst.

“Just die already!” It shrieked through oily lips, a cacophony of the Pride’s voices merged into one. It was enough to divert her concentration for a few seconds as Largo swung his axe once again despite the distance. The illusionist barely reacted in time to tackle Lute out of the way, feeling the very edge of the shockwave bite into her left arm as they skidded to the very edge of the tower. For what was supposed to be a nightmare, the wound sure hurt.

She staggered up to her feet quickly, resisting the urge to press down on the gash and instead whipping out a jagged knife and launching it at Largo’s hulking figure. The unsteady footing and pain made her miss, steel barely brushing past the man’s face as she drew out another, crouching down defensively as she flicked her eyes to Lute and then to the murky blackness that was starting to reach the tips of her boots. She couldn’t possibly block a hit from him, and if she and Lute tried to swim away and Dream Eater Largo attacked they would be no more than sitting ducks.

She cursed, glaring down the mountain of a man and ready to either leap to the side and into the liquid or to attack as a distraction as needed.

“Is there anywhere to run?” She gritted out, glancing over to Lute before back at Largo. She didn't dare risk taking her eye off the Lion to see if help was coming.

???

"Agh... my head," Trixie muttered, peeling herself off the wall her ride had careened into. Sheer horror had gripped onto her as she rode the summon like a bull just moments before Lucien managed to maneuver it into somewhere safe. More than once she had nearly fallen into the abyss below, and she could only breathe relief as she had been spared that fall. ... Until she realized Selan, Lucien, and Xandra had plummeted straight into it.

"No!" she cried out and began to hop across platforms and panels of all shapes. But it was far too late - the three were far too out of reach. Trixie skid to a stop though when suddenly the cog she ran atop began to plummet at a nasty speed. She yelped at this, hunkering down and grabbing onto an edge to protect herself. The fall ended with buoyancy, as if she were on a water ride - and the prankster could easily see everyone around her. Including the three that had fallen. "Ohh thank cheezits for th... huh."

Now the cog she stood upon began to shrink. She quickly jumped to her feet and backed into the center. "Wh, what's going on?" Was she sinking?

A crow cried out overhead, and behind her she could hear something splat on another, larger platform. The black goop morphed into an indistinguishable figure - although its voice was what pierced her. "Trixie... come this way. I will help you."

She didn't think. With the platform beneath her nearly gone, she leapt for the figure's outstretched hand - only to be yanked roughly out of the air and tossed behind it with superhuman force. Trixie shrieked as she soared through the skies, heading straight towards where Moira and Syed were perched.



"Xandra!" Amy called out as the metallurgist was met with the same fate as Lucien and Selan, all of whom had began tumbling down into the abyss below. She had managed to protect the fallen Lisette from any further injury with a small barrier, but the other three were... It wasn't long before all the other platforms in midair dropped as well, now resting atop the abyssal sea. The three were safe, but for how long before everyone sank?

And then... was that... Largo? Amy could only watch with anxiety as the massive man moved to attack Estelle, doing enough to thankfully send her flying back, as opposed to severing her entirely. Then he proceeded to attack Aria and Lute. The former's arm was gashed - a minor wound compared to what could've would've been if she had not moved in time - but the duo managed to escape in time.

Amy snarled as she chanted a healing spell. Her eyes trailed along the illusionist's path, watching as the gash on her arm began to glow a golden hue. Warmth gripped the wound before sinking into it, and within moments the pain was numb. The blood too had stopped, though the cut was not wiped away entirely. Amy let out a silent breath of relief - her healing prowess was improving.

"Lisette, come on, let's keep moving." Like Aria, Amy too did not know where else to head to - only that they had to keep on their feet. With the mass beneath her feet sinking, she weaved her way to the platforms nearest to her to find Selan nearby. Once Amy found a stable enough mass, she stood still and hummed a brief spell for the dancer in hopes of getting her back on her feet. Thankfully Lucien and Xandra were close by as well.

But... Marcus and Don were still hidden amongst this sea of debris. Amy snarled to herself. "Where the fuck are they?"