Mena’s body drifted downward through a wine-dark sea of miasma. Her body slowly sunk deeper and deeper as her eyes remained motionless. Blood-red circles moved past her, upon closer inspection they were veiny bleeding eyeballs surveying her from inside the mal-essence. Why? Mena thought to herself. I was so happy to be with Dede again…and she was ripped away from me at the last second. Why did it happen?

A guttural voice echoed through the blackness. “It happened…. Because SHE wanted it to happen. There is no other reason.”

Mena’s eyes darted around as her body remained still. Even if she tried to budge, something held her forever in stasis.

Who’s there? Mena thought. Her thoughts echoed around her, waiting for a reply. Who wanted it to happen?

“Wouldn’t you like to be free?” the voice whispered like smoke curling around her ear. “That death didn’t have to happen, but the goddess willed it in her dreams…”

Mena was getting scared. The voice was ever closer, but the depths remained still, aside from the occasional floating eyeball.

“Do you want to break free?” the voice asked, goading Mena. “Do you no longer want to be part of this dream anymore?”

“Yes…” Mena said, her mouth finally budging. “Yes. If this is what happens in bad dreams, I want to face reality and wake-up.”

“Good,” the voice whispered. “Then submit yourself. Give yourself to me.”

Like a sliced vein, a blood red slit opened beside her. “GIVE ME YOUR BODY, YOUR SOUL AND YOUR LIFE. SURRENDER TO THE VOID OF DESPAIR.”

A giant gaping maw of teeth opened over Mena’s subconscious body. Mena screamed from the depths of her subconscious soul. The mouth closed over her, and she closed her eyes, waiting for absolute darkness to consume her…but when she opened her eyes, she found herself being dragged along the void by a golden lady. Mena’s squinted against the golden glow and her mouth dropped. “Dede.”

“Don’t give up,” Deidre said, finally having a beautiful golden mouth to speak from. “That is what Anguish wants from y’all.”

“But Dede,” Mena said, “How are you still here…How did you save me?”

“I’m not Dede,” the golden specter said back. “I’m simply the ghost of the hope within y’all.”

“The ghost of my hope?” Mena asked back.

“The hope that things will get better even after your great tragedy,” Deidre said. “I’m pleading with y’all. You have to reach deep, deep inside you and find the hope that remains or…”

The gaping mouth of sharpened teeth gave chase. It gave a sickening growl as it loudly chomped its teeth. “I can’t hold out that much longer,” the ghost of hope called out. “Please chant and form your Heart Barrier.”

Mena remembered the words deep within her. Words that Caligari had instructed her on that fateful night, words that would help her fortify her heart.

Mena chanted the following words: “For friends who know each other’s heart, this power will make sure you are never apart.”

She knew exactly who to reach out to: May and Janus. A dream bubble appeared next to her, where she witnessed a battle going on back in the seminar room. The green witches and various fiends clashed with members of the Dream Police. Bodies flew everywhere and changed shapes into toads and various other animals as they hit the ground. May and Janus were dodging these spells blasted at them from all angles. “May…Janus…” Mena called weakly.

Immediately, they turned their heads. “Mena?” Janus asked, lifting her foot as a toad spell nearly hit her calf. “Is that you?”

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May, who had managed to get away from Poshleen was floating around in her magi-chair, blocking spells with its backing. “Mena? How are you talking to us? Are you talking to us from the great beyond after that shadow thing attacked you?”

“Please,” Mena called out. “Form the heart barrier. I’m fighting it off as we speak.”

Mena reached her hand into the dream bubble. May yelped as Mena’s disembodied hand reached through the portal. “Don’t be afraid,” she said, “It’s only me. Grab my hand.”

Janus and May nodded and grabbed her hand. Mena smiled weakly at them. They couldn’t see her, but their positive essence emanated as they touched her hand. Immediately, a white flame simmered within Mena’s chest, a purple flamed flickered in Janus’ chest and a pink flame in May’s chest. Three of the same-colored flames burned brightly behind Mena and Deidre, helping them speed away. Mena’s energy was slowly returning but the demon behind them roared, and the flames sputtered.

“Mena, dear,” Deidre cried. “It’s not enough. Do you know anyone else who could fortify your heart…”

“Caligari…” Mena thought to herself. The phantom professor had formed a bond after Mena and her friends did.

With slightly more energy, Mena searched her mind for Caligari. She envisioned the dank office where the Phantom Professor usually reposed, but though she found the cobalt floors of the dungeon-like room, she did not find the phantom professor. She could not detect a single sign of life from her favorite teacher… in this realm at least.

“Caligari’s not there,” Mena sighed.

“Is there anyone else…anyone in this realm who can help you?” Deidre pleaded. “Anyone will do. You can even open a new bond.”

Mena’s brain worked overtime to remember anyone else who could possibly aid her. And then…it came to her.

Another bubble formed…Another location appeared before her. It was a school dormitory filled with framed certificates of excellence for all classes. A green-eyed lion girl with a brilliant blond-yellow mane and sun-spangled robes sighed and reclined on her bed turning through the pages of “Sexy Beast Monthly,” whose cover featured bikini clad half-lion women splashing water at each other on a beach.

“Ashlan,” Mena cried, and immediately, Ashlan turned bright red and bared her fangs.

“Who’s there?” Ashlan screamed, her face burning in embarrassment as she held the magazine close to her chest.

“It’s Mena…” the young witch said and stuck her hand through the portal. This only made Ashlan scream and blush even harder. “I’m reaching out to you from the depths of my dreams. I know it’s kinda freaky.”

“It’s not that,” Ashlan said, nodding frantically. “I hope you didn’t see that.”

“See what?”

“Oh ok, good,” Ashlan said and hid the magazine beneath the covers.

“Ashlan,” Mena cried out. “I need your help. Anguish the Blood Siren has managed to infect me with the mal-essense again. I need you to fortify my heart…Please…”

“Fortify your what?” Ashlan said, her eyes still enormously wide. “But how…”

“Take my hand and chant with me…”

Ashlan shook her head. Mena I don’t get it, “Why me? What powers do I have that can help you?”

The confounded look on Ashlan’s face, made Mena open her own heart to the lioness. “Because, I can only draw connections with people who I have truly bonded with. I know we’ve had our ups and downs and downs and downs, but you gave up your ticket to Wormwood so my friends and I could save the world. That must have meant something to you…”

“It did…” Ashlan said, changing from red to pink around her ears. “I wanted you to be happy, Mena. Much like I did when we went on an adventure together last semester.”

“Then what are you waiting for…” Mena screamed, grab my hand. Ashlan reached out and took it. Together, Ashlan repeated after Mena. “For friends who know each other’s heart, this power will make sure you are never apart.”

The lioness let out a snarling gasp as a golden flame emitted from her heart and flew into the vortex. Directly powering Mena’s escape. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart…” Mena smiled. “Ashlan, I’m happy to consider you a friend again.”

“No problem,” the lioness said. “But er…please don’t tell anyone about that magazine I snuck in the school.”

Mena’s eyes went wide. “What magazine?”

Ashlan gave a confident smile. “Good. Just checking.”

The golden flame ignited behind Mena, and together, Deidre and she zoomed towards a shining light in the distance. “I’m happy to have power’d y’all through this crisis,” Deidre said, her sunny country drawl livening Mena’s heart even more than all that positive power. “It’s a shame this here’s the end of the road for me.”

“But Dede,” Mena said, a worried look on her face. “What’s going to happen to you?”

“I’m gonna move on, sweetheart,” Deidre said with a smile. “Y’all helped me to the afterlife.”

“But I thought you were simply a spirit inside me,” Mena responded. “Not the real Deidre.”

Deidre gave a whinnying laugh and a snort. It sounded like a horse, but to Mena, it sounded like an angel. “The goddess works in mysterious ways, Mena. And in some ways that you might find a benefit in your near future.”

With a pair of feathery wings, Deidre flapped off into the golden light, leaving Mena alone for a split second. Then Deidre’s voice echoed inside of her. “I may be gone, but I will always live on inside your heart. I will always be your friend, Mena. Even from the great beyond.”

Those were the last words Mena heard before she awoke in the realm of the living again.