Beyond the Mist of Limbo, on the other side of the world, was the Land of Dreams, a very happy place indeed. This land was a complete contrast to the Land of Nightmares. You would never think they were on the same planet. Instead of a baron landscape and awful weather, there were green meadows and sunny skies.
In the middle of the land was a quaint little village. The people who lived here were the Noops. Unlike the Urpneys, Noops were very peaceful in nature and they lived and worked together in harmony. The village was also home to the Dream Maker, who lived in a grand fairytale-like castle. He was the one who had the Dreamstone in his possession, but he didn't use it for evil purposes as Zordrak intended – the Dream Maker used it to send pleasant dreams to the inhabitants of the world and other worlds, and also to repel bad dreams from the Land of Nightmares. Occasionally, one nightmare would manage to evade detection and frighten someone, but this was usually rare. At the moment, the Dream Maker was in his office, examining the books on the shelves and racking his brains over which 'dream recipe' to use for the night's dreams. He was accompanied by Albert, his pet dogfish that swam in the air. Albert was his closest companion.
The Dream Maker and Albert were not alone in the castle, for two Noops worked there: Rufus and Amberley. The two Noops were best friends, having known each other for years (it was Amberley who had suggested the job as the Dream Maker's apprentice to Rufus in the first place). They both enjoyed their job in the castle, as the Dream Maker was very kind to them and the job was very rewarding.
Rufus was working in the laboratory. The laboratory was a vast room with stunning blue-sky walls, a spotless marble floor, and tremendous bottleshelves and bookshelves, one of which was a secret door to the Dreamstone! There was also the laboratory equipment to collect the 'ingredients' for the dreams: a tank containing sunshine bubbles, a box and barrels of laughter bubbles, a pipe organ for music bubbles, and a birdhouse for birdsong bubbles.
Rufus lay underneath the pipe organ, with a toolbox nearby. He was repairing a small fault on the underside of the organ, which had been causing the music bubbles to appear slower than usual. As he worked, he was singing a little song to nobody in particular.
He was so busy working and singing, he failed to notice that Amberley had crept into the room and could hear him. She was standing near the door, careful not to be noticed. She giggled to herself at hearing him singing, before stepping closer and calling "Rufus!" to get his attention.
Upon hearing her, Rufus yelped and wriggled from underneath the pipe organ, knocking the toolbox over. "Oh, er, hello Amberley," he said sheepishly as he scrambled to pick up the tools. "I…I didn't hear you come in…"
"Daydreaming again?" Amberley chuckled. "Never mind. I was looking for the Dream Maker. There's this letter for him," she explained, holding an envelope in her hand. "Do you need any help?"
"Thanks, but it's alright," said Rufus. "I think I've fixed it anyhow." He pressed one the organ keys, and several bubbles spouted from one of the pipes.
As if right on cue, the Dream Maker floated into the room, with Albert by his side. "Ah, young Rufus, I see you have solved the dilemma with the organ. Splendid."
"Thank you sir," said Rufus gratefully.
"Sir," said Amberley, "This letter came for you."
She handed the envelope to the Dream Maker, who looked at it with glee. "Ah, wonderful! Yes, thank you, young Amberley, I've been expecting this to come today," he said as he opened the envelope and read the letter.
"Expecting what, sir?" Amberley asked.
"An order confirmation, my dear," the Dream Maker replied. "I shall be expecting an order to arrive later this afternoon. It's something very important." He said the last sentence in a quiet voice, as if it were something secretive. "Make sure to be here when it arrives. I assure you two will be amazed. Oh, this is exciting…" he said as he floated away.
"The Dream Maker looked really pleased to read that letter. What do you suppose he's ordered?" Rufus asked as soon as the Dream Maker was gone. "He doesn't usually get that excited over an order."
"I don't know," Amberley replied, "But it must be important if the Dream Maker says so. We'll have to wait and see."
Of course, when Frizz and Nug had said they didn't need Uprgor's inventions earlier, they didn't mean all of them – they did need to use the Whirlyped to get through the Mist of Limbo, and Urpgor knew that was so. But Urpgor had not only taken the new invention away from them, but had also tampered with the Whirlyped too in an act of revenge. He had added a small device to the aircraft that would allow it to fly in the Land of Nightmares and the Mist of Limbo, but not through the Land of Dreams. The three Urpneys only discovered this once their landing had been forced at the very edge of the Land of Dreams, and there was only one alternative to get to the Dreamstone now: walking.
The journey hadn't been easy. They had constantly been on guard while trudging through the forests in case they were noticed by the Wuts, the guardians of the forests, who would immediately alert the Dream Maker. Somehow they had managed to evade this detection, but by now, the Urpneys had been walking for what seemed like hours. The sun beat down upon them, causing them to swelter in the heat. They were now making their way along a thin country lane with hedges on either side.
"Can't we stop yet, Sarge? I'm exhausted," spluttered Nug as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. "We've been walking for hours."
"Please let us rest, Sarge! My legs are going to drop off!" Frizz moaned. He grabbed Nug's tail in a futile attempt to get pulled along the path, but this extra weight caused the already-weary Nug to collapse to the floor and drag Frizz down too. They lay on the floor and breathed heavily together.
Sergeant Blob slowly turned his head to reply to the two soldiers. "Absolutely not," he panted, still trudging on. "This is no time for rest. March on, men…" He stumbled onward sluggishly and started gradually lowering to the floor until he was on his hands and knees, crawling slower than a snail. Blob's arms gave way and his body slammed onto the ground, leaving a small crater in the path.
"Halt, men…rest…" he ordered, struggling to speak. He rolled onto his back and gasped for air. "We shall regroup by this tree," he wheezed as he pointed to a tall tree standing by the bushes not far from them. The Urpneys somehow managed to drag themselves over to this tree, and they propped themselves against it and groaned. The tree sagged.
"Ah, it feels great to sit down," Frizz sighed as he rubbed his throbbing feet. "Has anyone brought any food?"
"I didn't know it took that long to walk this far on foot," groaned Nug. "What's the plan of attack, Sarge?"
"It does not matter at this moment; we 'aven't reached the Valley of the Noops yet, but something tells me it is somewhere in the vicinity of this area."
"Of course it is, Sarge; we can see the village from 'ere," Nug said glumly as he pointed down the hill towards the quaint collection of houses. In the centre of the village and towering over the houses was the Dream Maker's castle.
"Shut up, Nug!" shouted Blob, trying to regain order. "As I was saying before that mild intervention, our plan of attack is to make our (h)entrance into the Dream Maker's castle and appre-end the Dreamstone as quickly as possible, without anyone being aware or susceptible of our presence. Once we 'as acquired the Dreamstone, we is to immediately make our way unnoticed back to Viltheed."
The other two Urpneys exchanged glances from each other. "But that'll take ages, Sarge," said Nug. "Can't we get back to the Whirlyped some other way – a way that doesn't involve walking?"
"Walk our way back? On foot?" asked Frizz. "Oh no, no, no, I'm not walking the way back at all. I must've pulled every muscle in my legs walking all the way 'ere. This is all Urpgor's fault – meddling with the Whirlyped when we could've saved time and effort. He doesn't even use it for anything, so really, it's ours." He said the last sentence a bit quieter than the rest.
Blob sighed. "I will admit, men, that we've faced a more (h)imperious journey than usual, but rest assured, we shan't take long to get our 'ands on the Dreamstone."
Nug continued looking at the village from where they were. "Sarge, if we're going to go through the Noops' village, how are we going to without anyone noticing us?"
"Oh! What are we going to do, Sarge? Think of something!" Frizz whined. "If all those Noops see us like this," (He pointed at his armour) "We could get…we could get…humiliated by the Dream Maker again! It's so embarrassing when you're trying to be taken seriously."
"Or we could get ran out of town," Nug added, joining in the forecasting.
"Maybe…or maybe we'd be put in the stocks and pillory…and have food thrown at us! They have a greengrocer in their village."
"Or we could get thrown in the river. The water's cold this time of year."
"Be quiet! I'm trying to think," Blob barked. He had his hand on his chin in an intellectual way. As he thought for inspiration, he noticed Nug observing something over the hedges they were resting by. Blob peered over the hedge and caught sight of a barn and some scarecrows in the centre of the field behind the hedge. "Ah-ha, I've got it; the most spectacular plan ever divided! Quickly, men; there is no time to waste. Follow me!"
Blob got back up and started slowly off towards a stile in the hedge. The other two Urpneys groaned and heaved themselves back up to follow their chief officer. They had to rush a little to catch up with him.
A moment later, the Urpneys stepped out of the barn, and they looked a mess: straw was spilling out of their armour and they wore large sacks on their heads (large to conceal their large noses). Each sack had small two holes cut for their eyes to see through. Frizz wore his glasses on the outside of the sack he had on his head.
"I don't like this idea anymore," said Frizz as he scratched his arms and neck frantically. "All this straw's going to make me come out in a rash."
"I don't like it either," Nug agreed. "It's not going to work, Sarge…whatever it is."
"Don't be silly, men," the Sergeant told them, "And remember that I am the one making the decisions."
"What's all this straw and sacks even going to do anyway?" asked Nug.
"Clearly you 'aven't thought through this (h)indigenous plan of mine as well as I. This disguise is for us to sneak through the Noops' village undetected. We won't be recognised."
Frizz nodded. "Ah, I see! That's actually alright, that is. I bet Urpgor wouldn't have thought of something as nifty and…natural as this." he stated. "We don't need 'im and all that mechanical rubbish to think for us all the time from now on."
All of a sudden, Frizz let out a shriek of fear, and he grabbed the head-sack. "Urgh! There's something in 'ere! Get it out! Get it out!" he yelled as he squirmed to take the sack off his head. Nug glanced over as the sack came off Frizz's head, and a small rodent-like animal fell out and scurried away into the thicket of the grass. Frizz fell silent with embarrassment.
Sergeant Blob rolled his eyes and groaned. "This is no time for childish tomfoolery. The sooner we get our 'ands on the Dreamstone, the sooner we can go and prove to Urpgor 'ow capable we is without 'is interventions!"
"Speaking of Urpgor, do you think he's missing us or not?" asked Nug.
"Of course he won't be missing us," said Frizz. "He's probably dancing with joy by now…but when we come back with the Dreamstone, we'll 'ave the last laugh."
Frizz was indeed right about what Urpgor was thinking. His anger from earlier had subsided, and he was now over-the-moon with joy. Urpgor was practically skipping down one of the rocky tunnels of Viltheed, cheering with merriment. He had told Zordrak about what had happened, but Zordrak's reply was that he should be glad of getting rid of them! And now he was! Urpgor made his way towards a door – the door to his laboratory. The door swung open as he bounded in.
"Hooray! I'm rid of those delinquents at last! I can feel freedom for the first time in years! Ha ha!" he yelled with jubilation. He bounced to his desk and spun on the chair. "Ah, this is more like it. No more running around for anyone. No more ball-and-chain holding me back. Not a care in the world!" He sighed with delight and looked around the room with a wide smile. "Now, what shall I do to pass the time?"
His eyes caught sight of a chemistry set sitting amongst the junk machinery that cluttered the laboratory. Urpgor collected the kit and began assembling it on the desk, and he sniggered the whole time. Amongst the kit were test tubes, each containing a different coloured chemical. Urpgor continued to snigger as he selected two chemicals (a red one and a green one) for experimentation. He poured a few drops of the red chemical into a beaker, and poured in a few drops of the green chemical. The two chemicals reacted with a 'bang!' and smoke billowed out of the beaker. Urpgor cheered and whooped with joy at the result.
He repeated the experiment again, with the same result, but this time he didn't cheer as loudly. A third time, and this smaller cheer was reduced to a snigger. A fourth time, and Urpgor was silent. His smile began to fade as he repeated the experiment again, and he yawned. Several repeats later, and Urpgor was slumped over his desk, snoozing. Some of the chemicals had slightly spilt, and the spilt drops slowly edged towards each other. They made contact with a pop. The din caused Urpgor to jump awake, wide-eyed with surprise.
"Wha…? Oh, it's just that," he said solemnly. He slouched on the seat again and drummed the desk with his fingers.
"You know, with those three idiots refusing my assistance, I've got nothing to invent…which means I'm completely BORED!" he howled in dismay as he leapt from his seat and began stomping around the lab. "Because they're out getting the Dreamstone on their own, then there's nothing for me to do! And without my inventing, my useful services won't be required anymore, and I'll be out of a job!" He said this as if it were torture.
He snapped his fingers and frowned. "They'll fail; I know they will. And when they do, they'll come back to me. But with them coming back, I'll once again be surrounded by useless Urpneys with inferior intelligence…but anything's better than nothing!"