Lauri sat cross-legged atop his bed in the rear of the Rhino. It had been some time since everyone had gone about their tasks. His breathing was calm, measured as Lauri circled his essence within himself, attempting to speed up the recovery of the essence he had expended before Danse and Sansa returned from the Drealm Realm, bringing with them their new orders.
In his left hand, he held a necklace – a thin cord ending in a pebble-sized, translucent bead. Faint golden threads were suspended within it like something half-woven. They drifted slowly through its depths, crossing and parting in delicate patterns.
Lauri's thumb absentmindedly traced the smooth surface of the bead as he meditated.
'I'm so tired.'
Flopping backwards onto his bed, Lauri stared at the ceiling.
'How long have I gone without sleep? I can't even remember… I could have sworn it wasn't so long ago…'
Closing his fingers tightly around the necklace, Lauri was careful not to crush the Dormant Memory.
'Maybe I could just rest my head for a little bit, it wouldn't hurt just going to sleep for a short while… Maybe I could go to the Dream Realm and visit...'
Lauri's words trailed off as he brought the necklace to his lips, gently pressing it against them. Lauri nodded.
'Alright, I'll go to sleep right after I check out the Festering Alpha's runes.'
Lauri's head slowly swivelled toward the divider which separated the captain's quarters from the rest of the Rhino. Each time Lauri tried to inspect the information the Spell gave him regarding his new Echo, something had taken Lauri's attention.
Waiting a few moments; all he could hear was the sound of the Antarctic winds hitting against the broadside of the Rhino.
Lauri grinned. It was time.
Sitting up, Lauri couldn't help but rub his hands together. The thought of having a Fallen Tyrant to boss around was truly just too exciting to restrain himself. Having not received an Echo since his Second Nightmare, Lauri couldn't believe his luck.
'Maybe I should be nicer to Lucky, he might even bless me with more Memories and Echos… Dead Gods know that kid has enough. But even he doesn't have an Echo like this one. Some of the best regenerative capabilities I've ever seen. Capable of healing itself despite being nearly decapitated, capable of releasing a long-range stream of… pus… Ugh, from its mouth. Judging from how easily it ate through my own defences, it will be an incredible ranged tool as well as an asset to our frontline.'
Covering his mouth as he yawned, Lauri was most interested in one of the Festering Alpha's more unique powers.
'It having the ability to damage my soul just with a howl. Now that is truly insidious. In the right situations, that single ability could very well deal with an emerging Nightmare Gate all on its own. Especially if the rest of us back it up from-'
Unable to stop himself, Lauri opened his mouth as a loud yawn escaped him.
'-range. I would have been dead had I been any other Awakened, being able to resist negative effects and shield my soul with [Well of Light] is-'
Another yawn forced its way out, cutting the thought short.
Lauri frowned, irritation flickering across his face as he felt a third yawn building within his chest.
He stilled.
Something wasn't right.
Grabbing his jaw, Lauri forced his mouth shut.
"Wait a second, don't tell me…"
Despite the period of downtime, the light within Lauri's soul was still far less than he would have preferred – barely enough to shield his soul again, or purge his body of any lethal impurities. But as the unfortunate sensation crept down Lauri's spine, he sighed.
Light flowed outwards from Lauri's soul. Unlike during his fight with the Tyrant, where he had let it surge through his entire body in order to guard his soul and later burn away the infection. Lauri did the opposite. He focused the light inward, guiding it to wrap around his mind as [Well of Light] was activated.
Suddenly, the sleepy sensation that had been slowly consuming Lauri vanished.
Taking a deep breath, Lauri rose from his bed, drawing the pendant over his head and hiding the translucent bead beneath his bodysuit.
It seemed it would be a while longer until he could inspect the Festering Alpha.
Pushing past the divider, Lauri shouted.
"Everybody! Pull on the light in your soul, we're being attacked!"
Despite his shout, nobody responded, prompting Lauri to move even faster.
Quickly checking on Danse and Sansa, Lauri found them safe within their sleeping pods. The readings reported by the pods were standard, so he didn't pay them much mind. Walking into the vehicle's midsection, Lauri found Katrina sitting next to the table.
The girl had her head resting against one arm, her eyes slowly drooping as she lost the battle against sleep.
Her head slipped lower as she gave in, the sleep curse finally claiming her.
Grabbing Katrina's arm, Lauri roughly yanked her up and out of her seat.
Katrina's eyes opened wide for a moment as she looked at Lauri. Her speech slurred as she looked at his hand, tightly squeezing her arm.
"Captain… That hurts… Why do you look so-"
"Katrina, use the light in your soul. We're under attack by a Nightmare Creature."
Despite her extreme state of drowsiness, Katrina was roused into action by the mention of a Nightmare Creature. Her eyes changed subtly, growing bright as Katrina shook off the sleeping spell.
Letting go of Katrina's arm, Lauri moved to the Rhino's exit, barking one more order as he left.
"Start the Rhino, I'll get the others."
Katrina moved to the pilot's cabin as Lauri dashed outside.
He immediately spotted Lucky. His arms were full of soul shards, but it seemed he wasn't faring any better than Katrina; his head kept falling every time he raised it as sleep refused to let him go.
Mele was sitting beside the large pile of soul shards they had collected. In her hands, she held a sword that faintly reminded Lauri of a falchion – although the shape of the blade was where the similarities ended. Lauri couldn't make it out in the light cast by her Memory, but the blade seemed more organic than metal, as if it were grown rather than forged.
And lastly, Lauri spotted Vick.
Vick was lying in the snow, her eyes shut as she slept peacefully.
Raising his hand, Lauri conjured a small sphere of light above his palm. The sphere shot forward, reaching Lucky first, and then bouncing off his forehead before darting towards Mele, where it hit her forehead and disappeared.
Shocked awake by the hit, Lucky dropped the soul shards he had been holding. Mele, on the other hand, responded to the hit with force, tightening her grip on the falchion as she swung upward toward where the sphere of light had been.
Both blinked, sleep immediately forcing its way back into their minds.
Striding towards Vick, Lauri shouted at them.
"Light, soul, now!"
Despite the simple words and the stupor they were under, Lucky and Mele quickly understood their meaning. After all, it wasn't the first time their minds had been attacked since Antarctica had begun.
Reaching Vick, Lauri dropped to one knee. Sliding an arm beneath her, he supported her neck as he lifted her into his arms.
Lucky was the first to reach Lauri after clearing his mind.
"What's happening? Are we under attack by a Nightmare Creature?"
Lauri nodded, shooting a quick glance at Mele to make sure she was alright.
"If it wasn't obvious, yes – yes, we are. Both of you, get to the Rhino, now!"
As Lucky and Mele ran towards the Rhino, bringing their luminescent memories with them, Lauri looked at the work they had done with a grim expression.
Many of the Fetid Hounds and Festering Mongrels had been carefully stripped, yet even with dozens of corpses relieved of their soul shards, there were still a hundred yet to be tended to, maybe more... Not that it mattered any more.
'It's a pity to waste all of these soul shards, and we probably won't be coming back this way again. Definitely not with this sleeping mind attack…'
Lauri's eyes fell on five soul shards that were much larger than the rest.
'It really would be a pity to leave them all behind.'
Bands of light snapped into place around each of the five soul shards that once belonged to the Festering Alpha, before lifting them from the ground. One by one, they fell in behind Lauri, trailing after him as he jogged toward the Rhino like obedient stars caught in his wake.
Careful to not bang Vick's head on the side of the Rhino as he stepped aboard, Lauri joined his team. Approaching Mele, who stood near the entrance, Lauri gently handed over the sleeping Vick.
"Put Vick in her sleeping pod; she won't be coming back to us until her time in the Dream Realm is up."
Taking Vick without a word, Mele disappeared into the back of the Rhino.
Next, Lauri hurried towards the pilot's cabin, just in time for the Rhino's powerful engine to thunder to life. Lucky and Katrina were sitting in the front seats. Lucky gently pressed his foot down on the accelerator, testing the Rhino's engines as Katrina gave the systems one last check.
Hearing Lauri enter, Lucky turned around.
"What's the plan, Captain? Are we going hunting? I bet I could get a pretty good memory if I killed something that could cause this kind of fuss."
Not answering immediately, Lauri looked out the reinforced windshield at the dark Antarctic night.
Lauri knew they weren't going to hunt down the Nightmare Creature responsible for this attack, and for one simple reason.
During his many years as an Awakened, Lauri had found his soul was different from other Awakened, not as unusual as if he had more than one Soul Core. But the very nature of his soul was different; it was inherently linked to light.
[Well of Light] may have allowed Lauri to store this light within other people's souls, but there was an upper limit. The maximum amount of light Lauri could store within the soul of another Awakened was merely a fraction of the amount of light his own soul could hold.
This was the simple reason why they would not hunt down the Nightmare Creature.
Everyone but Lauri would succumb to their dreams long before they found it, and then not long after, as there was barely any light still residing within Lauri's soul. His mind would slip into a peaceful slumber.
And then their bodies would inevitably be found by the Nightmare Creature that had cast this spell, or perhaps a beast completely unrelated would find and eat them, or perhaps nothing would find them.
Perhaps their bodies would simply rest forever, until the Rhino was buried under a mountain of snow and forgotten by the world.
Shaking his head, Lauri turned his gaze on Lucky.
"No, we won't be looking for any more fights tonight. We need to get out of this fiend's area of effect, assuming it's a Fallen Terror at least. It could be pretty sizable, so start driving now; hopefully, that will at least diminish its power."
His fingers tightening on the wheel, Lucky was about to push the Rhino forward when he hesitated.
"Um, which direction should I be driving in? I really don't want to drive towards this thing and have its sleeping power grow even stronger."
Lauri rubbed his jaw, letting out a small chuckle.
"Put that Aspect to good use and pick a random direction. Let's see how lucky you really are."