Her buckler had somehow followed her into this dream. She slid it off her arm then threw it at his head. Brendon tried to raise a hand to block it but he couldn't move fast enough. The buckler hit his left temple and bounced off.
"How could you do something like that?" Ellen complained. "Did you erase Tear and Alice and Sycamore from your memory as well? And all of my other friends? You helped our Fortress Brigade team a lot. We might not have survived if it wasn't for you."
A stream of blood trickled down Brendon's forehead. Ellen didn't care. This was all a dream and he'd be back to normal once he woke up. If he woke up.
"I thought you said these dreams of ours were supposed to be pleasant," Brendon grumbled. "There's nothing pleasant about having a little girl like you scream at me." He picked her buckler up off the ground and handed it back to her. "You should hang on to that. You might need it soon."
Something powerful started stomping around in the distance. Ellen took her buckler back then turned around.
The monster that'd destroyed the Monad Fortress was back. Its front section, which rose as high as the fortress's outer walls, had just left the Primeval Forest. It looked like a giant centipede. Its body was as long as the fortress was wide. Hundreds of hoofed feet carried it forward, tearing up the grassy plains with each step. It had four bulky arms, two of which wielded massive scimitars. The third carried a giant twisted hammer and the fourth a spear. Its face looked just as deranged as she remembered. It had two dim red eyes and two long, black tusks sticking out the front.
Ellen shuddered. This was all just a dream, but that monster was still the largest and possibly the most deadly monster she'd ever personally encountered.
"Don't worry so much," Brendon said with a chuckle. "I've fought bigger monsters and won."
"No you haven't," Ellen snapped. "Maybe in your dreams, but not in the real world."
Brendon ignored her. Ellen hoped he'd dreamed up a new power for himself, because his fantasy Monad Fortress was about to suffer the same fate as the real one.
The colossal monster headed straight for Brendon, slowing down as it closed in on him then stopping once it was close enough to strike. Then it raised its weapons into the air above its head. Brendon responded by raising his axe.
Violet energy surged through the area. Two living weapons, two giant axes made up of hundreds of smaller axes, appeared, one on each side of the colossal monster's head.
"You can do anything you want in this dream," Ellen said, not feeling the least bit impressed despite the power she was witnessing. "Is that the best you can do?"
Brendon smiled. "Hold onto your trousers, and try not to make a mess in them when you see my real power."
More energy swelled up around Brendon. His face tightened up and became red. Veins all over his neck bulged out.
"If you overexert yourself and collapse again," Ellen warned, "I'm not going to save you."
But Brendon soon relaxed. Then dozens of living weapons appeared. There was almost as many of them as the monster had legs. They showed up all along the length of its body.
The colossal monster lowered its weapons and started recoiling away, but with so many weapons surrounding it there was no way for it to escape.
Brendon's weapons attacked. Some hacked into the monster's body, launching splatters of green blood and shredded innards into the air, while others went after its legs, severing them with one quick swipe. The monster's arms didn't fare any better. All four had been hacked off in a heartbeat.
The battle ended in under a minute. The colossal monster collapsed onto the grassy plains, its long body butchered into dozens of smaller chunks, then all of Brendon's weapons faded into the air.
Too bad the real monster hadn't gone down that easily. It was probably still trampling on the ruins of the Monad Fortress, or maybe it had left to destroy someone else's home.
"That isn't how this happened," Ellen said. "That monster smashed through the wall and attacked us. I opened a rift for us to escape through, but Lindsey made us stay because she wanted revenge. One of my friends-" Her eyes were damp, she realized. She wiped the tears away, then added: "One of my friends died back then. We weren't that close, and I'm not sure if he actually considered me his friend, but he didn't deserve that."
Brendon raised one hand up to his forehead. It wasn't to check on his wound. He looked to be in pain. "You're a weird one," he said, "but... I've never had a headache like this before. I don't think your voice is causing it."
She seemed to be reaching him now. "I kept getting headaches in my dream too," Ellen said eagerly. "You have a lot of blank spots in your memory, right? That's because the stone doesn't want you to realize you're trapped in a dream."
Brendon lowered his hand. "I'll be honest with you," he said, sounding tired. "This might be a dream, but I don't mind it here. I put more years of my life into this fortress than I can remember. If I ever lost it-say, it was destroyed like in that story of yours, I don't know what I'd do with myself."
"You'd move on," Ellen said. "This fortress-"
"That's easier said than done," Brendon interrupted. "I watched this fortress grow from a patch of dirt surrounded by old walls to a busy city. I watched as a small group of filthy, hungry, desperate wanderers gathered hundreds of families to live together in peace. Before the fortress I didn't have anything, just an old suit of armor and an axe I found in an abandoned tool shed." He sighed. "You'll have to forgive me if I ignore you when you start fantasizing about my home being destroyed."
Ellen glared at him. It didn't matter how much he loved the Monad Fortress, it was gone now and nothing could change that. He might end up gone too if he refused to leave this dream.
"This fortress was my home, too," Ellen said. "I hated losing it, but my friends are alive and they're all I really need." She gave him a sharp look. "You promised you'd help me find them. How do you plan to help me when you're trapped in this fantasy world?"
"So I said I'd help you find your lost friends?" Brendon pondered. "That does sound like something I'd do." He perked up. "Maybe there's some truth-"
Something powerful started stomping around in the distance; again. Ellen looked towards the forest, and spotted a second colossal monster charging forward. It was glaring right at her. She thought about retreating into the fortress while Brendon had his way with it, but there was no time.
The monster approached her directly, raised its hammer into the air and swung it down at her.
Ellen's eyes shot open. She was back in the underground chamber again. Brendon lay asleep on the ground beside her.
She sat upright, then shot the mysterious stone a dirty look. Before she'd assumed it was a passive evil, but now it seemed to be making an effort to stop her. Or maybe Brendon had just wanted her to leave. Considering he'd dreamed up a world where they hadn't ever met, she wouldn't put it passed him.
At least she'd given him plenty to think about. It might be enough for him to wake up on his own, or maybe another small push would set him free. Either way, he needed time to digest everything she'd told him.
She glanced at L.L. She couldn't imagine her being easy to reach, but then again, she'd assumed she would have no problem waking Tear and Brendon yet they were both still asleep.
Ellen moved towards L.L. and touched her arm. The light took her, and once it faded, she was once again in the Forlorn Dimension. The grassy plains lay stretched out before her. The Monad Fortress, perfectly intact, stood off in the distance, and the Primeval Forest was behind her.
Had L.L. also dreamed up a world where they'd never met? That wouldn't surprise her. L.L. seemed to have a vested interest in keeping her from getting killed, but that was as far as her compassion went.
A girl charged passed her, her long red hair streaming behind her, and headed for the fortress. She was panting hard and dripping with sweat.
It took her a moment, but Ellen soon recognized that red hair. It was L.L.'s hair. She had been wearing her cowl for so long Ell
en could barely remember what her hair and her face really looked like.
"Wait!" Ellen called out.
The girl paused and glanced back at her.
Ellen startled. It wasn't L.L. The girl had the same color hair as her and even looked a bit like her, but she was much younger. She also looked horrified, about what exactly Ellen couldn't tell, but she'd never once seen L.L. express any kind of fear.
A monster with gray, rocky looking skin leapt out of the forest and landed right behind the girl. It hit the ground hard enough to cause a small tremor.
Right away Ellen noticed its claws. While the monster's two stubby arms didn't have much reach on their own, its claws had nails longer and thicker than her knife.
The monster stood upright and faced the girl, who'd already taken off running. Even with its hunched back, it still towered over her.
Ellen was torn. She wanted to help the girl, there was no way she could defend herself against a monster that large, but at the same time, this was all just a dream. The monster couldn't actually hurt either of them.
A croak escaped from the monster's small, knoblike head, then it leapt forward. It was surprising agile despite its bulky size, flat feet and stubby legs. The yellow spikes sticking out of its spine didn't seem to hinder its movements.
It landed right beside the girl. The tremor from its landing knocked her off balance, and a quick swipe from its right claw forced her to the ground. It also tore a large chunk of flesh from her back. She cried out in pain.
The monster raised its other claw, but before it could swing, Ellen turned her back to it. Even in a dream she didn't want to watch someone get butchered.
L.L. was standing right behind her, looking down at her with the same bitter glare she knew so well. "Cover your ears," she ordered.
"What?" Ellen asked, perplexed.
A blood curdling scream rippled through the air. The girl had just been hacked apart and probably killed, Ellen suspected, or maybe she was alive but bleeding badly. Either way, it was an unusually cruel fate to befall someone inside of what was supposed to be a pleasant dream.
"Who was that girl?" Ellen asked. She glanced cautiously over her shoulder. She didn't want to see the girl's mangled body, but she couldn't ignore such a hostile monster.
It was hopping away, fortunately. She couldn't imagine why it was ignoring her and L.L. but she was perfectly content with it doing so.
"My sister," L.L. said sharply. "Her name is Coco."
Despite L.L.'s unrelenting abrasiveness, Ellen still felt sorry for her. She knew from experience how terrible it felt to be hacked apart and killed. She didn't want to imagine what it was like watching such a horrible thing happen to someone she cared about. "Sorry," she mumbled.
"It's not your fault," L.L. said. "That monster has the thickest skin I've ever seen. Hitting it was like hitting a rock. I spent my younger years practicing attacks to use against large hordes. It wasn't until after this incident that I focused on learning how to kill the really durable monsters."
Even though her sister had just been chased down and killed, L.L. was remarkably calm. "Doesn't watching this... doesn't this bother you?" Ellen asked.
"I've watched it happen at least a dozen times already. Remembering this day used to make me so frustrated I would... Well, that's none of your business."
Ellen felt uneasy. L.L. had dreamed up a world where she could watch her sister die over and over again. How could someone be so morbid?
At least she knew now why L.L. was so abrasive all the time: she blamed herself for her sister's death.
"Did you ever wonder why your sister keeps coming back to life?" Ellen asked. "It's because you're trapped in a dream right now. You-"
"You're out of your mind," L.L. said dismissively.
Ellen frowned. How could L.L. believe a world where she'd watched the same person die a dozen times over was anything but fake? "All of this happened before we met. I might not have even been alive when your sister... How could I be here right now if this isn't a dream?"
"You managed to insert yourself into every other aspect of my life. I'm not surprised you found a way to insert yourself into my sister's death as well."
This wasn't going to be easy. Her dream had made it very obvious that it was in fact a dream, yet L.L. still chose to believe otherwise.
Unsure how to continue, Ellen asked: "How did this happen? The Monad Fortress is really close. Why didn't anyone help you?"
"Is that what that place is called?" L.L. asked. "This is the first time I've been to this dimension. I assumed it was abandoned."
Ellen's head started to hurt, and it wasn't because her memory was being played with again. "But we met inside that fortress," she said, struggling to sound rational and not whiny. "How can you remember who I am but not know anything about the fortress?"
L.L. stared silently into space for a moment, hopefully pondering how absurd this whole thing was. "Everything has been a bit peculiar since I came to this place."
"It's because you're trapped in a dream!" Ellen blurted out.
"That doesn't make any sense," L.L. said, sounding annoyed. "You can't be trapped inside a dream. That's not how dreams work." She paused. "A coma isn't so different from a dream. If that's what this is, I'm curious to know how I ended up in a coma." She gave Ellen a sharp look. "I'm sure you had something to do with it."
Ellen frowned at her. Not only had she failed to reach L.L., L.L. now believed she'd put her into a coma.
"I don't know where you came from," L.L. said, "but you should head back there. Even with my sister's death being paraded in front of me like this, this is still a rather pleasant place and it's hard to enjoy it with you shrieking nonsense at me."
She couldn't leave soon enough. The white light took her, and in a moment Ellen was back in the underground chamber.
Right away she heard the rapid tapping of feet. She grabbed her knife and buckler and stood upright.
The chamber was still and empty. The source of the tapping seemed to be below her somewhere, which was strange, because this chamber was already startlingly deep underground.
She relaxed. The monsters were going to find her eventually, they always did, but she was safe for the time being.
There had to be at least one of her friends she could reach. If not Tear or Brendon or L.L., then maybe Sycamore would be more receptive. The only other option was Alice, who'd told her before she didn't trust anyone in their group. She probably wouldn't have time to finish a single sentence before Alice came after her with her knife.
Ellen hurried over to where Sycamore lay, dropped to her knees beside him and touched his arm. The white light took her again. This time it brought her to a small wooden home just like the one she'd lived inside in her own dream.
Sycamore was seated on the edge of a bed, a big, dumb grin on his face and his arms wrapped around two young, scantily dressed girls.
Ellen gasped. One of the girls looked exactly like her, until she faded into the air. The other looked exactly like her as well. She had to be Alice. Not only was Sycamore dreaming about sharing a bed with her and Alice, he'd also put both of them in undergarments so skimpy they might as well be naked.
Ellen took out her knife. The monster she'd encountered back in the underground chamber had gotten off easy compared to what she had planned for Sycamore. Fortunately this was all just a dream, which meant she didn't have to hold anything back.
"Now hold on a minute!" Sycamore pleaded, scurrying backwards across the bed. "This isn't what it looks like. You two came here on your own. I was just minding my own business!"
"Go wait outside," Ellen ordered Alice, who stood beside the bed looking terrified. Alice nodded and ran for the door.
Sycamore moved to the side of his bed and put his feet down on the ground. Ellen hurried over to block his escape, but there was no need; Sycamore collapsed onto his side the moment he tried to stand up. Then he grabbed his left ankle and started cursing beneath his breath.
<
br /> His pain seemed legitimate, so Ellen backed off.
"I fell off the roof earlier," Sycamore said, his voice strained. "It's not the first time I've done that. There's a good reason why I don't like heights. Why do you think I sent your girlfriend up into that tree instead of going myself?" He let go his ankle, then sighed. "You and Alice showed up and helped me into bed. Don't ask me why you were dressed like that. It wasn't my idea."
Ellen studied him for a moment, looking for any hint that he might be lying, but she couldn't find one. Sycamore was panting hard, and he looked like he might pass out any second now. He probably didn't have the strength to climb into his bed much less frolic around in it.
She put her knife away. Maybe Sycamore had dreamed all of this up on purpose, or maybe it was the mysterious stone eschewing reality as it seemed wont to do, but regardless, she couldn't afford to waste any time fighting, not when monsters could flood into the chamber at any moment.
"You're in a dream," Ellen said. "None of this is real."
Sycamore gave her a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?"
"Didn't you notice how there was two of me for a second?"
"That was Alice. How could you forget your, um... your own twin? You were really rude to her, by the way. You ought to go outside and apologize to her, and maybe bring her some real clothes as well."
Ellen frowned. "The me you dreamed up disappeared right as I got here. How could you not have noticed her vanishing like that?"
"Is that what happened?" Sycamore scratched his head. "I thought I'd just blacked out for a second." He sat upright. "Can you help me into bed?" He quickly added: "I don't need you to get in with me, just help me up. I've had a rough day and I really need to lay down."
"You are laying down!" Ellen blurted out. She didn't mean to snap at him, but she'd already failed to reach Tear and Brendon and L.L. and now it looked like she was going to fail to reach Sycamore as well. "This house isn't real. You're trapped deep underground in a strange chamber. We all are. We went there to look for Alice's friend, but instead we found another mysterious-"
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