Lucky sighed.
"So… Do we run away and wait until Captain's back… Maybe we could go around it?"
It had been some time since Lauri had left for the Dream Realm. In this time, the Rhino had covered a lot of ground, almost reaching the third bridge, when something… unfortunate happened. After cresting a hill, the group spotted a Nightmare Gate, but worst yet. What they had at first taken for scattered debris – shards of black stone began to steadily move. The Nightmare Creatures were already there, dozens of them, maybe more. Low to the ground, clustered, still.
They looked like beetles. Not in any natural sense, but in the way nightmares borrow shapes from memory and twist them. Their bodies were smooth and curved, armoured in a matte black so deep it swallowed light rather than reflecting it. No sheen, no outline – just a dark absence. In the night beyond the Rhino's beams, they were completely invisible, as if they ceased to exist the moment light stopped touching them.
Where the headlights of the Rhino touched them, it was as if their edges snapped into being – jagged legs unfolding, segmented shells shifting with a faint, dry clicking sound. Their bodies seemed too large for insects, each one the size of a large dog, yet they moved with the skittering precision of something much smaller. Their surfaces drank in the light, leaving only thin, ghostly outlines – silhouettes cut out of the world itself.
And then, as one, they turned.
It wasn't a gradual reaction. There was no hesitation or confusion. Every single creature pivoted nearly at the exact same moment, their unseen eyes – if they had eyes – locking onto the Rhino. The synchronised motion sent a ripple through the swarm, as if a single organism were adjusting its gaze.
They had been idle, having only just emerged from the newly formed Nightmare Gate.
Now having smelled human souls, they burst into action.
Any beetles that had been caught in the light cast by the Rhino seemed to move sluggishly, but at the edges of the light – where the headlights' illumination weakened into the shadows – their forms blurred and flickered as they rushed towards the humans.
Seeing that the swarming Nightmare Creatures would reach them in mere minutes, Danse idly scratched his beard as he turned to the group.
"Alright, everyone, listen up. We aren't running away, and we definitely are not going to try to go around this Gate. These Nightmare Creatures have already spotted us, so even if we go around them. They'll just chase us until we stop at the next bridge. So! Summon your memories and follow my lead."
Walking away from the Rhino, sparks began to fly as Danse summoned his armour and weapons.
"Are we just rushing to fight them?"
Running to Danse as he summoned his armour and weapons, Lucky fell into step beside him.
"I could just summon my Echoes, this is only a Category Two Gate… If the instruments are correct, that is."
Danse seemed to contemplate Lucky's words for a moment before shaking his head.
"No, I don't think we'll need them. Save your Echoes for if we ever do happen to meet the Whispering Legion. For now, Sansa and Mele hang back and cover us. Vick, Lucky, Katrina, on me."
Danse's memories finished summoning – his armour of leaves fluttering into place as his grip tightened around his greatsword. At his side, Lucky raised a dull stone buckler and short sword, his body protected by rugged leather hide.
Finishing planting arrows into the snow around her, Mele muttered.
"It seems these bugs have some affinity to shadow; hell of a time for our Captain to step out for a nap... Did you see that one arrow Winter had that made a light so bright it turned the night into day for a bit? I need to get me one of those."
Catching her bow as it formed, Sansa drew an arrow from the quiver around her belt. Knocking it to her bow, she held it at half draw, rolling her eyes.
"Yes, Mele, I was standing right beside you when you said that the first time... Whoever gets the least kills buys the first round when we're back in Falcon Scott."
Grabbing an arrow made of glass from the ground, Mele snickered.
"The first two rounds!"
Almost reaching the two men, Katrina glanced at Vick.
"Can I ask you a question, Vick?"
Her armour finally summoned, close-fitting plates appeared as she turned to Katrina.
"Something on your mind, kitty Kat?"
Doing her best to ignore Vick's comment. Katrina rested her mace on her shoulder.
"I was wondering, do you, like anyone?"
Blinking, Vick giggled.
"I'm sorry, dear, but I'm a little too old for you. Although I will say, I am flattered."
Blushing profusely, Katrina squeaked, her head snapping to look at Vick.
"Wh- Wha- What!? No, that- That wasn't-"
Before Katrina could finish what she was saying, they had reached Danse.
Raising his sword, Danse held it in the air for a moment.
"What would Lauri say in times like these... Ah, whatever."
He brought it down.
The skirmish had begun.
At Danse's signal, Mele and Sansa loosed their arrows.
Shards of glass rained from the sky, catching the Rhino's headlights as they fell – each fragment flashing for a split second before plunging into the swarm. They struck, punching into the beetles caught in the light, pinning some to the ground while others jerked and twisted under the attack.
Despite the beetles' seemingly ethereal nature, the shards met little resistance. Their matte-black shells split with a dry, cracking sound. Where the armour fractured, it peeled back just enough to expose what lay beneath.
Not shadow, but dark red blood.
Wet, raw flesh pulsed under the broken chitin, glistening in the harsh beams. Thick, dark blood began to seep out. Catching on the glass still embedded in them, it began to drip onto the ground in slow, uneven trails.
Seeing this, Danse grinned.
"Would you look at that!"
Danse, Lucky, Katrina, and Vick prepared themselves as the swarm of Nightmare Creatures bore down on them, moments from impact.
"These things bleed like the rest of us!"
The first of the bugs reached the wall of Irregulars.
Standing at the front of the group, Danse's greatsword flashed. The blade tore into the front of the swarm, cleaving through chitin with a sharp, splintering crack. One beetle split open under the force, its shell parting as the weight of the strike drove it into the ground. Danse didn't stop – he pivoted through the motion, dragging the edge free and stepping into the next swing, keeping them from closing in.
To Danse's left, Lucky braced as one of the creatures lunged low, its jagged limbs scraping across the ground with a dry, frantic hiss. He brought his buckler up just in time – the impact rang through his arm as claws skidded across the dull stone. The force pushed him back half a step, but he held. In the same motion, he twisted his body and lashed out, his short sword driving forward into the gap beneath the creature's shell. The blade sank into the beetle's neck. Lucky pulled it free quickly, not waiting to see it fall.
To Danse's right, Katrina met hers head-on. She stepped forward, both hands tightening around the haft of her mace as she swung. The weapon came down with crushing weight, smashing into the beetle's head with a sickening crack. Its shell caved under the blow, splitting apart as the force drove it into the dirt. The impact sent a jolt up her arms, but she followed through, ripping the mace free as the creature collapsed beneath her.
And behind the three Irregulars, Vick stood still. Her hands raised.
As Lucky engaged one beetle, he was a second too slow to defend himself from another – luckily, Vick was watching over him. With a flick of her hand, threads linked to her fingertips jerked through the air in perfect sync with her movement, thinner than any wire and almost invisible until they caught the light. They shot forward faster than the eye could track, wrapping around the beetle in tightening loops.
For a brief moment, they rested against its armour, and then slipped through.
The threads sank into the creature's body without resistance, and Vick closed her hand.
The lines went taut.
Inside the beetle, something tore.
The creature convulsed violently, its legs thrashing as its shell remained intact – but beneath it, the beetle's flesh twisted and shredded. A wet, internal rupture followed, and it dropped where it stood, its body collapsing in on itself without a single mark on the outside.
Around them, more shapes skittered, emerging from the shadows and into the light.
----
The beautiful sun that had welcomed Lauri back to the Stormsea had long since vanished. In its place, a devastating storm had descended upon the Night Garden.
Lauri was still fast asleep, entirely missing.
As he slept on, a figure unlocked the door to his home and stepped quietly inside.
A woman emerged from the raging storm beyond – dark-skinned, with striking indigo eyes that caught what little light lingered within the room, reflecting it in faint, shifting glints. Rain clung to her form, soaking into her clothes and tracing slow, deliberate paths down the contours of her body as she crossed the threshold.
Each step she took left behind a faint trail of water, droplets slipping from her sleeves and the ends of her hair to wet the floor beneath her feet. Strands of her black hair clung to her face and neck, heavy with rain, though now and then a subtle sheen of deep blue revealed itself within each strand – only visible when the distant flashes of lightning bled through the doorway behind her.
Shutting the door behind her, she reached up, shaking the water from her black hair. For a moment, her hand lingered there as she stood still, listening to the storm raging beyond the walls.
Gradually, the noise dipped – a brief lull in the storm.
And in that quiet, she heard it.
The slow, steady rhythm of someone sleeping.
Her head lifted slightly, indigo eyes narrowing as she blinked once, twice.
"Is that…?"
Moving with slow, careful steps, she crossed the room, her footsteps nearly soundless against the floor. Ascending the stairs, she found him.
"Lauri..."
Stepping closer, she sat gently at his side. Reaching out, she brushed her fingers through his hair, her touch light – almost hesitant.
Lauri didn't stir.
For a while, she simply sat there, watching him – listening to the steady rhythm of his breathing as the storm faded into the background of her mind.
A small, genuine smile found its way onto her lips.
"…You're safe."