Ollie returned to the crossroads, to the central point between the four houses.

The Dream Merchant awaited him with his glacial indifference. On his porcelain countenance, black lines painted the illusion of a smile to come. But beyond that, in the black hole that was the void of his missing eyes, it was impossible to tell who or what dwelled in its dark interior.

"He hurt me." Ollie spoke with disappointment. "Can you see it?"

The white mask stared in his direction, a faint yellowish spark burning where eyes should have been. If it saw the torn clothes, the swollen face and cut lips, it said nothing.

"Do you even care?"

Ollie waited for him to say something, but the answers never came, his response was the silence of a being that seemed not to be there.

"You offered me another bad dream." Ollie spoke with judgment.

The porcelain mask shook almost imperceptibly.

"I offered you the making of the candy." The porcelain mask spoke without emotion. "I sold you the key and the path, but the destination and the house, these have always belonged to you."

"Are you implying that I wanted this dream?"

The Merchant looked at the castle in ruins, then tilted his mask towards the young man.

"You want all dreams, Ollie." The porcelain mask tilted. “To want it all, it to have nothing.”

Ollie swallowed hard, there was no accusation in the Merchant's empty voice, but his soft words did not hide the weight of what they seemed to be telling him.

If it was a bad dream, why did I almost say yes?

Ollie bit his lip, then stared at the Merchant. "You promised me a good dream."

The porcelain countenance tilted again, in the hole of its eyes a glimmer awoke.

"I promised you a dream." The soft voice replied. "A dream and nothing more."

"I want a good dream." Ollie raised his ears. "It has to be a good dream."

The Merchant nodded, in a theatrical gesture he extended his arms to the vast horizon where two houses still awaited them.

To the East, the grandiose Golden Mansion.

To the North, on the edge of a cliff, a small and crooked Black House.

"Yours is the choice." The Merchant spoke with finality.

Ollie looked at the Black House built irresponsibly on the edge of a precipice. His stomach knotted and his knees weakened, it was not just a physical aversion, but an existential terror. His body knew what his mind dared not conceive.

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More than a premonition, there was an unquestionable certainty, a reason without reason, that told him without words, that an unimaginable horror awaited him in that crooked place. That if he were foolish enough to climb the cliff and enter its dark interior, that of all his bad dreams, this would be the most terrible. There would be no return from this dark place, that choosing the Black House would be choosing his end.

I will never open that door.

Ollie turned his back on the cliff, feeling the relief of its absence.

Thus, he stared at his last house, his last dream, his choice.

Ollie smiled at the beauty and richness of the Golden Mansion.

https://i.imgur.com/R70iXqK.jpeg [https://i.imgur.com/R70iXqK.jpeg]

Its familiar rotunda architecture. With the symmetrical elegance of its curves, with round windows and doors, with its elaborate undulating walls decorated in carved stone, it was a masterpiece that united the imposingness of the Pig Empire with the eclectic modernity of the Era of Flowers. It was a place he wanted to be, a place where everyone would like to be.

Ollie breathed a sigh of relief, his unease giving way to a pleasant feeling of pride and satisfaction. This mansion represented more than just wealth, it was a promise, one that told him that Pigs could not only prosper, but belong to the world.

"If there is a good dream," Ollie spoke with optimism. "Then that's where it lives."

Ollie stared at the Dream Merchant, his delay in responding polluted the moment, in the void a new feeling began to sprout, one that carried with it the weight of what if?

I have no other dream, this is my last chance.

"Most people end up there." The Merchant broke the silence with his artificial voice. "Few are those who refuse the offer of the Yellow House."

Ollie lowered his ears. He wanted to believe, he wanted to trust the emotions that told him he had found his Good Dream. But it was when he believed that the pain came, it was when he allowed himself to dream that the nightmare happened.

"I have a good dream, don't I?" Ollie asked almost in supplication.

"Yes." The Dream Merchant spoke with a nod. "Everyone has one."

"Of course I do." Ollie raised his ears and admired the mansion again. "I have to, don't I? It would be too cruel for me to go through what I went through just to come back empty-handed."

Ollie waited for confirmation, even though he didn't trust the Dream Merchant, he would believe him, he had to believe that he would help him find his good dream.

But the white porcelain mask had nothing more to say to him.

Ollie felt alone, maybe there was nothing inside the mask, maybe the promise of the good dream was just part of his nightmare, just the lie that kept him here.

"This place seems like a story." Ollie smiled awkwardly, raising his eyes to the celestial void of floating islands. "Every story has an ending."

"Here," The Merchant spoke as one who returns to life. "Here, you choose your ending."

Ollie nodded back. Not because he had understood, but because now he knew that the answers would not come, the answer awaited him in the Golden Mansion.

This would be his last house, whatever its offer, he could not refuse.

There were no more choices, he would not climb the cliff to the Black House, and he certainly would not return to his world empty-handed, nor would he stand still at the crossroads.

This was his last chance to be happy.

Ollie took a step towards the last dream.

"Goodbye." Ollie spoke to the Dream Merchant. "I have already made my choice."

The porcelain mask gave him a slow nod.

Alone, Ollie made his way across the stone path.

As he came closer to the house, he heard the melody of music.

In front of the round double door, he heard the sound of laughter and joy.

Without knocking, or hesitating, he opened the door.

In his heart beat the uncertain certainty that this would be the happy ending to his story.

Ollie then entered the grand Golden Mansion in search of his Gold Dream.