In Nightmares We Awaken Part 2

I scowled deeply as I jogged through the mist of the early morning, heading back through the forest shortcut to get out of the damp cold as quickly as possible. How could he? Scaring me like that. A mindset like that is only going to get him in even more trouble. Not to mention that I was helping him! The least he could do is have some respect for how I feel about the whole situation. I grimaced as I unlocked the door to my apartment. I knew I was being harsh, and yet I couldn't help but feel angry. The thing I should really be directing my anger toward is the hunter, I know, but I found it hard to direct my anger at something so ethereal; something I hadn't even seen, save for its eyes. We knew what it looked like now, at least. Maybe there was some lore or legend that could tell us about it, what might drive it away.

I yawned deeply, stretching out as I sat on the side of my bed. I rarely stayed up this late, and had begun to wish that I could work up the courage to sleep. Yet, the hunter knew who I was now, and I didn't need to add my problems to his. I reached up above my bedside, adjusting the dreamcatcher mounted on the wall. I wished that something as simple as that would help him, but that was impossible at this point. Time to research what this hunter could be.

I fired up my netbook and began doing some searching on the internet. I had never looked up this sort of thing before, so I didn't even know where to begin. I searched a few keywords that I thought might bring up something useful, dream hunter, glowing blue eyes, and other terms like that. I even tried to look up stories of other people having restless nights and seeing if there was any trend in their patterns of insomnia, but all of their problems seemed to be due to more expected causes like depression or anxiety. None mentioned recurring nightmares, or if they did, they mentioned it as a side effect, not a cause. It could have been related somehow if they had just misinterpreted what they had dream, but my gut instinct told me it would get me nowhere. I semi-slammed my head against the desk in frustration, this was getting nowhere fast. I was just about to call it a day once again when I saw a comment on one person's insomnia blog. Everyone who replied to it dismissed it as a silly rumour, and this was exactly what caught my eye. The comment read as such:

"Are you sure that your nightmares are causing your insomnia, and not the vice versa as you describe? There is this creature described in ancient legends that has been known to cause nightmares in people, you might find this helpful: "

After that colon was a link to a website dedicated to ancient lore and mysteries; specifically the page concerning this creature that the commenter described. What I read was fascinating. It detailed the story of a bringer of nightmares and a bringer of good dreams, both of which were apparently in "Constant battle" with each other. Whereas the bringer of nightmares wanted to enshroud the world in darkness and keep all the people in a constant nightmare state, the bringer of good dreams sought to dispel these nightmares to allow the people to relax during their sleep. In the end, the bringer of dreams won, and the bringer of nightmares retreated to solace in the Coronet mountain range. It seemed so unlikely; it could be the same thing as the hunter, but this legend seemed to portray it in a much more negative light than even Adrian did, and he was the one who had to live with the damn thing. And also, what was this bringer of good dreams? How did they tie in to this story? Do they also exist somewhere? Regardless of the questions raised now, at least I had something to go on, a single lead. I decided to tell Adrian about my findings that evening and at last, collapsed on my bed.

I suddenly woke upon a vast, empty plain, the sun just over the edge of the horizon. I waited a few minutes for it to rise, or perhaps set, but no matter my waiting it didn't move. I mumbled softly to myself, realizing that this must be a dream. At the very least, it wasn't the place that Adrian had described, so I wasn't being hunted as well. The moment that I thought that, however, a shadow suddenly fell across the plain, blocking out the sun and plunging it into a darkness that blocked out vision past arm's length. I began to hair a pained, ragged breathing, not a menacing sound, but rather a desperate, choking noise, wandering about in the dark. I called out, apprehensive to explore the dark, but wanting to help the person as his breath grew more and more ragged, the gasps for breath becoming more infrequent.

Steeling myself, I ran toward the source of the noise, stumbling through the suddenly dangerously treacherous terrain. I had nearly made it to the sound when it suddenly stopped, Adrian laying on the ground a few feet from me. His hands clutched scraps of dark fabric that clung to his arms like sleeves, blowing as the wind began to pick up, rain beginning to sprinkle the dry grass and gradually building in intensity. I knelt down to help him to his feet, but cried out in horror as I saw his face, masked with a thick, pale, and featureless object, anchored firmly to his head. I struggled to remove it, remembering that he said he couldn't breathe in his dream before. A few quick tugs and it split down the middle like cracked porcelain, and I pulled off the left half, freeing his mouth and nose. He gasped for breath as I stood over him, shielding him from the torrential rain with my body. He struggled to speak, talking in a hoarse, air-starved whisper as he pulled himself to his feet. I leaned closer to help him up as he slowly opened his eyes.

In that moment, I couldn't contain myself, I let out a scream of terror and ran, as far as I could, away from the terrifying sight of my mangled friend. In my panic, I didn't realize I had ran straight over the edge of a cliff. I kept falling and falling, and just before I hit the ground, I bolted upright in my bed, gasping for air. I was once again in the waking world, still screaming from the sight of the ice-blue orbs, their gaze piercing into me from my friend's body, their malevolent glare penetrating the mask that had entrapped him.

It took a while for me to regain my composure, by the time I did, I was already out of the house and on my way back to Adrian's. There was no way I couldn't stay at home after what had just happened; that now the hunter was after me too, and using Adrian's image to try and terrify me! I didn't even pay any attention to the fog in the forest or the dewdrops on the grass, and I broke out into a run and made my way out of the woods, bolting straight to Adrian's front door, knocking a lot harder than was probably necessary.

"Adrian! If you don't open this damn door right now I swear I'll..."

The door opened before I could even finish. Adrian was there, same expression as always.

"Hey Jaz, thanks for coming again. Come on in, no need to break down the door!" He said, with an unfamiliar nervous laugh. I quickly entered and closed the door behind me. Adrian seemed to retreat to the sofa quite quickly, and lay down in a position where he was peering over the side of it.

"Bit of a weird way to use a sofa, no?"

"No weirder than anything that's happened in the past few days." He said quickly, waving me in to sit on the sofa next to him. "Anyways, did you manage to find anything?"

I had so much to tell him, I wasn't sure what to go with first. I thought it might be best to tell him about the legend first and then go from there.

"I did some more research last night, and stumbled across a website full of ancient mysteries and legends of the past. One of the pages there tells the tale of the conflicting bringers of nightmares and good dreams, who fought against each other to try and bring nightmares and good dreams respectively to the people of the world. Eventually, the bringer of good dreams won out and the bringer of nightmares apparently retreated to the Coronet mountain range to lead a solitary life."

Adrian could already see where I was going.

"You don't think..."

"Yes." I finished for him. "I think that this bringer of nightmares in the legend is the same thing as the hunter from your dreams. But the one thing I don't know for sure is if he's truly evil and is doing this all out of malice or whether that act of kindness he apparently tried to do was genuine and the legend is just that, a legend."

Adrian pondered this over a bit in his head, and didn't seem able to come up with an answer. I couldn't blame him, I really wasn't able to either.

----------------

I rested my face in my hands, depressed and tired. I wanted to believe that tender touch was genuine, and not just an act, but the creature hadn't given me a reason to trust it. I was too frightened to head back into the dream and confront it, but at the moment, there was nothing else I could think of to try to resolve this. Unless...

I reached up to get Jasmine's attention. "Wait a moment. What about this spirit of good dreams? Maybe we can find it, get it to chase the hunter back to the mountains, leave me alone! Did the stories say anything about where we could find it?"

She shook her head sadly. "No. They just said what it looked like, but no one knew where it went after their battle. I wish they did, too, because..." She swallowed hard as she paused. "The creature went after me when I was sleeping this afternoon. It was disguised as you, pretending it was in peril, but when I went to help it, it stared at me with those terrible eyes. I-I ran. I fell off a cliff in the dark, and woke up." She sighed

I turned pale as she described her dream. I asked her for detail, what danger it was in, how it acted. But her responses only increased my fear. "Jaz... I had the same dream. It was a daydream, I wasn't asleep, but just the same, it's a little distressing. Especially when I was the one who was saved by you, not the hunter."

I swallowed hard, resting my hand on my shoulder, rubbing my neck, sore from days upon days of sleeping only when I passed out on my feet. The reddish collar that had appeared on my undershirt distressed me. Was this creature trying to make me become its ally? Take up arms against this bringer of good dreams? I shuddered at the thought. Yet somehow I could almost swear that he didn't mean ill to me. My courage was slowly building as I turned to address Jaz.

"I think I'm going to try to talk to it tonight. Alone. You can try and find this good-dream bringer, but I think I have to confront it by myself. Something tells me that's the only way I'll ever know why it's come."

"Are you sure?" she asked me, clearly worrying I hadn't thought this through.

"Yes, I am sure." I confirmed, showing my resolve. That was enough for her.

"OK then, but please... be careful, alright? I don't want to lose you." she said, suddenly hugging me, much to my surprise. She let go though when she felt something on my neck. The collar on the undershirt.

"Are you wearing something spiky under that shirt?"

I was quiet for a moment, debating whether or not I should show her the thing. I didn't think it would hurt that much, she might even think I had become some sort of weird fan of this hunter and decided to dress like him. Though that probably wouldn't have boded well for her helping me out. I did decide to show her in the end, and pulled down the next of my shirt to reveal it.

"What's up with that, Adrian? It seems really weird that would appear on your undershirt all of a sudden, I've seen you wear that exact same one and that definitely wasn't there before."

"Maybe the hunter has some sort of weird sense of humour and decided to put it on there?" I entertained as a notion. Amazingly, she seemed to accept this as a valid answer and simply shrugged, waved and left. I gathered that by this point she'd probably accept just about anything as a theory for the strange goings on. It again reminded me; I knew now what I needed to do. I lied down on the sofa once again, finding it somewhat easier to fall asleep there as of late, and closed my eyes, waiting for sleep to come. I thought about a lot of things before I eventually fell asleep, my life before this whole thing happened, friends I hadn't seen in a while, but oddly, it all seemed to pale in significance to now. I still might not know what he's after, but I knew one thing for sure, I was getting some answers tonight.

The darkness of the dream was familiar. Almost comforting, even. I started to pace impatiently as I waited for the breathing noise to begin, calming my nervousness as best I could. Before long, it began, the ragged breathing beginning to build, filling the dark air. I strode confidently toward the glowing blue eyes in the distance, the temperature swiftly becoming a comfortable chill as the tattered figure came into view. Fear clutched at my heart as I looked at it, but I locked my knees and returned its icy gaze as it carefully approached me, reaching out a clawed and tattered hand. It began its soft, meaningless, and kindly whispers as I held its talon. I struggled to understand its words, but as always, their meaning was lost as it held my hand silently, the wind over the void tugging at my tattered clothes and ragged hair.

"Who... Are you? What do you want with me?" I asked as best I could, keeping as calm as I could in this close contact with a terrifying spectral entity. It was unresponsive, halting its voice and looking up at me kindly, its deep blue eyes no longer seeming quite so menacing and distressing. He reached up with his free claw to adjust my hair, and I braced myself for the smothering feeling of the mask, but that feeling never came. Instead, it felt thick and solid, but still natural, engulfing half my face in a soft slump of foggy matter.

I barely managed to brace myself before it suddenly flew up into the air, carrying me with it high above the ground. Despite the darkness, the landscape was still somehow visible, the rolling hills flowing as the creature raised his hand, still using the other to hold me aloft. It gazed at me expectantly for a moment, before taking one of my hands in its own, and lifting it, much like it had raised its own. It was only then that I realized what he was trying to say.

Our hands were exactly the same.

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The bringer of dreams... that was all I had to go one. Did this thing even have a name? Was the whole thing just some old wife's tale that wasn't even true? Everything that had happened so far would say otherwise, but I never stopped to think that might be the case. I pressed on regardless, but I did worry that the whole effort might end up wasted. What if it was, and in fact all of Adrian's problems were in fact caused by some mental insanity? I shuddered at the thought, surely that couldn't be true? I shook myself to get the thought out of my head, I couldn't lose trust in him now, not when there was potentially so much at stake. But once again, I had no idea where to even begin. The legend itself mentioned nothing about where the bringer of dreams might be now; even if it did, the bringer of nightmares was obviously no longer in the Coronet mountain range if he was now here, troubling us.

I found myself going back home and resorting to the internet once more. If it had gotten me this far, surely it wouldn't fail me now. But lo and behold, a full three hours of searching later and I had actually found absolutely nothing that I didn't already know. It seemed that I needed to start looking elsewhere.

I tried to remember where there might be any other places that I could look up ancient legends and mysteries. The town library was only a short walk away, so I decided it'd be best to start there. To my frustration, there wasn't much there either. The only thing new I found was a picture book that contained illustrations of the creatures, but we already knew what the bringer of nightmares appeared as. Still, knowing what the dream bringer's form was may help, as I now knew what to look for, at least. I was about to give up in frustration when, while browsing through yet another book of legends, a thought suddenly hit me. The two were locked in eternal battle, and so, maybe, just maybe, the bringer of dreams had followed its nemesis here. And if it had, than maybe all I needed to do is get its attention, and show it where its foe was. Some sort of summoning. A lure, a signal. Inspired, I began to scour the books I had already examined, looking for any mention of a ritual or relic that could draw the attention of this creature.

After a few hours of intense searching, I found a scrap of hope. It was simple enough. It made sense. To find the bringer of dreams, you simply needed to call out for it with a proper motivation in your dream, and it would hear your call. Nothing difficult or complicated, and it was the best lead I had at the moment. It was time to try.

I walked the short route back home, and oddly, found myself exhausted when I arrived. This worked out quite nicely however, it would be much easier to get to sleep this way. I closed my eyes, projecting the image of the bringer of dreams into my mind and waiting to fall asleep.

I suddenly found myself, however, back on the open field from the night before. I started to panic mentally - I knew what this meant. Somehow the bringer of nightmares had gotten to me before the bringer of dreams. I didn't even bother turning to get a good luck at my enemy, I simply ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I ran for a few minutes before I began hearing the ragged breathing for what seemed like the thousandth time; it was catching up to me, and fast. I tried projecting the image of the dream bringer into my mind again, hoping it would somehow dispel the nightmare with its mere presence. It seemed to have zero effect on my pursuer, as it simply drew closer and closer to me. It wasn't long before I found myself at the cliff face for the second time, only barely manging to avoid repeating the falling over incident. I had no choice but to turn around and face my attacker. It was just as I expected, the same clothing, the same foggy matter blowing from his head, those same, menacing eyes. I curled up into myself and started to cry, fearing that this was how it would end.

A blinding light. Everything surrounded in white. What had just happened? Did it kill me? I dared to open my eyes to take a peek. The field was gone, but it still seemed like I was sitting on something solid. In fact, there didn't seem to be anyone, or anything for that matter, around. I got out of my defense curl and stood upright, taking a wonder around. I really had no idea where I was, but at the same time I did not feel lost or unwelcome. I decided to sit down for a bit, realizing that this was probably all there was for miles around.

It was then that she appeared. No, not the bringer of nightmares from before. Its counter, the bringer of dreams. She seemed in the distance, out of focus at first, but as she grew closer and closer, I could more clearly make out her shape. She was just as I had seen in the books, except even more magnificent than I ever could have imagined. Her head was the shape of a crescent moon, split into two on the lower half and a golden, triangular face poking through. This head was on the end of a long neck, light blue on top, and golden on the bottom, this pattern carried on through the rest of its body, which bulged out and then ended in a pointed tail, in an almost swan-like manner. Finally, she had the most incredible half ring-like wings, which circled from the sides of its body to two magenta-like tufts on the front of her body; one also connected from point to point over the top of her body where her other two wings joined to it.

I did not even know how to react in her presence, whether she was here to help or not, but my worries were quickly assured by her. She did not even really need to say anything, but she almost radiated a relaxing aura, as if anyone she graced the presence of would just feel completely at ease with themselves. I know I sure did. She then seemed to close her eyes and look at me with an expression of contentedness, somehow smiling with a kindness that poured over me like a wave. I could not help but smile back, feeling truly elated inside. She nodded at me, I didn't understand at first, but then, to my amazement, I heard her voice.

"Come closer! I promise, I won't hurt you!"

To my slight surprise, her voice didn't seem as grand as I'd imagine it to be. More, simply cheerful and relaxed. I nodded and complied, walking over to her. Then I started babbling nonsense.

"You're... wow, you're incredible, I can't believe... how did you."

"No need for questions!" she interrupted me. "...I'm sorry it took this long to find you, I heard your call and tried searching for you as fast as I could, but it seemed like you were already deep within a nightmare, so I had some trouble breaking through. I'm here now, though.... And it seemed as though you had something important on your mind. What's wrong?"

I swallowed hard. I had thought it would be so easy just a few moments ago, but now that this graceful creature was before me, despite its kind and friendly demeanor, it was difficult to speak. I paused for a moment to gather my courage before doing my best to explain. "I have a friend. He's been haunted by nightmares for the past week. I think it's your enemy who's doing it to him. He keeps seeing this... thing, and it's hunting him in his dreams. He says he met it once before, long ago, and I'm afraid it might be seeking him out for revenge or something." I stopped for breath before continuing, her face regarding me with kind understanding, but also a hint of confusion. "So.... you stopped the nightmare creature once before. I was thinking that maybe you could protect my friend? Help him? Save him from this thing that's hunting him? I think he's starting to lose it. He's saying that it's 'not so bad' and 'kind of nice', but he's getting paler, and more ill, and wakes up screaming, and-and... I'm just worried about him. Can you please help him somehow?"

The dream-bringer floated gently down to me, touching my cheek kindly with her face. "I can do my best to help your friend. But let me warn you... My influence is only temporary, and if his situation is truly as dire as you say, then I may not be able to help him alone." She floated up and away from me, and seemed as though she was about to leave when she turned back to me, a curious look in her eye. "Have you ever seen this hunter yourself? Are you sure it is my twin? This seems different from how it normally behaves." It seemed as though she frowned slightly. "I thank you for calling me. I wish you peace of mind, and the knowledge that I will do everything in my power to help your friend."

With those words, she vanished, leaving me alone in the dream. I held my breath tightly, suddenly remembering what her presence had banished, but after a short while, when nothing had intruded, I let myself relax, and enjoy the first peaceful night in a few days.

----------------

I gazed at my hand in confusion, trying to move it and my fingers just to check if they were real. Indeed, I could move it just as I would my own hand, and it felt like I had had it my whole life. I turned to the hunter again, asking it for a a sign, anything that could explain why my hand was like his. To my dismay, it again started speaking in the same way it had always done, in that unintelligible whisper that though it seemed friendly enough, still made no sense. I shook my head to show this, and it led me on another journey, it carrying me the way there. I saw lots of things there, but most of them I could not remember, they flashed by so quickly. Eventually though, it started slowing down, and stopped in the middle of an empty field, with a great cliffside to one side, and a vast open expanse to the other. I took a quick look around to try and find a sign of anything else, but it seemed that the field just stretched out into infinity, apart from the side where it extended into the edge of the cliff. I began to question why the hunter had brought me here, but thought it'd be pointless asking, since I'd just get some meaningless whisper for an answer.

"This... is your world, Adrian."

My face froze. I very, very slowly turned to face where I believed the source of the voice was. What met my vision at this point? The hunter itself.

"You... you.. spoke! But, I couldn't understand you before, how is it that I just understood what you said there?" I asked, totally and utterly bewildered, with an expression to match.

"Did you truly not understand me? Or did you just block out what I was saying out of subconcious fear?"

I hated to say it, but he was probably right. In all honesty, a part of me still did fear it, but now it had gone away enough for me to not block out what it was saying. I started to feel a bit guilty, but then he started speaking again.

"It's okay, you know. I believe if I was in your position I'd feel much the same." he noted, looking at me with the oddest expression of understanding. I don't know how I could tell that was what he meant, but at the same time, I could.

It held my hand tightly, its silken touch feeling kind and soft as it paused its speech. It seemed like it was about to say something when it glanced up and about, a slightly concerned look in its eye. After a brief pause, he turned to face me. "I have to leave. Please... return later. I'll explain then. Just know that I understand what you're going through. I want to help."

I opened my mouth to respond, but he vanished in a swirl of cloth and darkness. A blinding, but comforting light beginning to spread over the expansive plains of the dream. I lifted my dark and tattered arm to shield my eyes, wincing from the bright intrusion until I heard a kind, feminine voice address me.

"Are you Adrian? Friend of Jasmine?"

I nodded silently, lowering my arm to behold a shining, swanlike, crescent shaped creature. Somehow, I instantly knew what this was: the bringer of dreams that Jaz had mentioned. Its light began to fade, and I suddenly felt heavier and weaker, the dark cloth surrounding me melting away as my arms and hands returned to normal. "She found you?"

The creature somehow smiled sweetly, her kind voice warming me. "She is very worried about you, Adrian. She does not understand what is happening, and, I can tell, neither do you, fully."

I swallowed hard, unsure what to say. A few days ago, I would have begged her to end the dreams, to banish the creature that had been hunting me. But now, the dreams were almost comforting, the hunter kind. She interrupted my deliberation with her voice, anticipating my request.

"I know what you want. You want the dreams to end, don't you? You want the nightmares to stop?"

"Actually I..." began to interrupt her, but she interrupted me right back.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't have that level of power. Not on my own. These nightmares that you are experiencing are very intense, it took me almost all my energy just to break through to you now!"

I couldn't believe that. Nightmares so intense that even the bringer of dreams could barely dispel them? What the hell sort of nightmare world did I fall into?

"But, I thought you were the bringer of dreams! The one who defeated the evil bringer of nightmares and brought good rest to everyone!"

She paused for a moment, her usual cheerful expression replaced by one of regret.

"I... am sorry to tell you this Adrian, but that legend, whilst based on a small truth, is in fact mostly a spun tale of good and evil, made as such to make it more interesting and to make it more likely to spread. Distorting the truth, if you will. That's not actually what happened exactly."

"Really?" I answered, quite curious as to what she meant. I was hoping she would explain more but then she said something that began to worry me.

"But now it seems like my counterpart is using you for some reason. I saw what you looked like before I approached, it's clear that he wants to take over your mind!"

I stepped back a bit, shocked by her sudden accusation.

"N-no... you're wrong! That's not what he wants to do, he..."

"He?" she interrupted. "I thought that it didn't..."

"He's a person to me!" I suddenly cried out. Stepping further back, I took on a defensive stance.
"I-I won't let you hurt him!"

"Don't be a fool! This is its influence at work, the nightmare's creeping back in!" she insisted, now looking very concerned.

"No..." I uttered. One single word. And then two more.

"GET OUT!"

----------------

I was about to wake, tired of waiting for the dream-bringer's return, when I began to feel a soft presence return. I jolted upright in my dream, looking about for the source of the feeling, and m eyes eventually settled on the soft lunar light of the returning entity. I was about to ask her whether she had been successful, but the look on her face told me all that I needed to know.

"What about Adrian!?" I cried out as I rushed toward her. "Is he..."

She shook her head glumly. "My twin has taken him. He is fighting off my aid."

"No..." A sense of horror washed over me, the memory of the creatures ice blue gaze coming from Adrian's eyes returning to my mind. "There's nothing you can do?"

"Not alone." Her bright and cheerful voice having become dark and gloomy. "I don't understand. He normally isn't like this. There's no reason for him to pursue your friend."

"Not alone?" A single spark of hope entered my mind. "I know it's not much, but, maybe I could help? If it's because both the nightmare bringer and Adrian are opposing you, maybe I can snap him out of it." I swallowed hard, hoping that I could in fact do that.

She closed her eyes, and had a grave look in her eyes when she opened them. "Yes. You could be able to help, but it would require a vast sacrifice from you. I don't want to ask it of you. But, you seem determined, and so, if you want, I can explain."

I nodded. "Tell me."

----------------

I fell back, onto my rear, lamenting what I had just done. How could I have scared away one of the most beautiful, pure creatures I had ever laid my eyes upon? I felt deeper shame than I had ever felt in my entire life. I buried my head into my legs, first just pathetically whimpering, then sobbing uncontrollably. I had never felt more alone in my entire life. I felt like I should retreat into the darkness for good, like the hunter I was becoming.
Then, I felt a silken hand on the side of my face, wiping away the tear, and then on the other side, the other tear. I looked up, and was reminded than even in the darkness, you aren't truly alone.

"You..."

He looked more regretful than I had ever seen him. Never before did he seem so real, so much like... me.

"I know you probably despise me right about now. I..."

I interrupted him with my hand, shaking my head.

"Truly, I hate more myself. She was just trying to help, yet in that moment, I felt like I would do anything to protect you."

"You did it... for me?" he said, with another first, a tone of great surprise in his voice. Even his eyes seemed to extend slightly wider than usual. For a minute, the foggy matter blew away from the right side of his face, and I could see both of his eyes clearly. They were the most incredible shade of blue. He, sensing my surprised, offered an explanation.

"This is what I do when I want to bare out my emotions. When I don't want to just assume the normal posture of myself. It seems that you want to do the same."

I touched my hand to my face, and indeed, it felt like his, but at the same time, nothing was covering the right side of it.

"Show the truth bare... does that mean you want to explain what happened?" I queried.

"At long last, yes, I can."

----------------

The dream bringer took what looked like a deep breath, her small mouth opening for the first time I had ever seen, and began to explain what her idea was.

"I have an ability which not many know about. This is because, truth be told, I've never had to use it before. I never thought I'd have to use it, but clearly, I was wrong in that regard." she began, with a slight hint of nervousness in her voice.

"An ability? Is this what I'd use to help Adrian?" I queried.

"Yeah, it is." she nodded, taking another long pause, and looking to the side.

"What's the matter?"

"...this ability, it gives me the power to share my abilities, my other ones I mean, dispelling nightmares and the like, with someone else. I cannot use it often, because it tires me out greatly, but it does mean should the situation ever arise where I cannot manage to handle it on my own. Like I said, I never thought nightmares would become this big, so I thought I would never have to end up actually using this power."

This explanation made me feel a bit confused. As far as I could tell, nothing bad would come of me in that case.

"But what's so bad about that? You lend me your power for a bit, wait for you to recover, and then we bust Adrian out of the nightmare together. Simple as."

"If only it was "Simple as"" she replied, with a tone of sorrow. "There is one problem with me doing this. Two, actually. First of all, it is permanent. I can't take the power back afterwards..."

"That's alright" I interrupted, stupidly unprepared for the bombshell that was about to come.

"Second of all. Second of all. It... turns you into me."

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His cold blue eyes closed with shame and sorrow, his hands gripping mine. "Do you remember when you first saw me? In the forest? You tore free part of my form in your fear, the cloth you have kept with you for so long. But... That was not all that you took with you. A part of me broke apart, and entered you when we encountered each other."

A chill passed through me as he spoke, as I knew deep down what he was going to say next, but didn't want to acknowledge it. "I didn't know at first, but, years later, I began to feel something strange. A presence like mine in the dream realm. Alone. Confused. Afraid. That fragment of me had grown within you, changed you. Adrian... You are a creature of nightmares like me." He shook his head sadly. "I didn't mean to. I'm sorry."

The horror of inevitability washed over me. I knew that I was becoming more used to these dreams, to his presence, but to know that this was my life now, that I would never be able to go back to normal. I sobbed deeply, clutching at his soft, silken form. "I-I know you didn't. But..."

"I was only trying to help you. To tell you about your new world. But, all I did was make things worse. I'm so sorry. If you want to leave, I won't blame you."

"N-no... You've been kind. I'm going to stay. I do need your help, after all." I slowly began to regain control of myself. At least there was someone to help me now. Now that it was too late for me to go back. Suddenly, a dreadful thought hit me. "I had a friend. Someone back in the waking world. Am I..." I looked over my form, tattered dark cloth flowing over me,  my legless body floating above the ground. "Am I like this when I'm awake, too? Can I not still visit her then?"

He nodded sadly, as sorrow at not being able to ever see her again without reducing her to a terrified wreck. I clutched him tight, sobbing into the soft silk of his form as he sadly attempted to comfort me.

----------------

"Turn me into you?"

I had turned pale at the sudden revelation. My knees shaking at the thought. Now her reluctance made sense. I'd never be able to go back, and yet, this was the only way.

"I know... It's too much for me to ask of you. I'm sorry to get your hopes up."

I shook my head, steeling myself. Adrian needed my help. I had to be brave, be willing to do this in order to help him. I told myself it wouldn't be that bad, that I would bring happiness and peace to people, that I would still be able to live a relatively normal life. A few tears slipped free from my tears as I held out my hands.

"Do it."

She shook her head. "I can't, not-"

I cut her off. "I have to be able to help him. You told me. I know what this means. This is the only way."

Swallowing deeply, I touched her soft, downy body, heart pounding deeply. "Please. Do it. I have to help him."

She nodded silently.

----------------

I couldn't remember the last time I had cried that much. I'm not even sure if I ever did. Having him there with me was the best thing I could have asked for.

Well, the second best thing...

It was then that he asked me a question which threw me completely off guard.

"Do you love her, Adrian?"

I lifted my head up from his body and looked at him in the eyes.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Jasmine. The one who's been keeping you company in the waking world. Do you love her?"

I didn't even know how to answer that. Did I love Jaz? Of course I did, but, I wasn't sure if it was in the way that he meant. Not helped by the fact that I was still sobbing slightly, I couldn't even get out a coherent answer, leaving... the hunter, as I still had no other name for him, with another confused expression.

"So that is what I sounded like to you at first."

I somehow managed a chuckle, but it was short lived. I appreciated him trying to cheer me up, but it was to no avail. At least I had stopped crying now.

"Sorry about the tears by the way, I didn't mean to just... cry on you like that."

"Please, don't worry about that. It's not like I haven't cried a few tears myself..." he replied, hinting at some past memory that he did not want to bring up.

"You... have?"

"Yes..." he trailed off, before adding, with an unintentional sinister overtone "...there is a reason why my counterpart thinks that I am trying to invade your mind."

----------------

As soon as she nodded, something began to feel weird. It was like I was getting lighter, a LOT lighter. It was a strange sensation, had it been happening in the real world I'm not sure I'd be able to handle it. Though it was now too late to go back, I decided to ask her:

"Does it hurt? You know... the transformation."

She shook her head, gently, again with that incredible kindly smile. "It'll feel just like... I don't really know how to describe it actually. Like I said, I've never done it before." she added, before looking straight into my eyes. That was the last thing I saw before absolutely everything went white again.

I couldn't see anything, but I could feel weird sensations. New perceptions, new ideas. I would have thought something like this would hurt, but going through it now, seemed almost effortless. I knew my body shape was changing drastically, but it's like my mind was somewhere else entirely. The side effect of undergoing such a bizzare experience? Maybe it was. It seemed to last forever. It never ended.

Until it did.

The white gave way to the dream bringer's visage one more. My eyesight didn't feel too different, but my mindset... well, it would never be the same again, that's for sure.

"Are you alright Jasmine? Did it hurt?"

"Hold on..." I felt myself saying, sort of in my head, telepathically. "...am I done?"

"Yes... I am you, and you are me."

----------------

I pulled back reflexively. "Wait, what? What do you mean? Are you...?"

He realized my fears, and shook his head reassuringly. "No! I'm not doing anything to you. But, in the past." He took a deep breath as he released my clawed hands from his grasp. "When you explore other people's dreams, you sometimes find things that are unpleasant. I don't do it so much any more because..." A few tears leaked from his eyes. "People can do the most vile things to one another. I don't want to have to live their pain anymore. But before, I found one person. Someone who was so hateful, so putrid, I... I felt like I had to fix him. I went into his dreams, into his mind, tormented him, tried to make him change, make him better. I was so angry, so filled with rage, that I didn't realize all the people I was hurting in my wrath. She stopped me eventually. Calmed me, helped me control my anger."

I looked at him with confusion. "Why are you telling me this? Opening yourself to me like this?"

"I'm trying to be kind, Adrian, but, I'm far from perfect. I've hurt people before, and I've done it intentionally. I'm just.... And I did this to you... I made it worse by trying to help... I just think that it would be better if someone else helped you through this, sometimes." He held me close, starting to hold me, and cry onto my shoulder just as I did only scant minutes ago. "I'm so sorry, Adrian.  don't want this for you. It's lonely, and dark, and cold, and... and you don't have anyone you know anymore. I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry..."

----------------

As the reality of my situation began to sink in, the first thing I felt was the absence of my arms and legs. The parts of my mind corresponding with those muscles and sensations instead associated with something different. New sensations and abilities that flowed through my altered brain. I knew I was hovering in mid-air, now, but it felt natural, just like the soft breeze of the dream realm brushing over the scarf-like loops stretching along my chest and back. I stretched my crescent shaped head, placed atop my lengthy neck, and exhaled slowly.

"I'm ready... We need to go help Adrian." I looked at... her? Me? I wasn't sure. It felt like we were separate people, and yet, I felt a certain kinship with her that was new and alien to me.

She nodded. "You must care for him deeply."

"I do."

She looked at me for a moment, tilting her head. "How much do you care for him? Do you..." She left the question hanging.

"Love him? I don't know." I sighed. It didn't really matter now, though, did it? I was a creature of dreams, now. The colors here were more vibrant, more lively, as if I was here in body, not just in mind. Even if I ever left, I knew that I wouldn't be the same. We'd not be able to just have our friendly visits again. Yet, if I was able to save his life, it would be worth it.

I looked up at her as she flew gracefully away, and I followed, my new form flowing effortlessly through the air. The dreamscape she had created flowing away into formless mist as we approached a vast, empty plain. A stormy expanse lit only by a half-set sun, a vast, dark, and flickering shadow cast over the grass.

She turned to me. "You recognize this place, do you not?"

I nodded as she continued. "Your friend, and my twin, will be here. Do not waver. I shall deal with my twin. You need only clear the shadows from your friend's mind." I braced myself, preparing for the confrontation.

----------------

Having the tables turned on me now, and him crying into me; I found myself shocked at first, trying my best to comfort him like he had me. But how do you make someone feel better about something like this? If he didn't even know how to do it with me, there was no way I would be able to do it with him.

But then, something sort of... clicked within me. I found myself talking once more.

"I'm not sure if I've said this before, but you and I are a lot alike."

He looked up at me, eyes reading curiosity. I thought it best to satiate that.

"I'm not exactly proud of some things I've done in the past either, you know. When I was younger, I'd often find myself accidentally treading on people's toes all the time. Literally, I mean. Everyone thought that I just liked hurting people in small ways, but I just had really big feet for my age and it was hard to avoid stepping on people sometimes."

The hunter's glare changed to one of surprise, as the tears seemed to be slowly dripping away. "But surely they must have known it was an accident?"

"No more than I knew that you bumping into me all those years ago was an accident. Oddly enough, it was after that that I somehow managed to stop doing that. I remember running away from that forest so scared. It was like I had made a sub-concious promise to myself, never to get in trouble again." I finished, though sharing the realization, it was one I had only just come to myself. The hunter seemed lost for words.

"Adrian... I..."

He vanished. Into thin air.

"No! Where did you go!?"

I looked around the now stormy field, to no avail. In the distance, a crimson sunset, happening upon the horizon, but no sign of him. I turned back, expecting to see nothing again.

I instead saw her again. The bringer of dreams.

----------------

There he was. My friend who had succumbed to the darkness. I could barely even recognize him; he looked almost exactly like the bringer of nightmares, down to the foggy matter blowing from his head, his red spiked collar, his black tattered cloak; even his legs were no longer there, as instead he floated above the ground, just like me. The one thing that had not changed though, were his eyes. They were still that same incredible shade of dark brown, and upon them fixating upon me, I found myself holding back tears.

"Oh my god Adrian... what did he do to you?" I said, in broken telepathic speech. It seemed that my feelings showed through in my "speech" even if I did not actually speak my words.

"Please, don't come any closer!" he begged, backing away from me. "I know you want to help, but there's no way of going back from this! This is who I am now, there's no changing that!"

"That's not true!" I cried "The hunter's mind is just influencing you; he's trying to use you!"

"But why?" he demanded, with a clear, steely resolve in his expression. "Why can't you just leave him alone? Maybe if you didn't go after him all the time, he could live in peace!"
His reaction still surprised me. Why was he trying to shut me out so much? Surely he'd be happy to see me at a time like this. I started to feel a bit of anger creep into me, and it carried through in what I said next.

"How can you abandon your best friend like this? Just leave her behind like all she did for you didn't even matter!"

"Do you think I want to!?" he sobbed, lowering his head. "That's the last thing I want right now, I'd give anything for her to be here with me. She... she... she..."

He slowly began lifting his head again, until once again he was looking at me eye to eye. I watched, as both his eyes began changing, glowing white before reappearing as two glowing orbs of aquatic blue.

"J-Jasmine?"

----------------

No. It couldn't be. It couldn't be her. But, somehow, I knew it was. "It's you... Oh god, Jasmine, I'm so sorry." My stinging eyes streamed tears as I reached my dark claw up to her. All my harsh words, my anger, they weighed heavily on me as I tried to find the words to apologize, to explain somehow. I tried to reach out, touch her side, but she pulled back reflexively. Growing horror in her eyes as she returned my gaze.

"Adrian, I need you to listen to me, he's trying to take you. I know it's hard to believe, but you have to fight it! You can't just let him win." Her fear at my form, the new me, showing clearly as I began to realize she truly was lost to me now. She was the bringer of dreams, and I was a creature of nightmare. Natural foes. Pure opposites. I breathed in deeply as I lowered my claw, shaking my head.

"I can't, Jasmine. I can't ask you to forgive me, but... I can't fight this. It isn't him who's doing this, Jaz. I..."

She interrupted me sharply. "Damnit Adrian, you have to! Don't let him take your mind, I did this to save you, I can help you!"

"IT ISN'T HIM!" I instantly regretted my harsh scream, turning away, ashamed. "Jaz... Thanks for trying to help, but you can't. He's just trying to help me. This was going to happen either way. I don't know how to explain." I breathed heavily, holding back tears. I knew what I had to say, but I wanted to wait to say it for as long as I could. "You need to leave me, Jasmine. I can't hold back the fear or nightmares any more than he can. I don't want to hurt you any more than I have to."

----------------

I glared at him, filled with anger. "No, I won't! I gave up everything to save you, there's no way I can give up on you now!" I tried to reach out, and remove the taint on his mind with my new abilities, but there was nothing there but the darkness, a void my mind couldn't penetrate.

He remained silent, slowly crying, for some time. As he slowly began to speak again, I realized his eyes were not the piercing, terrible lances they were in my nightmare, from what seemed like an eon ago. They were soft, kind, and sorrowful. A wind I didn't feel blew aside the fog resting on his face, revealing his full visage as he began to speak.

"Jaz, I don't want you to go. I love you, and because of that, I don't want to see you hurt. Do you remember how frightened you were of me in your dream? That's all I can be to you, now. I'll never forget you, but there's nothing you can do for me anymore."

His words struck me like a cannon, my stomach churning violently as I tried to find the words to respond. "I want to help you, Adrian. I won't leave until I do."

"But you can't! Look around you Jaz, this..." He gestured with his arm, covered in torn cloth. "...is my home now. Were it not for what I have become, for the fact that I could not go back, then I would gladly accept your help. I know you'll think that's just him talking through me but, please... Just trust me. It wasn't him who did this. It was me. This darkness has been inside me for years. It's just making itself known, now."

----------------

At that last sentence, she started dropping from the air, slowly, until she was resting completely on the ground. She was beyond crying at this point, reduced to a mere state of reluctant acceptance and sorrow. Driving her to this point... it made feel worse than I had ever done in my entire life. I was pretty sure I was also beyond crying at this point as well. I didn't deserve to have a friend like her after that. Just another reason why she needed to go.

"Do you see now? Why we can't see each other anymore? It's for the best Jaz. For both of us." I concluded, slowly turning the other way. She didn't answer. She still wasn't answering by the time I had turned to full face the opposite direction and started to float off, into the darkness, for the last time...

"Adrian, wait."

I stopped. Turning slowly around, I saw Jasmine slowly getting up as well, now returning to her usual floating state.

"You said something to me, a few days ago. Back when you woke up from the first dream where I was there with you."

"What was that?" I asked, unsure as to where she was going with this.

"You just said to me, 'Thanks for being here for me, it really helps.' "

I looked away from her, not wanting to make eye contact.

"Yes, so? What of it? It's not like I didn't appreciate it then, but there's nothing you can do now."

"But, that's not actually true. Remember, this whole time, you've been changing, and yet you still appreciated everything I had done, you still felt happy that I was there with you. Does that really change just because we both have changed in appearance?"

At that, I couldn't help but make eye contact with her again. Only in that moment, did I actually see her. Not as the bringer of dreams, but as her. As my best friend. As Jasmine.

"Jaz..."

For the first time in days, I saw her smile. Somehow, even though her head was completely different, it looked exactly how she did when she smiled as a human.

"Yes, Adrian?" she replied, with a hopeful cheeriness in her tone.

"I love you." I said, bolting towards her and hugging her tight as I could with my ghostly arms. Though she couldn't exactly hug me back, I could feel her emotions through me; nothing except pure joy. I knew, then, that she loved me too. No matter how fearsome my form was.

At long last, my nightmare was over.

----------------

Behind Adrian, I could see a reflection of ourselves in the distance. I poked him with my nose to draw his attention to it.

"Hey, look, Adrian, over there, it's us!"

"Huh? Wha?" he mumbled, in his typical half-awake fashion, turning around to see two figures that looked exactly like us, getting closer and closer.

"Jaz? I don't think that's us." he noted, citing the obvious lack of mirrors anywhere around this place. I then realized who it was and regretted not being able to facepalm at how obvious it was. But if it was them, then... I had to warn her! I started panicking again as they got closer, fearing that the scene would emerge as the ends of a bloody battle. I shouted out to the both of them.
"No, you two, don't fight! This is all one massive misunderstanding, there's no need to..."

However, to my great surprise, they were just casually walking - well, floating - side by side, as if two friends catching up on old times. The hunter, clearing hearing my cries, simply raised his hand and shook his head, with a mouthless smile that even bordered on a smirk.

"He explained everything, don't worry. We came back here looking for you, worried that you might be at each other's throats or something!" she half-joked, even chuckling slightly. The hunter also seemed to find this quite funny and laughed as well. I'll always remember it as one of the oddest laughs I've ever heard.

I looked at them with confusion, realization slowly dawning on me. "You aren't enemies, are you? You compliment each other, not oppose."

They nodded silently, smiling to us approvingly. The one who had changed me eventually beginning to speak. "I'm sorry that I caused you to change yourself on a misunderstanding, but-"

I interrupted her, shaking my head. "It's alright. We can be together this way. I would've done this even if I had understood."

The hunter spoke quietly to Adrian, as he smiled up affectionately at my kind words. "There is only one thing I have left to say. Remain with your beloved. Alone, a hunter can only bring fear. But with with a partner, sorrow can blend with joy to produce something far more pure than either alone. The truth is, these emotions are never black and white, one or the other. They are a gradient of expression."

I realized that the sun overlooking the dark and shadowy plains was slowly beginning to rise, Adrian's form gradually losing its grip as he slowly woke. I smiled to him as he began to fade into dark smoke, a promise that I would see him soon.

----------------

Slowly, my eyes opened to reveal my home. My form still felt light and wispy, and a quick glance confirmed that my inner self had manifested itself in the waking world. I lifted myself from the sofa where I had been sleeping, effortlessly floating out the door and drinking in the light of day. It filled me with hope, a feeling that somehow, things were going to be better from now on. The soft touch of Jasmine's mind as she drew closer confirmed that hope for me, and I was reminded of my first impression of the dream-bringer as she gradually came into view. Although I had found that creature wondrous and beautiful, Jasmine was far more gorgeous in every way. I silenty held her soft body in my claws, keeping her close as I began to cry once again. But unlike my tears from last night, these were not from sorrow or regret, but tears of joy.

"You know, you're looking prettier than ever." I said playfully, nudging her with my claw. She chuckled at that, though I didn't think I deserved it.

"Well, you... you don't look as scary as you did in the dream world!" she teased right back, poking me with her nose.

"Hey! I can be scary if I want to!" I insisted, giving her the most evil glare I could muster.

"...nah, you don't scare me!" she replied, clearly unimpressed and scooting off into the distance, into the forest.

"Hey, come back here! We can't mess around like this anymore!" I said, following her into the woods where it all began. Just a little bit in though, I stopped, realizing I had forgotten something very important.

I had forgotten to turn the lights off at home.

----------------

"What was he doing?"

"Simply returning to his house. I'm sure he won't have trouble sleeping anymore."

"Speaking of which, I hope they help us out eventually, it would be a lot easier for us to help people if there were two of each of us looking for insomniac souls."

The hunter nodded, resting his hand on his partner's back. "They've had a hard few days, though. I'm sure they will eventually, but for now, let us not bother them. They deserve their joy."

The bringer of dreams looked at the hunter, and then back at the sight that was Adrian's house.

"Ah yes, you're right. It's a lovely view though, isn't it?"

"It is." The hunter agreed. "I'm sure it would make an excellent haunted house." he added, barely managing to hold back a chuckled as he said it.

"Oh shush, you!" she laughed, watching as the sun rose over the horizon.

"Come on then, we'd best get going." she suggested, rising into the air, as the hunter did the same. The hunter thought of everything that had happened over the past few days, and found that in understanding the relationship between Adrian and Jasmine, he understood more the relationship with his counterpart. He felt a true sense of gratitude for this fact. He looked to her, and uttered but three words.

"Thank you, Cresselia."

"You're welcome, Darkrai."