2.5: The Night Terror

“What’s too early?” Priscilla said, furrowing her brows furiously.

At that very moment, the wind began to pick up. It was the slightest change in pressure, just enough to chase a few grains of sand across the ground, but the timing of the shift coinciding with Gordon’s warning shot me into high alert. I strained my eyes and ears for any signs of danger, scouring the wasteland for signs of trouble, but for the moment, nothing appeared out of the ordinary.

Gordon shook his head as he pulled himself out a little further from the pocket dimension. He let out a loud, unpleasant meow that grated against my soul. The skin on his back began to ripple like a carpet being vacuumed. He shook his head violently as if someone had dropped a wet sponge on his nose. Then he froze completely, his eyes wide with fear.

“There is something here,” he said with a hiss. “But I can’t see it.”

Priscilla wordlessly removed her monocle from around her neck and tossed it to me. I caught the golden tool by its silver chain, activated the tool, and raised it to my eye.

I saw the world through a bluish filter that made everything feel colder. I scanned the wasteland around us from left to right, searching for any anomalies of light. The monocle, which had some kind of true sight function, worked by brightly highlighting any sources of magic with a pale light. The stronger the concentration, the paler the object appeared through the lens. As I looked at the shopping outlets behind us, I noted that the enchantment on this monocle was powerful enough to detect magic even through the building walls. Yet as I even swept the second and third floors of the shopping outlets behind us, there was nothing that particularly stood out. The brightest objects in our area were actually the three of us, not surprising given that we were regular magic users.

“Nothing,” I said, lowering the monocle from my eye. “How can there be danger here? This is a private dream.”

“That’s what I’m saying,” Priscilla added.

She lifted the pocket dimension high above her head like a periscope.

“Can you see anything now?” she asked.

Gordon let out a terrified meow.

“I can see just fine from ground level!” he yelped. “Now bring me down! I’m going to fall!”

“No, you’re not!” she replied, keeping the backpack lifted high. “You’re staying up here until you tell me what’s bothering you!”

“I told you, there is something terrible here that shouldn’t be here!”

“Do we need to run? Does it see us? What’s going on, Gordon?!”

The gentle wind was now gone. I noticed that it had gotten noticeably colder, enough so that I could see my breath. The sky seemed slightly darker as well even though sunset was still an hour or two away. The air seemed to grow thin as I started having trouble breathing fully. I took a deep breath just to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. Yet at the very top of my breath, my lungs refused to fully expand, blocked by some unseen force.

Iris? I said, my heart beginning to race. Are we in danger?

Then I heard it, a woman’s voice humming a sweet, haunting lullaby. The broken notes were clear and carried through the air from a great distance, like an approaching storm. There was an unmistakable power in the sound, a mounting dread that I felt in the pit of my stomach. I caught myself as my legs took a running start back toward the city square.

The others seemed to hear the sound as well. They swiveled their heads back and forth, searching for the origin of the sound. Yet the direction of the sound remained uncertain. As I continued to listen to the unsettling melody, I noticed that the voice unmistakably belonged to the Eleanor I had seen within Iris's illusion.

My reaction was initially that of hope, which quickly turned into anger.

The voice belonged to an Eleanor that did not exist.

The nightmare was mocking me.

I looked at Priscilla

There was now a look of genuine terror on her face. She slowly lowered Gordon back down to eye level.

“Gordon,” she said. “Please tell me you know what that is.”

The cat shook his head.

Priscilla took a quivering breath before looking at me for answers.

I shook my head as well.

“Because I’m hearing a voice I shouldn’t be,” she said.

“Eleanor’s voice?” I asked.

“No! I wouldn’t even know what her voice sounded like.”

“Then who?” I asked.

“A friend’s. A close friend’s.”

Gordon finally unfroze and looked at me then back at Priscilla again.

“That’s odd,” he said. “Because I hear the voice of Lady Hilda.”

Priscilla and I looked at each other in alarm.

“We’re all hearing different things,” I said slowly.

Priscilla grabbed my hand and began to drag me back toward the town square.

“Hey!” I yelped.

“We are leaving!”

“What if we’re running straight toward it?”

Priscilla stopped dead in her tracks.

She didn’t look like she knew what to do.

She was panicking.

I couldn’t blame her.

I was panicking as well.

I hastily summoned Kairos, ready to fire off a dilation if needed. The singing had grown significantly louder, and we were still in the dark about where it was coming from.

Priscilla grit her teeth as she summoned her wing.

“Gordon, watch our backs,” she said.

“Yes, your Majesty,” he replied before disappearing back into his pocket dimension.

“Titus, get in contact with I-with our Host. We’re not dying again.”

Priscilla tossed the backpack to me. I caught it by the straps and slipped it onto my back. I always expected the pocket dimension to have some weight to it, but it was as light as an empty backpack. It was hard to believe it contained an entire cat and then some.

“Good to have you back, Gordon,” I said.

“Likewise, Queen's Lover!” the cat replied from within.

Priscilla took several running steps away from me as she jumped onto the very top of a nearby lamppost to get a better view of the area around us.

“Titus, monocle!”

I almost threw the monocle to her before realizing what terrible idea that was. Instead, I ran up to the post and prepared a small kinetic alteration around the monocle that would deliver the tool safely to her. As I released my magic, the alteration lifted the monocle slowly through the air as if invisible balloons were tied to it until it rested patiently in front of Priscilla. When my she saw the monocle, she smiled, snatched it out of the air, and raised it to her left eye.

“Contact Iris!” she said.

“I’ll try again!”

Iris!

Oh, is there trouble? she replied.

Yeah, we're hearing things we shouldn’t, I replied, relieved that she had answered at last.

That can’t be good. Describe to me in detail what you heard.

I heard Eleanor’s voice, Priscilla heard a friend’s, and Gordon heard Lady Hilda’s. None of us can hear the other voices.

That’s probably the nightmare messing with you, she said nonchalantly. Unless, of course, your lord just happened to mention my real name.

About that…

Titus.

She knew your name before I said a word! I don’t know how, but she did!

Iris muttered something inaudible under her breath.

How loud are the voices?

On the cusp of being painful.

More muttering.

Okay, okay, here’s the deal. Your lord just summoned the Night Terror.

Wonderful. Can we kill it?

No, and I can’t come to help you, or else we’ll all be stuck in that private dream.

“Titus!” Priscilla screamed.

I snapped to attention.

“What?”

She pointed in the direction of the wasteland. Then I saw it: a cloaked figure holding a slender javelin slowly but surely marching toward us. It walked toward us with an unusual gait, as if one of its legs was injured. Upon closer examination, I noticed that the figure’s left leg was bent at an odd angle. But it seemed completely unbothered by this fact.

The figure wore a simple leather duster tattered from age. Its edges were badly singed as if they had been burned over and over again with a large torch. Dirty linen wrappings obscured the figure’s face like a mummy. A pair of orange eyes that glowed like fresh coals gazed at us from under a tattered tricorn hat.

The stranger was human, or at least humanoid.

When I locked eyes with the figure, I knew that the figure saw me. It knew I was afraid. And it seemed delighted by that fact.

It continued to hum in the older Eleanor’s voice as it stumbled its way toward us.

Titus!

I snapped to attention as I realized that Iris had been calling my name for some time.

What I need you to do is to find the altar inside the Cathedral of Eternity, she said in a firm voice. Do you know where that is?

Yes, I replied, glancing back at the figure. We were just there.

Good. Find the altar, grab onto one of its horns, and whatever you do, whatever the Night Terror tells you, do not let go, even if it speaks in my voice. I will pull both of you out no sooner than five minutes from now.

Got it.

The figure stopped walking about a hundred meters from where we stood. Now that the Night Terror was closer, I couldn’t help but feel that the figure was just another dreamer, albeit one with glowing eyes.

I shook my head.

It looks like one of us.

Then, as if in response, the Night Terror turned its head to look at me. The next thing I heard was an explosion somewhere high above me.

I looked up just in time to see that the sky had grown completely dark. I didn’t realize until the last second that there was an avalanche of rubble falling directly toward me.