Over the next few hours, Jonathan, Eliza, Arkanon, Eva and Edgar explored Hollow Dream. They quickly came to the consensus that other than the moss and carnivorous trees, there really wasn’t much else to the realm. Seeing as the moss actively devoured anything it could wrap itself around, delivering it to the monster that made up the greater realm, the only sort of life that could survive were things too large to be swallowed up or too powerful. Luckily for Jonathan, he fell in the latter category. A constant cloak of Void energy ensured that the moss couldn’t encroach too far, keeping it a few dozen feet away. It took up a surprising amount of elemental power, indicating that the moss had quite a lot of localized power for something so large. Perhaps it was like the Dream King, of a higher Tier than the mana should have been able to support.
Jonathan knew that there were many ways to get around this. After all, he had availed of one of them himself. Most likely, this moss was doing much the same as the Dream King and extracting a portion of mana from its victims. Or, perhaps, it was receiving a tithe of mana from the Dream King as a reward for its service.
As he batted aside a grasping root from one of the trees, trying to reel him in, Jonathan heard a faint noise coming from the right. It wasn’t like anything he had heard in Hollow Dream before, which for the most part was a constant susurrus of shifting moss and the creaking of the trees.
“What was that?” he asked, wanting to make sure that it wasn’t another illusion. While he had by far the best senses out of his group, at the distance he was from the noise, everyone else should have heard it as well. Jonathan waited for a moment, and realized something was off when nobody responded. Jonathan stumbled as a spike of pain struck him, feeling like needles raking across his skin. He turned to see the others frozen like statues, gazing off into space.
Footsteps rang out from the treeline and a figure emerged from behind one of the trees. It was hazy and indistinct, but looked vaguely like a woman wearing a mask of bone with antlers protruding from the top. In fact, that was the only feature that Jonathan could clearly make out.
He raised his fists, purple flame flaring into life around them. “Who are you? Did you do that to them?”
There was no response, only an eerie silence. Jonathan noticed that despite the sound of footsteps coming from the shade, her feet weren’t actually touching the ground. The ghostly figure glided over the ground, each footstep sliding slightly as if over ice. She reached towards Jonathan, her fingers curling into a loose fist. Jonathan felt pressure building around his neck, as if it were being grasped by an invisible hand. He powered through, the Void shielding him from the assault.
“Why can you resist my powers?” the figure said, speaking for the first time. “You are not much higher level than your allies and they were unable to fight back. What makes you different?”
“I’ll ask you again, who are you? You’ll regret making an enemy of me. If anything happened to my friends-“
“You’ll do what? Kill me? I have never been alive. I am a Shade of the Dream King, born from his will. If you somehow erase my form, I will simply return to my creator.” The edges of the Shade started to grow more distinct, and the outline of a face appeared, the lips drawing up into a sinister smile. “While you might be able to contest my control, you cannot harm me, for I am but a dream.”
“You’d be surprised as to what I can harm,” Jonathan replied. He waved his hand and three blades of the Void raked across the monster. Her form dissipated, sliced into three parts, but before the Void blades could even finish passing through, the monster’s incorporeal form started to knit back together, as if nothing had happened.
“You see? Utterly useless,” the Shade taunted. “Give up and succumb to my power. Live the rest of your life in blissful slumber before joining the Dream King’s realm.”
Jonathan gritted his teeth and took a single, blistering step forward. His fist slammed into the center of the Shade’s body, and the invisible fire of Maw of the Void burned through it. The Shade’s face creased in confusion, and then dismay as her ethereal form burned away. Jonathan withdrew his fist, leaving a smoking hole in the substance of the monster’s body.
“Nothing is invulnerable. You’re made of energy, and I happen to specialize in energy manipulation.”
“How?” the Shade asked, stumbling back. Her feet were on the ground now, rather than floating aloofly above it. “Why?”
“I can’t tell you that, but I can tell you one thing. If you don’t release them, I’m going to do the same thing to your entire body. You haven’t actually hurt anyone yet, so I might be tempted to let you go. That deal goes out the window if you keep going.”
The monster’s face twisted in a malicious grin. “It seems like I have some leverage then. I-“
“Don’t bother telling me that they’ll be stuck like that forever. You’re much weaker than me. Even if most of your power is magical, the fact it didn’t work on me means that it can’t be that strong. It will wear off eventually, and if not, I can probably figure out how to reverse it.”
The Shade’s face fell, and with a sigh that sounded like wind blowing through leafless branches, she waved a hand. Arkanon, as before, was the first to awaken, stumbling forward in shock.
The others followed soon after, with Eliza looking especially annoyed. “I’m starting to get sick of this,” she said, before realizing that their attacker was still there. Her face hardened and she flitted across the ground, her sword cutting through the Shade’s neck.
As it reformed, Jonathan put a restraining hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine. She released you. I’ve decided to be lenient this once. I can afford that much, given her powerset.”
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Eliza replied, glaring daggers at the Shade. “What makes her any different than any other foe we have faced?”
“She didn’t harm any of you. We might need a guide in this realm. Perhaps she can fulfil that role?” Jonathan suggested.
The Shade nodded frantically. “I can. I will not try to entrap any of you again. If I do, you can just kill me. You demonstrated that quite convincingly earlier.”
“I suppose we can allow that much…” Eliza said begrudgingly. “There better not be any funny business.”
“I assure you, I hold no hostility towards you,” the Shade answered. “It is simply within my nature to deliver sapients to the Dream King. It was what I was created to do.”
“Right. Can you tell us more about the Dream King first?” Jonathan asked. “We know it is a monster that underpins the entire realm, but not much beyond that.”
“Also,” Eliza interjected, “are there any enclaves of people here, or has the entire realm been consumed by the moss?”
“There are few people in Hollow Dream. Maybe ten million. They are all at the peak of strength for this world, however.”
“That’s very different from where we just came from,” Arkanon observed. “There were billions in Bloodspill. Maybe tens of billions. I would have assumed that the population would continue to grow as we ascended the Circles.”
“Life in Hollow Dream is very different from anywhere else,” the Shade said. “I know little about other worlds, but as one of the servants of the Dream King, I was instilled with fragments of memories and dreams from those he consumed. I know a modicum about the wider Hells.”
“Do you have a name?” Jonathan asked. “I don’t want to just call you ‘the Shade’ in my head.”
“Not exactly, but you can call me Willow. One of my first memories is of a shady clearing in Telvaria, where the dreamer sat under a willow tree. She was waiting for her lover, but he never came. It turned out he had fallen for another woman. She sat there until she starved, and because she cursed the gods in her final moments, she was sent to the Infinite Hells.”
Jonathan’s lip curled in rage, but he refrained from embarking upon a tirade against the gods. He had thought about them enough at this point. Doing so any more would serve their interests, and not his own.
“Alright, Willow. Can you take us to some of those people?” He asked. “If they are as strong as you say, they might be of help against the Circle Lord.”
Willow’s face fell. “You wish to fight Lord Eventide? That is a fool’s errand. He will obliterate you with a single blow, if you even manage to force him to wake.”
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“Nevertheless, I am going to try. I’ve come this far. I won’t give up now.”
“Who exactly are you?” Willow asked. “You are clearly not of this realm. How did you get here? From the merging?”
“I am-” Jonathan began, before receiving a few looks from Eliza and Edgar. “I’ve been trying to free the Hells for a bit over a year now, and I’ve succeeded so far. I came here to defeat Eventide, and eventually liberate the entire Greater Circle of Sloth.”
“You defeated other Circle Lords?” Willow asked, sounding surprised. “I know little about them, but the memories within my mind tell me that they are nigh invincible at their Tier. To defeat them now would require you to have an even higher rate of growth to take advantage of the increased mana from the merging.”
“Yeah… I started before that. I am the reason behind the merging, actually. To the best of my knowledge, the Stillborn Hegemon and Ashokan were so afraid of me that they ended up warping the circle ascension system to create this.”
Willow nodded. “Those two are from… Cessation and the Labyrinth?”
Jonathan frowned. “Just how many memories went into creating you?”
“I came into being less than a month ago, but have the memories of lifetimes. All of them are ones of significance, however. I have no memories of minor events or everyday occurrences. Tragedies and victories, coronations and coups, of those I have enough to fill a thousand books.”
“We’re starting to go off topic,” Eliza reminded. “I believe the point of this conversation was to find other people.”
Willow gave her a flat look but the shade didn’t say anything. She had been the one to attack Eliza after all. She was lucky that Jonathan hadn’t just killed her and been done with the whole thing by now.
“I can lead you to the nearest enclave, but I will warn you, the journey will be longer than you might expect. Space in Hollow Dream is subject to the whims of the Dream King. We are about an hour’s journey away from the enclave at Tier 8 speeds, but it could take weeks.”
“How is that possible?” Edgar asked. “Spatial distortions of that magnitude aren’t possible until later Tiers, especially if they are affecting powerful System users. The only alternative is time manipulation, and that is even harder to pull off.”
“The reason elemental energy has limits is because of the interference of material reality,” Willow explained. “As this entire world is the body of a titanic monster, there is no impediment to the Dream King’s power. Or at least, very little.”
“And it also is much higher Tier than us,” Jonathan mused. “Otherwise it would have woken up when the realms merged. It’s at least higher than Tier 12, and likely much more than that.”
“I do not know how powerful the Dream King is,” Willow explained, “but if he ever were to wake, the Greater Circle of Sloth would change forever. Nothing could stand in his way.”
“Is there any way to deal with the moss without having to overpower it with elemental energy?” Eliza asked, still trying to hurry Willow along. She seemed to be getting quite annoyed with the Shade’s continued procrastination.
Willow curled a lip and turned, walking towards the trees. “Follow me. I will keep it at bay.”
Curious, Jonathan stopped erasing the moss with the Void, which he hadn’t even realized he was still doing. It began to grow back almost immediately, closing in. Then it stopped at a wave of Willow’s hand, moving back. She continued walking, speeding up with every step. Jonathan hurried after him, with the others in close pursuit.
Tree after tree was all he saw for the next few hours, without any sort of break in between. The constant rustling of the moss was starting to get at his nerves. Not a single monster lived in their path, save for the trees which Willow kept dormant with a simply gesture. She had immense control over the carnivorous foliage of Hollow Dream, and even Eliza had admitted that it made travel much easier than it would otherwise have been. While it only took a few seconds to deal with one of the trees, it added up over time.
Hours passed, and Jonathan decided that it was safe enough for him to summon Sarnakthros in the god’s physical form. It was time to cash in on a bit of long awaited experience. Sarnakthros had promised to teach Jonathan in the ways of martial arts a while back, but had never gotten to it. While the god would not admit it, Jonathan suspected that it was due to his ego in part, not wanting to appear weak while he had once been on top of the world.
“I’m about to summon Sarnakthros, just so you know,” Jonathan said, not wanting to startle anyone. The god’s avatar looked a lot like Willow in many ways, and could easily be mistaken for another Shade.
This announcement was met with nods from most of the group, but Willow stopped dead in her tracks, whirling around. “Sarknakthros? As in the god Sarnakthros?”
Jonathan smiled. “Yes. It’s a bit complicated. He and I share a body, or at least, his soul lives within me. I’ll just show you. It’s easier.”
Jonathan delved into the depths of his core. “Sarnakthros?” he called out, his voice echoing through the darkness. “It’s time for you to come and fulfil your promise! I’m eager to see what wisdom a god can lend to my fighting skills.”
“Fine,” Sarnakthros rumbled from the abyss. The god rose slowly, his body looking as large as a universe in the strange liminal space of Jonathan’s soul. Jonathan flashed him a thumbs up and returned to the real world.
The midnight skinned avatar of the god of the Apocalypse emerged from Jonathan, drifting out like a ghost and slowly solidifying into a corporeal form. This was met with some astonishment from Willow.
“It does look like the god I know from the myths,” she admitted. “I have to say, out of every memory contained within me, the very core of my ephemeral existence, this one will be by far the most profound. I have memories of minor gods, but none of lesser gods and certainly not of one of the Nine.”
“I am glad that my paltry form amuses you,” Sarnakthros groused.
Willow froze, and opened her mouth to apologize.
“Don’t listen to him,” Jonathan confided. “He’s a bit grumpy because most of his power is sealed away.”
“You dare to call one of this universe’s creators ‘grumpy’?” Willow whispered, looking as if she were about to fall over. It was quite incredible the amount of emotion she could convey through her rudimentary face.
“His existence depends on mine,” Jonathan said. “We have one of the closest bonds possible. He doesn’t mind, does he?”
Sarnakthros grumbled a bit, but nodded. “I am sorry if I came off as a bit gruff. I have no right to act like a god while I lack the power of one. It is unbecoming of me to do so.”
“Anyway, about that training?” Jonathan prompted. “I’ll create a platform for you to work on as we move so we can go at full speed.”
“Why can’t we do this on your soul?” Sarnakthros asked.
“Becuase it isn’t accurate to the real world. With our level of mental power, it is very close, but it can’t fully mimic it. Otherwise I could become a god at fighting by sitting in a dark room and thinking about punching.”
“I suppose,” Sarnakthros conceded. “If we are to do this, you will need to restrain yourself as much as possible. I have no wish to have my physical form shattered by a single punch. Durability is of no concern, though. I do not need to hurt you to get the lesson across.”
Jonathan leaped up onto a rotating disc of Voidlight, beckoning for Sarnakthros to follow. “We can get started now.” He turned to Arkanon. “If you want to watch, feel welcome to do so. It will be helpful for you as well.”
As the party stared on their way once more, Jonathan squared off against Sarnakthros, eagerly awaiting the tutelage of the god. He was quite surprised when he found Sarnakthros turning away from him, looking out at the distance.
“The first part of martial arts, at least the discipline that I follow, revolves not around mastery of the body, but mastery of the mind. A brute can batter his opponents into submission, but a master makes them do it to themselves.”
Jonathan was a bit skeptical of the stereotypical sounding speech, but he supposed the reason it was such was because the idea had merit in it.
“Now, try to attack me,” Sarnakthros said. “Use as much speed as you want. Just use less force than you usually would. I have enough surplus energy to reform my corporeal body, but it will take away from the power I can use to progress.”
Shrugging, Jonathan moved forward, before launching into a blistering assault directed towards Sarnakthros’ undefended back. Just before his fist could land, Sarnakthros seemed to split in two, dividing into a shadow. While the movement was so much slower than his own that it seemed almost to be still, it nevertheless allowed Sarnakthros to avoid the attack. It was a shocking display of finesse that Jonathan certainly couldn’t have mastered at Tier 2.
He withdrew his hand. “How did you do that? You used every last bit of time you had to avoid my strike.”
“I have spent over a year sharing a soul with you. In every battle, that should be your goal. To share a soul with your opponent, but without their knowledge. In a truly difficult fight, you must anticipate incoming strikes before they are even launched.”
“But-”
“Not simply through reaction,” Sarnkathros chided. “At a certain level of mastery, you will be able to predict the exact motions of your foes. Not just before they make them, but before they even think of making them.”
“I think I understand,” Jonathan said. “I have to build up a profile of my enemies in my mind to anticipate their next moves?”
“It is infinitely more complicated than that, but I suppose that will do for now. Now, I want you to do that again, but lower your speed to about five times my own. You need to learn how to respond to foes who are faster than you are. You can begin by watching my movements.”
