Young Writers Society

He was becoming more and more certain that this wasn't a normal dream - in most dreams, he could access his magic, even if he was away from Hero. But he couldn't use his magic here. When he stuck out a hand as they walked, trying to conjure a little strand of darkness, it didn't appear. That had to mean something. Maybe this wasn't really a dream, and his magic was limited because Hero was somewhere far, far away.

Carter didn't like the idea of having to follow, but the others had already begun to move as the young, blue-haired girl paved the way before them. He stood back warily, looking at the others. The girl with the sword was probably the only reasonably capable one among them, so it would be best for him to hold up the back of the group anyway... in case anything were to happen.

Because he was begging to get the sense that this was no regular dream, if it was, indeed, a dream at all.

The group of four advanced deeper into the forest, if it could be called that. The ground was bare of the undergrowth and dead leaves that one would find in a real forest, though there were several clusters of the glowing flowers that had been growing back in the ash field. The bare white trees grew denser as they followed the lantern.

Vanya led the way, with Minra and Second not far behind and Carter bringing up the rear. They walked in silence, save for the sound of boots scuffing up ash and the metallic clinking of Carter's armor.

The light had stopped moving not long after they began to approach it as a group, and now it hovered in a small clearing up ahead.

Minra felt both apprehensive and eager to finally catch up to their quarry. It reminded her of an anglerfish, dangling a light in front of its prey until it could lure it close enough to devour it. But what could they do but follow?

Any chance at turning back was erased when they entered the clearing. The lantern swayed on its white rope. Its flame gave one last cheerful flutter at the exact moment Minra realized that that the rope was an unnaturally long, stick-thin arm and that a pale hand clutched the lantern at the end of it.

Her blood turned to ice. She followed the arm with her eyes, and saw a white mass sitting in the dark treetop like an enormous spider. As she stood and watched, it placed the lantern down in the center of the clearing and descended from its perch.

The creature was pale as milk. Vaguely humanoid, it had a blank, featureless face and four spider-like arms. Its bulbous body was shrouded in some kind of grey garment.

Minra felt a scream bubble up in the back of her throat and forced herself to stifle it.

Second didn't scream.

The creature before him was an unknown. Unknowns were scary, and they did have a tendency to make him scream or get scared. But this unknown was almost familiar in its appearance, and Second couldn't be scared when it reminded him so much of the giant spiders he was used to.

He looked right up at the creature and took a very deep breath.

"Hi," he said.

Vanya wasn't impressed. There was something about big scary monsters that had just stopped being scary after all this time, all these adventures. She did decide, however, that it was good Kivvien wasn't here. He didn't share her sentiment in the slightest.

She glanced over the Second greeted it. Apparently, he did share that sentiment of hers, or, at least, he had one like it. She could respect that.

Her hand inched toward her sword. Scary or not, it did look dangerous. She wasn't going to let her guard down just because she was used to intimidation.

Carter drew his sword with no hesitancy but stood quietly behind the others. He only glanced at the others' reactions. Minra seemed to be the only one filled with reasonable terror, and Second seemed to be taking a more diplomatic route, attempting to see if the creature was sentient first.

He decided to wait before taking action, but he stood guard, ready to attack if the creature showed any aggression.

Following in Second's suit, he spoke as well.

"Who and what are you, and why have you drawn us here?"

Minra managed to back away from the creature, but it didn't seem interested in attacking her.

A glance at her companions showed a shocking lack of fear. She was impressed to notice that both Vanya and Carter seemed prepared to fight if necessary, and that even Second- unarmed and likely the youngest of the group- bravely stood his ground. Who were these people?

Taking strength from their stoicism, Minra balled her hands into fists and made herself stare back at the monster. With a shaky exhale, she reminded herself again that it was only a nightmare, after all.

Though it lacked eyes, the creature's head swayed back and forth as if it was examining them. Perhaps it could smell them somehow.

Then its lipless mouth curved into a crooked smile. A terrible sound gurgled up from the back of its throat, and Minra realized it was chuckling.

"How.. plucky," it said. The voice was deep and guttural, as grating as nails on a chalkboard. The words themselves were twisted and uncertain, as if the creature was trying to remember how to shape them.

"Usually, there is at least one screamer in each group. I thought it might be the woman..." It swung its head in Minra's direction. "But I see that this batch has guts."

Vanya sighed, another one. She would admit to herself that a chill ran down her spine when it spoke. The grating sound of its voice was something newly horrible, and not in her expectations for monsters like these. She added it to the list.

'This group' it has said. Paired with its other statements, it felt safe to assume that they weren't the first to end up wherever this was. It might even be a good guess to assume that the thing itself was what brought them here.

It's a spider, ergo, its name is Milly. Kivvien's voice, a memory. She rolled her eyes. She would never understand that boy's thought processes.

"Sorry to disappoint," Vanya said to Milly - its name was Milly until it gave one of its own - placing a hand on the pommel of her sword, "Now, kindly tell us what it is you want with us." She didn't add an 'or else'. They were tacky, Kivvien's thing. Vanya was perfectly fine not telling her potential enemies her exact plans just before she enacted them.

Now there was certainty: this was no dream, nor was it a nightmare. This was something else entirely. This creature had brought them here by some kind of dark, strange magic.

He looked up at the creature as it spoke, his face set in a focused, serious stare. Most of the monsters he heard of or had seen were beasts unable to speak and communicate, but clearly this spide-like thing was a breed of its own.

His brows furrowed when the spider stopped, having yet to answer his question. He was glad that he didn't have to repeat himself, and Vanya asked again instead.

Second might not have screamed when he saw the creature, but he was beginning to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. This didn't sound like someone who had no intentions of harming them; this sounded like one of the gods that had cast Hero out.

Second wasn't exactly scared. Scared implied he thought he couldn't handle this, and he knew that he could. But he still didn't know why they were here - wherever here was, since this couldn't be a dream - and he really wished Lorcan or Hero were here with him.

'This batch', it had said. Minra wondered how many people the creature had encountered before. Did that mean there were others like themselves trapped in this place?

She stored that question away and watched as the dream-creature moved closer to Vanya. With no nose or eyes that Minra could see, it was difficult to tell what the thing was thinking. It didn't seem eager to attack them, but she wasn't about to make assumptions. She shot Vanya a warning glance.

The creature smiled again. It wasn't a pleasant expression, but full of hunger.

"No, no- this group does not disappoint me. I am... pleased," it said slowly. "Maybe you will be the ones to open the way... though it is more likely you will be devoured like the others." On that note, it began to chuckle again.

"Allow me to.. explain. This is not a dream. It is a nightmare. It does not end until you are consumed by the sky or until you open the way to the worlds each of you came from..."

The creature turned and lifted one of its bony arms to point to the left, where a small path wound its way through the trees.

"Should you continue this way, you will come upon the first gate. Pass through and survive what you encounter, and you will find the next gate. Succumb to fear or pain and you will remain trapped here... You will be like me." Its face twisted into a pained grimace, and then it gave way to another bout of gurgling laughter.

"Here, boy. Take this. You will need... light." It reached out with one of its long-fingered hands to pick up the lantern, then offered it to Second.

If it was a nightmare you could get trapped in forever, then it was a nightmare indeed, and Carter was determined not to stay in it. He had more important things to do with his life than spend eternity in a lifeless forest, potentially turning into the ungodly creature like the spider, or being "devoured by the sky," whatever that entailed. In any case, he didn't plan on sticking around.

If he had to fight his way through monsters and quests, so be it. He was a soldier who had faced many different challenges, and he was going to make it through.

The others though...

Minra looked like she would just be dead weight. Second too, unless he had something up his sleeve apart from a cool, level-head. Vanya, though, he would be content fighting alongside if she was able to prove herself worthy of the sword she carried. She at least had the confidence for it, and he had a quiet intuitive notion that this wasn't her first time being in a situation like this one.

"How many gates are there?" he asked, before revising his question. "That is, if you even know, since you never made it that far."

Second took the offered light.

He guessed that the world he was supposed to go back to was Charlotte's. Even if Earth wasn't originally his home, it was where he had come from and where all the people he cared about were.

"Thank you," Second softly said. He wondered if the creature had looked different before being trapped here - he could relate to feeling trapped in a body that wasn't entirely his own.

Commander had already asked a question. Second knew it would be rude to bombard the creature with more, but the question that Commander had asked was just about them. Survival was important; Second could agree with that. But so was helping people, and the creature didn't seem all that bad.

"Is there anything we can do to help you?" Second asked. "Do you have a name?"

The creature went still at Second's words. Then its mouth stretched once again into a smile that looked more like a pained grimace.

"There is... nothing you can do. If I had a name, I do not remember it."

It suddenly turned to Carter, the frayed ends of its dull clothing leaving a sweeping trail through the ash.

"There are whispers of four gates. Three tasks. But it is only a rumour."

Vanya didn't have much pity for the creature. Pity was usually unhelpful, unappreciated, and generally unpleasant. She did have sympathy, though.

"A friend of mine would have called you Milly," she offered. It was silly, but Kivvien wasn't here to engage in his usual silliness, so some of that burden fell to Vanya. This pseudo-nightmare would be unbearable without a sense of humor.