Dreamer's Throne -
Book 2: Chapter 33
In the center of the room, Grant was struggling to keep the tangled hair at bay, his sword hacking and slashing in wide arcs as his soul spark spewed out energy, forming a hazy armor that kept him safe for the moment. Behind him, Marta continued to blast cold air from her palms, covering the area in thick frost that slowed the nightmares down. Unfortunately, it also impaired everyone else’s ability to move, causing the fight to turn sluggish as both nightmare and awakened alike fought back and forth.
Eben and Henri were on each side, trying to ward off the Pale Fiends that continued to drift forward, while Garrett sat in the very back, completely forgotten in the wild scramble. Henri’s spirits fought for him, hacking, stabbing, and shooting the Pale Fiends as he kept pouring his energy into them. Though none of his ghosts were as strong as a Pale Fiend on their own, they were able to handle two of the nightmares between them. Eben was a different story, and though his ability was ripping through the Pale Fiends that got too close, he was forced to dance back and forth, trying to avoid being hit by the attacks they threw his direction.
On both sides, the Pale Fiends were particularly vicious, and seemed to not even care if they harmed each other, occasionally even landing attacks on their companions that caused them to wail and fall to the ground, where they transformed into piles of glowing ichor that swiftly faded. Though it struck fear into the exorcist’s hearts to see how vicious the nightmares were, they couldn’t help but be relieved by each Pale Fiend’s death. Doing their best to maintain their defenses, the team continued to be pressed back, soon reaching the back wall of the room. As Garrett bumped into it, one of Grant’s legs was caught in a rope-like strand of hair and he was pulled to one leg, forcing him to slash off the hair to avoid being dragged forward.
“Henri! We have to get out of this room!” Marta yelled as Grant staggered to his feet.
“There is no way unless we can clear a path,” came Henri’s reply, the grim truth settling like a rock in everyone’s chests.
Warding off a grasping strand with a circular slash, Grant spoke through gritted teeth, his breath coming in gasps.
“I’ll open the way, all of you run!”
“That’s suicide.”
“Then make it count! Henri, grab Garrett! Marta, give me five seconds.”
Practically screaming, Marta opened her mouth as she summoned every ounce of power she could squeeze out, throwing it all into the cold air she was releasing. Instantly, everything turned white as crackling frost covered the approaching nightmares and froze the waving hair, even reaching all the way to the Long-Haired Ghost. At the same time, Henri turned and grabbed Garrett’s wheelchair with one hand, even as his other hand caught Marta, who was crumbling to the ground. Grant lifted his sword above his head and let out a shout, causing his armor to glow bright, before hacking down, unleashing a powerful attack that ripped through the ghost’s hair. Stomping forward, he hacked down again, forcing the ice-bound ghost to defend by pulling her hair up in front of her as best as she could.
Another long strand fell to the ground, transforming into glowing ash. A scream of rage burst from her lips, causing the frost that was covering her to start cracking faster.
“Leave!” Grant bellowed, his sword rising for a third time.
There was no time to hesitate, and as much as Henri was loath to leave a companion, he knew better than to waste Grant’s sacrifice. The veteran exorcist sprinted for the door, carrying Marta in one hand, and Garrett in the other. The Long-Haired Ghost was furious and when she saw them trying to escape, she grew even angrier, letting out a scream that nearly shattered Grant’s armor as it staggered him. He just pressed forward once more, galvanizing his courage even as he let out a roar and lunged forward, counting on his armor to buy the time his companions needed.
On the other side, Eben recognized his opportunity and dashed around Grant, his face set in a grimace as he pushed past the still frozen Pale Fiends to head toward the door. Henri and the others were nearly at the door, but he was a step behind, and even as the Long-Haired Ghost battled with Grant, she reached out, trying to stop the others. Henri’s ghosts were able to ward off the incoming hair, buying him the space he needed to slip out the door, but Eben was not so lucky, and though he dodged the first two attacks, the third caught his leg, pulling him down.
A scream of fear burst from the silver-haired exorcist’s throat and he lunged forward with the last bit of his strength, grabbing onto the wheel of Garrett’s wheelchair. As the Long-Haired Ghost pulled him back, the wheelchair, caught between his grip and Henri’s, shattered, dumping Garrett to the ground. Feeling his burden lighten, Henri turned back, his expression awful when he saw Garrett crumpled on the ground. He was still holding Marta, who was so weak she couldn’t even walk on her own, and to get Garrett, he would have to step back into the room, which meant fighting the Long-Haired Ghost.
The moment of hesitation cut his heart to the core, but then he saw Garrett look up and shake his head. Garrett dragged himself forward and gripped the edge of the door, looking at Henri who was on the other side of the threshold. A ghastly expression was on Garrett’s face as he shook his head again.
“Henri, run.”
With a heave, Garrett pushed the door closed, slamming it in Henri’s face and catching a tendril of hair that had stabbed at the veteran in the door jam. The realization that he wasn’t out of danger yet flooded over Henri and he gritted his teeth, holding Marta tight as he ran into the darkness, his mind full of what he imagined was happening in the room behind him.
Just as he imagined, the room was in complete chaos, though not in the way that Henri had imagined it, as the illusion that had covered the wheelchair melted away, casting bright light across the room.
Two dozen dream flowers were suddenly revealed and spread their beautiful petals wide, shifting and shaking as they began to crawl off of the wreckage of the smashed wheelchair. With the illusion fading, Garrett’s look changed back to the normal persona he wore in the dream, and he stood up, adjusting the white mask on his face as he turned to face the startled Long-Haired Ghost and the two tangled up awakened. Lifting his hand, he paused for a moment, and then spoke in a cold voice that caused dread to well up in Eben and Grant’s hearts.
“Hunt.”
The change was immediate, not just for the dream flowers that suddenly revealed sharp teeth, but also for the four Pale Fiends under Garrett’s control. They launched themselves forward with abandon, killing their already wounded companions as the frost began to fade, and then attacking the Long-Haired Ghost as if they didn’t care about their lives. Just like them, the flowers threw themselves forward, using their roots to tangle up the Pale Fiends, or beginning to climb along the ghost’s hair, trying to get to her body. Four of them also headed for Eben, biting at him with their toothed petals even as their roots tied into his arms and neck, trying to burrow into his skin.
Grant was the only one who wasn’t touched, but he was deep within the sea of hair, completely wrapped up, just like the other exorcist had been. The only reason he was still in one piece was the armor that glowed around him, but it was beginning to fade and crack as the Long-Haired Ghost squeezed down. Thrashing, Eben was too frightened by the attacking flowers to get a good look at Garrett, but Grant could see him through a small gap of hair, and the sight of the mask and the marching flowers sent his heart plummeting into the pit of his stomach as he began to put two and two together.
The air shook as the pale fiends tore at each other, and Garrett commanded a few of the dream flowers to assist the Pale Fiends while he kept his attention on the Long-Haired Ghost, waiting for the right moment. Over the course of the fight, his Pale Fiends had landed the final blow on their previous companions enough that he was sitting at twelve experience points, with more rolling in, and when he saw a gap he didn’t hesitate to strike.
[Dream Seed: Guardian Seed]
He felt the experience points drain away in a flash and a powerful rainbow seed sprang from him, hurtling toward the ghost’s head. As if she could sense its powerful suppressive force, she tried to avoid it, but she was now completely tied down by her own hair as the dream flowers pulled her in all different directions and the Pale Fiends attacked her. She let out a scream that cracked the walls of the room when the seed sank into her mind, and started to go wild, but Garrett wasn’t leaving anything to chance. Every single experience point he got turned into a dream flower that he poured his mental energy into, immediately sacrificing them to feed the Guardian Seed.
For as long as she could the ghost resisted it, but eventually the combined pressure of almost twenty dream flowers was too much and the rainbow seed cracked open, a bud appearing and flowering behind her head. Its appearance brought the room to stillness as its six petals waved in the air. Beautiful beyond comprehension, it caused the rest of the Pale Fiends to fall into a trance, and they were soon eliminated. Two of Garrett’s Pale Fiends had fallen as well during the frantic fight, but now that the Long-Haired Ghost was under his control, they weren’t as useful.
[You have planted your second Guardian Seed and bloomed a Guardian Flower.]
Though he could clearly feel his connection to the ghost, seeing the window pop up brought relief to Garrett’s heart and he stepped back, shrouding himself in Dream Cloak, vanishing from sight. He was almost completely spent but had just enough energy for what he still needed to do. He closed his eyes and when they opened, he was controlling the Long-Haired Ghost, just like he could control Viper. No longer fighting against the flowers, who all recognized the ghost as an ally, Garrett raised his hand and controlled the hair that wrapped Grant to relax slightly. Though he didn’t free the exorcist, he wasn’t in danger of being eviscerated anymore.
Eben wasn’t so lucky, as more and more of the flowers crawled over and attached themselves to the struggling man, burrowing into him and sucking up his mental energy. Grant could only watch in horror as Eben was completely devoured by the flowers. First his skin sagged, as if he was aging exceptionally quickly, and then his straining muscles relaxed, as if he couldn’t even retain control over his body. Little by little, his vitality was stripped away until he was little more than just a bag of brittle bones. Finally, even that collapsed and he was gone, forever transformed into ash floating in the dream.
Afraid he was about to suffer the same fate, Grant wanted to struggle but feared that he would be torn apart by the ghost who had captured him. His soul spark would allow him to resist for a time, but it wouldn’t last forever, and all the ghost had to do was hold him still while the terrifying flowers crawled up onto his body and sucked his life away. Just as visions of this horrifying future were dancing through his head on little root feet, he was lifted into the air and brought face to face with Garrett.
“Hello, Grant. You’re a smart man, so I assume you know what sort of position you are in right now.”
Grant, already disoriented, felt like a load of bricks had been dropped on his head as Garrett spoke. The natural suppressive pressure of a shaping level awakened covered Grant, immobilizing him even further.
“You… you are Garrett! You’re awakened!”
“That’s correct.”
Panting as the weight of the realization struck him, Grant felt like he was going to black out. He had never imagined that the weak looking crippled noble they had brought into this mission would not only be an exceedingly powerful awakened, but could also control nightmares. It was obvious that the Long-Haired Ghost who had a symbol of a six petaled dream flower on her forehead, and at least some of the Pale Fiends were under Garrett’s direction, and that was to say nothing of the pretty but deadly flowers who were hiding teeth. Even more than before, the danger of his situation began to press in on Grant.
“Unfortunately, I don’t really like advertising that fact,” Garrett said with a half shrug. “So your options are limited. You can join me or you can die.”
Opening his mouth to speak, Grant saw Garrett hold up a finger to shush him.
“I’m not done. I’m not in the mood to negotiate, and I only accept one of two answers. Anything that is not the word join will be counted as a rejection, and believe me, I have no issue with you following in our silver-haired friend’s footsteps. In fact, I’m offering you a chance against my better judgment. I’d much rather tie up loose ends neatly, and it would be much less messy for you to simply vanish from the world all together, but you earned yourself this chance with your actions. I legitimately thought that you would leave me behind or use me as bait, so the fact that you told Henri to take me with him, despite knowing that it would slow him down, gives you a single chance in my book. What will it be? Join or die?”
The room fell silent as Grant’s face went through a dozen different emotions. It didn’t take a genius to know that if he said join, he would lose something significant, as Garrett wouldn’t dare let him loose without a foolproof way to control him. Still, he had seen the brutal ruthlessness with the way that Garrett operated and he knew that the masked man was not bluffing. If he didn’t accept the offer, Garrett would kill him without blinking, and there was no doubt in his mind that Garrett could make good on his promise. Staring straight into Garrett’s eyes, Grant firmed up his heart and paused before he spoke a single word.
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