Gaia seized his cape with both hands to reveal large, jagged razor blade-like teeth on the ends of it. “Fortunately,” he said, snidely. “I’ve dressed for the occasion.”

He threw the cape off, and it began to spin rapidly like an enormous fabric buzz saw. It approached them at a high velocity making mincemeat of the air and soon, their skin.

Gaia snarled as he flamboyantly pointed at Mena. “This might get a little too gory for one of your books, you little runt.”

“You’ve left yourself open,” Mena responded and quickly chanted. Magic magic I will cast! Give this cape a fire blast!”

The young witch cast a singular fireball at Gaia, but the cape swooped in front of its master. The fireball sizzled on the surface of the cape.

“Hah!” Gaia shouted, “I say, Hah! Your little kiddie tricks don’t work on a cape of this quality. It’s made from the same premium material as evil potholders!”

Gaia put his hands on his hips. “It’s hard to believe that Gemini’s precious Rainborn is so incompetent at magic. Why I’ve heard when Arabella was your age, she could create walls of flames with her imagicnation. You’re nothing but a pathetic little witchy welp.”

Tears trickled along Mena’s face as she absorbed the blow of Gaia’s words. They were normally quite easy to shrug off, but these carefully chosen ones sliced a fresh wound with a mention of her mother. “Gaia!” Mena exclaimed with a squeaky voice, “I won’t stand for this or I’ll…I’ll…”

“Stammer like the brain-dead kiddie you already are?” Gaia laughed and sent the cape flying at Mena’s head again.

“Don’t worry, Mena,” Janus said, stepping in front of her with her scythe bared. “I’ll handle this clown.”

With a grunt, Janus blocked the sharp edges of the cape with her scythe. Orange sparks ignited from the collision of metal, and she shoved the cape aside. It quickly returned to the side of its master.

“Got a bone to pick with me, darling?” Gaia asked, his fingers pressed firmly against each other.

“Skeleton puns are so last century,” Janus said, calmly. “But I wouldn’t expect anything less from a man who worships really dated prophecies.”

“Gah,” Gaia said. “They won’t be dated once I get to that door! Kill them, especially that pathetic little runt with dental problems!”

Provoked by Gaia’s words, Janus’ eyes glared a blood red, and her skeletal teeth gritted tightly. “If you want to hurt my friends, you’ll have to go through my seven-foot hand-cut neon pink scythe first.”

Gaia unleashed the cape like an enormous flying buzz saw, each razor blade sharpened to dice Mena, Janus, and May to bits. It flew directly at Janus, who assumed an attack position with her feet placed apart and the blade of her scythe obscuring her mouth. She swung the scythe in the shape of a perfect star, creating a blood-red pentagram. As soon as the cape collided with it, it was shredded into bits, leaving Gaia’s mouth gaping.

“But…but…” Gaia stuttered. “How is that possible? It was stitched by the finest demonic seamstresses in the Nightmare Void.”

“My scythe can cut through anything,” Janus said, “Even dark matter.”

Mena and May both smiled. “Janus,” May said with amazement, “Where did you learn to do that?”

Janus bowed humbly. “My daddy took me to some reaper self-defense classes for my future career. Because we can die too, you know.”

“It’s not over yet,” Gaia said, as he produced a curious bottle full of jet-black liquid from his trousers. “It’s a shame I’m going to have to do this to my handsome face but…it’s for the greater oblivion!”

Gaia uncapped the tiny bottle and drank the contents in a single swig. Everyone watched in horror as Gaia doubled over like he was about to upchuck violently. A loud unstitching sound came from his pants as seams burst and buttons shot off like bullets. Brown tufts of hair shot out of his exposed stitching, and he threw back his head with a terrible howl. His clothes exploded in tatters giving way to a muscular hair-chest, large hair arms and enormous clawed feet. When Gaia brought his head forward, his face now resembled a large wolf with an enormous left eye that was larger than the right one and a great big pointy fang jutting out of the center of his mouth.

“A Zombie Were-Woof?” Janus exclaimed. “But don’t you have to be bitten by one to become one?”

“Not with the Nightmorph Potion I stole from Apo Carrie!” Gaia growled, his nasally voice now heightened to a roar. “Guarantees a transformation into any nightmare of your choice!”

Janus drew her scythe, but Gaia outstretched his claws in response; they glinted like glossy black ink. He laughed loudly and tore at her. Gaia moved so fast, Janus could not draw another pentagram; his shadow claws caught it in mid-swing. The coolness in Janus’ eyes deserted her as Gaia swung another claw. She squeaked in pain as he sliced her pale bony stomach, leaving an enormous black gash across it. She collapsed to the floor, causing Mena and May to scream, “Janus!”

“Stand down,” the Zombie Were-Woof growled. “Unless you want to end up like her.”

And with a laugh, he leapt to the golden door and opened it, giving way to a swirling green and blue void. “At long last, my wish shall be granted!”

“Not if I have anything to do about it, netherworld scoundrel,” Tal’s boyish voice from the depths of the darkness.

Mena watched in amazement as Prince Tal with his long flowing hair and robes appeared out of the shadows. His body was still half consumed in darkness, and he dove at Gaia, tackling him and knocking him backwards. Tal and Gaia wobbled back and forth, before plunging inside the open void.

“Tal!” Mena screamed, her face streaming with tears over Janus and Tal. Feeling incredibly distraught, she wasn’t sure what she should do next, but she ran to Janus.

“Are you ok?” Mena asked in tears, as she and May crowded around the injured reaper girl.

“Daddy taught me there is…shadow venom… in a Zombie Were-Woof’s claws,” Janus muttered as black ooze came out of her mouth. “That’s how they hunt. It can kill a human in seconds and seriously…wound creatures from the Nightmare Void.”

“You’re going to be all right,” Mena cried, her voice breaking but Janus grasped her hand.

“I have no regrets,” Janus said. “There’s nothing more romantic than sacrificing yourself for your friends. If I go that way, I’ll have died a romantic death.”

“Mena! May! What is the meaning of this?” A loud, deep voice asked.

Mena turned around to see Stellaris and Apo Carrie, along with Electra standing before her. Mena, though hysterical, tried her best to explain what had happened with Gaia, Janus and Tal. There was a look of sympathy on Stellaris’ face. “Apo Carrie,” Stella said, “Please treat Janus.”

“I’ll try my best,” Carrie responded.

“Thank you,” Mena cried as the tiny professor hurried over to Janus. “But what about Tal and the golden door! We need to stop Gaia and save him!”

“It’s too dangerous to enter that door!” Electra said. “That door toys with the very fabric of dreams themselves. We cannot enter it. Only Gemini should enter it.”

“But where is Gemini?” Mena exclaimed.

“We don’t know,” Stellaris said with a look of sadness. “He hasn’t been seen since he left the ballroom.”

Mena looked over at the door. She immediately knew what she had to do. Before anyone could stop her, she took a running jump towards the door and dove into the void.

Mena’s body spiraled through the vast, infinite darkness, falling for what seemed like forever. On her way down, she was accosted by blue and green neon symbols of jesters and clowns which laughed sinisterly at her. Her drop felt prolonged, there seeming to be very little gravity and it was only when Mena fell into the gaping mouth of a demented looking jester with bugged out eyes, did she find herself on the solid ground.

Shaking the dizziness out of her head, she looked behind her to see an enormous wall of bubbles. Each bubble featured a different scene. Contained inside was everything from happy scenes of people falling in love, to nightmarish scenes of people being chased by creatures to embarrassing scenes of people in their underwear during a very important event, much like Sir Stephen’s embarrassment at the knight academy. She heard quiet groaning and turned to see Gaia and Tal lying unconscious on the floor. Tal’s long brown hair flowing like spilled mead. For the first time, she saw his damaged eye, a pure white ball with a shadowy scar across it, unable to close.

She gathered herself and crawled over to Tal. “Oh Tal,” she cried grasping his hand. “My sweet Tal. Please be alive.”

She jostled him before she was interrupted by a strangely calm, yet squawky voice. “Don’t worry, he is…”

Mena looked up to see Gemini dressed in his dark robe, standing over her. He had a cold, yet confident sneer on his face.

“Gemini,” Mena exclaimed. “Thank Dula, you’re here. What is this place?”

“This place,” Gemini responded. “Is the wall of dreams. A near infinite collection of every living being in Autolycus, the Nightmare Void and Dula’s fondest dream, worst nightmares and outrageous embarrassments are contained within this wall.”

“Take for instance, your friend May,” he said, and a bubble appeared over his right hand. “Her fondest dream is to marry a handsome man and open a herbal remedy store that promotes the medicinal properties of kumquats.”

Indeed, when Mena looked in the bubble, she saw a man who resembled a real life Fabias grinning and clutching May. They were standing behind a shop counter where a bunch of women looked on with jealousy and even hatred in their eyes.

“Or you friend Janus,” Gemini said with a bubble in his left arm. “Who dreams of creating a Reaper’s Romance day for all star-crossed lovers who take their lives in a lover’s pact.”

Mena observed the bubble where a beautiful blond woman, and a handsome short-haired boy clutched a bottle of hemlock and Janus appeared before them. Fortunately, Gemini sent the bubble away before she could see what happened next.

“Or you, Mena…” Gemini said with a sly smile. “But I’m quite aware of what you dream of…”

“You do?” Mena asked. “But how?”

“Quite frankly,” Gemini responded. “I gave you the dreams of the gilded door.”

Mena shook her head. “But why would you…”

“This Dream Castle,” Gemini responded, looking away from Mena. “Was once the regulator of our dreams. The king and queen of this castle once decided that people should have only good dreams and do away with all the other ones. Before they died, they sealed this room away from everyone, with the sole exception of someone with the purest dreams and intentions.”

Gemini’s face turned away into the darkness. “Unfortunately, that didn’t include me. For I wished to not only unleash non-stop nightmares onto the denizens of these worlds but use my otherworldly possession powers to render everyone into night zombies.”

“But you, Mena,” Gemini said, his back turned completely to Mena who stood in pale-faced fear. “Not only have your dreams been pure, but your imagicnation is unrivaled to anyone else in the whole kingdom. I had to have you here with me. You could open the door and let me inside!”

“Gemini!” Mena cried out. “Why would you do such horrible things! That’s not like you.”

“Not like me?” Gemini’s voice changed from squawky and high pitched to low and baritone. “I’m not Gemini anymore…Of course, I let him trickle through every once in a while, but otherwise, I play him like a second-row string section.”

Gemini’s body morphed into a much taller man with wild, spikey, jet black hair, and a pale face with familiar, glowing green eyes. He was dressed in a black and white pinstriped conductor’s suit with large silver spikes protruding out of his shoulder blades. He clutched a silver baton and waved it with a satisfied smirk. “I am the Phantom Orchestrator.”

A loud shriek from a disembodied violin echoed throughout the darkness.