# Chapter 34: A Tense Negotiation
The shadow-creatures closed in, their forms shifting and billowing like smoke given teeth and malice. One lunged at Anya, its maw a vortex of nothingness. Liraya blasted it with a bolt of pure force, but another two took its place. Edi threw one of his static discs. It hit the ground with a high-pitched whine, and the nearest creature shrieked, its form flickering violently. But the others kept coming, drawn by the beacon of pain and corruption that was Konto. He slid down the wall, a ragged gasp escaping his lips. "They're not after her," he choked out, pointing a trembling finger at his own chest. "They're after me. Liraya… use me." His eyes, burning with a terrible, desperate light, met hers across the chaos. He was offering himself as bait, a sacrifice to buy them a few precious seconds. It was the only plan they had left.
Liraya's mind, honed by years of tactical analysis within the Magisterium, rejected the plan on a visceral level. It was a suicide pact, a fool's gambit. But looking at Konto, at the raw agony etched onto his face and the terrifying clarity in his eyes, she saw the cold, hard logic of it. The creatures were psychic parasites, drawn to the festering wound of his Somnolent Corruption. He was the flame, and they were the moths. To draw them away was to give everyone else a chance to run.
"Edi, on me!" she commanded, her voice cutting through the din of the panicked crowd. "Anya, stay behind us! Gideon, I need a way out, now!"
"Working on it!" Gideon's voice crackled in their earpieces, strained with urgency. "The main thoroughfares are clogged. The Wardens are setting up a perimeter. You're trapped."
"Then find us an un-trapped way!" Liraya snapped, weaving a shield of shimmering air that deflected a lunging creature. It dissolved into black smoke with a hiss, the smell of burnt sugar and ozone filling the air.
Edi fumbled with a device on his wrist, a small, jury-rigged console. "I can try to create a localized psychic pulse. Might disorient them for a few seconds, but it'll drain the power cell. One shot."
"Do it," Liraya ordered. She glanced at Konto. He had pushed himself to his feet, using the wall for support. He was a pale, sweating wreck, but his posture was defiant. He was making himself a target, broadcasting his pain like a lighthouse in a storm. The shadow-creatures hesitated, their attention torn between the easy prey of the frozen Anya and the irresistible siren call of Konto's corrupted mind.
"Anya, snap out of it!" Liraya yelled, grabbing the precog's arm. Anya's eyes were wide, unfocused, her lips moving soundlessly. She was trapped in the loop of her vision, living and reliving the horror she had foreseen.
"They're here," Anya whispered, her voice thin as reed paper. "The teeth. The eyes."
Liraya gave her a sharp shake. "Not if we have anything to say about it. Move!"
The pulse from Edi's device erupted in a silent, concussive wave of blue light. It washed over the plaza, and the shadow-creatures shrieked, their forms destabilizing, blurring at the edges. The crowd, already in a state of panic, screamed louder as the psychic energy washed over them, causing a wave of dizziness and disorientation.
"Now, Konto!" Liraya yelled.
Konto pushed off the wall and stumbled into the open, away from the relative cover of the alley. "Over here, you nightmares!" he roared, his voice cracking. "Come and get me!"
It worked. The creatures, momentarily confused by the pulse, locked onto his psychic signature. They turned as one, a pack of hunting hounds that had found their true quarry, and flowed toward him.
"Go!" Konto gasped, stumbling backward, leading them away from the group. "The Weeping Obelisk! Head for the obelisk!"
Liraya didn't hesitate. She grabbed Anya's arm, practically dragging the unresponsive girl along. "Edi, with me!" Gideon's voice was a frantic stream of directions in their ear, guiding them through the chaos. They dodged overturned stalls and screaming vendors, the air thick with the scent of spiced wine, frying synth-meats, and the acrid tang of fear.
They burst into a smaller, more secluded courtyard dominated by the Weeping Obelisk. The monument was a thirty-foot-tall pillar of black, porous stone that constantly wept a shimmering, silvery liquid. The liquid pooled at its base, creating a small, reflective pond that smelled of rain and regret. It was a place of truce and negotiation in the Night Market, a neutral ground where even the most bitter rivals could meet without fear of violence.
A violence that had already been broken.
Standing by the obelisk was Belly, her face a mask of terror. And facing her was Kaelen, a smug, infuriating smirk on his face. But his smirk wasn't directed at Belly. It was aimed at them.
"Well, well," Kaelen said, his voice smooth as silk, cutting through the distant sounds of chaos. "Look what the nightmare dragged in. Liraya of the Magisterium, and Konto, the city's most famous unlicensed headache. I was wondering when you'd show up."
Liraya's blood ran cold. This wasn't a rescue. This was the rendezvous point. Belly hadn't been abducted; she had been waiting. The entire chase, the fight with the creatures, it had all been a diversion to bring them here.
"Kaelen," Liraya snarled, positioning herself between Anya and the rival Dreamwalker. "What is the meaning of this?"
"The meaning of this is a business transaction," Kaelen said, gesturing lazily to Belly. "My employer has an interest in your friend's family. A persuasive interest. Belly was kind enough to arrange this little meeting in exchange for their continued good health."
Belly flinched, her eyes pleading with Liraya. "He's lying! He threatened them! I had no choice!"
"Oh, she had a choice," Kaelen corrected, his smirk never wavering. "She chose her family over yours. Can't say I blame her. Loyalty is such a… flexible commodity."
Liraya's fists clenched, the air around her beginning to crackle with raw Aspect energy. She could incinerate him where he stood. But she held back. They were trapped, outmatched, and he held all the cards.
"What do you want, Kaelen?" Konto's voice was weak, but he had managed to follow them, leaning against the entrance to the courtyard. His face was pale, but his eyes were sharp, calculating.
"See? The Dreamwalker gets it," Kaelen said, applauding softly. "It's simple, really. My employer has been tracking your progress with great interest. The Ley Line Resonator you acquired. We want it."
Edi instinctively touched the satchel slung across his chest, where the device was stored. "It's not for sale."
"Everything's for sale," Kaelen countered. "You just haven't heard the right price. My employer is prepared to offer you something far more valuable than a few trinkets. Safe passage. Out of Aethelburg. A new life, new identities, somewhere the Magisterium and the Wardens will never find you. A clean slate."
The offer hung in the air, tantalizing and dangerous. Escape. It was what Konto had always wanted. A way out, a chance to disappear, to leave the trauma and the corruption behind. But not like this. Not at the cost of handing over a weapon of immense power to a monster.
"And who is this employer?" Liraya demanded, her voice dripping with scorn. "Another two-bit cartel boss trying to play with the big boys?"
Kaelen's smirk finally faded, replaced by a look of reverent awe. "My employer is not a 'boss.' She is a visionary. The leader of the Oneiros Collective."
The name hit them like a physical blow. The Oneiros Collective. The shadowy organization behind the Nightmare Plague, the force that had turned the Arch-Mage into a puppet. They weren't just dealing with a rival or a criminal syndicate. They were dealing with the architects of the city's doom.
"She sees the truth of this world," Kaelen continued, his voice fervent. "The pain, the suffering, the endless cycle of waking misery. She offers an alternative. A final, perfect dream. An end to all pain. And the Resonator is the key to unlocking that dream for everyone."
"You mean killing everyone," Liraya shot back. "Turning them into mindless puppets."
"Call it what you will," Kaelen said with a dismissive shrug. "The offer stands. The Resonator for your lives. You have thirty seconds to decide."
Liraya looked at Konto. He was shaking, not just from the pain of the Corruption, but from the sheer weight of the choice. To run was to save himself and the team, but to doom the city. To stay was to fight, and almost certainly die. His Want and his Need were at war, a brutal civil war raging behind his eyes.
Before anyone could answer, a low, guttural groan echoed through the Night Market. It was a sound that didn't belong to any creature of the waking world. It was the sound of reality tearing. The ground beneath their feet trembled violently. The shimmering liquid weeping from the obelisk began to boil, turning from silver to a sick, pulsating black.
In the center of the main bazaar, the air itself began to warp and twist. The space above the stalls distorted, as if a massive, invisible object was pushing its way into their dimension. Stalls crumpled and flattened, their wares vaporizing into nothingness. The screams of the crowd took on a new, higher pitch of pure, unadulterated terror.
A shape began to form in the vortex of distorted reality. It was colossal, a towering amalgam of jagged obsidian, writhing tendrils, and countless, unblinking eyes that burned with a malevolent, violet light. It was a nightmare creature, but unlike the shadowy phantoms they had fought before. This one was solid, real, and impossibly vast. Its body was a shifting fortress of hate and hunger, its very presence poisoning the air. The scent of burnt sugar and ozone was overwhelmed by the stench of a charnel house, of ancient dust and psychic decay.
The creature, a living apocalypse given form, turned its massive, multi-eyed head. Its gaze, a focused beam of pure malice, swept across the panicked market, passed over the fleeing crowds, and locked onto a single point.
It locked onto Konto.
The psychic pressure was immense, a physical weight that crushed the air from his lungs and drove him to his knees. He could feel its mind, a vast and alien consciousness filled with a singular, terrifying purpose: to consume him, to claim the source of the Corruption that called to it like a beacon.
Kaelen's face had gone ashen. The smug confidence had evaporated, replaced by raw, primal fear. "No," he whispered. "This wasn't part of the deal. She wasn't supposed to send *him*."
"Him?" Liraya demanded, her own voice trembling as she stared at the monster. "Who is that?"
But Kaelen wasn't listening. He was already backing away, his eyes wide with terror. He grabbed Belly's arm, his earlier bravado gone. "The deal's off! You're on your own!"
He turned and fled, dragging a screaming Belly with him, disappearing into the labyrinthine alleys of the market. They were alone. Alone with the monster.
The creature took a step, its massive, clawed foot cracking the stone pavement. The impact sent a shockwave through the ground, knocking Liraya and Edi off their feet. Anya finally broke from her catatonic state, a single, piercing scream tearing from her throat as she pointed a trembling finger at the beast.
"It's the Hunter," she sobbed. "The one from my vision. It's here for him."
Konto looked up, his vision swimming with pain. He saw the monster, saw the countless eyes fixed on him, and knew with a certainty that chilled him to the bone that this was it. This was the end of the line. The negotiation was over. The hunt had begun.