Dreams Come True 3: The Dream Traveler
By shadowlugia249
It all started with a dream.
Was it a dream that never existed or was it a dream that actually happened? Was it a dream that I can't remember or was it a dream that I won't remember?
All I know is that there was a dream.
Xocf ij... Xocf ij...
I was passing through a black void. Someone was calling for me. I needed to help them, but I couldn't see who it was. All I could see was an outline of four strange creatures. It looked like two pairs of identical characters. Two of them looked like great birds of destiny. The other two appeared to be massive dragons. I wished I could help them, but I couldn't reach them from here.
The dream then shifted to a difference scene...
I was watching an epic battle going on between two creatures. One of them had black-and-white fur and bore a strange ring. The other had aqua-blue fur and a large ring around its neck with two ribbons trailing from it. I had never seen such bizarre creatures before. They were obviously part of my subconscious.
The aqua-blue creature was surrounded by a force-field of energy that the black-and-white creature was having a hard time penetrating. The field was too tough for the other one to break and it was taking a lot of damage. Eventually, the black-and-white creature could no longer take any more abuse and collapsed.
The aqua-blue creature laughed out loud at his fallen foe. "You have failed, Dream Traveler! Now you watch as the world is slowly consumed by sorrow!"
I watched in horror as the aqua-blue creature reached out with its hands and a beam of violet light slammed into its enemy. It had just connected when I awoke with a start.
I sat up quickly, sweating and panting. It didn't make any sense; dreams were supposed to stay locked away in your subconscious, but that one had seemed all to real. During the whole fight, I was cheering for the black-and-white creature to win, but the aqua-blue one had been victorious.
Somehow, I had a feeling that this was not the end of the nightmares. I could tell that it was just beginning.
But where are my manners? My name is Alexander Schaefer or "Alex" for short. I live in a peaceful little city called Willmar that's kind of in the middle of the county. I am a big video game fanatic, but I'm not the kind of person to get all involved in those blood-and-gore-type games that most people can't get enough of. I may be 19, but I still can't handle playing games of that sort.
I live by myself in a small house in the back streets of Willmar by a dense forest. Not a lot happens to me, but that would all change after that dream awoke me that day.
I work in the local EB Games in the local mall near the edge of town. Being a video game fanatic, you can only imagine my joy when I got this job. It's my job to keep up-to-date with the local game news.
But today, there wasn't a whole lot of things going on. It was a pretty slow day and the sky outside was rather drab. I was having a hard time paying attention to my job today because I kept replaying that dream in my head all day. Somehow, I felt that I had seen those two creatures duking it out somewhere before.
I wasn't the only one who had had a bad night. My fellow co-workers also seemed distracted. They had had some bad nightmares as well, but they couldn't describe them as detailed as I could. They kept describing how wretched they had felt when they had woken up. I had felt the same way, but none of us thought that it was relevant.
Boy, was I wrong.
The following night, I was having nightmares again. The black-and white creature was no longer there, but the aqua-blue one was looking right at me. However, I couldn't see him that well despite looking squarely at him.
I could, however, make out his eyes. He had empty, soulless red eyes with a black pupil in each one. I had a feeling that I knew this creature from somewhere, but I couldn't place a name.
The creature looked at me with those empty eyes of his and I suddenly found myself in one of my most-unwelcome nightmares. I was inside a cage surrounded on all sides by bars of wire mesh. All around me, the walls were closing in on me like a death trap. I didn't know what to do! There was no way out! I was going to die here and now from the crushing cage.
But that wasn't the end of it. From out of nowhere, the aqua-blue creature reappeared holding a long, curved, steel blade. He looked at me again and I knew... he was here to punish me.
Like greased lightning, he swung the blade around and slashed it across my chest with one quick move. I immediately felt a searing pain in my torso and blood flew everywhere.
"Why?!" I screamed at the creature. I had done nothing to deserve this at all!
"This is my domain now!" he said menacingly. You will all bow at my awesome might!"
I looked into his bloodshot eyes again and screamed like I had just seen Death!
I sat up in bed, panting. What the hell was that all about?! Seeing that creature in my dreams once was bad enough... but twice?! That was like lightning striking twice – it just doesn't happen! I slapped myself across the face several times to wake me up for sure. I was having nightmares that seemed so real that it scared me. I finally got a grip on myself and convinced my mind that it was all in my head...
...or was it? Looking down on my bed, I saw that it was stained with blood – fresh blood! My shirt was soaked with it! Lifting it up, I saw something that shouldn't have been there. A large, long, open gash was cut right across my belly and I was bleeding profusely. WHAT THE #$&?!?!
I couldn't have been dreaming – I was clearly awake! But someone had snuck into my house in the dead of night and slit me open! I ran to the phone in the kitchen and dialed 911.
"Come on, come on!" It was ringing but not fast enough.
click "911 Emergency Dispatch. May I help you?"
"Hello?! I woke up this morning and my chest was sliced open!" I was starting to hyperventilate.
"Okay, mister, calm down. Can you tell me if there's anyone else in the house?"
"No! I locked up the house last night and I woke up like this! Hurry, please! I'm losing a lot of blood here!"
"Sir, you need to breathe. Here's what you need to do: go find a blanket and cover the wound and lie down on the floor. I'm sending you an ambulance as fast as possible."
"Hurry, please!"
I hung up the phone and did what she told me to do. As I lied there, I tried to think of who would do this to me. I had no known enemies and was well-liked in the community. There shouldn't be any reason why I was slit open and dying in my own house!
But then I had an idea – a crazy one, but it was the only one that made sense. Whatever that aqua-blue creature was in my dream had done this to me when he slashed me with that saber! It was impossible – it was just a dream – but it was the only thing that made sense.
I tried to calm down, but my body started to go into shock from the loss of blood. I froze up and started twitching involuntarily. The last thing I remember was the sound of sirens and the paramedics busting my door down...
I was dreaming again. I could feel their presence again. They were calling out for help.
Xocf ij... Xocf ij...
Help us... Help us...
I still couldn't make them out! However, I knew that they were in danger. I had a feeling that the aqua-blue creature had them captive somewhere...
Speaking of which... he was back! He had come back to finish the job. I was lying alone, defenseless and vulnerable. As his footsteps echoed in my mind, I started to cry. I was going to die this time and no one would be able to hear me scream!
He came closer. I could hear him breathing in the darkness. I tried pleading for mercy, but my voice box wasn't working. This was it – it was all over.
And then I saw him... and gasped! It was not the aqua-blue creature, but the black-and-white one from my first dream. If I could classify him, I guess I would call him a "cat", but something told me that that wasn't his proper species' name.
He had a coat of short black fur on most of his body except for his short muzzle and the tips of his long, dangling ears. His ears were massive and were blowing in the wind. the tips of them were white-furred and had many small points on them. He wore a blue jacket with matching shorts and had large red sneakers. He also wore a backwards blue cap with what looked like "Pac-Man" eating a dot on it with two of his black bangs sticking out of the front. Thick yellow gloves covered his five-fingered hands – something I didn't expect from such a bizarre creature. In his right hand was a large golden ring with a green gem on it. Above his white muzzle and yellow-tipped nose, this creature had long, narrow, yellow pupils just like a cat. They looked scary, but somehow I felt I could trust him.
He looked... so familiar. Despite appearing in my first dream, I thought I had seen him somewhere before. Maybe he was...
But that didn't matter right now. I was just glad to see him... but I didn't know who it was.
"Who are you?" I asked him cautiously. "Where's the other one?"
He knelt down at my side and put his free hand on my wound. "Mo dumo aj Klonoa. A um kxo Dream Traveler." He had the voice of an energetic teenage boy.
Normally, I wouldn't have been able to understand him, but in dreams, anything is possible and I knew he had said, "My name is Klonoa. I am the Dream Traveler."
""Dream Traveler"? What's that? It sounds so... familiar."
"A khuloc foefco'j thoumj, rhadwadw fouso ke kxo nehct uk dawxk."
I had a feeling that he had said, "I travel people's dreams, bringing peace to the world at night."
"I'm just you're here. That creature you fought the other day... well, look what he did to me!"
I ran a hand down the gash, which had been sealed over, revealing several stitches in it.
Klonoa examined it and shook his head, sighing. Translated, he said, "This is all my fault. I couldn't defeat King and I've allowed him to escape into the world."
"King? Who's that?"
Klonoa closed his eyes, as if he was remembering a terrible event. "He is the King of Sorrow. He is a lump of pure sorrow that brings nightmares to the people of the world. I was supposed to vanquish him from the dream world but failed. Now everyone is paying for my failure."
But some things still bothered me. "But how did that "King of Sorrow" do this to me? And why are you here now?"
"King has many dark abilities. He has the ability to reach from the Dream World and influence reality. As for what I'm doing here – I need your help."
I blinked. What could the Dream Traveler want from me?
"If King continues his reign of destruction, all of humanity will eventually destroy itself. I need you to take my place as the Dream Traveler."
"But... how?" I didn't think that that was even remotely possible.
Klonoa presented me with his golden ring. "When you recover from the hospital, go into the woods behind your house. I'll contact you from there."
"But... why me? I've never done anything this important in my life before." I was still trying to move but without success.
"I trust you, Alex. You have a great potential. Don't forget: I've seen your dreams in person."
"You have?!" I had never seen Klonoa before and yet he claims to have been in my subconscious.
"I have. You have a very active imagination. You'll do fine, I swear it."
"Thanks, Klonoa." There was just one thing standing in my way. "But what about King? Isn't he still on the loose?"
Klonoa sighed and got up and turned around. "King is formidable, but even in spirit, I can still protect you from his influence until we meet again."
"Thanks, Klonoa." I finally managed to reach my arm up to shake his. He took it and smiled.
"It's my pleasure." Just then, he pressed two fingers to my chest and said, "Clear!"
I felt as if I had gotten kicked in the chest. "Hey! What was that for?!"
Klonoa winked and did it again. "Clear!" A similar charge coursed through my chest and my dream broke.
In reality, I had just gone into cardiac arrest in the hospital from a lack of blood. The paramedics were using shock paddles to restart my heart and it was their shock that Klonoa had "given" me.
"Ohh... where am I? Klonoa?"
I woke up some time later in a hospital, extremely weak and hooked up to a life support system. The gash on my torso had been doctored and stitched up by the surgeons while I had been out. No one was quite sure how I had ended up with such a serious gash in my gut in a locked house overnight.
I thought about my encounter with Klonoa. If what he had said was true, the King of Sorrow was still out there wreaking havoc on the people of the world. In fact, I wasn't the only one who had turned up in the hospital with mysterious injuries.
Through the open door, I could hear people chatting about a woman who had turned up with both of her shins mysteriously severed. It turns out that King has claimed another victim. I couldn't help but wonder if anyone in the world was safe...
A few days later, I was given a clean bill of health and returned home. By now, over 20 different people had been brought into the hospital suffering from mysterious injuries. Of those 20 people, about five had died from their injures either before they arrived or on the operating table. What's more, many of the survivors were starting to turn up dead even after they had been stabilized.
The local police were baffled. The randomness of the victims and their injuries suggested that multiple assailants were on the loose. But I knew better. This was all being caused by the King of Sorrow. But that didn't help.
Even if I went to the police, I doubt that they would believe that these people were being attacked in their dreams. The only thing that I could do was trust Klonoa and hope that the Dream Traveler could put an end to this carnage.
When I arrived home, I found a mysterious letter in my doorway written in a slightly-sloppy handwriting.
Alex,
Don't forget what I told you.
Klonoa
I should have asked myself, "If Klonoa only appeared in my dreams, how could he have written this letter?" But I knew better. That dream and my injuries had been too real to consider it fake.
I took a while to settle myself in at home before I went outside to where Klonoa told me to go. The woods behind my house were a little dense, but I had been out there so many times that I knew my way around rather well.
However, the further I went in, it seemed to get even darker than normal, even though it was only noon. Also, the woods were rather quiet for an autumn day. The birds seemed to know that evil was loose on the world and refused to call.
What's more, I had a feeling that something was watching me. Every few steps I took, something sounded like it was following me.
"Klonoa?" I asked to the darkness. "Are you out there?"
Silence. It was just too quiet.
For the first time in these woods, I felt scared. I had never felt scared in these woods before, but my fear was genuine. I didn't like the suspense, but I kept walking. If Klonoa wanted me to find him, he would be much further in.
It started to get really cold as I got further in. And that was saying something, because it was a rather warm day in September. Believe it or not, I actually believe in the paranormal, and I kept tabs on it on TV. "A Haunting" was my favorite paranormal TV show, and I learned a few things watching it.
What I'm getting at was that a decrease in temperature meant that something abnormal was in the area. Even though I had never encountered a ghost before, I believed that something was in the area. But I was determined not to show my fear.
"Klonoa!" I called out to the darkness again. "If you're out there, show yourself!"
But nothing was out there. And yet, something was out there. I reached a clearing and stopped. It was so dark here that I couldn't see my way any further and so cold that I was shivering visibly. I was surprised that I hadn't hit any trees so far from the darkness.
"Jkef."
I froze in place. A voice sounded out from somewhere around me. It was more of a whisper than an actual voice. And yet... it sounded like...
"Klonoa?"
I didn't hear or see anything that confirmed that it was him... until the wind started to pick up. The freezing wind bit right through my skin and I thought I was going to pass out from the extreme cold.
And then I saw him. A faint outline of someone looking a lot like Klonoa appeared in front of me. I was quite sure that I wasn't seeing things. I recognized his long, black-and-white ears, his yellow gloves and his blue cap. He said nothing and we stared at each other for a while.
"Well, Klonoa... I'm here. What do I do next?"
Klonoa stared back at me and answered me. "Ke tovouk King, no mijk rosemo edo."
"Say what?" I could understand him in my dreams, but in real life I had no idea what he was saying.
Klonoa's apparition rose into the air slightly and the wind reached a pitch that I couldn't see what he was doing. The next thing I knew, I was being thrown backwards a good ten feet and came to rest on the cold, hard earth.
What the hell was that?! I felt as if someone had taken a swing at me with a sledgehammer! My chest hurt and I was colder than ever.
"Ohh..." I moaned, getting up gingerly. "What did you do to me? Klonoa?"
He wasn't there. The wind had died and the sunlight had returned along with the welcoming heat of the end of summer, but I was still cold.
I tried to comprehend what Klonoa had done to me. From the feel of things, it felt as if he had passed straight through my body like a spirit. I then realized something – could he have possessed me?! I didn't want to believe it and I called out his name to prove it wasn't true.
"Klonoa! Where are you?! Please don't leave me hanging here!"
As if he had been expecting me, a letter appeared out of nowhere at my feet. It was written in the same scribbly writing as the one I saw in my house.
Alex,
This might be a lot for you to take in right now, but I have chosen you to be my successor as the Dream Traveler. What you just witnessed was my spirit passing itself onto you. Soon, you will be ready to confront the King of Sorrow where I have failed.
I must warn you that your current form is not "sufficient" enough to face King. Over the next few days, you will have to be "converted" to a more... sufficient form. Don't worry about it, though. I will stay with you until the conversion is finished and then it will be my time to move on.
Do not think of this as a curse, Alex; when it is all over and done with, your life will be much more meaningful to the people of the world. I chose you because I believe that you will take my place as the Dream Traveler and finish what I started.
Good luck,
Klonoa
I should have panicked. I was being possessed and was about to be "converted" to a more "sufficient" form. What's more, I had to pick up the scraps in the fight against the King of Sorrow. I hadn't asked for this, and yet Klonoa was using me like his own pet.
But then I realized that life as the Dream Traveler probably wouldn't be so bad after all. I don't know what was calming me down, but I had a feeling that it was Klonoa's presence in my mind. I had a feeling that traveling the Dream World would do more good than not. Besides, I have thanked God on more than one occasion for some of the best nights' sleep that I have occasionally had. All this time, I might have been thanking Klonoa for the good dreams that I have had.
I pocketed the letter from Klonoa and walked back to my house. Just you wait, King. When this is all over, you'll be the one needing the Dream Traveler, not me.
Nothing interesting happened that day. I hadn't "converted" or heard anything from Klonoa on what to do yet. But I didn't let my guard down – anything could happen at any time and I was going to be ready for it. However, nothing whatsoever happened until I fell asleep that night and entered the Dream World.
I was standing inside a hall of mirrors. Unlike a maze of mirrors, the hallway was straight and lined with glass mirrors. I started walking down the hallway, looking right and left. To my left was my own human reflection – plain and unchanged. To my right was the reflection of Klonoa. But unlike most reflections, neither mine nor Klonoa's reflections looked back at me; they just kept walking, looking straight ahead.
At the end of the hallway was a single large, circular mirror that didn't reflect anything until I got there. When I did, it showed my own image looking back at me. As I watched, it seemed to shift on its own until I was looking at Klonoa... but not quite. He was wearing my clothes and his ring was missing from his hand.
I slowly raised a hand up to the mirror and my reflection did the same. We touched each other's hand and turned to examine ourselves. I noticed for the first time that Klonoa had a small, pointed, white-tipped tail sticking out of his... our pants. It was kind of cute.
When we turned back to face each other, I had to ask him an obvious question.
"Why did you pick me, Klonoa? You could have picked anyone else in the world to take your place. Why me?"
The Klonoa in the mirror simply smiled and said, "Eik ev mudo... edo."
Out of many... one. That's what he said. It didn't make any sense even in the Dream World, but Klonoa must have had his reasons for choosing me.
"I see."
"When you awake this morning, stay in bed," he said, translated. "The first step in the process will initiate soon and you'll be that much closer to your destiny."
I nodded. "I'll be sure to do that."
Klonoa nodded, turned... and was gone. I had a few moments to think about what he said before the dream started to fade away into a black void.
For the first time in my own house, I felt safe during this crisis. King hadn't been able to touch me this time and soon I would be paying him back in flying colors.
I made to get up, but then froze. Klonoa told me to stay put and I did so. I also tried holding still. Something told me that I didn't want to move during this.
Trying to keep still, I rolled my head to one side to check my clock. 7:05. Boy, I was up early! I waited patiently for two minutes. Nothing happened right away at 7:07, but seven seconds later, I felt my body seize up. This was it! There was no turning back now!
To start out, I felt a heavy, itchy feeling on my chest. I couldn't see through my shirt until it reached my neck. I had grown a chest full of heavy, black fur! I should have screamed if I hadn't been expecting that, but I knew what I was turning into – the Dream Traveler, Klonoa – so I remained calm. I could feel my ribs cracking dully but painlessly inside my chest as they shrunk slightly and repositioned themselves. My organs gave a little squish and shifted a little. One after another, my ribs cracked and shifted followed by a grinding sound coming from my spine. I had forgotten that Klonoa was slightly smaller than me, but I ignored it and went along with it. Pretty soon, my torso area looked too short for the rest of my body, but that was about to change. The fur finished covering my chest and proceeded around my sides and reached my back. I giggled a little since it tickled slightly as it spread. As soon as it hit my thighs, it halted and seemed to be waiting its turn.
Luckily, my legs were the next to change. I felt several dull snaps as the bones in my legs were reduced to splinters and dust. It didn't hurt, but it felt really weird! The muscles in my legs stretched out for a moment and then seemed to compress and shrink, taking a good six inches off my already-compressed height. The bones reformed in my legs and felt slightly stronger than they were before. I felt my legs go stiff as the bones solidified into something I could use later. While my legs were busy, my feet had all but shattered. They were reduced to something slightly smaller. Since I didn't wear any pants or socks while I slept, I was able to watch this process with interest. My toenails cracked and shattered into tiny pieces, which fell flat off my toes. Next, my second-and-third toes seemed to melt together due to the lack of bones underneath them, making all four new toes about the same size. Along with that, a short, sharp, black claw poked out from under the skin in each toe, and the underside of my feet practically crystallized into tough, leathery pads. The bones then reformed to fit my new "footpaws" and reconnected with the bones on my new legs.
The fur then took over and proceeded down my legs and covered both them and my footpaws. It moved down like a miniature wave washing over my skin – it felt so weird and warm at the same time.
Something was pushing on my backside. It felt as if someone was pulling on my tailbone. I had a feeling that if I didn't give it room, it would come out deformed. Testing my new legs, I managed to roll to one side, but yelled out in pain – my body wasn't used to their new bones yet. Fortunately, it gave my new tail room some to grow out. It was already covered in fur and was slightly longer than a rabbit's tail. It had several white tips around it that looked slightly like Klonoa's ears.
Speaking of which, my head was the next to change. Like most of my other body parts, my skull practically shattered as the bones started reforming to mimic Klonoa's. My upper and lower jaw were pushing outwards to make a short muzzle in its wake. My nose moved a little bit and then gave a loud snap as it broke audibly. Thankfully like everything else, it did not hurt. The skin from my broken nose spread out across my face until I was left with a small, pointed nose on the tip of my new muzzle. I couldn't feel it, but my pupils grew long and narrow and changed from dark-brown to goldenrod-yellow.
Once the bones in my skull were reformed, I could feel my ears moving to the top of my head where I felt something tug on them. They grew outwards and down, gaining mass and weight until they ended near my thighs and spread out, making the multiple distinct fleshy tips near the ends. I kind of looked bizarre with these long, flesh-colored growths growing from my head, but the fur came to the rescue. It proceeded up my neck and swarmed over my face, muzzle and thankfully my ears. Most of the fur on my face was black except for on my muzzle and the tips of my long, dangling ears. It grew a little more off the sides of my cheeks, adding a little extra flesh to my face and giving it a triangle-pointed look.
Finally, my arms took their turn in the change. Unlike the other parts of my body, they only broke once in each bone and shifted so that each half folded over each other just above the break point. My fingers felt slightly funny as they fattened slightly and grew out a little, making my hands look like paws. And like my toes, the nails on each one cracked and fell off, replacing themselves with short, black claws. Once again, the fur made its move. It coated my arms and hands just like a glove (and it felt like one, too).
Once the fur had covered all of my newly-transformed, I felt a tingling feeling course through my body as if my whole self had "fallen asleep" I couldn't move while my brain calibrated the new muscles and nerve endings, but it was soon over and I could finally move again.
The physical transformation was complete.
I put a furred hand to my head and took this all in. I had just turned into a carbon-copy of Klonoa and it felt... good. That's all I could say.
I tried getting up, but my baggy clothes were getting in my way. Quickly shedding them, I slid off my bed and went to look at myself in the mirror in my bathroom. Granted, I had to climb on the counter to see myself in full, but I was still impressed at what I saw.
I had gone from 6'2'' to about 4'7''. But other than that, I still thought that I looked pretty sharp. Of course, I didn't have any clothes on, but I had such an even coat of short, black-and-white fur that I had nothing to hide. However, I'm pretty sure that Klonoa didn't run around in his birthday suit as the Dream Traveler.
Still... "You look almost cute enough to cuddle," I said out loud, putting a hand to my throat. My voice had gotten younger to mimic Klonoa's exactly in speed, pitch and tone. "How about we get you some clothes?"
I went back into my bedroom to find a surprise. Klonoa's personal attire – everything from the blue cap to the yellow gloves to the red sneakers – was laid out on my bed, neatly folded on top of each other.
I smiled and shook my head. "Klonoa..." I was pretty sure that those clothes had not been there moments ago.
After dressing myself accordingly, I noticed that one thing was missing – Klonoa's ring. Looking under my sheets and in all my drawers, I discovered that Klonoa had not given me his ring... yet. I guessed he would give it to me when I was ready.
Now I was presented with an obvious problem: how was I going to go out in the community like this? I'm pretty sure that Klonoa did not wander around the waking world in this form.
"Come back to the woods tonight at Triple 7," I said out loud.
What the—?! Did I just say that? I had said my next step in the process out loud without even knowing what it was.
Finally, I said to the air, "Next time, Klonoa, warn me before you break into my head like that!" He seemed to have gotten the point because he didn't contact me for the rest of the day.
Meanwhile, since I didn't know what else to do in this new form and I didn't want to chance going out into the city like this, I stayed indoors and went about my normal routine on a weekend. I made myself some breakfast and played a few of my video games for a while. It was a little more difficult to handle the controllers since my hands were now slightly thicker than they were before and more closely resembled paws than anything else. I actually had to take off my gloves so that I didn't mash multiple buttons at once. I didn't enjoy my games as much as I used to. Something told me that these games would mean next to nothing in my new existence.
After lunch, I did a few bench presses on my personal weight set. Klonoa was a pretty tough kid for someone his size – I could lift almost 50 pounds more than I could in my old form. I didn't push it, though. I didn't know the limits of my new form and I didn't want to overdo myself.
Klonoa didn't contact me again until 6:00 when I was watching one of my old movies. The doorbell rang and I had a sudden panic attack that someone would find out what happened to me. When I answered the door, though, I found another letter written in Klonoa's handwriting and I didn't see anyone leaving my property.
The letter was written in Klonoa's sloppy handwriting like the others and read thus:
Congratulations, Alex,
You made it through the physical conversion. I knew that you wouldn't quit on me.
However, you're only partway there. To confront the King of Sorrow, you need to undergo the mental and spiritual conversion. Don't worry, though; I'm completely behind you to see you through this.
Tonight, you will have to face the mental conversion. Meet me in the woods behind your house in the same place in one hour. We'll both take it from there.
By now, you're probably wondering why I didn't include my ring with the clothes that I gave you this morning. Simply put, in your current state, the power of the ring would drive you insane. I don't mean to frown at your abilities despite everything you've been through, but having my body is not enough to contain the power of my ring. However, if all goes well, you will be able to wield it before you face King in the Dream World.
I look forward to seeing you soon.
Klonoa
I scanned the letter several times. Well, that made sense. Klonoa was looking out for my mental well-being by keeping his ring from me until I was ready. Good for him.
I also noticed that he used the word "conversion" instead of "transformation". I wondered why but figured that gods didn't need to use modern lingo.
I looked up at the clock. I had just 45 minutes to reach the clearing in the woods and meet Klonoa. After how long it took me to reach that spot yesterday, I had to move if I hoped to get there in time. I slipped my gloves back on, zipped up my jacket and headed out the back door.
For some reason, I seemed to know where I was going this time. The woods were getting dark naturally this time, but I still had an idea where to go, I could "sense" Klonoa's spirit and that made the navigation through the woods much easier.
The problem was that my ears seemed to have a knack for catching on trees and outstretched branches. Whenever Klonoa walked, they seemed to take on a life of their own and avoid snagging on anything. But since I was still breaking them in, I had to grin and bear it through the pain of the branches. They might not have any bones in them, but my ears could still feel pain and it was soon getting old.
By the time I reached the clearing where Klonoa had "possessed" me, I had just 30 seconds until 7:07. I rubbed my ears to sooth the pain that I was in as I waited for Klonoa to appear. I thought I'd never get here, It seemed that fate was making this more painful than I had anticipated.
At exactly seven seconds past 7:07, I felt the wind pick up again and it got rather cold again. I could feel the frigid air even with my clothes and coat of fur on me.
"Klonoa? I'm here."
"So you are."
The Klonoa-like apparition had appeared in the same spot that it had last time. This time, however, I could make it out a little easier. He also appeared to be smiling.
"I'm impressed that you came despite the... "snags" along the way."
Wait a minute... "You knew I would have trouble with my ears, didn't you?!"
"Of course. It was just the preliminaries of the mental conversion to test if you were ready to take my place."
"Well, I made it, didn't I?"
Klonoa chuckled. "You did indeed. But now you must face the second part of your conversion."
"And how do I do that?"
"Stand perfectly still. I will administer the mental conversion."
I did so. I looked at my counterpart's yellow pupils and my ears were completely lifeless despite the blowing wind.
"Are you ready?"
I nodded.
Klonoa raised his ring and pointed the green gem directly at my head. A small burst of light fired from it and the "mental conversion" began.
S!!! Damn it! HOLY GOD, IT HURT!!! My mind was being assaulted by an unbelievably powerful force! It felt as if someone had just shot me in the head with a grappling hook and was trying to pry my skull open! I wasn't supposed to move, but I couldn't help it; I put my hands to my head and held it like it was about to burst. The pain was so bad that I went temporarily blind to everything around me and could only see Klonoa in front of me.
"Do you submit?" asked Klonoa's voice in my head.
I should have just given up. I should have just given into the pain in my mind and let the world fall to the King of Sorrow. Nothing he could do to me would compare to this.
But I had come too far to give in. I was not going to quit now!
"No! I... will... not... QUIT!!!"
I had no way of knowing what was coming next. The pain in my head moved to the rest of my body. It felt like a thousand white-hot knives were being driven into my flesh. I screamed for it to stop and was driven to my knees and began writhing in pain. Please... make it stop... Let it end.
"Will you submit?" Klonoa said again.
I felt even worse now. I was being assaulted and my screams were falling on deaf ears. If I didn't give in now, I would surely crack from the intense pain.
No, said a voice in my head. I will not give into pain! I am above pain! I am unbreakable! No matter what Klonoa can throw at me...
"I... will... not... SUBMIT!!!"
Bad move, Alex. Klonoa pulled out all the stops now. He now targeted the one thing I thought no one could touch – my soul.
It felt as if I had been ripped from my consciousness. No words could describe the pain and agony I was in. Now I knew what Klonoa went through when King ripped him from his body. I couldn't scream... I couldn't think... All I felt was pain. Please... let it end... death is so much better than this.
"Now... SUBMIT!!!"
I had no choice this time.
"I... I... I... NO!!!"
Beyond all common sense and logic, I still had some fight left in me. There was something deep inside my soul that was immune to pain and death. Something was keeping me going and I didn't understand what it was. I had simply refused to give up.
I thought it would somehow find a way to intensify, but what I didn't expect was the pain to completely vanish, leaving me inside an endless, white, cloudy void. I got up and looked around. Was I... dead? Did I finally crack from the searing pain?
"No..." said a familiar voice. "You have just entered the Dream World."
"Klo... no... a?" I could barely speak.
A rather solid-looking Klonoa was walking towards me. He didn't look like a spirit at all. But... how could this be? I thought...
"You have passed the mental conversion. All that remains is the spiritual conversion."
"But... if I'm here... what happened to my body?"
"You're in it. Those who travel to the Dream World take their earthly bodies with them. Once they have passed the spiritual part of their conversion, they will obtain the ability to pass between here and the waking world."
"Wow..." I didn't know what to say.
"I know how you feel. The Dream World holds many mysteries." He motioned for me to follow him. "Come. I have much to show you."
He started walking and I ran to catch up with him.
I had expected the Dream World to be some kind of shining utopia, but what I experienced personally was anything but. The "streets" of the Dream world were not unlike those you find in a run-down dark city. Buildings were in ruins, in flames or in disrepair as Klonoa and I walked down the ravaged world.
On the sides of the buildings were several doors with peoples' names on the side of them. Some of them looked completely normal, others were barred with chains and boards and still others were in pieces on the ground.
"Klonoa... what happened here? I was expecting something... something..."
"More pleasant"?"
"Yeah. What's going on?"
Klonoa stopped outside a door marked "Skyle Kelvin: Age 16". It was one of the few barred with chains and boards. "These doors lead to the humans' own dream worlds. Depending on the status of the person, they can remain locked, unlocked or destroyed."
"Destroyed? Do you mean...?"
He nodded. "Yes. They are dead. Dead from natural causes, murder, suicide or by King's hand."
"What?!"
"Yep. King has become so powerful that he is able to influence people's realities through their dreams. If we don't stop him, the world will fall apart within weeks."
I couldn't even think of a world where people were afraid to go to sleep. "What are we going to do about it?"
Klonoa sighed and looked down the street at a large, black tower. "I need to teach you how to use... the ring."
I didn't quite get that. "Are you sure? Last time, you said I wasn't ready for it."
"And you still aren't," returned Klonoa. "But time is not on our side and King's power is growing. Sometimes we must all do things even if we aren't ready. I believe that you will do fine."
"I hope you're right," I said uneasily. "I don't want to let the world down after all I've been through."
"Then let's proceed with your training." Klonoa and I walked down the street until we reached a large, white, still-intact building with only a single door with locks and chains on it.
"What's in there?" I wondered. There was no name on this one.
"This is my domain. All of my own dreams and nightmares are in there. This is also where your training begins."
I swallowed. This might not be such a good idea, but I decided to press on.
"Are you ready?"
I nodded and Klonoa approached the door. He put his free hand on the door and it shined brightly for a minute and then swung open of its own accord. Inside was a white void that Klonoa now walked and disappeared into. I fought with myself for a minute and then followed. I felt weightless for a moment as I traveled through a windy light tunnel and then everything came into focus.
Xocf ij... Xocf ij... Xocf ij...
Help us... Help us... Help us...
Someone was calling out for Klonoa and I. Someone was asking for our help.
"Klonoa?"
"I hear them. Have they always been there?"
"I... I think so. I could never see them properly, though. But I know that they need my... our help," I said, realizing that I was no longer alone in this. "They're just like us in power and ability, but we're the only ones who can free them."
"Well, let's get going so that we can save them."
Klonoa and I were standing on a narrow path deep inside a black void. The voices of bygone dreams echoed all around us. Under mine and Klonoa's arms were a pair of snowboard-like Slider Boards that were specially-made to surf dreams like this one. In my own right hand, however, was an almost-carbon copy of Klonoa's ring. It was a large golden band that was big enough to clench my fist around, but this ring had a red gem on the end of the band. In fact, Klonoa and I looked so much alike that the only way to tell us apart was the color of the stones in our rings.
We both nodded and started running down the dream path. Once we reached a decent speed, we boarded our Slider Boards and started "shredding". We surfed closely side-by-side down the narrow road and started my "spiritual conversion".
The road wasn't complete, as Klonoa and I found out. The streams of dreams ended abruptly and we had to do some pretty fancy jumping to reach the next one. Klonoa fired a Wind Bullet from his ring and tagged me, lifting me up above him. I didn't freak out, though. I "knew" it was coming. When he jumped, he launched me down into the black void, sending himself high enough to reach the next stream. Thankfully, I fired my own Wind Bullet at a stretch of empty darkness and a path revealed itself to me. We progressed down our high-low road until our paths met again.
"Thanks for dropping by!" I called at Klonoa and I could have sworn that I saw him smile.
"Now it's your turn! Look yonder!"
Another break in the curving path was coming up. It was too far to jump even at the speeds we were going, so it was my turn to come up with a tactic.
I fired a Wind Bullet at Klonoa's ring and the two of us were connected by a thin beam of light. And then the two of us started spinning in circles. Since this was the Dream World, we got spinning fast enough to achieve lift-off. We spun through the air like a propeller until we reached the next part of the road. We disconnected and continued on.
"Not bad, Arcana!" said Klonoa, saluting me with his cap. "I would have never thought of that one!"
Arcana... Was that my... name? I had heard that all beings had a second "true name". Was "Arcana" my real name? I liked it. From now on, "Alex Schaefer" was just simply "Arcana".
I looked ahead. "Tunnel!"
Klonoa backed off to let me get ahead so the two of us could enter a tunnel one after another.
There was a light at the end of the tunnel. I could tell that that light was our ultimate destination. With my ears flapping in the breeze, I took to the "top" of the tunnel while Klonoa surfed the "bottom" of the full-pipe.
It was smooth sailing until I noticed a rather large break in the tunnel coming up ahead. Since our current situation was like a gravity tube, we had to do some fast thinking. There was a ring of poles coming up just before the break and I suddenly had an idea.
"Klonoa! Bungee!"
He nodded to signal that he understood. As we approached the poles, we both fired Wind Bullets at them. They both caught on the poles and we continued forward, tethered by single streams of light.
Just then, we were both tugged backwards as the light ropes reached their limits. I nearly lost my ring from the sudden change in momentum. As we were thrown back onto the path, we were pulled forward faster than ever once the ropes reached their limits.
"Ready, Klonoa?" I shouted "up" to him.
"Ready!" He called "down".
At the very end of the tethers, we were thrown forward with enough speed to clear the gap. Once we reached the other side, a ring of diamonds approached us rather quickly. We cleared it and were propelled forward recklessly into the white light.
"OOF!!!"
"UNH!!!"
We both landed rather painfully inside a room lined with stained-glass windows. We were lying on a large, round platform with a massive crater in the middle.
"Klonoa?"
"I'm alright. You?"
"I'm just fine."
We detangled ourselves from each others' ears and got to our feet. I looked up at the stained-glass windows and gasped.
There were several designs on the windows that I somehow recognized. One of the windows had an image of a massive bird-like creature with silver-white skin and a sky-blue belly along with navy-blue "masks" over its eyes, navy-blue "plates" on its back and similar-colored spikes on its long tail. On another window was a creature that looked similar in size and shape to the first one, but this one was crimson-red where it was navy-blue... except on its belly where it looked almost pink!
"Arcana..." said Klonoa, tapping me on the shoulder. "Look at those two."
I did. Two of the other windows depicted pictures of large dragons that appeared to be carved from massive diamonds. Their scales were colored a blinding-white except for their topaz-colored claws and horns, including the ones on the tip of their muzzles. Like the other two creatures, the only difference between these two was the color of the plates running down their torsos. One was orange while the other was clear-blue.
And then I heard them... and I knew... they were the ones.
Xocf ij... F... Fcoujo... Xocf ij...
Help us... P... Please... Help us...
Now all of my dreams of fleeting creatures and cries for help made sense. I was being called here to save these creatures from captivity.
"Klonoa! We need to find a way to free them!"
He shared my concern. "At long last, their cries for help will be answered."
"Ahh, if only it were that easy."
Uh-oh. The two of us whipped around to face the opposite end of the crater.
The King of Sorrow was standing at the far end of the room, eyeing the two of us with a long, thin blade in his hands. He matched the description of the aqua-blue-furred creature that I saw in my dreams. He had long, drooping, elf-like ears with white undersides that matched those on the palms of his hands. Around his neck was a large, metal ring with two long ribbons fluttering behind it in a non-existent breeze just like mine and Klonoa's ears. He had the most piercing-red eyes that I had ever seen with a small, black pupil in the middle of them. His face was expressionless but I could see the curves of a smile beneath his white muzzle.
"You took your sweet time training the human, Klonoa." King had a cold, menacing voice. "Now I will have the pleasure of killing you again and destroying your protégé."
Klonoa pointed his ring at King, who did not flinch. "King! You're reign of destruction will come to an end here and now! No one will ever fear you again!"
The King of Sorrow closed his eyes and chuckled. "What makes you think you can defeat me, Klonoa? Look around you." He indicated the stained-glass windows lining the walls. "Lugia... Altair... Hyozanryu... Ashura... They all challenged me and failed. Soon, you two will join my wall of art and nightmares will continue to plague the planet. There is nothing that you can do to stop me."
"If you think that Arcana and I battle alone, you have another thing coming! We're the Dream Travelers! We work as a team to purge the Dream World of scum like you!"
King still chuckled. "Oh, really? It looks like your "partner" is still a little uncertain."
Klonoa looked at me with concern on his face. I wasn't sure if I could work with Klonoa to defeat King, but that wasn't going to stop me from trying. I looked up at King and pointed my own ring at him.
"You haunted my dreams once, King; you won't get another chance!"
Klonoa and I both fired Wind Bullets at King, who sneered. "And so it begins."
He easily deflected our shots with a swing of his long sword. He then took to the air and held out his hand. The two of us were caught off guard and were lifted into the air. He then threw us to one side with a casual flick of his wrist.
"I think we need to show him how a tag-team works, Brother."
I blinked. Klonoa had just called me... Brother. I was touched. Someone who had once lived in my dreams was here fighting beside me... and he called me Brother. Any self-doubt I had in my heart left it at that point. I was Arcana the Dream Traveler. My brother, Klonoa was in need of a friend and battle partner. I knew what I had to do. I had to destroy this lump of pure sorrow and free the Dream World and the Waking World from his evil.
Turning my cap to face backwards, I grabbed Klonoa's hand and said, "Let's show him, Brother!"
We leapt into the air as one and pointed our rings at King. With our combined powers, the force of our Wind Bullets hit him hard enough to knock him out of the air and crash into the crater.
King's sword had gone flying and disappeared into the depths of the pit. However, that only took one weapon out of his arsenal. King got to his feet and spread his arms, sending a powerful shockwave in our direction.
We anticipated it and split before it hit us. The shockwave hit the stained-glass picture of the white-and-red bird, but the glass did not shatter. This only proved the power of the evil magic holding it together.
Klonoa and I jumped back into the air and locked rings above king. Like in the tunnel, the two of us spun around rapidly until we were merely a blur and then came down on the King of Sorrow like a meteor strike.
This produced two results. King couldn't block our attack and the room vibrated from the damage that he took. Unfortunately, the easy part was over. King took to the air again and hovered in the middle of the room, completely unprotected...
...or not. He raised his arms and a powerful force-field lined with rings of ancient writing and orbs of concentrated energy surrounding it. To boot, two large orbs of black energy tethered to the force-field appeared.
Klonoa blanched. And I knew why. In my first dream, this shield had been his downfall. He had been unable to penetrate its defenses and damage King any further. I could sense his dismay.
"Klonoa!" I called to him. "Don't let it scare you! Remember, you're not alone this time. We're in this together and together we will dismantle it piece by piece!"
Klonoa smiled weakly. "Alright, Arcana, I trust your faith. Let's do it!"
King, however, was not impressed. He let out an evil, booming laugh. "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Brotherly love – it will be all the sweeter when I destroy the two of you at my own hands!"
Klonoa and I had to work together to disable King's shield. First, I scoped out the black energy orbs flying around the platform, trying to hit us. On a hunch, I fired a Wind Bullet at it and I managed to seize it. However, it was starting to flash, meaning it was going to detonate. Klonoa came to the rescue by grabbing me with his own ring and launching me into the air so that I could reach King's shield. Further confirming my hunch, I fired the energy orb at one of the orbs surrounding the shield.
Success! When the two energies met, the result was a sound not unlike that of a bomb going off. A concussion wave ripped through the room, making it quake violently.
"NO!!!" bellowed King is disbelief. "How is that even possible?! How could you damage my force-field when Klonoa couldn't touch it?!"
I landed on my feet and looked up at the screaming King. "You underestimate the power of teamwork, King! Where one fails, two may triumph!"
"Let's just see if your "teamwork" can take me on in full!"
King waved his arms and two more tethered, black energy orbs appeared... but that wasn't all. Powerful blasts of energy shot from the remaining three orbs on the shield. Every time Klonoa or I tried to grab a tethered orb to throw at a shield orb, one of those blasts would send us flying.
"Any ideas, pal?" I said, holding onto the edge of the platform and hanging over the black void below us.
"Yeah... one. But one of us has to take a shot for the team."
I looked at his yellow eyes. and nodded. "I'll do it. Just get that shield down!"
We flipped back onto the platform and Klonoa hooked me onto his ring. He then leapt back at King right into the path of one of the force-field orbs. He then fired me downwards to get a jump boost at one of the tethered orbs. I could not avoid the shot of energy, but I managed to divert it from Klonoa, who managed to disable another one of King's defenses.
"Why you—!!!" screamed King. "I'm going to make you pay for that!"
King now took the offense. From behind the shield, he charged up powerful blasts of electrical energy. What's more, when they hit the platform, they would send shockwaves of static energy coursing through the floor. This kept me and Klonoa in the air so that we could get another shot at the King of Sorrow.
I couldn't take another shot to give Klonoa an opening, so like the tag-team that we are, we switched roles. This time, the two of us didn't need to use our rings to get in the air. We used a technique that could only be pulled off in the Dream World. We literally walked sideways up into the air by using the bottoms of each other's shoes as a "wall" to climb. We were practically walking on each other's feet to climb into the air!
I was closer to King than Klonoa was, so I jumped off Klonoa's shoes and seized an energy ball while Klonoa diverted King's attack by jumping in front of me. He took a full electric shock to the chest and fell from the air, allowing me to disable another one of King's shield orbs.
The ground shook more violently than before as this concussion caused the four stained-glass windows to crack but not shatter.
"You have run out of options, Dream Travelers!" cackled King as the two of us lay motionless in the middle of the crater. "You will join my collection and the dreams of the planet will be mine!"
We had nothing left. There was one more orb to break to bring down the shield, but our energy was spent. Even if we disabled the force-field, King would still be powerful enough to destroy us. We had failed the Dream World and the Waking World. If only we could free the other creatures...
No... I was down... but not out. Nothing was going to stop me from defeating this lump of pure sorrow. Against all earthly logic, I slowly got to my feet and limped over to Klonoa.
"Come... on... Klonoa. Just... one... more!"
If we had been in the Waking World, our determination would have killed the two of us. But in the Dream World, strange things have a funny way of occurring even when you least expect it.
Klonoa managed to get to his feet and we both looked up at King.
"Arcana... if we can't defeat him... we can't give them a chance to."
"I agree. Let's give it... one... more... shot!"
The two of us pointed our rings at King's force-field and joined hands. By summoning the last of our combined power, we managed to power one final shot that gathered up on our rings. When we could muster no more strength... we fired. The combined Wind Bullets flew straight and true as it destroyed the final orb surrounding King's shield. What happened next, we did not witness. We had both fainted from massive fatigue...
Klonoa? Arcana?
Wakey-wakey, Dream Travelers. Time to get up.
Sleep is for another time. Now you must wake.
I've never known anyone to sleep as long as you two! Get up!
I could hear multiple voices in my head. They were telling Klonoa and I to wake up. I found it rather hard to do since we were still inside the Dream World...
...or were we? I could feel a brisk cold feeling ruffling through my fur. It was too real to suggest that I was still in the Dream World. I was shivering slightly and something cold was biting at by ears.
Finally, I managed to open my eyes... and found myself looking up at a partly-cloudy, sun-filled sky. I managed to muster the strength to sit up just as Klonoa did likewise.
About time you two got up! We've been waiting days!
Now, now, Altair, give them time to see where they are.
He's right, Altair. You jump to conclusions rather quickly.
The two of us found ourselves sitting in the snow at the top of a snowy mountain. The wind was blowing gently through the area and snow was coming down just as softly. The four voices that had brought me back into the world belonged to the two pairs of dragons and bird-like creatures. They were huddled around us, looking down at us like they were expecting us.
"Klonoa?" I asked my brother.
"I know... I see them, too."
"Who are you guys? I feel that I know you from somewhere."
The four creatures looked at each other and smiled. They then lined up in front of us and introduced themselves.
My name is Lugia, said the blue-and-white bird-like creature, bowing low and nodding his head. "Guardian of the Sea and one of the legendary White Ghosts."
I'm Altair, said Lugia's red-and-white counterpart, raising his massive flipper-like wings into the air in a graceful pose. Formerly human and brother to Lugia, the White Ghost.
The diamond-like dragon with the orange chest plates spoke next. Call me Hyozanryu, the Diamond Dragon, lord and Master of the planet's skies.
His counterpart with the blue chest plates spoke last. He spread his wings majestically. They call me Ashura. I was also once human and am Hyozanryu's protégé in the world of the sky.
I noticed that all four of them spoke in psychic voices.
"Nice to meet you," said Klonoa, bowing to the noble foursome. "My name is Klonoa. I am one of the planet's Dream Travelers."
I didn't know what to say until Klonoa elbowed me in the ribs. "Yeah, uh... I guess you can call me Arcana. I'm Klonoa's brother and his fellow Dream Traveler."
PLEASED TO MEET YOU!!! Their combined mental response was powerful enough to knock my brother and I on our backs. They all then broke out laughing.
Sorry, said Altair. We don't know our own strength.
"It's okay," said Klonoa, chuckling as well. "We could get used to it."
I had to ask the obvious question. "How long have we been out? And what happened while we were?"
Hyozanryu took his turn. You've been out for 14 days. And we can show you what happened.
We both looked at each other and shrugged. "Okay."
Lugia raised one of his massive wings over the two of us and his eyes glowed a bright blue. Absolutely everything including the four behemoths vanished, leaving just Klonoa and I hovering side-by-side in a black space.
Just then, the scene in the Dream World came back into focus. It picked up where we left off – after disabling King's shield and the two of us fainting.
The shield began spinning around King at high speed, light beams shooting from it, meaning it was about to explode. King could do nothing as the force of the explosion blew out the four stained-glass windows of Lugia, Altair, Hyozanryu and Ashura.
In the remains of the glass fragments, four balls of white light appeared in their respective places and hovered there for a while before they flew to the edges of the platforms.
King, meanwhile, had fallen out of the air and laid there, small and vulnerable. "No..." he said almost pleadingly. "No! This can't be happening! I was invincible! Nothing could stop me... not even you! This can't be happening!"
The four white lights grew to form the figures of Lugia, Altair, Hyozanryu and Ashura. The four figures looked down at the defenseless King in the crater, on his back, pleading for mercy. They all said nothing as they all looked to the air and fired a beam of white light from each of their maws. The beams met in the air and formed a swirling white portal. King was lifted into the air towards the vortex irresistibly, screaming hysterically.
"No! Don't send me in there! I won't do it! I defeated all of you! I can't be banished! No! NO! NOOOO!!!" His final scream echoed around the room as he disappeared into the white vortex.
The King of Sorrow – the being who had turned nightmares into realities – was banished. He would never haunt another dream ever again.
Just then, the room that everyone was in began to quake and crumble. Pieces of rock and metal fell from the walls and ceiling into the black pit below them. Without the King of Sorrow, this dream was falling apart. There was no use staying here. Lugia and Altair scooped me and Klonoa up in their beaks and the four of them vanished into white light.
Everything came back into focus. We were on top of Mount Everest again. Klonoa and I were amazed at what the four of them had done to King. They were obviously very powerful to open a portal to a different dimension and banish him completely.
And they wanted to share their power. Lugia looked at the two of us and spoke very clearly.
Arcana... Klonoa... you two possess some unique abilities and powers. You can travel to the Dream World and ensure that people are considered safe in their sleep. Unfortunately, none of us have that skill and we would appreciate it if you would join our ranks.
Hyozanryu took over. We control both the sea and the sky, but until now, we have disputed over who the land belongs to. We would appreciate it if you would take the responsibility of the land and the people who live there.
We didn't know what to say. "Us?" said Klonoa. "Become gods? I never considered that before." He turned to me. "What do you think, Arcana?"
I thought about this. They were offering us a spot in the legends of the world. How could we pass this up? Granted, we would have some more responsibilities to deal with, but I felt that it would present a formidable challenge.
We both nodded and looked up at the others. "Deal."
And with that simple word, Klonoa and I added our names to the new legends now circulating the planet. We were gods now; practically immortal. Nothing would ever come between us that could separate us from here on.
Some centuries later, Klonoa and I were once again traveling the streets of the Dream World. After King had been banished, the Dream World had started to rebuild itself. Pretty soon, it was once again the shining utopia that it once was. People would actually look forward to going to sleep again knowing that the Dream Travelers were there to protect them.
Of course, the nightmares would never completely vanish. Klonoa and I always had our hands full and almost never went anywhere alone. We were blood-brothers now, even if that blood didn't exist before.
One day, I was racing Klonoa on our Slider Boards through a tropical dream that someone in Rhode Island was currently having. Klonoa pressed a question to me that he had been wanting to ask for some time.
"Hey, Arcana... have you ever thought about taking back what you gave up to be with me?"
Being his twin, I knew exactly what he was talking about. "Maybe. It's come up in my mind every once in a while."
"And...?"
I shook my head as I surfed past him. "I wouldn't take it back for the world. I'm much happier now that I'm with you."
"I thought so." Klonoa slowed me down by shooting a Wind Bullet at me and bringing my speed down. "You seem to enjoy traveling the Dream World."
"Yep, it's certainly an experience that I never want to pass up."
Somehow, I managed to pass Klonoa and stun him so that I got a decent lead on him. Klonoa laughed and continued on.
"Dreams do come true..."
END