We arrived at the facility where Moses was housed and found everyone, and I mean everyone, except for Moses and Ulga, gathered together in the lobby. Many of them were crying, others were huddled in corners, staring with open terror at nothing in particular. Some brave souls were trying to comfort the children and foals, and one pair of foals was making a valiant attempt to calm a nurse who was in near hysterics. The fear was so strong in the air that it made my fur bristle. It was infectious, and it was difficult to keep from shaking my wings. What a Wonderful World played on a loop as background to the crying and misery, making it seem something perverse and sinister.
"Are his powers stretching this far?" Sunflower asked, looking ready to cry as she looked at the room filled with misery. I knew how she felt.
Phobia Remedy shook her head. "No, but some may have been exposed before they got out of range. I think the majority of this is due to the death of the orderly, and his seeming resurrection as someone else. Let's see if I can find Doctor Falon in this mess."
Jonathan, Ashley, and Yolanda kept silent as they followed us. They had never met Moses and only heard of him for the first time today. They'd been briefed about what Moses's powers were and how they worked on the trip over and given instructions on how to combat the effects. Phobia Remedy had given them the opportunity to wait this out in the car. Moses when he was calm was one thing, but his powers were much more intense when he was in distress as the unfortunate orderly had found out. The three non-candidates had agreed to come to face the terrible toddler. This was what the OMMR was meant to do. Still, this was a trial by fire; not the case any of them would have wanted to get their feet or hooves wet with. Only Tempest stayed outside. This was not the type of fight that she could fight.
There was some whispering as we walked by people. Most were staring at Phobia Remedy. Some eyes looked upon her with terror. Some eyes looked upon her with a glimmer of hope that the Dreamwarden was here to face Moses. Others just stared at her with dead eyes, as if they couldn't process any feeling at all.
"All of this because of some visions?" Yolanda asked. She didn't seem snide in asking. She was watching crying nurses as she spoke, and she was walking like someone who knew they were entering a bear cave.
"You would be surprised what being bombarded with terrors can do to a person," Phobia Remedy answered. "Many of the visions get incredibly graphic, and it isn't like watching a movie. This is something you could swear was happening right in front of you. Remind yourself it isn't real. Keep your eyes on Moses at all times when we reach him. If you have to, close your eyes– although, I am unsure if that last will be an effective tactic if he is distressed. If all else fails, remind yourself you stand behind the Warden of Fear, and no mind magic can triumph over me."
"But there's a zombie up there with him. Zombies aren't just in your head, at least, this one isn't," I reminded her. "Shouldn't Tempest have come to fight that? You can't fight something physical. It will eat your brains."
"If it had the intention of feasting on brains, I assume it would be down here right now. If it has enough intelligence to ask for Falon to summon me, it has enough intelligence to operate an elevator, go down the stairs, or open a door," Phobia Remedy answered.
We found the director crouched down behind the receptionist's desk with the receptionist. Both stared dumbly at us all for a second as we came up before focusing on Phobia Remedy.
"You have to take him away. He can't stay h-h-here; not after this," Director Falon said. He looked ready to weep. "I tried to get the staff away, but that colt's powers, they caught me…"
The Dreamwarden set her jaw. "Are you releasing him into my custody?"
"Y-yes! G-get him out of here!" Falon practically whimpered.
She nodded to him. "Very well. My lawyers will be coming with the paperwork. You have made a verbal agreement with a Dreamwarden. That holds up in court. Please, hit the button to unlock the door to the main facility. We will take it from here."
Falon's eyes drifted over us. "They can't go up there. I can't be responsible for a bunch of kids getting exposed to-"
"You are already responsible for exposing kids to that magic, Director, and I intend to see that your work here is thoroughly reviewed by people with the power to dismiss you. What did you think was going to happen when you locked that colt up with virtually no contact with the outside world?" Phobia Remedy practically hissed. "These are deputized agents of the OMMR. They know what they are walking into. They are going to help a scared foal who is terrified because his primary source of love and affection was hurt and he ended up having his worst nightmares with his powers come true. These agents know damn well what's up there. They will accompany me."
Falon cried as he nodded and hit the button under the desk. There was a clicking sound, and the entire horde in the lobby practically jumped at the sound, and crying intensified. Phobia led us to the door and pushed it open. I think we all took a deep breath before we followed her through.
The first thing we noticed upon entering the courtyard was the huge charred spot of grass and melted remains of a white plastic table. There was white foam all around it and a discarded fire extinguisher close by. It seemed like the fire had been quickly contained, but no one had stuck around to clean up. Everything else looked untouched. There was no sound, except for-
"-I watch them grow. They'll learn so much more than I'll ever know-" the speaker played on.
It takes a special set of circumstances for it to be dead quiet when there is music playing. It's something you have to experience to understand and there is no way to accurately convey the sense of dread that comes with music that somehow doesn't break the silence and the stillness of a place. There was music playing, it could be said to be playing loudly, but it seemed like a breath would do more to break the silence. The music was part of the scenery, much like the grass, and it was still, even though it continued its endless loop.
"What a wonderful world-"
Yolanda scratched nervously at her shoulders. "What's with that music? It's creeping me out."
"Use your head. It probably is for calming Moses," Ashley snapped. "You want the little necromancer to be calm, right? We already have one dead person and one zombie to deal with up there. Do you want him to have another outburst? He's a kid, a small one. Small kids aren't the most reasonable when they have decided to throw a temper tantrum."
"Is anyone reasonable when they've decided to throw a temper tantrum?" I asked, eager to just hear more talking, even my own.
Phobia stopped walking and held up a hoof to draw our attention. "When we exit this courtyard into the next hall, we may be close enough that his powers can touch you, even with him being several floors up. I want you to keep your eyes focused on me. Don't look to the side. If you think you see something out of the corner of your vision, don't look. If you see something while keeping your eyes focused on me, close your eyes and alert us. That goes double for the two of you who met him before. Don't think because you were able to stand some of his visions last time that this will be the same. He was calm at that point, this is going to be much worse. We have one man dead already. Don't disobey me."
"Maybe you shouldn't be bringing your candidates into such a dangerous situation?" Ashley spoke up.
"If they can't face this, they don't deserve the mantle. I said the tests were going to get more intense," Phobia said before resuming her walk.
Well, sink or swim, or live or die in this case. Phobia Remedy had a way of making people feel real special. Hey! If you die you aren't good enough. It makes me feel like family. Okay, I was being a little snide. I knew things were going to get rough the last week of this thing. I didn't expect to be put in a potentially life-threatening situation, but Phobia Remedy probably hadn't planned on it happening. She was also right. Dreamwardens were supposed to go off and deal with dangerous mind magic users, and when they were people that couldn't help what they were doing, then the Dreamwardens should go in and try to help them. That last one might have been a more recent innovation, but despite being seemingly evil by telling me I wasn't good enough if I died, she was marching in here to help Moses out. Positive vibes! I needed a cookie! Two cookies! Plus cake, a big one!
",-red roses, too."
I kept my eyes on Phobia and assumed everyone else did too as we left the courtyard. It was a really strange building. You walked into the building, then had to walk outside to get to the rest of the building. I wondered why it was that way. It was like everyone had to be funneled into this big open…oh dear. That was so not cool! I understood why Phobia Remedy hated this place so much.
Sunflower started humming. It was that same song she sang whenever she was scared. I suppose we all had our coping mechanisms. What were Phobia Remedy's coping mechanisms? She was leading the charge right now. Phobia Remedy never led the charge– she was more scared of things than the rest of us. She was leading the charge straight toward a zombie that had asked for her by name. That was odd. It was something to think about. Since I didn't have any cake, I needed something to distract me from the fact I was charging into danger for the third time in a month. I was a lovable puffball, not an action hero. If I were in an action movie, I would be Jar Jar Binks or an ewok.
Something occurred to me. "I'm not noticing anything on the edge of my vision like last time. No drips of blood, no flickers of light, no scary shadows," I said, still following orders.
"Me neither," Sunflower said.
Phobia Remedy stopped in her tracks and looked up at something. "That's a good sign. However, we won't be going upstairs after all. The elevator is coming down. Either Ulga is back on her hooves, or the zombie knows how to operate an elevator. Both options are possible. Either way, Moses is on that elevator, I can feel his magic now. Be ready to focus your attention on him. Do not pay attention to the zombie if it is with him."
"Don't pay attention to the zombie she says," Yolanda groaned.
"The zombie and I are going to have a talk," Phobia Remedy said and left it at that.
If Moses was coming down too, he must be feeling better. That was a good thing.
I continued listening to the music and the ding of the elevator as it went down floor by floor. Then there was one final ding. It was time to look up and find Moses. I looked towards the elevator doors, just as they were opening.
The first thing I saw was a man, maybe in his early fifties. He was wearing an orderly uniform and seemed fine enough, yet something seemed off about him. He was supporting Ulga, who had one of her legs heavily bandaged and lifted. She was just barely touching the man's leg, partially using it for support and partially using it as a guide. She had that same dead-eyed glassy stare as the last time and a slightly pained expression. I could just barely see Moses hidden behind the pair.
The man looked at us. "Do not worry. Our powers to induce visions are under control, at least while we are awake. We convinced our younger incarnation to cede control of the powers to a part that could manage them until Ulga is taken care of and we have spoken with you. Parts of us normally sleeping have to actively choose to use the powers to induce visions, it's not a passive ability like with Moses. We prefer to sleep, and this body needs to be returned to those who cared for its owner. We recognize two of these youngsters you have with you, Phobia, from one of your previous visits, and we know they're not doctors. Is one of these other youngsters medically trained? We treated Ulga's injury as best we could, but she needs better care. None of our incarnations is trained in medical treatment for ponies." The voice sounded slightly feminine, and the accent was British-Indian English.
Phobia Remedy frowned. "Unfortunately, the doctors are all hiding out in the lobby. Yolanda, would you be so kind as to help Ulga back to the lobby? She would normally be able to make it on her own, despite being blind, but she looks like she needs some support. I believe most of the staff are familiar with her, but still, give them a warning before bringing her through the door. The kids who rarely see her might be spooked by her eyes. What is wrong with her leg? How did the injury occur?"
"Our fault," Moses whimpered from behind Ulga. "We left one of our toys out and she tripped and fell. She fell down hard and there was blood."
"It's a bad break, the bone is fully snapped," the not-orderly zombie answered. "We bandaged it to stop the bleeding, but could not find anything to serve as a proper splint." The man looked down at Moses. "We should not worry, accidents happen. We know we are upset and feel guilty. Ulga will be taken care of and feel better soon. What have we learned?"
"Don't leave our toys out. Mom can't see them," Moses whimpered.
The zombie nodded and looked back at us. "We're sorry about what happened to this orderly. You know our younger incarnation has little control, and once it happened, his fear was enough that we were summoned by our magic to protect ourselves. This hadn't happened before because people understandably don't leave dead bodies laying around in the range of our magic. We don't like being awake, but we would be remiss if we didn't ensure the situation was explained better than our youngest and newest incarnation can verbalize or understand. The young should not be punished for such mishaps. We never punished them during our life, and we will ensure we protect them now."
"Sha'am," Phobia Remedy said in a near whisper.
The zombie smiled at her. "You know us in any form, sister, although we no longer have the right to call you that. Don't worry, we bear you no ill will. We've spent endless lifetimes in the Story, being tempered, learning to reembrace kindness and compassion, and gaining many incarnations before the Story decided to expel us into a true new incarnation in the form of an earth pony foal whose story had not yet been written– it could have been more considerate about where that incarnation was born, but perhaps it was just a random chance. However, we think the Story has some sick desire to see conflict and hardship. After all, what is a story without conflict? Now, we are merely protecting a foal, even if that foal is us, and trying to help a loved one. Ulga knows us by another name."
"Ayedonno," Ulga said in a pained voice, but she was smiling. "It is so good to hear you again, and even better to understand you this time around. It pains me more than this leg that I lost my vision and can't gaze upon your face."
Sha'am ran his…her…its hand gently across Ulga's face. This was not what I was expecting out of a zombie or the dreaded Sha'am Maut.
"That we were able to get you to safety brings us joy. We are saddened by those who did not make it. We shall always remember them. However, our time is short, for now, and we must talk with our other once comrade-in-arms. She holds our future in her hooves, and we know she has many questions," Sha'am gently said, before withdrawing the hand and looking at us again. "Whichever one of you is Yolanda, be about your business and assist Ulga. In our day, when a Dreamwarden instructed someone to do something, they rushed to do it or faced the consequences. It seems Phobia and the others have not kept up with maintaining discipline since our exile."
Okay, that last bit sounded a bit more like the tyrannical Dreamwarden I expected.
Yolanda gulped and hurried over to the elevator. She gave Sha'am a long look and then bent down, holding a hand out to Ulga.
"I'm right here, holding my hand out. I know walking on three legs can be hard, but can you take a few steps toward me? I don't want to get any closer than this to your big friend," Yolanda said. "I can pick you up and carry you to the doctor if you don't have any objection to that."
"Highly undignified, but it would be for the best if you allowed her to carry you, Ulga," Sha'am softly said. The zombie then turned her eyes to Yolanda. "Be gentle with her, human, or I'll teach you some manners."
"Sha'am," Phobia said in warning.
"Nothing so severe as what we'd have done before. Believe it or not, our time in the Story has mellowed us," Sha'am said. "More like a literal spanking. This body is strong enough to put her over its knee."
"No spank! No hurt!" Moses yelled.
Sha'am rolled its eyes. "Very well. No spanking."
Ulga slowly limped over to Yolanda until she touched Yolanda's hand then stopped. Yolanda carefully picked her up and put her over her shoulder. "Okay, don't move around too much. I'll go slow so I don't shake you and bother your leg. We'll get you fixed up and back to your terror toddler in no time."
"Thank you, but, please, be kind to my son. He's a good colt and kind. He can't help what his powers do," Ulga said.
"Okay," Yolanda agreed, and then she began walking away, careful to not shake her pony cargo much.
"Sunflower, Rebecca, if Moses's powers are under control, I think you two should occupy him and try to cheer him up while Sha'am and I talk. He needs friends to play with him," Phobia said. "How far away from you can the colt get before his powers can no longer keep you animated?"
"We are not sure," Sha'am confessed. "We should be fine anywhere in this building. We got up to a kilometer away when we were last animated back in that warzone, but never further. We can only assume we can go that far still, perhaps farther."
"They can take him to the courtyard then," Phobia said with a nod. "One last question before they go; you said there were incarnations, plural. Are there more people Moses can animate into corpses? Any others I should speak with?"
Sha'am chuckled. "We are legion, as your holy book says. There are millions of us, but most should probably best never be awakened. Most of us would panic at suddenly being awake. There are a select number, a few dozen, that would like to be awake, we think. Out of those few dozen, perhaps six are worth waking up at various times, and seven that we advise never to wake. We have lived many lives, some of them were good and some of them were vile. We think that multiple can be awake at once, but each would need a separate body to be awake at the same time. Moses has to wake us, we cannot wake on our own, although we think we can refuse to be awoken and choose to go back to sleep at will. Once we're done with this talk, we're going back to sleep, with or without Moses's say-so. Old Sha'am Maut longs to sleep when not needed. We know what transpires with Moses as we sleep. We are always in the back of our mind, even if we're not aware of ourselves or independent."
Phobia nodded. "Give me a warning before you do that. I assume Moses's passive powers come back online when you leave, and I would rather not subject our current candidates to be Psychic Calm's heir to that."
Sha'am frowned at me and Sunflower. "Standards really have gone down the drain in our absence." Sha'am then sighed. "But that is not our concern. We are no longer a Dreamwarden, and Dreamwardens' business is not ours. We shall warn you and give them time to get to safety before we leave."
"Sha'am, I wanted to thank you!" Ashley blurted out.
The zombie raised an eyebrow at her. "We don't believe Moses has ever met you before. Our memory is not what it was when we were Dreamwarden. Who are you and what did we do?"
"I'm Ashley Santos. When I was a filly, my brother and I, along with many other foals, were foalnapped by a madpony. He hurt us, mutilated us, killed us, and for a long time the only kind face we saw was you in our dreams. I wanted to thank you for helping…helping me say goodbye to my brother when he c-couldn't-"
Moses darted out from behind Sha'am and grabbed onto Ashley to hug her. Ashley stood there in shock for a moment. I knew she didn't like to be touched, but she ended up bending down and embracing the colt, before breaking down crying.
"We remember now," Sha'am said quietly, looking away. "You are welcome, but we wish we didn't have to be there. We wish you had not drawn our attention back then. We were drawn by suffering and death. Foals should not have to suffer so."
The former Dreamwarden whose very name invoked terror in those who knew it looked again at me and Sunflower. "All Dreamwardens inherit things from their forebears. If you inherit anything from us, we hope it's how we were with foals, and not how we treated their elders. There are things for which we now feel shame that we did not feel back when we were living, but there are things for which we remain unashamed. We're not ashamed we gave those without hope one last kindness. Try to remember us for that, and not the rest. Begone, your elder has much to ask, and we wish to lose ourselves within Moses once more. May this incarnation be one of the good ones."
"What a wonderful world-"