Body Chapter Eight

When Nightmaren Dream

Iona had led them through the village to her own house. It was a large dwelling built up in the branches of one of the smaller trees in the forest. While the tree itself stood six stories tall, the other trees of Mystic Forest dwarfed it. The beauty of Iona's home surprised Nights, he had expected something harsh and utilitarian for a warrior, but instead he saw comfort everywhere he looked. The floor of the home contained rugs of a variety of colors, which covered the solid wood. Chairs and couches were situated in places to make conversation easy but to also give the appearance of making the room seem as large as possible. Vases, filled with jeweled flowers and plants, dotted the entire area, some of them sitting on a shelf above a fireplace with a small fire already burning inside. As Nights stepped out onto the balcony, he saw Egoda down below, a small village nestled in between the strong trunks of the Forest. Columns of wispy smoke rose up from the lazy village and he could hear the sound of children laughing and playing. He could now understand why the Ranger chose to live up here, it was almost perfect, a small paradise in an otherwise harsh and hectic life.

"Lovely, isn't it?" spoke a warm voice from behind Nights. The Nightmaren turned his head and saw the deep emerald eyes of Iona watching him intently.

Nights turned back towards the village, nodding his head slowly. "It is, I can see why you protect it so fiercely. If Wizeman ever got his hands on these Nightmaren, especially those kids, I shudder to think what would happen to them."

Iona joined him on the balcony, "It's not just the village that we protect, it's also the temple, and the serenity of the forest. This place is very important to Dreamworld, although Reala and his lieutenants don't understand that."

"And Wizeman? Does he understand?"

"I don't know, but I would like to think he does. I'm not the one whom you should be asking, you should speak to Weisheit on such matters. I'm just a warrior."

Nights smiled, looking at Iona once more. "You're not just a warrior, you were one of the Nightmaren that captured me all those months ago. Back in Spring Valley when I was trying to catch a nap, you were the only one to make it through the window on the windmill. I was truly impressed, not many Nightmaren can do that kind of maneuver."

The Ranger chuckled, although her eyes didn't truly show the mirth that she was portraying. "I was wondering how long it was going to take you to recognize me. I want to apologize for that, and I want you to know that I have changed since then."

"What changed you, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Weisheit mostly, and perhaps I grew up after that happened." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment, listening to the wind through the trees and the song of the birds that populated the trees. "I thought Reala was perfect." she finally spoke. "He was so beautiful to behold, in battle and in the camp. I so admired him, and perhaps loved him a little." Her eyes opened, clearly in another place and time as she spoke. "When I was personally chosen to go along with him to capture you, my heart leaped. When you lifted off the ground and we gave chase, your flying was superb but all I could think about was how this shiftless, lazy Nightmaren could beat my perfect General. Then you made that maneuver into the windmill, and nobody could follow. I was determined to show you that we were better and so I flew in after you and barely made it. When I turned and saw that Reala had not followed, it jarred my mind awake a little. He was afraid of you, he was afraid to give chase after you. I began to realize that perhaps Reala was just not all that perfect. It left a crack in my mind that Weisheit used to get in and make me realize that everything around me was a mistake. So I left, and came here and joined the Mystic Rangers. Ever since then, I have known nothing but happiness."

Nights found that he could not take his eyes off the beautiful Nightmaren. Though he tried, something about the green tinge of her skin, the large emerald eyes that seemed lost in thought, or something he couldn't identify seemed to draw his eyes to her. He cleared his throat, forcefully tearing his eyes away towards the village once more. "I understand completely. I too know that they are not so great, but it took me a long time to realize it. When I left and became free, I knew a great joy and happiness in my new freedom. That was until Wizeman started stealing Red Ideya, and ever since then I've had to struggle against him."

Iona placed a warm, strong hand on Nights shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Rest for a few days, it will take Weisheit that long to make his way here to speak to you. In the meantime, my house is your house. The village is free for you to walk through, but I wouldn't leave its borders. The Forest is dangerous, and it doesn't trust you quite yet. If you get lost, it could be forever despite my bets efforts to find you."

"What will you be doing in the meantime?" asked Nights, watching Iona.

"I have heard some rumors from my spies and I'm going to go out and check them and see if their true or not." She smiled and leaped over the railing of the balcony, floating her way to the ground like a gentle leaf before landing and leaping upwards in an arc to fly off into the forest. Nights only shook his head, still trying to get her beauty out of his mind. He sighed and walked back inside to get some much-needed rest.

Elliot had spent the past five hours walking across the hills of Spring Valley and he could barely make out the first fountain park of Splash Garden in the distance. He would wake up in a few hours, whether by himself or because of his mother. He knew that he was not going to make the Mystic Forest in that time, and had spied what appeared to be a town close-by. He turned course and headed towards the short, squat buildings. After a few minutes, a path began to form from the grass, which turned into a street a short time later.

Nightopians populated the town itself; all of who appeared to be in some kind of hurry, fluttering back and forth around his head and through the streets. They didn't appear worried about the fact that a Dreamer had just walked into their midst, their flights taking them off in various directions. Elliot tried to ask some of the Nightopians passing close-by just what was going on and, had to finally step directly in front of one and hold up his hand. The speeding winged creature came to an immediate halt, almost smashing into the boy. "What? What do you want? Can't you see I'm in a hurry?"

"I want to know what's going on. Why are you all rushing around?"

"Haven't you heard? Oh, you're a Dreamer, of course you wouldn't have heard. Idia has fallen to the Wizeman's Armies and the survivors are heading this way. We have to be prepared to receive them, and they're only a few minutes out."

"Whoa, no way. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Yeah, you could get out of my way." The Nightopian fluttered past before Elliot could reply, and then another flew by and another. He decided the best thing he could do was to make himself scarce, and he ducked into a nearby inn and sat down, just watching everything pass. "Please don't have been in Idia, Claris, please." As he spoke those words, a horn sounded off in the distance and he turned to look outside as the first of the refugees started pouring into the town.

Umbrae's nightmares started as they always did when she fell asleep. Voices and images so horrible and haunting as to frighten the proud Night Terror once again caused her to awake with a frightful yell in the middle of the night. Her pure red eyes opened and looked about the room that she was in, and she took a deep breath as she realized that she was all right. The sound of running footsteps could be heard outside the door and a moment later Nights came crashing in, his sword held in his hands and it's flame burning fiercely. "Umbrae, you alright? I heard screaming." His muscles were tensed and ready, prepared to fight whatever was in the room.

"No, it was nothing. I'm alright, it was just a bad dream." she said, a tremble still in her voice.

Nights nodded and lowered the sword, the tongue of flame dying down to a low glow that he could see her by. "Are you sure? You want me to get you something?" There was concern in his voice, and Umbrae was puzzled by it, unsure why he would make an offer like that and wondering what he could possibly retrieve that would make her feel better. What she did know was that it made her feel better that he was concerned, and it caused her heart to skip a beat. "N..no, thank you. It was just a dark dream, nothing I can't handle."

"Well, if you're sure. I'll be down the hall if you want to talk." He turned and walked out the door, closing it gently behind him. Umbrae smiled slightly, almost sad to see the Nightmaren go and wondering what kind of feeling was coming over her and was only a moment away from leaping out of the bed and going down the hall. She shook that thought off and laid back down, letting out a long breath and slowing her rapidly beating heart.

"He's a nice young man, isn't he?" came a deep voice from out of the darkness. Umbrae bolted up once more, drawing out a dagger from underneath her pillow and looking about the room. "Who's there?" she said, tensing up her muscles in preparation for combat.

"Can't you see me, Nightmaren? No, I imagine you can't with your special eyes."

"I can see just fine." She could not, however, see the voice that was speaking to her. "You must be some kind of ghost, or something, because you don't register a heat signature or else I'd spy you for sure."

"Is that how you see? You use infrared to spy your enemies. What a marvelous thing, were you born with such a talent or was it forced upon you by Wizeman and Reala?" The voice was in a different part of the room this time and Umbrae whirled her dagger towards it, her eyes still scanning. "It is infrared, something that all Night Terrors are born with. It was..an honor.. to receive it."

"It doesn't sound like you believe that. Please child, lower your weapon. I will not harm you, for it is I who you have come to see, or in your case, to hear."

"You are Weisheit? Then how come I cannot see you, are you really a ghost? Why aren't you speaking to Nights instead of me?"

A happy chuckle came from another part of the room, this time Umbrae didn't spin around to confront it. "No child, I am not a ghost, not yet anyway. I am a spirit, a kindred spirit. I will speak to Nights soon enough, but tonight I want to talk to you. Tell me, have you never seen the color of the sky, or of the trees in this very forest?"

"No, I have not. I see the colors that heat gives off, but everything that does not register heat is black. Reala told me that the world was nothing special to see, and that I should enjoy my unique perspective and use it to my best advantage, which I have."

"Yes, you have, of that I have no doubt. You do, however, travel with Nights under false pretenses. You tell him that you fly with his team in order to fight and in order to answer your own questions. That's not true though, is it?"

Umbrae looked a little startled now and raised her dagger once more, slashing it through the air with fury. "Ghost or no ghost, you stay out of my thoughts. Why I travel with Nights is a personal reason that no spirit or whatever you are needs to know about."

"I apologize, child, I did not mean to upset you. Reading the thoughts of others is something that naturally comes to me like the infrared comes to you. It is something that I cannot help."

"I don't care what you have to do, stay out of my thoughts."

Weisheit realized that he was touching on a sensitive area, and while he had read the thoughts of the Nightmaren, he was not prepared for the veracity with which she would defend them. "I'd like to make up for what I have done. What can I do to make up for it?" There was a moment of silence as he contemplated, and then a thought came to his mind. "Ah, I know, what if I were to give you the ability to see as other Nightmaren see?"

"What do you mean? I can see just fine." The dagger lowered once more onto the blanket as Umbrae continued to scan the room for the hovering voice. It continued to move about as though it could not find a place to land, and she once more turned as it came from another place.

"Can you? You cannot see me, and I think that puts you at a unique disadvantage. That's a disadvantage that you cannot afford to have with the places that you will be going to. What if I could fix your eyes so that you could see the blue of the sky and the green of my trees as well as use your infrared when you needed it?"

"What if you could. I'm not in debt to anyone, not Reala, not Nights, nobody. I am my own Nightmaren and if your assistance would cause me to be in your debt, than you can forget about it. My sight is just fine."

Weisheit chuckled a little, shaking his head. "No, you would not be in my debt, or anyone else's for that matter. This is something that I would like to do for you, in way of apology for my entering your thoughts so carelessly."

Umbrae swallowed hard, her breath coming a little faster at the thought of finally being able to see the world as it was meant to be seen. She had always seen everything as a heat source, and this would be something new to her, and that was always a little frightening, especially to one who had known nothing but fear and discipline all of her life. "I..I..don't know what I would do. I think, however, that I would like it."

"Would you like me to help you? There would be no pain, and you would have time to adjust before you left Egoda."

She hesitated once more, lost in thought for a moment as she considered what she would be giving up and what she would be gaining. Finally she took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she said, "Yes, I think I would." An instant after Umbrae spoke the words, her solid red eyes seemed to almost drain away. Her eyelids slammed shut as the infrared world that she knew suddenly swirled about and caused her to become dizzy. She just kept her eyes close as they became solid white, and then a small black dot appeared and started growing wider and wider. A perfect circle formed in the center of her eye and continued to expand, finally turning from black to red and forming the perfect circular pupil. When she opened her eyes, color seemed to explode into her head and she had to quickly close them once more.

"Wait for a while before you open them again," said Weisheit quickly, "you will need time to adjust to the new world around you and that's going to be a little difficult. Your mind is not used to interpreting all the shades and colors around you. For right now, I want you to sleep and when you wake up, you will be able to open your eyes and not be so bombarded with color."

Umbrae nodded her head, a smile coming to her lips as even that momentary glance made her realize that the world was a much more beautiful place than she had realized, even with the way that everyone had described it. Then the smile faded as she realized that she would have to go back to the dark dreams that always haunted her. "Do I have to go back to sleep?"

"Yes, child, you do. Don't worry though, I'll be right here." The voice was so warm, and so reassuring that Umbrae could do little to disbelieve it. She laid her head back onto her pillow, slipping the dagger back underneath. In little more than a few seconds, she was fast asleep once more. As the dark denizens of her sleep again tried to find their way into her dreams, a beam of pure light shattered the darkness, causing them to reel back. "You will not have her tonight, creatures. She is done suffering your torments and is now under my protection. Be gone!" The light expanded forcefully, driving back the voices that cackled evilly, and the horrid faces that went along with them. The soft light replaced it all, and after a moment the voice of Weisheit spoke softly, "Now, let's teach you about colors, and perhaps you and I can have some fun before you wake up."

It was the most peaceful sleep that Umbrae had ever had.

Jackal flew close to the ground, avoiding all contact with the Nightmaren patrols that seemed to be flying all over the place now. Reala was starting his conquest of the area now, hoping to gain the knowledge that the museum desired to keep secret from Wizeman and all of his people. Jackal knew that Reala had another purpose, but right now it eluded him. All he knew for sure was that Reala would most likely end up burning the huge building down and in the end, all that knowledge would be lost. "A pity," he thought, "there is so much in there to be learned."

Another turn helped him to avoid yet another patrol that seemed to be heading towards Mystic Forest, and then he turned again, continuing his flight towards Spring Valley. He looked once more towards Soft Museum and saw a large group of Nightmaren start to charge forward, the museum's defenses rising up out of the walls and firing on them to drive them away. The Nightmaren group scattered and a hail of arrows went flying from the rear lines, explosive tipped arrows slamming against the side building and taking out one of the museum cannons. Reala was sacrificing his own troops to draw out the weapons, it was a stupid plan, but then again Reala was not known for his intelligence. While it was not the best of plans, it was a plan that was going to work. Soft Museum had a few days at most before all of the defenses were destroyed.

The battlefield was left behind as the soft and bouncy landscape of Soft Museum started to change to the cobblestone paths and green grass of Splash Gardens. After that, it was only a couple of hours to Spring Valley and there someone would know where Nights was hiding. After that, it was only a matter of time before the Demi-maren had Nights in his claws.

While the battlefield around the Museum was once more starting to erupt, deep within Mystic Forest, everything was peaceful. Egoda was just awakening to the new day and once more the village started coming to life. The hunters were in good spirits as they repaired their nets and talked about the great catches that they had made the day before. The gardeners were tending the berry bushes and vegetable gardens while the sang a song that all of them seemed to know. Children were already running through the street, on their way to what appeared to be a school building in the center of the village.

Up in the tree house, Claris stretched and yawned loudly, causing Pirdy to stir underneath her blanket. The Dreamer hopped out of bed, eager to go explore the village down below as she slipped on her Nightmaren outfit. She pushed her hair back into a ponytail, deciding that she wasn't going to wear the floppies and walked out of the room, almost bumping into Umbrae as she did so.

"Umbrae! What happened to your eyes!" asked Claris as she noticed the change almost immediately, a smile coming to her lips.

"What?! What's wrong with them?" She looked as though she was about to pull her mask up and over her head as she looked back at Claris.

"Nothing at all, I think they're awesome." She laughed, and her laughter became infectious, causing Umbrae to start laughing as well.

Pirdy walked out the door as she heard the commotion outside. She was just tucking her hair into her floppy as she spied the new features on Umbrae. "Wow, red eyes. They're like rubies."

Umbrae only blushed as the two ladies compliments kept on coming. She was unused to the idea of being the center of attention, and it was another new thing that she would have to become used to.

"I wish I had eyes as lovely as yours, Umbrae, I'd drive Elliot insane with jealousy." Claris laughed again, her smile coming wide as she imagined the expression on her boyfriend's face.

Pirdy nodded her head and said, "Well, I'm off to breakfast in the main hall. They don't have a healer in the village and Safaia asked if I would help out. You two coming?"

Claris started following Pirdy out when Umbrae stopped her. "Uhm, Claris. Can I ask you a question?"

Claris stopped, raising an eyebrow. She waved to Pirdy, "Go on, I'll meet you at the main hall in a minute." As Pirdy walked out the door, Claris looked at Umbrae, curiosity in her expression as the Nightmaren had never really wanted to speak to her before. "Sure, what can I help you with?"

The Nightmaren twined her fingers together, her eyes lowering to the ground as she tried to think of a way to ask her question. She sighed and growled, "Just ask." She nodded and took a deep breath, turning her eyes back up towards Claris. "How did you get Elliot to fall in love with you?" A deep crimson stained her cheeks after she asked the question and she felt like she wanted to run away and hide in the deepest and darkest shadow Mystic Forest could provide.

Claris' eyes went wide and a huge smile crept into her lips after the question was asked. Umbrae was asking her advice on how to catch a man. It had obviously been hard for the Nightmaren to come to her with such a question and Claris didn't want to frighten her off when she was so close to finally making friends. She wrapped her arm around Umbrae's, saying, "Girl, there is so much I could tell you. Come on, let's go have some breakfast and we'll talk."

Nights spent much of the day as the others did, exploring the village and talking with the other Nightmaren that had made it their home. There were many more than he had first seen, many of them had been out in the forest when he and his friends had first arrived and they were all eager to talk to him about what was going on outside of the forest. The children intrigued Nights, he had never really believed that Nightmaren could have children, and yet there they were, running around and laughing as children should. If Nights hadn't known that there was a war waging outside of the forest, he could have easily made this village his home. There was an innocence in everything around him, a sense that nothing outside could enter, and that suited its residents just fine.

"I used to be a part of Wizeman's army, I was a pikeman." said a Nightmaren who was dressed in the deep green that seemed to be common among the village residents. Nights sat down in the offered chair, the Nightmaren pouring him a glass of juice. "One morning we started attacking this small village on the eastern border of Stick Canyon. We were told that a band of Cat-maren was there, planning on attacking Nightmare Tower. My squad and I charged in and all we found were Nightopians there, doing nothing more than living peacefully. Reala ordered us to destroy everything and everyone in sight. I refused, I'm a warrior, not a murderer. When I dropped my pike, Reala ordered my squad to kill me for treason. I took off for Mystic Forest, my supposed friends hot on my trail with weapons in hand. I barely made it, took a couple of nasty hits before the Mystic Rangers saved me and brought me here."

"You were lucky." was all Nights could say as he drank the sweet juice.

"You're telling me. They brought me to Egoda and I've never looked back, never wanted to look back. These are good people, Nights, and worth protecting. I would have joined the Rangers myself, but the injuries kept me from doing so."

This seemed to be the same kind of story that Nights heard from everyone he ran into. They were all a part of the Nightmaren army in some way, whether as archers or infantry, each had been a part of the effort to take back Dreamland and each had, in some way, found some decency and goodness deep within themselves. The Rangers and Mystic Forest had saved all of them, the trees being a natural place to seek safety.

"We're the fortunate ones." said another Nightmaren who was sitting close by. "There are others out there that can't make it here to the Forest for safety. They're out there all alone. I know, my friend is one of them."

"Can't you go out and find them?" asked Nights.

"We would, but large groups seem to attract the attention of Reala's people, and traveling alone is not safe either. Sometimes we go out in groups of two or three to find someone to help, but the risk is just too great."

Another Nightmaren chimed in, "Some of us also have families now, and we don't want to leave them behind."

Nights understood perfectly, nodding his head in acceptance. He looked up into the sky and saw that it was growing dark, as he drank up the last of his juice, he bid his new friend's goodnight. He made his way back to Iona's house, landing on the doorstep and walking inside to the sounds of laughter coming from the main living area. As he looked in, he spied his three friends with their heads together giggling. "Hello, everyone. I'm back." The three girls poked their heads up all at once and then looked back at one another and started giggling. "Uh-oh", thought Nights, "this can't be good."

As Claris lay in bed that night, she looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath, wondering how Elliot was doing and if he was looking for her in Dreamland at this moment. She tossed and turned for a few minutes and decided that she wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon. She pushed the comforter off of her and quietly left the room, making sure not to wake up Pirdy. When she reached the living area, she pushed a chair outside onto the balcony and sat down, bringing her knees up to her chest and taking a deep breath.

The night air was perfect, cool and crisp as it brushed through her hair and past her ears. The leaves of the trees were swaying back and forth slightly, creating their own special kind of music that all people who seek comfort and quiet seem to enjoy. She looked down at the village below and saw one or two lights, and a number of chimneys still letting their smoke loose into the night sky. Claris let out a long sigh and brushed the hair out of her face, watching the stillness down below. "This place is perfect."

"It is not perfect, your heart is what makes it perfect." Came a deep, gravelly voice.

Claris jumped, looking about with wide and frightened eyes. "Who's there?" She turned and twisted, her eyes finally falling on a floating figure standing in midair off to her right. He was tall, taller than most adults she knew His face was aged, the wrinkles around his eyes and mouth showed that he often smiled. He was wearing a long white robe with a green jacket over that which hung down to his knees. In his hand he held a long staff made of deep mahogany wood with a yellow gemstone set in gold at the top. How he hovered in midair was still a mystery to her, but it was not a big mystery as to who he was. "Do you always go around scaring the snot out of people like that?"

The old man chuckled and raised a weathered hand. "I apologize, child, it is one of the few joys that I have left at my age. I am Weisheit and you and your friends have traveled a long way to talk to me."

Claris calmed down a little, moving her knees back to her chest and hugging them once more. "You look exactly how I thought you would look."

"That's because I'm not actually here, I am still quite a distance away. You are seeing me as your mind wishes to see me. You will actually find my true appearance to be quite different. Tell me, Claris, are you still afraid of that which you've been gifted with?"

"Gifted with, what do you mean?"

"The magic, child, the powers you used to heal Nights with. Are you still afraid of them?"

Claris shrugged her shoulders, turning her eyes away from Weisheit. "No, I'm not afraid of them. I mean, well, not that much anyway. I'm more afraid of the fact that they don't seem to be under my control, and that it seems to pop up when I'm not expecting it. I mean, I'm afraid I'll point a hand at one of my friends and burn them to a crisp. That is frightening."

Weisheit hovered over the railing and landed next to Claris, sitting down on solid air and nodding his head. "For 500 years the magic you possess has been seeking a soul to bond with. No Dreamer has ever slept so soundly as you do right now. I do not think you realize just how close to death you really are."

"You're not here to cheer me up, are you." Claris chuckled weakly, her smile fading from her lips.

"No, I am here to answer your questions truthfully. I do not know why you sleep so deeply, that is a concern for the real world, and my knowledge is limited to Dreamworld. Normally your sleeping soul would wander these woods aimlessly, trying to find the path back to the waking world and back to your body. Nights, however, drew you out of the woods and brought you as close to him as possible. This kept you from being lost, and made you more corporeal here than ever. When the Magic felt your presence, it infused itself into you and gifted you with its power in return for a home."

"It's alive?" She looked down at her hands as though expecting to see bugs crawl out from underneath her skin.

Weisheit moved his hand over hers, blocking her view. "It is alive, but not in the sense that you are thinking. It doesn't walk, it doesn't speak, it doesn't even see. It does talk to you, however, and uses your thoughts and dreams to help you defend yourself, in order to defend itself and its home. You are not its master, and it is not yours. You are bonded together as friends would be."

"I can't control it then. It will only react to defend me."

Weisheit smiled and raised a finger, "Ah, that is where you are mistaken. You will not control it, you will use it to assist you. That is the price that it is willing to pay in order to live inside of you. At first you will have a little trouble as the magic tries to determine what you want from it. After a while, as its thoughts meld a little more with yours, it will become easier. Pretty soon, it will react instantly to what you want, probably before you even think about it. "

Claris smiled and looked down at her hands, "Then how do I make it do what I want to?"

"First, you must know that the magic inside of you is a positive energy, not a negative. That is how come it exists within your soul and has not been swallowed up by Wizeman, that is very important. The magic will depart your soul if it feels it become dark and twisted. Is that understood?"

Claris nodded, suddenly becoming very excited. She sat up in her chair and became very attentive to Weisheit, whose smile became broader. "Alright, Claris, if you remember, I told you that the magic will talk to you through thoughts and dreams. First thing you do is to determine what it is you want to do. For now, let's do something simple like create a ball of light."

Claris nodded and held open her hand. "Light." She waited a moment more, her smile fading as she realized that nothing was going to happen.

Weisheit chuckled a little and shook his head. "No child, it is not that easy quite yet. The first thing you have to do is grab a memory. Some kind of memory that involves a light that is special to you. Bring that memory to the front and hold it there, and the magic will react to it."

Closing her eyes, Claris took a deep breath and started sorting through her memories. Images of her birthday when she reached 13 years of age, then there were the bright spotlights that shone down on her during her concerts. The one that jumped to the front, however, was the fireworks celebration at Twin Seeds Tower. It was the last real date that she and Elliot had gone on before her career started to take off, and Gerald entered her life. She smiled warmly as the image became clearer, and then she felt her arm start to tingle as though it were asleep. The tingle moved down her arm and into her hand, staying there for a moment as the magic tried to determine what it is she wanted. Claris shut her eyes tight, trying to concentrate on the fireworks. The tingling in her hand started to grow and move up through her palm and then it stopped instantly. Claris opened her eyes to see a swirling ball of bright light in her hand, hovering slightly above it. It appeared as though to streaks of light were orbiting around one another in a race to see which was faster. The swirling lights started moving faster and faster, and Claris' eyes became wide with wonder as a moment later both of the lights shot up into the air and exploded in a burst of bright red sparks. A moment later a series of light blue sparks shot across the sky, and then green, and then back to blue. It was the fireworks display from her memories.

"Very good, Claris, very good. This is simply marvelous for your first time. Of course, it's not quite what I had in mind, but the effort is what counts in the end. You only have to remember that some part of the memory will entwine itself in the magic. You should have chosen the candlelight."

Claris was too busy laughing to hear much of what Weisheit said. The fireworks display had brought back wonderful memories of that night, and the jokes that Elliot had whispered in her ear. "That was a good night." She sighed and her smile was still on her lips. "I miss you, Elliot."

"Don't worry child, you will see him again soon."

"You promise."

"Cross my heart. Now, let us watch this marvelous show that you and your magic have decided to provide."

Elliot awoke once more into Dreamworld, back at the same location that he always started from, underneath the tree in Spring Valley. Off in the distance he saw a column of smoke, falling to his knees as he realized that the little village he had visited the night before had been attacked, and had been defeated. He slammed the side of the fist into the tree next to him and cursed, the fire in his eyes growing as he remembered how frightened all of those Nightopians had been.

"They never stood a chance." said a quiet voice beside him. "The Nightmaren simply followed the refugees and attacked a moment after they all arrived."

Elliot turned slowly and peered right into a pair of emerald eyes the likes of which he had never seen before. "Y..you're a Nightmaren. You're not Nights though. I thought Nights was the only Nightmaren in this world."

"Boy, you haven't been here in a long time, have you. What did you think that Reala's Army consisted of?"

"I don't know, I thought they were things like Jackal, or like Gillwing. I don't know what I was thinking his army was like. Who are you, and why are you here?"

"My name is Iona, and I've come a long way just to find you. Weisheit told me that you always come here when you enter Dreamworld, so I waited all day for you. You're to come with me, and I'll take you to see Nights. We only have a few short hours, however, until you wake up and it's going to take all that time to get you to Mystic Forest."

"Mystic Forest, Nights, what? Wait a moment, I'm here to find Claris, and why should I trust you anyway, didn't you just say that Reala's Army was made up of Nightmaren?"

"You can trust me because..well..just because. I don't really have an answer to that, suffice it to say that I can take you to Claris and to Nights. Right now we just don't have a whole lot of time, and most of the questions you have I can answer for you on the way. Hop on my back, it's going to be a long flight and we don't have a lot of time."

Elliot took a deep breath, following his instincts this time and hopping on the back of the Nightmaren. With an audible grunt, she leapt into the air.

Nights walked through the village once more, this time to the town square where he sat down to relax. He watched the children run through the street after what appeared to be a baby Shleep, and then stop and turn as the Shleep lowered it's striped horns and tried to ram them back. He laughed and spied Claris and Umbrae walking quietly, their heads close together as they spoke in low tones about subjects Nights didn't even want to think about. They were walking towards Pirdy who had set up shop inside one of the small huts, where she was speaking to a very pregnant Nightmaren about something that once again Nights didn't want to think about. He looked at the kids once again, blinking as they seemed to be running slower than they were before. Must be getting tired, thought Nights, I would be too if I was chasing a Shleep around all day. It was more than that, however, they seemed to want to be running at full speed, they were just moving a lot slower. He turned his eyes towards Claris and Umbrae, and they were slowing down as well. All of the village seemed to be walking a little more slowly and Nights put his hand on the hilt of his sword, standing quickly. "Magic."

"Of a kind, yes. It is an ancient magic that not even Wizeman knows about." The old man sat on the fountain this time, right next to Nights who didn't even seem surprised by the fact that someone was there. "I'm close now, and should arrive sometime later today. Right now, however, I need to speak to you."

"What did you do to them? Why are they all standing still?"

"I haven't done anything to them, I've done something to us. We are between seconds for as long as I need us to be, so that we can speak privately."

"And you are"

"I am Weisheit, the one you have sought to tell you how to defeat Wizeman." The old man appeared this time as an old Nightmaren with a long white beard and bushy white eyebrows. He was wearing a green and black Nightmaren suit that made him appear a little frumpy and pudgy in the middle. Weisheit didn't seem to take notice of how he appeared and instead looked around the village at all of the Nightmaren who had stopped moving now. "You've come to love this place that they have etched out of the forest, haven't you."

Nights nodded his head, sighing. "I have. All of these people around here have honest and open hearts, and they're Nightmaren like I am. This is the first time in a very long while that I've been able to talk with others of my kind and not felt like I've had to hold something back. With Reala, you always had to keep a piece of information to yourself, you didn't want him to know too much."

"You want to stay here, forever?"

"Yes, and no. I left Nightmare Tower so that I could get away from evil, I never really intended to fight it, personally I just wanted to have a little fun. Then Wizeman started trying to take over both worlds, and I knew that I was the only one who could stop him. It's the same this time, only I'm not alone anymore."

"You are very wise, Nights. You are indeed not alone in this matter. You have help from three very lovely young ladies." Weisheit chuckled and turned his eyes to the frozen form of Claris, Umbrae and Pirdy.

Nights laughed as he realized, truthfully for the first time, that he was the only man in the party. "You know, I don't think I really mind, honestly. They're a good bunch of people, and I wouldn't ask for any others to travel to the ends of this world with."

"You're going to need them, Nights. You're also going to need one other, who even now is on his way to this very forest. Listen carefully to what I have to tell you, and you will know how to defeat Wizeman once and for all."

Nights turned his full attention to Weisheit, tearing his eyes away from a frozen Umbrae who was in the middle of laughing. "How do I do it? I thought that I had defeated him for good last time, but he just came back after a while."

"You can never truly kill the Lord of Nightmares. He is important to this world just as much as the Ancients are, or as this forest is. He controls the negative force that is a part of the balance that was set up a long time ago. Without this balance, there is no Dreamworld, only chaos. Too much good can be just as bad as too much evil."

"How can too much good be bad? That doesn't make sense?"

"Oh no? Too much good can cause the world to become stale and plain. It is evil that causes men and women to strive forward and advance their civilization. Evil begets change which good must counteract with new weapons and strategies all the time. Evil creates a disease, good creates a cure which helps propel life forward. Evil creates war, good creates tools and instruments which help end that war, which are then used in everyday life. This is only a small part of how important the balance is, but it is an important part."

"Now the balance has tipped towards evil, and now Wizeman has gained too much power."

Weisheit nodded his head, his eyes still roaming around the village. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, his beard fluttering around his mouth. "It has been this way for a long time, Nights, far longer than you realize. It is only now that Wizeman is making his true power known. The Ancients will destroy this world rather than let the two worlds unite into one, and even now they have begun the process. All of this will be gone, and all of us will perish."

"Then tell me how to stop him. Tell me what I must do to bring this balance back." said Nights emphatically. He turned, bringing one leg up onto the fountain and looking at the old Nightmaren before him.

"You're journey will be a hard one, but it is an accomplishable one." His eyes turned towards Nights, the bright blue showing that while Weisheit was old, his thoughts were crystal clear. "A long time ago, there was a crystal called the Master Ideya. It was given to the Ancients to create Dreamworld with, but there was only one crystal and five Ancients, all who squabbled to use it's powers to create their part of the Dreamworld. It was decided to shatter the crystal into five pieces, and give a piece to each Ancient. When the crystal was shattered, each of the five pieces had it's own color. These pieces were called the Mother Ideya and they each had immense power. They're called Mother Ideya because they gave birth to the Minor Ideya, which is what a Nightmaren possesses on their chest or cap or what not. The Minor Ideya is what Wizeman uses to give you the breath of life, a soul one would say. Such is the power of even the smallest piece of the Master Ideya. Do you follow me so far?"

"I think so." He placed his hand on his own red Ideya and felt the coolness of the crystal. "Somewhere out there is the crystal that this came from, the source."

"Yes, and it's the source of it's power. There are five of them out there, red, green, blue, yellow, and white. When all five mother stones are brought together, the Master Ideya is formed. That is your mission."

Nights didn't speak for a long time, he simply stared around at the village and gathered his thoughts. What Weisheit was asking him to do was, indeed, difficult. He was pretty sure that the Ancients had placed the Mother Ideya in places specifically designed to keep things such as him out. He was also pretty sure that he wasn't going to be able to do this alone, especially with Reala and his people out there making all kinds of trouble. "How?" was all he could finally muster up to say.

"When I arrive, I will present you with a map and the green Mother Ideya. You will be able to use both to locate the other four Ideya that are hidden out there. When all five are brought together, it will instantly form the Master Ideya, a crystal of incredible power with which you can use to steal back the power that is not Wizemans and return balance to Dreamworld. Wizeman has grown powerful, and a simple Mother Ideya will not be able to retrieve the power he keeps within himself."

"I don't know if I'm capable of doing all of that." Nights looked about and saw that the people around him were beginning to move once more, slowly at first, but picking up speed. He turned to Weisheit and saw the old man fading.

"My time is up, and I must depart." Weisheit held out his hand and dropped a necklace with a blue Ideya crystal on it. "When my guest arrives, his time will be short as well. Place this around his neck immediately, it is important."

Nights nodded and took the necklace in his hand. "What is your guests name?" It was too late, however, Weisheit had already disappeared and the world around the Nightmaren had returned to its normal speed. He sighed and looked at the blue crystal in his hand, watching the spark inside seem to jump around. All around him the sound of the village life that he was starting to love so much resumed and he heard the footsteps approach. He looked up and saw a smiling Claris staring back at him. She sat down next to him, "What's the matter?"

"Weisheit just told me what we have to do, and the task is immense. We're in for a long haul, my friend, our journey is just beginning."

Claris continued to smile, "You look like you could use one of these." She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly to her.

Nights smiled and hugged her back, staying that way for a while as he knew that they were going to have to step back into the river that was the world outside, and swim against the current. For a moment, a very brief moment in his best friends arms, he was in paradise.