Chapter 12: Rescue

I was very tense as I watched the others. Nothing huge came, just the stray time monster like chronoblobs, spikers, and octoballons wandered over to us one at a time. I started to notice that they all came from the same direction. A few minutes after I shot the last monster that wandered over, a scream sounded behind me. I turned and barely missed a punch from Tora. I grabbed her wrist.

"Tora! Stop! You're alright," I said, repeating what Blinx said to calm me down. She kept struggling.

Pulling her into a gentle embrace, she finally realized where and with whom she was. "Thanks," she said giving me a slight squeeze before we stepped apart. She looked around. "So what happened?"

"Remember that warning about nightmares in the world file? Got us minus Blinx, I woke up, nightmare got Blinx," I said.

"So what do we do- ah!" she yelped as Bandit kicked her shin with the toe of his boot. "There is a reason we have steel toed boots, but that's not one of them," she said, rubbing the sore spot. I chuckled.

Her ears perked up. "Do you hear that?" she asked quietly.

I listened hard. "Nothing."

"Exactly." She stood up into a crouch. "Weren't there crickets and other sounds before?" She was right.

The sound of footsteps reached our ears. We laid down in the grass, which was surprisingly tall, and peeked over it slightly. I saw a person coming over the hill and nudged Tora. Then came about ten more. I didn't bother to get an exact count, and ducked back into the grass, Tora following my actions. We were in ear shot now.

"Isn't there supposed to a large number of nightmares here?"

"Supposedly. There were many reports."

"We haven't found a single one." We turned to look at our friends.

And there was a ring of nightmares around them. They repeated the process of what happened before, our friends shudders growing stronger with each nightmare. Crud.

Well how do we stop it? Tora asked.

How should I know?

You can't. A new voice joined in on our conversation. Blinx.

Blinx! How-

I can't keep this going for long, nightmares' too strong. However, there's someone who can help. Find- he stopped talking as he shuddered a lot, curling into a ball.

That looks painful. Tora said as Blinx started whimpering.

Watch out. I said as the strangers advanced on our position, still we were unnoticed.

Let's move before-

"Your Majesty, on the hill!" one of the people said, pointing to our friends.

You had to jinx it, Tora. I said. We stood up.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" one of the people asked, pointing a spear at us.

"Halt Ian. They're Sweepers," a lady said, clearly the one in charge. The guy, Ian, lowered his spear.

Someone whimpered behind us. I'll try to handle the nightmares. Tora turned to check on the others.

"So you have come to handle some sort of crisis or are just patrolling?" the lady asked.

"Both," I answered. "May I ask who you are?"

"I am Queen Halima. I rule the Dream Empire. And you are?"

"Y/n. Behind me is Tora, and our friends on the ground are Bandit, Arch, Juro, and Blinx." Halima's eyes flash in recognition of Blinx's name.

"On the ground?" she says looking behind me. I turn and see Tora trying to whack nightmares with her sweeper, using it like a sword. The things stuck to the end, and she shot a piece of trash out of it. The nightmares flew off with the bomb and exploded.

"Allow us to assist," Ian said, charging in with his spear. The nightmares fell into puddles as he stabbed them, and effectively melted them all in under a minute.

"That was effective," Twitch said.

Halima walked over an looked at our friends. Tora and I tensed, not sure they were trustworthy. She stepped over to Blinx, and shook him gently. He lashed out with a punch, but it was very weak.

Halima sighed. "Come. We have a remedy for this," she said as she picked up Blinx. Others from her group came and picked up our other friends.

"I'm sorry, but how do we know we can trust you?" Tora asked. "What if you're enemies pretending to be allies?"

"You don't," Ian replied.

Blinx shifted in Halima's arms, and his face went to an expression of concentration. What is-

Some girl named Halima. I said.

Good. She can help. Blinx said.

How close are you to actually waking up? Tora asked. Blinx didn't respond, as his hands went for his sweeper. One of the others in the group prevented him from reaching the weapon and Halima pressed her index and middle finger behind Blinx's ear. After a bit he quit struggling and sighed. Halima removed her fingers.

"Acupressure is effective in these cases," she said as she walked off. Tora and I followed her, and the rest of her group after us.

We walked for about fifteen minutes before we reached a carriage without horses. It was big enough to fit all of us. Once we were in the carriage, Ian went to the front and powered up the carriage. We started moving. During the ride, the others also had to be calmed, though no one else woke up. After another fifteen minutes, we reached a large city that was stark against the night. The lights made it look like daytime.

We arrived at a big palace that was made of marble, looking like an inverted night sky. We got out of the carriage once inside, and we walked to a wing on the right of the castle.

Halima knocked on a dark wood door before entering. An older human, looking to be late sixties to early seventies, looked up as we entered. "Your Majesty," she said bowing low. "Of what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Mela, can you help these Sweepers? The nightmare has trapped them," Halima said as she gestured to our unconscious friends.

Mela gestured to the beds lining the room, and the people placed them in them as Mela got something from the shelves. She walked up to Blinx first. But before she could do anything, he started coughing and shot straight up. After a minute, he stopped. But he didn't lay back down, he opened his eyes.

"I hate those things," he said, unzipping his jacket a little and massaging his throat. He looked around, or started to before Tora interrupted him.

"You're okay!" she exclaimed as she wrapped him in a hug. He was surprised for a second before returning the hug. They broke it a second later as Mela moved onto Juro.

"So what happened with you?" I asked. Blinx just shrugged.

"Rather not talk about it yet." I nodded. He's given me that answer before, but always talked eventually.

So that's another chapter down and uploaded. So exams are coming up, and I need to study, so no worries if I miss an update or two. This story is not going to be abandoned. Have a good rest of the weekend. Go get 'em fey!

-ThinMintE