Nights Twilight Dreaming
Chapter Thirty-Five
Crystal and her allies have just entered the doorway leading to her second Nightopia. As they looked around, she could see that the entire landscape was covered in sand, ruins, giant versions of ancient Egyptian artifacts, and stone tablets lining the sand all around. In the distance were rocky canyons in the shape of ankhs, a giant hourglass tower-shaped with two pyramids fused with one upside-down and on the top, and the other right-side up and on the bottom, and a sphinx with the face of an ancient pharaoh. There was even a river as well as an oasis to complete this beautiful world of the desert.
"Here it is gang," Crystal stated while looking in the distance. "The Temporal Millennium. A world filled to the brim with knowledge of the ancient past." Nights was flying toward the group with his mask on as she said this. She added with a sigh of comfort, "Ah, I suddenly feel right at home."
"Hey Crystal," said Nights garnering her attention. He flew right down to her and added, "Welcome…" he paused before giving a bow and said, "…to the world of sand." Seraphinite giggled upon seeing her friend in his mask, as did Crystal.
"Mask off, Nights," said Azure's voice from the life-sized whisper crystal behind her. "You're an insurgent." Nights laughed upon hearing the lad's voice on the other end of the Dream Gate.
"Oh, I was just playing," he told him while taking his mask off. "Come on. Let's go check this place out." He put his mask away while he said this. Crystal couldn't help but dive into one of the sandhills causing it to fall like sand in an hourglass. Owl was right beside her as she did this and gave her a warm smile.
"Ah, I always felt right at home in this dream world," she told them as her allies looked around. "Plenty of nostalgia, along with some hint of sadness."
"Indeed," said Owl with a smile. "As Nightopia is a reflection of a visitor's heart, this one is reflecting the sense of longing for the past. In other words, a desire for the place you once called home. The sadness is due to your misfortune from the abrupt separation from your guardian."
"Yeah," said Crystal, rising from her pile of sand and stretching herself. "Little old me is just homesick." She then looked toward the front only to find Luminaire flying frantically to the group.
"Hello, Luminaire," Lumière greeted her as she flew past him straight to Nights and Crystal. She looked as though she had been through a scary event.
"I don't know what happened," she exclaimed frantically, "but you better come!" Nights and Crystal grew concerned when they heard this prompting the latter to get up and straighten herself out. The two nodded at each other and they began to follow their frantic friend. As Crystal's pets followed the duo, they traversed the sandy land. She knew the place like the back of her hand, so she had no trouble wandering through the dream world.
"So what exactly happened?" she asked Luminaire who was flying ahead of the group.
"Well, we were exploring the place with hieroglyphs lining the fancy Ancient Egyptian slabs," she told them. "Som, Zoruk, and I flew on ahead, and two out of the three of us got captured! It was in the place with jackal statues lining up the sand."
"That's the Anubis Ruins," she told her.
"Well, we just have to make our way there, now don't we?" said Nights who was itching to rescue his friends. "Let's go, girls." Crystal and the others were traversing through the ocean of sand all the while keeping track of Luminaire who was ahead of them leading the group to where they needed to be. As they surged forward, they were attacked by a Nightmaren hoard, which in turn was quickly dispatched by Crystal and her allies, Luminaire's power of cosmos and lunar magic being among the attacks used against them. With them out of the way, they continued their trek through the desert even taking care of a second hoard of Nightmarens along the way. They took at least four minutes to make it to their destination, which was the Anubis Ruins.
Crystal, Luminaire, Nights, and her pets have been all making their way to the Anubis Ruins when they spot three cages, each with a different Goodle guarding them alongside their respective Buzzares. Crystal slid right over to a fallen Egyptian pillar and ducked to see what she was looking at with Nights and her pets joining her. She watched as one of the Buzzares was making circles of one of the cages, that being the magenta Buzzare ridden by the first Goodle. Inside the cage was Hikaru who was morose and was ironically wearing the same mask that she had a habit of putting on by mistake. She looked at the Goodle who was taunting her by roaring like a vampire. She closed her eyes in resignation her hands clasped over her gem.
"Hikaru," said Nights with a slight gasp. He and Crystal looked at each other for a brief moment before looking at Hikaru as the latter said, "She must've gotten caught while exploring the ruins." Crystal began to outline the cage on the sand along with a few stick figures representing herself and Hikaru.
"Okay," she said, "I can't put them to sleep again as they already know that trick all too well. So if I can sneak into the cage and then dualize with her…" Nights got into position before she could finish her sentence and said, "There's no time." He held out his hand to the young princess just as she looked up at him. She realized that she can't wait around any longer.
"Great idea, Nights," she told him with a smile. "I like the way you think." Crystal got up from her position as Nights held his hand out to her. She pressed her hand to his and the two are dualized once again. Nights began to fly into the air attracting the attention of the first Goodle and its' Buzzare. He laughed upon seeing them and began to taunt the duo.
"You're dualizing even though you're not in a cage?" he jeered. "Wait until Lord Reala hears about this." He then takes off into the air prompting Nights to fly after the bird and imp duo.
"We better keep up with him before she makes that report," said Crystal who was slightly peeved at the audacity of this rider. "Luckily the speed of a Level One Nightmaren is like a peregrine falcon." Nights had just paralooped an oncoming beetle-like Nightmaren as she said this.
"Speed is part of our gene pool," he piped up while they continued their pursuit of the Goodle. They flew past pillars of stone that seemed to be built of the same material as the pyramids of Egypt, soared above a sandy landscape, and even flew through some tiny dust devils to pursue their target. Crystal couldn't help but notice that sand was spewing from the ground almost as if they were geysers made of sand. With careful timing, she along with Nights dodged each one. They catch up to the Goodle and his Buzzare pet and grab them. After dashing into them, they retrieved the key.
"That's one key down," Crystal noted.
"And Hikaru is just over the horizon," said Nights in response. "Let's dodge all of those pillars of sand and let her out of there." Nights paralooped a few scarab-like Nightmarens as well as some Lumiralans while reaching Hikaru and her cage. She was waving over to them frantically as if her rescue was urgent. After Drill Dashing into some spheres made of sand and stone, they reach the cage Hikaru was trapped in and slammed the key into it destroying it in the process. Hikaru breathed a sigh of relief. She promptly removed her mask and stared it down in contempt before placing it back in her skirt pocket and flying off.
"Thank you so much you two," she said gratefully for the rescue. "I swear I will never wear my persona again!"
"Good," said Nights as he took off to another cage in the distance. "Leave it off this time." He then captured a strange mask-like Nightmaren and circled it causing it to disappear.
"Som's cage is right next to the Sobek River," said Hikaru as Nights and Crystal flew past some ancient pillars and sand spheres. "Good luck." The duo acknowledged her information with a nod before making their way to the Sobek River. They went through a series of rings and collected some blue chips along the way as they kept up with their target. The green Buzzare along with his rider were weaving their way through the area as the duo began to keep up. Crystal could see that some Nightmarens aren't willing to let the duo pass. After dodging some pillars that were knocked over by some scorpion-like Nightmarens, they see Sobek River in the distance. Nights performed his drill dash to keep up with the Goodle and Buzzare duo before grabbing them, and ramming into them to grab the key.
"Speedy little vulture," Crystal noted, "but also dumb as a post." Nights snickered upon hearing this.
"They're just as smart as crows," he told her as they flew past a few pillars and date palms too large to climb. "It's the riders who are the dingbats."
"My apologies," said the young princess. "Anyhow, I assume that blue Nightmaren is Som up ahead?"
"That's him," Nights clarified. "He's going to be relieved once he's out of there. The poor fellow is claustrophobic." The duo came closer to the river and Som's cage as they paralooped some Nightmarens, and flew through some rings as well. On top of this, they also used some acrobatic attacks against some of them. They reached Som's cage and used the key to unlock it, destroying it in the process. Som reacted triumphantly as he looked at the remains of his cage and angrily kicked one piece of it as it came down knocking it into the river. He took off soon after while Nights and Crystal flew off.
"Grr!" he growled. "I hate those stupid cages! That monster Reala likes to take advantage of my claustrophobia!"
"You and me both, Som," Nights said as he giggled at his ally's fit of anger. He and Crystal had just paralooped a Lumiralan as the two talked.
"Anyhow, Zoruk's the last one that needs to be rescued," said Som now as calm as the river below him. "Right over at the Nephthys Shrine no doubt. Watch out for those Lumiralans when you get too close though. The little mages can be sneaky and there's a lot of them waiting around the canyon area before you reach it."
"We'll keep that in mind, Som," Nights told him reassuringly. He and Crystal continued as they spotted the final Buzzare and Goodle duo in the distance. The duo made their way through a sandy canyon in hot pursuit of the Buzzare and Goodle duo. Among the various ankhs, scarab statues, and golden pillars, plenty of Lumiralans were prevalent, as described by Som. Some of them nearly succeeded in capturing Nights, but their efforts were in vain as they were either Drill-Dashed out of the way or paralooped before they had the chance. They flew through rings and gathered blue chips as they flew through the canyon and dodged all of the falling pillars. They also encountered some more Lumiralans as well as some crocodile-like Nightmarens who jumped out of the water to try and snatch the flying jester. Thankfully Nights had ample opportunity to strike back, which he took. He paralooped the snapping crocodile Nightmarens and tap-dashed the rest of the Lumiralans. They eventually catch up to the bird after going through a series of tunnels to keep up with it and snatched its' key right after barreling them out of the way. Crystal used her foresight to see Nephthys Shrine up ahead as well as a cage right next to it.
"I'm assuming that's Zoruk over there?" she asked as the two flew closer to the cage.
"That's right," Nights confirmed with a wink. "It looks like he wants to burn the cage down."
"Um," the young princess replied with a hint of confusion, "you can't destroy the cage unless you have the key handy. Then again, I sympathized with him as I hate being the damsel in distress." Nights giggled upon hearing such a notion from her mouth.
"Me too," he told her. "It's no fun to be cooped up while waiting for someone to rescue you. Let's break him out of there." He paralooped a frog Nightmaren as he said this.
"Roger that," Crystal replied while remaining focused on the flight path. The duo continued to surge forward as they plowed through the Nightmarens that dared to block their path. Crystal can see that the cage was closer now as they flew up to it and also the Nephthys Shrine. Zoruk was waving them down as they approached him. Nights quickly flew up to his cage and inserted the key thus destroying the already burnt inside the cage. Zoruk produced a celebratory flame torch in the air before performing an air fist-bump to Nights and then taking off soon after.
"Little late to the party," he told them, "but I figured the Lumiralans were the hold-up."
"Thank you for your understanding soldier," said Crystal with a smile. "I'm Crystal by the way. You've already met Nights."
"Glad to meet you, your highness," he replied. "Hikaru has all the details on what happened. I'll meet up you two at the Anubis Ruins."
"Sounds good, Zoruk," said Nights as he and Crystal flew forward with the intent of returning to the same location they began their mares in. As they did, Reala was seen hiding behind a sand statue of a camel looking slightly annoyed at the situation. As he pondered his thoughts, the Magenta Buzzare and its' rider flew up to him as the bird prodded his shoulder playfully prompting him to turn his head to his soldier. The Goodle produced some paper that contained some needed insight on the girl. As he took a look at the contents, he had a surprised look for a brief moment before turning his head to his sibling and chuckling. The two left the area soon after via his vortex.
Nights and Crystal have just arrived back in the Anubis Ruins and have separated upon landing on the sandy ground. Crystal took a look around to see if she could spot her allies anywhere while her pets approached the duo and assumed their original positions with their master. She and Nights soon look to the sky as their friends approach the duo, especially Hikaru, Som, and Zoruk, who was recently rescued from their entrapment earlier. Crystal didn't waste any time voicing Nightmaria's concerns.
"I apologize for not saying this sooner, but," she told them, "our commander sent us to come to find you three after you've been missing for three hours straight. How did you guys end up in cages?"
"I guess we do have some explaining to do," answered Hikaru with an embarrassed smile. The flashback begins at what appears to be a tomb containing hieroglyphs along the walls. Hikaru had a light right beside her as Luminaire, Som, and Zoruk were looking over at the writing in wonder and amazement. We were exploring the inside of one of the pyramids in the Wadjet Archipelago. Some of the areas were showing memories of yours from the past and present and let's just say that things were in high spirits back then. Luminaire looked over at the entrance and was amazed at the picture of Crystal's battle against Zorc the Dark One depicted as an ancient slab carving.
"Whoa!" she said amazed at the detail. "Do you guys see what I see?" Zoruk and Som were slightly perplexed at the carving when she showed the duo.
"A modern girl fighting a rogue god?" asked Zoruk. "Did this happen?" Hikaru recognized the girl in the slab right away when she noticed the scepter in her hand looked familiar.
"That's Princess Crystal," she told them. "Though her hair was much shorter then. And she appears to be doing battle with Zorc the Dark One with what appears to be a large phoenix by her side."
"You mean Zorc Necrophades?" asked Zoruk slightly surprised at this revelation. "I heard he's a spirit wandering around the Waking World now."
"I heard about that," said Som shivering slightly. "He was a nasty piece of work. But his wicked deeds are pale compared to Wizeman." Luminaire took notice of the hieroglyphs below the image.
"Hey Hikaru," she asked her fellow Nightmaren. "What does that say?" Hikaru then looked to the hieroglyphs beneath the carving and looked aghast.
"My word," she told the trio. "She tore him limb from before his body could crash into the planet. Quite the terrifying depiction."
"I can imagine what would happen if she didn't resort to that in time," said Som worried about the alternate outcome.
"If everybody was wiped out," said Zoruk, "there would be nobody to scare or help with what they're scared of."
"I'm getting spooked a little just thinking about it," said Luminaire. "Let's just go to another area."
"Right," said the others in unison. The quartet then flew single file out of the pyramid but not before Hikaru blotted out the light in her hand leaving only darkness. As they left, a stream of blue light entered from an unknown source as a shadow of a familiar Nightmaren loomed into view. He looked at the entrance as a grin formed on his face. The quartet was being watched.
We didn't know it at the time, but there was trouble following close by. We just made the mistake of splitting up before the event. Hikaru and the others were now in the Anubis Ruins exploring more of Crystal's memories. Hikaru noticed something on the ground and gasped in delight as she took notice.
"You guys go on ahead," she told her allies. "I'll catch up."
"Okay," said Som in response. The trio then took off to another part of Crystal's dream world of sand. I was with Som and Luminaire at the time. We were way ahead of Hikaru when we found a weird-looking image on a pillar lying on the ground. Luminaire, Som, and Zoruk were flying together when they came across something fascinating.
"Hey guys, look," she pointed to the fallen pillar with what appeared to be a story on it. "Does this look familiar?" Som and Zoruk took a look and were amazed.
"Wow," said Zoruk amazed at the detail. "Looks like the event that Hikaru described. Weirdly, it's verbatim too."
"And there's Nights telling Crystal to stay put while he talked to Owl," said Som noting the image beforehand. Luminaire was aghast when he mentioned this.
"You're right," she responded. She looked over at the even after this one and said, "And then over here…" She paused before flying over to the second image and she added, "…I can see that she was caught off guard as the kidnapper comes in and grabs her before she can get away." Som shuddered having just followed his colleague to know what she was talking about.
"Well she was five at the time so, I can imagine how she felt when it happened," he told her while a worried tone crossed his voice. Zoruk was looking over at the image of the kidnapper and was frowning slightly at the sight.
"It's too bad she doesn't know who he is," he told his colleagues. "Especially since his image on the slab's been scratched up pretty bad."
"Yeah," said Som slightly sad at the situation.
"Well," said Luminaire, "I'm sure there's more to it than what's shown here. Let me check real quick." As she took off in the direction of another pillar, Som noticed and said, "Hey, wait for me!" Zoruk was slightly annoyed at this as to him, it was like babysitting a pair of teenagers. As he rolled his eyes, he began to fly in their direction. Som and Luminaire were starting to get on my nerves but I wasn't about to let them wander off on their own. I was about to head out to where they were, which was past Nephthys Shrine. That's when I got ambushed. As he was flying toward the Nephthys Shrine, he is ambushed by the Goodle with his blue Buzzare. The vulture-like Nightmaren grabbed the Nightmaren from behind him and he struggled to break free. I didn't get the chance to escape as I ended up blacking out from a blow to the head. He was about to summon a fireball to blast the Goodle until he was knocked unconscious by the rider. He passed out from his concussion as a cage formed around him while the Goodle and Buzzare flew backward to let the event take its' course.
Meanwhile, Som and Luminaire were much further from Zoruk when this occurred. They were overlooking a river that seemed to go for miles as well as reach a certain point at the Twin Pyramid Tower in the distance. Luminaire and I were further ahead of Zoruk at the time. Admittedly, I suspected that he wasn't following us any further and I was a bit on edge. My reasoning? I thought he was kidnapped. They were exploring the area with Som slightly nervous about Zoruk's absence. As they surged forward, he spoke up about his concern.
"Luminaire," he told her. "I think something happened to Zoruk. We should go back and check upon him."
"Maybe," she replied. "But I've got to see if there are any more memories of hers I should know about. It could lead us into finding out who her kidnapper is."
"I know," he said slightly annoyed, "but it's not like him to lose track of us so quickly." He then spotted the river not too far from the duo. Luminaire spotted it too and said, "Hey, a river!"
"Good," he replied in relief. "I could use a drink of water right now." He then approached the river alongside Luminaire to get a closer look. I never should've let my guard down. Neither of us knew at the time, but one of Reala's Goodles was about to strike. After checking to see if it was clear, he summoned what appeared to be a goblet in his hand and took some water from the river. After downing it in one gulp causing some laughter from Luminaire, he smiled and said with relief, "Ah, much better." He then looked to the river only to see a reflection of the green Buzzare in the water. He gasped and turned to see his foe coming closer to the duo at a fast pace. He realized the gravity of the situation as his eyes widened in fear.
"Luminaire, look out!" he shouted as he pushed his ally out of the way just in time for the Buzzare to grab him over its' intended prey. Luminaire was aghast when she saw her friend being manhandled by the vulture-like Nightmaren as he struggled to get free from its' talons. The Goodle riding the Buzzare got on his back as he struggled and produced what appeared to be lightning imbued baton. He struck the young Nightmaren as he grunted in pain.
"Just go! I'll catch up!" he shouted. Luminaire, frightened at the situation, flew off in the direction of the entrance to the Dream Gate. Som was growling and yelling in pain as he knelt in the air. The Goodle and the Buzzare rejoined and flew backward as the cage formed around him with the young Nightmaren taking notice. As the cage finished forming, he struck the side of the cage in frustration as Goodle giggled at the sight. At this, he emits the words, "Darn you, Reala." He sulked having been caught by the adversary by proxy.
Meanwhile, Hikaru was all alone when she came across the Anubis Ruins. As she looked around in fascination, her quill and parchment in hand, she stumbled across the same pillar that her colleagues were enticed by. After I had finished what I was doing over in the Archipelago, I came across the pillars that Zoruk had just described. It didn't take long for me to interpret the meaning behind these images. She flew to it and looked into the image itself. She recognized the event straight away.
"Fascinating," she noted. "It's showing the event of the kidnapping we saw in headquarters." She looked over to the image of younger Crystal being pulled away by the 1st Level Nightmaren. She flew over to the image and made note of the scratches along with the form. "The culprit has yet to be identified." She then realized what was occurring with the fallen pillars in question.
"I get it!" she noted. "It's keeping track of the memories Crystal has recovered! This isn't just a world of sand and archeology, it's a Dream World of Memories! That explains the image we saw at the Wadjet Archipelago! Her memories are recorded here!" She then took her quill and began to jot down her findings. She was very excited to find out her latest discovery. As she jot down some notes she said, "Wait until the resistance hears about this." As she finished her notes rather quickly, she then heard someone fly behind making her think that her allies are right behind her. She then made the quill and parchment disappear before she began to turn around.
"Sorry I'm late, I…" she managed to say before she gasped in horror upon seeing who was behind her. To her fright and dismay, there in the air was Reala whose arms were crossed while he grinned in at his former colleague.
"Hello Hikaru," he said maliciously. "So good to see you again." Hikaru began to fly away, only to be cut off by a pair of Goodles blocking her path alongside their recently joined ally. She tried to flee from her captors, but with every move she made, they blocked her way every time. Reala snapped his fingers causing the cage to form around her as she panicked. She is immediately flung upwards as the cage rose into the air and the mask magically flew out of her skirt pocket as if it were being pulled. As soon as the cage stopped rising, she rubbed her head as if she collided with the ceiling of the cage, and the mask flew onto her face, much to her horror.
"It's no use fleeing, Hikaru," chided Reala as he approached the cage. "You're lucky that one of your allies escaped amid Som's capture. But we'll see to her later." He grinned as he narrowed his eyes in triumph and malice. "First we need to inform Master Wizeman, and once he helps you with your little problem, you'll be back to your old self in no time. And who knows? Perhaps your sister Pandora would welcome you back with open arms." He chuckled at the notion while Hikaru began gasping in a panic. She began to have brief flashbacks of being bullied during training while doing her research on Ideya and Nightopia, and especially Pandora's jeering passive-aggressiveness. Tears formed around her eyes as she suddenly hallucinated her sister right behind her while laughing maliciously.
"No!" she cried out as she broke down collapsing to the floor of the cage in fear and anguish. Reala chuckled upon seeing his fellow Nightmaren on her knees and shaking with terror. The thought of returning to my former home through force terrified me to no end. The flashback ends with Hikaru floating in the air no longer wearing her mask and surrounded by her allies, including Owl who was flapping his wings while floating in the air.
"It was one of the reasons I left the army in the first place," she told them. "I wasn't going to work in an environment where you're a mouse within a world of cats." The pets all looked at Hikaru sympathetically.
"That makes sense," said Som with an empathetic tone. "A place like that is no place for someone who folks turn their back on."
"And there's no point in taking it up to Wizeman or Reala," said Crystal with sympathy. "They would've taken the bully's side."
"You're right," said Hikaru in agreement. "And Wizeman would've forced me to beg for forgiveness. And what's worse, before my divergence, Reala did nothing to help with the trauma I've been through. I refuse to go through that again."
"Well, you're on rebel's side now," said Nights. "And if Pandora or anyone else gives you any more trouble, you know who to turn to." Hikaru looked up when Nights said those words.
"Thank you Nights," she said with a hopeful smile. "You are the light that shines." Crystal and the others all smiled upon hearing this from Hikaru. She then realized something she said earlier as she looked over to the pillars that she mentioned.
"Wait a minute," she said while looking at the pillars. "Didn't you say there were fallen pillars that showed recovered memories?"
"Yes actually," said Hikaru. "They're right here in the Anubis Ruins if you wish to take a look." Crystal looked over at the pillars and was a bit surprised at the images shown upon her. Owl observed the images on the pillars.
"I recognize these images as well," said Owl. "This is currently showing the capture in question." Crystal took a closer look and noticed that there was nothing beyond the image of her kidnapper much to her disappointment.
"Looks like that's all we've got at this point," she noted. "I'm not surprised that the kidnapper's been scratched up though. I don't know who it is yet."
"Regardless," said Owl, "if it truly contains the memories you've regained, especially the one you've regained from your battle against Cerberus, perhaps we can identify the Nightmaren responsible for your capture. Once we gather enough Memories of course."
"Good luck," said Zoruk. "The next 2nd Level Nightmaren hasn't been spotted yet."
"Even so," said Som, "there will come a time when she has to face her next Nightmaren. We'll just have to wait." The others nodded in agreement. Crystal and her pets smiled upon hearing this news.
"Let's hope it works in our favor," said Nights with a wink.
"Right," said Crystal in agreement. "Let's head back to the Dream Gate for now though. We don't want to keep our commander waiting."
"Oops!" said Nights laughing a little at the situation. "We almost forgot about her! Let's go, everyone!" The group began to head out to the entrance to the Dream Gate. Although their adventure in the World of Sand has begun, there may be hope yet for the resistance. The only thing they will need is a miracle.
To be continued…