Masks Lie and Nightmares Never Die

/

Back in Boog’s cottage, Twilight sighed to herself as she looked over the book she was reading only to be met with no reaction from Fredrick’s unconscious body. After Boog gave a book for her to read which was titled, “Everything you need to know about the Gods,” which wasn’t a bad read, for matter of fact it gave her more insight about the world she’s currently stuck in. Although she was honestly surprised how many gods existed in this world, what each of their roles is and the difference between regular Gods and DemonGods.

According to the book, the main difference is that DemonGods control the darker variants of the elements the regular Gods control in order to maintain balance and the leaders of both Gods is Alpha and Omega; The Creator and The Destroyer. She read them up a little, but could not learn much else about them other than their roles and a little bit of their relationships with other Gods. Deciding that it was a good time to take a break from the book she placed a bookmark in the spot where she was reading and closed the book. She placed the book on a small table next to her and got up from the chair she was sitting in. She then walked towards Fredrick’s bedside and looked at him with concern. Twilight knew it was crazy to care about the person who foalnapped you, but she couldn’t really help it as it was in her nature to help those in need. He is suffering from a force outside of his control and he did come to her for help, although it was unorthodox at best. Regardless she already promised herself that she would help him despite the risks.

“I hope you’ll wake up soon Fredrick. I can’t help you when you’re asleep and maybe…when this all over; we can become friends. You don’t seem to be a bad person like when we first met, but you and your brothers do have to face the consequences of your crimes when we return to my world. I wouldn’t worry about that though I will be there with you and explain everything, and hopefully lessen your punishment,” With this said she left his bedside and walked towards the door she opened it slowly and before she walked through she took one last look at Fredrick before closing the door. As she slowly closed the door behind her she heard a book close shut which earned her attention. She looked to the source of the sound only to see who else but Boog whom was sitting in a chair with a small green book by his side.

“He still hasn’t woken up yet?”

Twilight shook her head, “No and honestly it worries me. Just how did you pacify him?”

“Well…after pulling him off of you I slammed his head into the ground. Once that was done I took out one of the syringes in his pocket and inject it straight into his noggin,” he explained simply as he made a gesture with his shadowy hand.

Once that was said silence filled the room Twilight grabbed her head and shook it in frustration, “And there’s the reason why,” she said with a frustrated voice. “You do realize the impact you made alone was sufficient enough to give him a concussion if not break his skull?”

“Ehh…Fredrick’s much more durable than he looks, although, that leaves me with the problem of filling the dent in the ground now.”

Twilight sighed, “I beginning to wonder how Fredrick became the person he is if his mentor was nonchalant about his safety.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m nonchalant about his safety. It’s just I see him go through worst punishment then a simple dirt nap, but enough about me…what brings you and Fredrick to my home? You must have some reason for coming here.”

“Oh right! Fredrick and came here to show you a journal I found back in my world. I left it in my bag which I may have dropped outside.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that. I saw your bag earlier and grabbed it as I was carrying your unconscious bodies. I left it hanging near the door just in case you might bring it up.”

“Oh thanks!” Twilight said as she went to get her bag.

“No problem I’m just curious about the contents of this journal you’re talking about.”

“Well considering what I learned so far there are no doubts you’ll find this interesting,” she said as she pulled out a chair in front of Boog and sat on it.

“Really, how so?”

“This is Desmond’s journal.”

The mare watch the nightmare glowing eyes widen at this revelation as he took the jounral, “Twilight…thank you.”

“For what?”

“For giving me a chance to learn the truth.”

/

Meanwhile crawling in the vents of the Nightmare Mansion, the Dream Fairy Trio are trying to find the archives in order to find evidence to incriminate Lord Nightmare. So far, it hasn’t been going well.

“Damn it Hopper! We been crawling around these vents and listening in to these nightmares talk to each other! They haven’t said anything that will point us in the right direction,” complained Lucain.

“Yes, and my legs are falling asleep as well!” added Kiki.

“Sorry, not yet guys. However, I think I found something interesting,” Hopper said as he pointed to a nearby vent.

“I don’t like the sound of that; what did you find?”

“It’s Paranoia’s operating room!”

“Seriously?!?”

“Yes and you guys might want to take a look at this…it doesn’t look pretty,” Hopper then moved out of the way so his colleges can see what he saw. When Lucain got a look at the scene he was horrified, for he saw the open chest of a large mare that is currently being operated on by a crow creature and Paranoia himself.

“Dear Alpha…isn’t that the mare we saw stumbling around the wasteland?”

“Yeah, and the worst part is that she isn’t alone. If you look past her you can see many more like her, but I don’t think they did anything to them yet.”

“This is horrible…what do you think he plans to do with them?” questioned Kiki.

“I don’t know, but worst case scenario he plans on harvesting their organs for some kind research or something.”

“Isn’t there anyway we can help them?” asked Lucain.

Hopper shook his head, “We can’t…not without jeopardizing our mission. Besides Paranoia is strongest out of the three brothers we can’t take him on without a plan.”

“In other words we can’t do jack shit.”

“Pretty much…I’m sorry, but we have to move on.”

“Damn it all.”

“However…on the bright side we are getting closer to finding proof Lord Nightmare was using forbidden magic since these equines are here, which means he made some enemies from the world he invaded.”

“Yeah…you’re right let’s keep moving. Lord Nightmare’s room got to be somewhere past these vents.”

“That’s the spirit Lucain!” Kiki added as the group continued onward in their mission by moving through the events. However their pause did not go unnoticed by those working below.

…

“Umm…dad should we stop them?” asked Umbra.

Paranoia and his son even though they were operating on Luna they felt the presence of three dream fairies and heard their plan, “Focus at the task at hand my son. Once we tend to the patients I will deal with our uninvited guests personally.”

“Uh right.”

“And there…the new lungs are placed and working properly. Now we need to put the ribcage we took out back in place,” Paranoia then carefully placed a complete front section of the ribcage back in place before pulling out a case filled with a strange purple gel. He squeezed some of the gel out before using his gloved hand to scoop some out and carefully rubbed around the cut area of the bone. Shortly afterwards he removed his gloves and threw them in the trash before getting new ones. Once he placed new gloves on his hand he turn to face Umbra and said, “You know what to do from here…I’m moving onto the next patients.”

Umbra didn’t say anything, and instead bow with respect and proceeded to stitch the open chest cavity close again.

Paranoia then walked towards the sink to wash his gloved hands after doing so he opened a cabinet full of empty syringes and proceeded to take out eight from the cabinet and placing them near the sink. Moving onto a nearby fridge he took out a cold metal canister and after pressing a few buttons the container emitted a hissing noise as it opened up, revealing various closed off test tubes filled with strange green liquid. Uncorking the test tube, Paranoia stuck one of the syringes into it in order to fill up the tool to the right capacity. He repeated this with the other needles before closing the metal container and returning it to the fridge. The empty test tube used was left in the sink as he made his way over to the nearest operating table where his patients lay.

The patients in question are strapped onto operating tables which were surprisingly clean compared to the unsettling atmosphere of the room. Paranoia lightly laughed to himself as he got near the table holding down an unconscious Fluttershy. Paranoia placed the tray onto a counter next to the table and took one of the syringes checking it to see if there was any minor problem with the tool before using it while starting a recording.

“Alright…Subject: Fluttershy Race: Pegasus,” He said, making sure to speak clearly, “Last subject Twilight was the first to be tested with the DNA change experiment. The DNA used in the testing was human DNA, and I only used a small amount. As a result it turned her into a human-shaped alicorn or anthro for simpler minds to understand,” Paranoia gave off a small laugh, “Heh… Fredrick always wanted to see what would happen if the rest of you became human or at least part human…but I digress,” He gave off a throat clearing cough before continuing his thoughts, “Anyway…Subject Twilight grew to a height of 5’6 with the rest of her body type being average at best, although, her cup size is a over average C it complemented her body nicely,” Paranoia caught what he said and realized it came off a bit perverse. This earned a strange look from his son before he continued working on patching up Luna, “Pressing on…this seems normal considering her lifestyle and other’s similar to her, save for the exceptions that exist in the world…Although I’m curious what results Fluttershy will produce, but of course there is only one way to find to find out.”

“Dad? Can you stop monologing and just get on with it already?”

“Well there goes dramatic flair, fine then let the experiment begin!”

Paranoia then took one of the syringes and carefully plunge the needle into Fluttershy’s left front leg and injected the contents into her body. After doing so he proceeded to discard the syringe and placed a small bandage on the spot where he plunged the needle. Once that was done he simply stood there waiting. Once a few minutes have passed the event Paranoia was waiting for began. Fluttershy’s body began to change slowly and painfully, first starting with the leg the syringe first plunged into. The leg slowly changed into a delicate looking arm with the rest of her body soon following the same process. After a few minutes Fluttershy’s body soon became humanlike just like her friend before her.

“Interesting…she only grew 5’5 and her cup size is an actual average C, but her body seems fragile and delicate despite it being similar to her friend Twilight,” As he gazed her body Paranoia almost found himself lost in her beauty, but immediately shook away the feeling knowing all too well this isn’t the time or place for such thoughts. He then undid the restraints on her new arms and legs. Once that was done he teleported a large blanket into the room and wrapped her body in it, “Sleep well milady,” he whispered softly. Paranoia then moved away from her and onto the next ‘patient’ which happen to be Fluttershy’s best friend Rainbow Dash.

“Now then…what about you? What results will you give me?” Paranoia said with unusual vigor. After a brief moment of silence and a bit sighing from his son Paranoia repeated the same process with Rainbow Dash and the rest of their friends save for Luna who Paranoia consider too dangerous to attempt the injection on as she was still healing and Spike whom was consider unnecessary for the experiment.

Once Rainbow Dash and the others transformed into humanlike anthros Paranoia commented on the results and recorded them.

“Okay…results from subject Rainbow…grew to be 5’5 tall, has a slender athletic build and…cup size is above average B. Subject Pinkie grew to be 5’4 tall, has a surprising normal body despite the amounts of sweets consumed and cup size is a C though they are borderline in becoming D’s. Subject Applejack grew to be 5’10 tall, has a fit and tone body normal considering what she does for a living and her cup size is slight below average D’s. Subject Rarity grew to be 5’7 tall, has a model-like build to her body and her cup size is above average C’s. Subject RedHeart…”

Umbra, upon hearing RedHeart’s name took a few steps closer to his father curious to hear the results. Paranoia smiled slightly when he felt his son’s presence and kept going “…grew to 5’8 tall, has a rather shapely build to her body and her cup size…D’s”

Umbra upon hearing this gave off a small *caw* of joy which did not fell on deaf ears, “Umbra did you have something to add?” asked Paranoia in a teasing tone as he turned to face his son. Umbra out of sheer embarrassment turned the other direction whistling while pretending he didn’t hear a thing. Paranoia upon seeing this chuckled to himself before moving on to the last transformed subject “…and finally, subject Shining grew to be 5’10, and has a fit and average size muscular build. As for the man’s pride and joy fortunately became the size of the average adult males pride and joy. Also side not subject Luna will have to be tested later after her injuries recovers which thanks to the treatment administered by yours truly and his prodigy son she will make a full recovery in three days until then she will remain here by chance she will wake up and react negatively to her surroundings. As for subject Spike he will not be given any treatment since there’s no reason to change him as a result he will be send into his own guest room separate from the girls, but don’t worry he won’t be alone, for he would be sharing this room with Shining. This is Paranoia signing out.”

*click* after Paranoia was done speaking his mind about his findings he pressed a button that stop the recorder he often kept with himself.

“Now that’s over and done with we should get our new guests to their rooms, and once Panic recovers give them something decent to wear. After that then we deal with these uninvited guests.”

“And by ‘we’ you mean you right?”

“Precisely…and while I’m doing so watch over Luna okay? We don’t want her to cause a ruckus when she wakes up especially while she has those stitches.”

“Right…because the last thing I want is burnt feathers.”

“Okay for the last time I thought the collar on that salamander would hold would you drop it already? I helped you grow your feathers back at least give me that!”

“Fine.”

“Good boy I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Oh! Dad one more thing.”

“Yeah?”

“Please be careful with the nurse for my sake.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that my son. Besides I think she is the right type of lady to keep you in line.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Umbra demanded. However before he could get an answer Paranoia already created multiple portals of shadow and brought every unconscious body except for Luna into the portals before shortly disappearing. This caused Umbra to give a frustrated sigh, “I swear dad you’re too much sometimes.”

Umbra then turned to face the unconscious body of Luna, “I wonder if you had this kind of problems with your parents?” he said to the unmoving body, “That reminds me I wonder how uncle Panic is doing.”

/

Meanwhile, back with Twilight and the Boog. They have just reached the part of the journal were the blank pages are after reading through the original entries at Boog’s request.

“So these are the blank pages you mention. I don’t suppose you have a black light on you?” Boog asked.

“No but I can use my magic to simulate one.”

“Good, now let’s see what Desmond has to hide in his own journal.”

Twilight then charge some magic into her horn to create a dark purple light that revealed hidden words on the blank pages, “And there! But I feel bad that Fredrick isn’t going to be able to see this. When I told about this journal he also wanted to see the entries as well.”

“Yes, he admired Desmond’s work in helping the nightmare race and in turn wanted to help improve relations with the dream world, but unfortunately they never trusted us ever since our predecessors attacked their world and the waking one as well. In turn the dream society often turns a blind eye on our own troubles, but thankfully we do have an ally in the society; furthermore, he often tries to help us in secret.”

“Sounds like tensions are on the brink of breaking.”

“Yes and Fredrick’s current condition isn’t making things any better. According to our ally on the inside the dream society sent a three man team into our mansion attempting to find any trace of forbidden magic use.”

“Forbidden magic? Princess Celestia warned me about the existence of such magic, but never told me which magic is forbidden.”

“And for good reason, you see forbidden magic is magic that can only be used by the gods themselves, for they fear that mortals or any other being not prepared for such powerful magic could cause an imbalance in the world. This Celestia must trust you enough to even tell you about their existence, but we getting off topic…let’s see what Desmond’s journal has to hide…”

06/17/2000

Mother I sometimes wonder how far your recklessness would go. I mean to break into a government building of all things is just unheard of. And apparently so is the Dream society. To think the town we lived in was being controlled by nightmares of all things, but even stranger was their purpose. Before we banished them from our world one of them told me they won’t stop coming until all dreams are nothing but figments and Glaurung would lead them to great power that would even surpass the gods themselves. Hearing this frighten me because that is the name of a wicked dragon in one of the stories my mother’s mother told her. I thought the dragon was a work of pure fiction, but to think such being exists in our world could mean trouble in the future. Although, there is one question that bothers me, just what does Glaurung want? I pray at night hoping me and my mother would never run into the vile being in person.

Boog and Twilight looked at each other with one of them thinking about a question and the other already readying an explanation.

“Who’s Glaurung?”

“Like the journal said he is a vile dragon, but what it doesn’t mention is that he is also known as ‘The Deceiver’ he is a manipulative dragon that has been known for many evil acts, one being causing nations to go to war with each other under false assumptions,” Boog explained.

“That’s terrible!”

“I know and the worst part is he is also skilled in the art of magic, often granting great power to those who serve him, but his favorite type of magic is mind control. Unfortunately, he is naturally attune to this type of magic thanks to his eyes which can easily take control of anybody who doesn’t have a strong mind.”

“With a reputation like that he makes the dragons back in my world look like puppies.”

“Heh you make it sound like the dragons back in your world are nothing but animals.”

“Well…most of the dragons I met in person usually only had one drive gold and valuables. Though Spike is different compared to those dragons because I raised him myself when I first hatched him from his egg.”

“Interesting, I guess certain traits are common with some dragons.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean Glaurung also has the nickname ‘Worm of Greed’ so I guess that’s one thing he has in common with your dragons.”

“Well to be honest I also ran into a couple of teenage dragons that actually talked compared to the older ones but,” she trailed off her sentence when she recalled the memory of those dragons.

“I’m guessing they have the same interests as their parents?”

“Ehh…more or less.”

“Anyway…Glaurung was eventually killed by a man whom he caused to marry his own kin, but before he died he lifted the spell he cast upon him and told him he married his own sister as a result he,” Boog then trailed off purposely added tension to the story.

“And he did what?”

“Well…he and his sister agreed to file a divorce and manage to convince the entire town they live in to forget the marriage ever happened. After that they went along live normal lives leaving the event Glaurung caused in the back of their mind.”

“Really? Well I’m glad they sorted it out.”

“Yeah I’m glad too. Though I heard rumors they were contemplating suicide, but since they never had any children with each other I guessing that’s what stopped them.”

“Uh…right.”

“Regardless that was all in the past, but this entry takes many years after that incident which means he has returned somehow.”

“Any ideas how he could have returned?”

“None comes to mind…unless someone managed to learn the forbidden spell, revival. This is the only way he could return from the grave, but who could have used the spell?” Boog pondered for a moment before sighing, “Priorities, Priorities…I can’t worry about that right now. We still need to read the rest of these pages in order to find out what happened to Desmond and his mother Jocelyn.”

With this said Boog and Twilight continued reading the pages of the journal sometimes stopping when Boog recalled Desmond telling him about certain events that were described in the journal. Later down the line the entries started to describe missions Desmond and his mother went off to often in full detail. One instance is a hostile takeover at a school where the nightmares held everybody in the vicinity as hostages so they can feed off their fears. Another was the kidnapping of children in attempt to kill their dreams, but one entry caught both of their attention.

04/10/2001

Gods…this night I rather forget, but these images continue to haunt every time I close my eyes. Maybe I will find solace in writing it down, but I may be hoping for too much…It was a dark night my mother and I were sent to investigate an abandoned apartment building nightmares were seen coming in and out of it and the dream society wanted to know why. When we got there we didn’t really see anything out of the ordinary, but admitted the building itself was giving off a creepy aura. We eventually entered the building finding the lobby in a state of disrepair though considering this building current condition I didn’t find it surprising. However, as we were exploring the ground floor we heard a scream and it took both me and my mother by surprise. We couldn’t tell which direction where it came from and as that happened we were ambushed by a group of disturbing nightmares. Some had syringes implanted into their body while others seem to have screws and stitches on various parts of their bodies. We fought them off as best we can, but eventually we were overpowered. I blacked out after that, but eventually I woke up in darkness not being able to see my own two hands also the air reeked with a terrible stench. For a while I was stumbling in pitch black darkness until I found a light switch. Naturally I flicked it on but immediately I regretted it, for I was inside a room full of decaying corpses all seem to be wearing a strange mask on their faces. I did my best to keep my lunch in check as I examined the bodies eventually I reached the conclusion they all committed suicide, for all the marks I found on them were self inflicted. I ponder for a moment what could have the nightmares have done to these poor people that driven them to suicide. From the evidence I gather I could only conclude it has something to do with these masks. Before I could make any more observations I heard my mother cry out my name and it didn’t sound far either. I immediately ran to the door of the room and attempted to open the door, but it was locked. This aggravated me and caused me to use brute force to knock down the door. Once I knocked it down I entered a hallway that almost seemed to go on forever as I looked down both hallways I heard my mother scream and it came from the right hallway, so immediately I ran down that hallway and along the way I was met with more corpses and blood…so much blood…the sight of seeing this much blood nauseated me, but I had to persevere for my mother’s sake. I kept running down the hall ignoring how many bodies were in the hall as I ran by room after room eventually I ran into same nightmares from before. Learning from my last mistake I took no chances against these nightmares and used the orbs of light the society gave us before we left. I threw them and the orbs exploded in a brilliant light. As the light faded the nightmares were no more leaving nothing left save for a few ash piles. Again for the third time I heard my mother scream and this time it was nearby. I looked to my right to see a door labeled room thirteen, for a moment I mentally sighed at the obviousness of it before breaking down the door. What I saw as I entered the room send my blood into a boil, for what I saw two nightmares attempting to force a mask onto my mother’s face. Wasting no time I tackled the nightmare holding the mask before blasting him with fire magic immediately destroying him. After that I turned my attention to the other nightmare who fled as we made eye contact. When it left I immediately ran to my mother who thankfully was unharmed, but the whole ordeal left her exhausted for she fell asleep in my arms. Once this happened I called the Dream Society and told them to send in help. They asked what happened, but all I told them is to come here see it for themselves. Eventually help came and we were taken back to the Dream realm I couldn’t sleep that night thus making the entry you see before you. Not that I expect anybody else to read this entry, but regardless I feel the light of morning coming around I should get some rest now. Hopefully I will be able to rest easy, but I wonder, what were those nightmares up to? Something tells me I don’t want to know the answer…but I fear fate has already chosen.

Boog and Twilight stared at the entry in silence with looks mixed of surprise, shock, and disgust. After a few moments Twilight broke the silence, “Those masks…they’re masks of binding are they?”

“Yes and all of them must have the nightmare eater runes as well. By the gods…it was much worse than I thought.”

“Boog, were nightmares always like that in the past?”

“Unfortunately yes…in the past nightmares usually have a one track mind especially the feral kind, but the ones organized by Glaurung were power hungry and wanted to cast the waking world and the Dream realm into eternal darkness where nightmares rule supreme. Those delusional fools.”

“That reminds me of a lot of Nightmare Moon’s goal.”

“Who?”

“She was Princess Luna’s nightmare that was created by her darkest emotions. We have beaten her not just once but twice. The second time possessing my friend Rarity, but unlike our first encounter this one took more effort to beat.”

“A nightmare created by negative emotions? Well I guess that’s normal since most nightmares are created by fear of a specific thing, but this Nightmare Moon sounds like trouble.”

“Well I wouldn’t worry about it since our second encounter with her was the last time we saw of her.”

“Wait you mean you destroyed a nightmare before?”

“Well…the first time it was more of exorcism the second time we may have ended the threat she poses for good.”

“Color me surprised I didn’t think you equines are capable of such feats, but I guess appearances can be deceiving.”

“Well that’s the mistake most of the villains we ran into made and usually the reason for their downfall.”

“Honestly, I can see that happening a lot.”

As they were about to continue their conversation they both heard a groan coming from the guest bedroom along with a voice, “Oww…what hit me?” Boog and Twilight laughed a little bit before bookmarking the journal and heading off to meet the recently awaken Fredrick.

/

As other events are taking place, the three dream fairies Hopper, Lucain and Kiki finally managed to break into Lord Nightmare’s room via air ventilation, but with one problem; the vent they came out of was in the ceiling. They fell screaming and landed hard onto the wooden floor. They eventually snapped out of their daze and slowly got off the floor dusting themselves off.

“So…this is the place isn’t it?” Lucain asked with a slight groan of pain.

“Yes it is…unless I’m imagining all these books,” Kiki added.

“There is no mistaking it Kiki we are here…well sort of,” Hopper said.

Lucain narrowed his eyes, “What do you mean sort of?”

Hopper gulped, “Well you see we ended up in his library not his room like I planned, but don’t worry we just need to go up those spiral steps and we’ll be in his room in no time flat.”

However, just as Hopper said that the air around them grew cold along with a haunting voice, “Now what did I find here? A bunch of little trespassers from the Dream World, you do know this breaking the treaty right?”

The group turned to face the source of the voice finding Paranoia standing there with his arms crossed over each other. The group took battle ready stances while drawing weapons with Hopper drawing a rapier, Lucain pulled out a battle axe, and Kiki wore metal gauntlets which immediately after putting them on clashed them together to show that she means business.

“Heh…I figured that you didn’t want to come quietly. Though I suppose it’s been a while since I had a little fun; okay then, come at me!”

Needing no other prompt Lucain jumped towards Paranoia attempting to slice him in two, but Paranoia simply step to the side causing the axe to land right next to him splintering the floor. Hopper immediately followed up and thrust his sword towards Paranoia’s heart; however Paranoia saw this coming and lean back to the point the sword flew over him harmlessly. Kiki watching closely saw an opening and immediately ran up to Paranoia and threw a punch at him, but like her friends she missed as well when Paranoia quickly sank into the shadows causing her to hit Hopper sending him towards Lucain and knocking them into a nearby bookcase.

“Oww! That hurt Kiki!” shouted Hopper.

“Oops…”

“Hopper get off of me!” shouted Lucain which in turn caused his friend to get off of him.

Paranoia then reappeared while slightly sighing to himself, “Can you please refrain from destroying the furniture? You already damaged the floor and you scratched the bookcase.”

“Hey you’re the one who decided to step to the side!”

“And I wasn’t the one wielding the axe, nor was willing to be split in two.”

“Grr.”

“Anyway your teamwork has nice synergy your friends followed up after you missed your previous attack, but as you plainly see I used the last angle of attack your lagomorphs friend was able to use against you. Now when you take that into consideration I would like you to guess what kind of person you’re dealing with and ask yourself this question my brother likes to ask people…how fucked are you?”

After Paranoia asked his question silence filled the room along with creeping dread of the answer that has yet to be spoken. The silence however didn’t last, for Lucain quickly grabbed his axe and took another swing at Paranoia only this time it connected to its intended target. However, instead of cutting straight through it stopped halfway in his body before being swallowed by a large mass of shadow originating from Paranoia’s body. Lucain took a few steps back in horror knowing full well now what he was dealing with.

“My my my…you prefer learn through action don’t you? Though of course that has consequences,” On his last sentence Paranoia quickly rushed Lucain pulled both of his arms behind his back and pinned him to the ground.

“Grah!”

“Lucain!” Hopper yelled.

“Get off of him you scary birdman!” Kiki yelled as she rushed up to Paranoia and wind up a punch, but before she could release the punch Paranoia turn his head around one hundred and eighty degrees in order to face her. This in turn caused her to freak out and back away from him.

“You wish to help your friend? Oh please go ahead I don’t mind,” Hopper and Kiki said nothing and stood there paralyzed in terror, “No? Nothing? You’re just going to stand there like deer’s to headlights? Well fine then,” Paranoia then turns his head back to its original position and brought his face close to Lucain’s ear, “What about you? You have anything to say my canine friend?”

“Grah…go to hell!”

“I figured,” Paranoia said as he began pulling on Lucains arms earning screams of pain from him, “You know the benefits of being a doctor? I cannot just put people back to together…I also know how to take them apart!” a moment after he said this, a sickening pop was heard along with more screams of agony from Lucain, “Ah yes it hurts doesn’t it? Heh heh good,” Another pop was heard before Paranoia finally let go of Lucain’s arms which fell to the floor lifelessly. Paranoia took a few steps away from him after the job was done, but Lucain didn’t move nor made a sound.

“Lucain no!” shouted Kiki as she ran up to Lucain checking his condition.

“This is my last warning, stand down and come quietly or I’ll show you how easily a femur could break with just the right amount of pressure,” Paranoia voice was void of emotion as he made the threat.

Hopper and Kiki looked at each other with contrasting faces. Kiki face expresses surrender, for she did not want her friends to get hurt anymore. Paranoia proved already too strong for any of them; to her giving up seems to be the right choice. However, Hopper didn’t feel like giving up they got this far and close to the truth he can’t give up now, but how can he beat him? It’s obvious anything they threw at him wouldn’t work. Lucain’s axe was just swallowed up by him when he tried to cut him in half, and he can easily read their attacks. What can he do?

“Give it up boy…nothing you can do will work on me. Please spare your friends the agony and surrender. I promise to fix your friend and lessen the intensity of your punishment if you come quietly.”

“Never! Kiki grab Lucain and run!” Hopper yelled as he pulled out a small glowing orb and threw it at Paranoia. Kiki knew what Hopper was planning and did what he said. In a short moment Kiki threw Lucain over her shoulders and took off running down a hallway.

Paranoia saw the orb land at his feet, but did not move, “Fool,” he said coldly as the orb exploded into a bright light that engulfed him.

Hopper covered his eyes at the scene not wanting to become blinded by his own weapon. After the light faded Paranoia was nowhere to be seen, “I can’t believe that worked…I better catch up to Kiki and tell her everything’s okay,” Hopper quickly ran down the same path Kiki took hoping to catch up with her. After a few minutes of running Hopper quickly found himself lost in the massive library; eventually he came to a forked path, “Kiki! Where are you? Answer me if you can hear me!”

“Hopper over here!” she shouted from the path on his right.

“Right” Hopper then took off in the said direction, but before he could progress any further a giant spider lunged at him, “Crap!” Instinctively Hooper slid under the spider and once he was behind it pulled out his sword and got into a stance. “Dammit! I can’t believe I fell for that! You’re a Vocader!”

The spider in response only repeated the same message it used to lure Hopper.

“Grah! You’re wasting my time!” With one clean strike Hopper pierced the spider’s head causing it to shriek in pain, but after a moment the spider fell to the ground and blew up into a cloud of purple smoke.

“Shit…if nightmares like these are wandering around here then I got to find Kiki fast!” Hopper continued his new route until he ran into a dead end, “Of course,” As he turned to go back he ran into somebody he did not want to see; Paranoia, “No way…how? How?! That was a sunlight grenade!”

Paranoia walked closer to him bringing the cold air around him to frigid temperatures, “Sad isn’t it?”

“W-What?”

“It’s sad to see such a desperate fool fight for his life. Unfortunately, it was all in vain,” As he said this, shadows grabbed hold of Hoppers legs.

“Ah! What’s going on?!”

“Also I don’t make threats…I make promises,” Then suddenly the shadows covered Hopper’s entire legs and promptly crushed his femurs.

“Aaaahhh!!!”

/

Kiki heard the screams of her friend as she kept running down hall after hall, but the exit was nowhere to be seen. After a few more minutes of running she stopped in her tracks and fell to the floor crying while dropping Lucain onto the floor as well. She can’t take it anymore. She never felt so alone. How could have things turn out this badly? She thought this mission was going to be simple, she thought that finally she will have time to spend with her friends. Being with her two friends was like a dream to her, but now this is a true nightmare and she didn’t have either of her friends to help her.

Her crying intensifies with her tears dropping down like miniature waterfalls. She looked back to the unmoving body of Lucain and slowly crawled over to him. She didn’t want to be alone in her darkest hour, so she decided to lie next to Lucain.

“Lucain…I’m s-sorry,” she said sadly as she caressed her friend’s face. After a short moment she pulled her face closer to his until both of their foreheads are touching. She closed her eyes saving what time she has left with her remaining friend. She didn’t know how long she was like this, but she soon heard footsteps heading in her direction. She kept her eyes closed not wanting to see the man responsible for this. Eventually the footsteps stop near her.

“G-Go away.”

“Don’t worry milady it will over soon…I only have one favor to ask of you.”

“N-No…”

“Would you kindly go to sleep?”
/