Lauri swore under his breath.
"What did that fiend do?"
Bending one leg, he tapped the tip of his shoe on the cobbled street, his fingers twitching as he readied himself for the next fight. The occupants of this area of the City of Spires were already moving on his position, so there was no need to keep the thoughts purely in his head.
Plus, talking aloud always helped the thinking process.
"I fell asleep, no… I fainted after losing my arm, blood loss? Probably. But I'm still alive, meaning they managed to patch me up, thank you, Vick. I'll make sure to get you a tasty treat when we meet. But for now, I just need to survive whatever this is. A hex? If I could use [Well of Light], I might be able to quell its effects, but I'm trapped with only the powers I had as an Awakened."
The armour of light appeared around Lauri – taking hold of the sword for a moment, he turned it so the tip was pointing down and then stabbed it between the cobbles. The sword was one of the weapons Lauri knew best, trained by one of the greatest swordsmen he knew, but another approach would be needed.
Light began to take another shape, multitudes of the same shape.
"Ah, Spell. If only I realised I was under some kind of hex whilst I was in the last memory… Spell?"
Lauri closed his eyes a moment, thinking of the runes.
"Darn."
He opened his eyes.
"No announcement for a kill, no runes, in this dream it seems I'm cut off from the Spell… Troubling, no Memories, except the armour I had summoned in this memory, no Echoes. Did I even have any Echoes at this point in my life? It's been so long since I last relied on an Echo for support I hardly remember."
Shapes began to crowd around the corner of the street. The Apostles.
"Alright, Lauri. No one else is here to give you a pep talk, so you've got this; don't take any hits since any damage you take will equal soul damage… Ugh."
His lips twisted into a strained smile.
"I hate this already."
Lauri held his hands out to his side, raising them so it seemed he was welcoming the coming horde. In the dim light cast by the moon, it made the dark cloaks of the incoming Nightmare Creatures look like little more than a flood of darkness where the edge of one blurred into the other.
Had this been Lauri's first time fighting them, he may have acted brashly, but this wasn't his first, second or third time facing this particular kind of Nightmare Creature – it was just a memory after all – Lauri knew that the Apostles relied on numbers, preferring a swarm method when attacking.
In the form of his Awakened self, Lauri lacked the ability to control his constructs in the air, which meant he couldn't summon a shower of swords, or control his armour of light to fly. So Lauri would have to dig deep into a repertoire of skills he had let grow rusty.
The light took shape in the form of two daggers. Snatching them out of the air, he threw one, the other; another two were timed to finish creating the moment he threw the first two, fourth, fifth. It was a lesser storm, more like a drizzle – the daggers were weak, propelled only by the strength Lauri's body, enhanced with Awakened essence, could put into them.
The first dagger missed the mark entirely, striking the cobbled street. The second went wide, sailing over the crowd; the third hit the swarm, but it hit nearer to the back, bouncing off one of the more armoured bugs. Lauri was quick to recover his skill; the subsequent daggers hit their mark, striking the bugs running along the ground on all six legs. Their smaller size and weaker shells allowed Lauri to effectively subdue them.
Killing a couple of the smaller bugs and wounded a dozen others. The swarm of Apostles reached him. Their maws opened wide beneath their dark, blood-stained cloaks, their claws reaching forward to quell the radiance of his brilliantly shining soul.
As the first of the biggest bugs was a moment from striking Lauri, he yanked his sword out of the ground and stepped into the bug's embrace. Activating [Light Dash], his form broke up into the bright glow that passed by the swarm, slipping past the blood-crusted carapaces. Lauri rematerialised in the midst of the rear of the group.
This particular group of bugs was from one of six factions of Nightmare Creatures that resided within the City of Spires; the Apostles were a group that specialised in drowning their opponents under the mass of their bodies. When being swarmed, there were three types of bugs you had to watch out for.
The ones at the front were adolescent, the smallest and youngest of the bugs. Their soft shells were light, allowing them to move at a faster pace than those older than them. In the middle of the swarm, you would find the bugs that had entered the adult stage of their lifecycle. Exchanging speed for offensive and defensive powerhouses.
Which left those at the back of the swarm, a mix of senior bugs that were too slow to keep up with the younger generations, or those that had been injured in previous engagements.
'This takes me back.'
Strengthening himself with his Awakened essence, Lauri gripped the sword in both hands and brought the sword down on the nearest bug. The senior bug's brittle armour broke under Lauri's attack, the edge of his blade biting deep into the bug's body. It dropped dead. Twisting his body, Lauri drew the sword out, slashing through the leg of another, driving his knee into its face as it fell.
'Would I have this kind of coordination or courage to face off against a swarm of this size when I was younger?'
Lauri tore through the weaker members of the swarm as its stronger components wheeled around to face him. About to reposition, a terrible tremor ran through the ground, throwing all the largest of the bugs off balance.
Including Lauri.
Caught off guard, Lauri tripped over his own feet, landing onto one of the still living Nightmare Creatures. Looking at the sky, a shiver ran down Lauri's body as he saw something that brought back a dreaded memory.
The moon hung in the sky, a blank sky, with no stars or clouds to accompany it.
The crimson light that filled the moon's surface was beginning to leak away, like water paint diluted; the black sky began to be overtaken by the crimson glow. Every second, more and more of the night was replaced until there was nothing but red framing the pale disk that was the moon.
'Wait…'
Picking himself up, Lauri slammed his heel into the face of the bug he had fallen on.
'No, no, no–'
Turning into light, Lauri shot up towards the roof of the tallest building nearby. Looking out, he saw what gave the City of Spires its name. He could see church spires in every direction as far as the eye could see, no two spires ever the same: big and small, twisting and straight. Turning around, he saw one thing that did stand out from the countless spires.
A mountain of gold sat nestled a ways away from Lauri's current position. The buildings around it had been demolished as if a golden meteor had struck the location, tearing up any and everything that got in its way.
But Lauri knew this was no meteor.
'Shit, shit, shit– This can't be–.''
His mind froze – a cold fear swept through his mind, disabling his ability to act as the mountain of gold shifted; it grew, rising higher as it turned around. It was not a mountain of gold at all, but a veil that covered an enormous Nightmare Creature. Most of its body was obscured by the veil, which shone with a soft, perfect golden light despite the crimson sky; all that could be seen of it was seven large arms that extended down from its body. Lauri didn't have the time to take in much else of its appearance, as he saw the creature casually toss something in his direction.
At first, due to the distance, the object hadn't seemed that large, but with every second, the object grew bigger and bigger, breaking up into pieces as it flew through the sky – Lauri tensed as he realised what the object was.
'That's a building!'
The realisation broke Lauri from his fear-induced paralysis.
Turning into light, he moved away from the rooftop. A moment later, pieces of building struck the area he had just been standing in, like shrapnel; the pieces of the building that had broken off devastated a large swathe of land.
Appearing on a rooftop away from the destruction, Lauri caught sight of the Nightmare Creature flinging another building in his direction. Dashing between the rooftops, Lauri caught glimpses of it each time he returned to his human form. It had begun to walk in his direction; despite only taking small steps, it was covering more ground than it reasonably should have been able to.
And it was walking towards Lauri.
Lauri was an obvious target; every time he turned into light, the Nightmare Creature could find him with ease. Only a blind thing could miss the streaks of light against the dim surroundings. Dropping down into the street to break its line of sight, Lauri rapidly moved between his human form and that of his light form as he raced through the streets, turning human to allow him to turn.
After Lauri felt the attacks of the creature hidden behind its golden veil were not so aimed in his direction, he ran into one of the churches.
Finally free from the promise of certain obliteration, Lauri felt the fear that had so easily paralysed him give way to a different emotion.
"This isn't right."
Clenching his fists, Lauri's lips twisted as he looked around the empty room. The church was simple, one room with no other doors, rows of pews all leading up to an altar with a stained glass window too broken to decipher the picture it once displayed.
Taking a deep breath, Lauri closed his eyes. He took another deep breath, flexing his fingers.
A scathing anger bubbled up inside Lauri; it was normally so easy to suppress… when others were around.
"How dare it send me here!"
In a burst of action, Lauri lashed out at the nearest pew; the wood shattered as he sent it flying across the room, where it broke further into pieces, colliding with the wall.
"How dare the Whispering King use this memory against me! How dare it manipulate it to leave me stranded alone! I'll kill it the next chance I get!"
Lauri moved to another pew, bringing his fist down onto it.
"If this memory is supposed to be when the Partitioner was awoken and freed from her chains. I'm supposed to be on the battlefield with Jet and the others! Not picking random fights with God's damned Nightmare Creatures!"
About to lash out at another pew, Lauri felt the ground shake as the Partitioner's latest barrage struck. Throwing himself to the ground between the pews, Lauri covered his head as the fragmentation of the barrage peppered the buildings. Luckily, the Partitioner seemed to have lost track of Lauri after he hid.
Propping himself up against the back of the pew, Lauri stared at the floor; it was hard to make out the patterns on the tiled floor from the bleak crimson light that came in through the broken window.
Lauri dismissed the helmet of his armour, running fingers through his hair. Lauri closed his eyes.
'Calm down, calm down.'
His nails dug into his scalp, enough to hurt but not enough to draw blood.
'It's not real. This isn't real.'
Lauri flinched as another of the Partitioner's attacks hit.
'It doesn't exist… Well, it does exist, but it's still in the Dream Realm, still in the real City of Spires. I'm safe, my body, it's with the others. Danse, Vick, Sansa, Mele, Lucky, Katrina. I need to get back to them.'
Opening his eyes, Lauri's gaze slowly turned to his shadow.
"Hey, were you pulled into this too? Or am I on my own?"
Lauri frowned.
"Ugh, quiet bastard, whatever. You could stay that way forever as far as I care… Now I just sound crazy…"
Picking himself up, Lauri froze, seeing someone standing a few rows down.
"That was too close for comfort."
Rubbing the back of her head with one hand, Jet glanced towards Lauri before looking around the room. Her expression was subdued.
Lauri frowned.
"You can't just try and fix the memory now after you messed it up… Is that really how this works?"
Jet looked back to Lauri.
"You say something?"
Lauri shook his head.
Nodding, Jet moved toward the door.
"Come on, we need to try and escape that thing. If it catches us with one of those attacks head on, we'll be done for, even me and I'm already done for. The seed for the Second Nightmare shouldn't be far from here."
A grim feeling settled in Lauri's gut.
"Right… Sure thing, Jet… Jet, one more thing."
Jet paused, turning back to Lauri.
"What's up-"
Lauri wrapped his arms around Jet. Burying his face in her shoulder.
"I know this isn't real, that it's just a memory… But I miss you so much, I miss all of you so much. I just don't know how much more of this I can take. I hate Antarctica, it's so cold and so damn dark. I miss the sun, I miss the feeling of it filling my soul with its warmth…"
Instead of responding to his outburst, Jet just looked at Lauri with a bewildered expression as if she didn't know quite how to respond - in reality, Lauri recognised it was probably more to do with this memory of Jet not having the capacity to respond to him.
"I miss you, Cor, Samuel, Eden, Savina… I'm even starting to miss Osiris of all people… You know I'm screwed in the head if I'm missing him…"
The outburst of emotion threatened to make Lauri collapse, like a dam; his emotions had burst out. The flood grew stronger with every person he missed.
"I-"
The emotion in Lauri's chest caused him to choke on his words. Out of all his friends, out of all the people he called his family. There was one person he missed most of all; just thinking about how much he missed her made him feel far weaker than he had felt battling the hordes of Nightmare Creatures.
Suppressing the feeling, Lauri buried it deep down. There would be a time when he could think of her, but that time was not here.
Stepping away from Jet, Lauri wiped the tears from his eyes as he cleared his throat.
"Okay, alright… Let's go find that damn seed."
Running out into the street, they both ran as fast as their Awakened bodies could let them. Lauri knew he could easily outspeed Jet by simply turning into light, but he knew it was pointless. When he had surveyed the surroundings, the large cathedral that housed the seed of the Second Nightmare was missing. Meaning the dream was actively changing itself, morphing itself around Lauri's memory.
'Which is an unsettling thought, considering this dream was created by the Whispering King. In the first memory it was only able to modify… What happened to Maeve, but in this second memory, it's modified too much. My starting location, my allies, the location in general. How many memories deep will I have to go until I reach a memory where I'm an Ascended? How much power will it be able to exert on my dream if I'm forced into more and more memories?"
Swallowing around a knot in his throat, Lauri frowned.
'I have a bad feeling about this.'
Lauri and the memory of Jet moved into the street.
With no clue where to go in this modified dream version of the City of Spires, Lauri let Jet take the lead in the hopes she would guide him toward the Seed they had used to enter their Second Nightmare. Like watching a film you had already seen, knowing what the actors would do, what they would say.
'That's a point. It's been too long since I last watched a film. I wonder if Katrina has a copy of A Song of Light and Darkness downloaded on her datapad; maybe we can have a movie night once this is all over.'
Despite believing the Whispering King would set up the dream to endanger Lauri at every turn, the journey to the seed was short and surprisingly lacked any notable problems – with Jet's Aspect allowing her to target souls directly, most problems lost their danger factor.
Even the Partitioner stopped being a threat, some of her attacks sounding as if they were hitting locations on the other side of the City of Spires.
'When I caused the dream to give me allies, did it not just give me Jet? But make the allies I had appear throughout the City… Who are now drawing fire; that's not a comfortable feeling.'
The end of this particular dream finally came into view.
The seed was within a vast cathedral that dominated the skyline ahead of them. Even from a distance, the damage was impossible to mistake. A colossal jagged spike of ice had erupted through the cathedral's great central dome, punching through the roof and soaring high into the sky. The frozen spire caught the crimson light, its sharp ridges glimmering like shattered crystal, while frost spread across the surrounding stone.
They ran toward it, their boots pounding on the cobblestones, the cathedral growing larger with every stride. The towering shard of ice loomed above the City of Spires.
'This definitely wasn't here when I looked around the rooftops before. Makes me wonder, if I didn't have the leverage to bring Jet into existence and in turn this cathedral. Would I have had to find another way out?'
They cut through the Apostles that littered the steps leading up to the cathedral's entrance.
'Another thing that is wrong: the Apostles held a different cathedral. Was it the Pale–'
Lauri almost tripped on the steps as he forcibly stopped himself.
'I am not thinking about this cathedral's correct occupants; I am not going to give the Whispering King more ammunition to make my life that much harder.'
Running through the vast opening, Lauri and Jet entered the nave – the main room of the cathedral. From there they could see the bottom of the ice spike that soared up from the cathedral's roof. The pews in the cathedral's main hall lay shattered, splintered wood scattered across the floor as though a terrible battle had swept through the sanctuary long ago. Deep gouges scarred the stone, and fractured pillars leaned at unnatural angles beneath a blanket of frost.
At the centre of the vast chamber stood the seed.
It was what looked like the figure of a man, etched out of ice. As if his body had been frozen, every detail preserved with cruel precision. A look of pure agony was locked eternally across his face, his mouth frozen in a silent scream. One arm was raised toward the jagged spire that pierced the cathedral's dome, his fingers outstretched as though he had been reaching for it in his final moments. His other hand held close to his chest; the hilt of a dagger or a sword could be seen between his fingers.
And in front of the seed, with its hands resting on the hilt of its sword that was driven point-first into the ground, was the Whispering King.