William finds himself in a weird world, where he sees weird things, and feels it even worse.
Strange flickering and turning dark fog surrounds him at all fronts, creating weird pictures, sensations, and dreadful images all over his sight. He can't point them out to anything physical. It is just dreadful to look at them.
His Velvet Eyes shines against this fog, but when he tries to look at his hands, there aren't any.
But he surely can feel them, the same way he feels the tension surrounding every inch of his body, making him feel as if he weighs hundreds of pounds more. Hunching over, he feels his legs betray him, so he looks down and sees nothing but the weird fog too. He feels the legs, however, which makes it even stranger when the pressure rises until he kneels and wonders where he is.
“What is this...” He mumbles, noticing this isn't like the Dark Fog he has experienced over half a dozen times. It should feel like a very dense mist, pushing against the skin and eyes, making anyone feel dread to their core. William knows that feeling. This isn't that. It feels more crazy if he gives it some thought.
Rather than that, he doesn't know what feels better. There aren't really many differences apart from the dread, which is an emotion that goes along the Dark Fog unless the Emblem is put against that. William has one right now, or so he thinks.
“Felt this before... I am sure.” He considers this to be some variant of the Dark Fog, and there is always a way out of these things. Well, he doesn't know the variants of them, apart from a few low-level details that are common, to mildly rare.
Unfortunately for him, this isn't a normal situation, so even when he focuses a bit more on the weight and his eyes, he feels nothing but weight down his shoulder and the sight of his eyes.
The images are all weird before his eyes, showing both dull and bright colors that are like fog, or soft mist. There doesn't seem to be coherence to these images, similar to how cycling Vectors turns without any purpose but to do a loop without a second thought.
But he knows they have a great purpose, as Emblem takes care of it as their catalyst and source.
So when he is looking at something that looks like the most chaotic and weird-looking Vectors that are more like Arcanite, he doesn't know what to think. It isn't under the knowledge he gained in his deep hours in the library, nor he is sure if he truly met something like this or not.
Weird feelings and emotions strike him, and without the ability to move around to walk, he is stuck like a tree, wondering and confused about what happened with the cave or those blobs.
There isn't any resemblance to Rozzante around him. And William is certain that guy has been on his side literary few seconds ago; shouting some nonsense.
The last thing he remembers is where the darkness enveloped his field of vision but without pain or his Emblem's interventions. Something still crashed into them like dense water, and even Rozzante or the butler in this room weren't spared.
In a weird sense, as William feels his mind isn't working that sharply, he feels he is dreaming instead.
Lifting his right hand by a feel alone, he touches his face and eyes, sensing no touch, but the sensation of his body is there. Weird. There is also nothing indicative of his hand in his sight, but he feels he can watch something for sure, which is notable by the Velvet hue.
“Turning me blind... This place is... bullshit. Never heard of something like that.” he mumbles in disbelief and confusion. At least his emblem should work or do something against anything related to the Darks, so he thinks of it right away. It is the greatest tool against any of their power from the physical and even psychological meanings.
Walkers are literal fortresses of power that could endure the corruption and influences of the Darks, making them the only source of proper power against this whole Apocalypse.
William is one right now, but not for long, unfortunately. He doesn't know what is happening and where he is.
It is a potent variant of Dark Fog that surrounds him, cutting his sense of self into the Dream Fog: a hellhole that has been a burial place for many Walkers in the past.
The spiritual touch of this place makes it a true hell, as one isn't figuring this place with the naked eye or their bodies. The Emblem should still help, however. At least at certain Ranks.
And such a place surely shouldn't be in this place right now, and under these circumstances that the Academy sets up.
“What about the ears..” William tries to clap his hands, but nothing happens when he almost fails to lift his hand. It weighs a lot on his feelings, so he uses his voice instead. “Arise!” He shouts.
And fails to think twice about what is happening.
Nothing.
There are no mental strains over the Mindless Eyes, nor the flow of Arcanite in his body. “Means I have nothing... but I think and act as if I do? What is this pressure then? Where the hell have I ended up?” He wonders and focuses some more on his Velvet Eyes which somewhat works.
It is strange timing and a token of power, allowing him to see a crazy flow of Dream Fog. It is a mental scrap of the Darks that could push forth to the foes under specific circumstances that hardly any Walkers could feel or notice.
The enemies lurk in the dreams, hoping to catch the prey that they're forced into the corner, making this one of the most dangerous things a Walker can meet.
It doesn't matter if one is Rank 8 or 1. This is no place after all, but it still takes them all.
So when William notices how his body and body feels, the notion of the Velvet sights confuses him. It shouldn't be here when the Mindless Eyes doesn't work, and his Emblem is nowhere to be seen or sensed.
Waiting for some change or flow to return, nothing happens as he kneels.
But sounds slowly creep around him, claw marks, laughter, and even screeches as if Hellgars chew some people. All kinds of Dark noises... Creepy, desperate, and dreadful.
And all of them crash into William's mind, creeping up to his whole spirit but it is strictly going against his psyche. He has no ears after all. His mind takes it in some force, so he ends up screaming through the pain that isn't even his. But it sure feels it could be... should be his.
The pain of these noises acts weirdly, like the pressure he feels for a good while.
Groaning and trying to protect his head and ears on instinct, his eyes go down as his body can't take this at all. He completely collapses on the ground, wide and unclear of anything that is even physical or his.
The sensation is at least real, making him a human like he is. “Stop... Yes... Stop. I remember now. This sort of noise is somewhere back in my mind, but where? From where? Is this a nightmare?” He mumbles, while his eyes shine in the Dream Fog, where a mash of his human figure barely looks tangible.
It is like clouds with two dots of red eyes, surrounded by Nightmare Clouds from the top of his head to his feet, making him suffer.
But his Emblem must have traveled to him into the Dream Fog in some way because the Velvet Eyes grants him better vision and mental fortitude. William doesn't know it, but unlike regular humans who would lose all of their will, Walkers can fight against the Dream Fog like no one else. There are, however, differences between the Walkers, making some better suitable to this task that seem hard to contain and understand.
It is outside of the physical realms. A thing that shouldn't make sense.
It is like going into the Dark's mind, feeling their insanity and spirit, creating a mash of terror and chaos that is currently what William feels.
He felt this in the past, but he doesn't know when and why. “Calm down... First, this is just in my head... my head...” He mumbles, blinks, and tries to shake those feelings off. Nighamre Clouds make up the front of his vision, so they wriggle as he shakes his head. His mind regains a brief idea of some touch, but all it does is make the returning mush of those noises worse. They are all over his face, attacking him constantly.
Breathing doesn't do a thing.
Forcing his ''body'' doesn't change a thing either.
“Eyes... I can see something, so let's see further. There must be a way ahead out of this mess. Perhaps getting out of the cave accomplishes that? No... That doesn't make any sense. It feels like I am in a dark place, but it feels bright as well. Nonsense... This lacks common sense.” He figures a part of the truth about the Dream Fog without even knowing he is in one.
It is beyond Rank 4 in any normal circumstance, making it one of the nastiest places with a reputation as a danger zone.
The Academy should've wiped it out a long time ago in the real world. Stopping this madness should've been guaranteed, but it certainly did not disappear if William feels it with every fiber of his being.
Time tickles in a weird manner as well, making the pain grow and linger longer like an eternity. The noise returns and loops, increases, or changes its course many times. Screams resonate as more steps and screeches get closer, testing or crushing the minds of anyone who comes here.
William is keeping his senses sharp like the stubborn person he believes he is, but he can't help but think this is already way out of his league. There is no defense against it, yet he endures it somehow. At some point, he decided to drag himself out of this place, crawling by his senses while Nightmare Clouds follows him like bees a flower.
They are resilient, as they eat and grow by eating the negative emotions.
William has a lot of them for sure. He has never been a smiling sunflower. Not in the world that always tried to kill him in the past, with many instances that are more like a norm.
At least as a Walker, he can fight back, but can he?
Considering his options, he feels as if his timely awakening doesn't grant him such major changes. He still feels the terror of lacking strength, albeit the security of power means some sort of addictivity for sure. It means the start of something greater. He knows it for sure.
He already gets and understands what it tastes like. The power.
But not a dominating kind of power. That one is different from slapping some Rats or killing some Rank 2s that are barely considered sneeze under his book. The world needs to wipe much stronger Darks to make up for the loss of the status quo.
Without power in the Nightmare Fog, William feels like a child he still is. The Emblem is a power that is long set up by his birth. A fate he can't escape. Well, he certainly doesn't want to escape it by any means. That is part of his stubbornness, firm will, and hope.
Hope is always something that helps.
Or is crushed by dread and Nightmare Clouds, hovering around him ever since he got here.
William still tries to get out of the noise of these clouds like flies, hoping to escape the dread like he always does. Some flinches of his head do seem to sometimes help to move those clouds, but they always return for more of his suffering.
With enough time and feeling the endless course of dread, he gets some idea. “This... picture and screams or noises. They keep at all at once. Like flies zooming around my ears, eating my brain from inside out. Lost... How to get them lost, damn it!” He grunts as he swings his arms before him, touching the ground which is some sort of soft floor that feels like grass and water at the same time. Again, the feelings and sensations put forth from his body are very weird.
It doesn't feel physical.
He has no clue where he is even going with his crawling, or what is even on the ground, but this basically confirms this isn't some regular place.
All it needs is just patience, thinking, and endurance. Positivity should help too. William thinks of that first before gnawing his fingers and accepts the dread.
He learned it from a lot of people he met Outside.
Defiance.
Stubbornness.
Pride.... from a couple of individuals.
One has to defy the odds and implications of the Dark Age to grow and move on. It works weirdly most of the time, as it is just an idea, rather than truth. But a strong psyche is a big variable in the large picture that is the whole apocalypse. A shift in mind can change many people.
“Some... variant? Have I been forcefully teleported away? What about a butler of the Academy? Weren't there supposed to be good enough times for us?” William asks himself as he crawls, keeping his head shaking and eyes looking. It feels awkward, but it shakes some of those noisy Nightmare Clouds away.
Until the Nightmare Clouds reforms through anger, creating a Nightmare Image of a Pounder in almost all of its glory, kicking him like hitting a fly. William has never experienced following feelings that rush over his senses.
Weird power pushes against his whole being, turning his vision strange. He feels as if he is flying through the air at high speed, followed by immense pain that isn't very physically demanding. It is more like a crash and cracks all over his body, while it gradually turns to normal as if his body is made of glossy water.
Nightmare Clouds took his shaking for taunts, punishing the cheeky brat who wouldn't cooperate with their meal. They are out of the picture for the first time, letting William growl as he looks out of the Nightmare Fog for the first time. Their constant barrage of noises is no longer hitting his head. And even that pressure disperses, letting him fly at peace.
He is free now.
And utterly shocked by his surroundings.
Flying doesn't bother him, similar to the hit of Nightmare Image that isn't even real. It still crashed against his spirit, however, but for some reason, William doesn't think of pain being evil, because he finally gets away from the dread and suffering. His patience pays off.
Which is something that those Nightmare Clouds should take for their mistake. Their food is gone... leaving them starving.
Before, above, behind... Well, across all sensible directions that surround Willliam, there is a completely new world that is full of whitish fog. Clouds, or so he could describe, consist of fog and mist similar to normal fog in a normal world. There are mountains of clouds coming from the grounds of many layers, forming an essentially neverending flow of places. There is also an intense amount of blackish fog that can be seen everywhere, flickering like flames around many clouds.
“What the hell... So I am dreaming...” William mumbles and looks at his body midway through his flight. He has some hands and feet after all, but made of that white cloudy matter, so he ends up screaming in shock as they move like his arms would. They have some feelings for sure, but they are so rudimentary, he can't even touch his face.
“Like clouds... Insane. But what about my eyes?” he finds the first doubt, so he tries to push his cloudy hands against his eyes. He fails to notice anything, apart from his sight working much better after Nightmare Clouds are away. His flying slowly decreases after he flies through a cloud, ending in a mash of white world that feels like being underwater.
When he flies from the other end, his speed is much slower so he descends, noting that this world has no boundaries. Cloudy ground curves in almost no physical limitation, screwing with reality like dreams do. And those enormous cloudy hills and mountains are just the tip of the iceberg.
He bet his eyes he doesn't see everything.
Just a small picture.
“No cage is around me... No cave either. Rozzante?” He looks around, and away from those clouds, finding this world filled with Nighmares of the Darks, depicted by Clouds and other Dream Darks of various, albeit lackluster masses or forms.
William thinks of them as his enemies right away. It comes as instinct, so when his speed stops and he falls to the ground, he thinks twice before acting or thinking further.
“Well.. shit me. This is terrifying...” He says back on his feet, standing behind a large cloud of Dream Fog he has just gone through. Flames of the Nightmare Fog wish to gobble him up, similar to the clouds and other aspects of Darks of non-physical properties. Someone dispatched him to this weird place, and William has no idea how to get out.
Looking around, he definitely sees no place that seems like a way out. There are just white clouds, followed by sizzling flames or other dangerous signs. Those blackish flames are alive, flowing like snakes around the clouds.
While more Nightmare Clouds come around, or from them, aiming at the new food of this world.
William understands how this makes little to no sense, but how is he supposed to think or act? Run? Fight back? What is he supposed to do?
“Well...” he sighs like a mouse turned to a corner. There is only running in his opinion, as the situation makes no sense. So he runs like he never did, by jumping over the edge of the cloud he is in, falling deeper into this infinity and endless-looking realm. Flames and Clouds stop following him when he drops hundreds of feet from what looks like a cloudy platform about 4 feet thick.
“On my damned soul, this isn't really normal. Dreaming... Yes. Dreaming. I am not here. Not here.” He tries to close his eyes, but that action doesn't do anything. He can't even close his eyes...
He looks and feels how he drops further down, while his hands and the rest of his body flickers in some clouds.
And the landing is coming, as the new cloudy platform comes in all sorts of angles, creating new mountains, hills, or roads more distances away, creating what he could see as a tunnel. A ridiculously large tunnel that has no perception of up or down, but gravity does seem to work somewhat.
For now at least.
Frankly, he wouldn't be surprised if he suddenly knew how to fly.
Of course, Darks, or what is left of them, are around the clouds as well.
Screaming doesn't help him solve anything. Flapping his hands or feet neither. He drops down, cloud softens his fall with a surprising comforting landing. Face down, of course, but his cloudy body doesn't hurt in anything physical.
Everything is very mental. Perhaps too much.
“Makes no sense...” He repeats for an unknown amount of time as he gets back on his feet. “First... Let's get some sense to this mess, as Roman always said: One has to be prepared for anything. Only with time comes experience, while the world eats everyone regardless of that.... Uhm... weird. I thought he was a bit more positive than I remember.” William sighs, looking up to the previous platform that looks like a landmark to other masses of clouds.
At least the Clouds from there don't follow him by jumping down.
Which doesn't change the subject that nowhere is safe. Nightmare Clous charges at him from a further corner of the current cloud, making some noise that is hard to understand. It is like shimmering screams, rough, or even high-pitched at some weird frequencies.
William turns to them immediately, looking at what he would describe as bees under his Vector Eyes. Millions of them make up a large cloud that resembles a floating cloud.
“Flying away didn't help, huh...” He accepts this fact, so he looks for another way out.
There is really nothing around him. He landed up in a large place without anything around him apart from some hills that are bare of anything except those flames. So he decides to stand up against those Nightmare Clouds that charge at him, hoping to find their weakness or some sort of help against them.
If he could do something to steady his time here, he is sure there would be a better outcome afterward.
Shifting his stance, he questions if his cloudy arms can even hit something. But he tries it anyway, charging at the cloud that takes the appearance of a large mouth, gnawing at him whole.
It tastes his arms after his retreat, and William screams as he feels the loss of his arm for real. No blood is anywhere, of course.
Thankfully, the fingers grow back out of his separated cloudy arm, followed by painful remainders as if the pain is too much to think about. It lingers for too long, making William regret he even tried to attack it.
“Doesn't work... My physique is nonexistent? Is this some weird Dark Dungeon? A place? Their technique? What kind of Rank would accomplish this sort of nightmare place that seems so alive.” William wobbles away as he speaks, clutching his arms together. “Time... No way out. Is this punishment? Hunt? Nightmare... It is insane.”
By this time, the bunch of Nightmare Clouds arrives after the fastest one attacked him, visibly shaking for their meal. William is already drained a little, but who knows what they are even on about. Darks or not, he looks at those clouds ranging in almost a dozen numbers.
They seem to fight between them, allowing him to shake them up by fleeting without looking back.
“Bunch of freaks... No eyes for them... What is even the point of the Velvet Eyes? I would rather have my claw back... truly. What a wast...” A sudden force slaps him aside, stumbling him through the cloudy ground and giving him yet another painful reminder.
A large pointy tree trunk smashes him whole, coming up from one of the larger Nightmare Clouds. They are fast if they have to be, so they catch up to him in no time. William coughs but doesn't know why. He shouldn't if he has no body or lungs to care about.
And glaring at the returning dark tree made of those dark clouds, he defies it!
Which amounts to another stumble on the floor, but this time, he doesn't go that far.
Getting to his feet ends up easier than ever, around the time when another Nightmare Cloud transforms into a large dark claw as large as him.
“Well, freaks me to the moon... You are a bunch of bullies.” He ducks under the cloud, doing it by memory, but not the tree trunk. He doesn't even fall to his back or face any longer because something catches the tree instead.
A bunch of veiny crimson lines forms directly from his chest, wrapping and stopping this attack. “What is this?” William asks, and before he knows what, a bunch of more lines smashes the tree away, and even flicks a claw away in their own defensive mechanism, or insists.
William glares at them as if he is looking at ghosts. He has no idea what it is, but it surely doesn't resemble Vectors. Only a little bit... Roughly.
They are tiny, small, and not cycling. They are like metallic strands or icy blood vessels. But it still protects him, so he takes it as no bad thing if it comes out of his chest.
Looking down at his mid-section, the crawling veins make a mess out of his chest, but it doesn't hurt, so it isn't an enemy. “Again... something weird. Are Walkers meant to take such things into their heads? I am genuinely regretting not being eaten up on some days...” he mumbles a joke that comes sincerely out of his fed-up and tired mind.
Then he tries to handle those veins with his fingers, but they escape or slap his hand softly away. “Shame... Are they shy?” He asks, before noticing the remaining Nightmare Clouds coming right at him, forming large mouths or raging sharp claws. There are dozens of them by now, appearing like a small tidal way.
Crimson lines flicker all over William's figure. The last strands of them come out of his chest, making one large cobweb of crimson lines all around him. Some of them formed attacks against those previous Nightmare Clouds, but they shifted and changed way too fast.
William does feel some weight as those lines leave his chest, but can't point out what is it. Like he dropped something, or something fell from his chest? It is a weird sensation and unlike anything he has ever felt.
Watching those crawling lines does make some sense, as it is the first picture beside white and black in this world. Well, apart from the velvet hue of his sight which adds a filter to his sight, he likes this crimson contrast.
Which is a shame, because when those lines crash against the wave of Nightmare Clouds, Willaim questions his sanity once again. Explosive power flushes many clouds around him away like the explosion of a truck, leaving a hole in the middle of the clouds. William himself falls away, breathless and slightly spooked after those lines all go against the clouds.
Dozens of feet away, their fight goes on. Crimson lines fight against the Nightmare Clouds in their fighting forms, trying to eat the lines but they fail every time. Sizzle and smoke spread from a few exchanges, leaving gradually decreasing Nightmare Clouds smaller and smaller.
William sees the crimson is winning, and the familiar sight of these actions and lines does come to his mind. They are just like the Annihilation, although smaller or weird in their form.
“Crimson and coming from me? Is that... what?” He has no idea, so he keeps looking until the fight seems to be going on for a couple of minutes, leaving the cloudy floor and part of the hill in shambles.
But the Nightmare Clouds retreat far away with barely a tenth of their number left, fearing the crimson lines that spread their limitations and limitations like rough sketches of claws, weird swords, or simple pokes of lines.
No noise comes out of them next, leaving William stranded on the ground, watching.
Crimson lines seem to take some celebratory swirling motions, ceasing those imitations away to form a swirling vortex of lines. They form quickly, making up a rough and small figure on top of the thin layers of clouds. A weird head, pairs of human limbs, and shaking sketchy lines swirl like a tornado all around it.
It nods, feeling the fighting against those Nightmare Clouds went better than ever, before taking even shakier steps towards William, who watches this show with emptiness and unknown thoughts.
The little creature ends up walking right before him, standing in all of its might of barely 2 feet of height. William is sitting for the past minutes, unafraid or unwilling to flee as something new appears once again. A being made of crimson Vectors. He has never seen one before for sure, but he feels he should know it.
“What are you... Some kind of manifestation of my Emblem?” He asks straight to the point, but the little creature doesn't take his words for anything good or bad. It keeps observing, stopping walking a handful of reach away from him. It seems shocked and perplexed until fear and massive surprise appear in its cycles when looking properly around.
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William can relate. This place is too weird anyway, so this little creature doesn't make it worse. Perhaps a companion to this world wouldn't hurt. It adds some flavor. “Cloudy dreams... huh?” He reckons and tries to move a bit toward the panicking creature. “Did a quick job with those dark clouds though. Gratitude.”
It stops shaking and panicking, which speaks of some understanding. It isn't stupid, or so William thinks. “You shouldn't need a worry if you took care of those clouds.” He tries to hype it up, which ends up surprisingly better than he expected.
Its internal and outer structure calms down, appearing as if it takes a deep breath and exhales. The upper limbs make a shaking motion, copying the head. It seems disappointed when it turns away, looking down the near hole, before looking up and around.
General surveillance, William notes. “Mind if I join?” He offers, but it wouldn't change much in his lacking opinion. He takes his carefree attitude as a sight of returning sense, but perhaps it is just a placebo.
A deserving action, he thinks he deserves.
The little creature seems to sniff the air and clouds, turning back to William who stands up. It points at him with shaky hands, that appear as many lines fighting against one another, making it like a mash of sketches within a book. It isn't so smooth in his eyes.
“Not sure what you mean by this...” William says. “You are me... right? Or what?”
It shakes its head in disappointment again, before swirling and pointing its limbs around in all directions.
“Oh, you fear this place as well?”
Unlikely. It stops shaking and falls to its knees, depressed and almost crying.
“Alright.” William sees its sorry attitude and feels kind of bad for it. “No need for that. Do you want some help? I want to get out of this place. How, or where... however. Where to even start?”
Disappointment is unmeasurable in this little creature, but its little excuses for Vectors do seem to turn a bit faster when it gets up. It knows what to do. Whatever it may be.
It points to William and the hill, before walking away. “Oh? You want to come there?” William walks to it quickly under a few seconds, noticing that this little creature walks so slowly, it may be worse than a crippled dog. “Should I carry you? What was that with my chest? Are you my Emblem? Where are you going? Do you know this place?”
William showers it with questions as if it could answer any of them.
But it can't.
William is just happy to see someone new in this place, even though he feels as if he is talking to air. He walks on the clouds, following the creature that has troubles with many traversal problems in this place.
Which ends in very shameful actions.
It crawls around William's leg, posting onwards as if it is the captain of its ship.
“I can carry you...”
It punches his leg, arguing with visible anger to go faster and onwards. Wordlessly, of course, which William sees as a normal action on this more-than-normal day.
Walking to the cloudy hill doesn't seem to be a problem to him. The place is fairly simple in structure, and the ground is a kind of soft tissue that takes his cloudy legs fairly well. It just means more problems, he fears.
And the little crimson creature feels and acts more and more nervously, fighting its lines around his legs more.
Time is ticking.
Clouds and dark flames are manifesting, darkening the horizons behind William's head. Something is coming. Something insane.
The little creature nudges him to run, but William doesn't understand what it wants. So when he looks behind him, fear strikes him.
White clouds are gone, leaving only flaming dark flames surrounding the perimeter of his vision, almost eating the cloud platform he is on right now. “What the hell is this thing?” He shouts, before turning back and running with all of his might. The little creature cheers at him, hyping him up, but is strictly more fearful than he could ever be.
Overlords of the Dreamland, as it is told, are coming for a feast. The residual wills of the Darks that died are here, living in this place in nonphysical appearances.
This place isn't truly real, but what makes a reality a reality? Emblems already warp that idea over common sense, while Darks shatter it completely as monsters that could destroy a whole world in a few years.
A rough crisis bigger than a hill stretches from the dark flames, but William doesn't see that.
He focuses on his run, while the flames are still far from him, yet their looming presence whispers to his ears, cruising around his head in visible stands of dark flickering lines.
The little creature notices them and sharply whips up a whip of its excuses for a Vector, destroying them.
William reaches the top of the hill in under a dozen seconds without much trouble. He realizes he can run for as long as he can, but the limitations of what his steps could endure are more of a problem.
But on top of the hill is nothing. It is just a round end of a rough sphere, but it at least shows the abysmal reality of the Dream Fog.
There is total mayhem on the other side of the hill, pointing to what one may describe as the edge of the world. Vortexes of the cloud, flames, and forming, or reforming clouds come and go, turning the world into a weird dimension. It feels like William is looking at the destruction of the world since the place is countless miles wide and tall. His jaw would drop for sure.
“W-where... What?” He mumbles to the creature below his knee. It pushes him from behind, pointing down the other side of the hill.
More running, William figures and dives right down.
Alas, it is too late for that.
Flames behind him already formed some of their own Imitations, creating pointy rocks of flaming dark matter, spears looking like trees, and a mass of flames themselves, sending it all forward. They obliterate the first half of the cloudy hill under a couple of breaths, shaking WIlliam's steps and stressing the shit out of the little crimson creature.
It panics ten-fold more than ever before, changing shape to a massive slapping hand. It slaps William right to the back, wrapping itself to his waist.
William shoots out as if dust has legs, escaping the tribulations of his death that wouldn't be pleasant. Flying away saves time.
“Could've done it before...” He says between his screaming and falling into the abyss down below.
There is no platform anywhere.
Yet.
There is a constant shift of clouds everywhere, making it essentially a chaotic and ruleless place. But the Darks are here, corrupting even the dreams.
William sees it as a joke that is hard to imagine, but it is a reality he faces without any doubts. Clutching crimson lines around his waist reform the creature over his shoulder, which points down into the mixture of dark and white abyss that seems so close yet so far away.
It is like falling down a dream, which is often so strange, that one can't point out what it could be.
There is no clear cloudy platform or hills and mountains. There is just a chaotic picture of chaos, with some residual clouds falling down below from above. But there must be something somewhere. There shouldn't exist nothing. There is no void in the dreams.
William successfully escapes the dark flames, falling miles down below the raging flames that engulf countless white clouds. He loses count of the number of surprises he has endured today, so he takes this falling as a brief break. He can't do much while falling, can he?
So he waits.
Which isn't good enough for the little creature either. It pokes his face and eyes, giving him a rough eye under William's ideas. It has no mouth or eyes in fact. Just the mass of those crimson lines gives it a rough sketchy appearance. As if a child drew it into reality.
“What do you want? Let me fall... Perhaps It will wake me up. That is the common thing we feel in the nightmares. At least in the past... or so I've heard. Not now... There are tales to tell children that darks would eat them if they are bad. Works wonders.” Willaim tells a silly story in the middle of the life-and-death scenario, leaving the creature ashamed and depressed.
It can't do much about it, however. At least William escapes the major trouble above, by escaping to the Depths of the Dreams. A second layer into a more problematic land that means no escape either.
They fall down as if they are droplets of rain falling from the sky. William looks above him, at the mass of clouds that stretches around everywhere, right around the chaotic pictures of dark and white everywhere. Down or aside from him, there doesn't seem to be anything right.
Just falling won't give him an escape.
The little creature understands it too, so it looks around to find a way out of the fall that could last for days.
But it goes to minutes, and then hours.
William adjusts his head by this time, thinking that he isn't probably dreaming after all. Everything seems too real; be it the fall itself, feeling like wind pressing to his face, or a sight that never quits bothering his mind.
He keeps staring around, down or up. And the little creature around him thinks that changes are soon to come.
The sights below are changing into a rougher and chaotically wider picture, creating a place of some sort. Islands? Another rising platform in this land of nonsense? William sees them as a norm, and the chaos below him soon divides into some platforms, with many others over them, around them, or below them, creating a mess as if sea waves freeze in the midst of a storm.
A very weird storm, considering the waves of those platforms makes up many weird paradoxes, paths, and gravitational anomalies. Some curves in nonsensical moves, including what is on their surfaces.
Made of greyish-dark clouds, this place looks similar to the one he was on before, apart from more strangeness going around its structure. And the further William looks down, the more shocked he is.
There is no barren land any longer. Hunched figures are everywhere, looking like shadows of people.
Noice of screams and screeches slowly creeps up a notch, even when he is half a mile away from the nearest surface.
“W-what is that? Are those people?” He shouts to the little creature that seems to be panicking and looks around frantically. “Uhm... What are you doing? Looking around? Where are we even? Did you make me come here just to suffer?” He panics in the same manner as it, because the ground is going closer, and his speed is getting higher.
Until he hits the ground face down, landing with instincts screaming as if he is a life-long danger. But he is still more than fine. The landing is just a bit rough, similar to getting to his feet, which is taking more force than ever before.
Gravity is strong here, or the place is eating him like those Nightmare Clouds?
Well, he looks at his body and the ground, before discovering thin layers of black mist everywhere. It adds some weight of terror at every movement, and the land is full of it.
Similar to the figures around him, which look like phantoms of people or some darks. Some are screaming, others are kneeling, shivering in motionless nightmares around the ground. All of them are just shadows. No clouds, but some clouds do look like shadows at some points.
William is still white, forgetting the Velvet Eyes that still keep glowing a little on his cloudy head. The little creature aside from his back looks around in unchanging panic before visibly calming as if realizing this isn't so bad. For now at least.
It jumps out of his back, landing on the ground that is much smoother for its rough and tiny legs. It likes it more for sure.
William glances at it. “What... now? Mind like... helping me? Where are you even leading me? Should...” William realized that asking dozens of questions without answers doesn't change a thing. Dor it or him, he sounds more insane if he speaks nonsense. But hearing something else than the terror-indulging noises does help to steady his mind, so he doesn't think of it as something bad.
He still shuts up in order to wait without defining this place. It seems more dangerous than those clouds before. At least these screams come at him at all sides, while the higher gravity does weigh on him too. It also pressures his spirit, which is notable by slowly creeping fear and worry that is hard to ignore. It eats him slowly.
The noises are neverending, coming from every corner of this weird curved land that seems rounded in geometrical spheres, or lines of some sort. It all makes it dreamy as if he is in an alien world.
The little creature makes a quick scan of its surroundings, before flashing in a light, exploding into many crimson lines. Reforming into a weird-looking 4-legged creature, resembling a small Hellgar, it does look like a puppy instead.
William Alsmot chuckles at its appearance,e but who is he again? A weird excuse for a human puppet?
The little crimson puppy has even teil that wriggles in a shaky manner, but it has no ears, unfortunately. It sniffles the ground, or it is just an imitation of a sniffling because it has no smell? It is hard to say for sure as it doesn't make any noise. Or it does, but it is overshadowed by others? Glancing back at William, it points its front paw in one direction.
“Following huh? I feel like... I am lost and following a clueless stranger. Well, not the worst thing I've ever done.”
Which isn't wrong. William has simply no way out of here, so he follows the most questionable thing he has seen in this world. So far.
The little puppy doesn't seem to take these hues of mist to its body, unlike William who has trouble following it behind. Its 2 pairs of legs are much better than a single one, he figures, making its walking speed better while William struggles to barely walk.
But gets by just enough to keep his sight on that tail, ignoring the shadowy figures around him who don't seem to take his presence for something hurtful.
The little puppy does seem to glance at some of them, growling, and biting the air to establish some dominance. William wonders if it does something, but he has enough trouble with walking forward and takes the screaming noises for a brief pain that will soon move behind.
He focuses on his sight the most, which means a lot, since his field of view is large, and the place is wide. He sees weird things everywhere. A human figure crouches down, slapping the shadowy feet down its face. Some smash the ground in grief or pain.
While the monster kind of figures are growling and look more dangerous. The little puppy does make wide circles around those for a good reason, allowing William a better journey through this hellish landscape that seems to go for miles.
He feels like he crawls for dozens of minutes just to push his way around dozens of those figures. “Shut up... Scream in your head. Not to mine...” He scowls at them all in anger and wishes for some relief from the weight and those screams. He can't take this longer...
Can't...
A tremor suddenly shakes the ground, slapping and stumbling many figures. The little puppy panics, and glares at the sources of the tremble but can't seem to see or sense it anywhere.
It seems to come from every direction. Its fears are here. This place awakens. A hunt begins.
It growls at some shaky figures that start to get on their feet. William ends up kneeling because of the shockwave, so when he gets on his feet, he looks upwards at a large shadowy figure, whose fingers go for his face.
William slaps them by instinct, noticing how fragile and slow they are. He succeeds in this, but the shadows flicker in a moment, slapping against his face and punching him dozens of meters away from the puppy. It growls as if that punch went to its head instead, so it pounces forth, growing its head and biting the shadow's head, crashing the rest of the body against the ground. It won't reform for some time.
They are just shadows of the corrupted minds.
Not the Darks, but that doesn't mean they are bad or good either.
More figures stand up in order to come for the intruder.
The little puppy hates those, so it crunches like a tiger, forming the former appearance of explosive lines. It comes at them with the chaotic energy they deserve to get.
Kicking the hunt off, it starts with swiping some lines into swords, slashing some figures in half, and beheading a few, before quickly arriving at William's side.
He has trouble getting some sense out of this place. He feels tired and the craziness of this place starts to seize his spirit. He shakes it off, however, just in time to see flickering lines of crimson before his face, trying to lift him. “I am good... Good. Just a little numb. That is all.” He moans weakly before a sudden slap to his face wakes up him.
William is slightly taken aback by this slap coming from this thing he takes for some dream of his Emblem. Or something along those lines.
And there is no face, puppy, or little creature before him. Only a mash of lines that looks like a cobweb, surrounded by some Molds made of shaky crimson lines. It doesn't seem to struggle, because he notices how the warning shadowy figures do come for him, but it protects him.
Slashes or fist crashes them aside or to pieces of shadows, leaving some path ahead.
Some excuses for Vector Hands grasp Williams's shoulders. The previous slap went from one of them, he reckons, but there doesn't seem to be time to waste. It was a helpful slap anyway, so Willima straightens his face and follows the path ahead.
It is a battlefield that is soon changed into a difficult fight. A monstrous shadowy figure comes against him, bearing massive claws the size of a tree.
The little creature crashes against them into a duel, ignoring the other figures that come at William.
“R-run?” He mumbles as he punches some figures at the last moment. It does seem to do something because they don't crash him like before. He has to be quick in order to not get slapped, so William quickly takes it to his head.
Dodging is a bit difficult with added weight and spiritual pressure, but against those slow figures, he feels he can stall enough. Even fighting doesn't seem to be impossible, so he goes ahead to try his best by slapping, tripping, and working around their slow speed.
One by one, the figures either fall to the ground, where they would crash like glass over the ground, or smear around like water that will connect back together in a few minutes.
That is a long time, so William figures the best strategy is to trip them sideways and attack their legs. It works wonderfully, and it even gives him time to look at the mash of crimson that fights that massive shadowy figure.
He almost stops his unsteady and heavy steps as he sees not a single one, but a few more additional massive shadows fighting the little creature.
And it isn't losing, which is notable by the whirling of slams and cuts into them, leaving them smaller and smaller.
These shadows have clearly a disadvantage against the Annihilation, or those cuts are making a much bigger difference than William thinks.
Either way, William has nothing to cut with, so he continues doing what he can, tripping and dodging every incoming figure. It gets easier the more he is doing it, even though the weight isn't getting any better. It still lingers around him, but with enough time and movement, he is slowly getting used to it.
It barely goes for 5 minutes, until he feels like can't go for another step. Just in time to see large slashes and slaps at the massive shadow figures not that far away, shaking the ground and leaving him surprised.
The force behind them is way out of his touch, similar to how he feels a normal human react to a Walker, he reckons.
William looks at the cheerful appearance of the little creature next, slapping dozens of human figures around him as if they are flies. It seems content, but suddenly, things get much different when it grows alert and serious.
It feels something.
Something is coming from beyond the horizon.
Or it is already here?
William looks around too, uncaring about the previous picture of those lines that whipped around for dozens of feet away. It feels like this little creature is a storm itself, and with significantly higher reach than he could ever have.
But again, where is he, and what it is?
A helper, that is for sure.
Looking around provides two things: there are a bunch of human shadows still around, but not anything large. There is something more... sinister ahead? A lurching figure, no bigger than a man, standing behind the bunch of others. It feels different because it has those clear and glowing eyes, but a body that is grey like cement and flowy like wind or flames. It is not much bigger than a man.
It stands dozens of feet before William and the little creature who panics and tries to grab William away.
But it is too late.
The grey shadow steps forth, arriving before William in a step. It has hands, legs, and eyes that look somewhat like current William.
Eyes are much shiny, however, while it makes some weird noises as if it screams in huffed tone, painful growls, and indescribable speech at the same time.
It grows a wide teethless mouth, lurching it towards his head. William sees it in time, doing aside but a part of his head is still eaten. Just in time for the little creature to crash aside him, whirling a bunch of lines to snatch him away. It tries to run while grabbing William, but it doesn't seem to work that well.
Not against the grey shadow that screeches as clouds drop from its mouth as if they are just foam of a beer and not the real deal.
It is angry.
So angry that it arrives just before the swirling lines.
The little creature does not take the fight lightly, so it drops William aside who feels as if something went missing from his head. It isn't necessarily painful, but it certainly feels as if he lost a limb. It lingers for more, but the fear grows nowhere. He just sits on a spot, as the little creature starts its fight with a strange being that resembles his, but not really.
William thinks for once if it is a human like him or someone... Anyone. A thing? Emotion? Dream or nightmare? If this is a place created by Darks, it makes sense to see some weird things. He acknowledges that fact, but not the reality, or his body. He should have his Emblem, or his flesh and blood. Yet he doesn't even have much.
Just the pain is a reminder that he is alive and living enough, so he watches the fight without any other figure going for him.
The little creature puts many lines into work at the same time, coming against the much tougher grey shadow that uses its mouth as its main weapon. It seems to be a bad choice or a bad timing because it is pissed off. Both of these creatures are.
And one is clearly more pissed than the other.
The crimson lines make a dense web next, swirling to make what WIlliam would describe as a wide flat bat. It slams it aside, but the grey shadow barely flinches a dozen steps away. It bends backways as if it has no spine before coming back together, grinning.
Before a dozen additional slaps trash it to the ground, cracking its grinning head until more strikes glue it to the ground.
Slapping goes almost for a whole minute, mashing the greyness, darkness, and any light to nonsensical proportions.
The little creature stops after a while, reforming into a small figure that kicks the air and the ground. It is still pissed for some reason, so it turns to William and pats its head, and points at him. It does it thrice to make some statement, but William still looks at it in confusion, unnoticing how his head is back together.
It comes closer, pointing towards its body and back to William. “Not sure if I can understand you... I just got eaten, haven't I? What was it again?” He asks silly and unnecessary questions again.
It comes even closer, doing the same motion between inwards and out at him.
“Friends? You are my Emblem? Or... help, dream or nightmare that hunts me?”
The little creature slaps its head.
“At least you understand me... Does it make you a human?” William sighs for no reason, before getting up and looking around. The situation seems to be calm after a massive fight where he did nothing.
The little creature shakes its head in disappointment and mashes its lines back together into a puppy. It points with its paw after some sniffs.
“Back to walking huh? Or you can make me move?”
The puppy looks at him as if he is an edition, which is nudging its head in dispainment downward alongside the tail.
“Not a good idea? Well, I have trouble moving you see...” Willaim says as he stands just fine, even though some layer of greyness is around him. “Or not... Oh. I can even jump?” He hops twice and feels that the gravity of the situation doesn't make him that sad.
He follows the puppy willingly, albeit with a certain numbness in his heart.
It hardly feels positive and great at the moment.
So he dreamwalks like he did when he lost the hand of his mother... or his mother lost him.
Walking doesn't help to calm his mind, but the puppy before him seems to take it seriously, as it shows emotions and likes to fight. It is like a small Walker. They are a colorful range of a rainbow most of the time. Well, unless the depressing reality of their lives truly shakes them to their core. In those cases, they should be glad to make to keep their lives going.
And then, there at those that are vivid like a gem, emotional, pained, crazy, raging like flames, or playful like a cat. William doesn't know at what point he is on this spectrum. Some people consider working with Walkers as a pain in the ass because their status does change the current world, as priorities and survival take massive priorities.
He saw it when Luke took him from the camp, and a bunch of soldiers tried to take some resources out of him.
Willaim briefly dreams for real as he talks, thinking of the past when nothing seems to change around him in the next minutes.
He walks in a land that makes no physical sense, following a puppy that emerges out of his chest, and a bunch of shadowy people want to eat his body made of clouds.
So yeah. He is glad to dream and think of anything else.
Walking around a hill so steep it is like a wall that curves into a flowing platform that goes across the sky, he follows the puppy. It goes somewhere for a reason, while there doesn't seem to be more enemies that want a piece of him.
Occasionally, some emerging shadow comes nearby, but the puppy shatters them dozens of feet before coming closer to William. He accepts it for what it is.
So when he sees an edge 5 minutes later, going down into a series of abyssal depths that seem straight out of endless dreamy nightmares, he wishes to get out of this place. Will jumping below help with that?
Below and further out of him, there are places that the puppy smells, resembling spherical planets in the middle of nowhere, turning and going around in their own business.
Turning to the puppy, he asks. “What now? Do you want me to ju...”
A tail whips him to his knees, letting him fly over the edge, but not enough to reach those small planets that seem fairly far away. They are cloudy like the rest of the surroundings; which means greyish, more hellish, and rougher than nice whitish clouds. His little puppy follows him behind and changes into a mass of lines, creating a slapping hand that William takes with an ashen heart.
“W-wait... Wait! You are dreaming me!” He shouts as he feels yet another slam into his back before lines swirl around his hand, lurching him even further away.
He flies hundreds of feet away, meeting the right attitude and speed to reach one of those planets the size of a football field the most.
Landing changes nothing about his frustration.
William feels alright on all fronts, similar to the little creature that surges around his waist, making a small figure on top of his shoulder.
It is in his line of vision when he sits down from his face-facing landing. “Can't you be more understanding... This place wants to eat me. Do you not want a piece of me?” He asks a stupid question. This time, he knows how stupid it sounds, and there is probably an answer for it as well. “Yeah... I know. You got a piece of me long ago... haven't you? Anyway...” He sounds further and further numb, or fed up with this world.
He isn't sure if he is right or wrong, so when he looks around after noticing the little creature pokes his face to focus, he no longer feels shocked. Nothing more would surprise him anymore, or so he thinks.
He underestimates this world far too much.
Around him is a literal battlefield, or what is left of it. There are flaming corpses of some dreamy shadow people, monstrosities that are partly physical and part dark flame, and a bunch of parts that he couldn't even understand. Residues of Vectors, elements of natural affinity, and even a person sits softly further away, dead.
William thinks of some words to give, but he certainly knows what his eyes are seeing. He can't even blink to adjust something in his perfect vision. He would kill for a nap, however.
“W-what...” He mumbles and the little creature spreads its arms around in satisfaction. William doesn't go anywhere. He rather takes a good minute to take this sight into his head.
He sees physical evidence of some darks the most, notable by Dark Fog spreading around some parts. A fight which resolved around the Vectors, took place here, including a bunch of hideous Darks and creatures of this place. white and glowing Vectors swirl around some cloudy matter, right beside the dark flame that tries to eat it to absorb it.
Neither of them fails or wins to overpower the other, it seems.
Aside from the bunch of Darks, of which he can't identify quite a few because they are too damaged or eaten by this world, he sees a person.
An actual living being with flesh, skin, and clothes sitting there. William takes an unconscious step forward, before doing more easier ones afterward.
He ignores the mess around him and walks straight to the collapsed person who looks to be a man. He has already shriveled to a dusted and dead appearance. Who knows how many years he has been here, and how... he even got here? But he has flesh and some kind of uniform that Wiliam has never seen. The material seems similar to his uniform, made of some very dense fabric that he recalls Mi-Yung says.
“What the hell is this place... Am I in the reality or not?” William asks himself, while the little creature beside him cheers in satisfaction after noticing that everything around is clearly dead. Or is close enough to that point? Very few things actually die in this place.
There aren't even residues of spirits or shadows. Only some flaming energies of this place slowly absorb the death, including the man as well. There are a few noticeable crevices of dark flames going up his arms, trying to reach up to get the gem on his forehead. They fail to reach it as if it is too hard or too far.
William doesn't know what to do with this picture. He hopes for a way out, which shouldn't start by meeting a dead person. He wishes to laugh right now but against a killed Walker in a weird mission, he has no mood for that.
“Listen...” He mumbles to the little creature. “You forced me here in success. Do you know the way out of this world or not?”
It shakes its head as if disappointed, so it points at the man's corpse.
“He is dead. I can't possibly ask him for a way out, can't I?” William thinks twice if he truly can't. If he could speak with the dead person, it probably isn't the most insane idea today.
But doubts still outshine this, and he can't think of anything else but getting out of here.
The little creature shifts its attention back and slightly above, looking at the other planets orbiting around. Around them is a similar picture to this planet, and further away, the larger pieces of Dream Fog are still on a massive scale. Something around them is always moving, always shifting.
Time is essential.
Crucial for anyone's survival.
So it pokes William's cheeks and eyes with its fingers, pointing at the man as if he is its lost parent. “Fine... What do you want? Get closer?” It almost slams his cheek, but William gets the idea to move, so he moves forward.
The corpse is a corpse. He has seen many of them in his life, so he isn't afraid to see it, let alone touch it. When getting closer, nothing changes, apart from a much clearer image of this man.
The gem in the middle of his head is truly bright, as if is a crystal bullet that ended his life.
William sees the Emblem clearly, and so does the little creature who keeps nudging him for something. So William gets so close that he can touch the man's feet or hands, which look shriveled and old. He can't put forth any special features about it, other than the Emblem and the uniform. “Alright... sorry. Sorry. Dead wish for everyone. Rest in peace.” William mumbles as he slaps his arms after imagining dying without anyone around. It sounds sad to die in such a place.
His eyes move around, looking at the uniform next. He finds some metallic decor on top of the uniform, looking like a bird surrounding a tree. It looks expensive to be a pendant, but it must have some significance if it is pinned on the uniform. William takes it to look at it, but the little creature slaps his cheek as if disappointed by this pickpocketing. He still succeeds in getting it anyway. Too bad for its anger.
“Hey... What do you mean? If I get out of here, I will inform someone of his death. It is my duty.... right...” He doubts it is, but he isn't lying. It isn't as if the little creature cares for the pendant. It is more horny for something else, which it points next with an important stance and pointing finger. Right towards the dead head.
“Do you want his head? I can't behead him to take him out of this world, can't I? But it would certainly identify him, I am sure.” Willaim takes a completely different approach, stumbling the little creature in its stance. It feels ashamed for some reason, but its hand is steady. It starts tapping his shoulder impatiently and points to the emblem itself.
“Oh!” William exclaims. “That can certainly identify him more than the whole head. Can't say that is less depressing, but whatever.” He comes off as kind of cold and numb to everything when he reaches for the forehead. It is troublesome to do something like this when his body is cloudy, but the man's condition is worse than that.
Dead is feeling death.
William isn't that, so he tries to focus his attention on his precise task.
He fails.
His fingers can't possibly take it that well, so the little creature scoffs at him as if it expects something better. It points a line of its little finger forward, letting it fly to the man. It makes a whipping blade out of nowhere, cutting the head off, and letting the shiny Emblem fall to the ground. The socket almost explodes, but it does come out of the socket fairly well. This emblem no longer goes into the brain.
William screams in shock, surprised that the little creature seriously beheads him. “W-was that necessary?” He says as he backs a step, looking at the rolling head towards him. He sees no blood. The flesh is too old, making even muscles useless and arteries look like dry veins. But those bones aren't normal. They are crisp and stronger than normal, looking a bit crimson and bright as well. At least from the point that is visible from the missing head.
The little creature can't care for something that no one can see anyway. It jumps off, scurrying to the Emblem that seems to be not a round gem, but a stick instead. It is a handful Emblem, so it handles it like a branch, hugging it tightly.
Followed by those bunch of dark flames that pounce at it from the hands. Like a predator, this simple-looking action of exchanging the Emblem changes their course.
But the little creature merely looked at them coldly, before slapping them aside with a hand slap, smearing them around the floor.
“Wha was that? An Emblem is that good for you, huh?” William scoffs at it, pretending that the head hasn't just rolled over his feet and flames hasn't acted like a hungry kitten. He feels so detached from reality, that pretending seems to come too easy.
The little creature sways in a pirouette, cheering to handle this Emblem for some reason.
Until it realizes the factors of other truths, and scrutinizes its own actions, and looks serious all of a sudden. Tossing the Emblem to William, it appears to feel some tension in the air, unlike William who catches it without much thought in his head.
It looks like a metallic stick that feels like nothing, really. It looks precious as he could see, so why does he carry it? “What now? Is it the key out of this world?”
It could be, William thinks, but can't see a door that this key would open.
There is no such thing as waking up normally from this world, unfortunately, but William doesn't know it. The little creature gets it, however, so it thinks and makes a long stretch of circles around William, contemplating a plan.
“Is it that bad to find a way out?” William asks; half an eye on it and the other on the Emblem. “Why have you even helped me here? Just to take this... broom handle?”
The little creature stops walking, figuring that nothing much could be done in the present situation. It could only force it up a little. Perhaps that could help to go over the top?
Turning to William, he takes a step back after feeling a treat lurching threat coming from the little creature. It points its head at him, and if a smile has some faceless appearance, he bets it just smiles at him like a devil.
A storm of crimson lines pierces his chest next, letting the little creature back into him, and giving him the opposite emotions of how it came out. Stretchy, cold, hot, and piercing like swords, William screams and falls to his back as if this is too insane and terrible.
But the piece of him finally gets into his body in order to finally let some power shine. Crimson lines start to emerge around the clouds of his body, focusing on the chest as the last piece of the little creature completes its comeback.
William feels sick to his nonexistent stomach, gripping the Emblem in his hand that isn't even his, right along with a pendant of some sort.
He has his own Emblem. And it just came back to his chest.
And he feels it rampaging around him in power that feels weirdly comforting and familiar; if he completely detaches the painful manner of them swirling to every corner of his limb, of course.
“A-arise...” He mumbles by instinct, flowing the storm of Vectors to cover his arm from inside out. He focuses on making his Emblem feel some order first, but all that happens after the lines pierce his right arm, reforming into a rough outline of his Emblem, the Vector Claw does seem a bit shaky and different. Similar to the little creature that seems drawn by a drunkard, or child that is too indecisive to use one line, or a hundred.
All things considered, this place is not the real world, so most things that come here have unusual differences from the proper reality.
This much is nothing weird, William reckons, as he has no power to change the reality or the dreams.
Pressure lifts from his body and spirit, giving him power he lacked before. He almost laughs at this sudden change: by fear, helplessness, anger, bliss, and power. Emotions rampage his spirit at all fronts, and if he had his face, he would make a hilarious grimace.