Body

Chapter 5

Three Views

Claris screamed in terror as she held on too Nights for her dear life. The blackness below ran like a fast stream. She looked up and saw that Nights had a determination on his face, he wasn't going to slow down anytime soon. Claris looked behind her and saw Pirdy, struggling to keep up, but also looking backwards to see if they were being followed. Claris was sure that they were, they had to be. Wizeman was not going to give up Nights so easily.

"Nights!", she hollered upwards to her friend. "We've got to stop somewhere and try to figure out what we're going to do. Running blindly isn't going to help."

"You're right, we do. Just a little further. We have to make it to Mystic Forest and then we can hide out there. Hang on!" Nights looked behind him again, checking to make sure that the other Nightmaren was keeping close. "Are you all right, Pirdy?"

She nodded her head, but she was flying as fast as she could and she was still losing ground. Nights was fantastic, he wasn't even breathing hard and he was still gaining speed. Pirdy just shook her head and continued to try and keep up. Nights had only recently been healed, his wounds miraculously fixed by the hands of Claris. It had been the most magnificent thing that she had ever seen in her life, something that none of her studies and none of her books had ever shown her, or ever told her to be true. Yet this dreamer, this human had done it, had shown her true power. Pirdy shivered in the night.

-----

Wizeman was furious. The scars on the walls and the burnt furniture had been the brunt of that fury. Nights had escaped his grasp, he had escaped Nightmare tower, something that nobody had ever done before. He had taken his best healer, and who was that other Nightmaren? That other one that seemed to be to large to be one of his Nightmaren children. Who was she?!

He launched another fireball at the wall, screaming in fury as it tore into a chair and ripped it to shreds. That seemed to have done it. Wizeman took a few deep breaths and looked about his apartment, noticing the damage he had wrought. His temper hadn't flared like this in a long time, not since Nights first decided to fight against him. He floated out onto his balcony, his favorite place to think. She was a dreamer, he knew that much. A human that was asleep in her own world, and had been brought here somehow.

She had done more though. She had actually used ideya to heal. She had given Nights his strength back after he had suffered the rough torture placed on him. Nights had endured beyond even what Reala could have tolerated. Nights was truly the most powerful Nightmaren ever wrought. His courage, his willpower, his sense of righteousness was empowering him beyond what any of the other Nightmaren could tolerate. Then Wizeman's thoughts went back to the girl. The dreamer was more powerful than any who had come before her, and there had been some powerful dreamers.

-----

"There it is!", hollered Nights above the howling wind. "Mystic Forest will give us the cover we need." The night sky made the forest look like a rolling, dark ocean. Even the moon up above could not shine through the thick growth of leaves and branches. Nights started diving down, heading for the trees below. Pirdy followed close, and Claris continued to huddle close to Nights as the branches started whipping by. The Nightmarens acrobatic ability started to show itself as he ran in between the branches and trees as though they were nothing more than clouds in the sky. Pirdy didn't fare as well. She had to slow down to keep from smashing into things that she could not see. Nights continued to fly down, and Claris wondered if there was a bottom to this forest. They seemed to fly for another minute or two before the thick, leaf-covered ground appeared and the sound of thick boot steps could be heard as her friend touched down.

"There, nothing can see us all the way down here." He set Claris down gently, smiling as he brushed some hair out of her face. "Are you all right, my friend?"

She nodded quickly, wrapping her arms around herself and gently rocking. She was cold, and the forest wasn't helping. Nights gathered some of the wood that had fallen on the ground and piled it up in front of Claris. Around the pile he placed large rocks. "Hold on Claris, we'll get you warmed up."

From out of the sky came a holler of terror as Pirdy hit her last branch and landed with a soft thud and a flurry of leaves. "That hurt.", she moaned.

Nights just laughed as he walked over and leaned down to help the healer stand. "Are you all right, Pirdy?" Then from behind him came a fwooshing noise and then a comfortable warmth. Nights turned quickly to see Claris holding out her hands to the now lit fire.

"Claris, did you do that?"

The girl only nodded and looked at the fire, an amazement could be seen in her eyes. "I just wanted the fire lit, and there it was..lit." She looked at her hands and shook her head, "What's going on Nights? What's happening? I didn't used to be able to do all of this, and now..and now I can heal you back to perfect health. I can light fires with a mere thought. Who knows what else I can do?" Tears started to form in her eyes as she became overwhelmed by her new powers. "I don't know what's happening to me."

Nights walked over and wrapped his arms around Claris and ran a gentle hand through her hair. "Calm down Claris, we'll figure this out together." He looked into Claris' eyes and smiled, "There is a Nightopian, at Soft Museum who may be able to help us figure this out. We'll go to seem him as soon as we are safe. Right now, try to get some sleep. Nothing is going to bother us here."

-----

From the darkness of the shadows, a pair of emerald green eyes peered at the three new arrivals. The one in purple had gathered wood from the ground, not off the trees itself. The one in gold seemed to be a little shaken from her flight into the forest, but all she had done was gotten closer to the well-protected fire. The last one was sitting, huddled close to herself and weeping.

"No," the creature thought. "They were not a threat to the forest. Still, they need watching. Mystic Forest must be protected from the war that is coming." They eyes closed and disappeared into the shadows to watch the group slowly start to warm themselves and rest.

-----

Umbrae looked at the information that she had gathered. Her pure red eyes looked over the writings in the scrolls, each word written in a language that had not been used in hundreds of years. It was not easy for her to interpret this strange spidery script, even with the dictionary that she had stolen from Soft Museum. She was quickly getting a headache from it.

"The beginning...will...", she flipped a few pages and continued, "..be the end." She sighed and shook her head again, "This is going to take forever. The elders were always so long winded." She looked down at the scroll and started unrolling it, and sighed again when she noticed it seemed to have no end. "I do not have the patience for research, I do know who does, however. The elder Nightopian at the museum, he would know what this says."

In a moment she had the scroll rolled back up and stowed away in its case. Within another moment, she had the dictionary closed and placed in it's special case. Then both were stowed away in a backpack.

A brief second later, she was airborne, heading towards Soft Museum and the answers hidden there.

-----

Nights looked at the sleeping Claris and ran a hand through her hair. Pirdy looked over at him and tilted her head, speaking quietly so as not to wake her up. "She's just a dreamer, isn't she?"

Nights shook his head slowly, continuing his stroking, "She's progressed beyond that. I don't know how, but she has."

"No dreamer has ever displayed such power, at least none that I've read about."

"That's not true. There was once a dreamer who was so powerful that he almost became the Lord of Dreams. Unfortunately nobody knows what happened to him."

"Lord of Dreams? There's no such thing," she smirked, "You're making this up."

Nights smiled and shook his head, "No, I'm not. Wizeman will tell you, well, would have told you about him. It was a long time ago."

Pirdy laughed and shook her head in disbelief, "Come on Nights, stop it. A Lord of Dreams? We all know that the Lord of Nightmares has always been the most powerful creature in Dreamworld. Lord of Dreams, what a foolish thought."

Nights looked at her and said, "Pirdy, in the universe, everything has an opposite. Everything. The sun has the moon, the flowers have the weeds, and the water has the land. The Lord of Nightmares has an opposite, and that is the Lord of Dreams. Every so often, a powerful dreamer comes along, a human with an unquenchable desire. That person eventually comes here more and more often, seeking a dream that he cannot find in their own world. Eventually they come to exist here permanently, taking on the mantle of the Lord of Dreams. The legends say it's supposed to bring balance to Dreamworld."

"They 'say' it's 'supposed' to happen?", asked Pirdy.

Nights reached behind him for some more wood and chuckled, "Yes. It's never happened before, nobody knows. Nobody knows what kind of balance it's supposed to bring, nobody knows what kind of power the Lord of Dreams is supposed to hold. Nobody knows too much. Although, you know, there were some books in the library section of Soft Museum. We should check those out when we go to talk to this Nightopian."

"Which Nightopian is this? I thought they were nothing more than silly little creatures that helped dreamers find their way."

Nights shook his head and said, "Not so, not at all. Actually, they are very intelligent creatures. You just have to get to know them, is all. Some of the most wisest creatures in Dreamworld are Nightopians."

Pirdy opened her mouth as though she were about to say something else when Nights raised his hand and laughed lightly, "Pirdy, we could sit up talking all night, but we need to get some sleep. More importantly, I need to get some sleep. We'll have plenty of time to talk tomorrow."

The young Nightmaren sighed and nodded her head, laying down and dozing off. Nights leaned up against a tree and nodded off himself, leaving the fire to keep any wild creatures away.

-----

The pair of mysterious eyes had been joined by two more pairs of eyes. They all watched the campers fall asleep around the carefully tended fire.

"Do we throw them out now?", asked the pair of blue eyes.

"No, they have done no harm in any way.", said the familiar green eyes. "Leave them to sleep, Safaia. The one in purple seems smarter than the others. The one in gold is too young too realize what is going on around her. The other one..the other one I must speak to the Ancients about. Kumori, stay and watch them." The gray eyes blinked and nodded.

The blue eyes closed and disappeared into the night, followed by the green, and finally by the gray. The night grew silent once more.

-----

Wizeman watched the silent shadow that was Umbrae speed out of the tower and into the night sky. It would just be dawning out beyond the borders of his realm, the bright sunshine of the Dreamworld spreading across the land. For his shadow Nightmaren to be speeding off now must mean that she found something very interesting, or needed to do something very important. His shadow Nightmaren hated the sunlight, preferring the dark shadows of night to do their ugly work.

"Clawz, to me." Wizemans voice was almost hushed, but the Cat-maren heard it. He immediately bolted from his perch by his throne and entered the apartment, lowering his head in supplication. The Cat-maren was completely black, his head ending in the narrow point of a lion. His body was lean, however, like a jaguars. His tail swished gently from side to side and past his large paws with their even larger claws. Thus his name. "You called me, master."

"I want you to follow Umbrae. She's doing something that I am not aware of and that disturbs me. Report only to me, and to nobody else."

"Yes, master." A brief whisper of air, and Clawz was gone into the night.

-----

Claris awoke to a bright day of sunshine sparkling through the tree tops high up above. Mystic Forest had not changed one bit. The ground was still littered with the leaves that had fallen from up above, creating a multicolored floor. The trees still rose higher than most buildings in Twin Seeds. They were so magnificent, one could not help but lose breath and their awesome majesty. Along the floor of the forest were various road signs that seemed to point nowhere. Nights had told her one time, however, that if you knew how to read the signs properly, they could lead you deeper into the forest, almost to it's heart. Then Nights had warned her about the heart of the forest. "Claris, nobody has ever been to the heart of the forest and come out alive. It's not a safe place, but it's said that it is the most awesome sight in all of Dreamland." Ever since then, the humans curiosity had been peaked. What was in the center? What was there that Nightopians and Nightmaren alike had sought to find out about? Claris looked about and found that Nights and Pirdy were already awake and going about the business of cleaning up the camp. The female Nightmaren smiled as she noticed Claris awakening. "Good morning, snoozer. We thought you were never going to wake up."

Nights chuckled as he put the stones back to where he had gotten them. "How are you feeling?"

Claris stretched her back and twisted her head left and right. "Sore. I haven't slept on the ground in a long time."

Pirdy laughed and nodded, "Neither have I. Darnit Nights, I'm a healer, not a bear."

Claris just burst out laughing, pointing at Pirdy and laughing harder. The two Nightmaren just looked at one another and then back to the human, both of them with a curious look on their faces. Claris only shook her head and said, "Sorry, it's a human thing."

Nights nodded his head as though that explained everything and said, "Come on weirdo, Soft Museum isn't far from here and we can make it by lunchtime." He knelt down and Claris climbed onto his back. Nights stood up, not even straining from the weight of his friend. With a crouch and then a leap, the Nightmaren took off into the forest. Pirdy looked and leapt up as well, following her friend once more.

-----

Kumori watched the Nightmaren and the dreamer take off and then took off herself, but in the opposite direction. Her flight took her deeper into the forest, towards it's heart.

-----

Umbrae was good, very good. Her skills made her the envy of the Night Terrors. She was not as good as Clawz, however, whose skills were not only learned over a lifetime of study and practice, but also from the gifts of Mother Nature herself. His running speed and stealth were an easy match for Umbrae's flight. He kept an eye on her as she sped left and right around the many traps of Stick Canyon, none of the magnets coming close to nabbing her. Down below, the traps didn't even recognize the Cat-maren as a threat, and so the Clawz used the shadows and the magnets as places to hide as his superior eyesight kept Umbrae in sight.

-----

Nights and Pirdy flew at a comfortable pace across the green sea that is Mystic Forest. They hovered low to keep any other Nightmaren from spotting them and Nights was constantly on the lookout to make sure that they weren't being followed or had been spotted. Pirdy was not struggling, but was enjoying the flight immensely. Every so often a bird would pop up out of the trees and fly along with them. Pirdy would giggle and fly loops around the bird only to have Nights bark at her to be careful and then she would have to duck back down again only to start all over.

Claris, in the meantime, was lost deep in thought. Thoughts about everything that had happened to her recently, but mostly about Elliot. She wondered how he was coping with her being in a coma, what he was doing right now, but most of all she wanted to know what he was thinking. She enjoyed talking to him for hours, and sometimes they wouldn't talk at all, but would just stare at the sunset or watch people in the park. Suddenly she began to miss her love more and more, until a tear ran down her cheek and then flew away on the air. She snuggled in closer to Nights, trying to hide the tears that were flowing pretty freely. She had been far to emotional lately, and needed to get control of her emotions. She forced herself to stop and look up at the beautiful sky. It was a bright blue, with wispy clouds staining it in long streams. She closed her eyes and felt the breeze in her face and tried to force the image of Elliot out of her mind for right now. She needed to find out what was going on with her, why she had such incredible powers, and what she needed to do with them.

"There it is! Soft Museum!", shouted Nights above the wind once more. "We'll land in that glade over there and make sure that everything is all right. Hold on, we're going down." Nights dived down towards the glade, the gentle slope preventing Claris from slipping forward and falling off, and allowing Pirdy to continue to keep up. "Careful Pirdy, the ground gives way a great deal here. It's almost like rubber." Nights brought his feet forward until he was standing up in the air and then the sound of padded feet on the fluid-like ground. Nights had to crouch down to keep from losing his balance as the ground seemed to ripple out about him. Pirdy didn't have as much luck. She landed and fell backwards onto the soft ground, Nights ripple catching her by accident.

"Keep calm Pirdy and don't try to get up until the ground stops moving." Nights remained in the crouch position as Claris gently slid off of him and landed herself, causing smaller ripples to extend out about her. Soft Museum looked just like almost every other land in Dreamworld, except for the annoying fact that the ground was too soft for almost anyone to walk on. Too Claris, it was like trying to walk on a waterbed. The ground looked solid, but when one stepped, it sunk down slightly and caused ripples all around. Claris remembered that Elliot thought that Soft Museum only referred to the large building in the distance, but Nights was quick to correct him. Soft Museum referred to all of the land in the area. It had gotten it's unusual name because someone had once remarked that this area was a museum of soft ground. He had been mocked for saying such a silly thing, but the name had stuck and had evolved into Soft Museum over time. Claris took a gentle step and caused the ground to sink down a little, which in turn caused her to lose her balance a little. She wheeled her arms frantically to keep up and finally righted herself. "I hate this place.", was all she could say.

"I don't get it, why don't we fly into the Museum?", asked Pirdy.

"I don't know who's inside, so I don't want to barge in and scream to everyone that we're here. Let's play it safe for right now." With that, the three slowly started to make their way towards the large building.

-----

Umbrae continued to glide along the tree line and then the forest abruptly ended as a large cliff fell off and down into the distance. Umbrae spotted the museum off in the distance, the large Roman style building rose in the center of the soft ground that surrounded it. The large pillars held up an equally large roof the slanted down on two sides. The gray building was very stately and held some of the most ancient secrets in all of Dreamworld. It used to be cared for by the wisest of Nightopians. Used to be, before Wizeman's armies started to destroy everything once more. The Nightopian caretakers had all been slaughtered save for a handful that Wizeman had recognized as necessary for the maintenance of the Museum. For all of his blustering, Wizeman did recognize the need to maintain the history of Dreamworld. The Nightmaren dove towards the Museum from the opposite side of Nights and his party. She didn't even see them, the building blocking her view. She was more confident of herself than Nights was, however, and flew straight into the museum. She landed on the padded floor and looked about for the Nightopians that ran the place. "Come out, Nightopians, I have need of your knowledge."

-----

Clawz looked off of the cliff to the building down below, watching as Umbrae flew in through the open doors. What he saw that nobody else saw, however, was the Nightmaren in purple who was quickly approaching from the other direction. "Well," thought the Cat-maren, "This should prove to be very interesting. Very interesting, indeed." He gave a low chuckle and started to make his way down the cliff, his sharp claws keeping him from falling. It had been a long time since he had seen Nights in combat, and this fight was something he had to see.

-----

Nights, Pirdy, and Claris finally reached the more solid ground that the museum stood upon. They climbed the steps and entered the large hall, looking about for any of the Nightopians. They set foot on the padded floor that all of the museum had, looking around for anyone, but finding nobody. An eerie silence pervaded the large hall, as Nights looked down the large corridors and still saw nothing.

"What's going on here, Nights. Where are the caretakers?" Pirdy's question broke the silence and echoed down the long hallways. Claris jumped a little as the Nightmaren broke the stillness.

Nights shook his head, looking up and around at the entirety of the place. The inside of the museum was huge, extending several stories up and several hundred yards back. All of it was filled with books and scrolls, all of it the history of Dreamworld from it's creation to the current time. The amount of history this building contained was astonishing and required a massive effort in order to maintain. The building should have been crawling with the wise Nightopians known as the Archivists, but none of them could be seen. Pirdy started to say something once more, but Nights held up a hand and shook his head. "Quiet for now, Pirdy. Something is wrong here." He walked further into the museum, holding up his hand once more for Pirdy and Claris to stop. Nights' senses were at their peak, trying to sort out what his gut was telling him was wrong. And then..there it was. A small writhing in the shadows, a movement so obscure that most wouldn't have observed it. "Oh no," thought Nights, "we've been followed." He had been so careful, however, he had been so careful.

Umbrae knew she had been discovered. Nights looked directly at her and his eyes seemed to pierce the very shadows where she lay in cover. She looked at him up and down, and was in awe. Nights was a superb figure to behold. Strength seemed to ooze from every part of him and Umbrae took a sharp breath.

"I see you, creature of shadow."

Umbrae narrowed her eyes dangerously and leapt out of her secluded spot with a furious scream. She reached to her sides and pulled out two daggers. "DIE, NIGHTS!"

Nights was unprepared for what leapt out of the shadows at him. The lithe creature was coming at him fast and furious and he hesitated for a moment before leaping to the side. That moment of hesitation cost him as one of the daggers slashed into his arm. He gasped in pain and grimaced as he spun around to face his new adversary. Umbrae smiled as she realized that she had actually struck a blow. A new confidence surged into her as she charged forward once more, her daggers a blur of slashes in front of her. Nights was better prepared this time, however, and leapt up into the air over the daggers and sent out a powerful kick to the Nightmarens face. Umbrae took the full impact and fell backwards. Nights landed, shaking his head as he saw the younger Nightmaren lay there. Suddenly a twist and a turn, and the shadow Nightmaren was on her feet again, this time sending one of the daggers speeding towards Nights. The sound of the dagger splitting the air came to Nights before he actually saw it. He leaned to one side, the dagger missing him by half an inch and embedding itself in one of the bookshelves behind him. Nights jumped forward, twisting himself into a drill attack and catching Umbrae square in the chest and sending her sprawling further back. Nights landed and dashed forward, not allowing his opponent the opportunity to get up. He was impressed, however, when his opponent did get up quickly and dash forward at him as well. She threw the other dagger before her and Nights tilted his head to the right, only to meet the end of a fist as Umbrae came up behind the twirling weapon only a breath later and punch him. Nights was thrown off course for a moment, only to have a kick meet him in the ribs, and then a punch to his stomach, and finally another kick to his knees. He was on the floor, gasping to catch his breath from the flurry of attacks that had hit him. There was not time to acknowledge the pain, however, as Umbrae was on top of him again. Another dagger appeared in her hands and it was coming towards his head quickly. His arm shot up and stopped the momentum only a breath from his eye. He grimaced as he started to shove the dagger back from his face, her strength being no match for his own. Then with another quick shove, she was off of him and on the floor by his feet. Nights didn't waste a moment, he leapt on top of her and pinned the hand holding the dagger to the floor, his other fist punching her squarely in the mouth, and then squarely in the eye. His fist continued to fly until finally he felt no more struggling, and then he landed a few more, his rage taking over.

"Nights! Stop it!"

The sound came clearly into his head and immediately snapped him out of his rage. The pure sound of his friends voice echoed through the halls and Nights turned to see Claris standing there in fear and shock. He then looked down at Umbrae and saw what he had done and he stumbled back a few feet. Pirdy came over to the fallen Nightmaren and kneeled down, removing the black mask from her face. She was beautiful, Nights thought. A wealth of silver hair fell out of her floppies and down around her face. What should have been a young, angelic face, was now covered with bruises and a black eye. Nights looked down at his hands, covered with the blood of the Nightmaren he had just defeated, and then back to Claris. "I don't know what came over me. It was rage. Just pure hatred for her. I couldn't stop."

Claris walked over and knelt down beside her friend, taking off her floppy and ripping it to bandage the dagger wound. "You were in that jail for such a long time, being tortured by Wizeman. All that anger you had inside you, you just took it out on her." Her words were quiet and soothing as she bandaged up the slashing wound. "Pirdy, how is she?"

"Well, Nights really worked her over. She deserved it though. She's got some bumps and bruises, a busted lip and probably a broken rib. Nothing she won't heal up from."

Nights winced as he heard the list of things that he did and said, "What do you mean she deserved it?"

Pirdy looked at him and smiled, and then pulled up one of her sleeves to reveal a tattoo of a black wolf's head over a red star. Nights shook his head as he saw it and said, "I've never seen it before."

Pirdy nodded her head and said, "I'm not surprised, there aren't many like it. It's the symbol of the Night Terrors, Wizeman's assassin team. This little lady has probably done more damage than an entire squad of regular foot troops." She laid the dark woman down and picked up the dagger she was using. She walked over to Nights as she said, "You probably did the Dreamworld a favor."

Nights only shook his head as he looked down at the bandaged wound and then twisted his arm to test it. "Good bandaging." Claris smiled and said, "So now what. Did she kill all of the Nightopians here?"

Nights shrugged his shoulders and stood, a grunt escaping his lips. "I don't know. I'll tell you something, though. If she did, there is no way we're going to find the information we need to help us. There are several rooms like this one, each filled to the brim with nothing but books and scrolls."

Claris and Pirdy looked up in awe and twirled around, looking at the shelves and shelves filled with books. Nights looked at both of them and said, "This is nothing. There are several rooms filled with artifacts, statues, and who knows what else."

"I do." piped up a voice from around one of the corners. "I know what else."

-----

Clawz had seen the entire thing. Nights was a little weaker than he remembered, but his form was still there. Clawz was also impressed with Umbrae. That little girl had actually managed to lay a hand on Nights, even wound him. He must report all of this back to Wizeman. He must tell his master that he found Nights.