It was a dark room, there was little except that pouring in from a starlit sky, the room was filled with the sound of singing, in the center of the room was a silhouette of a bed, a figure standing over, and someone who was reaching up from the bed, the person standing over the bed was the one singing. She suddenly stopped and sat on the bed, placing her hand on the person lying on the bed "please don't fall asleep, if you do you might not wake up ever again" said the one sitting on the bed.

"I don't know how long I can stop myself from the deep sleep I am so tired, I have given too much of myself away" said the one lying in the bed, and then went silent. "Don't if I will awaken this time"

"Noooo, I said don't sleep, why don't you ever listen to me!" said the one sitting on the bed, as she now was shaking the one laying in the bed frantically trying to wake them up. "I had a dream my life would be, so different from this hell I am living! So different now from what it seems, now life has killed the dream I dreamed!" she sang, cupping the left hand of the person lying in the bed with both of her hands, and she began to cry uncontrollably, she turned to look up at the starry sky, as tears poured off her face in torrents.

Digimon Sync Episode 32 "Nightmares and Dreamscapes"

Takajin stood on the cliff edge once again, but this time he was alone, no one for miles around as far he could see, he walked forward, right to the edge looked down at the abyss below the Infinite Citadel. He turned and all his companions including his Sister and notably Juniko were now standing where there had been no one, Juniko raised a hand in the air, it was encased in a strange metallic claw like glow, she ran forward, and every time she passed some they disintegrated like they had been made of sand, until she reach Takajin himself, she kissed him on the lips, right before shoving him off the side of the cliff.

Takajin awoke, he was covered in sweat, he looked over to see if Thania had been awoken by his freaking out about the dream he had just had, but she was still sleeping soundly, he noticed that the sun was peeking up from the distance, it was a new day, and another chance to find both of their digimon partners before they will begin another search for the rest of his companions.

At that moment Thania's eyes flicked open, and she sat up in bed, and placed her glasses on her face, then she let out a very long yawn, and stretched her arms toward the sky like she was trying to extend them enough to grab the sun itself. She then turned to Takajin "Good morning that was some dream you were having there, you kept calling out for several names but mostly for someone named Juniko, that person must be important"

"She was, I don't know any more…" said Takajin before stopping himself from continuing since it was none of her business and he also didn't want to talk about it with someone he barely knew, she was also so curious about everything about him that it was getting on his nerves, being the chip holder of curiosity didn't excuse that, he himself is the chip holder of love and he didn't go around falling in love with people.

"I am sorry, but who knows you might be able to reunite with her once again, if not cherish the memories" said Thania as she went to place her hand on Takajin's shoulder.

Takajin knocked it hastily "Stop talking about it this is none of your business it's nothing you should stop sticking your nose into it" he was glaring a hole in Thania

"Ok I'll stay out of your business, but keeping things to yourself isn't healthy, I'll wait till you feel like it's the right time to tell me about it" said Thania turning away from Takajin's glare.

"Why should I tell you things, you are very much a stranger, I do not trust you at all, if you talk about Juniko again I'll just leave you to find your own digimon partner I don't care if you are a Digidestined too" said Takajin shouting in Thania's face, as he had grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around to face him.

Thania didn't reply she had spotted something, she pulled away from Takajin and ran toward it, she picked something up, it was some kind of feather "it's a Biyomon feather, she must be this way" she now ran in the direction the feather was found, followed closely by Takajin.

-Hikaru and the Sages-

Lila was braiding Hikaru's hair, while Risso was trying to thrall her with one of his tales of thievery, and Damien and others were staring towards the tower their pilgrimage was leading them, it was the tower of Infinitas, the same name as their group of sage, on the way there they will seek the knowledge contained in several monuments along the way, each had a piece of origin of this world, and the three deities called the great old ones, that have long since left this world.

"A girl should never let her hair get all ragged like this, I never heard let my hair be this way when I was your age" said Lila giving her disapproved look and acting like she was Hikaru's mother even though she was old enough to be her grandmother, Hikaru nodded like a student trying to appease her teacher, hoping she would make Lila feel better.

Damien walked over, and sat beside Hikaru, "The tower has been said to have been there since the beginning of time, and has a twin on the other side of the planet" he said lining up the Infinitas tower his thumb and index finger.

"You mean the Infinite Citadel, that's the base for the Kurokami brigade, I have been inside that one" said Hikaru shivering at the memory, she had been tortured by Logene in there, talking about it brought back flashes of that.

"I have seen it myself what has happened to, and it looks corrupted and decayed" Damien said sighing, almost looked like he was about to cry, but then he composed himself like that expression was never there "Hopefully the tower of VERITAS will someday be restored, but too bad I might not be able to see it myself, I remember that tower as beyond beautiful, you will see what it's supposed to look like when you see the Tower of INFINITAS" he finished his sentence with a sigh of fondness of the past, but with a hint of sadness.

Once Lila was done Hikaru's light blue hair, she now had a pony tail, and two bangs on each side of her face, the bangs was done up with a beautiful hair clips, they shaped like some kind of weird bird that Hikaru had never seen before.

"They are the symbol of Lumina, and belonged to my daughter; sadly she is long dead, I miss her so much, I know you aren't but I have no one else to give them to, I know my daughter would approve of me giving them to someone like you" said Lila pulling out pendent shaped like a star, she put it around Hikaru's neck and fastened the clasp "This is the symbol of Lilithia"

"Is Lilithia the same being as Lilithmon?" Hikaru asked almost through gritted teeth just thinking the monster that the Kurokami brigade worshipped.

"Absolutely no, she is not the same; I would tan your hide if you ever suggest that again" Lila said with an expression of complete disgust on her, like she had been going smack for what she had just said, "Lilithia is loving, Lilithia is life!" she calmed down after several minutes "sorry about that I can't expect a young person like you to know the difference"

Reichs at that moment took Hikaru's hands, and held them between his "I am sorry young lady, Lila can be a little quick to anger, don't let her scare you like she does to the rest of us" he said now lightly stroking the top of Hikaru's left hand, but suddenly pulling it away, when Lila went to strike them. "You bitter old hag I was just comforting the young lady"

"Comfort yourself you old prune" Lila shouted in the face of Reichs, and chased him off "stop hitting on anything with a pulse, something you barely have"

"I would never hit on you, you old shrew" said a running Reichs, who was barely keeping away from Lila, who managed to connect at times with slaps to the back of his head.

"Quit it you two' it's time for us to go" said Damien with his face in his right palm, while gesturing them to come with his left.

They reached another set of ruins, this one had the same monument, but this one had an enormous gateway, they made their way to the monument, it was the exactly the same as the first one, and they sang it the same song as before, it glowed, and encompassed them all in light also like before, and Hikaru was now back in the void that the previous one also showed, and that beautiful voice began to speak, light streaked passed her, they brightened in pulses.

"Lilithia was now fed up of this comfortable void, even though she was content with it, the longing to fill it had taken over, and convinced the others that it was time to do so, so they now searched for the best location for their creation. A Location that had to be just right, someplace that would sustain it, and keep it going forever, which none of them could agree on, and they began to argue about where in the void it should be placed"

The monument stopped glowing, leaving them exhausted standing in front of it, and Hikaru was again the first standing, it was darker than when they had stopped at the monument, meaning they had to stop once again to sleep even though she did not feel tired at all, but the sages were old and needed their rest.

-Takajin and Thania-

After finding another Biyomon feather they made their way in an easterly direction, this was beginning to get on Takajin they were looking for Thania's digimon partner more than his own, he wondered I he would ever see Sunmon ever again, and the nightmares he had been having would they ever stop, will he ever reunited with his sister or the rest of their companions, these questions and more were haunting him ever since he and the rest of them had fallen off a cliff, and seeing the lack of emotion on Juniko's face as she watched them fall. That memory was fragmented, and he really didn't know exactly what happened, it was one moment they were running toward their escape flight, and the next moment they were falling off a cliff after an enormous explosion hit the cliff shattering off the huge they had been standing on, then he woke up on a bed in the middle of a field of flowers with this strange girl sitting at the end of it staring down at him. He rubbed the fatigue out of his eyes; he hadn't slept properly in days.

Something was now standing in his peripheral, and he could see it in the corner of his eye, he turned, and nothing was there, he could have sworn that there had been something, something walked in front of him from tree to tree, he ran to the tree to see what it was, there was nothing there. Was the lack of sleep playing tricks with his mind? Or was there someone out there playing around with him.

"What are you doing" Thania asked as she walked up to Takajin's side, looking him over with her usual annoying curious expression, which was starting to get on Takajin's nerves, she scratched the top of her head in confusion at his reaction to her question, and then went back to playing with her glasses once again.

He settled his nerves, "I thought I saw someone" Takajin answered, as he shifted his gaze around to see if that someone would appear again, but nothing appeared again, so he put that matter aside for now, and turned to face Thania. "It was probably nothing" he needed to find his digimon partner, even with how annoying Sunmon was; he still needed to find him.

They returned to their search for both their Digimon partners, hopefully either would show up soon, before anyone else, or wild digimon ate one of them, a digimon dying would kill their human partner, it was the connection everyone shared between human and digimon.

Then he saw moment once again, and he chased after it, no matter how he tried to catch up with it, he just couldn't reach the person before they vanished again, he had to stop to catch his breath, he breathed heavily as he leaned up against a tree, with fresh sweat covering his face. Whoever it was it was someone who was faster than him, and knew the area enough to vanish before his eyes. He turned to see Thania has caught up with him but him she wasn't covered in sweat, she looked at him confused, and he knew the question that was coming before she even spoke.

"Who are you chasing, I don't see anyone, I think you need sleep your mind might be playing tricks with you?" Thania said with a look of concern creasing her expression.

"If you knew what my dreams have been like since I woke up in that bed, you wouldn't ask me to go to sleep ever again, a friend always tries to kill me, she has been my friend since as long as I can remember" Takajin said turning his back on Thania with frustration.

"You can't run from your nightmare!" Thania said walking up to Takajin and stepping in front of him, so she is now looking him directly in the eyes. "Or they will consume you, they will rip apart your mind until you can't take it anymore, they will come at you even if you don't want to sleep, they might even make you sleep even when you are awake, they are called daydreams, fatigue will make you have them"

Takajin's patience was fraying, he wanted her so badly to be gone, and she should mind her own business, how dare she tell him how to live and deal with stuff, at that moment Takajin didn't want to look at Thania because might do something he might regret later. "You have no idea what I am dealing with, so mind your own business" Takajin shout at Thania, and then ran off to get away from her. But she continued to follow him ignoring the fact that he had shouted at her.

-Hikaru and the Sages-

Everything seemed to get darker all of a sudden, it was disconcerting because it was still the afternoon and the sun was still above shining in the sky, it reminded Hikaru of the Wild woods, that thought ran a shiver down her spine, she froze in her tracks. This was nothing to be afraid, she had gotten over that fear and faced it but her legs wouldn't let her move, it was like they had been turned to stone, and shook till they might crumble underneath her.

Damien walked up beside, "This is the tainted land, and something tells me you have been to another place like this, probably the illusion forest known as the Wild woods but this is not as bad as that, there are no illusions here" he said placing his hand on Hikaru's shoulder "I promise you that, But we need to reach a specific tunnel, that's where the next monument is"

Being reassured by Damien unfroze Hikaru's legs, it was like a weight was lifted off her shoulders as well, she turned to face Damien, and hugged him "Thanks I needed that, I faced this fear but I don't know why it was haunting me again"

"You can never truly get over ones fears; you just learn to live with them I am scared too, but I steeled myself against it" said Damien, he then gestured to the rest of the Sages "they were once like you, I had a hard time getting them to go here too"

They set forth into the tainted land, unlike the forest there were houses here, the houses were in several stages of decay, and some were only one wall standing alone on its base that once held the rest of it. It looked like a war zone, and the place had a weird hum, like it was still alive, and that crept out Hikaru move than the feeling the wild woods had given her, that's when she tripped over something, it was a face buried in the ground, she quickly uncovered it, it was the face of a digimon, but it was made of stone. She screamed backing away from it on her hands and knees, and back right into Lila, whom she nearly knocked over.

Lila grabbed hold of Hikaru, and held her tightly; she stroked the top of Hikaru's head to calm her down "that's a Statue, please calm down little one" she said like a grandmother trying to calm her little granddaughter who just had a bad dream.

Hikaru calm down, she was 15, and she shouldn't be acting like this but fears had taken hold of her once again, the one that haunted her since the day she had fallen through the barrier at Digitopia, it was the fear of dying, she saw death in the darkness, it haunted her every night.

"I hate it when girls break down; it makes me feel like I Failed them somehow" said Reichs as stood over Lila and Hikaru, looking at them both with sympathy.

After some minutes of recovery for Hikaru, they decided that it was better for them to set up a fire, they needed to eat before they continued on, the tunnel was not that far, they needed to reach it before nightfall or they wouldn't be able to find it. Hikaru nerves were still shaken, and needed the rest before they could go into the tainted lands any farther.

"That Statue's face was so detailed, a perfect copy of a Palmon, so life like" Hikaru shuddered as she spoke.

Lila looked over to Damien, and he nodded, he got up and walked over to Hikaru, and sat beside her, "we never experienced it, but there are legends about this area, The Tainted Land, there are creatures here called Sentinels, they are creatures of rage, and hatred, they supposedly come out at night and drag off Travelers and turn them to stone, but we will get to the tunnel before they can come out to prove these legends" said Damien gesturing to the land around them.

"What are these Sentinels" Hikaru asked turning to face Damien, curious but slightly angry for not being told right away about these legends, she felt like they intentionally kept them from her in case they scared that she didn't continue the pilgrimage.

"They were said to have been the people and digimon that once lived here, and were corrupted when Lilithmon arrived, and they can't go after her for being turned into monsters so they attack anyone foolish to come here at night, that is what the legends say but they are just folklore as far as I know, even though we avoid being here at night still…" said Damien, before he was cut off in mid-sentence with something he saw, he stood up. "We need to get out of here" he pointed at a bunch of creature that were coming out of the ground itself "Looks like the legends were true" he grabbed hold of Hikaru and pulled her to her feet. The other sages joined them as they ran for it.

"But it's not night fall" Reichs shouted as she ran up to Damien, and Hikaru, he was visibly scared out of his mind.

These things were coming from all directions; they were coming in many shapes, some had been obviously people, and others had been digimon, and they looked like they had been made out of black sand and slime.

Even when it was against her better judgment, Hikaru stopped, pulled out her digivice "Digi synchronization, kindness chip activation" she said before Lunamon, and Hikaru was enveloped in the usual Digivolution spheres of light. She now stood there with Crescemon, as the Sentinels surrounded them, then Crescemon began to dance, and Hikaru mimicked her digimon partner's movements, The Sentinels stopped and watched. They were dazed by the movements, and watched every move as Crescemon danced around them. Crescemon opened fire with her arrow of ice, the creatures ran off, she knew that the confusion wouldn't last, so Hikaru ran to catch up with the Sages, before the creatures could return, and they would return in far greater numbers something her fear would overtake them.

She caught up with them as they had to stop to catch their breath; the only one not breathing heavily was Damien, even though appeared to be the oldest of the group, but had the best cardio, Reichs seemed to be the worst off and looked like his heart was about to explode in his chest.

"I took care of them temporarily; these things will be back I think, I know crazy things when I see them and they won't give up so easily" Hikaru said using adrenaline to steel her resolve. "We need to get to the tunnel something there might protect us from them"

-Takajin and Thania-

"Sorry I didn't mean to snap at you, but are you sure we are going in the right direction" Takajin asked, he was still unnerved by the thing he kept seeing, this figure that kept calling to him, and then disappearing when he got close enough to catch up with it, was this all in his head and he was going insane? Whatever it was he had to remain calm to find out what it was.

"Yes I am pretty these are my digimon partner's feathers, I would recognize the patterns any day, each digimon's pattern is like a fingerprint and no two are exactly the same" Thania answered like it was matter of fact and knowledge. "It's always Darkest before the dawn" she ran off in a northern direction, she seemed to have just dashed off in a random direction, till she came back with another feather, and handed it to Takajin, who tried to give a smile and only looked like he was in pain. "That's not a smile, because we are getting close"

Takajin tried not to snap at her again, because getting angry wasn't going to solve anything, and yelling at her wasn't even registering with her at all. Somewhere out there was his digimon partner probably setting fire to some innocent traveler, and getting him in trouble doing it.

"Let's go I am sure your Digimon partner is with mine, this feather smells slightly burnt, and you told me your partner likes to set things on fire?" said Thania pointing at a burned mark on the feather she had just found. She then handed it to Takajin to have a closer look at it, and confirm it was a burn mark, she charged off in the direction, she had found it in, followed closely by Takajin after hesitating.

-To Be Continued-

Will Takajin find his Digimon partner Sunmon, and will Hikaru and Sage escape the Sentinels and make it the tunnel, to answer these questions, and more, please tune into the next Digimon digital monsters!