Last Dreamers

Last Dreamers, Chapter 0: The Beginning

"It's so lonely here." a voice said into the darkness.

"So lonely..."

"Why doesn't... anyone come?"

...

"No one?"

"I... see, thank you."

...

"Huh? What do you mean?"

...

"Okay..."

...

"I understand..."

---

Last Dreamers, Chapter 1: The Evil in the Nexus

---

Location: Grassy Fields — Unknown Nexus

Midori Tsukino, the girl who plunged herself further into the Nexus, the girl who decided to fight for this realm of dreams. She stood there with two machetes in each hand. They were stained with red and black liquid from the creatures she had been fighting. They were strange. So very strange.

Their bodies were a combination of black squiggles and their feet were distorted, blue blurs. Were they shoes? Springs? She didn't know, she only sliced at them. Their heads were small, thin lines that expanded into an invisible circle. Red eyes with slants and a long, two prongued tongue they use to attack, almost like a whip.

Whatever the circumstance, she called them Bouncers◊.

Part of the nightmare that's been expanding across the land called the Nexus.

Boing, boing, boing..., they bounce and bounce, lashing out at the land with their tongues. "STOP!" she called out, running as fast as she could over the grassy hill.

A silver arc. She threw the machete straight at the creature and it drove itself into its head and it fell backward.

Blood...

The strange, now static creature lie there on the ground. It shriveled up and eventually vanished. These creatures were harmless on their own, but their numbers are what make them dangerous.

She sighed and then fell to a knee. Even if it was a dream, she's been getting exhausted. Why?

It was a dream, she could fight as much as she wanted to. Her form changed from a mundane black-haired girl to that of a wolf girl.◊ Her theory can't be correct, can it? No, that's impossible.

"I have to keep going..." she then marched forward, further into the grassy field.

David popped in unexpectly on the girl.

In the most literal sense. Landing ass first on the ground in a grassy field.

"Interesting, I think. Didn't know I do that," David looked around to see the Wolf Girl.

Quickly he picked himself up and began running in stride.

He hadn't been able to do much in the Nexus that wasn't mundane as of late. This warp was a sign of good things, at least he hoped it was. It meant he might be able to start shuffling around again like he used to. Popping into the head of those whose heads he knew, the places he recognized. This place seemed oddly unfamiliar though. Had it changed that much or was this a glitch? He normally had to know someone pretty well before he could just pop into their head space...

Not a lot of time to think, he focused on running, trying to keep up with the Wolf girl.

He turned his head to her and panting said, "David Owen. You're well, I hope?"

edited 20th Jun '12 10:51:30 PM by Fauxlosophe

Mé féin ag daṁsa faoin ngealaċ seanrince gan ċeol leis ach ceol cuisle. DS FC: 4141-3472-4041, feel free to add me.

Location: Alexander's Nexus

Alexander sat alone on the stage, seated unassumingly on the polished wood. His cello sat alongside him, it's haft cradled in his hand with utmost care, as if holding glass. With incredible grace, he played the instrument, his bow sliding across the strings like water, as the notes split the air.

He sat on the stage of a grand concert hall, it's soaring walls giving way to open air and the massive expanse of the night sky. Only the stage was lit, the rest of the hall sat in suffocating darkness. From the hall's exits stretched dozens of long wires, like piano strings, across an empty void, leading to places unknown.

But all of this was unimportant to Alex, in fact it might as well have been an illusion. For now, all that was real to him was him, his instrument, and the piercing, echoing sound they made together, the notes echoing off the walls and rolling back to him like the tide. A small smile graced his features as he played, eyes closed.

And then everything went wrong.

With a sudden start, as if one of his strings snapped, the music came to a sudden and abrupt halt.

Questioningly, he stroked the cello once with his bow, and jumped. The instrument, only moments ago producing his music, instead let loose a horrible mockery of his song, a jarring feedback which scorched his ears. Wincing, he opened his eyes and looked at his cello.

Before him lay a twisted and deformed... thing, that was certainly not his cello. Well... it had the same shape and size he supposed, but that was where the similarities ended. This... abomination, was made of some kind of white bone, gleaming brightly in the light of the stage. Red smears shone here and there across it's body. Instead of strings, several lengths of... intestine, stretched across the mockery of his beloved instrument.

Alex's eyes widened in shock as he beheld the thin in fear, his mind gibbering incoherently. Nothing like this had ever happened before, never. Not even when he left the concert hall. Nothing had ever interrupted his sessions and now this thing which was certainly not his instrument was sitting in his hands like-

His ramblings were cut off abruptly as the thing in his arms suddenly grasped onto his hand tightly, spines springing out of the abomination like thorns, and wrapping around his fingers which still grasped it.

Alexander gave a strangled yell and dropped the cello-thing. As it fell, the spines cut jagged tears into the flesh of his hand, prompting another yell from him as the thing hit the floor with a thud. Alex clenched his hand to his chest tightly, trying to stem the bleeding. What the hell was going on? He'd never... he'd never seen anything like this before! Not even beyond the hall! He looked down on the twisted piece of bone and flesh and shuddered. This had been his instrument?

Filled with sudden rage, Alexander stomped over to the abomination which had once been his cello. He grasped it by the neck, ignoring the squelch of the intestines and the slices and stabs of the thing's spines. With a twisted grimace of anger, he lifted the thing above his head and smashed it against the stage. The bone smashed against the wooden floor and splintered, bursting open and releasing a flood of blood across the stage, and splashing Alexander's leather shoes and slacks as well.

With a look of disgust, Alex dropped the broken neck of the thing and stepped away from the growing puddle of blood. Grimacing, he wondered what the hell had just happened, and what he would do next.

Your legacy shall drift away, blown into eternity, like the sands of the desert.

Location: Grassy Fields — Unknown Nexus — With David

"Midori Tsukino, Japanese and your name sounds English." the wolf girl ran as she projected yet another machete into her hands. "You don't have a weapon to fight, do you?" she tossed it on over and hopefully he caught it. If he didn't, well, this was a dream and it wouldn't kill him at least. "I'm just fine, just doing a typical round here. Fell asleep at home on the weekend AND—" and like lightning, the blade in her other hand ripped through the air, penetrating another one of the Bouncers. "Hm.. yourself?" she stopped running and turned to look at the oncoming foes.

There weren't any. They were all gone, or they retreated. Now that was odd. "I'm guessing you're concerned with the ... nightmares of late?" a hand fell onto her waist as she sighed. Her tail whisked back and forth and her ears twitched. "Well" she said, trying to rush things along.

David fumbled with the machette as he ran forward.

"Welsh, "His brow furrowed quickly on hearing her introduction, "Welsh. There's a huge dif-"

He turned around to see her use her weapon.

"You just sliced that thing in two."

He stood slightly phased. If it was that easy, you'd figure she'd have done it sooner. Maybe she was in like a Samurai dream or something. One of those Animes.

David shrugged.

"One word for it," David said not moving from his position. It seemed the demanding wolf girl wouldn't give him a moment's pause, "Though with me it's less half baked preschool sketches that I'm worried about."

He paused regaining his disposition slightly and turning to face her, "Anyway, I'm Welsh again, don't go confusing that."

edited 21st Jun '12 9:05:54 AM by Fauxlosophe

Mé féin ag daṁsa faoin ngealaċ seanrince gan ċeol leis ach ceol cuisle. DS FC: 4141-3472-4041, feel free to add me.

"Do you have some sort of spasm that you have to keep repeating yourself?" Midori spoke, shaking her head from side to side. "Apologies, I'm a bit frustrated." the young wolf girl took a seat on the grass and closed her eyes half-way. "These things keep popping up in other Nexus and I can't find the PEOPLE that are supposed to be in there." she shook her head from side to side. "I have a couple of theories but... I really hope they aren't true." one of her ears twitched again.

"Ah, I'm ranting, apologies David."

"They're getting fewer, certainly," David said looking around, "So is my control as well. It is getting harder to do the things I used to in the Nexus. Personally I think the two might be related."

edited 21st Jun '12 9:24:07 AM by Fauxlosophe

Mé féin ag daṁsa faoin ngealaċ seanrince gan ċeol leis ach ceol cuisle. DS FC: 4141-3472-4041, feel free to add me.

"I don't like it at all, David, I don't like it at all." she repeated herself as she gripped the machete already in her hand. "I have a couple of ideas of what might be going on, but they're not pleasant in the least." Midori closed her eyes and sighed. Her tail whisked back and forth and she itched at her thigh. These clothes did itch a bit, but she didn't mind it much, rather used to it now.

"And I don't believe everyone's Nexus is supposed to be connect in this manner, what do you think?"

[Location, Mutou's Nexus]

"No-no-no" Mutou yelled as he ran through the streets of his city. Well, rather, he was fleeing. What from? Giant flying fishes, giant blue basses with sliver wings to be exact. They should have trashed half the city by now. How could this even happen?!? He had made sure that his urban sanctuary was safe, and now this monsters bust through!?! And to add insult to injury his alteration abilities were diminished, if they weren't he could have turned them into pancakes or something of the sorts.

But no, he couldn't. He couldn't save the haven he built for himself. Now he was running for his life to the gate of the nexus, which was a simple door.

"Take me any where but here!" He yelled as he busted through, the door breaking behind him. he shot out to some... plains? odd. He landed on his feet and looked around until he saw people, a couple of teenagers, to judge by their looks. "Hey" He yelled, he might get help so save his city or at least know what is going on

edited 21st Jun '12 2:19:53 PM by Sanojutsu

The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.

"You wouldn't have some spasm where you just keep repeating yourself now?" David echoed with a smirk then with a pause he spoke up again more seriously, "I couldn't say. It could be all natural, just a natural cycle that happens every so often, I think.

edited 22nd Jun '12 12:41:46 PM by Fauxlosophe

Mé féin ag daṁsa faoin ngealaċ seanrince gan ċeol leis ach ceol cuisle. DS FC: 4141-3472-4041, feel free to add me.

"Ahaha... funny." Midori said, deadpan, before she noticed someone in the distance. She saw Mutou, but certainly didn't know his name. The young maiden stood up and waved David to follow her. "Down here, you probably saw him, but there's a guy RIG Ht there." she pointed and then ran as fast as she can. Her speed was certainly unnatural, well not much better than a human but certainly unnatural. It was a dream world, after all.

She skid to a stop, grass flying up and through the air before dispersing. "Yes?" her tail wagged too and fro as she took a step forward, a smile on her face.

David waded after her, not bothering to keep pace but not quite falling behind. He got a feel for the Machette, in case the newcomer turned out to be trouble, but he honestly doubted he'd actually be willing to use it.

Mé féin ag daṁsa faoin ngealaċ seanrince gan ċeol leis ach ceol cuisle. DS FC: 4141-3472-4041, feel free to add me.

The next thing Mutou saw two teens with machetes rushing at him, he hadn't seen the weapons at first. The one lagging behind has fairly normal, but the one on the front wasn't, sporting ears and tail and an outfit taken out of medieval fantasy. It was a dream of course and he had tried body alteration before, so this wasn't surprising. When she finally stopped before him he spoke.

"Well, you see, my personal nexus is in the process of getting wiped out by flying fish. The thing is they shouldn't had gotten in"

edited 22nd Jun '12 2:05:27 PM by Sanojutsu

The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.

"Your Nexus is getting wiped out by flying fish? This really is a dream world." she set aside her concerns about the disappeared Dreamers and focused on another thing. This new guy called Mutou's Nexus. She didn't know his name yet, but she still had to focus on it. "Oh, another theory of mine—" she began but then shook her head.

"No, no, our problem is your Nexus. Let's get going."

Mutou sighed and smiled, they were going to help him. He did regret that he had to leave but somehow he felt as he was in real danger. He shook off that thought, his world was more important.

"Thanks, the name is Mutou, by the way" He said as a patch of ground beside began to switch to a hatch. He opened it and dived in, he shot upwards on the other side landing beside it on what appeared to be the floor of an abandoned subway system.

edited 24th Jun '12 5:11:58 PM by Sanojutsu

The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.

Maxwell was calmly walking throughout the hallways of the library with a book of bird species from the Galapagos. As he flipped through the pages he read of each animals distinctive behaviors and feeding habits. For other people this might've seem boring, but he found this very informative. As he turned the page he found a picture that he hadn't seen before, and even stranger there was no page number. The animal only had one eye and four wings along with a jaw on its belly. He looked at the description and it read, …because of the lack of talons, this species of mammal devour it's prey's head by swooping down and wrapping it's wings around its face in order to blind it as it tears away its face…, that was as far as he got when the page from the book ripped itself out and started folding itself. In a few moments the page became an origami version of the photo and then grew feathers to finish its transformation. During this time Maxwell stared at the thing till a wave of fear and he started running, the bird creature spotting him and following after.

He tooks several turn trying to lose thing, but then then it appeared in front of him again. "I did not summon you nor do you exist logically, so how did you come to be in the fiction section?", he said toward the monster as he reached into his pocket. Obviously the thing didn't respond, but instead answered by diving forward at him, its jaw open wider than its body. Maxwell quickly pulled out his derringer and fired a bolt of fire at it, incinerating the being into ash. Everything was quiet again till a clapping sound was heard above him. Maxwell spun around and pointed the gun at it, but stopped in surprise as he looked at himself. Well it looked like him but some significant differences.

Acacio kept clapping despite the gun being pointed at him and spoke, "That was a pretty good shot there, almost thought he had you.", "What are you and where did you come from? Did you create that beast?", "How would I be able to do that, this is your dominion, I have no control in here, not unless you let me. Anyways don't point that thing at yourself or I might get hurt.", "What?…wait your not making any sense, I'm pointing this gun at you.", "correct! And I am a part of you. It doesn't have to make any sense so just accept it.", Acacio said with a smile on his face.

Maxwell however stared at him when a rumbling was felt and then the sound of ripping paper was heard all around them, "Fine then expain everything later but we have to get out of here now!", "I'm afraid thats not possible, since this world is destabilizing. Thats why I'm here. I found a way out but I don't know where it came from…", as he spoke he took out two books from his jacket, both of them without a title, "…but one leads outside this world and the other is the exit. So what do you say? Wanna be lunch or alive?", "Obviously I'd rather not die.", "That settles it then…", he said as he open one book and dropped the other inside.

Some distance away sounds of wings and howls could be heard coming towards them. Acacio floated down next to Maxwell and put the open book on the floor, light could now be seen shining through it, "Now jump in before they get here, whatever those things could be., "You sure about this? I mean how do you know this will work?", "Truthfully…I dont.", Acacio said as he grabbed Maxwell from behind and jumped inside the book with him.

---

A book fell from the sky into Midori's world landing close by. On it was a sticky note that Acacio had stuck on it that said, open me ;), in poor writing.

edited 24th Jun '12 9:36:22 PM by DAcriznips

Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing- Wernher von Braun Until proven otherwise, Everything is Relevant

David was down there in a literal blink of an eye, back to back with the newcomer.

"This yours at all?"

Mé féin ag daṁsa faoin ngealaċ seanrince gan ċeol leis ach ceol cuisle. DS FC: 4141-3472-4041, feel free to add me.

"Yes it is" Mutou said proudly "well, there's more on the surface, I thought putting us in the subway system would safer..." Just as he finished the phrase the ceiling caved in half a mile from their location. After it the head of a colossal blue bass punches through the cave-in blocking the way. Mutou looks irritated at this. He moves in and cannons begin to form from the walls, ceiling and floor, aimed at he beast. They subsequently fire and the volley of bullets hits its mark, reducing the bass' head to a pile of meat and bone.

"That is the silver lining about this, they are not really smart or graceful, a few I can take, but hundreds...?" He said back at the teenager, leaving the last question hanging in the air.

edited 24th Jun '12 9:02:12 PM by Sanojutsu

The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.

"I can't say I much like this," David looked around, "Mine's managed to be hold together but it's taking a toll. I don't like it at all, I don't."

He shook his head.

"It's only a dream after all but it feels like it's getting more and more real."

He paused for a moment,

"How can I help then?"

Mé féin ag daṁsa faoin ngealaċ seanrince gan ċeol leis ach ceol cuisle. DS FC: 4141-3472-4041, feel free to add me.

Midori had followed the two into Mutou's own Nexus. She looked around, taking in everything, trying to come up with a reason to all of this. "Have you guys noticed something. People are disappearing more and more, and then these monsters keep popping up. I think they're connected." she drew another machete and held it at the ready. "And I don't like my theories." she sighed, looking to Mutou and then to David.

"Oh, right, I need to help as well."

"Its actually simple, kid, you have to help me take out those damned basses" Mutou said to David thinking on his words. Yes, more reality had been seeping in to his dream. Then he heard Midori's remarks. People missing? Was the situation so grim? No, he couldn't let his mind wander about that not with all those monsters on the loose, wrecking his poor city apart. The ceiling area above him turned into a hatch and a stair formed down from it. Mutou pulled out a cigarette and putting it between his lip it lights up. he starts to walk towards the wall and up on it until he reached the hatch.

"Let go, kids" He says. upside down, as he kicks open the hatch and jumps in to find himself in the middle of the street. Up in the sky, flying fish soaring along.

The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.