One week after the battle with Emperor Belos
Three times had Gus seen this stretch of forest, this path on which he was walking, and the setting sun to his right. This dream had reoccurred three nights in a row, and likewise it always ended the same each night, though adding a new element each time.
He walked along the dirt pathway, examining the thin, white trunks of the old trees to his left, with an empty, newly harvested field off to his right, the sun setting over its horizon and touching the dark blue sky with its own combination of orange, yellow, and red. Clearly it reflected the current season of autumn, and the thought gave him some excitement; he thought of the human realm, how their autumnal equinox had passed, and the harvesting time of Samhain was drawing nigh. Surely, they would all be celebrating, dressing up in strange costumes and distributing sweets to each other, and the thought made him smile.
Still, he continued along this path, not knowing where he was going. But as he proceeded onward, there came to his mind a creeping sense of dread. The path seemed to gradually turn at an archway, but as he made his way another 20 feet, he found a wooden walkway that branched off into the dead forest. He could continue on the dirt path that seemed endless, or he could divert himself into something unknown. He felt compelled to do the latter and proceeded along the wooden walkway.
Eventually, he came to a small, circular clearing within the forest, and in its center sat what looked like a dilapidated two story house. The door had fallen slightly off its hinges, and a few of the gothic arched windows appeared to be boarded where cracked. The white paint was peeling here and there along its paneled walls, and a sense of decay pervaded over all within the area.
Gus felt that same sense of dread now fully grasp the core of his being. It was that weird feeling that he wasn't supposed to be here, as one might have if they were sneaking into the teacher's lounge or backstage behind a concert or into a closed shop. What made it worse was the feeling he was being watched by some unseen force…something that had lined its brain with eyes.
He looked up towards one of the second story windows, one that was not covered in grime, and for the first time in this reoccurring dream, saw something strange in there. It appeared to be some billowing dark mass, a formless thing with twitching tendrils that waved like a serrated flag in the breeze. Watching this strange thing in the window was almost hypnotic, and Gus had difficulty breaking his gaze from it.
Eventually, he managed to look away from it and towards the left side of the clearing. There he saw two faces he almost felt like he didn't want to see: Boscha and Mattholomule. Both were standing in relatively close proximity to each other, likewise looking up in an expression of awe at the rotting house. Eventually, however, they turned their gazes towards Gus and immediately wore an expression half of surprise, half of pure animosity. It was like they shot daggers from their eyes into his heart.
He looked away for a moment and found what looked like a large pink bird the Earth realm called flamingos standing a foot and a half away from him.
"MIRRORS AAAARE MOOORE FUN THAN TELEVISION!" the flamingo said in a high pitched, almost electronic voice. Around its neck was a pendant with some yellow symbol that made Gus' head hurt as he stared into it.
And this was when Gus awoke.
He wiped the sweat from his brow and placed his hand upon his pillow, which was likewise drenched in sweat.
"Oh man," Gus groaned, "Not again." He'd had enough of this reoccurring dream; someone else besides him had to hear about it. He dressed and headed towards Eda's house. Perhaps she could give some insight on this, even if most of her powers were gone.
Gus walked along the dirt path through the woods, looking around at the surrounding forest. The trees of course had always been red, but now it looked as though some had been changing colors; various yellow, orange, and light red now lined each branch and danced in the light, crisp breeze. He would definitely have enjoyed himself, had his dreams not overshadowed his mind.
Eventually, he made his way to the Owl House, the far off coast near which it stood still as beautiful as ever in the morning sunlight. Hootie of course was there to greet him.
"Heeey there, Guy," Hootie began to float off the door as he opened it, knowing Gus was probably going inside.
"Uh, hey Hootie," Gus waved.
"You knoooow," Hootie continued, "I found a nice bug earlier! I chewed up half of it, but the other half is yoooours if you waaaaaant iiiit!"
"Heh, no thanks," Gus shuddered and laughed with some apprehension, "More for you, right?"
"Suit yourself," Hootie answered, "Come on in, HOOT HOOT!"
And with that, Gus headed inside, though he did not expect to hear what he did upon entering.
"I seriously can't believe you did that to Luz," he heard Amity growl, "You put her in real danger!"
"She never really was," Lilith was also in the room; it appeared the two were arguing. "I knew very well Eda was going to exert herself to save her. There was never any doubt in my mind the human girl was going to leave unscathed."
Gus began sneaking around the living room, attempting not to get in between them.
"Funny; I heard a different story," Amity snapped back, "You were about to push her down into some jagged spike pit." She paused, breathed deeply, and began again calmly. "Look, Luz is my…my uh…she's a very close friend. Even in the short amount of time she's been here, I've come to admire and respect her on multiple levels. And I just hate the idea of anything bad happening to her." She then looked up at whoever was sneaking around behind her. "What do you want now, Hootie—Oh, it's you, Gus. What's up?"
"Sorry," Gus shook his hands, "Didn't mean to interrupt your…discussion. I was wondering if you'd seen Luz."
"Oh, yeah, sure," Amity pointed towards the stairs, "She's in her room with Willow."
"Thanks," Gus replied and smiled before heading towards the stairs.
Before he hit the first step, he overheard Amity continue, "But is it true what Luz said about Emperor Belos? That he …" And as he walked up, their voices became more faint, while the muffled voices of Luz and Willow grew louder.
He rounded the corner and headed down another hallway. There was a slightly opened door on the right side a few feet away from him to which he proceeded. It was clear this was the room where his friends were. As he opened the door, he heard Willow talking about something strange.
"Yeah, the weird dreams are still continuing," Willow replied to whatever Luz had asked a few seconds ago, "I made sure to notate the details when I woke up to keep from forgetting. I was wandering around these staircases that seemed to wind up odd angles, and there were doors that supposedly lead to certain memories I've had. It was kind of like what you described my mind looked like only less of a forest and more of an oddly angled house.
"Anyways, I finally went through one of the doors on the bottom levels that said 'Exit Through Subconscious.' When I walked through it, I found myself on a small cliff that seemed to be floating through some starry expanse. I looked around for a few seconds until it looked like four humans randomly appeared there, a man and three women. The man was jotting something down in his journal, talking about how his university would love to hear about it; as for the women, one was very hyper but had on this adorable green sweater that said 'I Heart Oregon' with a cute otter surrounded by flowers on it, one had bright red hair, wore a thick flannel shirt, and carried an axe, and then one was a really angry blonde who was carrying one of those phones you usually carry. I think she was using the camera as you would call it while complaining how dusty the cliff was and that it would ruin her expensive shoes. When they noticed me, they started asking me questions about my ears, where I was from, etc. But right when I heard this laughter, that sounded a little like King's, I woke up. I think I remember all four humans calling the voice 'Bill' or something like that."
"Well that is definitely weird," Luz widened her eyes, "Definitely weirder than mine. I dreamed I was in some kinda damp kingdom full of sentient newts. Likewise I did see a fellow human there; she looked like she had short dark hair and was wearing a cloak and furiously playing a Nintendo Switch. She did look my way and was surprised to see me. But as soon as she saw me, I was teleported somewhere else, somewhere really cold. It looked like a massive icy plateau. Towards the end, I saw these giant purple spiders crawling out of cracks in the ground, but then I woke up."
"That's also disturbing, and—Oh hey Gus," Willow chimed pleasantly, "Didn't see you there."
"Did I walk in on something private?" Gus raised an eyebrow, "It looks like you two are working on something."
"Welllll…" Willow rolled her eyes and answered nervously, "I kinda wanted to keep it between the girls. Was kinda worried you might see something embarrassing in this, since it is in our minds. But what's been happening is, we've been traveling to what seem like alternate or distorted realities in our dreams."
"And they've just gotten weirder after our fight with Belos and the destruction of the dimensional door," Luz followed, "And trust me, when I say something's weird, it's weird."
"And that's kinda why I stopped by," Gus said and proceeded to tell his story.
"If you saw Boscha and Mattholomule," Willow grimaced, "could that mean they're caught up in this, too?"
"I hope not," Gus sighed, "They're irritating enough in the waking world; we don't need them in the dream world. But there's got to be a reason all of this is happening. I'm wondering if our dreams are somehow influencing reality, or if something is trying to send us a message."
"Interesting you say that!" Luz raised a finger in excitement, "I have just the thing: a book Amity and I stole from the library's forbidden section!" She then raced over to her trunk and produced said tome. Willow and Gus noticed it was written in common, which made them realize it must have come from the human realm. "The way you're talking about how the real world and the dream world are two different places, I think this Randolph Carter guy takes that a step further. His dreams truly were an alternate dimension, complete with their own regions, eco-systems, and pantheon of gods, both good and evil."
The teens then proceeded to pour over the book and attempt to compare it to their own dreams. It was a bizarre read, one of which they didn't always agree, but it gave some insight to a world beyond the Boiling Isles.
"Apart from the human realm and here," Luz finally said, "I think there are a number of other planes we haven't visited. I'm still wondering about this place called Dimension 52 and who this Ford guy is."
"But he also mentioned a silver key," Gus followed, "one that could get us into the dream world."
"Uhh, Gus," Willow replied apprehensively, "I really don't think its a good idea to search for that. I mean, what if we open a door we can't close? I think we're playing with fire, and fire I just don't trust with my lovelies." She then stroked the top of a nearby potted flytrap plant she had grown earlier.
"Maybe," Gus responded, "But I think there's something to all these dreams, something we're missing."
"Alright then," Luz declared with some energy, "we will need to take your entries into consideration as well. Be sure to keep a notebook by your bed, too, my illusionist friend, and we will see what all this amounts to."
"Will do," Gus smiled.
The next day at school, it was the same pleasantries as usual. Bump had thankfully not authorized the Emperor's Coven to monitor the school, so classes could proceed as usual. It was in their conjuring history class that Gus couldn't help notice that Boscha was unusually quiet today, her 'friends' occasionally softly chittering with each other between the teacher's lecturing rather than to her directly. He turned around to look at her, only to find she was staring at him very intently, a look of absolute malice and agitation on her face.
Feeling uncomfortable, he immediately turned around to focus on the teacher and his notes, trying to ignore her death glare behind him.
The bell rang with a loud shill cry, and the class crowded around the door to leave. No sooner had Gus exited the crowd with Willow than he felt something hard grab him by the shoulder and spin him around. It was none other than Boscha who then pushed him up against a nearby locker, placing both hands on his shoulders.
"We need to talk, dork," Boscha growled.
"Hey, what're you doing?" Willow stepped back around, ready to defend him, "Leave him alone! I get that you like picking on us, but he didn't provoke you!"
"It's okay, Willow," Gus waved his hand dismissively, "I think I know what this is about. Just trust me; I'll be fine."
Willow had this longing look of extreme concern. Still, she nodded and headed to her next class. Gus then turned his attention back to the three-eyed bully in front of him. No sooner had he looked back at her then she released one of her hands and instinctively reached behind her, her gaze not breaking Gus'. She then grabbed another student by the collar, who could then tell was Mattholomule; he struggled for a moment, reaching at his neck before she brought him over next to Gus with a metallic thud.
"And now that I have you both together," she sneered, "We can talk about what happened last night."
"Ah, just what my day needed," Mattholomule grumbled looking at both of them, "A goody-two shoes nerd and a snobby rich brat. It's bad enough you two show up in my dreams…"
"So it DID happen," Boscha raised an eyebrow, "The plot thickens. Now, let's go somewhere private to…discuss matters. But before that, I've gotta ask you both…have you seen the yellow sign?"