Celen, The world of Dreams and Nightmares

Michael looked out at the real world. What he saw was an amazing skyline.
"Hmmm. It'll take too long." he muttered, changing to watch what another victim was looking at.
Grand canyon. "No freaking way."
He shifted again, over various places and things, but eventually got bored.
But then he found a sleeping victim.
"Why hello there." he smirked, and began changing the dream pocket into a nightmare of his design.
People began to populate the nightmare. But not just people, they were the very same persons who was close to the dreamer.

"Honey!" a male yelled, running over and hugging the dreamer. They hugged tightly.
She smiled, looking at the man with a satisfied smile.
Michael snapped his fingers, and the male began to turn into dust. Slowly disintegrating.
"Wait! What! No, no!" the woman was confused. Her lover had just disintegrated.
She looked over at some others. "Help me!"
They, of course, didn't even care to look in her direction.
So, she ran over to them. "What is happening!?" she burst out, touching the old lady. "Please tell me mom!"
The old lady started disintegrating too. Turning slowly into dust, while looking reproachfully at the girl.
Then it was a madhouse. The girl didn't understand, so she ran around trying to get help, but everytime she touched someone, they turned into dust.
Soon there was none left, and she sat down and cried. Not a wild and uncontrollable cry, but a soft and gentle cry.
"Wow, I'm actually sympathizing with her." he muttered, grinning at his own scheme.
He walked out of his 'observation chamber' and went over to her.

"Tough luck huh?" he said, actually laughing at her in a heartless way.
"W-who are y-you?" she said, sobbing in between the words.
"Hey there, my name is Michael, I'm your host." he said smiling at her in an uttermost devious way.
"What do you mean?" she asked, looking at him with quizically eyes.
"What I'm trying to say, is that this is a dream, a world manifested to warn you about your future." he said with a reasonable voice.
"But what does all of this mean? People are turning into dust whenever I--" Realization ladies and gentlemen.
"Oh God!" she burst out, sinking into even more despair. "They'll all die because of me!"
Michael smiled, and pulled a hand through his hair.
"Don't worry, you won't be able to do anything about it, so enjoy the ride. Your life is NOT your own." His voice was hard and cold.
"B-but!" she exclaimed.
"No buts, they'll die, and you'll live. Take this as a scheme of god's. He want you to survive, but they are indifferent." he said, reaching out a hand towards her.
"But they're my family. My friends. My collegues." she said, only looking reproachfully at his hand.
"They can't mean that much. Else you'd have thought out a way to save them from THEIR fates. But yours will be the same in any end. You will die, not today, not tommorow, but some day. But theirs will end soon enough." he said, looking at her with his tealish eyes.
"But how do I save them?!" she half yelled at him, grasping his hand.
He turned into dust.
She had a look of sheer terror, and then she popped out back to the real world. She woke from the nightmare, but was still scarred. He'd kill her slowly.

He looked at the surroundings. "My castle." he uttered, and his castle and home rose from the ground.
The white marble walls and spiralling towers reaching towards the sky.
"Now where did I put my book..."

Shinku was the first one to arrive at the lab. One of the scientists leaded her to a room. Inside the room there were a couple of scientists all crowded around a single door that was in the middle of the room. When Shinku entered the room, they all turned their direction to her.
"Your early." one of them said. "Oh well, you'll be the first one to enter then."
Shinku nodded silently. She didn't want to do this in the first place, but she had to. She walked over to the scientists. "What do I have to do to enter...?" she asked silently.
"Just enter this door" another said while pointing towards the door that was in the middle of the room.
Shinku nodded and then slowly approached the door. She slowly opened it and then looked inside. It was all pitch black. I wonder where the others are... she thought as she looked at reality. It might be the last time she actually saw it, since her time in Celen could be fatal. She then turned back to the door and then entered it.
Once Shinku was inside the door, it slammed shut behind her and it faded away. All around her was shadows, nothing else. Everywhere was gloomy, there was no light whatsoever in this alternate realm. All of a sudden, a scythe appeared in Shinku's hand.
Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly noticed a huge castle to her right. One of the Nightmarians must be in there... she thought as she turned slowly and approached the castle with her scythe in her hand.

Michael looked around in the hallway... Nothing at all.
He grimaced, and began searching through the room for his book.
He sighed. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Purely impossible, unless you had a magnet or something like that.
His iPod caught his eye. He could hear some music while searching.
He picked it up, and checked it through for songs. Erik Hassle, no. Lady GaGa, no. 'Weird' Al Yankovic?!
He put Amish Paradise on, and began listening, but only seconds into the song, he began to sing along.

Dancing around the hallway of his castle, he made some... akward? Michael Jackson-like moves, dancing around singing for all he's worth. Forgetting everything about looking for his book. When did you get a chance to dance around like that, and then to a song as weaird as Amish Paradise?

"Got a Bible in my hand and a beard on my chin
But if I finish all of my chores and you finish thine
Then tonight we're gonna party like it's 1699

We been spending most our lives
Living in an Amish paradise
I've churned butter once or twice
Living in an Amish paradise"

Three, two, one... Joy of a kill... Wonder if that damn saying is true; Oh well what better way than to test the theory out.. A young girl mused while chuckling lightly as she approached the lab. This was the place they were supposed to meet.... The young girl scanned her surroundings, boredom plastered on her delicate face. The world could end here and she wouldn't give too much of a damn...

Actually, since when did she give a damn?

By the door she was met by two scientist before escorting her towards the door all the while explaining the whole process of their... 'Trip.' "Okay..." She began. Tapping her chin like a child making her first decision. "If I go in there, I'll reach Celen. From there on the Nightmarians or what the fuck they are called are kill on sight?" She asked in a bored tone.

"Yep, that's right about it." One of the scientist confirmed.

If there was anything to describe the sadistic smile that crossed her face... The devil himself would have been proud to call her his daughter. "Fun..." She grinned before she simply walked inside the door. Almost immediately it faded away. Shadows danced around her as if welcoming the child as the smile refused to leave her face before two guns suddenly materialize in her hand. "Okay...Note to self, study marksmanship." Anise mumbled before she set her sights on the dark castle.

Once Shinku had reached the dark castle she pushed open the doors and then slowly went inside. The sound of her light footsteps ringed through the halls at every step she took. After some time, she cam across a guy that was dancing to music. This must be one of the nightmarians.... she thought as she just stood there watching him. I didn't expect them to actually look like real people....

"It's hard work, and sacrifice
Living in an Amish--"

Michael could smell the scent of the real world.
He turned off his iPod and turned around on his heel, bending a little in his knees.
A girl? A random girl had entered his castle!? A random real girl.
"Who the hell are you?" he asked, looking a little in shock at her scythe.
He could feel his stomach tensing up. She must've been dreaming, and the weakened barrier could've let her in somehow...
"You are NOT allowed to be here." Michael sneered at her. "Leave imediatly." he commanded, hoping that he could intimidate her to leave.
He began backing away from her, wanting to have some space between them, should the girl turn out to have some kind of insane bloodlust.

"Who sent you!? Was it Alexandra? or maybe James? Who led you here?" Michael was in a slight panic.
How could a real person surpass the barrier on their own? They couldn't. Someone must've helped her through.
Surely that person must be one of the others. They allways put up with these ridiculous jokes.

The barren ground was dusty and seemed to stretch on forever. Spider web cracks ran deep across the parched ground, nothing could survive here, nothing except a small group of black thorn trees with braches that resembled a broken body. J.J sat on one of the longer branches staring out into the distance from under her hood. This was her land, The Dead Fields she called them, and it was a precaution. Other Nightmarians often attacked each other and some had the ability to use shadows. If J.J was caught she wouldn't be able to win the fight, the open ground gave her the perfect fighting ground and of course she could easily rearrange it. Something in the world around her shifted, there had been a disturbance of some kind. J.J lifted a hand to her hood and waited to see what it could have been.

Everything was black... everything was always black. The next dreamer to approach the lab was Medan. He knew why he was here and what he had to do, as he'd been filled in on all of the details just a few hours prior.
"Ah, Medan, welcome. If you would, please follow me" a man said, which Medan guessed was one of the scientists. His lack of eyesight made it so he couldn't exactly tell, but something about the atmosphere was a bit off. Perhaps it was just his anticipation, he thought. The scientist offered to take Medan's hand and guide him to the door because surely he noticed the while bandage wrapped over the boy's eyes. Medan swatted the hand away, though. He didn't need anyone to help him move around the walls. He'd been blind for such a long time, that he'd learned how to listen for the footsteps and any other indications to let him know where to go.
"You may now enter Celen" the same voice said to Medan, and without a word, he stepped through the door that was in front of him. Within moments, he felt the atmosphere shift around him. He could not see the difference, but he could feel it all around him. His hood was still up, and the darkness of the world made it hard for anyone else to see his face through the shadow. The first thing that caught Medan's attention, though, was the quiver of arrows strung around his back, and the bow in his hand.
"Giving a bow to a blind man, huh? At least someone has a sense of humor around here" the boy mumbled to himself, slinging the bow on his back near the quiver. Unlike the others prior, Medan could not see the castle as he entered the world, but he could feel a strong pull from it, telling him to walk in the direction. Something was strange, but he couldn't figure out quite what it was. He took a few steps towards the castle to go on his way, and found that he could hear rather well, even compared to his hearing back in his normal world. That brought a slight smile to his face as he continued walking off towards the towering castle that he could not see.

"Who sent you!? Was it Alexandra? or maybe James? Who led you here?"

Alexandra sighed from behind him, standing quite some distance down the hall. She smirked slightly, "Actually Michael, I didn't send the girl." She shrugged, her eyes on both the male and female, interest showing in her expression. " Which causes this to be very intriguing, and makes me question as to why she is here?"

Within a few moments of staring Lexi lost interest and turned around. As she walked away, melding into the shadows, she called back to him. " But you might like to find out, Michael. She does have guns in her hands."

She knew he couldn't see, but she had an amused smile spreading across her features as she held in a laugh.

How very interesting indeed.

J.J couldn't see anything, she had waited but as of yet the disturbance hadn't bothered her own land. She wondered where it might be. This thought made her lips curve into a slight smile. It meant she would have to pay a visit to one of the others. She slowly began sifting through the different worlds created by Nightmarians in her mind until she found and interesting one. A huge castle sat slap bang in the middle of the gound. Whatever the disturbamce was it would be drawn towards the castle because it was a major source of dark power. The only person who would be dumb enough to show off their powers in this fashion was...Michael. Thinking about it she hadn't seen Michael in a while, partly because she hated interaction with others and partly because she didn't like him, but he had something interesting and she wanted it.

Using her mind powers J.J embodied herself in Michael's area causing teleportation. There were at least three disturbances out here, one of which she could see. A boy with a bow was advancing towards the castle and there was another inside. J.J smiled a little and waited to see what would happen.

Michael looked at the girl, then at the leaving Alexandra, then back at the girl.
Woops, she DID actually have a pair of guns in her hands.
Michael bit his upper lip, "You wouldn't mind putting those away?" he asked, uncertainty painted in his face.
He readied himself for the worst, and stared the girl into her eyes. "Please?".
He readied his fingers for a snap. He had to do something to trigger his ability, and a snap was just as good as anything.

Alexandra vanished. Coward. Was she going to leave him to his own designs? There really was no honor among thieves.
Michael looked at the girl, seemed like she was thinking... He began moving a little, walking a little left and right in the room.
Jump out the window, and make the whole thing crash down on her? Nah, I'd have to rebuild it in my mind then, and building it took ages.
You could enclose her in a small compact block? That's definetly a possibility.
Come on! You can kill her in many ways, just do it allready! But that wouldn't be fun...

He looked up at her again, looking her straight in the eyes, nodding.
"What's wrong? Are you a mute?" he asked jokingly.

Crap.... Off all the things the damn bastard had to look like. They had to be human, why couldn't they look like something monstrous. Instead of being something that looked like the human race. Wrong thought, the fuckers ain't human. Anise corrected herself mentally. If they were human then her name was Bugs bunny. Sad really... She hated loony toons. The young girl blinked, carefully assessing the teen before him all the while forming a few strategies at the back of her mind.

C'mon just shoot him and be done with it. The thought entered her mind. It was as if her conscience split at the moment; one good and one bad... Unfortunately for the guy she was leaning more to the bad side. "Eh? Give me one good reason why I should?" She stated rather innocently. Whatever the guy had in mind... It would be a cold day in July before she falls for it.

Throughout the castle, a curious noise could be heard. It was somewhat akin to the ticking of a clock or a metronome. As it continued, it became louder and louder, eventually commanding the attention of everyone inside.

"I should have known that you, out of any of us, would have humans simple wandering into their demense."

Said a voice that was less a voice and more of a collection of noises assembled into a coherent sentence. The noises in question where a combination of grinding gears and the aforementioned ticking. The cadence was odd, halting after every word, as if someone was talking in time with some invisible metronome. Michael could see a glint of metal out of the corner of his eye.

"You really should take more responsability in your duties... I have no idea what to call you. You never chose a proper name for yourself."

"Because I'm asking you to put them down." Michael said in a reasonable voice.
That ticking, he could hear it in the background...
"James!" Michael exclaimed, when the voice finnished stating the obvious.
"It's not MY fault that someone can't close those goddamn rifts! I'll bet my hide, that it was you or one of the others, just to piss me off!"
Michael retorted to the insults. It wasn't fair to blame him, he hadn't done anything wrong...
"And my name is Michael! Don't start with all that 'z' and double 's' I'm not buying it."

He turned towards the girl, taking a step towards her.
"Please just put down the guns, so that we can have a civillized conversation, eh?"
He raised his hands up, so she could see his empty hands.
"I just want to know how you came here, and then you can be on your way home." he said, taking another step towards her.

The voice took on a sinister edge.

"Do NOT call me that. I have taken my name and you will refer to me as such!"

Then he appeared. A shifting, human sized mass of cogs and gears, whirring and clanking as it moved between them.

"I suppose suggesting the standard procedure for dealing with them is out of the question as well?"