"Will you stop poking it?" Keith asked Nathan in exasperation.

"It feels like a real arm."

"It is a real arm," Keith rolled his eyes, then looked at Ichtvar. "I wasn't aware you could regrow limbs."

"It's exhausting to do," the phoenix told him. "Which is why Nathan shouldn't have used his arm as a shield."

"I really want to know what that thing was," Keith told Ichtvar. "Are you sure you don't know anything about it?"

"Nothing at all," the phoenix responded. "It looked like some sort of mutated hybrid between a bear, a boar, a lion, a bird, and a demon. With maybe some hyena and snake mixed in."

"Well, whatever it was," Keith rolled his eyes again as Nathan continued to poke his newly regrown arm. "It's dead now. As soon as we get this talisman in the Altar of Light, we'll be done with this Dungeon as well."

Nathan gave out a light sigh in relief, Keith echoing it. They had spent a couple of extra weeks in the Dungeon to finish up all of the other islands except the center island. It was mostly monotonous work by the two of them, with Ichtvar sometimes attempting to sing before being shut down by Nathan.

Neither of the teens were appreciative of his singing. The phoenix had a decent voice, but chose bad songs for the situation.

So after a month or so of living in the dark world, they were ready for some sunlight and relaxation. A change of scenery, pace, and something to give them entertainment rather than a boring, repetitive routine.

Not that they would have much variation if they did the extended Survival Challenges, but it would be better than the Isles of Darkness.

"I already gave it to Breezy," Nathan told Keith. "Splashy offered the mana to finish the mending while Ichtvar was healing my arm."

"Stop poking it!" Keith smacked Nathan's hand away. "It's a real arm, Nathan. It's like regrowing skin when you get a cut."

"It even has my tan," Nathan muttered, causing Keith to roll his eyes again.

"All of your injuries have been healed with that," Keith told him. "Or do you not remember taking an ice spear to the chest? No sign of that, remember?"

Nathan shrugged, just grateful for the fact that they were about to leave the Isles of Darkness as soon as the lights turned back on.

Which they did only a moment later.

"About fucking time," Nathan muttered. "I want to go home and see Samantha now."

Keith sighed as Nathan read the notices in their views.

You have completed Isles of Darkness Dungeon 7 This is a multi-Dungeon Dungeon. You have completed 7 (seven) Isles of Darkness Dungeons and 15 (fifteen) Isles of Darkness Side Dungeons. Your total reward upon exit will be 1,050% (one thousand fifty percent). This will increase by 50% (fifty percent) for every additional Dungeon you complete in here. You will have 15 (fifteen) minutes to decide if you wish to leave or complete another Island's Main Dungeon from when all players have dismissed this message. If you are completing another Dungeon on this island when the time limit is up, the decision will be delayed until completion of that Dungeon.

Special Dungeon Notices: Warning: the central island contains an S-2 dragon; do not attempt unless you are confident in survival. One outer island contains an S-2 nightmare; if you enter it now, you will be given a Dungeon to slay it. This island will be marked by a red light in the naviglobe rather than a yellow one.

"So it actually warns us," Keith said. "That's good news, I suppose."

Nathan nodded as he read over the messages again, then dismissed them.

"Can we try the nightmare?" He asked as he pulled a clean shirt on. "I've had weird dreams several times because of that thing."

"Nathan-" Keith began.

"I'm all for it," Ichtvar said. "Its power is no doubt reduced somewhat as a result of the light, and if you're in an alert state and aware of its presence, it will have a much more difficult time influencing your minds."

"Alright, then," Keith said. "If Ichtvar believes we can handle it, then let's do it. We need to do that bondage thing, right?"

Nathan snorted.

"Get your head out of the gutter," Keith told him.

"Don't make that comment," Ichtvar told Nathan, who glared back. "Also, you'll need to remove your shirts."

"I just put it back on."

"It works best naked."

Nathan removed his shirt without further pushing, and Keith removed his own as well. The phoenix had them sit with their backs pressed against each other, then walked them through the process, which was similar to the process for contracting a familiar.

They felt their magic cycling into the other and opened the link between them through it, and then they felt the connection, and understood what Ichtvar had meant about it being a more emotional one. Even if their emotions were different, they could fully sense the other's in ways that went beyond words could describe.

"I want to try this with Samantha," Nathan muttered, resulting in Keith and Ichtvar laughing. "What?"

"That was your first thought?" Keith chuckled, then looked at Ichtvar as the teens stood and pulled their shirts back on, the warrior leaving his unbuttoned. "It seemed to work just fine with pants on."

"Normally, it would take maybe one or two minutes," Ichtvar told him. "You two took nearly an hour. Mana had to flow from every part of your body into every part of the other's. Clothes blocked that, so it took longer. It works the same, though."

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"You mentioned," Nathan said. "That we could handle the nightmare, but that we could only handle a dragon or nightmare on the same level of power as you. Does that mean you're on the same level of power as the nightmare?"

"At the moment," Ichtvar nodded.

"Are you in me or out of me for the fight?" He asked.

"I'll be in you," Ichtvar said. "To boost your recoveries and senses."

"Then get in me," Nathan told him, and the phoenix flew into his chest. The heavenly storm elemental flew into Keith's back after the mage lifted his shirt up, then they looked at each other. "You're the mage, so you focus on killing the nightmare. Draw on my mana and magical power to do so."

Keith nodded, aware that Nathan would act as a backup hitter. The warrior didn't have the fine skill with mana manipulation necessary to draw from Keith properly, though he could do it if he needed to.

However, Keith was the one with the stronger magical attacks, so it was better for the mage than the warrior.

The pair waited for Breezy to return with the naviglobe, then made their way to the beach with a boat for them to take, spending several hours rowing to reach the island they had begun their quest on. As soon as they set foot on the island, they received the Dungeon notice.

Dungeon Entered: Nightmare's Lair Challenge Type: Journey Difficulty: Advanced Encounter the nightmare.

Dungeon Entered: Lair of the Nightmare Challenge Type: Survival Difficulty: Advanced Survive against the nightmare.

Dungeon Entered: Nightmare's Hostility Challenge Type: Slaughter Difficulty: Advanced Kill the nightmare.

The pair of them paused when they saw the notices, but immediately understood why there were three separate Dungeons just for the nightmare. The System probably had a formula for determining rewards, even if it was beyond Nathan and Keith and seemed random. Giving three Dungeons for it meant it would double the total reward due to the multi-Dungeon bonus. In addition, it would potentially grant access to another streak bonus.

That last part was not necessarily because they were in a multi-Dungeon Dungeon, but an extra thing in case players were. The extra two Dungeons could put someone from eight completed Dungeons to ten, which would give them that mysterious bonus the teens had to leave to learn. They had another for reaching twenty completed Dungeons as well.

"Nice and straightforward," Nathan muttered, then raised his voice. "Breezy, scout."

The wind elemental took off, and the pair waited until they received the location of the nightmare, then began walking towards it, changing path every time it moved. It didn't take them long to realize that the wind elemental was harassing it, which was the reason it was moving.

The nightmare's power wasn't much against a sentient, sapient force of air.

As they drew closer, they began to sense the unease it caused in people, the sense of paranoia and fear that should have been filling them only a light annoyance. Nathan wanted to draw his gun and shoot, but knew that without drawing on Keith's power for that, it probably wouldn't do much.

And drawing on Keith's power for a bullet would probably result in the gun exploding more than anything useful, so that was not an option.

"There it is," the teens said in unison as they spotted the nightmare.

A stallion with a pure-black coat, a silver mane, and silver eyes, the creature was skipping around the paths, jumping from side to side as it did its best to avoid the elemental's attacks.

"Here we go," Keith said, raising his hands and summoning lightning.

As soon as he began the spell, the nightmare turned and looked at them, the elemental slamming into its side, doing no damage to it that the teens could see. The creature let out a whinny, and Keith let loose a bolt of lightning, which the nightmare dodged.

"Tch!"

The mage aimed his staff at the nightmare, sending spikes of air charged with lightning at the nightmare, changing to weaker, but more numerous spells with a quicker cast. As he did that, Nathan took in information from the elemental and fed more back to it and some to Keith.

Rather than attempting to attack them physically, the nightmare attempted a mental assault on the two, who found that having their familiars inside of them granted them some level of shielding against that.

Realizing that it couldn't win that way, the nightmare began to leave, but the teens pursued, Keith attacking with Nathan's magical power added on to his own, until they Keith finally managed to deal enough strikes to remove all of its Health and began injuring its flesh directly.

Then, the nightmare attacked, charging towards them.

"Nope!" Keith gestured with his staff, and a line formed between them and the beast, a barrier of compressed wind forming.

In addition to being compressed, it was quick-moving, giving it a shimmering appearance. It was a spell he created on the fourth island as a counter to boars. The compressed state created a solid wall the boars would charge into, while the speed of the moving air in the magically-compressed state resulted in damage to their Health – or bodies, if they had no Health. A feat only able to be accomplished through magic.

The nightmare suffered the same fate, the little bit of Health it had regenerated disappearing immediately as it slammed into it. Momentum kept its body moving, resulting in its hindquarters traveling forward and slamming into the barrier, the entire side of the creature filling with cuts before the nightmare managed to move away from the barrier.

Nathan noted Keith's amazement and excitement, aware that it was because of how much more power he could pour into the spells. It was only a moment later the mage was using his magical power again, blasting the nightmare with lightning as it moved away from the barrier, which had faded away.

The bolt caught the nightmare in the side, and Nathan watched as Keith summoned up another as the beast was thrown back. Two more bolts struck the nightmare before it lay still.

"It's death," Keith told him. "That was a fair bit more drawn-out than I'd expected."

Nathan nodded. The fight had been less dangerous and more time-consuming. He knew that without the bond, Keith likely would not have dealt much damage, if any at all, to the nightmare. He probably would not have managed much.

"That brings us up to a times-twelve bonus," Nathan said as they dismissed their notices. "When it pops up, let's head out."

"Can we fight the dragon?" Keith asked, and Nathan gave him an incredulous look. He had sensed something strange in the mage a moment prior to that, and was not happy with what it turned out to be. "Okay, I know, that's probably not the best of ideas, but I'm pretty sure we can succeed, Nathan. We did kill a nightmare, after all."

"Dragons are offensive creatures," Nathan said. "In combat. The nightmare only failed to do stuff to us because of Icthvar and Splashy being within us. It couldn't get past the shields their presences boosted."

"I know," Keith said. "But I really do think we can succeed. With my greater magical power when I tap into yours, I should be able to punch through its Health."

"And I'll stand there, useless."

"No," Keith said. "Your force punches are actually pretty strong, since they use quite a lot of magical power. So what you would do is protect me – if the dragon got too close, you just punch it."

Nathan gave him an unamused look.

"With your force punches."

The look turned to annoyance.

"Use Spatial Mobility and Warp Step if you need to," Keith told him. "You should be able to get behind it with that, or to its side. A force punch should be enough to knock it off-course."

Nathan grumbled, but gave in to Keith's desire after consulting Ichtvar, who supported the idea.

"Let's get back to the damn boat, then," Nathan said. "The naviglobe didn't dissolve away this time."