The endless darkness dissolved into fire and smoke, billowing through shattered windows in a house without end. Aksel and Vine stood within his family home—or so Vine claimed. To Aksel, the place felt like a fragmented dream, its details hazy and distant. Beyond the property, horses whinnied as distant pleas for help and mercy echoed from the defenceless residence.
“Beautiful,” the bandit said, collapsing as Vine’s sword cut him down with ease. Aksel, meanwhile, rested behind a wall of fire that separated them. They had been jumping blindly between nightmares for… Well, who could say? Time didn’t seem to hold much meaning in this place. They had jumped dozens of times now, each time delivering them to a new location with a fresh set of problems to overcome.
This nightmare was brutally straightforward. Bandits had descended upon his village, slaughtering the men, torching the buildings and stuffing the women and children into cages destined for who knows where. No matter where Aksel or Vine turned, they could never escape the fires, never escape the crumbling home. The most they could do is watch, trapped inside, as everyone was taken away.
I don’t remember fighting bandits in this nightmare Aksel thought, his eyes fixed on yet another masked man emerging from the shadows of a nearby room, this time not corrupted. Vine, his offensive countermeasure, was more than ready. The two clashed, their swords slicing through the orange haze with a metallic song. A moment later, her blade plunged into his chest, ending the fight as quickly as it had begun.
“…Are you ready to leave?” Vine asked, her calm, passionless tone at odds with the chaos around them.
“Almost,” Aksel replied as he pushed himself to his feet. There was a moment of hesitation before he stepped through the heatless flames. They licked at him without harm, and soon he was standing at Vine’s side.
“…Perception is a powerful thing here,” She reiterated.
“It seems so. Without any heat, the fires are practically harmless,” he murmured. “But, is it a good idea to stay here? Surely these fires will only draw the horror’s attention.”
“… These fires are different… to them, they’re no brighter than the ground beneath their feet.… Scenery. Not like the candles we produce,” Vine explained, her candle burning on the nearby windowsill.
“Speaking of which, do we really need that? If we’re the only ones still putting those down, they’ll lock onto us eventually,”
“… We’re improvising… Without the lights to distract them, they’d find you… These candles keep them chasing ghosts, searching places we’ve long since abandoned,” she explained. Aksel’s eyes flicked to the windowsill, where Vine’s candle burned. She’d left these flames everywhere they’d been, like breadcrumbs. So far, the horrors had remained distracted, always focusing on the nearest light rather than predicting their path. Any strays they came across were swiftly cut down. He could only hope they were dumb enough to be bogged down in phantom lights until they had reached the one place they could fight back, his imagination.
The only problem was, they were hopelessly lost. This Vine might have been his soul’s weapon to fight back, but she wasn’t infallible. She was still just a fragment of himself—larger than the others, but still just a fragment.
As she explained, she was every known Vine fused into one. Something about not wanting the horrors to have access to someone with so much perceived power within his memories. It was risky, since Aksel wouldn’t have stood a chance if she had been corrupted, but it was paying off now.
“Actually, I had a question. Why are we even being attacked? I know this is a nightmare, but everything in here is still a part of my soul, right?” Aksel asked. It was a legitimate question. His memory’s only goal was to keep him safe, yet this subsection of his soul only wanted him dead.
“… They are not like us… They are a raw piece of your inner soul, empty, repressed, forgotten… We didn’t occupy this place, since hiding you within a nightmare would have been… counterproductive… Normally, it wouldn’t matter what this volatile piece of our soul would do, but in your state, a fatal wound at their hands could be… problematic.”
“Can they kill me?”
“…No, our soul cannot kill itself… but the perception of injury or death could leave you vulnerable to corruption.”
“I see,” Aksel acknowledged. He looked out the nearby window, witnessing some of the villagers being dragged away into parked carts filled with people. “Can we help them?”
“…Why?” Vine questioned, tilting her head.
“Because, they are in trouble.”
“…It would be pointless… They are nothing… scenery, like the house we stand in.”
“I know it sounds dumb, but it still feels wrong to just leave them like this,” he admitted.
“… I see… Some things never change...”
Before he could respond, another bandit entered the room, as Vine turned to face him.
“Wait, let me take this one,” Aksel requested, stepping forward
“… That’s unnecessary… I’m here to protect you,” she interjected, giving a perfectly valid argument.
“We both know I need to learn to defend myself. This entire time, I’ve relied on others to do the heavy lifting while I fumbled around like a child. This bandit isn’t corrupted, so this is the perfect time to practice.”
Vine glanced between the two. The bandit paced on one side of the room, swinging his blade, attempting to appear intimidating while Aksel’s stare burned with determination. Wordlessly, she offered her sword, which he gladly accepted. Wrapping his palm around the hilt, he could feel the burdensome weight.
Undeterred, Aksel launched himself at the bandit. Steel and enchanted silver clashed as he attempted to find an opening in the bandit’s guard. If he had a “style” of swordplay, it was to be quick and deadly.
Unfortunately, his opponent was a bandit born from his nightmares, and one that could not so easily be outmaneuvered. For Aksel, still reeling from exhaustion and only partly adapted to the numbing cold without The First’s blessing, fighting him in this state was simply suicide.
He swung at the bandit, too wide to defend himself as a swift knee struck his crotch with cringeworthy precision. Aksel crumpled to the ground, abandoning his weapon as he cupped his family jewels.
Cheating bastard! Aksel mentally chided his opponent, gazing up at the man with hatred reserved for the lowest in society. The bandit raised his blade, gearing up for a coup de grace.
Suddenly, Vine’s foot crashed into the man’s groin, his eyes bulging out of his skull in pure agony. Silently, he doubled over, holding what remained of his lineage as he fell unconscious. Though her eyes never betrayed her emotions, Aksel couldn’t help but feel judged.
“He got lucky,” he muttered, refusing to take the offered hand in the hopes of maintaining some level of dignity on the matter.
“…Bandits don’t fight fair,” Vine stated, a fact he was painfully aware of. “…It wouldn’t have hurt… if you didn’t think it would.”
“How am I supposed to perceive it doesn’t hurt when it clearly does!”
“…I believe in you,” Vine raised her arms in support.
“My god, you don’t have to be exactly like her, you know!” Aksel complained, handing back her weapon. “You better take this. I’m still not there yet.”
“… It’s not wrong for you to learn,” Vine told him as she collected her blade. Stepping towards the door leading outside, she wrapped her hand around the handle and opened it. What should have been a path leading to the villagers being loaded into carts was instead replaced by a replicant of the very room they stood in. Just like every other time they unlocked a door or walked through an entryway here, it always led to the same burning room.
“What are you doing? Can we not jump from here?” Aksel asked, slightly concerned.
“…We can.”
“Then, is there something wrong?”
“…No,” Vine stated, as she walked over to the window and placed her hand on the glass. Without warning, bright blue veins of magic spread throughout the surface, consuming the entire frame.
“What are you doing?” he asked, bewildered by her actions until finally realising her intensions.
“…I’ll save them,” she promised.
The wall shattered to pieces, and through the debris, Vine flew out with superhuman speed. The few bandits loading up the villagers didn’t stand a chance, barely able to ready their weapons before her enchanted blade sliced through them.
By the time Aksel reached her, the villagers were already free, heaping their praise onto Vine for her heroic rescue, with some even referring to her directly as a hero. Aksel couldn’t help but smile.
“You saved them so quickly,” Aksel enthused, happy to witness a happy ending to his nightmare.
“…I shouldn’t have… this is a waste,” Vine answered, passionless as always. Though the Villagers didn’t seem to acknowledge her words, it easily damped Aksel’s mood.
“…But, it was important in its own way,” Vine concluded, glancing over those she saved.
“How do you mean?”
“…to show ourselves… these nightmares can be beaten,” she told him, even as a small amount of blood dripped from her nose. “… Remember that, when we finally wake up… we aren’t a victim… we’re the hero.”
“Thank you,” he said, as they prepared to move to the next location.
---
In less than a blink, the world shifted around them as they entered their new location. This time, they had abandoned civilization all together, finding themselves deep underground in some sort of tunnel system, the only light being provided by a few bioluminescent mushrooms.
“…It’s dirty,” Vine commented, her eyes shifting around.
“Do you have to do that?” Aksel asked, though the piece of himself representing Vine only tilted her head.
“Beautiful,” a deep, echoey voice reverberated behind him. The two turned, only to discover a horde of large, black creatures barrelling down towards them.
“Oh, bloodfalls,” Aksel cursed, latching onto Vine’s arm as he sprinted down the dark tunnel.
“…Do you remember this place?” Vine asked, perfectly displaying her lack of emotional range.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Yeah, I think this is the nightmare where I decided to go dungeon diving and stumbled on a nest of Dungeon-kin ants! Now, don’t stop moving!” He barked, following the tunnel in the dim shroom light. Sure enough, the skittering behind him was a wave of black chitin, too many to count in a single glance, but easily four or five feet in length, each.
“…We can’t jump just yet.”
“I know,” he replied, they had been sharing the burden of jumping between locations, but they still needed at least a little time in between, or they could find themselves immobilized in a far worse situation.
“…Then, I should hold them off so you can escape.”
“Not an option!” Aksel yelled, refusing to give up that easily. Even if he was comfortable with the idea of leaving her behind and somehow manage to escape to the next location, it was clear that he couldn’t survive in this place without Vine to defend him.
With little other choice, the two continued to flee down the tunnel. If they could just survive for long enough, they could escape this corrupted nightmare.
“Look out!” Vine yelled, shoving Aksel to the ground as an ant fell from a small hole in the celling, landing between the pair and quickly followed by two more of its kind. Quick on her feet, Vine thrust her sword through the first ant’s head before it could move. Undeterred, its brother crawled over its corpse, mandibles clacking as it tried for Vine’s neck.
With his bodyguard occupied, Aksel was left to fend off the lone Dungeon-kin heading straight for him. Panicked, he crawled back, trying to gain some distance from the corrupted creature.
“Get back!” He shouted, kicking the approaching creature right in the face. An antenna snapped off the Ant’s head, its yellow blood spilling over its chitin as it reeled back. Releasing a string of pained, unintelligible noises, it charged again with renewed fury.
Okay, this one isn’t calling me beautiful, so that must mean it’s just a regular killer ant, Aksel mused, continuing to crawl backwards.
The ant was almost on him again when, without warning, the floor gave way from under him. Yelling at the top of his lungs, he could barely make out a faint “Aksel!” from Vine, before the sounds of metal slicing chitin filled the air.
For the next few heart-pounding seconds, he was swallowed by total darkness, the rush of air pressing against his tumbling body his only sense of direction. His fall ended abruptly as he slammed into a slick, cushioned slide where the concept of grip was completely absent. Unable to stop himself, he hurtled down this pre-destined path, covering his face as tiny bristles brushed against him, tracing almost his entire body.
I don’t remember this part of the nightmare! Aksel mentally screamed. Sure, it saved him from the ants, but he’d never once heard of a false floor leading the intrepid adventurer anywhere but a swift, gruesome demise. After close to a minute, he was finally granted a reprieve from the constant bristling as he sped into a chamber illuminated by mushrooms. Before him were several different tunnel entrances, nine in total, each marked with old elven numerical symbols above their entrances, I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, and IX. Sparing the extra second, he glanced down a the gripless slide discovering it was made of some sort of semi-malleable jelly. Not only that, but it appeared there was some sort of mechanism closer to the tunnel entrances to turn the slide towards the other holes, not that he had a chance in Nith to understand how any of this worked. Before he knew it, he was quickly shot into the tunnel marked ‘V’, the one that was directly ahead of him, and once again, he was submerged in darkness.
Tossed through a series of twists and turns, light suddenly burst into his vision again as he hurtled toward another chamber. This new area was truly colossal in scale, larger than any village with hundreds of holes just like the one he was traveling through dotting the rough walls. Shooting through the exit, he quickly met a new problem: he was falling. The slick, jelly-like slide that had carried him this far had vanished, leaving him to stare down at what awaited him below.
The place was little more than a massive pit, of which Aksel couldn’t see a bottom, despite the glowshrooms lining the walls granting him some indication. This was the kind of place that the word Abyss was created to describe.
Twisting around in the air, his panicked cries echoing around the area, he glimpsed what laid above.
Hundreds of bridges of all shapes and sizes populated the area. Some ran across the entire length of the pit, others appeared like glorified staircases linking a higher or lower floor along the walls, but the vast majority connected at some level to the great, almost fortress-like structure that appeared to be carved directly into the face of the stone. It was a glimmering piece of marble white with precious gems and metals masterfully carved into its surface, though his vision was too obscured by the density of the bridges to make out any more than that.
His fall abruptly halted as a silky, rubbery netting broke his fall, bouncing him around as it recoiled from impact. Momentarily relieved to still be alive, he quickly discovered he was stuck.
“Bloodfalls!” he roared, immediately understanding his situation. He was caught in a gargantuan spiderweb. “What kind of bloodfallen nightmare is this?!” Aksel complained, he was used to being caught in spider webs in his nightmares, but this particular chain of events was new to him. As he struggled, he saw something fly out of one of the pit's tunnels, slamming into the same webbing only a moment later.
“Beautiful,” the large worker ant remarked. Sighting him with its massive eyes, the corrupted Dungeon-kin strained against the webbing, using every fiber of its being to try to break free of its silky prison. For better or worse, however, the webbing had immobilized them both.
Unfortunately for Aksel, Dungeon-kin ants rarely work alone.
“BLOODFALLS!!!” Aksel’s curse echoed throughout the pit as the sky filled with corrupted ants, each flying through a different chute in the chamber before raining down towards him. Luckily, the vast chamber had spread them out across the webbing, but it was only a matter of time until one of them landed close enough to snag him. As he desperately tried to come up with a plan, however, he quickly realised the ants were not his biggest problem, literally.
From the nearest wall, Aksel witnessed a massive chunk of stone swing open like a door, revealing a similarly huge spider behind it. What he thought was a solid wall turned out to be a thin canopy of smaller rocks, stuck together by thick webbing to disguise what it was concealing.
“AMBUSH SPIDER!!!” Aksel cried out, his muscles burning as they fought to free themselves.
The ambush spider was gargantuan, comparable to a megabear in scale. Long, thick hairs protruded from its body, with a singular, void-like black eye protruding from its forehead. Eight smaller eyes were split evenly across its face, granting the creature amazing sight, even in these conditions. By contrast, its mouth was small, though bared razer like fangs that could easily penetrate chain or fiber mail without issue. Its legs were wide and clearly equipped to move through the web with ease, barring the two frontmost appendages, which it coiled close to its body. Those legs were shaped closer to a farmer’s scythe, with clear pointed tips at their ends.
Its imperceptible gaze surveyed its surroundings, though Aksel could still feel its sight wash over him. As it waited, more corrupted ants fell into its trap. For the ambush spider, it must have seemed like dinner was serving itself, a meal Aksel was not happy to be apart of.
I still can’t jump yet! Aksel thought, as he briefly considered Vine’s disappearance. Somewhere in this nightmare, she was alone, potentially fighting an endless tide of these creatures. She could travel independently if she needed to, and given that she was a part of his soul still connected to him, she should have some ability to sense his location. Even so, facing down a horde of Dungeon-kin might be too much, even for her.
The speed at which the ambush spider switched from statue to hunter was terrifying, as it shot over to the nearest immobilized ant. Caring little for the complements the creature was paying it; the spider quickly impaled the Dungeon-kin’s head and thorax with its front legs. From its mouth, the dungeon monster spewed some form of acid across the ant’s body, melting the harden chitin into mush, before devouring it.
W-wait, could that corrupt the spider! Aksel suddenly thought after watching it take a few bites, staring hard at the creature. However, nothing happened, as the spider continued to tear into its mushy body, same as before.
Huh, I guess it doesn’t work that way. Makes sense, it was probably too dead to do anything at that point. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen anyone get corrupted directly. I wonder what that looks like… Hold on, that spider just killed one of the corrupted! Aksel suddenly realised. Of course, it made sense that the big ass spider could kill a (comparatively) tiny ant, but, until now, the only thing he’d ever seen defeat a horror was Vine.
That’s right. It’s like Vine said, my perception is the only one that matters in this world. It was simple really. Aksel believed that the ambush spider could kill the ant, and so, it did. Those were the rules.
I wonder how far I can take this concept. Aksel thought, looking over to the spider consuming its next meal. Focusing everything on the Dungeon-kin, Aksel let out a mental command
Stop eating.
…
*Munch munch munch*
The spider wasn’t even stopping to breathe, let alone for Aksel’s commands. With that experiment failed, he decided to try a different idea. Glancing over to a distant clump of webbing, he imagined his desired effect clear in his head and poured is intentions over it.
Set on fire!
…
Again, nothing happened. It was worth a shot, but—
*CRASH*
“?!”
“Beautiful,” The ant spoke only a few feet away from him. It was a great reminder of how dangerous the current situation was.
Dright! I need to do something else, fast! he panicked. The spider had far too many meals between it and him to be in line for a skewered acid bath anytime soon, but the chance of those ants reaching him was seeming like a very real possibility. Forget flying blind, when it came to doing something like this, he barely knew what flying was! He’d never commanded mana like Vine, nor divine essence like August, Miya and Hera. The closest he’d ever gotten to these concepts in his life were in his daydreams, something that would do him little good right now.
Except… that might just be what I need right now, he pondered. With little other choice, he closed his eyes and delved into what remained of him. There were precious few memories left, but there were other things he could draw from, times where he was a true hero of this world, where he was so powerful that no nightmare could find him.
A sword, a weapon he always idolised. He thought of every detail of the one he wished to wield one day. His would have the whitest, purest steel ever created, so sharp that it could slice a mountain in half. Its handle would be golden, rich of religious symbols with mana crystals decorating the joint between his handle and blade. It would be his sword: the sword of the hero.
All those thoughts and feelings ran through his mind as he conjured up the image of his weapon like he had a million times before. He remembered how Vine’s sword felt in his palm, the texture, the weight, the pressure as it clashed against the bandit.
I have… a sword in my hand, he told himself. If this world was built on his perception, then maybe, if he could just…
I have a sword in my hand,
I have a sword in my hand,
I have a sword in my hand.
“Sword of the hero!”
A bright, golden white light burst into existence, lighting up the darkened abyss as though The Heavens had suddenly intervened. Aksel’s shock turned into unbridled joy at his achievement. He could even be forgiven for forgetting his dire situation. One perception gave way to another, as Aksel felt warmth crawl through his arm and into his body, directly fed from his divine weapon. The web rocked violently, as every corrupted ant tried to turn or move towards the light.
“I-I did it. I DID IT! YESSS!” He cried out in victory. Were he not restrained, he would have surely jumped up and down in triumph. “Fuck yeah! I can actually do something!” He told himself, gripping the sword tight in his hand and…
“… Ah.” Aksel exclaimed quietly, his joy departing his expression.
His sword was caught in the webbing, same as him.
…
“Beautiful,” the nearby ant spoke, potentially voicing its opinion about his new sword, but Aksel only took it as the bitterest sarcasm.
“Will you be quiet already!” Aksel shouted, as he looked back over to the spider. He was surprised to see the terrifying arachnid cowering, shielding its eyes from the light of his blade.
“Ha, well, I guess you don’t see the light that often, do you?” Aksel noted with a smirk. He’d have to try and remember this trick the next time he was in a nightmare.
However, the spider was not happy with the situation. Low volume hissing escaped from its mouth, until it erupted into a piercing scream that shook the entire pit. Displaying its terrifying speed once more, it rushed over to him and his divine light.
“Oh no, Drightdrightdrightdrightdrightdrightdright!!!” his mind couldn’t think straight as the spider prepared to impale him on its legs.
Just as the legs came down to skewer his head and groin, the world blurred around him, before he found himself transported to the middle of a forest. Standing in front of him was Vine, her body coated in yellow gore and small pieces of chitin, before she collapsed to her knees.
“Vine?” Aksel questioned, reaching out his hands towards her, only to discover the sword still in his grip.
“…Get rid of that, now,” she told him, her breathing laboured as if she’d just finished a sprint.
“Vine, what…?!” Aksel paused, raise his sword up to her.
I can’t trust her, this could be a trap, he thought. Noticing the hostility, Vine quickly produced a candle lit flame by the ground beside her.
“…When you disappeared… I tried to follow, but there were too many… Then, you spawned a light… So, I jumped away, and dragged you here,” Vine explained through heavy breaths.
“I thought you had to be with me to send me somewhere.”
“…I didn’t have a choice… I couldn’t jump back, and help… please, get rid of it,” she pleaded.
“You’re joking, right? I managed to make this myself while stuck in a damned spider web, hanging over a bottomless pit surrounded by like a hundred corrupted ants. I’m keeping it.”
“…It’ll draw them to you.”
“Yeah, well, maybe it’ll be fine this time. I’ve learned how to alter my perception now and this sword is a perfect fit for me. We could fight back right here and now without having to find my imagination,” Aksel said rather proudly. He knew he was being a little cocky, but could anyone blame him? He was holding the divine sword from all the badass daydreams he’d had.
“…Please,” she pleaded softly.
Aksel stared at her long and hard, before sighing. As quick as it came into existence, the sword melted away into particles of golden white light, the warmth it granted disappearing from his body.
“… Aksel?” Once more, she tilted her head.
“Sorry. You’ve kept me safe so far, and you did just pull my ass out of the fire. I’ll keep the divine stuff to a minimum while I work out the bugs.” Aksel promised, helping her to her feet. Something about seeing her unhappy or in pain always tugged at his heartstrings, it was unfair. Perhaps that was another reason his unconscious self chose her to guard him.
“…Thank you,” she told him warmly, a small smile on her face that made him unexpectedly happy, as the two wandered into the new nightmare they had found themselves in.
