"Of course, I've been telling you everything you already knew," Nodens sipped his tea by the dim yet soothing firelight, "You've heard enough lore about megalomaniacal extraplanar entities wanting to invade your world and in this case, your girlfriend's world as well."
"Yeah," Luz sipped her tea as well, "This Nyarlathotep, or Howler in Darkness, or Randall Flagg, or Bill Cipher, or whatever you wanna call him sounds pretty much like every 'Final Fantasy' or 'Dungeons Dungeons and More Dungeons' villain ever."
"Ha," Nodens chuckled, "Of course in your current timeline, your culture is oversaturated with these sort of stories." He placed his tea on the small end table near him. "But nevertheless, he is a powerful foe, one not to be taken lightly. Are you sure you can draw the zodiac rune Nasht had shown you?"
"Well," Luz cocked her head to the side, "I did kinda spend all night with one of the Ulthar kittens drawing and re-drawing it."
"And of course those cats are smarter than you think," Nodens smiled, "Alright, I believe you. Just be careful. It's not just your girlfriend's life that's at stake; it's both Earthrealm and the Boiling Isles that he's looking to invade."
"I have to," Luz breathed heavily, "Amity is counting on me."
"Well, get some rest," Nodens turned to go, "You have a long journey tomorrow to Leng. From there, you can get to Kadath."
"Wait," Luz called out as Nodens reached the bedroom door of the inn Luz would be staying in that night, "Nasht said the form he presented himself in, the pretty boy look, that wasn't really what he looked like…Is that the same case for you and Bast?"
"Yes, indeed," Nodens replied with a sigh.
"Can you…show me what you really look like?"
"I surmise that would be unwise, girl."
"Just a hint?" Luz widened her eyes, giving the proverbial 'puppy dog' eyes, "Pweeeze?"
"Very well," Nodens pointed his index finger upward, and it began to grow longer in a few seconds. Before long it was twisting into a large tendril that swirled and spiraled around patterns Luz could not ascertain, perhaps because of the darkness or perhaps because the finger didn't appear to conform to her concept of physical dimension, the swirls and spirals it made not offering her a hint of depth perception. it was like if MC Esher had tried to draw Junji Ito's spirals. And she could swear she saw water dripping from it and spattering on the floor. Within milliseconds, the finger returned to its normal form, and the water dried from the cedar wood floor.
"Point made," Luz smiled, "Well, you and Bast don't seem like you want to hurt me. If you did, you would have already done it."
"We have purposed ourselves in aiding and preserving life," Nodens answered her, "While we cannot always interfere, we still desire your wellbeing and will aid you where we still are permitted."
"Well, good night, Aquaman!" Luz beamed before laying down in her bed, the pillow offering one of the softest feelings she had of any fabric.
"Ha, good night, otter girl," Nodens shut the door.
She began to rest her head on the soft, cotton pillow of the bed, covering herself in the fine linens that further displayed the decadence this inn, and likewise the city had to offer. She began to drift off to sleep once more, wondering at the possibility of having dreams within dreams. The movie Inception popped into her head.
Drifting was the right word as she felt herself floating through the air. She perceived for a moment that she was levitating through the window, the light of the moon drawing her nearer and nearer to the aperture. She began to float outward through it into the night sky, past the city roofs, past the mountains and high trees, on through the stars and now hovering among the great celestial bodies.
The vast alabaster moon drew closer and closer and ever closer…
She then awoke on the icy granite floor of a small 20ft squared room. Disoriented and mildly panicked, Luz fumbled to her feet and began looking around at the new surroundings. There was a massive steel gate in front that looked like it lead to a walkway. Beyond it was a large pit that looked like it contained more cells like this. Inside each cell were creatures of various description, some more humanoid than others.
"Is this a dream?" Luz asked, but then she realized she answered her own question in that.
Thankfully, her pack was still with her for some reason. She wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, though. She pulled some of the paper glyphs from her pouch and touched one of the fire runes. The flame it produced flickered for a moment before fizzling to nothing. She tried one of the ice runes. The ice immediately melted, and the water it made evaporated. She even tried one of the electric runes, but it failed to make even a small shock.
There was clearly some kind of anti-magic aura in the room.
Just then, she noticed something moving down the walkway, some large immensity making what looked like a hopping motion passed her cell. It was what looked like a large humanoid toad, holding a ring of keys in its gargantuan fist. The only difference between that and a toad was that its head was a mass of tendrils that twitched and turned in random directions. It turned its "head" in her direction; there were no eyes, but Luz could feel the thing looking at her. It then continued to hop down the walkway in the opposite direction.
Luz ran to the bars and yelled at the thing, "What did I do? Why are you keeping me here!?" No response. Memories of her first day on the Boiling Isles ran through her head.
She backed away from the bars and plopped down on the ratty cot in the room. She thought about what to do next, taking in her surroundings and wondering if there was a feasible way to escape. Her eyes then turned to the window, and through the bars was the night sky once again. Instead of the moon, however, there hung what looked like a blue, gray, and green ball that Luz immediately recognized as the Earth. Was she on the moon?
Just then, there came a loud boom from behind her. She spun around and saw the faint glow of a fire and the billowing of smoke.
"Jail break!" came what sounded like a humanoid voice.
"We're free!" boomed another more guttural, gelatinous voice.
"I know a way out! Come on!" came yet another more chittering, insect-like voice.
Following this, there flew to the upper walkway a figure clad in what looked like one of the Emperor's Coven robes. The individual was also holding a long staff, and as they floated upwards, they launched several fireballs down to the lower levels that sounded off with a boom as each landed. The cloaked figure, then ran along the balcony towards Luz's cell and, waiving their wand, opened the lock and slid the cell bars to the side.
"We don't have much time," a voice Luz determined to be that of a teenage male spoke, "You should be able to use your glyphs when you get out of that cell."
"What's happening?" Luz shrugged, "And I'm assuming you knew about the glyphs because I think you might be someone I know."
"I am, but that's not important right now," the cloaked boy said, "Let's get out of here!"
The two ran from the cell along a walkway. Eventually, they came to a more narrow walkway that led to a large stained glass window. Most of the stained glass windows Luz had seen in the Human Realm depicted angels and saints, but this one had what looked like a completely alien figure. It was human enough in shape and size, but its hands were three pronged claws and it's head, if one were to call it that, was just one enormous red tongue-like tentacle.
The boy didn't hesitate in the slightest as he flung himself through the glass, guarding his face with his arms. Luz followed suit, pulling out an air glyph that allowed her to land more gracefully than the boy who did a tumble motion as he landed.
Luz found herself indeed on the off-white granite-like rock of the moon. Looking around, she found high stone walls lined with small towers; she didn't have time to look long as the tentacle faced toad creatures began hopping towards them, holding crude weapons. The boy fought off one with his staff and blasted it, while Luz froze another with an ice glyph. The two ran forward, using their magic to fight their way toward the opened gate at the walls. More of the creatures in the towers began firing massive laser ballistas at them as the fled across the moon's surface. It was almost surreal to Luz while she ran, as though the moon had the same gravity as Earth. Of course, she also wondered how she could breathe, but then again, her thoughts reminded her that this was the Dreamlands, and almost anything could be possible here.
"This way!" yelled the boy as he grabbed Luz's arm and pulled her down a rock slope and into a cavern on a hillside. The two caught their breath as they saw two of the tentacle toads leap over the side of the cliff and thankfully not discovering the alcove in which case Luz and the boy were staying.
"What were those…things?" Luz asked, "And how did I get here?"
"Their real names have been lost to time," the boy answered, "but human and witches both call them Moon-Beasts. A bit on the nose, I know. They traverse the Dreamlands and enslave various species they find."
"Now my next question," Luz continued, "Why are you helping me…Hunter?"
"How did you figure it was me?" Hunter responded as he lowered his hood and took off his mask.
"Your voice and the cloak were kind of a dead giveaway," Luz chuckled, "You clearly have no trouble with magic here."
"And that's one of the great things about the Dreamlands," Hunter replied, "It took me awhile, but I am a frequent dreamer. Much easier to master talents here than in the real world."
"So what brought you here?"
"I was trying to free the slaves the Moon-Beasts had captured," Hunter sighed, "Even if I can't be the revolutionary hero I want to be in the real world, I can at least liberate people in my dreams. I wish my uncle saw things the same way I did."
"Your uncle?" Luz asked.
"Nevermind," Hunter dismissed her, "You're trying to get to Kadath, aren't you?"
"And how did you know that?" Luz raised an eyebrow.
"Word around the Dreamlands about yet another person who entered here without dreaming," Hunter answered, "It's seriously dangerous doing that! But at least you don't have to worry about waking up at the wrong time and suddenly losing your place when you get back to sleep. I think it's courageous of you." He smiled, and she returned it.
"Well, how do I get back?" Luz asked.
"There's a teleportation circle in this cave," Hunter answered, "I discovered it awhile back and have been using it to conduct my raids on the Moon-Beasts lairs. It should get you to Leng, but not directly to Kadath unfortunately."
"One does not simply teleport into Kadath!" Luz did a gravely voice.
"Well, no," Hunter shook his head, "What's with the voice?"
"It's a human thing," Luz laughed. And the two then decided to make their way further into the cavern until they found a glowing white circle with various runes and glyphs upon it.
"Go ahead and stand there for about 20 seconds," he told her, and she did.
"Wait, why don't you come with me?" Luz abruptly asked, "I could really use some help rescuing Amity!"
"I need to stay and try to liberate more of the slaves," Hunter answered and then turning his head and looking down, "Plus, I don't think Amity would want to see me. We kinda…had a fight the last time we saw each other."
"A fight?" Luz shook her head, "What about?" But before she could get her answer, a massive light formed around her and she found herself somewhere else. It was extremely cold, forcing her to grab her arms and begin rubbing them. She was on a massive cliffside of a high plateau. Looking down, all that was visible was wafting cotton clouds that stirred and mingled with the falling snow. Behind her was the long flat seemingly endless tundra, all blanketed in white puffy snow. She opened her pack and thankfully found some warmer clothes which she immediately put on; she then readied several more fire glyphs. They would be necessary if she were to survive this dreaded place she knew to be the Plateau of Leng.