The Dream Sanctum: The Eternal World (16 page)

“Thanks,” Kai answered with a smile, then
turned to walk downstairs. After a few steps, however, he paused and looked back.
“Oh, about Devnon… he’s dead. His people revolted when he tried to execute us,
and he was killed by all the people he ever wronged. The mirror world is a safe
place again.”

For a few moments, Sarah’s face was a mix of
emotions as she took in this information. Finally, a look of relief and
satisfaction crossed her face.

“I have a feeling you’re being modest about
your involvement in said revolution, but I won’t ask too many questions. I’m
almost sad I wasn’t there to see it happen. I would have had a few choice words
for him.”

“Like what?” Kai asked curiously.

“That’s for my husband, you son of a bitch.”

Kai gave her an incredulous look, shocked into
silence, until his mother grinned. Then she burst out laughing, and he couldn’t
help but laugh as well. He hadn’t seen this side of his mother before, and he
quite liked it.

“Now don’t go repeating that.” Sarah took a
slow breath, then put a hand to her chin, looking thoughtful. “If the world is
safe now, I suppose… I suppose it’s no longer off limits anymore. I never
thought I’d see the day.”

The doorbell rang again and Sarah nodded at
the door.

“You’d best hurry up. You and your strange
friends have a world to save.”

“What about you? Will you be okay?” asked Kai
concernedly.

Sarah looked thoughtful for a moment, and then
she smiled. Her expression was peaceful, yet full of anticipation. She looked
as though she had just discovered a gift and couldn’t wait to open it.

“I think… I think I’m going to take a nap.”

She winked at him, then walked back down the
hall towards her room. A wide grin on his face, Kai opened the door and walked
outside, feeling more confident than ever before.

F
red, it seemed, had already
picked up Lindsay on her way back over to Kai’s house, despite being directly
across the street, and as he got in the car he noticed her breathing slowly,
preparing for the drive ahead. Kwin was in the car as well, and she looked at
him inquisitively as she saw the expression on his face.

“I’ll explain later,” Kai said. “Is Alastor
all caught up?”

“He is, and Ella too,” Kwin replied. “He was
in quite a good mood once he learned that we would be coming back so soon.”

Fred wasted no time getting them back to
Alastor’s house. Kai wasn’t sure if the drive was less terrifying because Fred
was being more careful or because Kai appreciated his expedience for once, but
he hardly noticed the trip go by.

They soon pulled into Alastor’s long driveway,
and then hurried inside with a rushed goodbye and thank you to Fred. Alastor
was waiting for them at the top of the stairs, looking absolutely delighted to
see them again.

“Friends! It’s been so long I’d almost
forgotten what you looked like.”

“Have a professional look at that while we’re
away,” Kwin answered without missing a beat, then hugged him tightly. “How are
you holding up?”

“Not too bad. It feels weird not to be going
in with you guys this time, but on the plus side, I’m free of any
responsibility this time around,” Alastor joked. “I’ll be rooting for you guys
from the other side, just remember that.”

As Kai and the others headed to bed, Ella
quickly followed them into the hall and closed the door behind them.

“I… I don’t think I’ll be coming with you this
time,” she said apologetically. “He isn’t showing it, but he’s really down in
the dumps that he can’t join you. I want to stay with him so he doesn’t feel so
lonely.”

Kwin looked slightly taken aback, but then
shook her head.

“Please don’t worry. Take care of your
brother, and we’ll take care of everything else. We’re going to talk to the
Creators, so while we’re there I’ll make sure they let Alastor back in.
Hopefully they will see what I did to Semyaza as a little extra motivation.”

The three friends then turned to their rooms
and fell asleep quickly. Kai was no longer worried that his excitement might
keep him awake; by now his mind seemed to understand what needed to be done.

Kai’s excitement faltered when appeared in the
dream world. He couldn’t place the feeling at first, but then he realized what
he felt: alone. He had never heard the Sanctum so quiet before. Just the other
night, ten thousand people had appeared before the gates of Golden Capital –
but now, as he looked around, he realized that he was the only person there.

The world seemed grey and bleak, as though the
colors themselves were fading from everything. The sky was empty and dark, but
there were no clouds – there was simply nothing there. The silence was
overwhelming.

Only Dumar and Asmodiel remained. When Dumar
noticed Kai standing there, he walked over to him.

“Where is everyone?” Kai asked.

“They cannot enter,” Dumar answered. “The
world no longer has the strength to keep them.”

“How… how am I here?”

“You are unique. The world keeps itself alive
for you and your friends, as well as its keeper. But only for a time. Soon,
very soon, it will be gone for you as well.”

“You’ve still been waiting all this time for
the keeper?” Kai asked.

“We have. We hope he will change his mind at
the last moment or remember his responsibility and come back to us. We will
wait here until the very end.”

Kai hesitated. He wasn’t sure if he should
deliver the news, but he felt the angel deserved to know.

“Your keeper isn’t coming,” he said slowly,
and Dumar raised his deep eyes to look at him. “The keeper is… was, my father.
And he died on the other side of the world a long time ago.”

Dumar’s face fell, and he looked old and sad.

“That explains so many things, but gives us no
answers. The world will die.”

The ground began to rumble and the sky
flickered as though it were a lightbulb about to go out for the last time.

“Wait!” Kai exclaimed quickly. “There’s still
another way. That’s why I’ve come back, and why my friends are coming back. We
can still keep the world alive.”

The ground stopped trembling and Dumar stared
at him.

“How will you do this?”

“I… I don’t know for sure. But I know that we
need to talk to the Creators.” Dumar’s eyebrows rose slightly. “I know they’re
still here, and we need to talk to them.”

“It is not so simple. I cannot take you to see
them.”

“I believe you misunderstood Kai,” came Kwin’s
voice from behind them. “You
will
take us to see them, and I believe I have demonstrated well enough by now that
I am not in the mood for playing games.”

Kwin and Lindsay walked up to them, and Kwin
stared intently at Dumar until he looked away.

“You will see. I can take you to the limits of
their consciousness, but I cannot take you inside. That will be up to you. Come
with me.”

Dumar led the way towards the massive, broken
hall at the heart of the capital. The windows were shattered and the rooms
inside dark and abandoned, so Kai wasn’t sure what they were looking for. Even
as they walked up the stairs towards the grand entrance, nothing looking
different or interesting.

But instead of taking them inside the main
hall, Dumar led them up a side stairway that led to every floor above and into
the tallest tower. As they passed each floor, Kai couldn’t help but pause and
take a quick glance; upturned furniture, torn cloth and debris was all that met
his eye.

The stairs became cramped and narrow, and they
had to walk up in single file. There were no windows, and the only light came
from a flame in Dumar’s hand. Kai heard Lindsay take a deep breath behind him,
but there wasn’t enough room to turn around to check on her while still walking
up.

Thankfully they soon saw natural light once
again, and the stairs ended. The dreamers and the angel were in a small room at
the very top of the tower. Kai squinted as he looked out the room’s lone
window, and his heart sank. The city, still fading, was now almost gone, and
beyond the walls, everything looked dead and grey.

“What do we do now?” Kwin asked.

In response, Dumar pointed at a single door on
the opposite end of the room facing the window.

“If you want to see the Creators, this is
where you must start. If you have never seen this door before, this is because
it did not exist until now. This is the way into the Creators’ mind. But it is
guarded and not easily passed.”

“Guarded? By what?” Kwin pressed.

“Every living being has a defense system, and
this is no different. But this is not guarded by any man or creature; it is
guarded by you.”

“No riddles, Dumar,” Kwin ordered. “What are
you talking about?”

“It is no riddle. Once you walk through this
door, you will enter a dream you must fight through in order to proceed. In
this dream you will lose your lucidity and be unaware you are asleep, which is
what makes it so difficult. The dream will be different for each one of you, and
the trial it gives you will be pulled from your own mind. Inside that door you
will face your own mind’s worst enemy.”

“I see. And how do we best it?”

“However you feel is necessary, whether that
be destroying your nightmare or realizing that you are dreaming and creating an
exit.”

“Why do we have to go through this?” Lindsay
asked, sounding frightened.

“I have no more say in the matter than you do.
It is a necessary step for anyone wishing to see the Creators. You must know
that such beings would want to protect themselves. If someone is not strong
enough to defeat themselves, how then can they defeat the end of an entire
world?”

Lindsay gulped, and Kai held her hand tightly.

“You can do this. We all can. We’re just
beating one more nightmare, that’s all. It’ll be okay,” he said encouragingly.

“Both of you, remember everything you’ve
learned,” Kwin instructed. “The best way for us to win will be to go lucid and
make our own exits. I know you can both do that well enough, which is how you
managed to enter the Sanctum. Keep your wits about you and we’ll pull through.”

“What… what if we don’t make it?” Kai asked
Dumar.

“If you fail, you will simply wake up in the
real world. You will not be able to join your companions, but no harm will come
to you. Just be warned: if you wake up now, you will not be able to come back
in. You have one chance, and one chance only.”

As
if we didn’t have enough pressure already
,
Kai thought agitatedly.

“You may enter whenever you are ready,” Dumar
finished lightly.

“We need to hurry, there isn’t much time
left,” Kwin said.

Kai turned to Lindsay and took both of her
hands in his.

“Whatever happens, don’t worry and don’t be
afraid,” he said. “We’re going to get this done one way or another, and I know
you’ll make it through. Be brave, okay?”

“Tch. I’m the bravest one here.
You
be brave,” Lindsay answered with a
smile.

“See you guys on the other side,” Kai said. He
hesitated, opened the door, then stepped through.

“Kai, you really should wake up. Your friends
are going to be back any minute.”

Kai jolted awake, sitting up in bed. His
mother was in the doorway, looking at him exasperatedly.

“I don’t know how you manage to fall asleep so
quickly. My guess is you stayed up all night at your friend’s gigantic house and
didn’t get enough sleep. And now you want to go back there again when you
haven’t even been back for one night? Not to mention you’ve got Lindsay
involved, poor girl. Anyway, she’ll be back soon, hopefully before that crazy
driver gets here, so you’d best get up.”

“What… are you talking about?” Kai asked
blearily.

“Oh, you’re not even awake yet. Lindsay and
the little one just left a minute ago because you’re apparently going back over
to your friend’s house tonight. I left to take the small one home, and when I
got back you were asleep already!”

It slowly came back to him. Kwin had come over
to talk about the Sanctum, and they had come to the conclusion that the Sanctum
was alive. In the end, they had decided that it was time to talk to the
Creators, and were getting ready to go to Alastor’s house to do so. Kwin and
Lindsay had walked downstairs and Kai started packing, but he guessed he was
more tired than he thought.

He shook his head. He had been so hopeful to
be so close, and it was hard to avoid feeling disappointed.
That’s what I get for deciding to have a
normal dream once in a while
.

“Anyway, I came up to see you because I was
hoping we could talk while we have some privacy,” Sarah asked, coming in and
sitting next to him on his bed. “I know I repeat myself, but I’m really
concerned about you. Whatever you’ve been doing, you and your friends seem so
high-strung lately. Are you sure there is nothing I can do to help? You might
be surprised what your old mother can do.”

“I’m sure,” Kai answered, quickly getting out
of bed and running his hands through his hair to make sure he looked at least
somewhat presentable. “Sorry. It’s just too hard to explain right now.”

“It’s about the Sanctum, isn’t it?” Sarah
asked quietly. Kai froze, then quickly turned around to face her. At the look
on his face, Sarah nodded. “I thought as much. I never imagined you would make
it in there, but all things considered, I guess I’m not surprised at all.”

“What do you mean?” Kai asked slowly. He heard
the words coming from her mouth, but was having a difficult time processing
them.

“Your father and I spent a lot of time in the
Sanctum. I guess you could say we were veterans. It was our favorite place to
go, at least for a time. I stopped going in about sixteen years ago, around the
time you were born.”

“And when dad died,” Kai replied.

“Yes. At exactly that time, actually.” Sarah’s
expression became grim, almost irritated, as though she was thinking of some
long-standing grudge that left a bad taste in her mouth. “I never did tell you
how he died, did I?”

“Mum, this isn’t really–”

“No, I insist. I feel bad for keeping the
truth from you for some long. You see, only a month before you were born, your
father and I went on a trip beyond the edge of the world. Very scary trip, as
you can imagine, and when we landed, we came across a man by the name of
Devnon. He was very pleasant at first. He offered to repair our ship and keep
us warm and dry. For some reason we couldn’t use our powers there, so we
agreed, as that was our only way home.

“But as the days went by we felt more and more
fatigued, and Devnon refused to let us see our ship. One night I snuck out to
see how their repairs were coming along and found that it hadn’t even been
touched. They weren’t helping us after all, and never planned to. When I
arrived back at the city, Devnon’s men captured me and took me to your father,
who they also caught. Your father was distraught, and told me that he could no
longer wake up. I realized that I could, but decided to stay with him.”