Chapter 3: Sleep Paralysis

The title Field of Statues did not prepare Makomo for the horrors she was about to witness. Victims were running onto the field but as soon as they stepped off the path, they were frozen to the ground. Monsters would slowly stomp towards them and brutally slash them to pieces. Thus the statues were the rotting and bloody remains decorating the field. Seeing this made Makomo sick to her stomach.

"If anyone gets past the Unending Path," Sabito pointed to a fresh corpse. "They usually meet their demise here."

"Emiko," Makomo frantically looked around, trying to remember what her cousin was wearing. Was it pink pajamas or purple? And were they polka dot themed or flowers?

There were so many body parts and items stained with blood; she couldn't tell what the original colours were. Maybe if they managed to get through the field, she could get a closer look at the items. Unfortunately, they reached the end of the path where the field began.

"How did you get past this?" Makomo asked Sabito.

"I walked across the corpses of the monsters I killed," he stated proudly.

"Sounds… manly?"

There were currently no monsters around. She would have to try something else, maybe a shovel? A wooden handle appeared in her hand. Satisfied, Makomo began to shovel dirt from the path onto the misty ground of the field. Any monsters tat tried to attack them were smacked with the shovel and swiftly decapitated by Sabito's sword.

Nothing remotely close to Emiko's belongings was found, much to Makomo's relief. However, she did find a large pile of various knickknacks.

"What in the world?" She stopped shovelling to observe the odd heap before her.

"When people fall into the Nightmare Realm, they often have an item from the outside world." Sabito explained. "That's how they can escape because it binds them to reality."

"But nobody ever woke up," Makomo looked down at the torn rabbit. "Those monsters are trying to take these items so nobody can leave."

As Sabito began to respond, an enormous creature emerged from the ground slashing at them. Makomo dropped the shovel and was falling towards the paralyzing ground. Instinctively, she willed herself to flip her body in midair and land on the safety of the path she shovelled. That also opened an enormous hole in the ground, spewing lava. It blocked them from reaching the other side of the field. Sabito turned and gave her a frustrated expression.

"Oops…"

"Start running!" he yelled as the monster attacked.

Staring at the fiery void, Makomo's brain raced to form a plan. If she summoned a bridge, what's to say the void wouldn't widen or completely engulf the entire field? Plus there was that monster to deal with. It towered over them, making it difficult to fight. Decapitation was out of the question.

Then she had an idea.

"Sabito, how are you at climbing?"

"What!? Why are you asking me that now!?" He screamed as he jumped away from the creature's claws.

"Just answer the question!" Makomo ran and jumped onto the shovel to avoid touching the ground.

"Fine I guess?"

"Good, follow my lead."

Leaping off the shovel, Makomo landed on her handmade path and ran towards the monster. Jumping up, she latched onto its knee. She swung herself around to the back of its leg and began to climb, pulling on its fur. The creature howled, trying to swat her off. Looking over, Makomo spotted Sabito on the monster's other leg.

"We use this thing to cross the chasm!" She explained, climbing higher.

"Are you crazy!?"

"All my dreams are crazy," Makomo muttered to herself. "Especially that one with the singing chicken in a tutu."

She was on the monster's back when she slipped. Sabito caught her arm and swung her onto the monster's shoulder.

"Don't die here!" He reminded her.

"I don't plan to," she drew her sword. "I need your sword!"

He passed the weapon over as the monster tried to shake them off. Makomo sunk the two blades into the monster's neck. Leaning to the right, she directed it towards the fiery void. Slowly, it stepped to the edge of the ground and began to fall. Pulling Sabito to the top of the creature's head, Makomo prepared to jump.

"Now!"

Hand in hand, the two soared through the air and landed on the other side of the field. At the moment the monster landed in the lava, Makomo realized she left the swords in its neck. So what was she holding in her-

"You okay?"

"Yeah…" she took a deep breath. "That actually worked!"

"Are you… are you going to keep holding my hand?"

"What?" She sat up and gave him a sly smile. "Is it not manly to hold my hand?"

"I figured… it was just… for the… jump…" He trailed off.

Makomo swore she saw him blush. Part of her wanted to see how far she could push it but she decided to give the poor guy a break. Then a question popped into her mind as she released his hand.

"Sabito, what item did you lose? Did you see it before I… destroyed the field?"

He fell silent. For a moment, Makomo wondered if she asked too personal a question.

"I don't remember what I lost." He frowned. "It's been so long."

She didn't know what to say. What if she did destroy the only hope he had for escaping this wretched place? Would it have been better if Makomo let herself fall on the paralyzing ground of the field? Quickly, she reminded herself that Emiko was her first priority. However, she began to feel responsible for helping Sabito return home too.

"We'll find it." Makomo assured him. "I mean, you said you got through all three areas. Maybe the next area will have a clue."

He shook his head. "The next area is the worst."

"Worse than that!?" Makomo pointed at the burning field.

The next area, he explained, was the Cycle Pool. Victims that managed to get that far would slip into the water and fall into an endless cycle of sleep and false awakening. The longer they remained, the further they sank, the scarier the awakening would be. Monsters could easily kill anyone in the pool but they could also slaughter the victim from within their false awakening.

"How did you get across?" Makomo asked.

"I was actually thrown across by a monster." Sabito recalled. "They tried to throw me in but they used enough force that I was more than half way across the pool. I managed to swim to the other side before I could fall asleep."

Looking up, Makomo spotted the pool. The unnatural bright blue colour seemed to radiate light. Carefully, she crept to the edge and looked in.

There was Emiko.

Sleep Paralysis: momentary impression that the body is paralyzed just after waking or before falling asleep