An hour after the Duke’s departure, a quietness that was more awkward than peaceful settled over the dungeon. My "Closed for a Private Retreat" sign was up in the dungeon entrance, but it felt more like we were under quarantine.
FaeLina was also not handling the anticipation well.
’Are you sure about this, Mochi?’ her psychic voice buzzed for the tenth time. ’A real curse? In our dungeon? This is way above our pay grade. Our brand is ’gentle naps,’ not ’psychic exorcisms’! This is going to be terrible for our image!’
’Those were my terms, FaeLina,’ I reminded her patiently. ’Peace and quietness and The Duke agreed to them. We have a contract with him.’
Before she could explain the finer points of voiding a contract due to unforeseen demonic entities, the entrance alert chimed. It was the soft, respectful chime I had assigned to Duke Valerius. He had returned.
He entered, and with him came a feeling of deep, unhappy coldness. He was gently guiding a small, frail boy by his shoulder. This was Elian. The boy’s fine clothes hung on him like he was the coat rack and the clothes was hung on him, the dark circles under his eyes were so black, that he looked like a tiny, sad raccoon. He even flinched at a shadow cast by a potted plant.
The moment Elian stepped inside, my dungeon reacted. The Whispering Chimes, which usually played a soft, calming melody, let out a sad, slow, out-of-tune phonk music. The steam from the Bottomless Tea Urn seemed to hiss like a snake and retreat back into the spout.
The boy was carrying a powerful, negative vibe, and my dungeon did not like it one bit.
"It’s alright, my son," the Duke whispered, leading him gently down the stairs to the second floor. "You are safe here."
He tucked the boy into the shielded room I had prepared. Kaelen, ever the silent professional, took up the guard post outside the door.
Exhausted from his journey, Elian was asleep in a moments. It was not a good sleep. He tossed and turned, whimpering, clearly in the grip of a terrible dream.
It was time to see what we were dealing with.
’Zazu, Pip. Stand by,’ I commanded my Dreamer Sentinels. ’This is just a quick look. Don’t come in with me.’
I activated my Dream Weaver’s Annex and focused on the sleeping boy. The doorway to his dream appeared in my vision. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novelFirｅ.net
It was not a pretty sight. It was a churning, ugly vortex of black and sickly purple energy. It looked like a psychic garbage disposal.
’No, Don’t do it!’ FaeLina shrieked in my mind. ’Absolutely not! You are not going in there! That’s not a dream, there you will be going to die! It’ll shred your consciousness!’
She was right. Going in directly would be incredibly stupid. But I could still peek through the keyhole, so to speak. I extended a single, very thin thread of my senses and carefully touched the edge of the vortex.
And instantly a loud, angry scream of pure terror slammed into my mind. It felt like someone had shouted directly into my non-existent ear and it was Very rudely.
I also able to got a quick flash of an image: a horrible, creepy creature made of shadows and fear, with way too many mouths.
Suddenly a new system notification appeared and It was not subtle.
[WARNING: Hostile psychic thingy detected!]
[CLASSIFICATION: Nightmare Parasite (Super Old Type)]
[ANALYSIS: This is not a curse. It’s a living creature. It made a nest in the kid’s head and has been eating his happy dreams for a year. Gross.]
[RECOMMENDATION: ABANDON QUEST. EJECT THE KID. THIS THING IS WAY TOO SPOOKY FOR YOU RIGHT NOW.]
FaeLina and I stared at the system’s dire, and surprisingly informal, warning.
’See!’ she yelled, her voice filled with triumphant terror. ’Even the system agrees with me! The official recommendation is ’ABANDON’! Let’s listen to the system for once and ABANDON the task quest right now!’
I looked at the system’s recommendation. I looked at the horrible, violent dream-vortex.
Then I thought about the poor, tired kid who just wanted a good night’s sleep. And I thought about how noisy and disruptive this whole curse business was.
’The system says it’s beyond my current capabilities,’ I thought to myself. ’But the system also didn’t have a ’Code Snuggle’ protocol. The system doesn’t understand the awesome power of a good nap. And besides, getting rid of this thing is the fastest way to get everyone to be quiet again.’
My decision was made.