[Note: It's been a month since the last chapter of this story. It was definitely a long month without writing anything, but oh well.
I write when I can. Anyway, enjoy this chapter. I've included some references here, so until the next chapter!]
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The gentle swaying of the night garden was, in a way, relaxing for Ash. A few days had passed since the Dutchman's attack and since he had left.
Ash had a feeling it wouldn't be the last time he saw that specter; he was sure he'd run into him again, but for now he had more important things to deal with.
More than a week had passed since he'd returned to the waking world. It was almost time for him to go back, and although the capsule could easily house him for a few months without issue, he wasn't comfortable with the idea of leaving his body exposed.
Sitting in his private dressing room, he closed his eyes, concentrating on his sea of souls.
Upon entering, he observed the familiar sight: an environment covered by a thick layer of gray, cold mist that conveyed an unsettling sensation—the familiar feeling of being watched from within the fog.
Lifting his gaze, he observed a second ghostly sun floating beside the first.
Venturing into the dense mist, Ash finally reached a pillar atop which rested a sphere containing a part of himself. A part he had decided to name "Instincts." Ash could still feel Instincts' fury struggling to break free from its containment.
Even after months, that remained unchanged. He had tried to convince Instincts and speak with it to form an alliance, but it was impossible.
So he simply stopped trying; now he only limited himself to observing it in silence.
Ash observed the sphere for a long while before simply abandoning his sea of souls.
Upon returning from his sea of souls, he stretched.
"I've spent too much time here. I need to go back," he thought, crossing his arms.
"Yeah, I suppose I'll continue studying the puppets Nether left behind."
With that thought, he headed toward where the door was to leave the dream realm and return to the waking world.
After climbing some long stairs, he reached the area where the familiar pedestal stood, and upon touching it, he felt his consciousness shift.
Only a few moments passed of feeling like he was floating until he felt normal once more.
Opening his eyes, he saw his capsule opening in his dark basement.
Stretching, he heard his bones crack satisfyingly.
After summoning the nebulous cloak over his body, he climbed more basement stairs, not without glancing at the Dreamscape capsule for a moment.
Going up to his living room, Ash headed to his kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, he took out food he had prepared earlier and placed it in the microwave. After waiting a while, it was ready.
Removing the lids, he walked toward his sofa, turning on his television to watch some action movie based on the dream realm.
Scrolling through the options, Ash raised an eyebrow as he read the titles.
The first one was:
"Bastion's Great Secret."
Ash read the synopsis with interest.
[Bastion hides a secret that no awakened one has ever unveiled. A secret so great it could change everything completely.]
[Film directed by:....]
Ash raised an eyebrow.
"Wait, isn't that the guy who was supposed to make the Neph movie?" he wondered.
Ash looked at another option.
This one was a romantic series based on Ravenheart. According to the description, it was some kind of romance between two awakened ones trapped in a frozen hell where they have to survive nightmare creatures, with a brief cameo from one of Ki Song Moonveil's daughters.
Ash moved on to the next option.
The next option was strange: a saga of four films about an awakened one with an ascended aspect from a humble family who falls in love with an heiress from a Legacy clan, causing many problems between both sides, with love and hate intertwined.
"What the hell is up with this thing?" he wondered, scrolling to another option, which was interesting.
"From Mundane to Divine: The Great Hero of Darkness."
Ash read the summary.
[Uriel, a boy from the outskirts, after overcoming his first nightmare, obtains the power of darkness. Using a power never seen before, he begins to change both the awakened world and the dream realm. Follow Uriel through both worlds as he leaves his name in humanity's history.]
Out of curiosity, Ashfall checked the comments, reading them.
Ash stopped, blinking several times. He looked at the cover, seeing a young man with black hair and eyes, fair skin, wearing a dark suit with a sword while riding a dragon.
"Oh," was all Ash said.
"That face reminds me of someone annoying. And to make matters worse, he had the same name," he murmured, eating his hamburger.
"Could it be...? Nah, that's impossible."
Ash moved on to another movie cover.
In the end, after so much searching, he found a movie based on the Storm Sea where a group of awakened ones tries to kill a giant shark.
Ash looked toward the window, seeing night beginning to fall.
"Yeah, I'll leave the puppet stuff for tomorrow. Today is movie day."
After making a mental list of which movies to watch first, he decided to watch The Rise of the Dark Hero out of curiosity, then Bastion's Secret, and finally The Giant Titan Shark.
---
The hours passed without stopping. When Ash finished watching all three movies, he checked the time on his communicator, seeing it was around four in the morning.
If he had to give his opinion on the three films he'd watched, the first would undoubtedly be Bastion's Secret. It had intrigue, mystery, horror elements, and memorable moments; truly a great movie.
The second would be The Rise of the Dark Hero. It was like Transformers: lots of explosions, plenty of action, good comedy, and epic moments. The ending was quite open-ended, with the protagonist charging into battle against the abyss.
Finally, The Giant Titan Shark was in third place, close to second. It conveyed intense emotions and kept him on the edge of his seat the entire time. The beginning, characters, and development were quite good, then it sort of falls apart toward the end and gets a terrible ending where everyone is saved.
At least in Bastion's Secret and The Rise of the Dark Hero there are sacrifices, and in the last one there aren't.
Getting up from his sofa, he headed to his bedroom where, after changing into comfortable clothes, he went up to his attic, observing the unsettling sight of dozens of puppets hanging from the ceiling and one half-assembled on a large table.
Taking his tools, Ash continued his repair process.
If he could understand their workings and the runes, he was sure he could create automatons, though for that he would need souls to inhabit them.
Taking out some headphones, he put them over his ears, beginning to listen to music from Night & Gale while working on the dolls, oblivious to the rest of the world.
---
As his hands moved precisely over the delicate mechanisms of the puppets, Ash couldn't help his mind from wandering back to the movies he'd watched. There was something about The Rise of the Dark Hero that bothered him more than he was willing to admit. It wasn't just the coincidence of the name, nor even the fact that the protagonist bore an annoyingly familiar resemblance to someone he knew. It was the way the movie portrayed the power of darkness as something grand and heroic, when he knew perfectly well that kind of power usually came with a much higher price.
"Sure, it's all fun and games until the abyss returns the favor," he murmured to himself, adjusting a particularly stubborn joint.
The puppet he was repairing was one of the most complex he'd found in Nether's legacy. Its internal structure was filled with runes he was only beginning to understand, patterns that seemed to vibrate with an almost living energy. It was fascinating and disturbing in equal measure.
Ash remembered the final scene of The Giant Titan Shark, where all the main characters miraculously survived despite all odds against them. He'd rolled his eyes at that moment, feeling the screenwriter had taken the easy way out. In the real world, in the dream realm, things rarely ended so well. There was always a price to pay, a loss to suffer.
"But hey," he said aloud, talking to the puppets as he often did when working alone, "I guess that's why people go to the movies. To forget how cruel reality can be."
The music kept playing in his ears while his fingers moved skillfully, assembling tiny pieces with a patience he'd developed after years of practice. The attic was silent except for the soft creaking of wood and metal, and the occasional clinking of tools being set down on the table.
Suddenly, one of the puppets hanging from the ceiling moved slightly, as if brushed by a nonexistent draft. Ash looked up, watching it carefully for a few seconds. When it didn't move again, he shrugged and returned to his work.
"I must be more tired than I thought."
The attic was full of them—dozens of wooden and metal figures hanging in silence, their painted faces staring into nothingness. Some were complete, others half-finished, and a few seemed to have been abandoned halfway through their creation. Ash had spent weeks organizing the chaos Nether had left behind, sorting each piece and trying to decipher the secrets they contained.
The idea of using one of the souls inhabiting the puppets for his own purposes made him uncomfortable, but he also knew that if he wanted to advance, he'd have to make difficult decisions.