The Interactive Dream Dimension

Aron wanted to cover his ears from all the screaming. He never liked raids, and this one wasn't an exception. It hurt him to see all the people staring at him like he was evil, ignorant, rotten. Suddenly, he could see the black cat who had talked to him before. The cat's words from before ran through his mind. They kept repeating over and over, and the words became louder than the villagers' screams.

Suddenly, Aron knew what to do.

He turned to the shadow bugs, and spoke loudly, "LISTEN UP, i want each of you to find Noah. She will command you. Do not do anything until you find her."
Aron watched as the largest shadow bug nodded, and he watched as they speedily moved away, out of sight.

As soon as they were gone, Aron turned to the villagers that were behind him. He took a deep breath, and shouted, "EVERYONE!! MOVE OUT, QUICKLY!! PLEASE EVACUATE, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!"

Aron looked around for the black cat, but it seemed as if she had disappeared.

Noah stood on the rooftop of one of the buildings, watching the chaos awaken below. She had already let out two larger shadow bugs and sent them off. She didn't think this little village would be much of a threat though, so she told them there was no need for them to use their twisters or black holes. Their teeth and strength would be enough to take over the place. The people were running, trying to get out of the town, but she set up a few of her larger shadow bugs around the outside of the town already on the South side, and she knew Aron would be on the East. "Go make sure they aren't killing too much." She said, looking down at Fonfon and the little bug squeaked and vanished, leaving a few specks of black behind before those also disappeared. Noah took one last look at the village below, then turned and jumped off the back of the building and landed in an ally way close to the outskirts of the town.

There was no need for her to wait around, and she didn't want to listen to the screaming. She walked a little ways towards the outside before suddenly she felt a sharp pain in the back of her ankle. She turned and noticed something had snatched onto the back of her foot. Quickly she drew her katana and sliced the snake's body from its head, which released it's grip from her ankle and fell onto the ground. What is that doing here? Isn't that a river snake? she though to herself, sliding her sword back into its as the body of the snake slowly stopped moving. She looked down at her ankle, which was only bleeding a little, then spun around and took a step forward before a strange feeling hit her. She took in a deep breath and leaned herself roughly against the stone wall of the alley way. For some reason she felt really hot and dizzy all of a sudden. Poison? She looked down at the snake, and scolded herself for not noticing it earlier. She'd been bitten before by a snake that looked rather similar to that one and had ended up passing out from the venom. Since this one's color was a little different, she hadn't paid any mind to it, but now she knew she'd made a mistake.

She let out a small sigh, trying to catch her breath before seeing a large black figure in the corner of her eye. It was some of Aron's shadow bugs. "Find Aron and tell him that I have to pull out. This village has a water creature on its side, probably a mermaid. Otherwise a river snake would never come into the village like this. Make sure he continues the raid, but tell him to be cautious." She said through clenched teeth as calm as she could. The creatures looked at each other, then nodded and left her. She took in a couple of breaths before continuing her way outside the village. She walked on in the direction of the river she was at earlier and then dropped to her knees in front of the water. The black-haired girl cupped her hands and took a couple of drinks, before leaning back and dipping her ankle into the water so that it would stop throbbing. Even with this distance between her and the village, the screaming and sound of crashing buildings could still be heard.

Fin opened his eyes to a blue sky and a grassy field. He stayed still for a moment, arms spread out and laying comfortably in the grass. He took in a deep breath, glad that he could come back to this dream world after he's been absent from it for so long. All he'd been having lately was empty dreams and constantly interrupted sleep. This time he was able to take a nice long nap while his dad left on a three-day business trip. He loved coming here. it was always so peaceful and he could do whatever he wanted without having any criticism from anyone. He almost closed his eyes again when he heard the faint sound of screams in the distance. He quickly sat up and looked around, spotting a thin line of buildings in the distance. He narrowed his eyes and pushed his glasses against his face before seeing that there was smoke coming from the village. He'd never seen anything like this before and it surprised him.

He stood up and started to run through the field of dim grass until he became a lot closer and the sounds of screaming became louder and the sound of crashing building could be heard too. He stopped at a wooden fence near on of the main entrances to the village and saw someone yelling for everyone to evacuate. Without another thought, he stepped over the little wooden fence and ran up to this person. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he wanted to help any way he could. "I'll go make sure there aren't any children who need help getting out!" He said quickly to the person before turning to run. "I'll tell everyone to come out this way too!" He said, then dashed into the village past many other people and started making his way to the center of town. What is going on here? He thought to himself as he ran, I thought this place was supposed to be free of dangers like this..so why is this happening?

"Thank you!" Aron replied to the boy who had talked to him. Aron watched as the boy ran off, then was surprised as the shadow bugs came back to him.

The shadow bugs had a deep, other-world sounding voice. They told Aron that Noah was hurt, and that she dropped out, and that Aron needed to continue the raid.
"Wait, why is Noah hurt? what hurt her?" he asked. Just then, Aron could hear a hissing sound behind him. He turned around to see a river snake, only a couple inches behind him. The snake lunged towards Aron, trying to bite his leg, but he quickly dodged the attack. Aron considered using the shadow bugs to easily kill the snake, but then Aron had a thought. What if the snake was just like the cat, and was able to talk and think? If Aron could make reason with it, then it wasn't right to kill it. Forgetting about the shadow bugs, Aron started to run through the small pathways of the village, passing many screaming people. The snake followed swiftly behind him.

Serena hid between a couple of river plants. Only her eyes above the surface. She felt a strange water movement on the surface a little farther on the left and ducked down into the water. As she swam closer she felt something she'd felt before, someone was wounded. She'd felt it all the time since the attack started but never this close. Was it someone from the village?
She swam to the left until she saw something in the water. It was a foot. The ankle was bleeding. A bit of blood flowed into the water. Serena approached the foot, careful not to be seen through the water. Someone was wounded, and she had to help as much as she could. Just as she wanted to start healing, she saw the two red bitemarks on the ankle. The snakes had done their job, but who was the target?

Serena swam up to the surface and looked at the girl in front of her. She was definitely a dream walker, Serena thought, looking at her clothes.

"Who are you, dreamwalker? Are you with Getsus Enterprises?" Serena asked, raising her trident to the surface, making the top visible. The girl looked strong, but didn't look like a bad person.

Shen looked on hopelessly has everyone stared at him with wide eyes, not saying anything. "Tch! I don't have time for this!" He spun around and ran as fast as his legs could carry him back to the village. He returned to find people screaming and running away. Everything was on fire, and shadow bugs were everywhere. Without thinking, he ran through the village, helping people to get away. Most were able to get away on their own, but there were children and older people who were struggling. Shen helped as many people as he could. Even though he felt as if he was going to pass out, he forced himself to keep going. As he was passing a cottage, he heard crying inside. Shit... there's one trapped inside. Shen opened the door to find everything on fire. The crying was coming from upstairs. Shen ran up the stairs to find a little girl with long, wavy light pink hair cowering in the corner. He ran over to her and picked her up. She started to fight him, kicking her legs and flailing her arms. "Let me go! I don't know you! Put me down! Mama will find me!" Shen was not in the mood for this. He held her tighter and talked into her ear, "Hey, I'm here to help you escape. Your mom probably doesn't even know you're here, and by the time she figures that out, this whole house will be burned down." This realization quieted the girl and she held still.

The man who ran off earlier had returned in a panic. Tamako looked at him curiously as he caught his breath and spoke.

"ANOTHER VILLAGE IS ABOUT TO BE BURNED. MORE LIVES ARE GOING TO BE LOST!"

Tamako said nothing, staring at him with wide eyes. She had no clue what to do; she wanted to help somehow, but she had no experience in fighting and no weapons to protect herself with. As she struggled to think, the man grew impatient and ran off towards the village. "H-hey, wait!" Tamako called out to him, running towards him. He was too fast, and she eventually lost sight of him; however, she arrived to see the village being attacked. Looking around, she saw the strange blonde man from before run into an alley, abandoning the strange creatures around him. She rushed to follow him, wanting to know who he was and why he had attacked the village.

Noah started to feel the poison wear off. It was nice that the venom wasn't going to last very long, and the cold water really helped, but she still felt dizzy and every now and then her vision would blur. She was still angry with herself that she let herself gt weakened by such a small threat. Either way, she hoped Aron wouldn't go do something stupid and would follow Getsus's orders. She never really talked to him, but she'd met him a few times when working with him and Noah was actually a little surprised when he was sent with her to the Dream Dimension. She leaned forward a little and closed her eyes as she tried to clear her head.

"Who are you, dreamwalker? Are you with Getsus Enterprises?"

Her eyes snapped open and she looked at the water in front of her. She pulled her foot out of the water and attempted to jump backwards, but she ended up slipping and falling into the water instead. She let out a small yelp as she fell into the cold liquid and quickly climbed back out onto the bank on her hands and knees. She coughed a couple of times, then then turned around and stayed sitting on the grass. For a first impression on her enemy, she'd never made such a humiliating one in her life. "I'm guessing you're the one who sent the snakes." She said, removing the belt that her sword and sheath were attached to. She pulled the katana out of its sheath and set it in the grass next to her, then dumped the remaining water out of the sheath. "I'm sorry but I killed one." She said calmly, though she was still dripping wet and her ankle continued with its throbbing.

The girl nodded and held tighter to Shen's clothes. As he carried her out, Shen noticed that the rest of the village was almost empty except for the shadow bugs. He set the girl down in the woods and told her to run along while he went to make sure there was no one else inside the village. As the girl watched Shen stagger off, she sent a silent thank you to God and the universe for sending him to save her life. Ten minutes later, Shen returned to find the girl was still waiting for him. "What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you be looking for your family?" The girl shook her head. "It's getting dark. I can't go by myself." Shen sighed. Great. Now I have to help her find her mother. "Okay. Well my name is Shen. I'll help you look for your mother in the morning, but for right now-" Suddenly the woods swayed around him. Before he knew it, Shen was on the ground completely unconscious. He had reached his limit. The little girl jumped back alarmed before rushing over and putting her hand in front of Shen's mouth to make sure he was still breathing. "Hmmm... I'll be right back." The girl ripped off a portion of her long white dress and headed towards the river to get some water. When she arrived on the riverbank, she noticed the mermaid and the other older girl. She made sure to stay far away from them as she dipped the cloth in the cool water.

Serena didn't expect the girl to react the way she did. As the girl fell into the water Serena pulled back her trident and waited for the girl to climb up again. This girl can't possibly be with Getsus Enterprises...

"I'm guessing you're the one who sent the snakes," the girl said, pulling out her weapon. It was a fancy weapon. Certainly not one a citizen here would have. Okay, maybe she is one of them. Serena raised her trident, ready to use it if necessary.
"I'm sorry but I killed one."

"I know. The snakes only let go when killed. If you hadn't killed it it would still be on your ankle now. But it hurt you badly enough." It probably gave some people the time to get away safely.

Serena felt a small movement in the water and looked to the right. There was a little girl at the river bank. She was quite far away, but still an easy target. Would the Getsus girl attack her if she saw her? Was she really that evil? It was possible. Serena had seen it before. Heartlessly these people had killed her parents, who were just trying to defend their home. The mermaid's head filled with anger. Serena always hoped she wouldn't have to use the trident to attack someone, but if the little girl was going to be attacked, she wouldn't have a choice.

Serena noticed the venom was wearing off and tried to distract the girl.

"Why do you do this? Don't you care about any of these people?" she asked, trying to stay calm.

Noah stood up and pulled her hair over her shoulder to ring it out as the mermaid explained that the snakes would only let go when killed. That was something Noah hadn't known before, since the last time she was bitten she did the same thing she'd done for this one was immediately kill it. She brushed her hair back behind her shoulders again before sitting back down to remove her shoes and dump them out.

"Why do you do this? Don't you care about any of these people?"

She paused a moment at the question and looked down the womans head in the water. She had her trident raised a little as if ready for an attack at any moment, but Noah didn't feel very worried. She didn't think the mermaid would actually do anything unless Noah made the first move. She didn't answer for a moment as she removed her left shoe and shook it out before putting it back on and gently remove her left shoe to also dumb the water out. "I'm just doing what is ordered of me to do." She said blankly, slipping her right shoe back on carefully so she wouldn't hurt her ankle. "I gave those people in the town a choice, but they chose the wrong one. Simple as that." She stood back up again and started to strap her belt back on when she spotted a small figure in the corner of her eye down river. She turned her head and narrowed her eyes a moment. It was a little girl, probably from the village. What is she doing? She seemed to be dipping something in the water.

Noah picked up her sword and slid it back into its sheath before, glancing over at the mermaid for a moment, she turned and started to walk, though limping a little bit, down river where the girl was. She kept a short distance between herself and the river in case the mermaid tried to do anything until she stopped a few feet from where the girl was. "Excuse me, do you belong to this village here?" She asked the girl, though she already knew that that was most likely the case. "You shouldn't be this close to it right now, it's not safe." She said, supporting herself on her left leg.

He was glad to see that most of the people had already evacuated the town. It was mostly empty except for some strange looking, shadowy creatures that Finn did well to avoid. He guessed that those things were what was causing the disasters. but he'd never seen them before in his visits to this world, so then where did they come from? Maybe that person before knows what they are.. He thought to himself as he stopped in the middle of the town where there was a pretty large fountain sitting in the middle of a large stone opening. It was completely empty, but he could smell the smoke form burning buildings and the crashing of stone and wood could stick be heard. He turned and started running down an alley way and continued looking around every time he passed an opening in case someone was left behind. He was a little surprise how quickly everyone was able to escape, but didn't really know how long this place has been under attack since he arrived. He passed another opening and looked over to see something run by in the alley next to him. With the small glimpse he was able to catch he saw that the girl had a pair of ears and a tail. He'd seen plenty of animals and other things before but he'd never encountered someone with a pair of ears on their head. He paused a moment, then turned and continued running. He hoped she was alright. She looked like she was chasing after someone, but Finn would try to figure that out later. Right now he just wanted to get outside the town to make sure nobody was too injured to get into the forest.

Serena watched as the girl took off her shoes. She was getting impatient but just as she wanted to repeat the question, the girl answered:

"I'm just doing what is ordered of me to do. I gave those people in the town a choice, but they chose the wrong one. Simple as that." Before Serena could get mad, the girl stood up and started walking in the direction of the little girl.

Serena followed the katana-girl, keeping her distance. She couldn't let her harm the little girl.

As she got closer, Serena felt it again. Someone nearby was wounded, and it wasn't a snake bite.

"Excuse me, do you belong to this village here? You shouldn't be this close to it right now, it's not safe."

The words surprised her. So the girl wasn't completely evil. Serena wasn't done talking to the girl, but remained silent for the moment. She waited to see what was going to happen.

Aron started to get tired, and the snake was catching up to him. Just then, he could see a girl with cat ears and a tail, following behind him as well. Were these people ambushing him? Because he wasn't paying attention to where he was going, Aron ran straight into an alley where the fire was dangerously intense. The smoke from the burning buildings started to enter Aron's lungs, and he could barely breath. Suddenly, he could feel a sharp pain in his ankle, and he knew that the snake had done its job. Aron couldn't shake the snake off his ankle, and it was still biting. Defeated, Aron fell to the ground in the middle of the burning buildings.

Tamako watched as the man got bit in the ankle by a snake and collapse, unconscious. "Great..." she mumbled to herself, looking around. After attempting to pry the snake from him for a few minutes, she gave up and reluctantly killed it, releasing its grip. Looking around, she began to drag the man away from the fire, out of the alley, and to the center of the village. Tamako laid him next to the fountain, trying to wash the wound out. "Hello? Is anybody out there?" she called out, trying to find help.

Nemui ran through the village, taking advantage of every empty building she could fins that wasn't on fire or being torn down by the shadow bugs. She jumped out of the window of a bedroom and landed on the roof below, a grinning happily as a diamond necklace sparkled in her jaws. She had to do some digging to find this one since it was probably going to be used for money in case an emergency just like this one happened. Too bad for them! she thought to herself, leaping down onto another roof below. She had two rings slipped over her right paw like bracelets, a couple of pearled necklaces hanging loosely around her neck, and a small stud diamond ear ring stuck in the top side of her left ear. She found an area where she could leap down onto the ground and softly landed on her paws with the help of her wings. She could probably carry a little more, but she didn't think it would be such a good idea to stick around for too long.

"Hello? Is anybody out there?"

She was about ready to turn and escape with her new trinkets to the outside of the town, but stopped as she heard a voice call out and then the smell of fox hit her. Fox? She turned around and emerged from the alleyway, the diamond necklace still hanging from her mouth as she spotted two people over by the fountain. One was that strange human from before and then the other was a girl with fox ears and a tail. No wonder I smelled that.. she hesitated a moment, but then decided to run up to them, even though she hated she smell of fox. "What happened to this moron?" She said, jumping up onto the edge of the fountain on the opposite side of the human than the fox girl was on and dropping the necklace in front of her. "Caught in his own little scheme? That's lame"

"What happened to this moron?" Tamako turned around to see a strange cat sitting opposite to her on the fountain, a necklace in its mouth. "Caught in his own little scheme? That's lame."

"I'm not sure, I just saw him running into an alley after abandoning those... things..." she replied. "I was chasing him to see what he was doing, but he was bit by a snake and fell unconscious by a fire... I couldn't just leave him there." Tamako finished cleaning out the wound. "Is there anybody else in this village besides us?"

The girl looked up in alarm. "Uhm... I did." She looked at Noah and her eyes filled with tears. She was only 5-years-old. She pointed at Noah and said, "You burned our houses. You took away our homes. You killed our neighbors and friends and- and-" Suddenly a stubborn expression came upon the girl's face. She wiped the tears off, and dipped another piece of cloth into the river water. She stared at the water for a few minutes before saying, "We have nowhere to go back to." Her voice was soft, barely above a whisper.

Nemui's ears pricked up as the girl explained what had happened, though in a blurry way. "He was bit by a river snake? Well, I guess that's not such a bad thing." She said, turning and sitting down with her paws facing the outside of the fountain. "For one, the poison only lasts a little chile and it's not too bad. But, if you ask me, the stupid human deserved it." The cat said, then narrowed her eyes as the loud sound of a crashing building could be heard. The fire was spreading quickly and the town center wasn't exactly the smartest place to be. She glanced over at the human, then at the girl, then back at the human before hesitating a moment and letting out a sigh. "Another town is burning down." She said, jumping down onto the stone floor near the humans feet. "You realize this is going to turn into a cage of fire if you don't get out of hear." She said, looking up at the girl, then at the human. She might as well help the guy. I mean, she couldn't just leave him behind to burn to death and this girl couldn't be strang enough to drag him all the way out of the city. A white light surrounded her for a single moment before she was standing on two feet and she changed into her human form. The rings that were on her paws before were now placed on her fingers and the necklaces hung around her neck along with her collar and bell. "I'll help you get him out of here." she offered with a little smile. It wouldn't be such a bad thing having this human and the fox as well owe her something.

"T-thank you," Tamako replied to the now human cat. She reached around and grabbed the man around his arms, lifting him up. "Could you get his legs?" she asked, looking around for a clear route out of the burning village. By now, it appeared as though the village was surrounded by a wall of flames, and the smoke was starting to make her dizzy. The only small areas in which there was no fire were being guarded by the dark creatures. "Do you know a way out of here?" she asked the cat desperately.

She hesitated a moment, not really wanting to touch this human. But she'd already offered to help so it wasn't like she could say no. She wrapped her arms around his knees and lifted them up, making a little face as she did. He was heavier than he looked.

"Do you know a way out of here?"

Once again she started wondering why she'd offered to help. If she was trying to get out on her own, all she would have to do is fly up over the smoke and out towards the forest. But she didn't even have her wings in her human form and even if she did she wouldn't be able to carry both of them out. "There is an alley back where I just came from that's open, but it has a couple of shadow bugs guarding the outside. This stupid human is one of the Getsus thugs, so maybe they won't attack us. But still, to be safe about it, do you know how to fight at all?" She asked, looking up at the girl. Nemui could use her claws and teeth, but that was kind of it. Nemui was pretty sure this man was a part of Getsus Enterprises though. He wasn't of the dream world, but he couldn't hear the sound of her bell. So she knew he was probably brought here by some other force while other dream walkers who were capable of hearing the sound of her bell came here willingly. It was obvious this person broke into the dimension by force.

Noah's expression didn't change as the girl pointed at her and her eyes filled with tears. Though, Noah's on eyes did sadden a little, it was hard to tell. Once again, she was only following orders. It was the only thing she ever really learned how to properly do. She didn't really know how to handle others emotions all that well, so she didn't feel all that phased from the girls tears. The little girl wiped her tears away and continued dipping a cloth into the water and Noah looked down at the water. She expected that the mermaid would follow her. At least for now the poison had warn off, but her ankle was still throbbing from the bite. "You should go find your parents and leave this area." She said, moving her eyes onto the girl and speaking calmly, yet with a small hint of authority. She looked at the cloth and narrowed her eyes a little. It must be for someone that was injured by the attack on the town. "Who is that for?" She asked the girl curiously, tilting her head a little.

The girl ignored Noah and dipped one last piece of cloth in the water. By now the bottom of her dress was shredded and came up to about mid thigh. The girl took the cloth and looked at the mermaid. "Um... I don't know if you have any, but would you have some healing oil?" Even though she was only 5, her mother had taught her to be resourceful. Living in the village wasn't always easy, and some nights she and her family had to go hungry. Now those skills and foodless nights were coming in handy. The girl looked at the mermaid and managed a smile smile. "Mama and I will pay you back later for it."

Finn coughed a few times as he finally made it out of the destruction of the town. He hoped everyone had gotten out and there was no one left behind. He kind of wondered where that other guy had gone that he'd seen helping before. What where those shadow creatures? He'd never seen anything like them before, but it had been a while since he'd been able to come to this world. He made his way into the forest and looked back at the town. He felt pretty helpless but at least he was able to do something. For now he would go find somewhere to lay down. His dad would be getting back from work any minute now and he'd wake him up. So for now Finn just wanted to relax and enjoy the peace.

He turned away from the town and started walking through the forest, only to stop minutes later as he spotted something, no, someone laying on the forest floor. He quickly ran up to find it was a young boy, maybe about his age, laying on the ground covered in wounds. Is he dead? He knelt down beside the boy and shook his shoulder a couple of times to try to wake him up. He still felt warm, which as a relief. Maybe he'd been in the village when it was attacked. "Are you alright? Wake up! If you lay on the ground all your open wounds are going to get infected!" He said loudly, trying to wake him up.

As Serena listened to the conversation she realized the Getsus girl wasn't going to hurt the young girl and relaxed.

The little girl didn't look scared at all. Suddenly she looked up at the mermaid.

"Um... I don't know if you have any, but would you have some healing oil?"

Serena smiled.

"No oil, but I could try to find something else underwater, it'll only take a minute," she said, swimming down.

When she came back to the surface she had 3 little yellow plants in her hand.

"The juices in these should help a little. You can use salt water to speed up the healing process. Is it for you or for someone else? I sensed a pretty wounded person nearby." Serena looked at the little girl. She seemed to take on a lot of responsibility for her age. "I could help if you want. I can heal people and it's much faster than plants or oils. You can come to me if it's necessary," Serena offered, smiling, and gave the plants to the girl.