Chapter 2:
Maria walked out of her room, and slowly trudged downstairs. The girl slowly turned the corner and saw her dad placing a bowl of spaghetti, a small pot of sauce, and broccoli on the table. Before walking into the kitchen, she went into the bathroom and washed her hands in cold water to wake herself up. As she walked out, she saw her dad sit down at the table and wait for her. She finally sat down, and her father began to serve her.
"You had quite a nap, I see." Her dad smiled as he put the noodles on her plate.
She replied with a muffled, "Mhmm."
"You didn't even wake up when I knocked," he chuckled scooping broccoli right next to her spaghetti.
"Yeah." She smiled, poking around at her pasta.
"Did you have some crazy dream?" he questioned.
"I think so," the teenager replied, pouring sauce onto her noodles.
"You know, your mother used to have crazy dreams. She used to tell me them once she woke up, but honestly, I can't remember what she said."
Maria nodded in response. She would have loved to reply with something endearing about her mother as well, but honestly, she didn't have much memory of her since she was stuck in a coma soon after Will was born and died a year later due to her father losing hope that she'd ever wake up.
"So, Will's at Jake's?" he questioned, changing the topic.
"Yeah, he says he's gonna hang out there for the night," she replied.
"I don't know why Will idolizes that kid. He is a show-off and a doesn't seem to work hard," her dad sighed slight frustration.
"Well, Jake is very good at getting his way socially, and has talent."
"But talent doesn't mean you're hard working. Hard work goes much further than talent. I hope Will knows that."
After finishing eating, Maria went back up to her room, quickly checked on her writing, and went back to bed, hoping to maybe find Twylight again. As she dozed back off, she wasn't chased by those creatures again, and instead she appeared back at the plaza in front of the castle. Now getting a bit more used to feeling completely awake but asleep, she opened the doors to the foyer once more. She walked up the steps where she now decided to go down the original hallway with the black doors. As she reached the end, she pushed open the doors, her hands glowing red.
Maria had high hopes for what was behind those doors, but instead, it was nearly empty with nothing but a small box inside of a glass casing. Maria was about to approach the box when she heard a familiar voice behind her.
"Maria, there you are! You disappeared right as I was going to show you my other power."
"Uh, I woke up. My dad called me down for dinner," the teen answered.
Twylight looked at Maria with confusion. "Is it some special human ritual?" they asked.
"I guess you can call it that," Maria shrugged.
"Well, now that I've found you again, I guess I should show you my teleportation." Twylight flew closer Maria, and poked the air once again. A portal grew from under their finger, and Twylight stepped aside, to let Maria enter first. "Where does this portal go?" the human asked.
"I don't know," Twylight shrugged. I don't exactly have much experience of this place.
"Okay then," Maria chuckled, stepping into the portal.
As she stepped out of the portal, Maria felt a crunch underneath her foot. She looked down, and found herself in snow a foot and half deep. Behind her, Twylight glided through the portal which closed shortly after.
"This place is amazing!" Maria exclaimed, looking at the sky above which was filled with stars, and an aurora borealis which danced and dwindled. This world they were in was definitely a wintry one, but strangely, the snow felt soft, and the air was warm.
"I'm glad you think so. This place is my lair."
"Your lair?" When Maria thought of lairs, she thought of dark spooky basements where evil scientists run their experiments, not a beautiful snowy landscape.
"Yes, my lair. It is my safe place where I can hide and recover if I'm ever hurt," they explained.
"I see. But why do you call it a lair? Lairs aren't exactly therapeutic, in my knowledge."'
"It's just what they're called. I have no explanation for it. All I know is that it's a lair."
Maria began walking through the snow, leaving a trail of footsteps behind her. Twylight began gliding behind her, but soon began leading her. As they continued to travel, a structure of some sort began coming into view. As they continued, the structure began creeping forward faster than it seemed they were travelling, becoming more defined as they approached. Only after what seemed like a few seconds, the structure that Maria had now defined to be a cathedral was right at their feet.
"Should we go in?" Maria asked, not knowing if she would be too invasive.
"Of course. I don't even know what's inside," Twylight answered, opening the large wooden doors.
Behind the doors was a stunning room made of that same white, glittering stone as it seemed all of this world was made of. There wasn't any furniture in this place, but pillars held up the high ceiling with blank stained glass windows.
"Don't worry, this place will be a lot more interesting once I actually do things in this world," Twylight stated.
"So, this building will change with your experience?" the teenager inquired.
"Yup. I haven't really done much yet, but hey, we can explore this world together, if you're up for it," Twylight suggested.
"Sure," Maria answered. There was no reason for her to refuse.
"So, what do you want to do next?" Twylight asked.
"I guess you can make another portal, and we can go explore some other place in this world."
Twylight nodded, poking the air once again, and creating another portal. This time, Twylight flew through first, Maria following. The next place they appeared in was a rainforest that was bursting with energy. The trees were filled with vines, and it looked like there was plenty to explore.
Maria began jog forward but Twylight stopped her and shushed.
"What is it?" Maria asked.
"I hear something," Twylight whispered.
"Well, duh, there's plenty of bird noises and animal sounds. It's a rainforest."
"No, it's not that. Keep quiet," the nightmaren repeated.
Within all of the loud chirps of birds and buzzes of bugs, there was a voice.
"Where is the pesky Visitor? They must be around somewhere," the voice growled.
Maria looked back at Twylight, and whispered, "I want to see who's there."
"Me too," the curious dream creature agreed.
The two quietly crept around the corner, and saw a black and red jester slowly searching up and down the trees.
"Is that another nightmaren?" Maria whispered softly.
Twylight nodded.
The other nightmaren seemed to have heard Maria, and turned around. "Who's there!" he called in her direction. He began flying over, but Maria and Twylight ducked into a hole in a nearby hollow tree. "Where are you little Visitor?" the jester called in sinister, sing-songy voice. "I know you're around here." The nightmaren was nearing the tree the two were in, so Twylight picked Maria off the ground and flew higher within the tree. The nightmaren peeked his head into the tree, but gladly didn't look around for long.
As they waited for the nightmaren to leave, another voice came in.
"Reala!" the new voice called.
"NiGHTS, it's so good to see you. Would you mind letting your little Visitor friend know that this little game of Hide and Seek is over?" the first jester chuckled.
"Reala, what are you doing here?" the new voice asked angrily.
"Oh, I'm just searching for this new Visitor. I can sense they are oh so rich with ideya."
"You are not going to get near them," he hissed.
There was a pause before the first nightmaren contered. "Oh. You haven't met our new guest either." He chuckled. "Well, Wizeman will be so glad when I return to Nightmare with an armload of ideya."
"What, Wizeman has returned?!" NiGHTS exclaimed.
"He has. And he has greater plans than ever before. Just you wait NiGHTS," Reala cackled.
After that, the two other nightmarens left went their separate ways.
"That was interesting," Maria stated.
"I agree," Twylight responded.
"Do you know those nightmarens?" the girl asked.
"No. I don't really know any nightmarens."
Once Maria was back on the ground, the two exited the tree, and sat down in the grass.
"I still don't exactly get it, Twylight. You are from this place, but only have selective knowledge of it?"
"It's really hard to explain, and I honestly can't explain it."
"Then tell me, who can explain?"
Twylight thought for a moment, but the realization hit her. "We have to find one of my counterparts."
"Isn't that dangerous or something?"
"No. It's only dangerous if all three of us are together, but we are going to just find one of them," the purple and blue nightmaren answered.
Behind Maria, a little white ghost-like creature appeared, and slowly clung to Maria's back. Maria continued talking with Twylight, but slowly, everything seemed to fade away.