[Valerianne Yul]

As the monstrous gray humanoid bled right through all of the impediments I had secured him with, I pulled out my other weapon - poisons gathered from my brother’s rooms. These were dust concoctions designed to confuse, incapacitate and kill large beasts. Not as large as Moosy, obviously, but they could definitely stop something that was around 20 meters in size.

I pulled out one bottle after the other, opening them up and holding my breath, throwing a cloud of poisoned spores and deadly liquids at my enemy’s face.

He started to choke, thrashing. I kept at it. He didn’t seem to be getting paralyzed or dying.

“Help?” I whispered at kitten-Nox as the terrifying Dreamancer seemed to be slowly becoming immune to the horrific concoctions I had dispensed his way.

“Yeah, figured you wouldn't be able to do this alone.” She purred. “Focus on our pact. Focus on our connection. Switch places with me. Let me drive your dream-ghost. Give me the power of your believers. Let me wield the power of Virtue and control your avatar within this dream.”

I nodded, focusing on our mutual connection, holding onto what I felt was the [divine pact] that was pulsing between us.

“Accept my power, take it, wield it to end this enemy.” I prayed. “Be me while I’ll be you. Let us trade places. Let darkness turn to light and light into darkness.”

My body flashed and hers darkened. I was suddenly a small kitten woven of light sitting inside of… my own pocket. No, the pocket of Nox who was wielding my body. I hoped that she would be able to handle the Dreamancer. All of the spores and poison that I had thrown at him, had already passed through his gray body. His disgusting gray face spoke once again.

“You can’t possibly fight me in here. In dreams I am unstoppable. You will submit to my will, pathetic girl.” He hissed with a conglomerate of voices.

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[-=Nox=-]

I was inside the body of Yul within the dream. Good. We could trade places much easier now thanks to the [Pact] between us.

I leaned towards the gray human with a smile and kissed him on the lips. The Dream mage gasped, not expecting this turn of events.

I disconnected from him. Yul had done her job of distracting the Dream mage well enough with illusory pain, for him not to notice my tendrils flowing back into his mind. I knew just about enough to take advantage of everything.

“Jilliani Acadia.” I said. “A Dreamancer monsterling.”

The Dreamancer blinked. “What? How do you know my name?!”

“You’re a construct made from information and magic. I’m a Void Goddess... who is also made of information. Here we are both Infomatics, but I am far more experienced in being a data energy being than you are.”

In his quest to know everything about Yul’s secrets, I’ve been slowly getting information out of his mind using the shared dream.

“That kiss between us, was me devouring the last bit of your locked up infodata.” I exaggerated. “I know absolutely everything about you now.”

“A Void Goddess?” He blinked. “Data?”

“That’s right. I’m Nox, THE all-mighty Goddess of the Void inhabiting this healer’s body. It would be a shame if all of the crewmen of this ship found out that you’ve been digging through their deepest dreams, incepting ideas into their itty bitty heads, stealing personal information from them. It’d be a real shame if the Baron found out about ALL of your crimes.”

“I have no crimes!” Jilliani stammered “I’m…”

“Shush, my little monsterling. You don’t need to lie to a Dark divinity like myself. I know you better than your own wife Augasta Acadia, who’s also your sister. Nasty little things, aren’t you? Mixing genetics like that can’t be healthy. No wonder you’re such a magically screwed up thing. Your family has practically inbred itself into magical monsters in a quest to magnify your Dreamancy power over a hundred generations.

Jilliani choked. This was his family’s secret. This was something nobody was supposed to know.

“So, what’s it going to be pal? I can leave this dream anytime, you know.” I lied. “Leave it and tell everyone on the ship about you messing around with their dreams. Or, I could tell the Baron about your incestiousness. Tell him of your family's secret plans to take over the Academia of Magic. I know he wouldn't like that. I know that you’ve been feeding false thoughts into that magical all-seeing eye of his, using dreams to communicate with others like yourself in secret. His divine eye can't peer into the dreams that you create. That's how you've been planning your little rebellion."

“Wait... Please don’t tell the Baron anything!” He stuttered.

“I won’t, if you sign a contract for one million Reius and serve me instead of him.” I said. “See, I won’t care what you monsterlings do. I’m the Avatar of the Void and not an uptight human meatsicle like him. Under me you can do as much evil as you like, incept as many humans as you desire. Under me you can become the most powerful Dreamancer in the Rim."

Jilliani's gray face focused itself into emotions of greed. A monster like him was easy for me to read and understand.

"I can open Void dungeons. You know what this means, yes? Money and absolute power - both beyond your wildest dreams. Serve me and you will become my second in command. A true monster amongst monsters, ruling the entire Rim... instead of pathetic humans like Baron Von Zimmerman. Within my Void dungeons there is enough wealth to clear all of your family’s debts, forever.” I was targeting all of his desires and sins, telling him exactly what he wanted to hear.

The Dream mage switched sides very quickly. “I accept!”

[5’000 points for defeating a high-mage in battle.] The System dinged, rewarding Valerianne. The pocket kitten jolted in surprise.

“Okay. First things first - I desire you to form a dream link between myself and June Rim Maldiver. Make a shared dream for us that lasts until I say the keyword “Wake me up Jilliani”. Location - the city of Amarillia from this body’s memories. Give me 100% realism, but no other simulated people in it, except for me and her, okay? Also, no peeking in. I want to discuss some things with my associate June, without being bothered.” I said to the Dreamancer. “Got it? If I notice that you’re manifesting in there, then our deal is off.”

“No problemo, boss.” Jilliani bowed his head a tad.

“Once I ask you to end the shared dream between June and me, go ahead and knock out the other two mages. I can easily do it myself, but I want you to prove your devotion to me as your new employer.” I added. “Remember - your entire family will be rewarded with unlimited power in the Rim for your obedience. Once I take control of the Academia of Magic, I’ll permit monster-humanoids like yourself to propagate as you desire, to spread, feed on people’s dreams, multiply and flourish. Go now and bring June into the dream.”

The Dreamancer nodded and his image dissolved away. The dream around us started to decay away, becoming unclear, indeterminate.

“I really don’t approve of how you function,” Yul commented from my pocket.

“To each their own,” I smiled.