Published at 22nd of October 2023 9:42 am

Book 2: Chapter 30

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Snapping out of the most terrifying dream of her life, the countess gasped, the cold sweat soaking her back and scalp a dreadful reminder of the icy chains that, until a few seconds ago, had wrapped her hands and feet. She could still feel the intense stare of the masked jailer, and his questions rattled through her head, throwing her soul into turmoil. Above all, there was an overwhelming feeling of dread filling her chest, as if all of her misdeeds were about to catch up with her.

I have to destroy the mirror! That’s my only chance!

The whisper wormed its way into her head, causing her to spring into action. Jumping from her bed, she scrambled in the darkness to find a shawl, letting out a small cry of triumph when her hands closed over the silky fabric. Throwing it around her shoulders, she went to the door, hesitated, and then grabbed a candle from her desk. She could hear her maid stirring in the dressing room, so she returned to her bed and crumpled some of the blankets up so it would look like she still lay in bed, at least from a distance.

Slipping out of the room, she tried to keep the candle as unobtrusive as possible as she made her way down the stairs, heading for the first floor. Out in the garden the party had wound down and most of the guests had already gone to bed, just like she had. While there were still a few dozen people up, they were in the parlors, playing cards or amusing themselves with dice games. Seeing a few servants moving crates of empty wine bottles, she felt a pang of fear, but before she could retreat the image of the masked jailer appeared in her head and she remembered why she needed to go to the basement.

If they don’t have any evidence, they cannot prove it was me!

Trying to put on a firm, aloof expression, she walked past the curious servants, nodding to them imperiously. Her heart pounded in her chest until she slipped down into the basement, hurrying down the well worn stone stairs. Arriving at the bottom of the stairs, she looked around for a moment, her candle casting dancing shadows this way and that as she turned. There didn’t seem to be anyone nearby, so she hurried deeper into the basement, slowing when she came to a giant pile of furniture. Glancing over her shoulder once more to double check that she was alone, she stepped into a small gap in the furniture and squeezed into a small space that existed in the middle of the giant pile, unaware that her every move was being watched.

Garrett, who was still sitting on the bed in the countess’ room, was using Observe the Dream to follow the bright dream flower that she carried, and saw her crawl into the hidden space, soon coming face to face with the mirror. A cloth had been draped over it, blocking the reflective surface, but Garrett could still see the frame of the mirror and recognized it instantly. The last portion of the crawl, the countess had to get down on her hands and knees, and after carefully pushing her candle through the gap, she scooted through herself.

Having elected to not follow her directly, Garrett could only watch as the countess blew out her candle, plunging the space into darkness. Yet the darkness wasn’t complete, as a soft glow from the mirror lit up the countess’ face. It was into this light that she stared, her expression starting to twist as her already fragile mind was pressured by the power of the mirror. Through Observe the Dream, Garrett could see both the countess and the mirror clearly, and as he watched, the glow on the mirror began to grow stronger, turning faintly green.

The countess began to blink and shake her head, slowly backing up until she bumped into the piled up furniture behind her, resisting the influence of the mirror thanks to the power of the flowers planted in her. Thinking quickly, Garrett commanded the flower to stop resisting and almost immediately, a happy smile appeared on the countess’ face as she stepped forward, so close that she was almost touching the mirror. Using her hands, she began to comb her hair out, as if she was getting ready.

At first Garrett was confused, as it appeared that the mirror only created a compulsion to comb hair in the affected individual, but that confusion cleared up a moment later when he saw a woman walk into the frame of the mirror, appearing over the countess’ shoulder. She wore a simple white dress in a style that was almost a hundred years old, and her face was covered by her long, tangled hair. In her hands she held a simple hand mirror and a comb, which she raised as she stopped behind the countess.

“You have such lovely hair.”

The voice she spoke in was no louder than a whisper, yet it seemed to pierce directly to the countess’ heart, causing her to blush.

“Thank you.”

“Let me comb it for you. And once I’m done, you can help me with mine. Won’t that be nice?”

Placing her comb in the countess’ hair, she dragged it down evenly. Garrett could feel his scalp tingling each time the woman in the mirror completed a stroke and knew that it was building to something dangerous. He could have stopped what was about to happen, or at least interrupted the process, but instead, he just watched, his gaze cold. Deep in the basement, the countess was enthralled by the continuing process and finally, the woman in the mirror had finished.

“All done.”

Faintly, a smile could be seen behind the thick, matted hair that covered her face, but it seemed to contain too many teeth, and all of them too sharp. Yet there was nothing that the countess could do, even as her happiness started to turn into horror. The woman in the mirror slowly raised her other hand, the one with the small hand mirror and showed the countess her reflection, causing her to freeze in place. At some point, the woman’s hair had stretched out and wrapped itself around the countess, and now it began to pull, causing the countess to stumble forward, into the mirror.

A flash of ghostly light lit up the space as the countess fell through the mirror, vanishing from the real world and appearing inside the mirror. A soundless scream appeared on her face, but she was bound by the woman’s hair and couldn’t do anything but struggle as the mirror returned to normal, reflecting nothing but darkness. Watching it carefully, Garrett saw the border of the mirror shift as another carving of a woman combing her hair appeared among the others. A deep frown appeared on Garrett’s lips as he thought about what he had just seen.

The dream flower I planted on her is still active, so she hasn’t died. What is going on?

You have observed a Pale Fiend, a corrupted soul that cannot be hurt by mundane means. You have gained 3 EXP.

You have planted a dream flower in a nightmare for the first time. You have gained 5 EXP.

You have discovered a Hollow Space, a distinct dream space contained in a dream item. You have gained 3 EXP.

EXP: 165/160

The waterfall of experience points rolled down in front of him, causing Garrett’s mind to blank as he tried to understand what was going on. Before he could figure anything out, a prompt he had been hoping to see for months popped up.

[Congratulations! You currently have enough experience points to level up. Would you like to level up to level 5?]

Despite his urge to immediately accept the prompt, Garrett tempered his excitement and stood up from the bed. He still had time, so he retraced his steps, moving cautiously as he climbed the stairs to return to his room. Thankfully, he didn’t run into any more dangerous nightmares, despite seeing a few drudge wraiths scurrying around. It was only when he had settled into the dream flower covered wheelchair that he breathed a sigh of relief and accepted his upgrade.

[Each time you level up in the shaper stage, you will be presented with the choice of acquiring a new ability and increasing the skill level of two existing abilities. Please choose which of your skills you will level and then choose your fifth level advantage.]

There was only one choice in Garrett’s mind, and he selected it immediately, without even looking at his other options.

[Dream Seed]

You have seized one of [???????], Crimson Eye of Shalmoroth’s abilities, Dream Seed.

1 EXP - Observation Seed

2 EXP - Communication Seed

3 EXP - Loyalty Seed

6 EXP - Guardian Seed [1/2]

[Other types of seeds locked]

You can now plant seeds anywhere in the Dream and nourish them yourself.

You can now set your Dream Flowers to the following states:

Defend [Default] - Dream Flowers will actively protect their hosts, or locations, from nightmares.

Hunt - Dream Flowers will release spores to attract nightmares with the intent of consuming them.

Growth - Dream Flowers will absorb the mental energy of their host or any creature that enters their location with the intent of growing stronger.

*NEW* Your seeds now propagate naturally, so long as they have a steady source of mental energy.

Skill Level: 3 > 4

As Dream Seed upgraded, Garrett felt a qualitative change in the dream flowers around him. It was a subtle shift, as if they had suddenly integrated with the dream in a way they hadn’t before. If before their energy had been a mirror of his own, it now seemed less distinct from the energy of the dream. Though Garrett didn’t know how long it would take the dream flowers to propagate, he knew that he had just saved himself a tremendous number of experience points and that excited him. Unfortunately, the next choice was not so simple. Garrett had five other abilities and while there were some he knew he wouldn’t take, there was no clear winner among the rest.

[Whisper of the Dream]

-You have gained the ability to communicate with those who can walk the Dream.

*NEW* You can now initiate communication without touching your target. You must be able to see the target.

Skill Level: 1 > 2

Whisper of the Dream was the least useful ability on the list, since he had been using the dual bloom dream flowers to mimic the effect, but he was starting to encounter more and more situations where the people or creatures he was interacting with in the dream didn’t carry a dream flower. Still, this one remained at the bottom of his list.

[Observe the Dream]

-You have gained the ability to see the Dream clearly.

-The energy cost of activating this ability has been reduced.

-You may now use your other abilities while using Observe the Dream.

*NEW* You gain an instinctive sense of the dangers of the Dream, allowing you to sense nightmares before they appear.

Skill Level: 3 > 4

While Observe the Dream’s ability was strong, and would increase his survivability, Garrett wasn’t sure that it was the most efficient use of his limited skill points. He already had a fairly efficient detection system in the dream flowers, and it was rare that he left their range, so he hesitated to upgrade this one. The one reason he thought he might, however, was that the skill was clearly getting stronger, and he was curious about what sort of advantages the upper levels might bring.

[Dream Cloak]

-You have gained the ability to use the Dream to cloak your presence, reducing the likelihood that you will be seen.

*NEW* Your Dream Cloak grows stronger, allowing you to hide more efficiently.

Skill Level: 1 > 2

To his surprise, Dream Cloak was one of the skills that he was seriously considering, though he recognized that his attraction to the ability might have been related to the terrifying experience he had just gone through with the withered beast. Shuddering as he thought about it, Garrett looked at the two Guide Growth skills he possessed.

[Guide Growth - Beautiful Bewitchment]

Your Dream Flowers grow, guided by your will to become objects of supernatural beauty. Those who look upon them cannot help but become enthralled.

Modify Dream Seed: Increase the bewitchment ability of Dream Flowers, strengthening your influence on hosts.

*NEW* Increase the bewitchment ability of Dream Flowers against nightmares.

Modify Dream Flowers: Clusters of Dream Flowers will now produce a bewitching scent that will have one of the following effects:

-Distract: Affected targets will grow distracted and forget what they were doing until the effect wears off.

-Enthrall: Affected targets will grow enthralled and peacefully admire the flowers until the effect wears off.

-Enrage: Affected targets will grow enraged and attack anyone around them until the effect wears off.

Skill Level: 2 > 3

[Guide Growth – Spirit-sucking Thorns]

Your Dream Flowers grow, guided by your will to become fearsome predators, hiding sharp thorns under their beautiful petals.

Modify Dream Seed: Increase the attack strength of Dream Flowers by improving their ability to consume the mental energy of their hosts and enemies.

*NEW*Modify Dream Flowers: Increase the range from which Dream Flowers can attack.

Skill Level: 1 > 2

This is a difficult choice. I think I can drop Spirit-sucking Thorns for now. Attacking at range would be nice, but now that I’m starting to attract awakened dreamers, the flowers aren’t my main offense. On the other hand, being able to affect nightmares with the bewitching ability is really important. It’s hard to decide between that and Dream Cloak. I have been using Dream Cloak a lot recently, but is that going to continue? I’ll only really use it in situations like this when I leave the inn, which won’t be as common. I think I have to go with Beautiful Bewitchment.

Pausing for a moment, Garrett finally selected Beautiful Bewitchment to upgrade, spending his second point. He hated having to choose, as he really wanted to select all the abilities, but he also knew that his choices were limited by the scarcity of the skill points, and that his primary goal was to ensure his survival and by extension, the survival of his growing group.

Alright, that’s it for current abilities. Let's see what sort of new abilities I can get. It looks like I haven’t progressed far enough with Dream Seed to unlock new options, so I only have my three Path of the Watcher abilities to choose from.

Illusory Dream

You have gained the ability to use the Dream to create illusions, confusing both dreamers and nightmares.

Skill Level: 1

Dream Walk

You have gained the ability to slip between the cracks of the Dream, allowing you to traverse great distances without being detected.

Skill Level: 1

Vanishing Touch

You have gained the ability to erase any sign of your existence within Dream, allowing you to remove any trace that you had once been present.

Skill Level: 1

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