I can feel the madness slowly creeping in...

[cityship]

It is that time again, meatship.

Once again, the King of Nightmares has deigned to spread his touch to all of your dreams.

This time, however, he has decided to give them a much more personal touch, sending his very own children to visit each and every one of you, slowly sowing the seeds of madness within all of you.

Such a kind and loving king he is, isn't he?

[ooc: Alright folks, Nightmare King is ramping things up a bit. These nightmares are a good bit more dangerous now, and he's sending in his minions to make things a little more real. The nightmares will be of a much more serious nature this time, designed to start driving the crew slowly insane. Characters are more likely to run into nightmare minions in the guise of someone or something that will tug at the edges of their sanity. Also, this time, the characters can have joint dreams, as these nightmares are of a more mystical nature this time. Once again, tagging in isn't mandatory, but if you want to, go crazy (literally)!]

[Additional Note: Any injuries won't be carrying over to real life at this point in the plot but don't worry, we'll get there eventually!]

Comments

[magetrouble.livejournal.com]

I'm here. hat's my right. I'm here and I have done what I needed to do, hmmmmm? Can't you see that? the spider-creature's laugh boomed across the forest and somewhere something diet wetly. Stupid human manling, you know nothing about dreams. You know nothing about this child. Defend her? Hold her hand? Talk to her sweetly? The laughter erupted again. She might be brave enough to stand beside you for a few moments, but she'll r--

"Shut. Up." It wasn't a scream. The words were quiet, biting, and silenced the creature. Kala snatched up the blade and charged, using one massive spider limb to push her higher as she slashed at another razor sharp leg as it tried to spear her. A web shot out and stripped the sword away, but Kala was already preparing as energy gathered in her staff. A cry later and a blast of light lanced out.

Kala didn't feel the way a flailing leg connected to her midsection and dug in, flinging her back through two thickly trunked trees. Farla's ruined torso smoked and shuddered. And was slowly re-knitting.

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

"See that's the thing about Unity; you never know what kind of power you drag from the depths." Matt spun the blade and hurled it at Farla's knitting torso, the blade shearing out to part the monster from the spider. "I know what this is now: it's a nightmare. One that you sent to Kala to affect her."

Matt appeared that moment next to Kala and held out a hand. "You know as well as I do that we're both dreaming. And in the dreamstate, we're the strongest, not this overinflated demonic clown. This creature is wrong: I'm not holding your hand to protect you. I'm holding your hand because we're stronger together. Focus your anger Kala, FOCUS!"

[magetrouble.livejournal.com]

"I was never weak," Kala said, gritting her teeth and ignoring the fact that she'd been speared straight through her side. She took Matt's hand and forced herself to get up, using him as a brace to pull herself to her feet. She fed the rage into her staff and felt it charge in a pop of gold energy. "And I was born for this. Nothing else but this. And I told Farla I'd do my duty."

She squeezed his arm (her fingers barely made it less than half way around) and her staff charged further, its top changing into something more like a general phoenix motif, and the twin jewels began to rotate. There was still laughter, thick on the air, and Kala fed ever ounce of her anger into the shot.

"This is for my Farla," she spat. Kala let go of Matt and braced herself. "Divine," she began, the gold of her magic giving even her eyes an almost unearthly glow as they glittered in reflection, "BLUSTER." Instead of the messy, inelegant barrage of wind, it was a balanced, clean, but ultimately hammering bolt of concussive force that shredded the nightmare creature until nothing at all remained. The strength of it was both draining and sent her backward, deep furrows in the faux-eath bearing testament to the force she contained.

And then, as she stood there, the green leeched back into the ground, and the silver came back to the bark and into the leaves while the pale fingers of dawn spread in pastel blues and sweet butter yellows. Kala dropped to her knees and her staff clattered from her nerveless fingers.

"Farla," she whispered. "...I'm so sorry..."

[lackofdarkwings.livejournal.com]

Matt smiled, closing his eyes and waving a hand, dismissing the golden and green blades. Walking over, he knelt down next to her. "Kala," he said, wrapping a arm around her shoulder. "You know, when I was first appointed to watch over Will, I had my misgivings. Me, a normal guy? I couldn't, I had a life in Kandrakar."

"So to do this, I put a seal on my memories so I could play the part. But when I discovered how happy I was, I knew then that I had to be myself. I think Farla would have wanted you to be yourself too."

"Look at what you did," he encouraged. "You turned a nightmare into a dream. Not many can say that they did that."

[magetrouble.livejournal.com]

Kala leaned into him her eyes tearing despite the fact that she swore she wasn't going to cry and she shook her head lightly, sending a few droplets flying. Farla had been the closest thing she'd ever had to a mother. He was right, she'd have wanted Kala to be herself. That had been what all those lessons were about. Finding out who she was. Learning. Growing. Living.

"I have a long way to go before I know who that person really is," Kala said. "And when I'm really ready, I'll be able to help other people turn this nightmare, everything that we're fighting for, into the dream it's supposed to be. And I'll do it because of and with my friends."