Dreamer's Throne

It took a few hours for everything to calm down, but to Garrett, none of that mattered. While the others were out looking for Ruel, Garrett was walking through the Dream once more, heading for the second floor where Ruel was hiding in one of the rooms. Stepping into the room, he was not surprised when the masked man looked at him and sank to one knee.

“Your Highness, I am yours to command.”

He assumed that Ruel’s ability to see him in the dream had something to do with the six petaled flower that waved gently above his head, and without saying anything, Garrett pulled Ruel into a dream. The room they were in melted away and transformed into a simple space surrounded by darkness.

Waving his hand for Ruel to get up, Garrett flipped his hand over, a mask appearing in his palm. Just like Garrett’s, it was completely smooth, but instead of being blank white it was dark red and had a flower with six petals etched on it. Ignoring the sting of the experience points he’d just lost, Garrett handed the mask over to Ruel.

“From now on, Ruel is gone. You are Viper, the first Guardian.”

“Understood.”

Taking the mask, Viper placed it on his face, his entire demeanor changing. The dream item Garrett had just created had taken a whopping three experience points, but it would not only serve to protect Viper’s identity in the dream. Garrett had fused a suppressive effect into it, allowing its influence to extend into the real world as well, in an effort to help his guardian avoid being exposed.

It would act as a chain of sorts, connecting to the mask Garrett wore and allowing Viper to enter any dream Garrett was already in. Ever since he had seen the Truth Speaking Statue, Garrett had been experimenting with creating artifacts, and was slowly growing to understand how they worked. Happy with what he’d managed to do, Garrett saw a small flicker from the corner of his eye and turned, catching sight of a Drudge Wraith. The lesser nightmare was trying to creep into the dream, but as it entered, it saw the two men and froze.

“Shall I kill it, Your Highness?”

“Yes. And stop calling me Your Highness. Sir is fine.”

“Yes, sir.”

Bowing, Viper turned to glance at the Drudge Wraith. His body suddenly blurred and he reappeared standing over the monster, a blade in his hand stabbing straight through it. Shaking his blade, the Drudge Wraith vanished and Garrett found himself looking at another experience notification. Delighted, Garrett smiled behind his mask and snapped his fingers, re-entering the Dream. A moment later, the kneeling figure stirred and Viper stood up, now present in the Dream with Garrett.

“Come, we have a lot of people to visit tonight,” Garrett said, checking the pocket watch that appeared in his pocket.

Stepping forward, his hand on the hilt of his sword, Viper bowed.

“Lead the way, sir.”

The next morning, Gorn stood in the great room, looking around at the adventurers who were being hired to help clear out the ghoul nest. Led by One-Eyed Erik, the Farsight team was dressed in uniforms of dark brown leather. They carried crossbows and short swords, as well as a profusion of knives strapped into sheaths around their bodies. Maintaining a distance of about six feet were the Green Dragons, who were all dressed in chainmail. As a combat team, their composition was balanced, with two frontline fighters, a flanker, and a ranged fighter. Both teams looked strong, but the one who stood out the most was the mysterious robed adventurer Garrett had hired, Viper.

“If you’re ready, we’ll head out. Obe and I will be coming with you,” Gorn said, suppressing the shudder that rose up his spine when he thought about facing the ghouls again. “Follow me.”

Watching them leave, Garrett bit his lip, a nervousness setting in. Nighttime was his domain, but killing monsters was something best done when the sun was up. Even underground it seemed to make a difference as the nocturnal creatures were lethargic. Ever since he’d first entered the Dream what he could do during the day was largely restricted, so watching them leave made him quite jittery.

He had Dream Flowers deep underground, but they were still out of touch, and until he knew what was going on with them he didn’t want to add new variables. Unfortunately, that was now outside his control. The only saving grace was the discovery he’d made early this morning after the Dream closed. Transforming Ruel into Viper had used up his one available Guardian Seed, costing three more experience points in the process.

The transformation his Guardian had undergone was much like what had happened to Gorn when he grew three flowers, but on a supercharged scale. Though fully capable of independent thought, Viper was more like an extension of Garrett’s mind than a separate individual. The connection they shared was so strong that even now, under the bright morning sun, Garrett simply had to close his eyes to see and hear what Viper was experiencing. It had been a welcome surprise, and one that Garrett intended to take full advantage of.

“Are you going to come see how sales are doing?” Ryn asked, putting her hand on Garrett’s shoulder.

“Hmm? Oh, no. You can do that. I have some work to do, so I’ll stay here. Besides, you don’t need me for this. You have a head for this sort of thing, be confident.”

“As if I need to be told that,” Ryn said with a cheeky smile. “Alright, I’m leaving. See you later.”

Once she was gone, Garrett wheeled himself to his room and shut the door. Rather than getting out of his chair, he pulled himself up to the table and opened up the account book so it would look like he fell asleep while working on it. Closing his eyes and focusing on the connection he shared with Viper, he felt his room fading away. Blinking, he saw the basement of the inn. Gorn and Obe were moving the large rock out of the way, revealing the entrance down into the tunnels.

“Per our agreement, the entrance to this tunnel system is to be kept secret. If it leaks, we will spare no effort to eliminate every last one of you,” Obe said, giving the adventurers a hard look.

“Please, we’re all professionals here,” Estella said, rolling her eyes. “Well, apart from mysterious Mr. Mask over here. I don’t know about him.”

Curious about how far his connection stretched, Garrett, who was sitting back in his room, spoke in his mind, causing Viper’s mouth to move.

“You don’t need to,” Viper said, his raspy voice echoing eerily in the stone room. “Just do what you’re supposed to and we won’t be carrying anyone back in a coffin.”

“What did you say?” Kolz said, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

“She’s going to get you killed if she doesn’t learn when to keep her mouth shut,” Viper said, not backing down in the slightest.

Irritated by the sudden tension, Obe slammed the butt of his axe on the stone, the loud clang gathering everyone’s attention.

“Listen, you can fight after we’re done, but not a moment sooner. Do I make myself clear?”

“Of course,” Maroc, the silver-haired leader of the Green Dragon team stepped forward and smiled at Viper and Obe. “We’ll maintain peace until we’ve dealt with the threat of the ghouls. You won’t have any more trouble from us.”

“Good. What about you?” Obe asked Viper.

Remaining quiet for a moment, Viper spoke in a clipped voice.

“Fine.”

Unsure if he could trust the masked adventurer, Obe finally nodded.

“Let’s go.”

Climbing down into the tunnel system, Gorn took the lead, moving with the Farsight team who was scouting ahead, while Obe and Viper stayed with the Green Dragon team. Unbolting the gate, they headed down the passage toward where the ghoul nest had been discovered. The passage was dark despite the light from their torches, and every sound appeared to be magnified. Normally, an expedition of this sort would have required them to hunt through every passage, but since Gorn and Obe had already discovered the location of the ghoul nest, they were able to avoid the extra passages. Slowing, Gorn gestured to the tunnel up ahead, his voice barely a whisper.

“The ghoul nest is a few hundred feet down this tunnel. There’s a crack that was barely big enough for me to squeeze through that led to it.”

“How are we supposed to launch an attack through an entrance like that?” one of the Farsight adventurers asked, looking over at Erik.

“We might be able to smoke them out,” Erik replied with a shrug. “But if that won’t work, someone will either have to press through and draw them out, or we’ll need to go through one at a time. Let’s see what the entrance looks like before we make any plans.”

“That sounds good,” Maroc agreed.

Since they were getting close to the entrance to the ghoul nest, the Green Dragon team took point as they advanced. Everyone was on edge as they slowly walked down the tunnel, armor jingling with each step. Though each Awakened here was a competent warrior in their own right, none of them wanted to get surprised by a ghoul, so they kept their senses as sharp as possible. Everything was exactly as Garrett remembered it, and though his perspective was now limited, he found it was getting easier to adapt to. Even with Obe and Gorn telling the others what to look for, they still nearly missed the crack that ran deep into the earth. Stopping, the adventurers looked at the crack and then looked at each other.

“You went in there?” Amer asked, his voice incredulous.

“Yeah. I made it about halfway, from what I can tell,” Gorn nodded.

“Wow, you have my respect. If I was stuck in there and ghouls suddenly rushed out, I would probably die from fright.”

“What do you think?” Maroc looked at One-Eyed Erik. “Do you think we can smoke them out?”

“Unfortunately, no. That passage is way too long. I think we’ll have to go in.”

“Are you insane?! You want us to crawl in there?” Estella asked, pointing at the crack. “There’s no way.”

“That’s what you signed up for,” Obe said, his voice cold. “If we say go, you better go.”

“Oh, come off it,” she snapped. “We signed up to kill ghouls. Not throw ourselves into a death trap.”

“Estella is right. This will be incredibly dangerous. Especially the first person. If one of you is willing to lead, however, we’ll follow.”

Turning to Erik, Obe frowned when the one-eyed adventurer nodded.

“I feel the same way. Sure, we agreed to see this through, but I don’t fancy sacrificing my team. We’re happy to follow your lead, but if you don’t want to go through it first, we don’t either.”

Sharing a bitter look, Obe and Gorn couldn’t help but feel trapped. Neither of them wanted to be the first to head through the narrow passage, but if they didn’t go, who would? Swallowing, Gorn was about to speak up when a raspy voice echoed in the tunnel.

“I’ll go first.”

Everyone turned to Viper, whose cloak made him hard to see in the darkness. He had been so quiet that they’d nearly forgotten about him. Now that he’d stepped forward, Obe and Gorn both breathed a sigh of relief, while the adventurers frowned. It was all fine and good for someone else to go through the crack first, but if he went that meant they had to go, and none of them wanted to. Even if he went first, as soon as he died whoever was behind him would be next on the chopping block.

“I don’t-” Maroc started to speak, only to be cut off.

“This is what we were hired for, so I don’t mind taking the lead.”

It was a simple sentence, but with it, Viper completely cut off any excuse the other adventurers had. If he was willing to do it, they couldn’t back out since word of them refusing to act would undoubtedly make its way back to the adventurers’ guild. A thread of hate flashed through their hearts as they stared at Viper, but the masked adventurer paid them no mind. Obe and Gorn, on the other hand, were ecstatic. Neither of them wanted to be first through the crack either, so Viper’s offer was like a pile of coal in the winter.

“We’ll bring up the rear,” Gorn said, his voice hiding a hint of glee.

“I think it makes sense for the Green Dragons to support Mr. Viper,” One-Eyed Erik said, smiling at Maroc.

Silently gnashing his teeth, Maroc could only nod. As much as he wanted to deny it, it made more sense to put those with heavier armor up front. With the adventurers lining up, Viper began to move through the narrow passage, light coming from the torch he carried in his left hand. After some hesitation, the others followed as well, their armor scraping against the rocks. There was no way to move through the narrow crack quietly, so they didn’t even bother, instead moving forward with measured steps while keeping an eye out for any sign of the ghouls.

Yet even with all the banging about, there was no sign of the ghouls. Garrett, who had seen them the most recently, wasn’t even sure if there were any ghouls anymore. Before his connection had been interrupted, he’d seen the tangled mess of ghouls and Dream Flowers crawl down into the nest. Unless they had managed to escape the flowers’ grip or more ghouls had spawned, the path into their nest should have been completely clear. It was on this thought that Garrett decided to take the risk in leading the way.

There were parts of the passage that widened out, and other parts that were so narrow that some of the larger men had to squeeze themselves through. Accompanied by the sound of metal scraping against stone, they slowly traversed through the earth, their hearts pounding in their ears. The closer they got to the exit, the slower they moved, and when they were a few dozen feet from the end of the passage, they stopped. Glancing back, Viper seemed to snicker, causing Kolz to grit his teeth, but he kept his mouth shut.

Viper moved forward, his torch in one hand and his sword in the other, soon stepping out of the crack and into the chamber where the ghoul nest was. Looking around, Viper’s eyes narrowed. The room was nothing like it had been the last time he’d seen it. Gone was the pile of bodies, replaced with a polished pile of bones. Furthermore, there was moss and lichen spread around the room, along with a few other plants Garrett didn’t recognize. Reaching out with his sword, he poked at the bone pile, only to see the bones he touched collapsing into powder. With worry starting to grow in his heart, he finished looking around the room as the others crawled out to join him.

“Why didn’t you say something?” Kolz asked angrily. “If the room was clear, you should have said it.”

Ignoring him, Viper walked over to the other side of the chamber and began to look for other exits. Eyes narrowing, Kolz was just about to start something when Gorn and Obe came out of the crack.

“What’s going on?”

“What’s going on is that your information was faulty,” Maroc said, frowning. “This nest has been drained, which means it’s not spawning ghouls anymore.”

“What do you mean?” Gorn asked, looking at the pile of bones with some fear.

Instead of answering, Maroc just kicked at one of the bones, causing a large section of the nest to collapse into dust. Waving the dust away, Obe stepped forward to examine it. There was no energy left in the bones, leaving him baffled. About to straighten up, he saw something shining among the bone dust and reached out, pulling out a glittering stone. Blowing it off, he felt everyone’s attention on him and looked up, his face ugly. Every single person in the room apart from Viper was staring straight at him, or more accurately, at the stone in his hand. The sound of swallowing was loud in the room as each person estimated the value of the nest stone he held.

About the size of a fist, it wasn’t the largest category of nest stone, but its size was good and would probably fetch at least twenty gold, a tremendous fortune for any adventuring party. Realizing he had picked up a hot potato, Obe was kicking himself for being so obvious about it. If he’d managed to pocket it without anyone seeing it, that would have been best, but now that it was out in plain sight it would have to be handled with care.

“Well, it looks like we’re done here,” Obe said, pretending he couldn’t see the naked greed in the adventurers’ eyes. “It’ll be an easy mission for you. Practically free coin.”

“Wrong. We get paid by the kill, so now that there are no ghouls, we’re not going to get paid.”

“You’ll get your base commission,” Obe said, his eyes narrowing.

“A pittance. We gave you our time and took a potentially life-ending risk by coming down here. We need more than the base commission. I think it’s time we came to another arrangement,” Erik said, his single eye fixed on the gleaming stone in Obe’s hand.