Arima slowly landed on a glittering surface that looked like jewelry melded together. He dusted his black and red velvet coat and looked around. He was actually inside a nebula located in the Mother Reality previously explored by Layla, Evangeline, and Aergia.
Nebulas were planet-sized spheres that drifted endlessly underwater. They had a hollow interior along with an inverted gravitational field. And at its center would always be a miniature star, allowing life to bloom inside.
The one Arima was in was quite a special one. Not only everything around him looked like some kind of priceless material, but even the ‘star’ was made out of crystal and simply released light to illuminate the nebula. Not only that, but its size was also tremendously huge and Arima knew the reason.
He walked toward what seemed to be an incredibly large and long chain of mountains that fully circled the whole nebula. He approached a specifically steep side and sat down against it. If you looked closely, you’d see that it wasn’t stone that made up these mountains and that there were some odd patterns on it.
“Old friend,” a deep voice boomed and made the nebula tremble. “It’s nice to see you again.”
Arima snorted and glanced at his right to see an enormous eye open on the ‘wall’ he was sitting against. The pupil was yellow and slit while the sclera was entirely red. This was the eye of a dragon.
The eye was thousands of meters wide and one would have a headache trying to comprehend how big the entire creature was.
“I already told you to stop calling me that, Asgorath. It’s like you’re putting me on an equal standing. And I’m certainly not as old as you.”
“No matter,” the dragon slightly moved his entire body that could be mistaken for a chain of mountains and shook off the dust and dirt that it had accumulated. Hidden below all of that, there were mirror-like scales that glowed blue from time to time.
“I might be the oldest being in this world but you are an older concept. I’ve met your different versions across Planes so many times since I was born. You will always be my old friend, and the one who saved my life when I was barely capable of walking.”
Arima smiled. “To be honest, I have difficulties recalling all of our encounters. Though I do remember when we first met. Who could have guessed that a weak and rare little lizard would become the Dragon of Dragons one day?”
“Indeed,” Asgorath looked at Arima. “I will be forever thankful for that. So? Why did you visit me? I may not look like it but you woke me up from a ten-thousand-year sleep. I was planning to continue for a few more centuries at least.”
Arima laughed. “Well, I’m sorry about that. What, are you grumpy in the morning?”
The strongest dragon alive huffed. “What do you think?”
“I’ll take that as a ‘I don’t mind as long as it’s for a friend’.”
“That’s a pretty extensive way of interpreting an insinuation.”
“I aim to please,” Arima quipped. “As for my purpose, it’s for this,” he said and pulled out a letter from his coat which he threw toward Asgorath’s eye.
The dragon squinted and opened the letter with magic before projecting the content in bigger letters. He quickly read through the message and mused. “I see… You want me to tell if I know about this?”
“Yeah, even Jorga, Krynox, and Slanderer were stumped. So, I turned to you.”
“Hm, I certainly heard about the things mentioned in this letter. The reason why Jormungand, the Original Devil, and the Will of Existence didn’t know is that this doesn’t concern them. Or to be exact, it goes way above their head.”
“{Above our heads?}” Krynox made himself known and Asgorath evidently heard him as he grunted to answer yes. “{May I know what you mean by this?}”
“Let me see… first, why don’t you tell me how and when you received this letter?”
Arima nodded. “It was two days ago, in my soul realm out of all places.”
***
Arima was sitting in his study. The room was spacious but not overly so. It was scarcely decorated and was filled with all kinds of instruments and documents. There were a few shelves with many books in them recording his research as well as the magics he had developed.
At the moment, Arima’s expression was twitching as he tried to continue writing. But his hand was stuck in place because of a certain reason.
“Uncle, uncle! Let’s play!” A little girl with white hair and cyan eyes was perched on his desk while waving her legs. “Come on, let’s play chess!”
Arima sighed and put down his pen. He took off his glasses and stared at his niece.
“Alice, we played five hours straight yesterday.”
“Yes, but…” She pouted and he sighed again.
“What about Shakti? She can’t play with you?”
Alice shook her head. “Mommy said she was tired today and told me to go find you.”
‘Yeah, right. I bet she just wanted to keep what little pride she had left after those ten consecutive losses you put her through,’ Arima inwardly commented. “You asked Malum?”
“Yes, I played with daddy but then he suddenly stood up after the sixth match and opened a portal with a blank expression. He said ‘I need to kill something real quick. Be right back’ and left.”
“…” Arima groaned. ‘Malum… I guess he just wanted to run away from a seventh loss to his five-year-old daughter, huh? I should just stop mentioning people. She probably scared all of them away. Only Ahura can win against this little monster in chess other than me and she’s not here today. No, wait…’
“Alice, did you ask someone to bring you to Sland?” Arima asked. Sland was the nickname the Slanderer had been given. One primarily decided by Alice incidentally.
“No,” she pouted immediately. “I don’t like to play with uncle Sland. He always brags when he wins.”
‘True,’ Arima inwardly agreed and relented. “Fine, just one game though. You have to go play with Azizos and Arsu after, okay?”
“Yes!” Alice’s expression considerably brightened and she ran toward a chair that she grabbed and put in front of Arima’s desk. She jumped on it and placed the chessboard for them to play. “Black as always?” She asked.
Arima smiled and nodded. When the setup was finished, Alice immediately moved her first pawn and when he was about to do the same, he froze on his tracks.
“Uncle?” Alice tilted her head but he didn’t answer. His eyes narrowed and he put the pawn down.
“Sorry, Alice. I have to do something really fast. Don’t worry, I’ll be back in a minute,” he said and he stood up. “You can take the time to go over your strategies while waiting.”
“Okay,” Allice nodded and Arima patted her head before leaving the room. He put his study in a time lock and walked toward the hall of his mansion. When he arrived, everyone had already gathered.
“Where’s Alice?” Malum asked.
“She’s in my study. She risks nothing there.”
“Good,” Malum nodded and looked toward the entrance.
“Layla, can you see something?” Arima asked.
“No, but, at least, I don’t think there’s anything dangerous coming toward us.”
“I don’t want to sound salty, Layla, but what I’m sensing here is not simple,” Fafnir, still with his small appearance, commented. He was looking around with a weird expression. “Anything that can intrude Arima’s soul like that and surround the mansion in the split of a second is quite a threat in my opinion.”
“…Jorga,” Arima spoke and a voice resounded in everyone’s mind.
“{I’m here. Let me be blunt, I have no idea of what’s going on. I’m looking from outside right now and there’s a sort of sand tornado around the mansion. Just that the sand is black.}”
“Then blow it away. What are you waiting for?” Malum frowned.
“{I can’t. It’s a spectral being. I feel like we’re dealing with a very sophisticated ghost. This tornado seems to have a will but it doesn’t have a presence or a soul…}”
Arima inhaled and formed a seven-layer magic formation in his right hand. He was about to cast it when Layla stopped him.
“Wait, it’ll be gone in a minute. But before that…” She squinted as a shadowy figure abruptly formed inside the hall of the mansion. It was a sort of floating black robe made of what looked like sand. Arima activated Natus to analyze it but got no result.
The creature floated and circled Arima’s group once before dropping something on the ground. It then disappeared as if it had never been there.
“{The tornado is gone,}” Jorga informed them and Arima clicked his tongue. Everyone relaxed and he walked toward what the shadow had dropped after checking it wasn’t something dangerous.
It was a letter. He picked it up and unsurprisingly failed to see any name indicating the sender. He opened it and everyone gathered around him to read.
< We are the World. >
< We are one and all. >
< We have taken a decision. >
< We invite you, Eternal Night. >
< The Dreams welcome you. >
“That’s it?” Fafnir grunted. “The heck is that supposed to mean?”
“It doesn’t look like a code,” Chulainn uttered.
“There’s no way that there’s a literal interpretation to this crap.”
“Who knows.”
Arima rolled his eyes as the caretakers of Kymestuos talked to each other while casually hanging to his shoulders.
“So, what do you think, Arimane?” Shakti spoke and he hummed.
“I don’t know,” he replied and put the letter back into the envelope. He put it inside one of his coat’s pockets and shrugged. “I’ll go ask some people about this later. For now, I have to play a game of chess with your daughter.”
Shakti and Malum smiled bitterly. “Thank you for always dealing with that,” they said at the same time.
“Yeah, me too. You don’t know how thankful I am,” Night added. “I was the last one that she couldn’t beat until a few days ago. I swear she’s improving too fast. I won’t be surprised if her entire magic theory and soul manifestation revolves around chess.”
“True. I can picture her putting people on a giant chessboard and smashing them with pawns,” Karma giggled.
“Well, I’ll go there before she notices the time lock,” Arima said and walked back to his study as if nothing happened.
“Wait, I’ll come with you. I want to see how close she is to beat you,” Layla smiled as she followed him. “I made a bet with Ahura for when you’d lose.”
Arima chuckled bitterly as the two of them left the hall.
“{…these guys have no sense of urgency,}” Jorga sighed. “{Don’t you think so, Apana?}”
The giant whale swimming in the soul ocean cried out in agreement… or maybe just in amusement.
***
“That’s pretty much what happened.”
Asgorath snorted. “You didn’t have to go in detail about how your niece almost beat you in chess for the first time.”
“I tell you, Asgor, she’ll freaking surpass me in a few months,” Arima sighed.
“Well, that would certainly be a feat. But, in any case, I know who the sender is.”
“Do tell.”
“It’s actually written in the letter. ‘The Dreams welcome you’. Old friend, have you ever heard about the Dream World?”
Arima frowned. “Depends. I know of many legends describing something similar. But all of them are a byproduct of the Spiritual Realm in the end.”
“The one I’m referring to is not. The Spiritual Realm, and more specifically, the Spirit Tree only collects tangible thoughts. People’s dreams are too weak and inconsistent. They hold no value for the Tree since they can’t even be translated into thoughts and ideas. But, as you know, all things happen for a reason, and similarly, all things provoke another.”
“Krynox, the reason I said it goes over your head is that you don’t dream. Beings such as you, the Creator, or Jormungand constantly live in the Waking World, you don’t dream.”
“{…but isn’t it still strange that I don’t know about it? I was the Will of Existence until I fused with Arima. How come I never even got wind of something like this?}”
“The Dream World has nothing to do with Existence. Not even the most complex magic can affect it. Within the dreams, everything is possible, nothing is real, and all is true. Magic is like a toy in front of that. In the end, the Dream World only exists when you are dreaming. Just that. It doesn’t exist on a material level. It’s a transient world that only subsists when a condition is respected.”
“I can get behind that,” Arima uttered and pointed at the letter. “But then, who sent this letter? And what is it supposed to convey?”
“The Dream World was created the day when the first being dreamed. Then, as more people were born, more dreams fueled this intangible world and made it stronger. Over time, it gained a will of its own. Just like Krynox over here. When it became capable of taking decisions, it also became capable of preserving dreams and draw energy from it.”
“Then, after some time, the Dream World had accumulated so much power, so many different dreams from so many different people, that it started giving people dreams instead.”
Arima’s eyes widened.
“Think of anything and the Dream World has millions, billions, trillions of dreams for it. And when you dream of something that cannot be labeled, the Dream World creates one for it and spreads it.”
“Wait, are you telling me that…”
“Yes. The Dream World is a maker. When people thought of new but broken concepts in their dreams, the Dream World would gather them together then give that dream back to someone else and continue the cycle indefinitely. Inventions, languages, words, ideas… you can trace their origin back to the Dream World.”
“It’s likely that even magic as a concept existed within the dreams before it was even a thing. Magic circuits? Humans were the inventor; dreams were the tools. You can see it like this; the Dream World gave people the ability to create new things, and the Spiritual Realm then made sure it came to light.”
“Holy shit,” Arima uttered and rubbed his temples. “I never thought about that. Moreover, if it was actually the Dream World that dropped that letter at my doorstep, it means it can influence the real world.”
“Indeed. Although the Dreams will never be powerful enough to overtake the Waking World, they are deeply connected to it and will forever be as long as people continue dreaming. In a sense, to make something occur in the real world, the Dream World has to make people dream of something then make them believe it enough for their cognition to make it real.”
“When that ghost dropped that letter, all of you must have been dragged into a sort of half-awake dream and when you saw that letter drop, the Spiritual Realm made it real. Well, this only worked because you have a great influence on the Spirit Tree, old friend.”
Arima processed the new information with closed eyes and sighed. “Okay. How am I supposed to take this message then?”
“They are welcoming you. I’m not sure what it means as well since I’ve never heard of something like this. But this most likely means you have been acknowledged as a being that should be part of the people’s dreams. This letter is basically a pass card to the Dream World.”
Arima blinked. “How the heck am I supposed to go there?”
Asgorath snorted. “Have you tried sleeping?”
“Ah. Right, I didn’t sleep since I got it. I don’t really need to anymore, so I kinda forgot.”
The God of Dragons cackled. “Just do it. Don’t worry, you don’t risk anything. The Dreams can’t harm you and you are not their enemy. The Nightmare World is though.”
Arima deadpanned. “Seriously? There’s a Nightmare World?”
“Well, isn’t it you who said that different words are created because of how humans see things? Just like death is different than life, a nightmare is the opposite of a dream. They aren’t the same thing.”
Arima hummed and raised his hand. The letter flew back to him and he swiftly put it back in his coat. He stood up and dusted his clothes.
“I see. I guess I’ll just go to bed in that case. Thanks, old friend,” Arima uttered and walked away. “Feel free to visit me when you feel like it. There’s a spell integrated to this nebula. Just trigger it and you’ll end up in my soul realm along with it.”
“Really?” Asgorath was genuinely stunned. “When did you do that?”
“I didn’t. Akoman did it for me,” Arima retorted and his figure faded away.
Asgorath stared at the empty space and glanced at a shadow-like being who had appeared without his knowing.
“…Akoman, the Evil Mind. The leader of the Seven Spirits. I see your title is merited.”
The shadow then took a more concrete form. When it was over, a tall black and red armor was standing in Asgorath’s vision. The armor’s eyes were flickering from white to yellow and a cloud-like trail followed it.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Dragon of Dragons,” Akoman bowed and his armor creaked but he didn’t seem bothered by it. “I can see that my Lord holds you in high esteem.”
Asgorath snorted. “That goes both ways. Thank you for placing the spell. I will use it right away if you don’t mind. After all, if my home follows me, why shouldn’t I?”
Akoman nodded slowly. “I will activate it right away,” he stated and pointed his palm at the center of the nebula. His gauntlet glowed and before Asgorath could realize what was happening, his nebula had already been transported right in the middle of Arima’s soul ocean where Apana was curiously swimming around.
“Impressive work…”
“If you have no more requests, I’ll return to my Lord,” Akoman said and placed a hand on his chest before disappearing.
“Hm, it’s hard to believe he’s only a spirit. What was it again…? Right, Existence. This guy is at the Peak Existence Rank.”
***
As Arima was heading toward the inner garden of his mansion, he smiled when he sensed a nebula entering his soul. He shortly reached his destination and admired the artificial sun Loren had made.
He looked around and had to admit this garden was most likely the most beautiful he had ever seen. He walked for a few minutes and reached a wooden bridge leading to a small island in the middle of a large lake.
In the center of that piece of terrain was a legendary tree. The one they called Yggdrasil and under which lived the serpent dragon Nidhogg.
Arima went toward it and placed his hand on the trunk before closing his eyes. The tree’s leaves shined and the sky changed from day to night. He sat down against the trunk and closed his eyes.
“Well, let’s sleep then,” he whispered and immediately shut down his mind.
***
Arima sighed as he observed his surroundings. He sounded almost exasperated.
“Listen; I’ve been in empty infinite spaces too many times in my life. Especially white spaces that go as far as the eye can see. Can’t you, I don’t know, change the color at least?”
When he said that, the white instantly turned into pink.
“…”
“{Nice color,}” Krynox kidded.
“…” Arima remained silent though. “…You know what? I won’t complain. Definitely not what I expected but I can roll with it. It’s better than white. I just hope that this experience won’t make me disgusted of pink in the future.”
As he ranted, a humanoid silhouette made itself known in front of him. He scowled at it and sat down cross-legged on the ground.
“Go on with it. Why was I invited here?”
The silhouette tilted its head then suddenly became corporeal. A beautiful woman wearing a purple dress took its place. Her hair was ashy blond and unnaturally long as it touched the ground. She approached Arima and gracefully sat down on her knees (i.e. seiza).
“Greetings, Eternal Night.”
“Greetings, girl I don’t know.”
She tilted her head. “Are you hinting us to introduce ourselves?”
Arima stared at her blankly. “Oh, I see. Sadly, it seems the Will of the Dream World understands sarcasm but is bad at returning it.”
She blinked in confusion. “You know who we are?”
Arima almost burst out laughing. “Okay, let’s get back on track. Call me Arima, okay? How should I call you?”
“We have no name. You are the first person we’ve ever talked to since we were born.”
“Well… that’s some pressure you’re putting on me. I’ll call you Breksta if you don’t mind.”
“Breksta?”
“Yes, the goddess of twilight and dreams.”
“Breksta…” she whispered and her golden eyes twinkled. “We like it.”
“I’m glad you do,” Arima smiled. “Now, Breksta, tell me why you decided to reach out to me.”
She nodded with a more serious expression and looked at Arima in the eyes. “The Dream World has been weakening for the last few millennia. We beckoned you because we’re seeking your aid.”
Arima frowned. This was way more serious than he thought. “What do you mean by that? How is it weakening?”
“As time passes, fewer and fewer people dream. The young ones are slowly becoming the only roamers of the Dream World nowadays. It feels… like we are slowly being forgotten… they don’t need us anymore.”
“They don’t need you?” Arima mused. “Well, if we take humanity as an example, what you’re saying may have some truth to it. A long time ago, humans could only dream of what they could become, what they could accomplish. Now, they’re starting to take their fate into their own hands and employ a more… let’s say, practical approach. They don’t dream anymore, because most of them know that it’s not a reality that they can one day attain.”
Breksta lowered her head with a sunken expression. “You are correct. Also, with the apparition of Pandora’s Spawn, the nightmares have become more powerful across realities. At this rate, the dreams will be engulfed. We don’t know what to do anymore… That’s why, we’ve requested your help, you who now reigns over Pandora’s Spawn.”
“You mean the Téra?” Arima asked and she nodded. “Hm, this is something I never expected to be honest. I mean, how could I have known the Téra would harm dreams? The reason I decided to not destroy the Téra in the first place was that they were useful and could help me gather information, as well as keep the OWLs in check. I can’t destroy them now as how things stand. I’m sorry, but I don’t know what I can do to help you.”
Breksta shook her head. “You do not need to apologize to us. Even without Pandora’s Spawn, the world was already forsaking us bit by bit.”
“In that case, why did you think I could help you? Do you perhaps have an idea of how I can do it?”
In response, Breksta pursed her lips and looked away. Arima raised an eyebrow and tried to meet her eyes by tilting to the side, but she almost made a full 180° turn to avoid him.
“Okay… Breksta, admit it. You brought me here without a plan.”
“…yes,” she replied weakly. “We hoped that Eternal Night would be able to save us.”
Arima sighed when he saw her defeated look. ‘Goddamn, does this girl even realize how powerful her persuasion skills are? Look at this, how can I say no?’
“{You’d be a prick if you refused to help. Look at the poor girl, she’s scared and desperate.}”
“{Shut up, don’t guilt-trap me!}” Arima shouted at Krynox inwardly and calmly looked at Breksta after a few seconds of thought.
“All right,” he raised his voice and she looked back. “I will try at least. I have no idea what kind of consequence your disappearance would have on this world. But from Asgorath’s words, I’d say it’s not a good idea to let the Nightmare World take dominance considering how it would affect the Spirit Tree…”
“So, you’ll help us?!” Breksta immediately stood up and gazed at Arima expectedly.
Arima shrugged and casually stood up as well. “Sure.” The moment he said that, Breksta jumped on him and almost choked him with a hug. “Hey! Calm down!”
“Ah, sorry,” she hastily stepped back and bowed. “Thank you.”
“Damn you’re strong…” Arima grumbled. “Wait,” he suddenly realized something. He extended his hand and tried to summon a basic spell but failed miserably. He looked at his hand and hummed.
“I see, so that’s what he meant when he said that magic was just a toy here,” he muttered and attempted something else while Breksta watched him puzzled. He closed his eyes and after a moment, a magic circle manifested around him. “I got it. This is a dream, so whatever exists here solely depends on my cognition. I wonder…” His eyes widened. “Breksta.”
“Yes?”
“I have an idea,” he declared. “But for that, I need to somehow take you out of this place.”
“Take me out?” She put a hand on her chin. “But… I can’t leave this place.”
“Yeah, well, probably not alone. Let’s see, you’re also a ‘Will’, like Krynox, but I can’t fuse with you as I did with him. You’re literally a dream. I have absolutely no reading on you with Natus and I thus have no idea how I should interact with you on a material level and bring you to the Waking World…”
“But,” Arima added and his irises doubled in number. They glowed and a figure formed behind him. “Come, Mithandruj.”
“Yes, My Lord,” a man wearing a black suit with silver chain-like ornaments answered the call. His eyes were almost shaped like crescents and he sported a crooked grin as he bowed with a hand on his heart. “What can I assist you with?”
“I want you to help me transform Breksta into a phantom while maintaining her connection to the Dream World.”
“Hm,” Mithandruj closed his eyes and tapped on his forehead a few times before nodding. “I shall not disappoint you. Since you have called me, I assume you have decided to ‘lie’ to make it happen.”
“Precisely.”
“Lie?” Breksta inquired. “To whom?”
Arima grinned. “The World. Mithandruj is the Evil Spirit of dishonesty and lies. His entire existence is based around these concepts and so is his ability. He’s a master of illusions, hypnosis, manipulation, concealment, and of course, a master at bending the truth. In this case, we’re going to take that to a whole new level. We’re gonna force the World to acknowledge you as a being of flesh and blood. We’re going to ‘lie’ and say that ‘Breksta’ has always existed within the Waking World.”
“We… are not sure we follow,” she replied.
“We’re going to fabricate a place for you on the other side. One that you can use to go back and forth between the worlds.”
“We… understand?” She said and Arima snickered.
“I will leave for now but Mithandruj will be staying. He needs to stay here and construct a magic formation that will carry the lie we want to create. For that, we absolutely need this dream to last in order to have an anchor. That’s why; Mithandruj will essentially be dreaming in my place while I finish preparing things on the other side,” Arima said. “Hopefully, I’ll finish it in a few hours, at worst a day or two.”
“Thank you, I’ll be waiting then,” Breksta stated.
“I will do my utmost, My Lord.”
Arima nodded at the two and closed his eyes. He concentrated on his mind and gradually cut the connection with the dream.
***
When he opened his eyes again, it was Layla’s smile illuminated by the moonlight that welcomed him. Taking into account the view, he immediately realized that she was giving him a lap pillow.
“Well… now I really don’t want to wake up. Feels nice,” he uttered shamelessly and Layla giggled.
“I heard from Asgorath that you went to the Dream World. Did it go well?” She asked.
“Honestly? It was a mess. And my eyes are still seeing pink on top of that.”
“Pink?”
“Shortly said, the Dreams’ Will has an eccentric color preference,” Arima said and sighed. “For how long have I been sleeping on your lap though?”
“An hour or so. I found you peacefully sleeping here and I couldn’t help myself,” she said and shrugged. She looked at Arima for a moment before smiling. She then leaned toward him before pressing her lips against his. He smiled inwardly and followed her lead. After five seconds, they parted and Layla nodded in satisfaction.
“Now this is what I call a romantic moment. We need to have more of these.”
Arima chuckled and sat up. He combed his hair with his hand and stood up. “Well, although I wouldn’t mind staying like that a bit longer, I have work to do. I can’t slack off while Mithandruj is doing his best over there.”
“Want some help?”
“Nah, it’s all right. I’m the only one who can do this since the Evil Spirits only answer to me anyway,” he said and started heading toward the exit. “See you later.”
“Sure. Also, don’t forget that I also want a child soon,” she nonchalantly added and Arima almost tripped. He smiled wryly and waved his hand at her before teleporting out of the mansion.
From the entrance of the garden, three people were sticking their heads to watch what was happening. Alice turned toward her parents when Arima left.
“Daddy, Mommy, what were uncle and aunty doing?”
Malum and Shakti looked at each other. The latter smiled. “Well, bonding is one way of saying it, I guess.”
“Hmm, then what did aunty mean by having a child? She’ll get a baby? How?”
Malum cleared his throat. “I’ll tell you when you’re older.”
“Older? Then you’ll tell me tomorrow? I’ll be older tomorrow!”
“Ugh, our daughter is already playing with words at five. I blame that on Arima,” Malum grumbled and Shakti giggled.
***
Arima chose a remote area of his soul manifestation and began to lay out a few landmarks for his magic formation. He noticed at the same time that Asgorath’s nebula could be seen through the water. It was an incredibly massive one that resembled a giant glass sphere and reflected the light of everything around it.
He also passively saw how Apana played around with it like an oversized ball.
“{Old friend, please make it stop. I’m getting sick.}”
This ultimately led to Asgorath contacting Arima because of it.
“{Come on, Asgor. It’s a good change for you. You need to exercise those old bones of yours. How long has it even been since you last deployed your wings?}”
“{A few… tens of thousands of years?}”
“{See my point?}”
“{It isn’t like I need to move. I get in touch with the rest of the world through my familiars at all times. And I have billions of them active, across the five Mother Realities.}”
“{You’re trying to deviate the main point of this conversation, Asgor.}”
“{…All right. I’ll let this oversized whale treat my home like a play ball for now.}”
“{Hey, be nice to Apana. He’s the most well-behaved whale you can find.}”
As Arima talked with Asgorath, he quickly progressed on his work. His glasses were on and Natus was invoked at full capacity through his four irises. The magic circle he was drawing, meant to act as the center of the formation, was a sort of bridge that would connect his dream to the Waking World through simple thought projection. Then, he would extract Mithandruj’s formation from it and throw it into the River of Time, the river that flowed under the Spirit Tree.
“If everything goes right, Breksta should then be able to come here…” Arima mumbled. He took around four hours to finish everything.
He placed himself in the center of the formation and sat down, meditating. He stayed still for a few minutes before his aura suddenly surged. The necklace around his neck started shaking and the skull of the cross started cackling.
Arima had reduced the seal to around 50% in one go. He needed that much at least to be able to form a path to a world that is completely out of the material realm. He required enough energy to break through space, time, imagination, dreams, and whatever else. Even Arima himself didn’t know how the connection would be made. He just had to use Mithandruj’s anchor to do it in the end.
After a moment, when he felt that the connection with Mithandruj was stable enough, Arima started pouring as much mana as he could to empower it.
At this point, his entire soul realm was shaking due to the sheer pressure of his power. Everyone back at the mansion obviously felt it but simply ignored it since there was no way Arima’s soul realm could even be damaged by this.
At some point, Arima inhaled and the magic formation below shrunk before releasing countless runic circles around him. Each circle produced a ray of light that linked with another to ultimately form a geometric pattern.
In the center of it, a figure was slowly forming and Arima could already feel the Waking World rejecting it. The elements went out of control and he was forced to decrease the potency of the seal again.
Arima grunted. “{Mithandruj, now}”
“{Yes, My Lord.}”
The Evil Spirit promptly shared the formation he had been preparing and Arima incorporated it to his own. After that, everything suddenly calmed down. The wind stopped blowing, the earthquakes were gone, and the massive waves on the soul ocean fell. Everything was back to normal in an instant.
Arima sighed in relief and clenched his necklace. The seal was restored right away. He cracked his neck and looked at the fading magic circles. In the middle of these dispersing particles, a woman in a purple dress was falling.
He took a single step and instantly appeared below her before she could hit the ground. He caught her and gently put her on the ground whilst holding her back.
She groaned and covered her eyes as she tried to open them. “It… worked?” She asked and Arima snickered.
“It worked all right.”
“Indeed,” Mithandruj said as he materialized near them. “Now, I believe My Lord doesn’t have any more orders for me. I shall take my leave,” he said and bowed before vanishing.
Meanwhile, Breksta managed to sit up as her eyes slowly got used to the light that she had never experienced before. She first looked at her hands then gaped as she saw her surroundings.
“This is… gorgeous,” she said absentmindedly.
Arima smiled and put a lollipop in his mouth. He extended his hand and helped her stand up.
“I appreciate the compliment. This place is my soul after all,” he said as Breksta gawked at the scenery. “Anyway, let’s move on. You’re here to save the Dream World, remember? Not sight-seeing.”
“Oh, yes!” She suddenly recalled the purpose of this whole operation. “So, what should we do now?”
“Simple,” Arima uttered and casually waved his hand downward. Then, from the depths of the soul ocean, a black cross surfaced and crashed in front of him and Breksta.
The latter blinked in surprise. “This… we saw it in the dreams.”
“Probably,” Arima shrugged. “I bet they’re even in nightmares.”
“But… what should we do with it?”
“Well, you see, my Crosses’ presence across the Existence is only second to magic circuits. In other words, you can pretty much have access to any place imaginable with them. What I want you to do is harmonize with this one and become part of their network.”
“We don’t understand. How is it going to save us?”
“What do you think?”
Breksta tilted her head and pondered. “Perhaps… you are asking us to spread our dreams with the Kind Demon’s Crosses?”
“Correct.”
“But we are not sure we can do it. We give people something to dream, but we are not capable of forcing them to have one.”
“Who said you were going to force them?” Arima snorted and knocked on the Cross. “This thing over here is my most complete magic and most likely the backbone of what I represent as the God of Eternal Night. They are more than capable of infiltrating people’s minds. You are just going to give them a dream, like you always do, and my Crosses will do the rest. They will take the dream and alter the people’s cognition so that they can experience it.”
“We… understand,” Breksta said and Arima smiled.
“All right then. Are you ready to do it?”
“Yes.”
“In that case, go ahead. Place your hand on the Cross and pray for its help, I’ll repay your previous invitation in kind and let you in the network.”
Breksta nodded and walked toward the Cross. She put one hand over her chest and closed her eyes before slowly reaching for the Cross.
The moment her fingers touched the wood, the skull on the cross unsealed its jaw. It was about to laugh but stopped when Arima glared at it. It awkwardly closed its mouth and unusually pink flames shrouded it instead.
The chains coiled around the Cross loosened and gradually dispersed into particles that gathered around Breksta. After that, the branches of the cross shrunk until they couldn’t be seen with the naked eye anymore. All that was left in the end was the blazing skull. The teeth’s rattle was heard as it literally ate the fire around it before flying toward Breksta and fusing with her.
When it was over, she opened her eyes again and the light particles around her vanished. Her pupils were dilated and her expression was unreadable. She looked at her own hands in awe.
“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Arima pulled her out of her thoughts.
“We feel like… everything is available to us, whatever it may be.”
Arima snickered and snapped his fingers. The both of them were immediately teleported inside the mansion. They reappeared in the middle of a spacious bedroom. It was very well furnished but without going over the top. And in the center of the room stood a strange crystal table on which you could the image of several constellations.
“This room is yours from now on,” Arima stared and Breksta looked at him in shock.
“This…? For me? Why?”
Arima chuckled and walked toward the table. “I asked Layla to prepare it for you earlier while I was making the magic formation,” he said and slid his finger on the crystal. The image of the constellations shifted to a view of the Earth.
Arima tapped twice on it and Breksta hesitatingly stood at the opposite side of the table. The image of the planet turned into a map and Arima casually picked a random location. It zoomed again and this time, one would be able to see dots of light moving around.
“These dots are conscious people,” Arima commented and moved the map until he found a dark blue dot. “And when they are of this color, it means they’re asleep. Try tapping it with your finger.”
Breksta followed his instructions and slowly pressed on the dot. Instantly, information about that particular person entered her mind and she knew exactly what dream giving, which she did almost unconsciously.
She pulled her hand back in surprise. “What just happened?”
“A little something, I made. This thing over here is an interactive map of the entire Existence in all its splendor. It’s directly connected to my Crosses’ network and you can give people’s dreams from here. I’m sure you can do it easily by yourself, and way faster, but I thought I might as well make it fun for you.”
Breksta was speechless. “Can I… really stay?”
“Of course,” Arima replied. “The more the merrier. There are already many people living here, what’s wrong with adding someone new? On top of that, I think you deserve it. You have helped humanity in so many ways, all alone. Don’t you think it’s time you get some well-deserved enjoyment and happiness for all your deeds?”
Breksta’s eyes were already watering and she had to do her best to not start crying. She rubbed her eyes once and smiled. “Thank you, Arima.”
He grinned. “No problem.”
***
When Arima finished giving his new tenant a tour of the mansion and introducing her to everyone else, he returned to his study and was contacted by Asgorath again.
“{That was kind of you, old friend. The poor girl must have lived in solitude for a long time.}”
Arima snorted. “{Who do you think you’re talking to? I’m the Kind Demon, remember?}”
“{Indeed. So, what you are going to do about the Nightmare World?}”
“{No idea. For now, I’ll have Mithandruj look into it. We’ll see in the future if we get any results. If not, I’m sure Breksta will inform us if something dangerous happens.}”
“{I see. Hmm…? Huh?! Wait!}”
Arima cut off the link as he heard the happy cry of a whale.
“Apana’s having fun,” Layla commented as she sat on Arima’s desk.
He smiled and lied back in his chair. “It’s normal. He used to live in the ocean of nebulas before. It must feel like he’s back home. Maybe I’ll bring others later.”
“Hm, yes. But not today,” Layla said and cheerfully sat down on Arima’s lap. “For that lap pillow, you’re going to spend the rest of the day with me.”
“There was a price tag to that?”
“Of course, it’s an expensive service.”
“Yeah, right. A service performed while I was asleep, without my consent.”
“As if you hadn’t liked it.”
“…point taken.”
Arima slowly landed on a glittering surface that looked like jewelry melded together. He dusted his black and red velvet coat and looked around. He was actually inside a nebula located in the Mother Reality previously explored by Layla, Evangeline, and Aergia.
Nebulas were planet-sized spheres that drifted endlessly underwater. They had a hollow interior along with an inverted gravitational field. And at its center would always be a miniature star, allowing life to bloom inside.
The one Arima was in was quite a special one. Not only everything around him looked like some kind of priceless material, but even the ‘star’ was made out of crystal and simply released light to illuminate the nebula. Not only that, but its size was also tremendously huge and Arima knew the reason.
He walked toward what seemed to be an incredibly large and long chain of mountains that fully circled the whole nebula. He approached a specifically steep side and sat down against it. If you looked closely, you’d see that it wasn’t stone that made up these mountains and that there were some odd patterns on it.
“Old friend,” a deep voice boomed and made the nebula tremble. “It’s nice to see you again.”
Arima snorted and glanced at his right to see an enormous eye open on the ‘wall’ he was sitting against. The pupil was yellow and slit while the sclera was entirely red. This was the eye of a dragon.
The eye was thousands of meters wide and one would have a headache trying to comprehend how big the entire creature was.
“I already told you to stop calling me that, Asgorath. It’s like you’re putting me on an equal standing. And I’m certainly not as old as you.”
“No matter,” the dragon slightly moved his entire body that could be mistaken for a chain of mountains and shook off the dust and dirt that it had accumulated. Hidden below all of that, there were mirror-like scales that glowed blue from time to time.
“I might be the oldest being in this world but you are an older concept. I’ve met your different versions across Planes so many times since I was born. You will always be my old friend, and the one who saved my life when I was barely capable of walking.”
Arima smiled. “To be honest, I have difficulties recalling all of our encounters. Though I do remember when we first met. Who could have guessed that a weak and rare little lizard would become the Dragon of Dragons one day?”
“Indeed,” Asgorath looked at Arima. “I will be forever thankful for that. So? Why did you visit me? I may not look like it but you woke me up from a ten-thousand-year sleep. I was planning to continue for a few more centuries at least.”
Arima laughed. “Well, I’m sorry about that. What, are you grumpy in the morning?”
The strongest dragon alive huffed. “What do you think?”
“I’ll take that as a ‘I don’t mind as long as it’s for a friend’.”
“That’s a pretty extensive way of interpreting an insinuation.”
“I aim to please,” Arima quipped. “As for my purpose, it’s for this,” he said and pulled out a letter from his coat which he threw toward Asgorath’s eye.
The dragon squinted and opened the letter with magic before projecting the content in bigger letters. He quickly read through the message and mused. “I see… You want me to tell if I know about this?”
“Yeah, even Jorga, Krynox, and Slanderer were stumped. So, I turned to you.”
“Hm, I certainly heard about the things mentioned in this letter. The reason why Jormungand, the Original Devil, and the Will of Existence didn’t know is that this doesn’t concern them. Or to be exact, it goes way above their head.”
“{Above our heads?}” Krynox made himself known and Asgorath evidently heard him as he grunted to answer yes. “{May I know what you mean by this?}”
“Let me see… first, why don’t you tell me how and when you received this letter?”
Arima nodded. “It was two days ago, in my soul realm out of all places.”
***
Arima was sitting in his study. The room was spacious but not overly so. It was scarcely decorated and was filled with all kinds of instruments and documents. There were a few shelves with many books in them recording his research as well as the magics he had developed.
At the moment, Arima’s expression was twitching as he tried to continue writing. But his hand was stuck in place because of a certain reason.
“Uncle, uncle! Let’s play!” A little girl with white hair and cyan eyes was perched on his desk while waving her legs. “Come on, let’s play chess!”
Arima sighed and put down his pen. He took off his glasses and stared at his niece.
“Alice, we played five hours straight yesterday.”
“Yes, but…” She pouted and he sighed again.
“What about Shakti? She can’t play with you?”
Alice shook her head. “Mommy said she was tired today and told me to go find you.”
‘Yeah, right. I bet she just wanted to keep what little pride she had left after those ten consecutive losses you put her through,’ Arima inwardly commented. “You asked Malum?”
“Yes, I played with daddy but then he suddenly stood up after the sixth match and opened a portal with a blank expression. He said ‘I need to kill something real quick. Be right back’ and left.”
“…” Arima groaned. ‘Malum… I guess he just wanted to run away from a seventh loss to his five-year-old daughter, huh? I should just stop mentioning people. She probably scared all of them away. Only Ahura can win against this little monster in chess other than me and she’s not here today. No, wait…’
“Alice, did you ask someone to bring you to Sland?” Arima asked. Sland was the nickname the Slanderer had been given. One primarily decided by Alice incidentally.
“No,” she pouted immediately. “I don’t like to play with uncle Sland. He always brags when he wins.”
‘True,’ Arima inwardly agreed and relented. “Fine, just one game though. You have to go play with Azizos and Arsu after, okay?”
“Yes!” Alice’s expression considerably brightened and she ran toward a chair that she grabbed and put in front of Arima’s desk. She jumped on it and placed the chessboard for them to play. “Black as always?” She asked.
Arima smiled and nodded. When the setup was finished, Alice immediately moved her first pawn and when he was about to do the same, he froze on his tracks.
“Uncle?” Alice tilted her head but he didn’t answer. His eyes narrowed and he put the pawn down.
“Sorry, Alice. I have to do something really fast. Don’t worry, I’ll be back in a minute,” he said and he stood up. “You can take the time to go over your strategies while waiting.”
“Okay,” Allice nodded and Arima patted her head before leaving the room. He put his study in a time lock and walked toward the hall of his mansion. When he arrived, everyone had already gathered.
“Where’s Alice?” Malum asked.
“She’s in my study. She risks nothing there.”
“Good,” Malum nodded and looked toward the entrance.
“Layla, can you see something?” Arima asked.
“No, but, at least, I don’t think there’s anything dangerous coming toward us.”
“I don’t want to sound salty, Layla, but what I’m sensing here is not simple,” Fafnir, still with his small appearance, commented. He was looking around with a weird expression. “Anything that can intrude Arima’s soul like that and surround the mansion in the split of a second is quite a threat in my opinion.”
“…Jorga,” Arima spoke and a voice resounded in everyone’s mind.
“{I’m here. Let me be blunt, I have no idea of what’s going on. I’m looking from outside right now and there’s a sort of sand tornado around the mansion. Just that the sand is black.}”
“Then blow it away. What are you waiting for?” Malum frowned.
“{I can’t. It’s a spectral being. I feel like we’re dealing with a very sophisticated ghost. This tornado seems to have a will but it doesn’t have a presence or a soul…}”
Arima inhaled and formed a seven-layer magic formation in his right hand. He was about to cast it when Layla stopped him.
“Wait, it’ll be gone in a minute. But before that…” She squinted as a shadowy figure abruptly formed inside the hall of the mansion. It was a sort of floating black robe made of what looked like sand. Arima activated Natus to analyze it but got no result.
The creature floated and circled Arima’s group once before dropping something on the ground. It then disappeared as if it had never been there.
“{The tornado is gone,}” Jorga informed them and Arima clicked his tongue. Everyone relaxed and he walked toward what the shadow had dropped after checking it wasn’t something dangerous.
It was a letter. He picked it up and unsurprisingly failed to see any name indicating the sender. He opened it and everyone gathered around him to read.
< We are the World. >
< We are one and all. >
< We have taken a decision. >
< We invite you, Eternal Night. >
< The Dreams welcome you. >
“That’s it?” Fafnir grunted. “The heck is that supposed to mean?”
“It doesn’t look like a code,” Chulainn uttered.
“There’s no way that there’s a literal interpretation to this crap.”
“Who knows.”
Arima rolled his eyes as the caretakers of Kymestuos talked to each other while casually hanging to his shoulders.
“So, what do you think, Arimane?” Shakti spoke and he hummed.
“I don’t know,” he replied and put the letter back into the envelope. He put it inside one of his coat’s pockets and shrugged. “I’ll go ask some people about this later. For now, I have to play a game of chess with your daughter.”
Shakti and Malum smiled bitterly. “Thank you for always dealing with that,” they said at the same time.
“Yeah, me too. You don’t know how thankful I am,” Night added. “I was the last one that she couldn’t beat until a few days ago. I swear she’s improving too fast. I won’t be surprised if her entire magic theory and soul manifestation revolves around chess.”
“True. I can picture her putting people on a giant chessboard and smashing them with pawns,” Karma giggled.
“Well, I’ll go there before she notices the time lock,” Arima said and walked back to his study as if nothing happened.
“Wait, I’ll come with you. I want to see how close she is to beat you,” Layla smiled as she followed him. “I made a bet with Ahura for when you’d lose.”
Arima chuckled bitterly as the two of them left the hall.
“{…these guys have no sense of urgency,}” Jorga sighed. “{Don’t you think so, Apana?}”
The giant whale swimming in the soul ocean cried out in agreement… or maybe just in amusement.
***
“That’s pretty much what happened.”
Asgorath snorted. “You didn’t have to go in detail about how your niece almost beat you in chess for the first time.”
“I tell you, Asgor, she’ll freaking surpass me in a few months,” Arima sighed.
“Well, that would certainly be a feat. But, in any case, I know who the sender is.”
“Do tell.”
“It’s actually written in the letter. ‘The Dreams welcome you’. Old friend, have you ever heard about the Dream World?”
Arima frowned. “Depends. I know of many legends describing something similar. But all of them are a byproduct of the Spiritual Realm in the end.”
“The one I’m referring to is not. The Spiritual Realm, and more specifically, the Spirit Tree only collects tangible thoughts. People’s dreams are too weak and inconsistent. They hold no value for the Tree since they can’t even be translated into thoughts and ideas. But, as you know, all things happen for a reason, and similarly, all things provoke another.”
“Krynox, the reason I said it goes over your head is that you don’t dream. Beings such as you, the Creator, or Jormungand constantly live in the Waking World, you don’t dream.”
“{…but isn’t it still strange that I don’t know about it? I was the Will of Existence until I fused with Arima. How come I never even got wind of something like this?}”
“The Dream World has nothing to do with Existence. Not even the most complex magic can affect it. Within the dreams, everything is possible, nothing is real, and all is true. Magic is like a toy in front of that. In the end, the Dream World only exists when you are dreaming. Just that. It doesn’t exist on a material level. It’s a transient world that only subsists when a condition is respected.”
“I can get behind that,” Arima uttered and pointed at the letter. “But then, who sent this letter? And what is it supposed to convey?”
“The Dream World was created the day when the first being dreamed. Then, as more people were born, more dreams fueled this intangible world and made it stronger. Over time, it gained a will of its own. Just like Krynox over here. When it became capable of taking decisions, it also became capable of preserving dreams and draw energy from it.”
“Then, after some time, the Dream World had accumulated so much power, so many different dreams from so many different people, that it started giving people dreams instead.”
Arima’s eyes widened.
“Think of anything and the Dream World has millions, billions, trillions of dreams for it. And when you dream of something that cannot be labeled, the Dream World creates one for it and spreads it.”
“Wait, are you telling me that…”
“Yes. The Dream World is a maker. When people thought of new but broken concepts in their dreams, the Dream World would gather them together then give that dream back to someone else and continue the cycle indefinitely. Inventions, languages, words, ideas… you can trace their origin back to the Dream World.”
“It’s likely that even magic as a concept existed within the dreams before it was even a thing. Magic circuits? Humans were the inventor; dreams were the tools. You can see it like this; the Dream World gave people the ability to create new things, and the Spiritual Realm then made sure it came to light.”
“Holy shit,” Arima uttered and rubbed his temples. “I never thought about that. Moreover, if it was actually the Dream World that dropped that letter at my doorstep, it means it can influence the real world.”
“Indeed. Although the Dreams will never be powerful enough to overtake the Waking World, they are deeply connected to it and will forever be as long as people continue dreaming. In a sense, to make something occur in the real world, the Dream World has to make people dream of something then make them believe it enough for their cognition to make it real.”
“When that ghost dropped that letter, all of you must have been dragged into a sort of half-awake dream and when you saw that letter drop, the Spiritual Realm made it real. Well, this only worked because you have a great influence on the Spirit Tree, old friend.”
Arima processed the new information with closed eyes and sighed. “Okay. How am I supposed to take this message then?”
“They are welcoming you. I’m not sure what it means as well since I’ve never heard of something like this. But this most likely means you have been acknowledged as a being that should be part of the people’s dreams. This letter is basically a pass card to the Dream World.”
Arima blinked. “How the heck am I supposed to go there?”
Asgorath snorted. “Have you tried sleeping?”
“Ah. Right, I didn’t sleep since I got it. I don’t really need to anymore, so I kinda forgot.”
The God of Dragons cackled. “Just do it. Don’t worry, you don’t risk anything. The Dreams can’t harm you and you are not their enemy. The Nightmare World is though.”
Arima deadpanned. “Seriously? There’s a Nightmare World?”
“Well, isn’t it you who said that different words are created because of how humans see things? Just like death is different than life, a nightmare is the opposite of a dream. They aren’t the same thing.”
Arima hummed and raised his hand. The letter flew back to him and he swiftly put it back in his coat. He stood up and dusted his clothes.
“I see. I guess I’ll just go to bed in that case. Thanks, old friend,” Arima uttered and walked away. “Feel free to visit me when you feel like it. There’s a spell integrated to this nebula. Just trigger it and you’ll end up in my soul realm along with it.”
“Really?” Asgorath was genuinely stunned. “When did you do that?”
“I didn’t. Akoman did it for me,” Arima retorted and his figure faded away.
Asgorath stared at the empty space and glanced at a shadow-like being who had appeared without his knowing.
“…Akoman, the Evil Mind. The leader of the Seven Spirits. I see your title is merited.”
The shadow then took a more concrete form. When it was over, a tall black and red armor was standing in Asgorath’s vision. The armor’s eyes were flickering from white to yellow and a cloud-like trail followed it.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Dragon of Dragons,” Akoman bowed and his armor creaked but he didn’t seem bothered by it. “I can see that my Lord holds you in high esteem.”
Asgorath snorted. “That goes both ways. Thank you for placing the spell. I will use it right away if you don’t mind. After all, if my home follows me, why shouldn’t I?”
Akoman nodded slowly. “I will activate it right away,” he stated and pointed his palm at the center of the nebula. His gauntlet glowed and before Asgorath could realize what was happening, his nebula had already been transported right in the middle of Arima’s soul ocean where Apana was curiously swimming around.
“Impressive work…”
“If you have no more requests, I’ll return to my Lord,” Akoman said and placed a hand on his chest before disappearing.
“Hm, it’s hard to believe he’s only a spirit. What was it again…? Right, Existence. This guy is at the Peak Existence Rank.”
***
As Arima was heading toward the inner garden of his mansion, he smiled when he sensed a nebula entering his soul. He shortly reached his destination and admired the artificial sun Loren had made.
He looked around and had to admit this garden was most likely the most beautiful he had ever seen. He walked for a few minutes and reached a wooden bridge leading to a small island in the middle of a large lake.
In the center of that piece of terrain was a legendary tree. The one they called Yggdrasil and under which lived the serpent dragon Nidhogg.
Arima went toward it and placed his hand on the trunk before closing his eyes. The tree’s leaves shined and the sky changed from day to night. He sat down against the trunk and closed his eyes.
“Well, let’s sleep then,” he whispered and immediately shut down his mind.
***
Arima sighed as he observed his surroundings. He sounded almost exasperated.
“Listen; I’ve been in empty infinite spaces too many times in my life. Especially white spaces that go as far as the eye can see. Can’t you, I don’t know, change the color at least?”
When he said that, the white instantly turned into pink.
“…”
“{Nice color,}” Krynox kidded.
“…” Arima remained silent though. “…You know what? I won’t complain. Definitely not what I expected but I can roll with it. It’s better than white. I just hope that this experience won’t make me disgusted of pink in the future.”
As he ranted, a humanoid silhouette made itself known in front of him. He scowled at it and sat down cross-legged on the ground.
“Go on with it. Why was I invited here?”
The silhouette tilted its head then suddenly became corporeal. A beautiful woman wearing a purple dress took its place. Her hair was ashy blond and unnaturally long as it touched the ground. She approached Arima and gracefully sat down on her knees (i.e. seiza).
“Greetings, Eternal Night.”
“Greetings, girl I don’t know.”
She tilted her head. “Are you hinting us to introduce ourselves?”
Arima stared at her blankly. “Oh, I see. Sadly, it seems the Will of the Dream World understands sarcasm but is bad at returning it.”
She blinked in confusion. “You know who we are?”
Arima almost burst out laughing. “Okay, let’s get back on track. Call me Arima, okay? How should I call you?”
“We have no name. You are the first person we’ve ever talked to since we were born.”
“Well… that’s some pressure you’re putting on me. I’ll call you Breksta if you don’t mind.”
“Breksta?”
“Yes, the goddess of twilight and dreams.”
“Breksta…” she whispered and her golden eyes twinkled. “We like it.”
“I’m glad you do,” Arima smiled. “Now, Breksta, tell me why you decided to reach out to me.”
She nodded with a more serious expression and looked at Arima in the eyes. “The Dream World has been weakening for the last few millennia. We beckoned you because we’re seeking your aid.”
Arima frowned. This was way more serious than he thought. “What do you mean by that? How is it weakening?”
“As time passes, fewer and fewer people dream. The young ones are slowly becoming the only roamers of the Dream World nowadays. It feels… like we are slowly being forgotten… they don’t need us anymore.”
“They don’t need you?” Arima mused. “Well, if we take humanity as an example, what you’re saying may have some truth to it. A long time ago, humans could only dream of what they could become, what they could accomplish. Now, they’re starting to take their fate into their own hands and employ a more… let’s say, practical approach. They don’t dream anymore, because most of them know that it’s not a reality that they can one day attain.”
Breksta lowered her head with a sunken expression. “You are correct. Also, with the apparition of Pandora’s Spawn, the nightmares have become more powerful across realities. At this rate, the dreams will be engulfed. We don’t know what to do anymore… That’s why, we’ve requested your help, you who now reigns over Pandora’s Spawn.”
“You mean the Téra?” Arima asked and she nodded. “Hm, this is something I never expected to be honest. I mean, how could I have known the Téra would harm dreams? The reason I decided to not destroy the Téra in the first place was that they were useful and could help me gather information, as well as keep the OWLs in check. I can’t destroy them now as how things stand. I’m sorry, but I don’t know what I can do to help you.”
Breksta shook her head. “You do not need to apologize to us. Even without Pandora’s Spawn, the world was already forsaking us bit by bit.”
“In that case, why did you think I could help you? Do you perhaps have an idea of how I can do it?”
In response, Breksta pursed her lips and looked away. Arima raised an eyebrow and tried to meet her eyes by tilting to the side, but she almost made a full 180° turn to avoid him.
“Okay… Breksta, admit it. You brought me here without a plan.”
“…yes,” she replied weakly. “We hoped that Eternal Night would be able to save us.”
Arima sighed when he saw her defeated look. ‘Goddamn, does this girl even realize how powerful her persuasion skills are? Look at this, how can I say no?’
“{You’d be a prick if you refused to help. Look at the poor girl, she’s scared and desperate.}”
“{Shut up, don’t guilt-trap me!}” Arima shouted at Krynox inwardly and calmly looked at Breksta after a few seconds of thought.
“All right,” he raised his voice and she looked back. “I will try at least. I have no idea what kind of consequence your disappearance would have on this world. But from Asgorath’s words, I’d say it’s not a good idea to let the Nightmare World take dominance considering how it would affect the Spirit Tree…”
“So, you’ll help us?!” Breksta immediately stood up and gazed at Arima expectedly.
Arima shrugged and casually stood up as well. “Sure.” The moment he said that, Breksta jumped on him and almost choked him with a hug. “Hey! Calm down!”
“Ah, sorry,” she hastily stepped back and bowed. “Thank you.”
“Damn you’re strong…” Arima grumbled. “Wait,” he suddenly realized something. He extended his hand and tried to summon a basic spell but failed miserably. He looked at his hand and hummed.
“I see, so that’s what he meant when he said that magic was just a toy here,” he muttered and attempted something else while Breksta watched him puzzled. He closed his eyes and after a moment, a magic circle manifested around him. “I got it. This is a dream, so whatever exists here solely depends on my cognition. I wonder…” His eyes widened. “Breksta.”
“Yes?”
“I have an idea,” he declared. “But for that, I need to somehow take you out of this place.”
“Take me out?” She put a hand on her chin. “But… I can’t leave this place.”
“Yeah, well, probably not alone. Let’s see, you’re also a ‘Will’, like Krynox, but I can’t fuse with you as I did with him. You’re literally a dream. I have absolutely no reading on you with Natus and I thus have no idea how I should interact with you on a material level and bring you to the Waking World…”
“But,” Arima added and his irises doubled in number. They glowed and a figure formed behind him. “Come, Mithandruj.”
“Yes, My Lord,” a man wearing a black suit with silver chain-like ornaments answered the call. His eyes were almost shaped like crescents and he sported a crooked grin as he bowed with a hand on his heart. “What can I assist you with?”
“I want you to help me transform Breksta into a phantom while maintaining her connection to the Dream World.”
“Hm,” Mithandruj closed his eyes and tapped on his forehead a few times before nodding. “I shall not disappoint you. Since you have called me, I assume you have decided to ‘lie’ to make it happen.”
“Precisely.”
“Lie?” Breksta inquired. “To whom?”
Arima grinned. “The World. Mithandruj is the Evil Spirit of dishonesty and lies. His entire existence is based around these concepts and so is his ability. He’s a master of illusions, hypnosis, manipulation, concealment, and of course, a master at bending the truth. In this case, we’re going to take that to a whole new level. We’re gonna force the World to acknowledge you as a being of flesh and blood. We’re going to ‘lie’ and say that ‘Breksta’ has always existed within the Waking World.”
“We… are not sure we follow,” she replied.
“We’re going to fabricate a place for you on the other side. One that you can use to go back and forth between the worlds.”
“We… understand?” She said and Arima snickered.
“I will leave for now but Mithandruj will be staying. He needs to stay here and construct a magic formation that will carry the lie we want to create. For that, we absolutely need this dream to last in order to have an anchor. That’s why; Mithandruj will essentially be dreaming in my place while I finish preparing things on the other side,” Arima said. “Hopefully, I’ll finish it in a few hours, at worst a day or two.”
“Thank you, I’ll be waiting then,” Breksta stated.
“I will do my utmost, My Lord.”
Arima nodded at the two and closed his eyes. He concentrated on his mind and gradually cut the connection with the dream.
***
When he opened his eyes again, it was Layla’s smile illuminated by the moonlight that welcomed him. Taking into account the view, he immediately realized that she was giving him a lap pillow.
“Well… now I really don’t want to wake up. Feels nice,” he uttered shamelessly and Layla giggled.
“I heard from Asgorath that you went to the Dream World. Did it go well?” She asked.
“Honestly? It was a mess. And my eyes are still seeing pink on top of that.”
“Pink?”
“Shortly said, the Dreams’ Will has an eccentric color preference,” Arima said and sighed. “For how long have I been sleeping on your lap though?”
“An hour or so. I found you peacefully sleeping here and I couldn’t help myself,” she said and shrugged. She looked at Arima for a moment before smiling. She then leaned toward him before pressing her lips against his. He smiled inwardly and followed her lead. After five seconds, they parted and Layla nodded in satisfaction.
“Now this is what I call a romantic moment. We need to have more of these.”
Arima chuckled and sat up. He combed his hair with his hand and stood up. “Well, although I wouldn’t mind staying like that a bit longer, I have work to do. I can’t slack off while Mithandruj is doing his best over there.”
“Want some help?”
“Nah, it’s all right. I’m the only one who can do this since the Evil Spirits only answer to me anyway,” he said and started heading toward the exit. “See you later.”
“Sure. Also, don’t forget that I also want a child soon,” she nonchalantly added and Arima almost tripped. He smiled wryly and waved his hand at her before teleporting out of the mansion.
From the entrance of the garden, three people were sticking their heads to watch what was happening. Alice turned toward her parents when Arima left.
“Daddy, Mommy, what were uncle and aunty doing?”
Malum and Shakti looked at each other. The latter smiled. “Well, bonding is one way of saying it, I guess.”
“Hmm, then what did aunty mean by having a child? She’ll get a baby? How?”
Malum cleared his throat. “I’ll tell you when you’re older.”
“Older? Then you’ll tell me tomorrow? I’ll be older tomorrow!”
“Ugh, our daughter is already playing with words at five. I blame that on Arima,” Malum grumbled and Shakti giggled.
***
Arima chose a remote area of his soul manifestation and began to lay out a few landmarks for his magic formation. He noticed at the same time that Asgorath’s nebula could be seen through the water. It was an incredibly massive one that resembled a giant glass sphere and reflected the light of everything around it.
He also passively saw how Apana played around with it like an oversized ball.
“{Old friend, please make it stop. I’m getting sick.}”
This ultimately led to Asgorath contacting Arima because of it.
“{Come on, Asgor. It’s a good change for you. You need to exercise those old bones of yours. How long has it even been since you last deployed your wings?}”
“{A few… tens of thousands of years?}”
“{See my point?}”
“{It isn’t like I need to move. I get in touch with the rest of the world through my familiars at all times. And I have billions of them active, across the five Mother Realities.}”
“{You’re trying to deviate the main point of this conversation, Asgor.}”
“{…All right. I’ll let this oversized whale treat my home like a play ball for now.}”
“{Hey, be nice to Apana. He’s the most well-behaved whale you can find.}”
As Arima talked with Asgorath, he quickly progressed on his work. His glasses were on and Natus was invoked at full capacity through his four irises. The magic circle he was drawing, meant to act as the center of the formation, was a sort of bridge that would connect his dream to the Waking World through simple thought projection. Then, he would extract Mithandruj’s formation from it and throw it into the River of Time, the river that flowed under the Spirit Tree.
“If everything goes right, Breksta should then be able to come here…” Arima mumbled. He took around four hours to finish everything.
He placed himself in the center of the formation and sat down, meditating. He stayed still for a few minutes before his aura suddenly surged. The necklace around his neck started shaking and the skull of the cross started cackling.
Arima had reduced the seal to around 50% in one go. He needed that much at least to be able to form a path to a world that is completely out of the material realm. He required enough energy to break through space, time, imagination, dreams, and whatever else. Even Arima himself didn’t know how the connection would be made. He just had to use Mithandruj’s anchor to do it in the end.
After a moment, when he felt that the connection with Mithandruj was stable enough, Arima started pouring as much mana as he could to empower it.
At this point, his entire soul realm was shaking due to the sheer pressure of his power. Everyone back at the mansion obviously felt it but simply ignored it since there was no way Arima’s soul realm could even be damaged by this.
At some point, Arima inhaled and the magic formation below shrunk before releasing countless runic circles around him. Each circle produced a ray of light that linked with another to ultimately form a geometric pattern.
In the center of it, a figure was slowly forming and Arima could already feel the Waking World rejecting it. The elements went out of control and he was forced to decrease the potency of the seal again.
Arima grunted. “{Mithandruj, now}”
“{Yes, My Lord.}”
The Evil Spirit promptly shared the formation he had been preparing and Arima incorporated it to his own. After that, everything suddenly calmed down. The wind stopped blowing, the earthquakes were gone, and the massive waves on the soul ocean fell. Everything was back to normal in an instant.
Arima sighed in relief and clenched his necklace. The seal was restored right away. He cracked his neck and looked at the fading magic circles. In the middle of these dispersing particles, a woman in a purple dress was falling.
He took a single step and instantly appeared below her before she could hit the ground. He caught her and gently put her on the ground whilst holding her back.
She groaned and covered her eyes as she tried to open them. “It… worked?” She asked and Arima snickered.
“It worked all right.”
“Indeed,” Mithandruj said as he materialized near them. “Now, I believe My Lord doesn’t have any more orders for me. I shall take my leave,” he said and bowed before vanishing.
Meanwhile, Breksta managed to sit up as her eyes slowly got used to the light that she had never experienced before. She first looked at her hands then gaped as she saw her surroundings.
“This is… gorgeous,” she said absentmindedly.
Arima smiled and put a lollipop in his mouth. He extended his hand and helped her stand up.
“I appreciate the compliment. This place is my soul after all,” he said as Breksta gawked at the scenery. “Anyway, let’s move on. You’re here to save the Dream World, remember? Not sight-seeing.”
“Oh, yes!” She suddenly recalled the purpose of this whole operation. “So, what should we do now?”
“Simple,” Arima uttered and casually waved his hand downward. Then, from the depths of the soul ocean, a black cross surfaced and crashed in front of him and Breksta.
The latter blinked in surprise. “This… we saw it in the dreams.”
“Probably,” Arima shrugged. “I bet they’re even in nightmares.”
“But… what should we do with it?”
“Well, you see, my Crosses’ presence across the Existence is only second to magic circuits. In other words, you can pretty much have access to any place imaginable with them. What I want you to do is harmonize with this one and become part of their network.”
“We don’t understand. How is it going to save us?”
“What do you think?”
Breksta tilted her head and pondered. “Perhaps… you are asking us to spread our dreams with the Kind Demon’s Crosses?”
“Correct.”
“But we are not sure we can do it. We give people something to dream, but we are not capable of forcing them to have one.”
“Who said you were going to force them?” Arima snorted and knocked on the Cross. “This thing over here is my most complete magic and most likely the backbone of what I represent as the God of Eternal Night. They are more than capable of infiltrating people’s minds. You are just going to give them a dream, like you always do, and my Crosses will do the rest. They will take the dream and alter the people’s cognition so that they can experience it.”
“We… understand,” Breksta said and Arima smiled.
“All right then. Are you ready to do it?”
“Yes.”
“In that case, go ahead. Place your hand on the Cross and pray for its help, I’ll repay your previous invitation in kind and let you in the network.”
Breksta nodded and walked toward the Cross. She put one hand over her chest and closed her eyes before slowly reaching for the Cross.
The moment her fingers touched the wood, the skull on the cross unsealed its jaw. It was about to laugh but stopped when Arima glared at it. It awkwardly closed its mouth and unusually pink flames shrouded it instead.
The chains coiled around the Cross loosened and gradually dispersed into particles that gathered around Breksta. After that, the branches of the cross shrunk until they couldn’t be seen with the naked eye anymore. All that was left in the end was the blazing skull. The teeth’s rattle was heard as it literally ate the fire around it before flying toward Breksta and fusing with her.
When it was over, she opened her eyes again and the light particles around her vanished. Her pupils were dilated and her expression was unreadable. She looked at her own hands in awe.
“It’s nice, isn’t it?” Arima pulled her out of her thoughts.
“We feel like… everything is available to us, whatever it may be.”
Arima snickered and snapped his fingers. The both of them were immediately teleported inside the mansion. They reappeared in the middle of a spacious bedroom. It was very well furnished but without going over the top. And in the center of the room stood a strange crystal table on which you could the image of several constellations.
“This room is yours from now on,” Arima stared and Breksta looked at him in shock.
“This…? For me? Why?”
Arima chuckled and walked toward the table. “I asked Layla to prepare it for you earlier while I was making the magic formation,” he said and slid his finger on the crystal. The image of the constellations shifted to a view of the Earth.
Arima tapped twice on it and Breksta hesitatingly stood at the opposite side of the table. The image of the planet turned into a map and Arima casually picked a random location. It zoomed again and this time, one would be able to see dots of light moving around.
“These dots are conscious people,” Arima commented and moved the map until he found a dark blue dot. “And when they are of this color, it means they’re asleep. Try tapping it with your finger.”
Breksta followed his instructions and slowly pressed on the dot. Instantly, information about that particular person entered her mind and she knew exactly what dream giving, which she did almost unconsciously.
She pulled her hand back in surprise. “What just happened?”
“A little something, I made. This thing over here is an interactive map of the entire Existence in all its splendor. It’s directly connected to my Crosses’ network and you can give people’s dreams from here. I’m sure you can do it easily by yourself, and way faster, but I thought I might as well make it fun for you.”
Breksta was speechless. “Can I… really stay?”
“Of course,” Arima replied. “The more the merrier. There are already many people living here, what’s wrong with adding someone new? On top of that, I think you deserve it. You have helped humanity in so many ways, all alone. Don’t you think it’s time you get some well-deserved enjoyment and happiness for all your deeds?”
Breksta’s eyes were already watering and she had to do her best to not start crying. She rubbed her eyes once and smiled. “Thank you, Arima.”
He grinned. “No problem.”
***
When Arima finished giving his new tenant a tour of the mansion and introducing her to everyone else, he returned to his study and was contacted by Asgorath again.
“{That was kind of you, old friend. The poor girl must have lived in solitude for a long time.}”
Arima snorted. “{Who do you think you’re talking to? I’m the Kind Demon, remember?}”
“{Indeed. So, what you are going to do about the Nightmare World?}”
“{No idea. For now, I’ll have Mithandruj look into it. We’ll see in the future if we get any results. If not, I’m sure Breksta will inform us if something dangerous happens.}”
“{I see. Hmm…? Huh?! Wait!}”
Arima cut off the link as he heard the happy cry of a whale.
“Apana’s having fun,” Layla commented as she sat on Arima’s desk.
He smiled and lied back in his chair. “It’s normal. He used to live in the ocean of nebulas before. It must feel like he’s back home. Maybe I’ll bring others later.”
“Hm, yes. But not today,” Layla said and cheerfully sat down on Arima’s lap. “For that lap pillow, you’re going to spend the rest of the day with me.”
“There was a price tag to that?”
“Of course, it’s an expensive service.”
“Yeah, right. A service performed while I was asleep, without my consent.”
“As if you hadn’t liked it.”
“…point taken.”
