Plunging into Elian's Dreamscape was like diving into a cold, dark ocean. The instant our consciousnesses arrived, we were hit by a wave of oppressive, suffocating fear.
The world we found ourselves in was a true nightmare. The ground was a jagged landscape of sharp, black rocks under a sky that boiled with angry, purple clouds. Rivers of bubbling lava flowed through deep chasms, casting a hellish red glow on everything. The air itself seemed to hum with a low, terrifying frequency, the sound of a child's endless, terrified scream.
The dream-selves of Zazu and Pip appeared beside my own disembodied point-of-view. They looked pale and shaken, but they stood their ground.
High above us, in the churning purple clouds, a single, enormous, blood-red eye opened. It was the Nightmare Parasite. It had noticed us.
A wave of pure, concentrated terror, far stronger than the background dread, washed over my two companions. It was the parasite's first attack, a psychic assault meant to paralyze us with fear.
I felt Pip's mental defenses begin to crumble. The memory of the giant goose, the angry squirrels, every fear he had ever had, bubbled to the surface.
'Remember your training,' I projected, my voice a calm, steady anchor in the storm of fear. 'It is just a feeling. It cannot control you if you do not let it. Remember the pancake and the gentle pat.'
Zazu, ever the disciplined one, was the first to recover. He took a deep, mental breath and solidified his resolve. Pip, hearing my voice and seeing Zazu's resolve, managed to push his own panic down. They had withstand the first attack.
The giant eye in the sky narrowed. It had not expected such resistance.
'The system was right,' I thought. 'This thing is dangerous.' Aloud, I gave the command. 'Phase one. Begin the renovation.'
Zazu went to work first. He was in charge of landscaping. He walked to the edge of the nearest lava river. Closing his eyes, he focused his will, drawing on his memory of my dungeon's gentle comforts. The bubbling lava began to cool down and thicken. Its red glow begun softened to a warm, rich brown, and the threatening hissing was replaced by the delicious, comforting aroma of fresh hot chocolate.
He then turned to a field of jagged, sharp rocks. He reached out a hand, and as if they were clay, the rocks softened, rounded, and sprouted a thick, vibrant green fuzz until they were a cluster of soft, inviting, mossy hillocks.
While Zazu was re-terraforming hell, Pip started on wildlife management. A horrifying creature made of shadows and too many teeth lunged out of a cave. Pip, remembering his lesson, didn't conjure a weapon. He squeezed his eyes shut and thought as hard as he could of the sleepiest, most harmless animal he could imagine.
The shadow monster flickered. Its terrible fangs receded, its shadowy form grew soft and white and fluffy, and its terrifying roar was replaced by a confused, sleepy "Baa." A large, dopey-looking sheep now stood where the monster had been. It blinked once, then started chewing on a patch of Zazu's new moss.
It was working. We have a two-person, psychic home-makeover team, and we were turning this nightmare into a pleasant countryside scene, one rock and one monster at a time. A spike pit became a ball pit filled with colorful, squeaky balls. A screaming vortex in the sky was transformed into a gently spinning carousel playing a cheerful tune.
The Nightmare Parasite was not happy. The fear it fed on was being systematically replaced by pleasantness. It was getting angry. The giant eye in the sky narrowed with cold, calculating rage.
It stopped throwing generic monsters at us. It decided to get personal.
The parasite reached into the minds of my two dreamers, pulling out their deepest fears.
For Pip, the world dissolved. Suddenly, he was back on the twilight beach, but it was no longer calm. Standing before him was a ten-foot-tall version of the Goose of Unrelenting Annoyance, now holding two daggers in its beak. Pip let out a terrified dream-scream.
For Zazu, the scene was even crueler. The beautiful elven city of his youth appeared around him, but it was on fire, the ancient silver spires crumbling to dust, just as they had during the Great Wars. His ancient grief, the source of his long weariness, washed over him, paralyzing him.
Our renovation ground to a halt. My two agents were trapped, isolated in perfect, personalized prisons of their own fear and sorrow.
'They're compromised!' FaeLina's panicked voice echoed from the real world. 'It's too strong, Mochi! Pull them out!'
I couldn't. The parasite was focusing its power on them, holding them in place. But I wasn't just a commander. I was the dungeon itself.
I focused on the Dreamer's Anchor that connected us. I couldn't fight their fears for them. But I could send backup. I channeled a piece of my dungeon's very soul through the psychic link.
In Pip's nightmare, just as the giant goose was about to attack, a six-foot-tall plush knight with a Spoonblade heroically interposed himself. "UNHAND THAT ADVENTURER, YOU FEATHERED FIEND!" Sir Crumplebuns boomed.
And in Zazu's sorrowful memory, as he watched his home burn, a quiet, calm presence appeared beside him. It was Kaelen. She looked at the flames without fear. 'A memory cannot hurt you,' her voice echoed in his mind, calm and steady. 'I know.'
The Nightmare Parasite had made a critical mistake. It had attacked my dreamers. And I had just responded by bringing my entire family to the fight.