*The Princess of the Night meditated in the preternatural quiet of her study. The undisturbed silence was a requirement for the ritual she was about to perform.
As the Guardian of the Dreamscape, she already possessed the capability to visit the dreams and minds of others. But for what she was attempting, the slightest disruption could very easily topple all the effort she was putting into it.
She intended to ‘observe’ the mind of the Demon Child. Or rather, to peruse his memories, determine his methods and uncover his falsehoods. In doing so, she would be presented with ample reason to eliminate him; even if by the slightest margin of a chance she did not find anything incriminating, it would give her a better scope of his capabilities should he ever turn against them. Either way, she was committing no crime. She was justified. She was right.
She breathed in. She breathed out. In, out. In, out.
The darkness of her closed eyes faded into a myriad of flowing, scintillating starscapes, overlaid with the true, real world, the Dreamrealm present before her. She would have to locate his mind first, but given the distinctive aura of suffering he presented even in reality, she would have no trouble.
She drifted to the northern reaches, the land where the world glittered with joy and love, effects of the Crystal heart. Luna could see his mind, a deep blue-violet shadow in the midst of the beauteous reds, pinks, whites, and greens around it.
Strange. Blue was the shade of sadness, yes, but violet was that of fear.
Luna ignored it. It was that of fear, yes, but of caution as well. Planning.
The shadelike spot grew larger, enveloped her as she delved into his mind. He was asleep. Good. That would make him vulnerable, a simple tread through subconscious, surface thoughts-
Luna immediately stopped as the aura began to dance a thousand colors, a thousand hues, yet not one without the shading of the blue on the surface. Such a thing was… impossible. Unheard of, inconceivable- the demon’s thoughts, even in the lull of sleep, were as a raging torrent of voices, memories, dreams.
The Night Princess steeled her nerves. She erected a barrier, one that would shield her from all but the strongest memories, and dove in.
She found herself in a small room. It was filthy, rank, as if the room itself were decomposing, sludge flowing through from grates on the walls. There was a single door ahead of her, over which a large, looming skull glared down at her. Her and the demon.
The demon looked… different. Not overly; he wore a simple eyepatch, and seemed somehow larger than Isaac. He held in his hands a bent paper clip, and a book with a strange, looping symbol embolized on the white cover. Behind him trailed a number of grotesque… infants, red, blue, bug-eyed and bloated with decay. He was bent over a chest, inserting the clip inside as it popped open.
Another baby’s corpse floated above it. The child laughed an empty, hollow laugh. “Every time. Every damn time, Abel.” It flew to the opposite side of the room. “Never any help, are ya’?”
He turned to the morbidly decorated door. “To think, he got out because he has the key that I don’t.”
He shook his head. Then he stopped. The child turned, until it seemed he was looking directly at Luna. She, of course, knew he couldn’t; memories could not observe her.
“What are you doin’ here?” He asked her.
The Princess blinked. Still uncertain, she delved further, into another memory.
Luna stood in a room made of crude, pine-wood planks, covered in cobwebs with pots strewn about seemingly at random. Slight streams of light filtered down from in between those above, along with a dusty, aged smell. Another child, this one with long, lanky dark hair, was shouting at what appeared to be thin air. Her voice was higher than Isaac’s. “Come at me! Chicken, Pin?”
Luna was confused. What was she-?
A large, wormlike creature broke through the floor, it’s trajectory launching itself at the princess. The child stood in front of her, the worm being knocked away by a flurry of tears and the child’s own punch. She rapidly turned to a deep shade of black, curved horns protruding from her head, as her tears became tinged with blood. Truly the demon she knew him to be. The worm popped up just once more before the tear tore it in half.
Luna stood astonished at the grim display. The child walked over to the worm, pulling a simple matchbook from it’s corpse. “Bah. Worthless.” She gave the body a kick, uncovering the trapdoor beneath. “Just like that jackass.”
She looked at the princess, presented her center finger. “The hell do you want?” She asked, before she hopped down the hatch.
The Night Princess peered after her, and fell, pulled in by the torrent of subconsciousness.
Luna, disoriented, now found herself in a room made entirely of blackened stone, filled with skulls and similarly blackened rocks. One more child stood on top of a large chest, laughing maniacally. As far as she could tell, the only obvious difference between this one and Isaac was the small fez on his head, and a rather notable disparity in their heights, this one being a great deal shorter.
“You hear me? FREE! NOT YOUR PAWN ANYMORE!” The child shouted, delighted. He turned to look down at something Luna could not see. “... Well, no, I…” He sighed, his demeanor darkening quickly.
Yet again, the child turned to Luna. “You shouldn’t be here.”
The child hopped off the chest, threw it open, and swung himself over the rim, inside. Luna looked after the child, but found nothing but an endless abyss. She shook her head. This was not what she was after. Once more, she pushed the spell harder, towards his memory.
Luna now entered a room flooded with water, smelling rank and musty. The flooding floor was laced with blood and bits of gore, and another child stood in front of a heaping amount of organs and flesh. This one, wearing a red bandanna over his long, thick hair, appeared battered, bloodied and bruised beyond believability. For all intents and purposes, he looked like he belonged in a coffin, not here.
He bore in his shaking hand a long, white sword, spattered gratuitously with blood. His face was contorted with an agony that even Luna found hard to disbelieve.
“I hate you.” He growled at the fetid flesh. “I hate you, I hate you…” He took the sword, slashing away with fury found in a life much longer than any child’s. He screamed, “YOU LEFT US!”
He turned to Luna, watering eyes crazed and anguished, and shouted, “LEAVE!”
Astonished by his outburst, she flinched in spite of herself. They could not harm her. She did do as he said, but only deeper into the maelstrom of dreams.
This time was different. The room she was in was strewn with coins and gems, built of wood and gold, filled with shelves on all sides. At the far end was an enormous statue of gold, of some large creature covering it’s gaping mouth in horror. She looked about. There appeared to be no one else here.
She prepared the cast again, but stopped when something stirred behind the monument. A figure walked out from behind it, but calling it a child would be generous. It was dried out, emaciated, and eyeless, a corpse, with a rope tied around it’s neck like a noose. It shuffled over to her, but stopped at an arm’s length away, and shook its head. It’s misshapen mouth made movements, but said nothing, and shuffled back to the statue, where it slouched against it in silence.
Luna, unnerved, did not take her eyes off it as she continued in.
Once more, she found herself in a room of built of boards and beams, though within there was a different child. He was coated in blood, presumably his own, sobbing in the corner of the room, hands over his head of orange hair.
“It’s not fair,” he wailed. “It’s not fair! He can’t just leave us!”
As he continued to cry, he would break into severe convulsions and concerning bouts of violent coughing, blood spattering the floor before him. “He… he wouldn’t.”
Without being noticed, Luna vanished, forcibly suppressing the overwhelming pity she felt for him. They are but a dream, of course. Nothing she could help. Not even real. And not her target.
The room she found herself in was completely dark. Not just difficult to see, but completely and utterly impossible. In spite of herself, she lit her horn rather than continuing uninterrupted. Technically, she was still learning of him, she reasoned. How… how… sadistic he was to imagine these suffering children.
As her horn’s light intensified, another child was revealed. He bore the appearance of a bat-winged demon, a decimated horn disrupting the symmetry of his sleek black hair.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly. His inflection gave no hint of malice or hate, surprisingly calm and reasonable. “You need to leave. The further you go, the worse things will get.”
Luna shook her head, shook away the hints of remorse. She would not stop now. She could not. He was hiding something, She was certain.
The alicorn found herself back in the room built of wood, gold and shelves, Luna found herself muzzle-to-face with a child with crimson-red hair, skin black as coal, and a horribly bloodstained bandage covering her eyes. A small, black bat-like creature flew by her side, and a small, intricately filigreed box was tucked under her arm.
“What gives you the right,” the child shouted loudly at Luna. “to just waltz into his head like you own the damn place?”
Luna flapped her wings reflexively, agitated both in reality and in her own mind. This was growing tiresome, and an ordeal she was quickly growing to regret. The child did not flinch. “This is your last warning. Get you, Trojan Horse.”
The child turned her back to a very confused and very frustrated Luna, and walked out the door at the far end of the room.
Luna hesitated. By now, it was incredibly obvious that the dreams were reacting to her beyond the levels that they should. They were responding to the outside events far more than they should. And they seemed to be referring to either her, or Isaac whenever they spoke. This was dangerous territory. Dreams that were not dreams.
Even then, they were revealing much about the child. Demons and innocents occupied his subconscious. And yet, he did not mention them even once. But in all of this… she had not found one thing to condemn him. Not one dream or memory beyond the children who claimed he abandoned him. Was… she wrong about him? Was he truly but an innocent minor, lost and afraid? Or could this still be but an elaborate falsehood to deter her in her cause?
Luna longed to know. But she did not dare venture deeper. An idea dawned on her, though she loathed the thought - she could apologize to the last child in the room adjacent, and ask her. She may lie, she may tell the truth… but it would be better than leaving empty-handed.
The alicorn followed her into the next room. It was naught but a void of infinite blackness, in which she saw every child, standing around a simple, partially-open, wood-and-brass chest. Each of them glared at her, though some seemed more concerned than upset. At their head, one final unfamiliar child stepped forward. She looked nearly identical to Isaac, though she had a head of curly, buttercup-yellow hair with a crimson-red bow tied in.
“I’m sorry,” she said to Luna, her eyes pleading and remorseful. “You really, really need to leave.”
“I too, am sorry,” Luna replied, meeting the child’s eyes with her own unrelentingly steely gaze. “But I must know his intentions. I will not continue further should you inform me of his plans.”
“Pfah, as if we would know,” said the dark haired girl, blowing the hair from her face with a short sigh. “He hasn’t spoken to us in days, now.”
“You… you are not of the same mind?” Luna inquired. Were they prisoners of his rule?
“Get out,” The fez-wearing child snapped, glaring over his shoulder. “It isn’t your business.”
Luna returned the expression. “If it concerns the welfare of my people-”
“Then it’s not about us, and it’s not about him.” The horned demon said calmly, floating gently to a slow beat of his wings. “He poses no threat to you. He would not touch an innocent soul.”
“You should be more worried about what’s going to follow him,” the blindfolded girl taunted cheerily. She pointed a finger up under Luna’s face, her voice certain and serious. “Once a door opens, anything can follow through, whether we like it or not.”
Luna was almost relieved. A seam. “Then he allowed that… beast, into our world?”
“It’s not his fault,” The eyepatch-wearing child quickly defended. “He didn’t know. Isaac had no idea what was happening. He still doesn’t know.”
“He scrambles blindly in the darkness,” murmured the bleeding child. “Silence slowly sentencing him to solitude, in spite of the unrelenting noise of your world.”
He began coughing violently, blood spattering the floor once again. The bandanna-bearing boy supported him up on his shoulder. He gave Luna a glare that rivaled her own as the chest behind them creaked open a bit more. “Get out. You even being here is just making things worse. You’re just expanding the gate.”
Luna stood silent. She… she had been wrong. She had been harsh. Quick to find fault in the child without friends. He was a victim, caught in the crossfire between whatever once trapped him and her world. She had… tried to murder an innocent youth. And yet… she still had to be absolutely, one-hundred-percent certain. She did not want to accept that her judgement was wrong, that her good intentions had only bred more suffering. That she had attempted to murder an innocent in cold blood.
She took a step forward. Several children stepped forward, with the exclusion of the blonde one, the bandanna-wearer, the bleeding one, and the winged demon.
“Back off,” demanded the dark-haired girl. Her fists were clenched tightly, and her scowl conveyed such restrained fury that it very nearly caused Luna to falter.
The Night Princess took another step. She could see a little bit into the chest, but not much.
“You don’t know what you’re getting into,” the Redhead warned her. She popped open her lockbox, and out sprung a second bat demon, never taking it’s eyes off of the alicorn.
One final step. Luna could sense the presence of it’s harrowingly infinite emptiness.
The child with the bandanna threw down his bleeding companion, shouting a war cry as he lunged at Luna. She set off a bolt of magic, meant to deter him. The chest flashed, and she whited out as the Dreamrealm evicted her from his mind, leaving her an unconscious heap in her study.