6
The Second Night
"Death is merciful, for there is no return therefrom, but with him who has come back out of the nethermost chambers of night, haggard and knowing, peace rests nevermore." – H. P. Lovecraft, "Hypnos"
Koshiro sat in his habitual chair in front of his laptop. Gennai had had nothing to report. The Arkham Dark Tower had appeared without any warning whatsoever, though there had been a sudden distortion of the Digital World when it came suddenly into being. He likewise had no idea as to where the inhabitants of Arkham had gone, once Koshiro had relayed the news of their disappearance from Iori's email.
Deciding that complete openness would be the best policy, the six Chosen who had visited Arkham had told the others of their dreams. The old guard recognized Millenniumon from Ken's descriptions of his nightmares, and tried to remember their own dreams the previous night. Koshiro's dreams had been largely formless, but no less disturbing than those of the others. He had floated along strange angles and sensed rather than seen the worlds those angles connected, worlds light and dark, Digital or not.
Now night was drawing close once more, and they were apparently no nearer to a solution than they had been since Ken had first told them of his nocturnal visitor. Though few of the Chosen Children had said anything about it, all dreaded a recurrence of the previous night's experiences. Koshiro could only imagine what Hikari must be going through, and Ken – how must Ken feel knowing that his home was just as easily accessible to physical threats as well as dreams?
How safe were any of the twelve, really? Koshiro did not want to go to sleep. So little had been accomplished. But, there was no other method of investigation open to them at the moment. The enemy would have to make the first move. It was a hard fact to stomach.
Similar thoughts were occurring around this time to each of the other Chosen. Their parents had not been told of what was happening; there was worry enough among the children. The burns left by the Witchmon's poison storm had cleared up once they reentered the human world, and would not be noticed by the adults. Ken had thought about spending the night at one of the others' apartments, but didn't like the thought of leaving his parents alone. At the Yagami residence, Taichi said goodnight to his sister with some reluctance. He wanted to believe that dreams, though they may be frightening, could not hurt her, especially with Tailmon right there by her side, but couldn't quite convince himself completely. Nearby, at the apartment complex he shared with Miyako and Takeru, Iori didn't want a repeat of his nightmare either. But the night was inexorable, sleep inevitable.
Night fell over Tokyo, and once the last rays of sunlight had failed, the Dark Man took to the streets. Even amid the glare of streetlights a shadow seemed to hang about his features, so that one would have to come very close to see more than the glitter of his eyes and the flash of teeth when he smiled.
A close inspection would reveal him to be a foreigner, though his exact nationality would be difficult to guess. When the mercenary, Hiraga Ayaki, had been introduced to him not long ago, he had been struck by the man's features and unable to place them. The closest he could come was to imagine that if a figure on an ancient Egyptian wall painting had come to life and clothed himself as a modern man of the world, he would very much resemble this person that Hiraga's employer, Sato Katsu, referred to only as the Dark Man. And yet despite his foreign appearance, the man's Japanese was perfect, idiomatic, without a trace of accent, as though he had lived in the country all his life.
As he walked along the sidewalks, people approaching him would often cut across the street almost without realizing they did so, and for no reason they could afterward remember. Others, who did not bother to cross the street, or resisted the unusual urge to do so, might pass by him and feel a chill as though they stepped quickly in and out of a freezer. Those who caught his mirthful eye might suddenly feel the beginnings of a headache.
Eventually he would turn off the main streets and wander through shadowy parks and alleyways, occasionally looking up at a darkened window in an apartment complex, in which a sleeper might start to groan in the throes of nightmare. Last night he had visited Ichijouji Ken while Sato, who had called the Dark Man by name as the powers of darkness mobilized, made his first foray into the dreams of Yagami Hikari.
Things had begun well. The first Dark Tower had been destroyed, but there would be others. So many others. The forces of evil had gathered in three worlds, ready for the last battle, the final push that would plunge the human world and the Digital World into never-ending darkness. And so the Dark Man strode grinning through the night.
Darkness and stench, then the tall wooden fences swam into view. As she had feared, the dream was repeating itself. Hikari stood still this time, waiting to see if the calm, cold voice would return. So far the only sound she heard was the monotonous pounding of the waves on the beach. But then she did hear something else. Footsteps, coming from the other side of a fence. She looked in that direction. Something was moving on the other side of the barrier, on which hung a sign written in Digi-Letters, which she could not read.
The sounds were heavy, wet and measured. Hikari had only heard that sort of sound once before, and knew that no human feet produced it. She backed instinctively away from the fence. As the sounds reached a point directly across from her, the footsteps stopped and a new, softer but no less disgusting sound replaced them. The thing was sniffing. It could smell her.
She burst into a run then, racing as fast as her feet could carry her down the alley formed by the two fences, looking back once, half expecting to see a black, slippery form pulling itself over the top of one side. Eventually she came to an opening in the left of the two fences, and passed through it so as to be somewhat farther from the source of the sounds. A dilapidated house stood before her, the windows like the empty, staring eyes of dead fish.
Hikari paused to catch her breath. Like all the other buildings in this horrific town, the house seemed to be deserted. She leaned back against the fence, her heart still pounding fiercely. She focused on the house, looking from one window to the next and seeing no sign of habitation. Soon, however, movement caught her eye as the front door began to swing slowly inward. Too exhausted to run, Hikari watched it open. And a voice spoke from the building's dark interior.
"I am very pleased you could join us again, Yagami-san," the voice she had expected from the beginning said. "Will you step inside?"
With an effort she found her own voice.
"No. I won't stay here."
"I can't keep you very long anyway," the man replied. "Time passes slower here, but you are only dreaming, and must wake up eventually. But you will be back tomorrow night, and the night after, and finally a day will come where you will come here not asleep but awake."
"Why won't you leave me alone?" she groaned. "I haven't done anything to you."
"Not yet. But your powers are the antithesis of ours, and must be… drowned, if you will." As the man spoke Hikari heard the wet, slopping footsteps resume on the other side of the fence. There was more than one pair of feet this time. "I see your bridegrooms have found you. Sure you won't come inside?"
"No!" She began to panic. There was nowhere to go; her only chance was a desperate appeal to the waking world. "Onii-chan! Tail—"
"– mon!" Hikari's eyes opened wide. Tailmon knelt beside her on the bed, one gloved paw shaking the girl insistently.
"Hikari! Good, you're awake. I've been shaking you for—"
And that was as far as the Digimon got before Hikari sat up and wrapped her arms around her cat-like partner.
"Thank you… thank you…" she said through her tears.