Chapter 6: Episode 2 – Dreamscape (1)

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Amidst the darkness, one's heartbeat could be heard. However, it wasn't just one heart that was beating in the shadows. Hidden within the dark room, faint sounds of beats could be heard. Their hearts drummed together as they echoed in the quiet, narrow space.

Excruciating pain spread from Maria's limbs while her head throbbed continuously. Maria could feel the pain coming from her body both externally and internally. It was the most pain she ever had compared to her injuries regarding her soccer team back in middle school.

Ugh...

There was darkness when Maria opened her eyes. She couldn't see anything but black. Maria panicked and hurriedly sat up to look around. An awe-struck expression appeared on her face when she looked behind her.

Billions of white stars scattered the vast sky, lighting up half of the unknown abyss from where she was at. Planets were orbiting around the big sun, Maria had never seen the sun this close, it was bigger than she realized. She could even feel the heat of the sun warming her skin.

Compared to the beautiful spectacle that unfolded behind her, in front of her was nothing but an endless void shrouded with fog. Maria stared into the void for a second before looking back into the boundless space.

Asteroids and meteors wander through the depths of space while comets could be seen orbiting around the sun with their flickering tails. All kinds of celestial bodies roamed the wide universe, with the swirling colors of blue, purple, and orange reflecting in Maria's eyes.

Wow...

Maria couldn't help but agape her mouth at this sight. She had always been fond of astronomy, it was a sight and knowledge Maria was interested in.

Learning what lurks within the vast space, the meaning behind the existence of planets and stars, and if there were really aliens inhabiting some planets. Maria found herself admiring the distance space she was in.

Wait, am I still dreaming? No, then how come I'm conscious of all this?

Am I lucid dreaming again like what happened this morning?

Maria wanted to explore more about this strange dream. This was the closest thing she would ever get to observing the space. She wanted to take advantage of this opportunity before waking up.

Ignoring the pain her body was going through, Maria tried to stand up on her knees. To her surprise, she felt her knees go cold and heavy. She lifted her hand up to find that her palm was moist.

Now that Maria noticed this, she looked around her body and found bits of black goo covering her clothes and arms. She looked at her palm with furrowed brows.

What is this? Gross...

Maria wiped the mysterious substance off her clothes, but even if the substance had stuck to her clothes, her palm was dyed black. A horrible stench lingered on her nose and Maria had the urge to vomit.

She looked down from where she sat and slowly pressed her hand down. Her hand sunk slowly into the mysterious black substance and immediately drew back. It was like black mud that surrounded her.

Even from the distance, Maria could tell that the solid ground from before had turned sodden.

Damn it, forget about it... it's better to wake up than continue on with this mysterious substance everywhere.

Maria slowly stood up while observing her feet. She was surprised to see she wasn't sinking. It might be because of the laws of physics in her dream world that she wasn't sinking right now. Whatever the cause, she needed to find ways to wake up.

There was a moment of hesitation before Maria took a step forward. She thought that she could explore her dream world to find a way to wake up, even with the mysterious substance. What harm could it do to her anyway other than make walking difficult?

But the moment she stepped forward, the land beneath her feet disappeared as her body was plunged into the deep mud. The black ground she was previously standing on had turned into water!

It happened so fast that Maria didn't react in time. She quickly swam up to the surface to breathe when her body once again sunk into the waters. Her body tried desperately to swim up, but black waves began forming from the distance that crashed against her, preventing her from swimming up.

The planets that were once hovering above space were now falling into the black ocean. The planets fell one by one, the first being the moon with Neptune following behind.

With each planet falling into the ocean, large tidal waves were formed that crashed into Maria, causing her to sink deeper into the ocean before she struggled to swim herself up. She heaved a deep breath while water entered her nose and mouth.

Gah! What is happening?!

The ring on the Saturn planet wobbled uncontrollably before falling, nearly crashing onto Maria if it weren't for her quick dodge. But the impact of the ring caused a massive wave to crash into her. Following that, the Saturn planet collapsed and Maria was once again hit by a large wave.

Maria struggled to keep herself afloat in the ocean, sucking in quick breaths with each chance she got before being swept by the waves. Then, she felt something cold wrapping itself around her ankle. It felt like someone's hand, cold and thin. Maria felt her body get pulled down by the strong force.

The unknown hand dragged Maria down into the deep ocean. Her vision blurred and she struggled to breathe.

Am I... still dreaming?

No, she couldn't be. Everything felt too real to be a simple dream.

The hand that pulled her down wasn't rough that Maria could easily escape, but she was far too deep to swim up. She was already losing oxygen and felt her eyes close.

She couldn't hear anything anymore, only the sound of water passing through her ears.

Dreams...

At that moment, despite her situation, Maria slowly looked up with narrowed eyes. Something flashed brightly from above the ocean. There was a loud splash and Maria saw a large planet from the distance.

The flash of light and the large planet was actually the sun that had fallen to the ocean, sending large waves scattering in every direction. Maria could feel the water turn to a boiling point as her eyes shot open.

I'll be boiled alive if I don't leave now!

Maria used what little strength she had to swim up to the surface. She could feel her skin crawling with heat as she forced herself to hold her breath. Her eyes were on the brink of closing and her limbs felt sore.

Just as Maria was about to lose her conscience, she felt another hand grab her. This time, it grabbed her wrist and immediately pulled her up from the unknown ocean. She felt her body pull forward as the hand that held her ankle loosened before it released her.

The bright light continued to shine and Maria felt her eyes open bit by bit. She could see a dark figure pulling her up, swimming into the ocean in dark clothes before Maria could see the giant sun.

"Puah!" Maria breathed deeply and felt the water from her lungs disappear.

The giant sun was in front of her as the mysterious black ocean engulfed it. Despite being engulfed by the black waters, the heat from the sun didn't go out. It continued to burn brightly within the ocean. The water reached a warm temperature and Maria didn't feel cold anymore.

While Maria tried to process what just happened, she felt a light bump on her shoulder and saw it was a floating meteoroid. She immediately climbed into the large rock and sat on top of it, using it as a sort of float.

Once she collapsed onto the meteoroid, Maria vomited a mouthful of water before looking at the vast area she was in. She looked at the black ocean with a nauseating feeling.

It was dark. The sky had no more planets or asteroids or meteoroids, only the stars shimmering remained. The ocean was as dark as black. Maria couldn't see anything from the distance, not a single land. Only the floating pieces of planets and rocks could be seen.

Maria stood up from the meteoroid with shaking legs. She tried to look for someone, anyone. The person that saved her from drowning. She wasn't able to take a glimpse of the person. It was too dark for her to even see them. They wore dark clothes that blended well with the dark ocean.

All Maria knew was that it was a person. She could feel their warmth holding her wrist as they gently pulled her up. It was the opposite of the hand that had pulled her down, she only felt nothing but coldness from its fingers.

Someone is in my dream again? Would it be like that unknown girl with no face?

"Ugh, all this thinking is giving me a headache," Maria groaned and held her forehead.

So many things were happening that Maria couldn't help but kick a small piece of rock that broke from the meteoroid. The rock flung across the distance and bounced off the surface a few times before sinking into the ocean.

What?

Maria looked at the ocean before her eyes landed on the planets and asteroids that were floating nearby.

Come to think of it, how come they're floating? Shouldn't they be sinking?

The more Maria thought of things, the more her head hurts.

Just great. This was perfect.

First was the mysterious message that appeared on her phone, the second was the unknown woman that had disappeared after giving her a portable USB that not only she but her friends had also received, and third was the transparent messages that appeared before her and her friends.

And not only that, but she had collapsed on the sidewalk and was now lucid dreaming. Before passing out, she could vividly remember that message.

[You have been Selected to Participate in the Main Event, (Player Selection).]

Wasn't this the Main Event that took place in the novel, Game of Survival? No, it couldn't be. It wasn't possible.

Then again, the novel's title also appeared in the last message before.

[Welcome to the Game of Survival!]

Now everything was confusing, it was giving her a big headache thinking of all this.

Perhaps she was still dreaming and her subconsciousness happened to create a dream sequence where she was in the same novel that she had read way back in ninth grade. That was a possibility, right?

I'm still dreaming, it's a possibility that everything is still a dream.

No matter how much she tried to deny it, it still felt wrong to her. There was no real explanation for these occurrences to even happen logically or scientifically. 

Then what is happening...? 

Maria had to sit down to clear her mind. She caressed her aching head and looked at the meteoroid she sat on. Her brows furrowed before she touched the surface of it, feeling the cold and rough texture of the meteoroid in her hand.

There were cracks and small holes formed within the asteroid. To reduce her headache, she had to find the answer to herself. 

In order to determine if she was truly dreaming...

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Maria picked up a broken shard of the meteoroid and began scraping it against its exterior. Once the piece of meteoroid had a sharpen edged, Maria lifted her left wrist up and took a deep breath.

She felt the sharp, cold rock slit across her wrist. A metallic smell wafted the air and Maria felt the blood drip to the ground.

It's painful... I can still feel pain here...

This still wasn't enough proof. People could still feel pain even in dreams. She needed something else to determine this was real.

Maria looked over the distance to see if she could spot anything. With the vast black ocean and outer space, it was impossible to see anything in such a dark area.

The waters were calm and nothing was falling anymore. Maria thought the stars would also fall but she was glad they didn't.

Having large planets fall into the ocean was bad enough, imagine millions of stars began descending down. The stars were her only light source after the moon had collapsed. If it were to sink then her dream would be engulfed in complete darkness.

What if she just waited for something to happen? Didn't it work before?

No, it can't work. I had to wait over an hour that time...

There's no denying it now. Maria was sure of it. 

From the very beginning, Maria already knew what was happening. Subconsciously, at least. Though there was still a possibility of it all being one big dream, for now, Maria had to cross that thought out. There were no other options.

She was currently a participant in the Event from Game of Survival. To escape from here, she had to think of it as a novel.

Game of Survival, Maria hadn't heard of that title for three years now. And she never thought she'd hear it again after all these years.

Her body still felt sore and discomfort after waking up. Maria sat down in order to calm herself down. If she thought about it from a different view, using her knowledge of GameLit novels, the messages that she saw before were likely to be [System Prompts].

The first prompt came from Maria's phone but she ignored it and thought it was just an ad for a mobile game. The second was in Amelie's college. And then only a while ago, the same message appeared.

Complicated thoughts swarm her mind while thinking this. She took a deep breath to reduce her anxiety and sighed. 

Let's gather what I know of the premise of the Tower of Nightmares in the novel.

Surveying her surroundings, Maria immediately knew where she was. 

Dreamscape, she was in her dreamscape the Tower had made for her. A dreamscape is one's subconscious mind turned into a form of land or scene. The tower manifests the owner's memories and creates one scene that the owner would like to see. 

There could also be NPCs disguised as significant people for the owners. Depending on the dreamscape's form, for example, Maria's includes a vast outer space, so there should've been astronauts added. 

But no one was in sight. No rocket ships, satellites, spaceships, shuttles, nothing. Maria already knew the reason behind this.

If the owner is a very emotional person, their dreamscape includes people that are important to them. But if the owner is a logical or sociopathic person, the dreamscape is more likely to manifest a scene without any NPCs involved like Maria's. 

The main theme of the Tower of Nightmares is one's dreams and nightmares. Its purpose is for players to overcome their nightmares that would take shape within the tower. If they want to escape, they must fight off their nightmares. 

Once you die in the tower, you won't be able to wake up from your sleep. You'll be forced to watch one final scene of your nightmare's manifestation before dying. 

"Isn't the Keepers too cruel for this?" Maria muttered. 

Maria didn't want to end up like that. She thought deeply about what to do when she felt the meteoroid below her shake unsteadily.

Something is finally happening. Not only that, but the waters were shaking violently. Bubbles formed and there was the sound of gurgling coming from somewhere.

An ominous feeling occupied her chest as Maria looked at her surroundings to where the sound was coming from. She felt her heart skip a beat when she saw something swimming through the waters from the distance.

The stars shone greatly at the waters, illuminating a large shadow swimming through the ocean. It was big, bigger than a boat! Maria felt her heart tremble at this sight and began looking around for anything to use.

What is that? Why is it so big?!

Swimming was a huge no and staying in the meteoroid wasn't an option. The planets close to her were too far and big for her to climb on. Some asteroids and meteoroids were also broken into chunks and too small for her to ride.

Maria rummaged through her clothes and felt a sharp blade poking out of her pocket. She pulled it out and was surprised to see her pocket knife. This also appeared in her dream last night. It was a significant item for her.

She held the knife tightly and watched as the unknown creature swam past floating asteroids. The closer the creature got, the more Maria saw it clearly.

There were dots incised on the creature's scales that glowed through the dark waters. White lines connected from various dots, forming some sort of shape. She could clearly understand what the dots and lines signify based on their strange pattern.

If it wasn't for that article I might've thought it was some sort of...

Maria's eyes widen when she realized what constellation it formed.

Fuck! Why do I have to dream about that of all things?!

It got closer as it swam rapidly through the dark waters. Maria could see the constellation imprinted on its scales, illuminating the waters as it slithered toward her asteroid.

Maria didn't know what to do as she watched the creature slithering towards her meteoroid. Its fins popped out while its head slowly peeked through the water. Its head was large and covered in blue and green scales.

Its head slithered up into the waters, revealing its long neck. Sharp spikes protruded from the back of its head to its neck while its reptilian eyes stared at Maria. A vague scar could be seen on the monster's left eye and neck. It opened its mouth to reveal its pair of sharp teeth as it let out a shriek.

The Cetus Constellation! A sea monster in Greek Mythology!

Maria looked at the creature with wide eyes before looking at the deep waters. Swimming was a terrible choice since she was up against a sea monster. And a sea monster in Greek Mythology of all things! Swimming was practically walking into its trap.

How can I escape then...?

The asteroids nearby were too far away to even swim to. The Cetus had more advantages than Maria if she were to swim. It'll be much faster than her and bigger that it could swallow her whole along with the chunks of asteroids.

If it weren't for the fact that the meteoroid Maria was standing on was much bigger compared to the sea monster, it wouldn't hesitate to devour her along with it.

Cetus just stared at her with its growling snout. Maria gripped tightly on the piece of meteoroid she had while biting her lip. Where would she go now?

The monster roared at her as it swung its arm toward her. Maria picked up the bits of meteorites near her and began throwing them at the monster. Even though it wasn't enough to harm the creature, it was at least enough to buy Maria time to plan a way to escape. 

From the distance, there were long, sharp rocks that stuck out from the ocean. If Maria could distract the creature, she could climb on one of the rocks and hope for the best she could escape it. Maybe she could even distract it by hiding in one of the floating planets. 

It's worth a shot... 

Maria threw the last bit of rock and looked at the monster in front of her. Once it noticed her no longer attacking, it let out a shriek before charging toward her with an open mouth.

Her plan was simple, provoke the creature and wait for it to attack her. Once it charges at her with its mouth, she would immediately jump off of her meteoroid and make the creature bump its snout at the hard meteoroid. It should be enough to distract it. 

When the creature was only a few meters away from devouring her, Maria took a deep breath and turned to jump. But she felt something hit her. She was suddenly flung off from her meteoroid as she felt something cling to her body.

On instinct, she closed her eyes. She waited for the warm water to envelope her once again, but there was none. Instead, a thin limb wrapped itself around her waist.

A cool breeze hit her skin and felt her entire body light. Maria heard the sound of water gurgling and opened her eyes to find herself flying across the vast space. 

Looking down, she could see the Cetus monster swimming in the ocean while chasing after her. It moved fast along the waters which made Maria shiver. If she really did fall into the ocean this monster could easily catch her and eat her alive!

I underestimated its speed... 

Maria's eyes shook when she now realized she was flying. The open sky and shimmering stars emitted from Maria's eyes. She looked at the scene for a moment and looked down. An arm was wrapped around her stomach and she could feel someone's breathing behind her.

Before she could even look behind her to see who was holding her, Maria saw a large opening from her left and heard the person next to her heave a deep breath.

Their legs swung forward and the unknown person released her grip from her rope. Both the person and Maria hurled toward the square opening. Maria wanted to scream as her body clashed against the cold surface.

Maria's body came tumbling forward before crashing against the corner of the wall. Her body ached terribly and she felt a tight grip behind her. She tried crawling up, but her body couldn't even move.

Shit... this is the worst pain I've felt... 

"Ugh..." Maria's ears perked up hearing a faint groan behind her.

Despite being in such a condition, Maria sat up slowly while wincing at the pain she felt. Then, she looked to her right to discover a woman drenched in water. The woman was coughing up water before noticing Maria staring at her.

"Ah... Are you hurt?" The woman asked, covering her mouth.

Before Maria could even process all this, she felt her head throb greatly. Maria held her forehead and her vision blurred, preventing her from identifying the woman's face. 

Tsk... I'm already at my limit...

Her body soon gave out and the woman immediately crawled to catch her. Maria lay silently on the woman's shoulder, breathing heavily as she fought the sense of sleepiness. But her attempts were useless as her eyes begin to close. 

Who was she? Why did she save me? And how did she know I was here? 

Maria couldn't utter those questions and soon lost consciousness. 

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