I stood in the Enchanted Woods. The air smelled like sugar and mold.
DING.
[HOST HAS SUCCESSFULLY ENTERED 'DREAMLANDS']
[!!! SPONSOR QUEST TRIGGERED !!!]
[MADMAN'S QUEST: THE THREE-LOBED BURNING EYE]
Absorb the Eye of Nyarlathotep.
The Eye of Chaos, also called the Three-Lobed Eye of Nyarlathotep, is a symbol of primordial havoc and chaos.
Retrieve it. Eat it. Laugh about it later.
[REWARD: A 2-Way Ticket to The Lands Between (EX-CLASS #GitGud)]
"...The fuck?"
I stared at the floating text like it had slapped me.
Nyarlathotep?
The Crawling Chaos?
The Black Pharaoh?
The nightmare bastard that even Lovecraft hated?
Yeah. This was above my pay grade.
"This is suicide."
And right on cue, he showed up.
"Relax, kid! He's asleep. Dead to the world. The Eye's not on him."
"It's sealed up in the Forbidden Lands. Top of the tallest mountain."
"Head east, past Ooth-Nargai. Through the Tanarian Hills."
"Just a simple fetch quest. You'll be fine."
"...Probably."
"Just try not to go insane, okay?"
(⊙ _ ⊙)
[NOTICE: TIME IN THE DREAMLANDS IS FLUID. EVERY HOUR IN THE WAKING WORLD IS EQUIVALENT TO 1 WEEK IN THE DREAMLANDS.]
[SWEET DREAMS, HOST!]
I blinked slowly. "Great. Time dilation and eldritch gods. Just what I needed."
I didn't even get ten minutes of peace before I was already running for my life.
The forest was alive. Trees breathed. The air tasted like candy and rot. And behind me....
"Fuck, fuck, fuck—!"
Zoogs. Ugly rat-bastards with too many teeth, and too much speed.
I was sprinting from branch to branch, but they caught up quickly.
One of them leapt and bit my leg... ripped a chunk out of my calf.
"AAAGH—!"
I crashed through the canopy and hit the ground hard. Branches snapped. Leaves exploded everywhere.
I rolled into the dirt and barely managed to drag myself behind a thick tree trunk.
I was breathing hard. And my Leg was bleeding. Not healing.
"...Shit."
I didn't think that My Dragon Physique or the cultivation would be Applicable here....
"This place runs on mental strength… not physical stats. Fantastic."
I looked down at my wound. Still bleeding. No signs of closing. My stamina was dropping fast, and my mental cultivation wasn't nearly strong enough.
I was in a world made of thoughts and dreams... and I was basically a level one Peasant.
Even my usual aura-based shockwaves and psychic pulses barely scratched the Zoogs.
They were born here....oneiric beasts immune to basic spiritual pressure.
"Alright. No more running."
They could smell my blood anyway. Hiding was useless.
I pulled my gloves tight. The madness inside them pulsed under my skin like a heartbeat. Twisted and hungry.
Time to brawl.
I climbed a nearby tree as quietly as I could and crouched low on the branch. The Zoogs crept beneath me...sniffing, twitching, growling. Just a little closer.
I counted three... no, four of them in range.
I took a breath. Focused. Let the fear settle. Then fed it straight into the madness.
The gloves lit up. Pale Yellow. Flickering veins of chaos.
NOW.
I jumped.
I crashed down on the first Zoog with my fist glowing like a psycho.....
smashed its skull straight into the dirt. It shrieked once and went limp.
The others screamed and spun around, eyes wide.
I grinned. Blood on my face.
"Let's Do this"
After a while, I sat among their corpses, soaked in blood, breathing hard.
Zoogs. Ugly little freaks, but their essence? Rich and Dense.
Bill's sigil, a triangle with the eye, hovered in my mental space, making the absorption way faster than any normal technique.
Boom.
A soft echo inside my head.
[CONGRATULATIONS, HOST! MENTAL STRENGTH SOLIDIFIED]
[MENTAL CULTIVATION: 1ST SEAL SYMBOL MASTER]
[NIWAN PALACE: UNLOCKED]
In my mind's eye, I saw it. A chaos-marked seal floating, right at the core.
I felt my mental power wasn't vapor anymore. It had weight.
Density.
First Seal formed!!
I took a deep breath as I churned more essence into it
I'd just stepped onto the real path.
And if this pace kept up…if I kept hunting and absorbing more of them...
Maybe find a Bunch of them together to Farm.
I could probably hit Five Seals in a Month.
Which seems long, but in the Real world with other techniques, this would take at least a Year or 2, and that is without considering my talent in Mental cultivation.
But here? With beasts like this.....It's hard, sure.
But it's not Slow.
Boom.
Boom.
BOOM.
Dust exploded around me as I tore through the Zoog village like a wrecking ball.
Screams echoed. Twisted, warped, like sound running backwards through broken speakers.
One Zoog lunged at me. I caught it midair with a straight jab to the skull. The moment my fist connected, it unraveled like its whole body was made of glitchy dream-code.
Limbs stretched, fragmented, then disintegrated into blue static and oily mist.
[DREAM-BEAST TERMINATED: ESSENCE ABSORBED]
[MENTAL ENERGY +12%]
[MADNESS RESONANCE +4%]
Perfect.
Madness plus Chaos equals conceptual death. The Madding Hand wasn't just hitting them....it was undoing them.
I kept pushing forward. House to house. Nest to nest. Smashing, absorbing honey-thick dream essence.
And I could feel it....my cultivation spiking fast.
2nd Seal Formed!!
[MENTAL CULTIVATION: 1ST SEAL SYMBOL MASTER --> 2ND SEAL SYMBOL MASTER]
Mental Sea expanding, but so was the Madness.
The resonance started creeping in. My thoughts got fuzzier. Words looped. I heard whispers in my own voice, talking over me.
Had to stop and meditate.
If I kept going like this, I'd lose it. I wasn't immune to madness, just resistant.
Finally, I finished the last absorption. Essence slid into my core like molten ink.
CRACK
"huh?!!...."
I looked up.
The sky… split.
Literally. Like someone took a knife and sliced it open.
Half of it turned blinding white like an eternal sunrise.
The other half sank into pitch black, deeper than night.
The two zones bled toward each other…then stopped.
Right above me.
Giggle.
Soft and Amused
Followed by a slow, another Deep rough deliberate exhale
Two presences dropped into my awareness. One as light as feathers. The other, heavy as a nightmare.
"...The hell now?"
I stood up....
"You're not like the others~"
I felt the tug of nostalgia, half-remembered, fog of safety that never truly existed.
Then I saw her.
A floating girl with glowing butterfly wings, starlight hair, and a halo made of laughter and lullabies. She hovered barefoot, giggling, twirling mid-air like a child playing pretend.
Landing on a floating flower petal with a spin. "I felt your presence, all twisty and bright."
She floated closer, Her fingers poking at my arm, "You're strong! Like... whoa...strong! And clever! And also handsome, I think? Not that it matters! Or maybe it does? Hm!" She giggled again, like her thoughts were skipping stones across a dream lake....
Which didn't exist a Second ago....
"You-" I was about to ask, but another voice came from the night....
Shadows pulsed like veins. The temperature dropped. And through the tendrils of nightmare, he stepped forward.
Born of fear. Forged from screams. But walking now like a noble, composed, tall, armored in Crimson and velvet malice.
He emerged not from the sky, but from the shadows beneath the forest itself, rising from the roots like a ghost given form. His eyes burned Bright Red... not with rage, but focus.
"…So he really does exist. A true dreamer… finally." He spoke as he stood beside her.
Well, with both together, my eyes strain just to see through them....
They appear to be in physical form, but I can tell they are Beings of Pure Energy....
"Herald of Chaos," he spoke, his voice a growl tempered into silk. "Your scent is... divine. You have consumed the forest's ancient blood. You ride the line between order and madness with a tamer's leash."
He bowed. Not deeply, but respectfully. "You are the Master I have dreamed of."
"You're late, shadow-lizard," she pouted. "I found him first!"
"Hi hi~! I'm Tasi!" she beamed. "You're cute. You're strong. And you taste like dreams. I like you!"
The shadow behind her chuckled.
"…Ezizh," he introduced, voice low but respectful. "Dreams? Hahaha...He reeks of death."
Tasi pouted and floated closer to me quickly, her warmth brushing my skin like sunlit dew.
"Grey~ You can feel it too, right? You and me, we're connected! I can help you sleep better, dream sweeter, love deeper~! I can keep the nightmares away!"
Ezizh chuckled, stepping forward with a grace that didn't match his monstrous frame.
"She offers peace.
I offer power to fuel your Ambitions,
Control through Fear.
With me, you can conquer the dream....not just visit it."
They didn't fight.
They just… watched me. Like twin moons waiting to eclipse each other.
"So, Mister Dreamer~" Tasi chirped. "Wanna be my Master?"
Ezizh followed, "Command me. I will serve you, My Master."
"Bring us to the Waking World, Grey," They said in Unison.....
I blinked. "What.....?"
Tasi nodded eagerly. "Look, we can't enter the real world on our own. We need someone strong. Someone who dreams with will....."
Ezizh added, "Someone who can will us into reality....in the Waking World"
Oh....OOOHH!!
I stepped forward.
"You're both making offers," I said slowly, the Codex whispering in my head. "You both want to enter the waking world. You both need a Dreamer strong enough to bring you across the threshold."
They tensed, but didn't speak....
I exhaled.
"Here's my offer."
Tasi blinked, floating a little higher. Ezizh tilted his head, curious.
"You want me to be your Master? Since I don't exactly know you both, how about a little competition?"
Their eyes widened at the same time, hers with surprise, his with intrigue.
"Tag along with me and we'll see how it goes....sounds good?" I said
Tasi twirled midair, sparks of glitter spinning around her. "A competition~? Eee! That sounds fun! Like a dream trial!"
Ezizh rumbled with a low chuckle. "A trial of worth… how fitting. Very well. I accept. Let the power prove who stands worthy at your side, Master."
Tasi zipped beside me and grinned. "You won't regret this~!"
I walked through a field of bleeding mushrooms while Tasi skipped beside me, humming a lullaby, and Ezizh floated behind us like a cursed shadow… glowering.
Glowering? Is that even a term??.....
Dream essence swirled lazily in the air, curling around my skin like mist.
We'd already downed two spider-chimeras and something that looked like a frog made of brass bells and stolen teeth....
Good loot. Good essence.
"Grey~! Did you see how I froze time and tickled that Dreambeast into imploding?!" Tasi spun midair, her wings shedding glitter. "I call that move Starbound Sparkle Hug! Cool, right?"
Ezizh scoffed behind her. "You call everything with sparkles a 'move.'"
"It worked, didn't it?" She stuck out her tongue.
I didn't say a word. Just kept walking. A ten-eyed worm-tree thing growled from behind a cliff. I cracked my knuckles.
Another target.
Tasi fluttered forward. "My turn!"
Ezizh caught her by the wing. "No. You went first last time. This one's mine."
She pouted. "You always take the creepy ones!"
"They match my aesthetic."
"More like your personality....all gross and gloomy!"
"And yours is what? Unicorn vomit?"
They started floating around each other in spirals, magic sparking between them. I sighed.
"Guys," I muttered, already boosting up my gloves with chaos runes. "Less flirting, more fighting."
Tasi turned, eyes wide. "We're not flirting!"
Ezizh choked. "I would never..."
"Sure," I deadpanned, slamming a fist into the creature's ribcage. The Madding Hand exploded in a bloom of glitching chaos, the beast screaming backwards in time as it regenrated and lunged at me again.
The duo followed up....Tasi firing shimmering mental beams that danced like fairy tales gone wrong, Ezizh using dark tendrils that whispered things you shouldn't be able to hear.
The kill was clean. Efficient. Perfect teamwork.
As I absorbed the dreamstuff, I caught Ezizh glancing sideways. His eyes lingered on Tasi's back, soft, almost fond.
She was twirling in the air again, singing a nonsense melody something about 'butterflies sucking...'
I hope it's just nectar she is singing about....
But Yeah. He was so down bad...for her.
And she was so oblivious.
Ezizh looked away the moment he noticed me watching.
"..."
I rolled my eyes.
I've seen enough Rom-com anime to know where this was going.....
'A Nightmare monarch who longs for the Dream girl made of sparkles'
I sigh as I stand up to continue moving forward....
"...why do I attract this type of stuff..."