-- Ais' point of view returns --

By the time Mizeleth screamed me to 'stop dreaming these fucked up things' I had gained enough clarity to remember the dream myself. She had managed to strengthen my dream with her power enough despite the freaking nuclear detonation and... uhhh… did I actually dream of xenomorphs...? Sorry Miz and Celica, today on Channel Ais we had an action movie marathon.

I have of course never seen a nuke go off in real life - and there wouldn't have been life much longer if I had - but pictured in super-HD dream vision the absolute devastation it brings is beautiful, in certain way. As the impact wave is about to reach us, I have another epiphany of sorts; the pillar of light it made gave me this strange sense of deja vu. But where could I have seen something like that--

"This is killing us! Dream something else, ANYWHERE ELSE!"

Oh, right. I'm unsure if dream nuke can hurt them, but let's play it safe.

"Alright... Keep your panties on."

Although I wouldn't call the web loin cloth she has covering her presumable lady parts panties - it barely even passes for a clothing. ...Anyway, the dream is now lucid enough for me to assert a shred of control myself, and so I morphed it to another place. I didn't pick one consciously, and the destination was surprise to me too.

...

Yep. Where the hell am I?

"Oh~! The Frozen Battlefield~ in far reaches of hell! Cool~!"

Oh, okay. The hell indeed. Thank you Celica, you could be the tour guide of this section.

Besides a kind of fog that makes everything bit distorted and blurry, this area has lava pits here and there shining some light to the fog, tinting it to color that I can only call savage-peach. It's otherwise dark as moonless night, with only faint stars and other celestial bodies in alien formations and colors cast some additional light. I don't see anything indicating a battlefield - or anything frozen, for that matter. Is that just a name for the hell of it, or did climate change get to hell too?

But the more mysterious thing is that I have never been here. So why how can I picture it in my dreams? It could be I saw some depiction of this place that only registered subconsciously, and now surfaced as material for dreams. Or there's something fishy going on here...

It is very hard to make any sense of this though. Previously I sort of flowed through the dream scenes, but now something changed. I can think clearly, but moving and acting is impossibly heavy, like in a nightmare. Well, I am dreaming, so I guess this could be one then.

"Finally a tolerable scene..."

"But where'd Ais~ go? Aiiiis~!"

Ummm, I'm right here. Why can't they see me? Mizeleth looks down at my direction... Down? They are floating above me! Did my dream's physics engine glitch?

"Shadow and hell! What is that!?"

Mizeleth is screaming something again. She really should relax a bit. Wait... She's screaming and pointing at me? I force myself to look down in the dream, only managing few inches. There's nothing scream-worthy, is there? No tentacles sprouting out anywhere or... Huh. When'd my hands get so many scars?

My movement makes the fog around me crack. Literally. Except it wasn't fog but almost crystal clear ice, in which my dream-self was encased in. I furiously move up, tearing my way out of the icy tomb to the surface.

I crouch after the heavy exertion against the ice and dream's heavy pull, while Mizeleth is on her guard and Celica is just grimacing. Seriously, what is wrong with them? Agh, whatever. I'll just tell them the operation memory recovery was successful and they can leave my dream.

"I hhhave regainnned it alllll."

Whoa. Talking is heavy too, my voice almost didn't come out! Mizeleth looks at me like she's about to shit a brick, while Celica stands back and spectates. ...I don't think they understood.

"W-what is she!? She has Ais' face, but... t-that is no demon! How can that be?"

"Who knows~."

"Ah... Ais' imagination has supplied her with Ais' own face. She is truly self-centered one..."

"Yep~!"

I don't want to hear that from a pride demon! And don't agree so whole-heartedly, Celica!

"Ffffuuck yoouu booothh."

"S-stay back, apparation!"

But am I someone else in this part of the dream? They seem convinced, and I guess that's possible. But what could freak out a demon like Mizeleth so much? I look mostly same, at least the parts I can see of my dream-body.

"This baleful light... I know it! Its power is akin to that of the druids!"

That... That could explain it. Those beardy bastards did something...? Was that why I lost my memories and had those weird unfamiliar feelings? Then is this form here would be a manifestation of that part. ...But that explanation is somehow unsatisfactory. I feel it's not the truth, or at least not the whole truth.

Whatever it is, it's better pondered when its influence is lesser. I should let them know that they can leave this dream now, and discuss it back in the waking world.

"Yoouu cann-- TREAD HERE NO LONGER, DEMONKIND."

Uhhh... That's not what I wanted to say. I don't generally speak all CAPITALIZED for one, and even though I wanted them to leave, the way that was put sounded more like something a druid would say. This supports the druid tomfoolery theory.

Now that I think about it, the new feeling that has been making me feel troubled by things I ignored before... it wasn't really that of compassion. Even though it awoke when I witnessed an especially bad thing happening, now I see it wasn't pity - it was simply moral outrage. In same vein it had no problems with me executing that criminal. It may be technically good, but it's cold and unforgiving at that. Hard-ass, just like the druids.

"I am Mizeleth the dream-spinner! I shall not be intimidated by dream wraiths!"

She was pretty intimidated before though, but... wraith? Why does she think...? Ah, right, she thinks I'm just something I dreamed up. This is such a mess... Is this a trick of druids, or am I seeing through someone else here - or both!?

Whatever, whoever this is, 'I' give her no answer except for a gesture, like a magic spell. It forces both demons out of my dream with a bright, cold light, and they swirl out of existence like... okay, the effect looks like someone flushed a giant toilet.

*WHOOSH*

Ah, now I have done it. Thinking it made the dream add the whooshing sound effect too. In this dignified way the dream unravels.

***

After a confusing and very action packed dream I wake up to find Celica beaming happily and Mizeleth completely worn-out. Both of them look like they are about to open their mouths to ask multitude of questions. I need to discuss this with Celica - privately - so I pre-emptively deflect them for now.

"Yes, the memory recovery worked. No, I don't know what the last segment was about."

The spider demon looks at me with unusual timidity. For the uninitiated the disjointed popular culture mish-mash might have been too much to bear after all...

"Your dream was... a thing of beautiful madness."

Uhhh... I think we have H.R. Giger to thank for it, at least partially. She gets over her moment of weakness and returns to her usual self, except with bit less than before.

"...I know not what your connection to the druids is, and I do not wish to get involved further with something so troublesome. As for the contract, I believe you owe me my price."

"Ah, yes. The promised 'armor'."

She is under the impression that I'm about to hand over my enchanted silver breastplate. Instead I fish that stupid metal bikini from my bag. I hand it over to her without saying anything.

The arachnid looks at me incredulously like I just made a bad joke.

"That is not--"

She quickly realizes the catch.

"... I hate you!"

By the way, the top is several sizes too big for her.

I almost feel bad for her as she storms out of the summoning chamber cursing all succubi to take a skinny dip in lava, only to come back after remembering she needs to use the temporary portal Holoster made here to get back to hell.

***

Once I'm finally alone with Celica, I get to the matter that is over-shadowing my otherwise successful regaining of memories.

"So... Any ideas what the end of my dream was about?"

"Hmmm... HMMMM... Dunno~!"

Is she messing with me or genuinely clueless?

"At least describe what you thought it was!"

"Well~, druid-smelling almost-Ais~ appeared and booted us out~!"

"That's... concisely put."

Was it really a manifestation of some spell druids have put into me? Her description, Celica-ish as it was, is pointing to that direction.

"What'd it exactly look like to you?"

"Scarry and scary~! Oh, and she had weird wings~ with grey feathers~."

Feather wings? Huh, I didn't realize. But that actually fits the picture. Druids in this world aren't the tree-hugging hippies druids get often caricaturized as; no, these are grim justice and balance types. If they were to have a spirit on their side - a counterpart to evil spirits aka demons - it could very well be a grey winged angel without mercy. However, based on Mizeleth's and Celica's reactions and what I've heard myself, nothing like that exists in this world. Ah. I must have subconsciously added the wings due to my own imagination - that'd explain it.

As for the druids, I made it clear that I'm not subject to their justice when I turned their lynch group into icy statues a while ago. I wasn't paying attention to them after that since the memory loss was much more imminent problem, but now I realize they had been suspiciously silent since that battle. Since they couldn't win me, was their next attempt covertly changing me to fit their cause? In light of this peek at my subconscious, it indeed looks very possible that they had managed to implant something devious into me. Shit... Do I need to get a tinfoil hat now?

No... If reprogramming a demon were that easy, they'd have done it many times over now. Which means... it must have very limited power over a demon, probably relying on being unnoticed. And now that I know that isn't 'me', I can be fairly confident I cannot be affected anymore. Yes. All the pieces fit now.

Another thing crystal certain is that when the right time for comeuppance arrives, there will be certain cold dish served aplenty...

"Trying to brainwash me...! Just you wait; you will find your own sickles where the Sun doesn't shine..."

"Interesting~! So Ais likes~ rough ana--"

"Celica, if you finish saying that, you'll regret it."