Dell opened his eyes to a familiar scene.
How many times is this?
Antarctica, it would seem, was the land of blackouts.
His eyes registered this land as his unique soul sea.
He stood in the centre of the altar, the insides of the tower made of pristine white marble.
He studied its circular walls, surrounding him.
The walls were plagued with semicircle indents, each housing a statue of the nightmare creatures and awakened he had defeated in the past.
The walls rose impossibly high, and at the very top of the tower, lay the underneath of his soul sun, showering the building with a brilliant light.
What am I doing here?
He had been en route to the colossal nightmare creature, after all.
Was he dead?
As if to answer his questions his soul sun disappeared from view, revealing a single, gigantic eye peering into the tower.
Ah.
The eye turned green and the vegetative mould began to creep within, spreading over the walls and statues.
Shit. Shit.
As if in response to the threat, the statues began to come alive, willing their selves into existence to do battle with the foreign invader.
Dell himself had already began summoning a memory…
Before his whole world turned red.
-----
Dell opened his again.
Right, this is getting old.
Back in the waking world, he had been kneeling on the ground, in front of the wood golem.
Or what had once been the wood golem.
The parasitic weed that had covered him was now retreating to its master.
Yet, its master was dead.
The world had turned red, and was slowly returning to its natural colour.
And the colossus had stood still, a giant hole having been carved out of its torso.
The colossus collapsed, sending the earth quaking.
Dell looked to find the source of such destruction, and his eyes narrowed in on a single being standing atop the remains of the Eastern Gate.
The earth almost seemed to bend around her aura.
The once dead nightmare creatures suddenly rose, and began to inch forward to the front line.
What in hell?
Only this time, they began to attack their nightmare creature brothers.
A vicious display of inter-creature violence ensued, and the remnants of the ground party were given a relieve.
The ominous figure watched on, the chaos her doing.
The Queen of Song had arrived to the Antarctic continent.
-----
Dell had begun to pack his things, back in the Stronghold's Barracks.
He gazed out the window momentarily, to witness the sheer scale of the… Dream Gate, they had called it.
In front of it, a mass evacuation of civilians were queued, ready to migrate to the Song Domain's capital, Ravenheart.
What in the hell is all this? Dell shook his head.
It had been three days since the battle against the nightmare horde, yet he was still reeling by the impossibility of it all.
He had learned that Seishan and her troops had engaged Valor forces, over a citadel in an entirely undiscovered part of the Dream Realm.
He had also learned that the battle was interrupted by three category four nightmare gates, a precedent not heard of since the fall of the Americas.
And somehow Great nightmare creatures had entered the Waking World, and were marching towards several human strongholds.
The wooden golem had been one of these creatures, before the Queen of Song had dealt with it abruptly.
And to make matters more confusing, the Queen herself had revealed her presence into East Antarctica, claiming that she had recently vanquished her fourth Nightmare Trial, and opened what seemed to look like a nightmare gate in the middle of the stronghold, only it would receive humans into the dream realm, rather than curse the waking world with nightmare creatures.
It had taken Dell a while to comprehend all of this information from Major Cho, who had survived the onslaught, as well.
The whole battle had cost almost three-quarters of their force, and half of what was left were injured.
Could a mere ten thousand hold this stronghold any longer? No. Not with Great nightmare creatures prowling East Antarctica. It seemed even the government had given up on prolonging their efforts on the subcontinent.
In a few weeks all military and civilian personnel would leave East Antarctica, leaving the wasteland to the nightmare creatures and the spell.
A knock on his door disrupted him from his thoughts.
Who now? Dell racked his mind. Had they figured his true identity?
The only reason he had assumed the identity of a Song Captain was so that he could infiltrate Seishan's ranks easier. Now it seemed like it would all be a waste.
Cho hadn't suspected him though, despite being missing from his field of view for most of the battle.
His stolen identity was known for being uncommonly durable.
''Come in.''
The door opened and revealed a skinny woman in her early twenties. She was absent of any uniform.
Dell scoffed. ''You're early.''
''Well, the situation has changed a lot,'' the woman replied, ''And you are my favourite ascended after all.''
''Your father is also an ascended.''
''Yes… but he's very boring.''
''Hm.'' Dell continued to pack his bags.
The young lady looked aggrieved. ''What? That's it? Not even a 'how are you, Sora?', 'where your travels safe, Sora?'''.
Dell remained blunt. ''The lead with Seishan went cold. I doubt I can get to her with how things are going.''
Sora pondered for a bit, then replied. ''It was a long shot anyways, I doubt even you could handle both her and Beast Master.''
Dell offered Sora a cold glance.
Sora ignored it, walking over to the window.
She pointed at the Dream Gate, "But with that. That changes things for us.''