Moments Before
Arthur was just walking in the direction of the second nightmare seed; he divined about with his light memory and his sword that he mostly uses as a mirror by now, when he suddenly heard voices in his head.
Arthur chuckled as he said out loud, "hehehe looks like I really lost it. I don't even know how long I've been here, but I'm starting to think I won't ever be getting out."
However, after a few seconds, he realized this wasn't a voice in his head; it was Abner!
Arthur's eyes widened as his expression turned hopeful; desperate, he immediately went above the Grey Fog and prepared to summon him, but stopped just before he did.
Arthur's eyes narrowed, and he looked like his childhood dreams had been crushed as he thought to himself, 'But if it is Abner, why couldn't I summon him above the Grey Fog until now? Is this some mind hex? Or is it really him?'
If some nightmare creature had learned his true name and wanted to be summoned in the Grey Fog, it was probably because it had observed him for a while and wanted to cut off his escape routes to hunt him down.
Arthur contemplated if he should summon him or not; his caution and desire were fighting against one another, causing him inner turmoil.
In the end, he summoned his hounds, gave them two different swords to hold in their mouths, and ordered them to run in circles around him. After waiting three seconds, he walked forward until he touched one.
After he did, he opened his eyes and saw the sword in the hound's mouth. 'Looks like I will summon him. I really hope it's Abner and not some mind-controlling nightmare creature.'
In hindsight, deciding to summon Abner is a completely unnecessary risk; if Arthur just keeps going towards the nightmare seed, he would reach it and have a chance at escaping the Dream Realm.
But Arthur was not in the state of mind to care about that; he just desperately wanted to see his friends again.
Arthur summoned [Weavers Mask] and sat on The Fool's Throne. If it was a strong mind-controlling nightmare creature, he hoped he could replicate what Sunny did by using Its [Where Is My Eye?] Enhancement to deal mental damage to both of them here, where he was likely to recover faster if he lived, that is
Luckily, it wasn't a nightmare creature, or at least it didn't look like one, but Arthur still didn't completely let his guard down.
Abner looked at the Fool's Throne and saw an unfamiliar figure standing there; he looked menacing, as if he were a demon from hell, completely different from the Arthur he knew. Abner thought to himself, 'who is this guy!?'
Seeing Abner looking so confused, Arthur, who had completely forgotten only Kaelen and Glorielle knew what the cosmetic memory he got from under the cathedral, was more and more convinced Abner was not Abner but a Nightmare Creature trying to fool him!
But he still held hope that it was Abner, so he made a divination about Abner's location using his true name.
The result was that Abner was right here.
Arthur didn't know if that is really what he saw or if a nightmare creature influenced his sight, but he chose to believe in his vision and took off his mask.
After his mask came off, Abner sighed in relief at the tension of being in an unknown place in front of a demon leaving his body.
They awkwardly looked at each other for a few seconds until Arthur broke the silence. "So, how did you manage to reach me?"
Abner asked back, "Shouldn't I be saying that? I'm in my second nightmare right now with the rest of our friends and three other awakened."
Arthur was surprised to hear those words, although through his muscle control he didn't show any of it as he thought, 'The second nightmare already!? And they have three new companions!?'
Arthur couldn't help but let his lip twitch slightly at his next thoughts. 'Have they replaced me already? Right, they must have thought I was dead the moment I chose to stay behind. It's not surprising they moved on by now...'
Showing none of the thoughts he was feeling, he responded to Abner, "I don't know why I could summon you from your nightmare when I couldn't do so when you were in the waking world; usually it's the opposite, isn't it?"
Abner sighed, dropping the topic. Arthur may have chosen not to respond to his prayers until now for whatever reason, but he didn't mind it too much. Arthur must have his reasons for that.
Abner then asked, "So, can you summon the others? Meeting them as soon as possible and finding the source of the conflict is crucial for completing the nightmare."
Arthur nodded and tried to summon them, but he failed every time. Confused, he told Abner,
"I can't summon them; really, I don't know why. Have you checked your runes? Maybe the body you inhabited has some attribute that allowed for your prayers to reach me."
Abner looked at his attributes and saw that a new one appeared [Storm Blood].
Abner read the attribute description out loud: [You are a child of storms; your navigation and traveling abilities are mystically enhanced].
Arthur was confused. 'Storm God's lineage!? But isn't his new aspect more similar to that of the Sun God?'
Arthur had learned by now of Abner's new aspect, but he only thought he got it after becoming an awakened.
Once one enters a gate for the first time, they first get evaluated by the spell and become awakened then they go to the waking world.
Arthur told Abner about his speculation. "Maybe your prayers were mystically enhanced too? I don't see how else I could reach you, but not the others."
Abner nodded and sighed, "I was honestly hoping you could help us during our nightmare, but it seems like that won't happen"
Arthur looked at him like he was stupid and said, "Have you already forgotten? Running away in the Grey Fog is my thing and all, but I'm also good at divination!"
Abner nodded. "Ah, right, since we mostly used your divinations to watch TV, I forgot you could do it."
Arthur's lips almost twitched as he thought, 'Now that I think of it, why did I even miss them!?'
Arthur sighed and asked, "So what should I make a divination about? First, where the rest of the cohort is, but after that?"
Abner thought about it for a second and said, "When I entered the nightmare, I was in a different body in a village full of malnourished people, but unlike them, I was built like a bodybuilder on steroids. After a while, a guard that turned out to be Alec told me I was summoned to the mansion."
Arthur interrupted him and asked, "Why are you telling me all of this? Get to the point already!"
Abner sighed and continued, "Just listen to me; back then, I didn't question it. But now that I think about it, how did he know about it? The mansion was hours away, and if he really had just entered the nightmare at the same time as me, he wouldn't have known about coming to call me to the mansion!"
Abner continued, "And what's more, he told me that I was the Lord's Son, and that seemed to be true, but why would the Lord call me lazy when I looked like a gym rat? The whole nightmare is completely inconsistent now that I think about it..."
Arthur's eyes narrowed as he told his suspicion, "It must be a mind hex..."
Abner nodded and added grimly, "I completely believed it was the Real Alec since he said he was from Antarctica, but if it really was a nightmare creature, then it is a very dangerous one; it can talk, and now it knows it's in a nightmare."
Arthur nodded as he sighed and performed a divination about the whereabouts of his friends.
What he saw was a village that was seemingly devoid of people, but in the houses there were people; they were seemingly hallucinating as they kept muttering strange things and talking to thin air, never leaving their rooms. The vision ended there.
Arthur sighed as he asked, "Don't you have that armor, Underworld's Armament? I know it has resistance against mind attacks, so how did you even manage to fall for the mind hex?"
Abner, getting annoyed, responded, "How would I know that while already under a mind hex!? Aren't you a seer? Make a divination about the nightmare creature that trapped us in a mind hex already!"
Arthur had a grin on his face as he thought, 'Looks like my rage bait skills have improved since last we meet for you to change your tone so easily Abner hehehehe'
Abner, seeing the grin on Arthur's face, sighed and shook his head, thinking, 'This guy can't take anything seriously, can he?'
Arthur made a divination about the source of the danger his friends were facing.
There he saw an ugly black goblin smaller than a seven-year-old child standing on a throne made out of stone being carried by a man who seemed hypnotized like the rest of the people in the village.
It seemed like the goblin visits the houses of the people regularly to keep them under the mind hex; the vision soon ended.
Arthur then made a Divination about its rank and class; it was a corrupted devil.