Nights Twilight Dreaming

Chapter Twenty-Nine

While at the resistance headquarters, Charlotte Anansi, who was busy making what appeared to be a blanket for someone in a rainbow quilt, happened to take notice of a crystal ball in her area. She looked into the image to see something slightly disturbing. A blacked-out doppelganger of Crystal within one of the mirrors of the dream world version of Crystal's mansion. The doppelganger vanished from plain sight and Charlotte was frightened.

"Mon Dieu!" she exclaimed drop her sewing needle. "Dame Nightmaria! Dame Nightmaria!" Nightmaria heard her call and flew straight to her at a moment's notice. She had a stern look on her face as she landed a few inches off the ground.

"What is it, Charlotte?" she asked concerned for her.

"There is a fetch in the mirror of Crystal's palace!" Charlotte exclaimed rather frantically pointing at the crystal ball. Nightmaria was surprised to hear this.

"Are you certain?" she asked with her eyes widened in concern.

"Oui, oui!" replied Charlotte as she looked at the crystal ball one more time. Nightmaria looked over at the image to see Crystal's doppelganger in the mirror. The doppelganger grinned menacingly at Crystal before disappearing into her direction. Nightmaria clenched her fist tightly upon seeing this revelation.

"That is no fetch," she told her ally with a scowl. "Stay here. I'll take care of this." She then flew off in the direction of the resistance entrance to exit and head straight to the Quartz Palace. Charlotte, worried for Crystal, looked to the crystal ball one more time to see her walking toward the gate and about to pass Crystal Grove. She is worried about her newfound friend.

Crystal and the gang continued past the area, and they stumble upon a hoard of Nightmarens before surging forward. Carmilla's nature magic, as well as her fire magic, were essential in the fight against Wizeman's foot-soldiers, and they were quickly dispatched. The gang continued to where they needed to go, even defeating some lone 3rd Level Nightmarens along the way. They made their way through the emerald green grass as they battled other Nightmaren hoards to get through. Crystal took note of some Shadow Soldiers from the Dark Empire taking form here in Nightopia, thus confirming her suspicion of King Rhett's alliance with Wizeman the Wicked. Once they were defeated, they moved on, hoping to find the entrance to the Dream Gate.

The group was moving past the Crystal Grove when Crystal looked to the ground at an amusing sight. A pair of footprints belonging to a fellow visitor who looked to be wearing loafers. She snickered causing Nights, Sunburst, and Carmilla to look in her direction. Her pets were perplexed at her reaction.

"What?" Nights asked a little amused at her reaction.

"Somebody dream-hopped again," she told him with a slight giggle while pointing at the footprints with her right foot. Nights looked at the footprints and was a little amused as well as confused.

"They entered your dream world?" he asked with a smile while shaking his head slightly. "You're not supposed to do that." Carmilla and Sunburst were inspecting the footprints alongside Cumula, Pidge, and the Screecher twins.

"Yeah I know," responded Crystal with a slight giggle as she began to follow the footprints into the Grove. "It's bad luck for two visitors to be in the same dream world." Carmilla, Nights, and Sunburst followed suit along with her pets.

"I see what you mean, niña," said Carmilla. "No two visitors can be in the same Nightopia unless they share the same interests."

"It's like how no two snowflakes can be the same pattern," chimed Sunburst causing Nights to snicker. They continued to follow the footprints while Crystal added, "It's not my first rodeo with out-of-place visitors. A pair of them were rescued from my palace earlier, much like Sunbur-" She was interrupted when she bumped into a fellow visitor causing her to yelp with, "Ow!" The girl she ran into yelped in turn while whining, "Hey!" Both Crystal and the girl in front of her were on the ground slightly dazed from the collision as the trio of 1st Level Nightmarens went to check on both of them. The girl Sunburst and Carmilla were checking on was around Crystal's age, and had dark-brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a yellow, long-sleeved dress shirt with a bronze yellow collar and cuffs, and blue buttons, a bronze-yellow sweater-vest with navy-blue cuffs and v-neck hem, and navy-blue lines indicating pockets, a blue pleated short skirt, a pair of navy-blue tights, and a pair of black loafers. She also wore a pair of treble clef earrings and a necklace with a key around her neck. The key had a blue rose as the handle. Crystal looked up at the girl and was at first surprised, but was quickly amused by her sudden appearance.

"Callie," she spoke after she snickered at her.

"Oh!" the girl responded with an excited smile and got up while dusting herself off. Crystal did the same while looking at her and asking with a playful smile, "Did you just dream hop again?"

"Yeah, I was looking for people," the girl, now known as Callie replied. "I didn't think I'd bump into you or any rebel Nightmarens though." Crystal giggled upon hearing her story.

"Callie," she scolded her playfully. "You know darn well that dream hopping is bad luck. If you keep this up, you'll lose track of your dream world."

"But mine is so boring," Callie told her while whining. "I've seen it one too many times that it's getting harder to find anything interesting." She then smiled and added, "Besides, I like to go through other dream worlds other than mine so that I can get inspiration for my music. I mean look at this place! Gems! Gems everywhere, but not a one to turn into jewelry! Who wouldn't want to hear about this place?"

"Callie," Crystal responded with a slightly embarrassed smile. Nights was confused as were Sunburst and Carmilla.

"Music?" he asked. "As in you're making your own without copying anyone?"

"It's called composition, and yes," replied Crystal. She then pointed to Callie and added, "Callie here is what I call my dream pal, and according to her, her father is a conductor as well as a musical composer. So she's following in his footsteps. Also, her mom is a violinist who's teaching her how to play."

"That makes sense," replied Carmilla after smiling in relief.

"Ooo! I wanna hear some of the works she's done!" exclaimed Sunburst in glee. Nights giggled at his colleague for her excitement.

"All in good time, milady," said Callie while smiling.

"She's still working on her music as we speak," Crystal chimed in, "and since she doesn't have a computer yet, she has to write her music down by hand. That's how composers did it in the past, and she's doing the same in the present." As the group talked about the girl they have met, Crystal's pets start to get a little fussy around Callie when she beamed in their direction. The Screecher twins were shaking slightly with Pidge looked at her with a stern look and Cumula gave a slightly frightened look. Callie took notice and smiled.

"Hey now," she told them. "No need to be scared, little guys." Crystal took notice as well and walked over to them.

"It's okay everyone," she told them. "She's a friend." The pets all calmed down upon hearing their master. Crystal turned to her fellow visitor.

"My apologies, Callie," she spoke with an embarrassed smile. "Pidge, Cumula, and the Screecher duo are a little on the fence about strangers in their world." The four pets nodded in agreement.

"That explains it," Callie replied. Sunburst then took out what appeared to be a small pocket watch in the shape of an egg and checked the time.

"I think it's time for this young lady to head back to the Dream Gate," she told the group who looked over at her in slight confusion. Nights knew what she meant and nodded.

"Right," he responded. He looked to Callie and added, "Let's get you straight to the door, okay? We don't want Wizeman's followers finding an out-of-place visitor here." Callie bonked her head while sticking her tongue out in embarrassment causing Crystal to giggle. Carmilla patted Crystal on the shoulder.

"You lead, we'll follow," she told her.

"Sí señorita," Crystal responded. Callie was a bit confused at Crystal's change in language but quickly shrugged it off. Crystal took a few steps ahead of the group before turning back to them.

"Shall we?" she asked them. The group nodded as they went on their way to the door straight to the Dream Gate. They made their way through the emerald green plains and even fought some 3rd Level Nightmarens along the way. Callie on the other hand was frightened by the Nightmarens and hid from them while they took care of the mutual foes. As they continued forward, a group of Shadow Soldiers joined in with some 3rd Level Nightmarens for the next group. No one, except Callie, was phased by the attacks as they expected them to strike at any moment. They were taken care of in a matter of moments. As they went past the Rose Quartz Garden, they fail to notice Crystal's fetch looking at the group while hiding in the fountain's water. She stared at them with a malicious glint in her black sclera eyes and chuckled menacingly before turning into mist once more to follow them further.

Meanwhile, in Nightmare, Reala was watching Crystal and her allies from the torchlight in his throne room. He took notice of the fetch in the water and was intrigued by her appearance. After witnessing her vanish into mist, he chuckled before dispersing the flame. Ruby had just entered the area along with Aricolumn as he did this.

"What's with the face?" she asked a little confused with his reaction to the fetch in the water. "Did something happen to my good twin?"

"Not exactly," replied Reala. He then recreated the image of Crystal's fetch in the water using the flame in his hand.

"It would appear that the Dark Ideya has taken her form," he explained. "And is planning to ambush our prey. Different prey requires different measures." Ruby looked on in surprise while Aricolumn became intrigued.

"So her Dark Ideya just became a fetch, or something similar," she replied. Reala chuckled slightly upon hearing her remark.

"Not a fetch, my dear," he told her while dispersing the flame in his hand. "A Shadow Nightmaren." He activated the torchlight to show the image of Crystal's fetch once more just as King Rhett entered the throne room while adding, "Some of our kind can take the form of the visitor they target so that they may either gain their trust or drive their prey to the brink of instability. The latter purpose is far crueler, but it is necessary so long as the Ideya within them is obtained."

"That explains it," she said with a smile. King Rhett took note of the fetch in the torchlight gave a slight snicker before turning his gaze to Reala.

"If this Dark Ideya is changing tactics against our mutual adversary," he told him, "then it would appear that this Shadow is gaining a mind of its own." Reala looked at him with a smirk. King Rhett continued, "It may become one of, if not, the more powerful Nightmarens she may have to face. All we need now is time for the Dark Ideya to take hold of Princess Crystal to provide evidence of it to your creator, Wizeman the Wicked." Reala grinned upon hearing this statement.

"Excellent," he replied. "And once we do, we will know that the Dark Ideya is still active within her." Reala chuckled at the notion having found his means of manipulation in his grasp. Aricolumn looked to the torchlight right at Crystal and company. He looked to Callie and noticed something a bit off about her when Crystal's pets were a bit scared of her. She had to let them know she was a friend to calm them down. She must be oblivious to the girl's aura, he thought. He activated his aura sensory to see for himself and noticed some dark colors mixed into her aura. It was a rather odd sight to behold, but it was a spectacle regardless. He smiled smugly upon seeing this. We'll see how this turns out for her in the future. Whatever he noticed about Callie was going to come to light with Crystal unaware of the situation at hand.

Back in the Quartz Palace, Crystal and her allies have just made it past another part of the dreamscape and are making their way through the plains just past a cluster of blue quartz crystals. They came across a hoard of Kircles that were lying in wait for the group. With Crystal's elemental power along with Nights' celestial, light, and psychic power, Sunburst's fire, and Carmilla's nature and fire magic, the group was dispatched. Callie hid among the quartz clusters to avoid getting hurt while the pets kept their guard over her. As soon as they were done, they saw the door in the distance. Crystal was relieved as the group made their way over to it in quick succession.

The moment the group made it to the door, Callie's face lit up with delight. She ran right up to the door and looked it over before turning back to the group. Crystal was relieved to see her reaction, as were her pets and Nightmaren friends. She brushed her short hair back before speaking.

"Thank you so much, everyone!" she told them grateful for the rescue. "You are life-savers! I never would've found the door if you guys hadn't stepped in!"

"You're welcome, Callie," Crystal responded politely. "I hope this world helped you out with your inspiration for music. Though in this world's case, think tiny bells with some flutes mixed in."

"I may consider that," said Callie with a wink. The pets all got a bit frightened about her reaction while Crystal took notice. She told them, "It's okay guys. She's a friend, remember?" The four pets calmed down when they heard their master's voice. Carmilla and Sunburst also noticed the four in distress and approached them allowing them into their arms. Carmilla pet the Screecher twins while Sunburst played with Pidge and Cumula who were ecstatic to see her as well. Nights beamed at his friends for taking action to calm the pets down before turning his head back to Callie.

"Promise not to get lost in Nightmare, okay?" he told her.

"I promise!" she replied. She then turned to Crystal with a smile.

"Oh, and, when you have the time, Crystal," she spoke, "there's an open spot for you in my family concert hall. Hope to see you when you get the chance."

"I'll be sure not to miss out on your latest concert," replied Crystal a little uneasy about how pushy she is.

"Great. See you then!" she told her while beaming. She then skipped her way to the door to the Dream Gate and entered the door disappearing through the bright light soon after. Crystal breathed a sigh of relief the moment she entered the door.

"Typical Callie," she spoke up. "Always bringing bad luck with her." Nights turned to her in confusion.

"Does she always enter other visitor's dream worlds?" he asked her.

"Oh yeah," she told him. "And without permission no less. Her full name Calliope Makarov. She's of Russian descent from her father's side, and her parents have been teaching her how to make music since she was in diapers. Like I said, her father's a composer as well as a conductor, so she practically grew up around music."

"She should trying dancing sometime when we see her again," Carmilla piped up. Crystal and the gang chuckled upon hearing this. Just as she was starting to be calm, a sudden noise as if flying by the wind came past her ears. Perplexed by the situation, she looked in the direction it came from and noticed a strange shadow. Thinking it was Void, she approached it, only for the shadowy mist to veer away from her as if taunting her. Nights took notice and was just as confused as she was when the shadow started to form into the young princess's visage. She looked over at Crystal with a smirk before giggling slightly and running into the quartz crystal's reflection. She hopped from quartz to quartz taunting her and her allies. Then she stopped in front of the group smirking once again. Sunburst panicked along with Carmilla.

"Fetch!" she shouted before promptly hiding in a nearby emerald green bush along with Crystal's pets, and Carmilla who hid behind a jasper tree before she and Sunburst peeked out from behind their respective spots. Several Nightopians in the area were frightened of Crystal's blacked-out doppelganger as well and hid among the trees, boulders, and bushes. Crystal looked at her ghostly double alongside Nights as their mutual foe glared at the duo with a menacing smile. The young princess was confused by Sunburst's statement.

"Uh, since when does a fetch move about freely while we're staring at it?" she asked rather suspiciously as she approached her double in the quartz in front of her. As she continued forward Nights looked the double over and noticed the black sclera in her eyes. Once he realized what Crystal meant, he gasped in brief terror with his eyes widened.

"That's not a fetch!" he exclaimed as he began to fly towards Crystal. The girl started to glare at the strange double in her reflection. She already had her Millennium Rod in her hand by the time Nights went to pull her away. When he was about to, the double's eyes glowed bright yellow prompting a barrier to appear behind the young princess. She turned back to Nights in shock when she noticed it, and she instantly realized that this doppelganger was plotting something with her. As she was about to use her powers to break the barrier, she felt a sharp pull on her right arm, and turned around to see her glaring and grinning menacingly while pulling her arm with a sharp grip. Despite the true princess's nails being slightly shorter than hers, the double's felt as sharp as daggers. Crystal struggled to break free before her phantom double leaned in close to her face.

"You've been away for far too long!" she hissed maliciously before turning into mist and funneling into Crystal's heart. She began to struggle as she clutched her heart as if she were having a heart attack. The dark aura returned and began to encircle her as she tried to use the Millennium Rod to pull the entity out. Nights, who saw her enter the body, promptly Drill-Dashed into the barrier several times before shattering it to get to Crystal who by now was turning darker as she struggled to regain control. Her hair began to turn dark in the struggle as her breathing became ragged and slow.

"Crystal!" Nights called to her. "You have to fight it! You're not the Dark Ideya's puppet!" Crystal couldn't hear Nights' voice as she suddenly stopped struggling and slowly rose straight up like a marionette on strings. She slowly turned to her friends with her eyes closed and opened them to reveal her darkened sclera along with her blank, emotionless stare. Nights gasped when he saw this. She had lost control over herself. Crystal's pets were frightened at the revelation along with Carmilla and Sunburst.

"¡Dios mío!" Carmilla gasped. "That's Dark Ideya!"

"Betcha a loyalist did this to her," Sunburst whispered worriedly to her. She turned back to Crystal before adding, "How are we gonna get her back to normal?"

"Nights already has that covered," Carmilla told her before looking to see Crystal about to aim her Millennium Rod in Nights' direction. "Let's hope he can do just that before things get loco." Crystal began shooting Halo Discs at Nights prompting him to use a shield generated by his rhombus. Nights could tell that these actions were not her own, and he was intent on bringing her back to her senses. Crystal then activated Clashing Whip as an intimidation tactic despite showing no emotion upon her face. Nights looked over to see a phantom version of Crystal next to the quartz that the double resided in and breathed a sigh of relief as he dodges lash after lash from the real Crystal's attack. I forgot Magicians of Light have Astral Projection handy when they're born. The Crystal phantom frantically waved at the purple jester to get his attention pointing at her body. Her voice rang out in his mind.

"Nights!" she called out through telepathy. "You've got to help me get my body back! And hurry! I can't last as an Astral forever!" He nodded in understanding. He also took note of her pendant glowing like a beacon in the night and began to charge a new move known as Nova Star, in which the user would fire a powerful celestial blast from all angles.

"Hang in there, Crystal," he told her. "Help is on the way." He then fired the Nova Star causing her to dodge nearly all of the attacking celestial lasers with some of them grazing her body. As they battled, Nightmaria is shown to be flying in their direction, having witnessed the ghostly double following Crystal and her allies earlier from a crystal ball. As she flew through the jasper trees straight to the group, Nights kept Crystal busy with a series of Halo Discs and Lunar Rings while she dodged nearly all of them whilst running through the arena. The Astral Crystal was panicking now as all she could do was watch in horror as her body is being controlled by the Dark Ideya. That's when she noticed that the pendant on her choker was glowing again more brilliantly than the last time it had done so in the Nightmare Realm. As she pondered this, Nightmaria had entered the battlefield, landing a few inches off the ground before staring furiously at Crystal. The Astral Crystal looked at her and was astonished to see her outside the resistance headquarters. Nights looked up to see his superior ready for battle and was ecstatic alongside Carmilla and Sunburst.

"Right on time, commander!" he cheered. Astral Crystal panicked fearing for Nightmaria's safety.

"Commander! Stay back!" she called through telepathy as the Dark Ideya, possessing the body of Crystal, stared motionlessly at Nightmaria with her Millennium Rod pointed at her. Nightmaria heard her, but stood her ground despite being three inches in the air and drew her sword from its' scabbard. She was ready to fight the Dark Ideya no matter the cost. Astral Crystal realized what she was doing and breathed a silent sigh of relief before smiling and nodded to her in acknowledgment. She was giving her blessing to face her body in combat. Nights joined his fellow 1st Level Nightmaren at the ready.

"This is for your own good, Crystal," he told the Dark Ideya possessed Crystal. Crystal made a motion for them to come into the battle with her Millennium Rod soon after Nights said this phrase. Nights and Nightmaria went into their battle positions soon after. The battle between two 1st Level Nightmarens and a possessed Magician of Light is about to begin.

To be continued…