Sunny stood at the Ivory Tower, right in front of the nightmare seed before him. Despite Mordret's insistence on stopping Sunny, he didn't stop. He listened to its insidious call and gladly answered.
In the Sky Below, Nephis was aboard the Chain Breaker, rushing to the Ebony Tower. Cassie had gained a rather terrible vision of what would happen if Sunny went into that nightmare alone. He would suffer, suffer endlessly, and then he would die. Alone, his only ally having died as well.
'That cannot happen!'
***
Milo and Eva were being escorted by Captain Lopez to the seed of nightmare along with six other awakened. They were currently traversing the Moonriver Plain, and the cohort had created a rendezvous point in case their inhabited bodies separated them all.
The Second Nightmare would likely not be easy, after all, the Moonriver Plains were dastardly close to the death zone that is the Hollow Mountains, and there was an opportunity that a Nightmare Creature of that level could appear in the Nightmare
Inside a desolate ruin, a mass of boundless darkness was writhing. Milo felt the harrowing call of the seed. Looking at the others and Eva, they all nodded to each other. Disappearing one by one, eventually so did Milo as well.
In a vast and boundless dark void, Milo heard the Spell
[Awakened! Prepare for your Second Trial…]
Milo was ready for the worst. The second technology he had bound to his second soul core would be a priceless boon.
[Eight brave ones… welcome to the Nightmare!]
Milo found himself staring at the desolate ruins of the Moonriver Plain. Three moons hung above the rocky expanse, then time began to reverse. He saw the ruins begin to rebuild themselves. He saw now collapsed roads rebuild themselves in instants. He saw a fourth moon rise into the air...
'Wait? Fourth moon? The Moonriver Plain only had three!'
Milo could not dawn on it. Soon, Milo was honing in on a fortress, throwing a celebration. He saw a row of figures all encased within a soft cloth. Their outlines were tall and slender, and soon he honed in on one.
Milo was not able to move or see. Not because of the cloth, but because his entire body was seemingly not powered. With a sigh, he reached into the vast sixth sense he had for technology. He was surrounded by hundreds of similar robots, all of them powered off as well.
It was then that he felt a rather familiar sense. The system of Carmen's Masterpiece, or rather, a cruder version of it.
'What in the world is it doing here?'
Milo didn't have time to contemplate it. Soon, he felt his body wake up, at least the comparative of waking up. His senses returned to him, and the smell of delicious foods and comfortable fires filled the air. The delicate cloth that covered him began to fall lower and lower. His inhabited body and the countless other similar figures around him were revealed. Milo saw as a crowd cheered at their reveal. Countless people outfitted in different clothes filled the fortress. Countless stands selling delicacies and other goods were beyond the gathered crowd.
It was clear that the people had no shared origin or station. They all shared in common, though, an air of unease despite the festivities. They were afraid of something; what that was, Milo was not sure.
It was only then that a voice boomed out from behind him. He looked at the other constructs to see if they reacted, and they did. However, they did not react to the voice in any meaningful way of sentience; they walked off the wooden stands they were lying upon.
Milo followed along, trying his best to suppress his surprise and confusion. He recognized this voice; how couldn't he after what had happened in the Forgotten Shore?
"Nomads of all kinds, do not be afraid. I, Carmen, will protect this respite with my life."
Milo resisted every urge to turn around and begin to ask questions. At that moment, a young girl began to approach the constructs, despite the teenage boy behind her telling her to stop. The young girl stopped before him and raised her hand.
It was tiny, almost comically so, at least in comparison to Milo's new body. Milo opened his mouth to speak, only for a few high-pitched beeps to exude instead. Milo's sleek metal hand made its way towards the girl's. Giving it a soft high five.
'So I'm in the body of this transmigrator's construct once again. How tedious'
Milo let his aspect ability explore his new body. It was a massive downgrade compared to the body he had in the Waking World; however, it wasn't bad by any means. The thing that interested him the most was the two thumping cores within him. He now knew them as the soul cores that powered Carmen's constructs. So Milo was classified as a monster
'Makes sense'
Milo watched as the girl disappeared back into the crowd. Turning around, Milo looked at Carmen. Wearing the very same armor that seemed to be the armor Carmen wore before he died. It was hard to tell, after all, the armor had been battered up and ruined to all hell. The only thing Milo could recognize was the similar round helmet.
Carmen watched with interest, then looked back to the crowd.
"Enjoy the festivities while my creations protect this fortress!"
Milo finally got a good look at his fellow constructs as they dispersed to seemingly head to their stations. Each one was adorned with deep cobalt armor plates, with seams and vents. Their faces were replaced by a circular orange light. The head structure itself was almost a camera. On their back were eight golden wings, split into pairs of four on either side. Milo didn't entirely know what the purpose of them was, considering that they were certainly too small to allow them to fly.
The most striking feature of the constructs was the varying number of arms each one sported. None went below the count of one on each side, and never went above the count of three. Milo himself only had three arms, one on his right, two on his left. His right arm was special, likely due to the attribute he sported. Instead of the deep cobalt and black like the rest of his body, it was a bright crimson, the segmented joints of a light silver. Two holes adorned the knuckles of the arm, and the hand only featured three fingers.
'What a strange design...'
Milo knew Carmen's origins. There was no point in hiding himself; if he had seen this world from an outside point, then surely he knew of nightmares.
Milo approached where Carmen was standing and jumped up. He missed the elevated platform by a couple of meters
'Wow... this body really is weaker.'
However, Milo simply jumped again, or at least imitated the feeling. Sure enough, the wings on his back flared, and gave him just enough boost to land on the platform to a surprised yet composed Carmen.
'An air jump? That felt weird.'
Carmen stared at Milo through the visor and asked
"You are curious, you know that? First, you completely acted on your own when that girl approached, and then you ignored my command to head to your station... are you a defect? Do I have to scrap you?"
Milo let out a few beeps. With a rather low and drawn-out beep, he interfaced with Carmen's armor, typing out digital words in his armor's HUD
{ I know who you are, K, and we're in a nightmare seed. I'm your rightful inheritor.}
Milo emphasized this point by summoning Carmen's Masterpiece in its Engaged mode. The armor had a rather different appearance, instead of being a fully adorned armor like it was before. It seemed to fill the gaps in the construct's own armor. Encasing vital joints, fitting itself in the segments and seams of the body. Most importantly, the once orange light that had filled the circle of Milo's face was now a digital blue, just like the slits in Carmen's visor.
"Oh... I see, well, this certainly complicates things... tell me, have you met a woman named Eva?"
Despite Milo's self-control, his construct let out a high-pitched beep, and the emitting blue light from him had grown slightly more brilliant.
"I hate to tell you this, whoever you are, but Eva likely won't live for much longer"
Milo didn't have a stomach, but if he did, it would've sunk in worry and despair.
"You see, Eva and I aren't of this world. So Fate wants us to stay out of its plans. I obliged while secretly preparing to break it. Eva, however, was much luckier than me. When we were first pulled here, that damn Demon of Destiny seemed to favor her for some reason. I was sent into the past, I was to create a relic that could break Fate... yet my aspect is only Ascended. Eva was given an aspect rank unheard of... it is Profane."
Carmen paused, his voice growing heavy
"It is because of this that she didn't follow the orders of Nether. She seemed so passionate about helping the protagonists of this world."
Milo tilted his head in confusion, and Carmen's HUD had a question on it
{I shut her down before she could tell me... a bit of a lovers' quarrel if you will. Tell me everything you know. Anything that I can do to prevent her Fate}
"I can give you details of the story... however, it may already be too late for her. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she were summoned into the middle of a battle."
***
Eva cursed her terrible luck, as Fate would so dearly treat its enemy to being awakened in the middle of a battle. She was surrounded by countless soldiers of Nether's Army. They were aimlessly wandering the Moonriver Plain, searching for servants and armies of the gods that had long since disappeared. Instead, they were met with a vicious horde of Nightmare Creatures. Each one was a collection of discarded flesh and bones. Forming multiple monstrous abominations of varying size and structure.