A warm breeze caressed his cheeks as Dailin stared up at the rich sky, watching the clouds lazily wander by. He'd been doing that for a long time, mind absent for the most part, still drained from all the painful revelations sprung on him at the worst possible time. It had been a while since he’d been able to enjoy the quiet nature of his dream. His body made reaching this place almost impossible at times, with its ever-present vigor. Now though, after everything that had happened his mind had tuned creation out and he found himself here.

Not that he was complaining, he needed it more than ever now, the realm was falling further into madness, and everything it touched was distorted to its own twisted image. Even his family.

It hurt to remember that, to face that truth. To know, and experience all over again that he’d been led by the nose, trick by a being he hadn’t the slightest clue about. At least from his perspective at the time, there had been hints everywhere, constant displays of it right in his face. But like most things he was blind, even when he was watching out for problems. He still ended up not seeing a thing.

“Gods it this your test, your way to show me that I ‘am a fool?” he spoke to the grassy plain and bountiful sky. Normally he wouldn’t expect an answer, but considering all the nonsense that was taking place around him these days, he half expected to hear one. Though it never came, only the sound of the warm breeze passing by his ears followed his question. That was fine, he didn’t need an answer, it was quite plain. He’d made something by accident, and was too much of a fool to even notice its presence. Even when the Vail culture as a whole spoke of the very thing Bliss was. Warned of the likes of Fear, Worry, and Anger taking hold and consuming you.

He’d thought it a metaphor about not letting your emotion get the better of you. Only now he saw it literal, entities that took the shape of one’s thoughts. Or more likely the Mana itself, desperate for a form. Regardless his way of thinking had been horribly wrong, and now his family paid the price.

Dailin breathed in deep the scented air of flowers and cooking pastries. Using it to slowly force himself to accept that he was a fool, that even with his best intentions, and watchful gaze, he could still be trick easily as any child. Bliss had made that rather obvious, painfully obvious. Though considering she’d been listening to his mind, Dailin was less harsh on himself for failing yet again. But he still didn’t excuse his own faults. The warnings had been plenty, and constant. He’d just casted them in a less dire light than they should have been.

“How I hate you hindsight,” Dailin spoke. Looking back was so painfully, it made his face blush, made all the smiles sent his way by family and those he protected, become distorted. Turn into mocking laughs, into a shared joke that he was not allowed to indulge in, for he was the joke.

Maybe he was, and delusional, a fool for thinking his family would change so swiftly by his song alone. If that had been the case, the affairs with his children killing their parents wouldn’t have occurred. The Mothers themselves wouldn’t have been monsters to their children either.

His song would have made them kinder, decent. Yet they weren’t, his spell hadn’t been aimed to do that, it only had them feel what he could project. Not make them listen to it, become it. Yet he believed anyways as those in the Oasis worked together and never fought. Acted so at odds to those previous, even though they too had been listening to the same song. Felt the same warmth it sent out.

So, it should have been obvious, the signs were all there. Consumed was the word that entered his mind, taken fully by an emotion. Becoming it, and enacting what it thought was right.

Once more Dailin had thought it fearful wording, the act of saints speaking harsh words to keep people from angering their god.

No, once more it had been literal. His family had been Consumed right in front of his eyes, and he never understood. Consumed by an entity of his own making, a wish so desperately called upon it became a physical thing.

“I should have known” Dailin quietly spoke. “The Mana tries to make everything else a reality, why not my deepest wishes?” Perhaps that was why mortals were never allowed to have so much power, they would cause much harm to them self and others.

One wrong thinking, a single mistake and calamity would be born. Like he’d done, even if it was to bring relief from the suffering he and his family were experiencing. Push away the madness. Perhaps he hadn’t been specific enough, or worse, Bliss was right. He had to make a choice between what he wanted people to act like, or how they naturally were. Even if it meant said people killed each other regularly over the simplest of things.

That thought gave him pause. He liked how his family was, or how he thought they were. All getting along, helping each other, happy and enjoying each others company. That was what he wanted, and it had been stripped from him. Shown to be a lie, a single entity masquerading as his family.

A thing he couldn’t get rid of. Three times he’d tried, three times he’d failed. Three times! The Mana once always providing had failed him, shown to be just as infallible as everything else when it came to certain objectives. Now he was stuck with a thing both which terrified him and made him feel safe. That paradoxical feeling wasn’t helping matters either, leading only to more confusion whenever he looked about his creation.

For all that Bliss made him uncomfortable, and worried it would do something he couldn’t stop, he never felt any malice from it, of wanting to harm or kill him. No, when he looked at it, he couldn’t see nor feel any sort of threatening nature. His instinct agreed as it was mute. That had been the only thing that kept him from lashing out, from fighting with all he had when his spells had failed him.

That, and, he would have had to kill his family if he went down that path. Slaughter all he had come to protect, kill his children whom he wanted nothing more than to keep safe. Worst of all, he was afraid to prove the creature right. Be shown not even death could free those he loved. Show that Bliss, with its constant smug smile, was telling the truth. That there was nothing he could do, but fail again like before.

Even now the memory played in the back of his mind, flickers of it appearing and vanishing in the distance of his dream. The souls of his family swirling around him. Slamming him to the floor with a crushing weight he couldn’t raise himself from, as they undid his work to free them of the chant Bliss had casted.

Trick or not that had happened, showed him that he couldn’t get rid of Bliss. He was stuck with the creation of his own making. One who’d consumed his family and was actively doing, what it perceived, what he wanted. And his family was happy about it, active in helping this along, and would remain doing so. For Bliss had turned his warmth spell against him, his greatest weapon against the madness, now made to be part of it.

The turn of events had him at a loss. The once clear path before him to bring about a refuge from the torments of the realm had now been tainted and turned into yet another addition to it.

It left him staring at the sky wondering what he could do to solve the situation he was in. How do you save a family, that doesn’t want to be saved? Or perhaps already believed it had been. If what Bliss said was true and the thing genially believed what she was doing was salvation.

If so, he’d already lost and the matter out of his hands. His family gone, willing taken by a monster made of his warmth.

“I have no idea what to do.”

He had entertained the thought of making other emotion entities to fight bliss, but the problem remained the same as his family seemed content to fight for Bliss. If the new entities were to have a chance, they too would need to claim souls. And for all his faults, and shortsightedness, even he wasn’t that blind. There were already two entities doing that now, and adding more to such a fight was beyond foolish.

There was also the unfortunate fact, that he needed Bliss. Without it, he wasn’t sure he could fight the Giver on his own. Plus, there was the troubling fact that with Bliss gone and his family back to normal, they might very well stab him in the back.

No matter how much he wanted to refute the things Bliss had said to him, the creature had made many good arguments for its continual existence. His family might very well have been died by now if it had been only him fighting off the Nightmare and the Giver. He was only one person, he couldn’t be everywhere, unlike Bliss. If he’d focused on the Nightmare, the Giver would have eventually built up enough strength to breach his defenses. Same with the Nightmares with their ever-growing numbers.

He needed an ally to survive the madness the Mana was bringing forth. And Bliss, that twisted Bliss of his was the perfect solution. After everything was done, the wars over and the Giver somehow contained. Then he could focus on undoing what he’d done.

‘Kill them,’ the thought appeared in his mind again. ‘It’s the only way to be sure. The only way to bring about true salvation.’ The voice didn’t hold much of hold on him anymore. Bliss had caused to much doubt for him to act on it. With how things were looking, even if he did find it in him to kill his own offspring, it wouldn’t change anything. Their ghosts would remain to haunt him. Plus, if it did work by some miracle, then he would find himself all alone in a realm trying to kill him. Which would make it easier for said realm to archive that, and Dailin wasn’t going to rick such an outcome. It to closely aligned with a suicide.

Suicide, funny how that thing kept cropping up. As if the realm itself was trying to get him to commit the act. It would make things simpler, remove all the responsibilities and troubles he was dealing with. Off he would go to the next realm, and there the trap would be sprung.

His past selves told him so, the ever-deepening decline to worse and worse realms. The thought of it was enough to have him shiver even in his dream. ‘What could be waiting after this realm?’ He thought with fearful wonder. The current realm was mad enough, could it get worse? Other than his starting position? Could he find himself in place of constant agony perhaps, or a place plagued with even more monstrous beasts he couldn’t conceive of? The possibilities were endless, and all of it waiting for him to give up.

So Dailin refused, the easy path had failed him, it was the reason he was here to begin with. Stuck in this nonsensical madness, with people who are monsters, and a monster that aimed to turn them into people.

There was also the shameful fact that he would be abandoning his family after he’d had them Consumed by a thing of his own making. Plus, there was no telling what Bliss would do if it found him dead. That perhaps it could bring him back to life somehow, and after, given its apparent nature to guard him, he’d probably find himself bond somewhere. Unable to move and guarded constantly to make sure he didn’t harm himself again. Yes, he could see that, Bliss seemed to be that type of thing. Though how well that would go, since he could call on essence, was up for debate. But the creature would watch his every move. Or more than it already was.

It was every moving eye, every person, high and low, close family, and those that had just come under his protection. Each and everyone was it, even his five stars. His joyous newborn. Happy not because they were blest children, no because it was Bliss, laughing, thrilled, by its own admission of being so tenderly loved by him.

“I suppose I was a dimwit for not noticing that.” Children would never be that well behaved, happy and gentle. But it seemed, when it came to convenience, he was very good and ignoring details. He paid for that flaw of his, allowed the entirety of his family to be Consumed. Though it wasn’t all his fault, from what it had told him, much of the finishing work had happened after he left Hadthel, and Bliss no longer had to be as careful with its movements. Even with hindsight, Dailin wasn’t too hard on himself about that. The decision to leave and claim a River was the only reason he and his family were still alive. As staying in Hadthel would have gotten him consumed like everyone else.

Yet it didn’t change the fact that was when his real family came to a close. Where they stopped being themselves and became Bliss. Where a family of hundreds, became a family of two.

Dailin couldn’t see it any other way, the illusion was shattered, and he couldn’t trick himself into accepting it again. All he saw were puppets dancing to Bliss strings. He had made his family into a House of slaves for him and Bliss, and there was nothing he could do to change that. Nor would doing such help anyone at the present, without Bliss he and his family would die. There were too many adversaries in the realm, and the last thing he needed was his family turning on themselves after Bliss removal.

‘What a convenient excuse.’ A back part of his mind thought, ‘get to enjoy the benefits Bliss provides and not feel guilty about it.’ Dailin felt his jaw and hands clench. ‘Nor have to look at the fact, that you like this.’

Dailin looked down and closed his eyes, took deep breathes and thought of nothing for some time. He tried to at least, wanted the thoughts to go away, but they didn’t, and wouldn’t. They kept propping up as it all revolved around Bliss, and a fact he couldn’t ignore.

No matter his fault with the actions his creature had done. It was in the end, him who asked it to. His desire, even if it was a guilty one, and half thought out. Worst, though he was tempted to ignore and deny the fact, he was enjoying the safety Bliss brought. Even with its flaws, the creature was here to aid him, and it was making his life very comfortable.

Was leading the way, already had plans in motion to try and resolve the problems presented to him. Had been since its creation. It was everything he wanted, it took care of him and his problems appeared to hold no alternative motive aimed at harming him. Seemed obsessed with trying to keep him pleased, and carefree.

It had done much for him, kept the worst problems hidden from his sight and dealt with matters without his notice. Bliss would have been perfect, if only the thing listened to what he said. Instead, it tried reading his mind, was more interested in listening to his deeper thoughts, thoughts not meant to be taken seriously. Thoughts not to be known of, yet that apparently was what it thrived off of, and the Mana it seemed. He had to be careful how much he yearned for something, lest the Mana in him act on it. Like before, calling for a paradise.

He could remember it so clearly now, the pristine illusion he’d crafted while humming to his son, the amount of attention he’d poured into it as he did his best to wash away the pain he’d caused. Remembered while sinking into his own work, for it to be the reality he lived, for himself and his family. What mistake that had been, he’d felt the Mana stir, ready itself for the task he’d order it. At the time he thought he’d simply asked too much from the Mana and paid it no more of his attention.

“In the end, this is all my fault,” Dailin breathed out.

‘And you’re happy about it,’ a thought said. ‘What wonders it provides, what a glorious mistake.’

“I’m not a perfect man,” Dailin admitted to himself, though it wasn’t that hard to say. Not even he would fall for that kind of illusionary thinking. If he had been perfect, he wouldn’t be where he was now. In a realm of ever-changing monsters. In a realm trying to eat him alive and laugh at his misery. Given that Dailin didn’t hold as much blame on himself as before. What kind of person wouldn’t beg for salvation from that?

‘Salvation for one, damnation for all others.’ A thought said, followed with images of his family being taken. Consumed by an entity born of the desire to make them better. ‘If you really cared about them, you’d try everything you could to set them free.’

“I did!” Dailin shouted to the dream, to his prodding conscious. “Gods I did,” he said quieter, even here he sounded tired. “Three times I tried, and the last had my own family turn against me. They chose it over me.” He added harshly, letting it echo across the plane.

‘Death is the only way to kn-

“I’m not killing my children!” Dailin bellowed out, tired, so very tired of the nagging thought. Why wouldn’t it leave him only, couldn’t his mind see he was doing his best, was trying, and failing. Shown that, no matter what he wanted, it no longer mattered.

“They’re happy,” Dailin voiced, echoing the words Bliss and the swirling tide of souls said to him, begging him to stop. It had been heart-wrenching to hear. It was so genuine, they sounded, acted, maybe even felt as if he was killing them taking away the warmth.

‘To an addict, it always does,’ His mind said.

“they are not-

‘You’ve always known,’ the Thought said speaking over him. ‘From the very first moment you unleashed that spell. Let out the warmth and saw the reactions around you. How much they changed after, always asking for more sending praises of worship at you. You knew, and how wonderfully convenient it was.’

Dailin jaws tighten, his teeth pressing hard against each other. ‘How they danced to your tune, did everything for you, and what followed?’ His mind asked, but didn’t wait for an answerer’ “Ah yes that’s right, you sang some more as a reward. Used it to try and change their behavior.’

Dailin glare at the environment around him, one that was changing. No longer was there a warm breeze, the air had gone stale, and cold. The sky above blackened as large ominous clouds formed.

“I was making them happy, having them act like a family should, close nit and kind.” Dailin pressed, all of it true.

‘Making them decent? Following your view of what is right?’ the Thought asked, though Dailin didn’t answer, the thought, like him, knew the answer. ‘You sound just like your monster, don’t you?’

Again, he didn’t answer, not that it changed anything, ‘Did you really try?’ It continued ‘With everything you had? Or did you stop when you saw a convenient enough lie to hide under?’

There it was again, the endless loop, back to the point in the beginning. The urge and thoughts to kill his family. “Bliss wanted me to try the same thing you keep pressing for. To kill all I hold dear, to free them. Yet Bliss was unfazed by this, kept smiling as the dead swirled around us!”

‘All illusions.’ The Thought said.

“It left thousands to die, thousands it had collected from Sanctums without me knowing. It didn’t care, for they were already saved, Death meant nothing.” Dailin said to the quieting voice. “I’ve seen enough to know killing them won’t do anything, there is no freedom to be had, nor do they want it.” Dailin added.

‘There are many things people want that are, in the end, bad for them. Bliss is no different.’ A thought pressed. ‘It strips them of choice, makes them nothing more than dolls, and in return, she coats them in your warmth. Yet you do nothing, let those you supposedly care for be used. To be trapped in eternal servitude.’

“Servitude not even death can free them from.” Dailin said to the thought. That much he’d seen, Bliss would have mourned the loss of Vail, if death could take them. Instead, it was the opposite, they both had song while masses died. Pulled the souls of the dead into their collective warmth.

“So,” Dailin called “What am I to do, oh heckling voices? Force failed me, my family turned on me, and death is as powerless as I to free them. So, tell me, what do I do?” His dream fell silent, the voices once so numerous and loud, muted and perhaps no longer even there.

‘Change Bliss then.’ One spoke, breaking the serene silence around him, and his hope the fight with himself was over. ‘Bliss is a chant casted, a construct like others, no different to the Wards you add to frequently. Change it.’ It said again and soon was followed by others echoing the words. The thought had Dailin go still, his solution.

‘Change her,’ the voice pressed, ‘Make Bliss free the souls by its own hands, turn the monster into a creature to be admired. One that guides, not enslaves.’

Dailin listened, but was hesitant to accept it. For one Bliss could stop him if he tried, could send his family to fall upon him as before. But also, if he changed the creature, would it still be capable to hold the threats mounting?

‘You would abandon your family for the sake of safety?’ A thought asked in a harsh tone. ‘What kind of person are you, what father? to even entertain such a thing.’

Dailin looked up at the darkened sky, forced the clouds to part and reveal the rich blue and sun casted sky. He stared up for some time, the voices quiet as he.

“One trying to survive.” He finally spoke, and other parts of him sent waves of disgust, sent notions and appeals about right and wrong, about those he was condemning for his own selfish ends.

‘You’re a coward,’ they called out. ‘And a sloth, you would sacrifice everything you hold of value for convenience?’

“Not convivence," Dailin said, though there would be a great deal of that. “Survival, that’s all that matters in the end, not my feelings of what should be. I must live this life, hold death back, for if I don’t, if I don’t struggle to preserve it. I may find even a worse fate awaiting me after this one.” He forced the rest of his dream to return to its natural state, taking a moment's pleasure of the comforting breeze. “And all of you, with your accusing words, want me to end the thing that’s allowing me to live.”

‘You deserve this,’ a voice said. ‘If this is your view, then you belong here, with all the other souls that care only for themselves.’

“I’m here," Dailin said showing teeth. “Because I didn’t care for the lives provided to me, because I didn’t try with all my might to hold on to them, to preserve them. But all of you, with your words of what is fair, are trying to get me to fall for that same mistake. I need an army to hold back the Nightmare and the Giver. Bliss provides that.” He recalled the fights with his adversaries, all of it held back by an endless tide of constructs. Ones that reformed continuously no matter the wounds inflicted. An army that didn’t tire, or bleed, one that felt no fear, was not susceptible to morale or inner conflicts. It was the best thing he could possibly have to face the problem he was currently dealing with.

‘Look at you,’ a voice said scornfully. ‘You moan of the horrors Bliss has done, has taken your family, but it’s all an act. You don’t really care, you like what the monster has done. Turned your once quarreling family into obedient slaves. Made many of your problems, and inconveniences go away.’ Other joined in, chastising him for his weakness, bellowing loudly that he deserved the things that had happened to him.

‘Then again why wouldn’t you? Bliss is you, the one removed of all thoughts of mortality. One that will enact the worst atrocities for the sake of desire. That will be you one day, at the end of this path if you continue following it. Then you will belong in this place just like all the other twisted souls that reside here.’ A voice whispered so cruelly to him, gleeful of being the one to speak the words.

The words hurt, and were half true, yes Bliss was making things easier. But that didn’t mean he agreed with it, it was a necessity at the moment. His was in danger, and for now, Bliss was yet another tool to keep death back, to hold off an end caused by his own hands. He had to fight for this life he now held, the memories provide that fact, the endless scenes of him killing himself and then falling further into the void.

“It’s only for a short time,” Dailin spoke to the echoing thoughts and voices, who still threw words of damnation at him. “Long enough to end the threats on my life, to secure a place of lasting refuge. Then when safety is assured and the need for violence is no longer required, then I can focus on freeing my family. Or at least changing Bliss into something more, ethical.” Dailin added, and the words quieted the thoughts for the most part.

‘So you say,’ a voice spoke. ‘Yet you’re weak, and always seem to travel the easiest path. It’s more likely you’ll come to accept Bliss, and by the time this safety you speak of is secured, you’ll no longer be interested in changing it. No, you’ll come to see nothing wrong with the state of affairs, come to think it correct, for convenience sake.’

Dailin stayed quiet, the words, weren’t entirely wrong.

‘The words are the truth,’ the voices shouted. ‘One that you refuse to accept, the one truth that will set you free.’ The voice added softer. ‘You claim it’s your acts of killing yourself that brought you here, but that is a symptom of the path you follow.’

‘Convenience,’ The many voices echoed loudly in his mind. ‘That is what has damned you, what has guided you to commit questionable acts. And though you’re trying to perceive your life now, you still follow it, allow yourself to commit wrong in its name.

“Convenience?” Dailin spoke “So, what? I’m to take the paths that lead to harsh lives, make choices that harm me, rather than help?”

‘That help others.’ The voices said. ‘look at your memories, you see it, you live in it, a realm dedicated to only helping oneself. People turned to monsters because of their own self-interest. And you follow this, make others bend to your will, for your own sake, for your own convenience. The masses enslaved, so you can be free.’

Dailin cupped his face in his hands, trying to find peace, for the voices to stop, he hated the words, the voices judging him even though he was trying. Doing the best he could, condemning his actions, as if he was to be held to some higher standard while others ran about doing as they pleased.

‘They have been condemned, like you, they’re here because they followed the same path you do. They’re just further along, so far down the twisting tunnel they will likely never find their way out of it. So used to their own satisfaction they can no longer conceive of helping others. Of the warmth of caring for someone else and being cared for in turn.’

Dailin stayed quiet tried to hide deeper in his mind.

‘Look upon the realm you’re in!’ the voice shouted, forcing him to listen to their words and see his dream delve into a place of people betraying each other. Cutting each other down as they indulged in every pleasure they could get their hands on. ‘This is the future awaiting you, no matter how hard you fight. Lives of needless struggle as you fight with everyone else trying to grab everything you can for yourself.’

“So you say,” Dailin said back to them. “But my memories show me I’m here because I gave up, because I killed myself, and though I have never been the best man. I have been decent most of the time. I do not deserve this, my actions could not have been enough to bring me here. Save for taking death repeatedly, and you, all you say I must if it makes the lives of others better. But I can’t do both, and in the end, accepting death is the only reason I could have fallen to such a realm so quickly. It’s what my memories flashed before me, scream to me is my mistake.”

‘It’s not your only one.’ A voice said, sounding just as agitated as he was. ‘In your attempts to preserve your life you commit other acts that will weigh upon you, those that will hold you down eventually just as much as your slothful behavior.’

“But not right now, yes?” Dailin said, looking about the realm of his dream, forcing it back to its peaceful nature. “Now it’s my actions of leaping towards death, and that is what will take priority, I will live, will preserve this life as much as I can.”

‘At the cost of others?’ The voices asked. ‘At the cost of your family, your own blood?’

“My family is in danger.” Dailin spoke, “And though they’re enslaved, there’s no safer place for them right now, than under Bliss control.” He could feel in him, the disgusts and frustration seeping from his mind. “There will come a day that they’ll be free of this, but for now, no matter what happens or my misgivings, this is the best for all of us.” It kept death back, and ruin, it spared them all from being overwhelmed by two forces trying to claim the realm.

Though he couldn’t see any figures or eyes, it felt as though he was surrounded by those with accusing stares, judging, and finding him at fault. Dailin ignored it, for these thoughts wanted him to kill those he cared for, and himself. Wanted him to fall further down the madness that was clawing at him.

‘The only one doing that is yourself, but so be it, ignore the words and advice. Follow convenience further like all the others.” A voice said, both angry, and sad. ‘Maybe later you will listen, after you’ve seen more of what awaits you, perhaps you’ll take further steps to leave this place proper.’

“All I’m following is the most obvious choice to take.” Dailin said, annoyed that he was even having this conversation. “The others lead to death, and I know this, if I follow them still, even with that knowledge, then there no way it couldn’t be seen as suicide. Me throwing away yet another life. I can’t do that, not with how far I am in this nightmare I can’t risk falling deeper.”

‘You think that will change things?’ A voice said mocking. ‘By protecting your life by committing questionable choices, think there won’t be consequences?’

“I don’t know,” Dailin admitted, all that was happened was out of his depth, he’d been farmers, servants, and slaves. He was no holy man, or understood the ways of existence, he only had his memories, and those showed him the mistake he was constantly making. So, he would avoid it, and see if that improved things. If it didn’t? Then he would try something else, try and try, till he got it right.

“It’s only for a short time” He spoke to his realm. “I’ll use Bliss to end this madness, and when her use is done.’ He looked up at the shining sky. “I’ll change her into something wondrous, rather than monstrous.”

The voices and heckling calls quieted the realm once more its pleasant oasis of peace. ‘We’ll see' the voices said before he heard the chiming of bells, and the dream falling away.

Dailin breathed in deep as he woke, his vision crystal clear as his eyes weren’t plagued by the sands of sleep or his mind. Which leapt to alertness, same with his body. He was in his chamber, a room he rarely used, It looked normal, but it was far from that. A trick of the eye perfectly made by Bliss dedication. All of it the correct size for his proportion. A giant’s room, full of giant things, a place that would make any normal Vail appear as the smallest of insects.

Before he’d been strict with his continued growth, but now with all that was happening. That worry was gone, replaced with a need to improve himself more than ever. Just as he’d done with the Oasis. He’d added three new layers since their trek upward, easily outpacing the Nightmares. The Oasis could be as fast as he wanted it to if he wasn’t worried about the cost of essence.

Still, even with the distance they’d gained Bliss had been on guard as he worked. And as she’d claimed, had helped him with the creation of the new layers. Like the fifth, the new layers were dedicated to storing essence. With it, he was able to take a needed breather. The additions made sure that using the Oasis central weapon was no longer as much of risk. With it, the Titans and Giver weren’t as colossal a threat as they’d been before, for now at least. They would become so again if he let them, allowed himself to stop and relax away his time.

Though it wouldn’t be as life threating as it would have been in the past, Bliss would continue preparing even if he did nothing. At times it seemed the creature preferred that. It treated him delicately, like some prized object that it didn’t want moved about. A piece to displayed but not use.

It reminded him of his House before he was moved into one of the towers. There were differences, one being he could go as he please, and do whatever he wanted. Plus, his family wasn’t going to start a coup to claim him either. That had been one of the first things he checked after affairs outside had calmed down. He’d made Bliss display if it truly did have control of the entirety of his family.

It did, all of the inhabits of the Oasis gathered quickly, and Bliss spoke through all of them, had them dance in perfect formations. Bliss really was his family, was the thing keeping it tamed. The remembrance had the thoughts nudging him again, to free them, to change Bliss now. Dailin suppressed it, now was not the time, there were threats on the horizon, forces aimed to end everything he’d accomplished and built. For now, he needed Bliss, the stability it brought.

For now, he kept telling himself.

Dailin rose from his bed, the movement had Bliss appear, and with how the creature was, it probably had been watching him sleep.

“Maker,” the creature called out. “The events of the past must have weighed heavily on you, you’ve slept a little over a Rotation.”

A day of rest, it certainly hadn’t felt that long, nor all that restful with his arguments with himself. But he did feel better than before, his mind focused rather than randomly dropping around from thought to thought.

“It had,” he said calling to the essence within him, commanding it to clean the garments he wore. Not that it needed it, his body was literal light and some kind of crystal now, so it didn’t dirty the clothing as before. Still the act made him feel cleaned and that all that mattered to him.

“How are things?” He questioned. “Is it calm outside still?”

“Yes, Maker” Bliss said, keeping its distance, though it was slowly getting closer to him every day. A testing of it bounds, form what he could tell. One gesture of his hand telling it to distance itself would have it hurry away. And maintain that distance for some time before trying to close on him, once more testing its reach.

Dailin didn’t motion for the creature to step back, best to keep it content and feeling that it was safe. That he was accepting it. There was a worried part of himself, that believed the creature could still see into his mind. But its actions countered that thinking. Multiple times it acted in ways that didn’t fit what he was concerned about or wanted. Nor did it answer questions he never voiced anymore, or went about doing tasks he never told it to do, but planned for it. There was, of course, the possibility that it was acting, that it still could see everything. But if that was the case, then he’d lost and there was nothing he could do. One couldn't plan to end or change something if it could see ones every move.

“The realm outside remains mostly calm, Nightmares have emerged, but they avoid the Oasis, and so far nothing of great size had shown itself. The Giver still remains absent, so she must be gathering a fitting force to try and end you.”

Dailin felt himself biting his lip again, and forcefully stopped himself and thanked the gods he had warded skin. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have a bottom lip left. Not with the amount of worry chewing he was doing, the Giver brought about a lot of that, he was at war with a god. One that couldn’t die, all because of Bliss and its appetite for souls. It's longing to claim people and make them into its puppets.

‘And it’s all for you.’ A voice from the dream said. ‘Aren’t you proud? Doesn’t it make you happy?’

He ignored the voice as he wasn’t in the mood for another argument. Especially one that made him feel guilty afterward.

“Your amplifiers are still working as well Maker, so you can release yourself of that Worry,” the Creature said. “The Rivers still surge to the Oasis, and the layers are almost all full.”

Dailin nodded his head, felt relief fill his chest as he breathed in. With those new creations he could do many things, was no longer bound by the need to maintain them with his constant thought. “That’s wonderful to hear,” he said, looking at the creature that made itself look appealing, but not overly so. Just attractive enough for the eyes to linger and want. Unlike the Giver who’d made herself appearance so perfect it became uncomfortable to look, had her appear fake.

“We’re going to make three more layers before we head off.” He continued, and the creature gave him body language of disproval. Not that he could actually believe it, the thing was an actor, after all, it could be showing him whatever it wanted him to think.

“We’re allowing the Giver quite of bit of time to prepare Maker, the wills are in danger.” The creature said to him, voicing once more the only real thought on its mind. Souls, all it ever wanted was souls.

“We’re not being idle either,” Dailin said to the thing. “Nor do we know if there’s any Vail left in the Sanctums. So there's no point in rushing to them.” Not to mention the fact that if he was going to be fighting a lesser god, then he was going to do so with as much preparation as he could muster.

“As you say Maker,” The thing said.

“I’m going to move the Oasis upward, try and put some more distance between us and the Nightmares,” Dailin spoke and headed for the door. One that parted the moment he made his way towards it. The thing maintained its distance but followed quickly. “After we make the necessary layers, then, then we’ll begin this mess of salvation.”