Dreamer's Throne

In the sewer system that ran under the city, a strange group stood in silence, shrouded by the deep darkness. There were no lights in this part of the sewer, and they didn’t light any torches, though if one looked closely, they could occasionally see a faint rainbow in the shape of a flower swaying near the wall. Viper stood stock still, his mask and cloak concealing his whole body, while Pax fidgeted beside him. She had mostly gotten used to the flower ghouls, but standing next to them in the darkness was conjuring all sorts of bad memories. It got worse when she realized that two of them had vanished. Not wandered off, but simply faded away as if they had never existed.

“Viper,” she hissed.

Silence answered her.

“Viper!”

“What?”

Viper’s voice was low, and his tone annoyed, but she didn’t care.

“We lost two of our… friends.”

“We did not lose them. They were called.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Prepare yourself.”

“Viper—!”

Before she could finish the complaint that bubbled up to her lips, she felt a sharp tug, and the world around her changed. No longer was she in the darkness of the sewer, but instead stood in a small stone room. A single light streamed down from the ceiling in a cone, and in the middle of the light, like some macabre ringmaster stood a man in a strange outfit and a white mask. Against the far wall lay the crumpled form of one of the most notorious loan sharks in this part of the city, his ravaged body spasming as the two flower ghouls feasting on him bit down.

Turning around, Garrett nodded to the two awakened he had pulled into his dream. Despite the sprays of blood that covered the floors, walls, and even the ceiling, Garrett was immaculate, apart from a single drop of blood that rolled down his mask like a stray tear. Even though they wore masks, Garrett could see the fear building in Pax so he waved his hand and gave his instructions, not wanting to draw things out.

“In a moment, I will draw another awakened into this room. It is your job to recruit them or eliminate them.”

With a snap of his fingers, the world seemed to divide, and they were standing in a hallway lit by dark flames burning in torches along the wall. A dozen doors lined the corridor in front of them, and Garrett opened the first one, walking out of his personal dream and back into the building where the Howler gang slept. Laying in front of him was Thomas Howler, his body growing cold. Though there were no physical marks on his body, his expression was twisted with the pain of having his mind devoured. For a moment, a tinge of panic ran through Garrett, but fast on its heels was an icy coldness that obliterated it.

Without giving it another thought, Garrett turned on his heel and left the room, activating Dreamer’s Cloak as he stalked through the dream. While he had little offensive power, his level of power in his own personal dream was high enough to trap others, and since he could pull others into his dream, he had come up with this strategy. He would trap his enemies, and those who served him would cut them down. The only problem was that it required him to spend experience points to plant flowers, while he gained nothing from killing them.

I’ll have to find some lesser wraiths to put in the prisons, so I’ll at least get the experience points I spend back.

Opening another door, Garrett found the first of the awakened who served the Howler gang and got to work. For the next hour, he tracked down each of the awakened gang members, first planting a dream seed in them, and then sending them into the dream prison he had created. He would have liked to simply dominate most of them, turning them into loyal members of his gang, but the problem was that growing more than three flowers in an awakened took all his energy. The more efficient way, and the thing that he had stumbled into with Gorn, was to have the awakened use their own mental energy to grow the flowers.

That had been what he was hoping to do with Thomas Howler, but things had developed too swiftly for him to set up the scene he wanted. So instead, he had just opted for brute force, and eliminated the man. He was hoping that the situation with the other seven awakened would be different. By sending them into the prison, he could have Viper, Pax, and the flower ghouls deal with them without having to exhaust his own energy. After making sure that he could keep track of what was happening in both Dreamer’s Rest and the prison, he got ready to explore the rest of the building. It was a fairly standard two story building, but what Garrett was most interested in was the basement. There had been an awakened guard, but after planting a flower and sucking her mind into the dream prison, Garrett strolled down the stairs and found a large caged area. Inside were three massive safes, standing side by side.

Staring at them for a moment, Garrett closed his eyes and went searching for a glimmering star in the sea of darkness. Finding it attempting to enter his dream, he chuckled and sent a message, imagining Ryn’s face when she got it. A moment later, the star that represented the young woman dimmed as she woke up and Garrett knew that his message had worked. She had been trying to enter the part of his dream that served as a classroom, a nightly occurrence these days, but he had re-purposed it into the prison, so there was nowhere for her to enter.

With his new plan under way, Garrett re-entered the dream prison where he found Pax leaning against the wall, her body tense. When Garrett materialized next to her, she gave a little yelp and backed up even further, her bloodied fist reaching for the handle of her axe. It was only when Garrett held up his hands that she recognized his mask and calmed down.

“A bit jumpy?”

“N… no disrespect, sir, but this place. I can’t do this. I’ll bash people all day. Monsters and spirits too. But these prison cells are too strange. I feel like I’m the prisoner every time I enter one. It’s too small and cramped, and honestly, the flower ghouls creep me out too much.”

Listening in silence until her voice faded, Garrett nodded. He had intended the cells to magnify the fears of anyone who entered them, and since the flowers and by extension, Viper, had no fears, it had not impacted them. He had not, however, considered Pax, who had not been dominated by the dream flowers. Now that he was focusing on her, he realized that her emotions were jumping wildly, though she barely showed a tremor on the surface.

“Then you are excused. I have another job for you. In a moment, you will find yourself back in the sewer, along with four of the flower ghouls. They will begin digging a tunnel up to the surface. There you will meet another member of the family who will assist you. Transport what you find back to the inn without getting caught. Or, if you do get caught, make sure you, uh, bash them.”

Taking a deep breath, Pax drew herself up to her full height and nodded.

“I can do that.”

With a wave, Garrett dismissed Pax and four of the flower ghouls, ejecting them from his personal dream and sending them back to the sewer. For a moment, after they vanished, he stared at his hand, a questioning expression on his face. He knew that none of his abilities were giving him such detailed control over the dream, which meant that his ability to pull people in and out of the dream was actually related to the shape of his soul spark. He had chosen a path of ruling and his soul spark mirrored that, and now the effect was evident.

The door to the last cell creaked open and Viper walked out, wiping his hands on his cloak. Seeing Garrett standing in the middle of the hall, Viper bowed.

“Sir. Everyone has been dealt with.”

“And?”

“Six were unwilling or deemed worthless. One has chosen to commit himself to your glory.”

The words coming out of Viper’s mouth sent a shiver down Garrett’s spine but he didn’t show it. Instead, he nodded and walked toward the room that Viper had indicated. There he found a young man who looked like he had just awakened his soul spark a few years ago sitting against the wall, four bright dream flowers above his head. As soon as Garrett entered, the flower brightened up, as if thrilled to see Garrett, and the young man’s expression twisted with confusion. It was clear that he was conflicted as feelings of loyalty and fear swirled around in him.

With how weak the young man was, it wouldn’t have taken much for Garrett to force him to five flowers, completely sealing his will and dominating him completely, but Garrett would rather turn him into a corpse than a mindless slave. It wasn’t that he didn’t want loyalty, but he valued initiative more than mindless obedience, and knew that, given time, the four flowers would slowly push the young man to consider himself part of the gang.

There was no doubt in Garrett’s mind that even carrying a single flower changed the person carrying it, and when growth was accelerated as this flower had been, the flowers became a nearly dominating force, changing and shaping the will of the carrier to regard the priorities of the dream flower, and ultimately, Garrett, as of utmost importance. Pursuing this line of reasoning had led him to a grim conclusion, that he was effectively killing anyone who he aggressively planted a flower into, and he had forced himself to accept that fact before deciding on this plan.

A saving grace were the single flowers that grew naturally, as they allowed the carrier to not only maintain their own minds, but actually strengthened and reinforced their carrier’s minds, making them less susceptible to influence. It was these flowers that Garrett had been using on those who entered Dreamer’s Rest, but he was not going to give any of the Howlers that privilege. They had all knowingly participated in the evil plans that spawned from Thomas Howler’s brain and lips, and Garrett had not even a shred of mercy for them. After watching the young man for a moment, Garrett nodded to Viper and they left the cell.

“Take his body with you when you leave, and keep him until he regains his wits. You can use him to work the tunnel to the swamp once it is finished.”

“Yes, sir.”

Across town, Ryn was just finishing buckling on the last of her gear. She had dipped into the gold bars she had stolen from Carraway’s safe to buy a set of dark leather armor and a long dagger that she hoped she would never have to use. Her thieves’ tools went into a pack on her back and she did a couple quick stretches to limber up before slipping out of the window. The night was moonless, which was perfect because she had no desire to be seen. As she skulked through the city streets, making sure to dodge the sporadic patrols and keep clear of the drunks and thugs that littered the alleys, her mind couldn’t help but return to the strange experience she had just had.

Every night, almost since she had met Garrett, she had gone to a strange class and been taught by a strange man who not only instructed her on reading and math, but also expounded on concepts regarding business and something he called marketing. The result had been explosive growth for her, and she was eager to continue. However, tonight the classroom had been closed. After arriving in the familiar hallway, she had tried to open the door, only to find it stuck fast. Instead, a message had appeared on it, instructing her that she should bring the tools of her trade to a building of a well known loan shark.

The message had continued, mentioning a prize hidden in the basement, and it was with some excitement that she had geared up and left the inn. It was curious to her that she didn’t doubt the message, but there was something about it that was so familiar she just followed the directions. Arriving outside the building, she ran an experienced eye over it and found a small window on the first floor that would serve her purpose. It was simple enough to open the window and she slipped in, making her way down the hall on cat feet. There she found what she was looking for, a slumped over guard in front of a locked door, just as the message had said.

Ryn’s nose wrinkled as she watched the guard carefully, the stench of death clogging her breathing. It wasn’t that the corpse of the guard was starting to smell, but Ryn’s training had put her around enough dead bodies to know when someone was gone. A shudder ran through her and she almost retreated, but once again, the message flashed across her mind and she gritted her teeth. Creeping across the passage, she tried not to look at the dead guard, but the body’s soulless eyes and horrified expression were impossible to miss.

“Just focus on the lock, Ryn. Focus on the lock.”

Emboldened by her whisper, she took out her tools and a few seconds later, the lock popped open, allowing Ryn to flee down the stairs. There she found the cage, and a bored red-masked awakened standing over a perfectly square hole that dropped into the sewers below. After a moment of staring at each other, Pax gestured to the locked cage.

“I take it that you’re the specialist I was told to expect? Wanna get these big boys open so I can get moving?”

This was not the first time that Ryn had encountered the red mask, but from the build and voice of the awakened wearing it, she knew that it wasn’t Viper. Seeing her confusion, Pax figured an introduction was in order.

“I’m Pax. One of Viper’s compatriots. Well, more like a mule, the way he cracks the whip. Heh, don’t tell him I said that or I’ll be on latrine duty for a week. Who am I kidding, I’m always on latrine duty. Seriously though, are you going to open the gate? We’re on a schedule here.”

Hurrying to unlock the door to the cage, Ryn kept glancing at Pax.

“Are you one of Garrett’s guards?”

“Garrett? You mean the leader of the Family? Yeah, I guess you could say that. More of a shadow than a guard, but you can call us that.”

“Us? Are there more than two of you?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Pax muttered, throwing a glance at the gaping hole as she opened the gate that Ryn had just unlocked. “Oh, I know you. You’re that merchant girl who pushes the boss around. Who would have thought that you’d be so talented. Come on, these safes are tough’uns, so you should have plenty of time to tell me how a pretty lady like you got caught up in this creep show.”