They didn’t have time to think too hard about what had just happened as they heard the hiss of sand slowly filtering inside the bunker.

“We need to get out of here!” Soral realized.

Ember was helping Phoenix stand up. “I know. We never saw those assassins of yours either. Do you think they just ditched us?”

“No. They must have been caught up in something else,” Soral disagreed, “Doc knew we were coming, and that we stole his nightmares from him. He probably prepared something.”

“How are we going to find them?” Phoenix asked, wincing slightly. He was no longer paralyzed, but he had bruised his elbow when he fell.

“I can help with that,” Rosalie offered. “One of my skills is being able to find things. That is why Doc chose me as one of his spies.”

“Let’s hurry,” Ember reminded, “We don’t know how long it will take us to get to them, and if they are in more danger than just some sand.”

Rosalie managed to pull the door open, though it looked a bit damaged once she was done. The sand was only coming through small holes here and there in the hallways outside, but the floor was already lightly coated. The sand made walking a bit slippery, but they still made quick progress.

They passed by the exit on the way to the others and quickly realized there would be no leaving through it. The ceiling had caved in and the sand was packed in front of it. Luckily, it wasn’t flowing, but if they attempted to dig their way out it had a higher chance of just making things worse. Soral was growing increasingly glad he knew portal magic. If he didn’t he might have begun to panic… again.

As they grew closer to the location where the others were, they saw a mess, remnants of a fight. The strange black spheres had also all exploded leaving glass shards mixed in with the sand. There was a trail in the sand that had been dyed red.

“Is that blood?” Ember asked, a little scared.

“Maybe it was the enemy?” Rosalie suggested.

That thought did nothing to ease the tension, and they slowed their approach, listening for any signs of combat. All they heard was the continual hissing of falling sand. Then they heard the slow crunch of footsteps.

Phoenix pulled out a crossbow that grew from a charm on his wrist and aimed it towards the noise. After what had happened with Doc he wasn’t going to take any chances. Luckily the one who approached them was just Sloth.

“It’s alright,” he said in his slow, calm voice, “Everyone is just sleeping, but there are some injured.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Phoenix rushed forward at that to check things out better, and the others were quick behind. Sloth caught Soral before he could follow.

“You did a foolish thing,” he told him, “Your connection to the dream world is dangerous. It makes you weak to your own imagination.”

Soral gulped. It sounded like the man knew about what happened. “Did you see what happened somehow?”

“I did,” Sloth confirmed, “I also use the dream realm to enhance my magic, but I don’t haphazardly give offerings to the nightmare king. You must make them forget his name.”

“How do I do that?” Soral asked.

“You can,” Sloth assured him, and then released Soral to follow where the others had gone.

Everyone was there, but some of the prisoners had been injured when systems exploded. Soral also noticed some others that had been tied up. They were sleeping just like everyone else. Well, everyone else but Lala who was watching them. Even Scythe was sprawled on the floor, sweetly dreaming.

Soral also noticed something odd. It seemed that some kind of barrier was holding the sand at bay here. Not a single grain had made it into the room. It hadn’t even been tracked in. Soral looked again to Sloth. Just who was this guy? Hadn’t Lala said he had been sold because of his age? Sloth only smiled softly in return at Soral’s look of wonder.

The barrier bought them some more time for Phoenix to heal everyone’s wounds, though it was a bit nerve wracking to watch the sand slowly build up in the doorways. No matter how heavy the sand seemed to grow, Sloth never looked tired. However, once Phoenix finished with treating everyone, he certainly did.

“Let’s go then,” Soral said, and came up with an idea as he did. He opened a portal back to The Oasis with an extra special bit of magic attached to it.

“You can use portals?” Ember asked in shock, “Why didn’t you tell us?!”

“Sorry,” he apologized, “No one said anything so I figured you weren’t too worried about it.”

“I knew you had some sort of plan,” Rosalie admitted, “But I didn’t know you could freely create portals either.”

Regardless of her shock, Ember quickly relayed her messages, and support came through the portal to help carry all of the sleeping people through to the other side. That was when Soral suddenly realized something.

“Where is Howler?” he asked.

Everyone looked around and noticed the man was missing. Now that he thought of it, had he even made it to the room where they met Doc? Where had they lost him? With all the time they had spent there, he might be buried deep in the sand by now!

“I’m right here,” Howler called out, and burst through a wall scattering sand everywhere. In his arms was a collection of bizarre looking plants, “You seemed to have things covered and I got a little distracted.”

Soral was glad the Wolf was fine, but felt slightly betrayed that he had just abandoned them right at the beginning. “Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked.

“The cameras weren’t watching me,” Howler explained, “Besides, now we have prizes.” He held up the plant pots as best he could without dropping any.

As a thief, Soral could understand his thoughts, and he was sort of glad Howler hadn’t been there for the whole incident. He grabbed a couple of the pots from Howler. “You could have gotten trapped in the sand,” he complained.

Howler smiled. “I could find you easily,” he told him, “Your magic has a very strong scent.”

Eventually everyone made it through the portal, but only Sloth seemed to notice a certain name disappearing from his mind as he did so. Soral wondered if it might work for him too, but it didn’t. Chaos had told him that he would never forget.

Once everyone was confirmed safe, Sloth began to wake everyone up. The former prisoners were moved to another place to be helped and sorted for the time being.

“We should throw a party,” Howler said with his casual smile, “After this, we will be free, and we may never see each other again.”

That brought on many mixed feelings. The excitement of being free, and the odd reluctance to part with their new comrades.

“We can keep in touch,” Ember spoke up, “but don’t expect too much from me.”

“We will be staying here either way,” Lala said, gesturing to her black and red band, “Maybe you could come visit sometimes.”

Other than Soral, no one really had a way to visit. Still, rather than end on this oddly melancholy note, everyone decided to throw a party to celebrate their success.