Lower Fens Can't Wake Up

[Alexius]

The Spirit floated. No body, barely a consciousness, more a hunger than a will... but it floated. Through thought, and desire, hopes and fantasies... it slipped by the cracks and empty spaces left in the imagining of unconcious minds.

Dreams.

Amorphous colorful things bleeding out of the Grey meat in the human skull. They dripped and spun out into webs and patterns and scenery. Soon the curtains of things that never happened draw open on a theatre play of half thought ideas and remembering to parade in front of the audience of the mind for one more night.

An awareness touched on one such dream. One such hapless mortal dream. A body formed. The same shape it was most comfortable in- not the mockery of life its other self so desired.


Pale bloodless skin. A black shirt with no sleeves. Black pants. Hair brushed back. Soon a face formed and once shaped red blood begins to drip down off the nose, running in streams over the mouth and down the chin. A damp patch spreads from small holes in the chest... finally two bright yellow eyes that open and stare at the dream.

And the Nightmare waiting to birth.

Alexius has entered Dallas' dream

[Dallas Montana]

Sleepytime was no enemy of Dallas, a giant man whose biggest fear was being last in line at a dessert buffet, and by the time he made it up for his turn, all the ice cream had melted. Even then, Dallas just thought he'd need to find a big enough straw to slurp it up.

Even when scary things occurred, like random monsters on abandoned dirt paths that brought an angry lady barking orders to run things over, Dallas' ability to hold fear was nearly impossible.

Like every other evening, Dallas was the first to snooze in his apartment, crashing on his back the moment his fluffy head touched the pillow, snoring before he'd even managed to tell his roommate goodnight.

He hoped he'd dream of cake, specifically that Oreo cake with fudge globs that he saw online. His roommate told him it was simply AI, an artificial picture generated to taunt those who loved cake---but Dallas saw it as a challenge.

Instead, Dallas dreamed of cheesecake. Thick, gooey, a variety in flavor, his large frame landed in a heap on the bed-sized cake, a fork floating beside him on a fluffy pink cloud.

Okay, so it wasn't Oreo cake, but it was still something delicious!

If there was a spooky creature lurking about, Dallas was unaware, too busy rolling around in his cheesecake dream.

[Alexius]

Cinder Nightmare (7d6): 8 Passes! Exceptional Success! [This can be contested by Dallas]

Alexius slowly rolled his sickly yellow gaze over the dream. It was... fluffy. Disjointed. More desire and concept that memory and concern. This was immaterial, like all dreams, because the moment the Spirit touched the dream it was subject to its influence. Subject to Nightmare and Fear. Still unseen, the Spirit known as Alexius moved across puffs of cream and spongy cake as a shadow. The faintest outline of a body that rolled over the fields pulling faint color in its passing. These kind of dreamers were not rare- the mind did not dwell and instead filled its unconscious hours pleasing the host with images of flowers and all the sweet things under the sky. Alexius did not sneer or deride the notion as it did not care either way. The Spirit of Fear had no personal reference to reflect against- though its other half might have since its cursed emergence- and simple took to the corners of the dream to see what might be bent and twisted.

The dreamer lay on a cake, tall as a building and filled with sugar and smiles.

The shadow reached out and gently... grazed the idea with its awareness. No true motion took place as this was all just a dream. But with the heavy stare of yellow eyes the creamy cheese cake seemed to be sapped of its color and vibrancy. It shivered once as the top became damp and cold... its surface beginning to sink in and down. Like a slice of cheese stretched horizontal and melting it would soon no longer hold the dreamer's weight and the welp would fall... into the cake... into something that was no longer sweet and wonderful...

Now it was a pit filled with cobwebs and shadows, holding only a light swiftly dimming at the top of the yawning maw. Alexius liked falling nightmares, especially when he didn't let hitting the ground wake the dreamer up.

Alexius has taken control of Dallas' dream with the Nightmare Keyword.
Luck 4/4
Fade 3/4

[Dallas Montana]

The two large mouthfuls of cheesecake Dallas managed before chaos erupted were full of delight. The sugar, lightly caramelized on top, the cake itself made with vanilla far surpassing those sold commonly in stores--maybe a homemade bourbon vanilla?

He'd need a third bite to be sure, reaching to scoop up another large spoonful, but was surprised that his utensil was met with discolored cake.

Hmm?

That couldn't be right.

“Hey, cake?” He asked as if the cake could talk back to him and explain the loss of color.

The cake responded, but only by swallowing him up and sending him down a long dark pit filled with cobwebs.

The dreamer, slower than most, whirled around in the tunnel as he fell, looking up at the light getting smaller and smaller, his hands reaching out in an attempt to stop himself, but only getting a handful of cobwebs.

They weren't even edible!

[Alexius]

The spirit watched the dreamer fall.

The spirit did not need line of sight to watch, because it did not have true eyes to observe with. The angle of observation or obstacles did not matter because this was not true Place to begin with. To view the dreamer, the Spirit only needed to desire to do so and the act was accomplished- this dream was its now. A nightmare to pull and twist however Alexius wanted... a l e x i u s... the letters again. The letters that made it think of itself... no matter.

What to do with the Dreamer. It seemed annoyed by the fall rather than afraid. That could be fixed.... the letters surfaced once more than the Spirit tilted its head as an idea came to mind.

The long tunnel of cobwebs and darkness began to change. The texture of the walls shifted, become more square and regular. Brief flickering lights flashed by the Dreamer's fall before gravity subtly shifted. No longer and endless decent but a vertical one. The Dreamer would find themselves thrown down a hallway- and old abandoned Hospital.

Ceiling tiles in a state of disrepair, swinging lights barely functioning and painting the world in a miserable pallor of black and white. The cracked glass had no scenery, rather a dense heavy fog pressed tightly against the windows and seeped in through openings... the fog crawled over broken glass to roll listlessly across the dirty hospital floor. A floor stained in occasional dark smears and drops of some thick but dried liquid.

This place often manifested for the Spirit... it found the place comforting in a way it didn't care to examine.

[Dallas Montana]

This dream was not at all turning into what Dallas hoped his dream would be!

His desire for sweets and cake-filled dreams was quickly becoming a nightmare--something Dallas had not worried about since he was a small child.

He couldn't even remember the last time he had fallen prey to a nightmare, feeling as the walls morphed and changed, landing him in... an abandoned hospital?

Heck, Dallas thought in worry, wringing his wrists together as he stood and looked around: Dallas HATED hospitals.

The man, much too big, whimpered, hesitant to stroll the hallway, but saw no other way out, careful to move around the dark smears dirtying the floor.

A gulp.

“Hello?” He called, shakily trying the first door to his right, hoping it would steer him back into his Candyland. “Anyone? I think... uh.... Hello? ”