The crack widened.
A low rumbling sound spread through the cemetery as the ground trembled beneath the feet of Elias Vale and Father Aldric.
Chunks of soil collapsed inward.
The fissure running across the graves split wider, revealing a deep black hollow beneath the cemetery.
Cold air rushed upward from the darkness.
But it wasn't ordinary air.
It carried the faint, whispering sensation of dream energy.
Elias felt it immediately.
His mind stirred as the invisible currents brushed against his consciousness.
The Sea of Dreams was leaking into the physical world.
And whatever lay beneath Greyhaven was the cause.
Father Aldric stepped closer to the edge of the crack and looked down.
"What do you see?" Elias asked calmly.
The priest's expression grew tense.
"Movement."
Another tremor shook the ground.
Something shifted far below the surface.
Elias extended his senses again.
The cocoon he had detected earlier was breaking apart.
Threads of pale silver energy stretched outward like roots through the surrounding soil.
And then—
A thin, pale hand reached up from the darkness.
But it was far too long.
The fingers stretched nearly two feet, thin and bonelike, twitching slowly as they grasped the edges of the broken earth.
Aldric took a step back.
"That is definitely not a human corpse."
The hand pulled upward.
The rest of the creature followed.
At first it resembled a person.
A pale humanoid body slowly dragging itself up from beneath the cemetery.
But the resemblance ended there.
Its limbs were far too long.
Its joints bent in unnatural directions.
And its face—
Or what should have been a face—
Was smooth and blank like melted wax.
Except for dozens of tiny silver eyes scattered across the surface.
All of them blinking slowly.
Watching.
Elias's expression remained calm, but inside his mind a ripple of recognition spread.
This creature wasn't a true being of the dream realm.
It was something else.
Something that had formed accidentally.
A parasite born from the collective nightmares of Greyhaven's villagers.
Fed by the leaking influence of The Lucid One.
The creature finished climbing out of the fissure.
It stood nearly eight feet tall.
Its thin body twitched erratically as if it had only recently learned how to move.
Then all of its eyes focused on Elias.
At once.
Father Aldric raised the silver cross again.
"In the name of the Veiled Light—"
The creature moved.
Faster than expected.
Its elongated arm shot forward like a spear.
Aldric barely managed to dodge.
The clawed fingers slammed into a gravestone, shattering the stone into fragments.
The priest rolled across the ground and immediately began chanting again.
Golden symbols formed around the cross in his hand.
Elias remained where he stood.
Observing.
Learning.
The creature turned its many eyes toward him again.
Its head tilted slightly.
As if studying him.
Then it spoke.
The voice came from everywhere at once.
From every eye.
From every twitching movement of its body.
"Dream… bearer…"
Elias raised an eyebrow.
So it could sense his connection.
That was interesting.
Father Aldric released his prayer.
A burst of golden light exploded outward from the cross.
The blast struck the creature squarely in the chest.
For a moment it seemed to work.
The monster stumbled backward.
Its body smoked where the light had touched it.
But then the wounds began to close.
Silver dream energy flowed across its skin like liquid threads.
Healing it instantly.
Aldric cursed under his breath.
"That thing is regenerating."
"Of course it is," Elias replied calmly.
Creatures born from dream energy rarely followed normal physical rules.
They were more like living illusions than flesh.
Destroying them required attacking the dream structure holding them together.
Which meant physical force alone wouldn't be enough.
The creature moved again.
This time it leapt.
Its long limbs carried it across the cemetery in a single terrifying bound.
Aldric barely raised his cross in time.
The monster's claws slammed into the golden barrier surrounding the priest.
The impact sent a shockwave through the ground.
Cracks spread through the nearby gravestones.
The barrier flickered violently.
It wouldn't hold for long.
Elias finally stepped forward.
"Enough."
The creature's many eyes shifted toward him again.
Elias lifted one hand slowly.
Inside his mind, the Sea of Dreams stirred.
Dark ripples spread across the endless black water.
He focused on the unstable dream core that held the creature together.
It was crude.
Poorly formed.
Like a child's drawing of a mind.
Which meant manipulating it would be easy.
Elias spoke a single quiet word.
"Sleep."
The world flickered.
For a moment reality blurred.
The creature froze.
Its limbs stopped moving.
Its countless eyes widened.
Inside its mind, Elias forced an illusion upon it.
A vast dream landscape filled with endless watching eyes.
The creature panicked.
Because that dream realm felt familiar.
It felt like home.
But something about it was wrong.
The eyes watching from the darkness were far too large.
Far too ancient.
And then—
The presence of The Lucid One stirred faintly within the illusion.
Not fully.
Not consciously.
Just the smallest fragment of its infinite existence brushing against the creature's mind.
The effect was immediate.
The monster screamed.
Its body convulsed violently in the real world.
Silver energy burst from its chest like cracks in glass.
Father Aldric stared in shock.
"What did you do to it?"
Elias lowered his hand slightly.
"Introduced it to something… much larger than itself."
The creature collapsed to its knees.
Its body rapidly destabilizing.
The dream parasite that had created it could not handle contact with something as vast as an Old God.
Its structure was unraveling.
But as it died—
Something unexpected happened.
A single thread of dream energy broke away from the creature.
It floated slowly through the air toward Elias.
Aldric saw it too.
"Wait—!"
But it was too late.
The thread touched Elias's hand.
And vanished into his skin.
For a brief moment Elias's mind flashed with images.
Nightmares.
Dreams.
Memories stolen from the villagers of Greyhaven.
All the fear that had fed the creature.
Then the visions faded.
Silence returned to the cemetery.
The monster's body crumbled into dust.
Only cracked earth remained where it had stood.
Father Aldric slowly lowered his cross.
The priest looked at Elias carefully.
"You absorbed part of it."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Elias smiled faintly.
"Because knowledge should never be wasted."
Aldric clearly didn't like that answer.
But before he could respond—
A quiet whisper echoed inside Elias's mind.
A distant voice drifting from the Sea of Dreams.
Ancient.
Amused.
The faint attention of The Lucid One lingered for just a moment longer.
Watching its chosen Sleeper grow stronger.
Watching as the first ripple of dream-born horror spread into the waking world.
And far away…
In places Elias had never seen…
Other dream parasites were beginning to stir.