Tear startled. "Oh, sorry. That was a long time ago. I had trouble remembering." She relaxed. "We were just there to explore. We found a village, but it was destroyed by a real nasty monster, so we left and came here."
There was something off about her story, but Ellen couldn't tell what exactly, not while her memory was so hazy. It didn't help that all of her attempts to remember the past had ended with a terrible pain shooting through her head.
She handed her empty plate to Tear then pulled a blanket over herself. "I'm really tired."
"I'll leave you alone for now," Tear said. "Your friends wanted to have a big dinner tonight, but I'll tell them to hold off until you're feeling better."
Ellen closed her eyes, but sleep didn't come easily. There were too many questions bouncing around inside her head. What exactly was she sick with? She'd never heard of an illness that went after someone's memory. Whatever it was did not seem to be contagious, because she was the only one affected by it.
In the morning she once again woke up to the sound of someone pounding on her door. She climbed out of bed and went out to meet them.
It was Brendon again. He stood beaming at her.
"Who did you find this time?" Ellen asked.
"Nobody," Brendon said. "They actually found us, and they're eager to see you again."
Ellen's whole body tensed up. Now that she'd met Ludendi, Barry and Trevor again, they could only refer to one group, but there was no way that group had found her, not right after she'd just been reunited with her friends.
"Look," Brendon said, pointing to the forest in the distance. "Here they come now."
Ellen looked. The sight before her caused her mouth to hang open in awe.
A group of nine was marching towards her from the forest, led forward by a man in his fifties with a wispy gray mustache.
That was her guardian, Sebastian, the man who'd acted as her father for as long as she could remember, and his band of monster hunting friends. She hadn't seen them in months, maybe longer.
"There's no way," Ellen said, her voice tiny. "This can't be happening."
"It's real," Brendon said. "We ran into them on our way back. They told us they've been searching for you for a couple months now." He gave Ellen a shove forward. "Go over there and meet them."
Ellen stumbled forward. "This can't be happening," she mumbled to herself. "Is this real, or am I still dreaming?" First she'd met her old friends again, and now she was about to meet her guardian again too. The past two days had to have been the luckiest days she'd ever experienced.
She froze. She'd never been a lucky person. Why had her fortune changed now all of a sudden? It wasn't just the reunion of all her friends, her safe and peaceful village was suspect as well. Monsters normally went out of their way to ravage all traces of civilization. Why had they spared her home for so long? To top it all off, there was also the mysterious sickness that affected her and her alone, but only when she was trying to remember her past.
Her guardian was so close now she could see him smiling. She wanted to lunge at him and hug him until he turned blue, but she couldn't bring herself to move.
"This is fake!" Ellen said firmly. There was a lot she didn't understand about the world, but she knew one thing for certain: it would never be this kind to her. "The village, this field, the forest... it's all fake! And you-" She glared at her guardian, who despite her outburst, continued to smile at her. "You-" Her heart wrenched. She hated what she was about to say, but it had to be done. "You're not real!"
A blinding white light invaded her vision. It consumed the ground beneath her feet, the sky above her head and everything in between. It also filled her body with a numbness so intense she couldn't tell if she was still standing upright or if she'd fallen flat on her face.
The numbness soon faded. Ellen opened her eyes to find herself laying on the ground inside an expansive underground chamber.
Chapter 15
It had all been a dream, Ellen realized. A very peaceful dream, but a dream none-the-less.
She stood up. Her body was so sore it hurt to move. She had to have been asleep for several hours.
Alice was laying beside her, her eyes closed and a pleasant smile on her face, and Brendon, L.L., Tear and Sycamore were just ahead. The four of them were asleep as well.
Ellen glanced at the giant yellow stone sticking out of the ground near the center of the chamber and scowled. That thing had put her and her friends to sleep. If she hadn't realized she was dreaming, she would've died inside this chamber. Her friends might still die if she couldn't find a way to wake them up.
They might wake up on their own. If she could do it then there was no reason they couldn't as well. But then again, she had something they might not: an intolerance for anything good or pleasant.
She felt utterly pathetic. In her dream she'd finally experienced a peaceful life, and her first reaction was to doubt everything. How had she become so jaded? Was there a way to turn things around, or was this the course she'd follow for the rest of her life?
Tears dripped down her face and onto her tunic. Why was she crying? She didn't remember starting. It was probably because the memory of the hug she'd shared with Ludendi, Barry and Trevor was still fresh in her memory, reminding her of times long past.
"I'm going to find you," Ellen said to no one in particular.
She wiped her face dry with her sleeves then turned to Alice. If Alice was anything like her, and she was, she'd probably be the easiest to reach. But then again, she'd promised Tear she would rescue her if she ever succumbed to the sickness plaguing this dimension, and right now that sickness, or rather, the power the mysterious was emitting, had her trapped inside a dream.
Ellen glanced at Tear, then Alice, then Tear again. She couldn't decide who to help first, but after several indecisive moments, she chose Tear. She left her knife and buckler on the ground and ran to Tear's side.
How exactly she was going to wake Tear from her dream was still a mystery to her, but she had to do something before everyone succumbed to hunger or thirst.
She dropped to her knees beside Tear. "Tear," she said cautiously, unsure if her voice would reach her. "You're in a dream. You need to wake up."
Nothing happened.
"Wake up!" she shouted, but the results were the same.
Ellen reached down and grabbed Tear's shoulders. She was just about to call out her name when the same white light that had invaded her vision twice before appeared again.
It was different this time. Not only was it dimmer, there was no numbing effect. But still it felt as if a part of her was being pulled off to a far away place.
The light soon faded, and Ellen found herself standing atop a twisted labyrinth of crumbling platforms. They lurched out in every direction, spiraled up and down at angles that were often too steep to traverse, ended abruptly, and occasionally overlapped or even crashed into each other. The sky above was black with decay, and the ground, if it existed, was so far beneath her she couldn't see any trace of it. The platforms were held up by pillars of dark stone so narrow they looked like they might snap any second now.
Ellen shuddered. She knew this place, it was the Brazen Dimension; the dark, miserable hole that'd spent six straight weeks torturing her. What sort of malevolent force had brought her back here?
"How did you get over there?"
Ellen turned around. Tear stood nearby, her bow in hand. She was panting hard and had splotches of dried blood on her cheeks.
"We've been resting for a while," Tear said. "Should we get back to work now?"
"Work on what?" Ellen blurted out, more bitterly than she had intended. While she'd come to terms with everything this dimension had put her through, that didn't mean she wanted to visit it again. "This is a dream! You're trapped in a dream! I was too, but I snapped out of it and now you need to do the same!"
Tear eyed her cautiously. "Um... maybe we should start looking for a place to sleep. I don't think you're feeling well."
She wasn't sick, and hearing Tear once again insist that she was irked her more than it should have. "You've never been to the Brazen Dimension," Ellen snapped. "I came here by myself. Brendon and Lindsey followed me, but you never—how do you even know what this place looks like?"
Tear moved to the edge of the dusky platform and peered over the side. "You should lower your voice. There are monsters everywhere. They're going to find us if you keep shouting."
Another bitter remark was right on the tip of her tongue, but Ellen grit her teeth and kept quiet. In her own dream, she'd been missing large chunks of her memory. Tear was probably in a similar state, and she couldn't fault her for that.
"Why did you come here?" Ellen asked plainly.
Tear smiled. "Didn't I tell you already? I wanted to help you!"
Ellen's heart became so warm it felt like it might melt. While she'd been dreaming about a quiet life with her friends, Tear was dreaming about helping her through one of the worst parts of her life.
But that didn't explain how Tear knew about the Brazen Dimension's appearance. "How did you get here?" Ellen asked.
"Don't you remember?" Tear asked, surprised. "We found that really run-down village, then we entered a strange black rift together. Cereth went in right before us, and Brendon and L.L. chased after us. They tried to stop you, and, well... I think you should've listened to them, but it's a little late now."
Ellen suddenly felt very weary, and very small. Not only did the mysterious stone have the power to block off memories, it could also take memories from one person and give them to someone else, adding in minor altercations along the way. What exactly was the stone, and why was it doing all of this?
"But if I hadn't come here," Ellen said, "I never would've touched the Pillar of Immortality, Alice never would've been created, and she never would've opened a rift to Amadeo's castle, which is where we first met."
Tear's eyes opened wide with fright. "That's, um... No, that's... I don't-"
She dropped her bow and clenched her head with both hands.
"My head hurts so much right now," Tear whimpered. "Why is this happening?"
"None of this is real," Ellen said sternly. "You're in a dream. Everyone is, except for me. I was so... well, jaded that I managed to break free."
For a moment she expected the Brazen Dimension to vanish in a bright white light, but much to her dismay, nothing happened.
Tear relaxed her hands. "You are pretty jaded," she agreed, then she smiled. "Don't worry, though. I'm here to help you. There's no way this place can stop us while we're together." She scooped up her bow and took off running. "Let's go, Ellen!"
Ellen stayed back, frowning. So much for Tear being easy to reach. Maybe she'd have better luck with someone else.
For a moment she considered shoving Tear off the platform and into the dark void below. This was just a dream, so the fall wouldn't kill her. If anything it might startle her awake.
She took a step forward then froze. The white light was coming now, albeit slowly, and Tear didn't seem fazed by it at all.
Ellen opened her eyes and sat upright. She was back in the underground chamber. Tear and the others continued to lay sleeping on the ground.
At least she had free passage in and out of everyone's dreams. The mysterious stone might not have her best interests in mind, but it was not completely malevolent.
The source of the meaty, pulpy, pounding sounds echoing around the chamber was another story. The commotion seemed to be coming from the glowing chasm near the back of the chamber.
But the sounds were faint, unlike the tapping, shuffling noises racing towards her from behind.
A dark gray, nearly black creature charged out of one of the other entrances to the underground chamber, of which there were dozens, set its sights on Ellen then rushed forward. It had a long body, supported by twelve stubby little legs, with a vaguely human shaped torso sticking up out of the middle. Its arms were human shaped as well, and with them it wielded two dusky axes. Instead of a face it simply had one giant, curved beak. Its whole body was wrapped with metallic strips of metal that looked a lot like bandages.
Fortunately the monster had not brought company. None that she could see, anyway.
Ellen fetched her knife and her buckler then ran forward to meet the monster. She had to kill it quick. Her friends were all still trapped in their dreams and she didn't have any time to waste.
Violet energy gathered around the monster. It slashed its axes at her as she approached. Two magic axes appeared before it and rocketed towards her.
She summoned her shield, repelled the magic weapons away then pressed forward again.
But she couldn't even make it two steps before two more axes came for her head. She stopped, summoned her shield again and repelled them both.
The monster seemed to be learning fast, or maybe this was just another continuation of her bad luck streak. Rather than hurl axes two at a time, it started casting them one after the other. There was so little downtime between each attack Ellen had no choice but to stay put and keep her shield up.
She wanted to frown. The mysterious had no trouble putting her and her friends to sleep, so why didn't it affect this monster as well? Maybe the monster had managed to escape its dream, or maybe it and the stone had been created by the same source, which was why they didn't mind each other's company.
The more she pondered the possibilities the more her head started to spin.
The monster continued casting axes at her one at a time, creeping forward as it attacked. In a few seconds it would be close enough to take a swing at her. There was a chance she could slip away from it while it wound up an attack, but after everything that had happened so far, she was not in a risk taking mood.
That left her with one option. Ellen dropped her shield and raised her buckler to the stream of axes. The first hit forced her buckler into her body, and the next one knocked her backwards to the ground.
Her whole body, especially her arm, ached, but she'd escaped for now. She scurried out from beneath the stream of incoming axes, got back onto her feet and took off running.
The monster continued hurling its magic axes at her, but it couldn't lead it shots at all. Ellen ran in a wide circle around it, and thanks to the monster's stubby, inflexible legs, she was soon behind it.
Ellen charged at the monster's backside and started hacking into it with her knife. It had no veins or other vulnerable bits, so she simply aimed to make as many cuts as possible.
Its skin was rugged and tough, but her knife handled it with ease. Each cut set loose a black stream of liquid so viscous she had trouble believing it was blood, but very rarely did anything involving monsters make sense.
The monster repeatedly tried kicking at her with its hindmost set of legs, but they were so stubby and spaced so far apart she had no trouble avoiding them.
Once the monster's backside had been thoroughly butchered, she backed away and waited. The monster was bleeding profusely. It would keel over any moment now.
It kept trying to kick her even after she'd moved away. The extraneous movements caused its wounds to open up even more. Soon its movements started to slow, then it collapsed sideways into a pool of its own blood and lie still.
Ellen breathed a sigh of relief. The monster was dead now, and none of its friends had found their way into the chamber. Not yet, anyway, but her battle had caused a ton of commotion and she had no doubt there was something bigger and worse on its way down, or perhaps, if the source of the pulpy pounding sounds was lurking within the chasm as she'd assumed, on its way up.
Chapter 16
Ellen dropped to her knees beside Brendon. Out of all of her friends, he was the one she'd known the longest. That would make him easy to reach, or so she hoped.
She grabbed Brendon's shoulders. The bright white light took over her vision again. Once it faded, she was standing before a field of grass several miles wide. Far off in the distance loomed an eerie forest she rem
embered all too well. It covered the entire horizon.
"Since you're here, you might as well give me a hand."
Ellen turned around. Brendon stood behind her, his great axe in hand. Unlike the real one, which was riddled with cracks and dents, this one looked perfectly pristine.
Behind Brendon sat the entrance to the Monad Fortress: a massive archway made of gray stones. It towered a hundred feet into the air. The wall surrounding the fortress was just as tall, and like Brendon's axe, it too was in perfect shape.
Ellen looked passed Brendon and peered inside the fortress. The courtyard was just ahead. Lush green grass covered the whole area, exactly like she remembered, and dozens of people wandered about merrily, completely unaware of the fate that had befallen them.
She smiled. This was all just a dream, but it still felt good to see her old home again.
"Your dreams are really predictable," she told Brendon.
Brendon eyed her. "What does that mean?"
Something told her it wouldn't make much of a difference, but Ellen explained the situation anyway. She told him first about how the Monad Fortress had been destroyed, then explained how their whole group had been put to sleep by a mysterious stone they'd found inside an underground chamber.
"You sound pretty confident about all of this," Brendon said afterwards. He didn't say anything else. He simply watched her, occasionally giving his beard a thoughtful tug.
Ellen perked up. She'd failed to reach him, but he did seem willing to listen. "How long ago did we meet?"
Brendon answered with a long "Hmm".
"You're always worrying about how old you are," Ellen said, "but I know you're still healthy enough to remember when we met."
"I do worry about my age a lot," Brendon said with a chuckle. "But I can't answer your question, because this is the first time I've ever seen you."
Anger swelled up inside Ellen's chest. Had Brendon really dreamed up a world without her in it? She had put him through a lot, but she'd never done anything bad enough to deserve being written out of his life.
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