The Phantom Nightmaren

Chapter 5

Claris kept on coming back to Nightmare. The more she went, the more questions she had for Reala. That was until she asked a really big question.

"Is it possible to talk to Wizeman?" Claris knew this was a taboo question, but she needed Wizeman to get a bigger idea for her main antagonist.

"Well, it's very possible for me to pull some strings," Reala said, "It's not like you're an enemy of us anymore, and we can't do anything to harm you since you once were our enemy."

Claris nodded her head, "so I'll see you. I'll need to take some notes from what I learned."

The next time Claris came back, Reala crossed his arms at the door and smiles, "You will be seeing Wizeman now."

Reala showed Claris to an void like room with many candles around it. A giant creature with a metal head, and six floating hands was there, "Ah, you're the woman Reala told so much about."

Claris took out a voice recorder, "yes, I'd like to ask a few questions. I'm writing a rock opera on a Realm in Visitor religion called Hell.

"Yes, I am aware of Hell," Wizeman said, "a lot of visitors fear it."

"Yes, and I've made the connection that: like the Devil, you also run a realm of fear. I'd like to interview you to get a better idea about my interpretation of The Devil."

"Very well," said Wizeman, "a good idea to model The Devil after myself."

"Okay, so how did you start Nightmare?" Claris asked.

"Well, I'm actually from another realm of powerful Creators. I saw Nightopia, and saw that it was too chaotic. I needed to add balance to the realm by projecting the creatures' of Earths' fears. Fear is what I did best."

"Have you ever collaborated with anyone?" Claris asked.

Wizeman paused, "there is no one in nightmare as powerful as myself."

Claris made a humming sound and tapped her forehead, "I don't know, I remember meeting a certain nightmaren just as powerful as you."

"That was a mistake that you caused, and that is why he is banished," Wizeman sternly remarked.

"I caused?" Claris muttered, "what did I do?"

"You were too strong for us to take your Ideya of Courage. I needed to create a Nightmaren that can take your courage so you will not succeed in life. Obviously, thanks to a certain rebel, that did not work."

Claris huffed for a moment, but she knew she needed to stay positive, "Well, maybe it can all work out. Maybe if you worked together with Jackle, you can take more Ideya and have more Visitors fail."

"You want Visitors to fail?" Wizeman asked.

Claris knew something that Wizeman didn't that would make the entire thing moot in point. Yet for the safety of that Visitor, she didn't say anything about that, "If we had too many Visitors succeed, then there would be more room for me to succeed."

Wizeman laughed in an evil and maniacal way, "you have the true making of a nightmaren. I'll welcome Jackle back to Nightmare, as long as you give me a tape of your first performance."

"Er, do you have a DVD player?" Claris asked.

"Making one is not beyond my limits. Yet someday you'll probably see films with nothing at all. It could be streaming from this 'Internet' of yours."

Claris laughed, "Visitors can dream."

Helen and Will sat at the patio. "Can we just hang here until the drama stops?" Helen asked, "I want you to stay with me."

Will looked into the windows, "I don't think the drama will ever stop, but I know what you mean." Will took a football out of his backpack and spiked it to Helen.

Helen tried to get the football with her feet, but she ended up kicking it too far. Luckily Will jumped up, and stopped it with his head, "not much of an athlete?"

"I played Volleyball at the seaside when I was 15, but that's more with the hands," Helen blushed, "Football seems more like the feet version."

"Well, it isn't called football for nothing," Will picked up the ball into his hands, "but the American version, that's called football for nothing."

Helen giggled, "I guess it is."

"So who was your fiancé? Didn't seem like you agreed to anything," Will spoke up, "and is he a Nightmaren?"

Helen nodded her head, "A nightmaren named Jackle. I've heard that he was created to get Claris' Ideya of Courage. Yet Claris had a similar journey to us, and was able to find and keep all of her Ideya. Apparently he tried the same thing on Claris, but NiGHTS was able to stop him."

"So let's get NiGHTS to stop him now! She'd be happy to help."

"There's one problem," Helen muttered, "We're adults."

Will just paused and shuddered. "I never thought I was until now."

Helen nodded her head, "it's scary to think about. But we're no longer teenagers. We can vote, drink, drive, and take care of ourselves. According to Reala, NiGHTS finds adults to be boring. We no longer have that childlike wonder."

Will sat on the bench and looked down, "I guess that we are adults, and now it's screwing us over."

"Yeah, and we need to figure out how to get Jackle to not marry me, and get him out of the convention before the weekend is up."

"Elliot," Will cried.

Helen cocked an eyebrow, "Elliot?" Oh wait, Elliot Edwards? New York Times Bestselling Author, Vlogger with over one million subscribers, and one of the two runners of this convention, "He mentioned that he's been to Nightopia."

"Oh, I just thought he was a good person to help in general," said Will, "but if he was also a Visitor, then that helps too!"

"Will?" Helen randomly asked, "I know there's a good sushi place in this city, and I think you'd like it. Want to go with me Sunday afternoon before we catch the plan back, as a date?"

"Oh, but you have a fiancé don't know?" Will tease, then had his real answer, "Sure! I don't have an SO at the moment. We barely know each other, but that's what dating is for."

Helen gave Will a kiss on the cheek, "thanks. I've wanted to go on a date with you for a long time."

Elliot set up his digital camera at the convention hall and began to speak, "Good morning Ian, it's Tuesday, and…."

Ian appeared from the crowd, "And I'm right here!"

"What are the chances?" Elliot asked, "Now there's a lot of hubbub going about this convention."

"Yeah, like your new book, 'Into Dreams!' This is your first published fantasy!" Ian cried out in excitement!

"Yes, it is about a General of the Nightmare Army who rebels against the forces, and decides to help us humans with their courage to overcome anything!" Elliot explained, "But don't worry, there's plenty of teen romance in there too!"

Ian made a phew of relief, "thank goodness, it wouldn't be an Elliot Edwards book otherwise!"

A random girl interrupted the video, "you're talking about your book when Helen Cartwright is getting married?"

Elliot stopped the recording. This is what he hated about shooting in public. Ian nodded his head, "I guess we should talk about that."

"But it is Helen's business and her business alone," Elliot hissed, "also, there's something weird about that fiancé. I've heard about him from Claris."

Ian knew that Elliot and Claris were close friends until college. At this point, they're both Facebook friends on each of their personal pages, but they speak rarely. "What, did he date Claris? Too bad you didn't get her either."

Elliot rolled his eyes. Ian often felt like he 'missed,' on dating Claris. For Elliot, it didn't matter. He had a wife and two children, and he loved them dearly. Claris has been having boyfriends and girlfriends, but nothing permanent, and she liked it that way. When it came to love, Elliot and Claris were opposites. Elliot didn't 'miss' at all, he just wasn't suited to date a wild girl like Claris. "They never dated, at least I hope not. Jackle was Claris' bully in Elementary school way until the beginning of High School."

"The plot thickens," Ian smiled, "is Jackle a screen name? Is he Robert Weiner? Gosh, what a jackass! He's probably a hikikomori who spends too much time on that cosplay."

"No, Jackle always had a job, and still has the same one," Elliot defended the nightmaren, "Can we get to the video?"

Ended up that the camera was in Ian's hands and he was filming. Ian stopped recording and ran as fast as he could, "I'll be seeing this on Thursday, Elliot!"

Vidcon had a cafe where people could stop by to get some coffee or a spot of tea. Yet that afternoon, there was a lot of order for tea.

Holly Heartland looked at all of the orders and began to sweat, she saw the tea kettle, she saw the cannisters of loose leaf tea, and she saw the teapot, "How many spoonfuls of this tea am I supposed to make?" Holly took a swig at a bottle of wine. This is worse than shooting a drunken YouTube video

The jester like fiance of Helen flew by, "oh! You have tea here?"

Holly laughed nervously, "yeah, but I only know about coffee and espresso."

Jackle set the kettle to 212 degrees, then opened the canister, "you shouldn't have the tea at boiling, because it will only burn the leaves." Jackle took out a spoon and looked at how many orders there were, "so there are five orders, so we make six scoops."

Holly clenched her teeth, "why six?"

"One for each guest, and an extra for good measures," Jackle noted.

Holly nodded her head, "awesome! Can I leave you to the tea while I work on the lattes?" Holly suddenly left.

Jackle growled as he poured the tea, "hey, I'm going to marry a star! I have no place to be making tea for other people!" Jackle waited out the three minutes, then served the tea to the people who ordered.

A girl in a very frilly dress put some sugar in the tea and took a sip, "oh, this is quite inquisit! Who brewed it?"

"I did thank you very much!" Jackle smiled "I learned from the best."

"Well, you're a very good learner," the girl said, "and I wish you luck with your marriage with Helen."

Helen went to Suit 555 and knocked on the door. "Who is it?" asked a womanly voice.

"It's Helen," Helen said, "I had a lot going on, and I need a friend."

Claris opened the door. She was wearing a long band T-shirt and a set of yoga pants. "Aw, you consider me a friend? I think this'll end up beautiful."

Helen blushed, she never had a celebrity tease her like that, just had one compliment her hair. "Or, more that I know something about you, and it's something we have in common."

Claris rolled her eyes, "you're a Visitor aren't you? This isn't a secret world or anything. Elliot always treats it like it is. Now he ends up writing about it and saying it's his own creation. At least I have my own world set up." Claris showed Helen to the suite, "make yourself at home. Want a shampoo? I have dreadlocks, and I don't wash my hair often, but I don't want to waste a free salon shampoo."

Helen shook her head, "no. But I would like to know about Jackle."

Claris sighed then sang, "sexual harassment Nightmaren!" She sat down on a couch, "even without genders, Nightmaren can sexually harass a visitor, and that makes me a sad Claris."

Helen giggled, she felt like Claris was referencing something, but she didn't know what it was. Then she realized, "Wait, was he as bad on you as he was with me?"

"Hey, you're a cute girl who probably at least has an Ideya of Courage, of course Jackle will want to marry you. He's a lonely dude!" Claris took a bottle of champagne out of some ice, "Super Edward Bros gave this to me. Want a glass?"

"If we were in England, yes," Helen answered, "but I'm too young to drink here."

"Nonsense!" Claris cried out, "The higher drinking age is to keep stupid Americans from drinking, not smart Europeans!" Claris poured a glass, then gave it to Helen.

And they drank until it got even darker. The Champagne was strong stuff. Helen didn't think she could get to her hotel room alone due to her situation, so Claris offered that Helen could sleep over.

Helen woke up to her phone's alarm. Her head was killing her. Helen saw that she wasn't wearing any clothes, and her head felt like knives, "oh crap!"

Helen heard singing in the kitchenette where Claris was cooking bacon. "In the night, dream delight, I want to see you standing there!"

Helen quickly placed her clothes on her, and went to the kitchenette, "Claris, this is bad! I think we…. Did it."

Claris handed Helen a bottle of aspirin, "no, I'd remember if we did. You got naked and curled up into the bed with me and platonically cuddled. I was in my pajamas."

"Oh, thank goodness," Helen sighed. Helen couldn't even conceptualize the consequences of actually doing that sort of thing with Claris.

Claris made a slight frown. "You're too young for me. Also, I think if we did, Jackle will be all over our both of our asses."

A red and black jester like nightmaren sipped on some coffee, "Jackle will never have to know about those disgusting Visitor habits of yours, that you you may have or haven't done to each other."

"You know I never did it before," Helen mumbled, "it would be very vital that you don't tease me."

"Then I won't say anything," Reala put the coffee down, "I tried to talk to NiGHTS about this… situation… NiGHTS said that Helen is a big girl and can deal with it herself."

"What really?" asked Claris, "that isn't like NiGHTS at all."

"Okay, I may have paraphrased," Reala rolled his eyes, "the thing is, I will have to be your precious purple rebel for this."

Suddenly, Helen's cell phone rang. Helen saw it was Will, and picked it up, "hello?"

"So I talked to Elliot, and he has a solution."

Reala rubbed his temples, "That kid? Can we please leave him out of this?"

Helen put the phone on speaker, an older voice was speaking, "Oh, Reala, you made your way to the waking world as well? Then maybe I can ask if you noticed something strange about the visitors that you've recognized as of late?"

"You mean that more of them possess an abundance Ideya? It's annoying, and I wish we could do a better job! NiGHTS have been very full of herself about this."

"Or perhaps I should be full of myself on this!" Elliot noted, "When a Visitor has all five of their Ideya, they possess secondary powers relating to the Night Dimension. Claris can willingly travel to the dimension. Will can fly in the Waking World as well as The Dream World without the help of a dream creature. For me, I can regenerate Ideya of visitors that come in contact with me through any media, or in real life."

Helen dropped the aspirin bottle and Reala dropped his coffee mug, "What?"

"I may not have the most powerful power, but I've used it in such a mass that it affects the rate of success among Visitors."

Reala stuck out his middle finger.

"You know he can't see you," Claris pointed out.

"Well maybe you Visitors should come up with a way so he can!"

Helen rolled her eyes and turned on FaceTime. She could see Will and Elliot.

"You can do that?" Reala asked, "last time I checked, you can only do that on computers!"

Will waved his hand, "why did you go to Facetime?"

"So Reala doesn't make rude gestures," Helen shrugged.

"Well, Reala is a 'rude jester,'" Elliot punned.

"Holly Heartland you are not," Claris groaned, "So pretty much, Elliot can regenerate Ideya if he inspires them enough. This happened to Ian first when he decided to go back to high school, then Elliot realized his talent and became a writer to regenerate Idyea of the people who reads his material. Then in 2004, YouTube was invented!"

"Ah, yes, the glorious YouTube! I was a published author at that point, but I knew about my powers, and thought I could use this new technology to make the difference. I decided to make it a conversation with Ian, who was the first Visitor to regain his Ideya from my power. Eventually, more and more visitors subscribed. We began to set up community service events around the world, other people began to make vlogs about their lives and knowledge, and more internet users were learning. When I was helping out Will's team, Will was able to tell me about the effect of what I did to so many visitors."

"That's awesome!" Helen exclaimed, "but what does this have to do with a nightmare at the convention?"

"I have a lot of power at VidCon due to my Perfect Dreamer powers," Elliot explained, "if I told everyone that Jackle was bad news, people will turn against him."

"Are you thinking of saying something during one of your panels?" Claris asked.

Elliot further explained, "Ian did some work to release a chapter of my new book, and trace it to the IP address Jackle used to register to VidCon. When I announce that Ian found out that Jackle leaked the book during my expert reading, everyone will turn against him and he'll leave."

Helen made a huge smile, "that's fantastic!"

"Yes, but you can't say anything about it," said Elliot, "it is vital that this only comes from me."

Reala smiled as he put his name tag around his invisible neck, "you were always a clever boy, I just hope this won't flop."

Claris took a bite of bacon, "he's Elliot 'Good Ideas' Edwards, how else could he have defeated Wizeman?"

Reala rolled his eyes, "um, he didn't. Wizeman is too powerful to get defeated by such measly visitors."

"Okay, then almost!" Claris offered Reala a piece of bacon, "and try to have fun! Maybe you should start a makeup vlog!"

"Oh, no, I'm going to a meet for The Divine Opera fans," Reala flew towards the door, "I've wanted to talk about your musical for ages."

Claris blushed, "well, I'm glad you like it."

Helen had to get going too! She had a dress rehearsal for a concert soon, and she had to jolt. She was sure that everything will fold into place with Elliot's clever plan.

We've got a plan, we've got a plan.

Let's just hope it's doesn't pan.