The darkness shattered by one instances of light.
Across the void, one candle stood alone. Its flames flickered by the draft coursing from the unknown.
From just a single source, multiple spots of light suddenly began to appear one after another.
Each joined to illuminate a claustrophobic basement.
One... Three... Ten... Fifteen...
Selina saw the familiar, uncanny ritual site. Displaying a bloody circle with written ancient Hermes and at its center was the totem.
It was the same dream that had been visiting her every time she rest after the dreamworld.
The similar layout of pipes, the stairs leading up and the tall black figure, it seemed nothing had changed.
...No, something was wrong.
The totem, frozen on its stature is a head of an eagle, a head of an ethnic man and woman above. All of them had their eyes glows with heinous crimson.
Activated? Selina grew anxious upon witnessing the anomaly.
Wait...
Suddenly, she realized. Why am I here? Why am I dreaming?
Selina's heart rammed her throat.
At that moment, scenes of the battles with the Nighthawks inside Morroy's residence flashed in her mind.
We were in the middle of capturing Mr. Roundel... In what situation did I found the ability to relax and sleep!
In this illusory world, her hand grew colder, her eyes trembling.
As the dream resumes despite her participation, it suddenly collapsed into a ball.
...!
The ball of light illuminated the scene in one giant explosion. Selina's vision turned pure white
...
Inside the vile world, writhing with organs.
A mound of its part congregated to form a figure of a woman.
When Selina's visage was sculpted, the world instantly terraformed into a luscious meadow, housing tall grasses stretching far into the horizon.
The wind was refreshing, soothing even. The silence urges her to disregard anything else.
But despite this, Selina's mind whirred uncontrollably, rendering her from feeling relaxed.
How can I help them?
Knowing that her members are still engaged in confrontation with the mutated Roundel. Seeing herself here would be equivalent to risking her life outside the dreamworld.
But when she was about to return, something in her mind tugged her into staying.
Perhaps being here made her recall of a few certain things regarding the dreamworld and one of them was the seed she had bestowed herself.
That's right! I can animate the seed into a javelin! her heart stirred.
Almost immediately, she converged her consciousness into one object, sensing a distant and vague connection to repossessed again.
This connection settled for the seed snuggled into her coat.
...
Beyond the seed's shell was a dark, smooth and solid place.
There, it sprouted a firm stem. Then slowly, it crawled out of the vial, and poked out of her coat in the open.
She immediately sensed five body heats nearby. One was her, the others above and near her while the rest move restless around the room.
Klein and the others are moving a lot, but who's the two person right beside me? muttered Selina briefly before immediately adjusting the seed's length.
Right now, she's straining to feel if whether Morroy's limbs have body heats. But in the end, she felt nothing but the scents of furnishings, the presence of running waters and the body heats of her members.
She quickly retracted the seedling back to its shell.
Mr. Roundel's limbs are dead... But what is the head that appeared by the basement?
Could it perhaps belong to him? That one eyed creature?
It was smiling and its pupil was the last thing I saw before entering a dream... Selina began to feel anxious of her stay.
A dream...
Suddenly, a pang of realization hit her.
Since the dream that always appeared right after her visit with the dreamworld details Morroy's basement and what caused her to dream of that same instance right after the head had flashed her with its eye, it slowly became clear:
And that is, Morroy have been actively using the dream against her.
She muttered gravely, "Morroy's head managed to detached. That meant it wasn't the limbs but the appendages that can fly around. If Leonard were to dive in...
"No, more importantly, it had left the torso. This meant that the true main body is the one left inside the basement. Leonard is safe if he dives in now...
"But regarding Morroy's eye. It's likely that it's using the same ability that induces that dream I've been having in the past. I guess I should be thankful of the dreamworld... "
But then a question hit her.
"How... Did Morroy managed to affect me, no, why is it me?
"Wait wait, this is no time to be thinking about this!"
Having said that, Selina didn't bothered contemplating as she quickly simulated the sensation of waking.
Her visage collapsed and the world reverted back to a grotesque environment.
...
Klein hurled the bundled limbs heavily on the ground. Right to where Dunn was.
Bam!
Water splashed all over the impact, but amidst this, he managed to close the gap between him and Selina.
Ms. Roy wake up! his thoughts turned chaotic, seeing Selina's delicate face relaxed.
At that moment, an intense light consumed the whole room.
Soon, it receded, the whirling smoke from Morroy's single eye disappeared.
It intially targets Klein, but not long after its other parts was passed to Dunn. It instantly changed direction.
Do not look at its eyes... Klein echoed inwardly while keeping his eyes closed and facing away from the head.
When the light vanished. He adjusted his stance and stood near the his two teammates lying on the flooded floor.
Around this time, Leonard was just about to dash to the basement when the head opened its mouth wailed.
"Ah!"
Selina's nose involuntarily bled.
On the other hand, Klein managed to cover his ears right in time. However, he still felt a warm liquid run down his nostrils.
If this escalates, they would inevitably exhaust themselves and lose hostage of the limbs.
As Klein aims his revolver, the head closed its mouth and prepared to attack.
In that same interval, it dived straight to Leonard, who's in a dire state after the cry.
Dunn was in a pinch. But without a second thought, he left the bundled limbs and dashed toward Leonard.
Bang!
His shot missed. As soon as he got near it, Dunn quickly threw a punch at the approaching head, derailing it from its attack.
However, as this was all happening. The limbs, with their elongated nails, albeit crooked in alignment have each began tearing the curtain off.
Alerted, Klein glanced briefly at Royale and Selina's face, ensuring they're safe before quickly rushing back to the limbs.
Rip!
A nail erupted from the green cloth.
Leonard quickly collected himself from the cry, still ringing in his ears he immediately dashed toward the basement.
The head had detached and the torso is now weakened!
However, Morroy's one-eyed head didn't allowed Leonard to pass by.
It once again opened its mouth and let out a loud, reverberating wail.
Leonard's nose bled, the whiteness of his eye turned bleak with blood.
He kept on running and succeeded in reaching the door.
But at this moment, the curtain that was holding the limbs bundled had long lose its grasp.
The limbs flew out!
Klein was late. All he could do was watch Morroy's arms and legs escape and immediately began darting around the room.
He saw each of them got close with their respective unfinished painting.
But to his surprised, no blood dripped onto their nails.
Their reserve of vitality used as an ink had depleted from squirming in the waters.
Klein almost braced for the effects of the painting when he suddenly saw this.
They've run out if blood... he muttered to himself, but suddenly he glanced at the head. No, they still have something to draw blood on...
Morroy's head was dripping of blood from its neck. Because of this, the four limbs centered on the appendage.
Klein wasn't about to let that happen. He turned and dashed toward the head. Only when closed the gap did he shut his eyes.
His distance wasn't far from it, however, it was unexpected, all it could do is to either flash another dream inducing light or evade.
The latter is what it did.
When it evaded him, it also passed the four limbs.
Seeing this, Dunn immediately realized what Klein is attempting to do. He prepared his revolver and aimed.
The task is simple: Never let the limbs get close to the head!
...
Selina's eyes fluttered open.
Slowly, her vision cleared, the first thing she saw after that was Klein heading straight toward the head, dangling a spine.
They she felt the suitcase right in her grasp, another hand was holding her head as she lie on the floor.
She turned and saw Royale, laying unconscious like her.
She was also caught by the Morroy's eye? No no, it's okay, it's okay. If what affected her was the eye and the result was being pulled in a dream, akin to what captain can do, then...
Selina didn't immediately stood up. She feigned sleep in hopes that she remains untargetted.
Bang!
Dunn fired a bullet and went it straight to the head, causing it to blood massive amounts of blood. One limb caught a droplet of it.
Splash!
Near the door of the basement. Leonard had braced himself and dived right into the gushing ocean waters.
Throughout all this. Selina had recalled the sealed artifact's information based on the details that Dunn had disclosed.
"Sealed Artifact 3-0137.
"Name: Dream Catcher.
"Security classification: Official Nighthawk member or above.
"Sealing method: Never stare at its flames for more than ten seconds. Note that one can reset the timer merely by looking away and turning back.
"Description: A single sandalwood candle resting within a metal gridded case.
The description only details the artifact's appearance as Dunn only informed them of the its ability.
Which is exactly as the name suggests, it is able to siphon the dreams of any sleeping person near it. Failing to comply with its sealing method will subject the practitioner into a possible eternal slumber.
But for Selina, that eternal slumber will only trigger the dreamworld into pulling her, essentially making her immune to its side-effects.
She had thought of this not long after figuring out the nature of her past nightmares.
So without wasting time, she quickly pulled the suitcase and undid its lock.
When it opened. A fist-sized lamp containing a lighted candle greeted her.
Selina immediately looked away and brought it near Royale, letting its glow illuminate her face.
At that moment, the flames burgeoned. It burned brighter than when she took it out.
Following this, Royale's hand suddenly lifted itself, acting as if she was experience sleepwalk.
Inch by inch, her hand pointed its index at the candle's flame and the moment it touched it, Royale jolted awake.
"Ah!" she exclaimed.
Selina was instantly startled by the high pitch sound, prompting her turned to Royale and said, "I-I'm sorry... but you were pulled in a dream!"
"Pulled?" Royale muttered audibly in her stupor.
It only took her for a moment to recall what happened. "I thought you were pulled into a dream as well?"
Selina perked up and immediately thought of an excuse.
"I did... but thankfully the Sealed Artifact burnt my finger so it woke me up..." she squeezed out an unsteady smile despite the horror of the moment.
Royale looked at her without a change of expression.
"A-Anyway." she stammered. "I figured out a way to counter Morroy's single eye. That's what pulled us into a dream right?"
Royale nodded before lowering her head to examine her body.
From Selina's view, she looked ghastly pale, her deep-blue eyes have grown lusterless and her veins became visibly red. An indicator that the dream was taking a toll on her.
"I did... Saw the basement similar to the one in Morroy's house..." Royale murmured.
Hearing this, Selina nodded, "I saw it as well, but this time the totem is activated."
Royale suddenly went silent for nearly ten seconds.
When she saw the head darting around because of Klein and Dunn's interference. She propped herself from the flooded floor and twisted her clothes to let out the waters.
Retrieving her revolver, she said to Selina, "Ms. Roy, please assist us in using the sealed artifact."
Selina only responded with a nod before turning back to the other members, ready to notify them of the eye's ability.
However, her blood suddenly run cold.
Reflected on her eyes were three distinct paintings, clearly outlined by blood.
Despite them lacking any colors, their vividness still captures the surreal vastitudes of life.
The painting's progression... is complete.