A pillow was suddenly thrown to the other side of the room from within the darkness of Dorm 2, breaking the night silence and causing its residents to sit up from their beds in confusion.
“I can’t take this anymore!” The mortal of them yelled in frustration. Nova’s bright gaze met Skyber’s empty one for a moment, before the two looked back at Pearl in unison.
“Is something the matter? You don’t usually throw pillows like that unless you’re writing music.” Skyber’s violet gaze followed Pearl’s movements. She could tell the girl was uneasy just from body language alone.
“I can’t sleep!” she whined, throwing her blanket off of her. “I’ve been laying here for three hours and nothing’s happening. I feel my eyelids closing on their own but my brain is yodeling in my ears!”
“At least your brain has a rich taste in music!” Nova chirped with a wide grin, to which Pearl responded with a long groan, her body falling back onto the mattress. “Relaaax, I got just the thing to help you out!”
Nova reached to the end of their mattress, picking up a ball of fluff from his place of rest. They held up a small Shiba Inu, presenting him as he yawned lazily. “Did you forget we have the best sleeping aid in the world? C’mon Deg! Go help Pearl sleep with the fishes!”
With an odd look and a raised finger from the goddess, the dog sprung to action. He jumped out of Nova’s hands and off the bed, climbing onto Pearl’s and spinning a few times in place, before laying down besides the girl. The three looked at the dog with anticipation.
“Uhm. Guys? Nothing’s happening—” Pearl didn’t manage to finish her sentence before a long string of frantic knocks came from their door. After a small game of I’m not going to do it, you do it stares, Skyber caved with a groan and got up from bed.
“I hope you’re aware of what time it is, I usually don’t open the door unless it’s food or an emergency,” the dragoness said as she groggily opened the door with closed eyes to protect herself from the blinding light of the hallway LED lamps.
“It is an emergency!” cried a familiar voice. Skyber opened one eye to be met with a distraught Nikki standing in the doorway. She was missing her skates, her hair was loose and her gaze akin to the sleepless musician, yet her crown still sat proud on her head. Skyber could already tell this was going to be a long night.
The goddess raised a brow at her, to which Nikki turned her head away slightly. “I-I mean… I’m having some issues… And I need your help.”
“That’s better.” Skyber smiled at her and turned back inside. “Come on in, if I’m guessing correctly we might already have a collective problem.”
“Collective?” Nikki questioned as she rapidly closed off the top buttons of her bright pastel pajama shirt.
Skyber activated the lights in the room; Pearl didn’t seem to care, her face mask was back on her eyes as she was trying to sleep again to no avail. Meanwhile, Nova shrieked at the sudden light, turning into a possum and scurrying under their blanket. “Pearl, after only three hours, decided to tell us that she has a problem falling asleep. Judging by your looks, you’ve come here for the same reason, right? I’m sorry to disappoint but Deg doesn’t seem to be able to help in this case.”
Nikki glanced at the three, waving back to Pearl who meekly greeted from the bed, already giving up her efforts upon Nikki’s arrival. “Deg? Who’s- OH- D-Deg, of course! For real? Aww, this was totally my one way ticket to my beauty sleep and now he doesn’t work?” A bead of sweat was going down her forehead. “What are we going to do?”
“I could always slam you on the head, you’d sleep just fine.”
“I w-wouldn’t mi-”
“That was a joke.”
“-Oh.” Nikki looked down, hiding her reddened face.
“Besides, I don’t think that would be the right thing to do. Something tells me you two aren’t the only ones affected, and I could only punch so many people in one evening.” She placed her hand to her chin, sitting back on her bed. “Deg should be able to put anyone to sleep. Yet now he can’t do anything, for some reason.”
“There’s probably some Electi shenanigans involved…” The possum popped out of Skyber’s thick hair, a small sherlock cap on their head and bubble pipe in mouth. “Someone’s power is probably interfering with Deg’s!”
“And seeing this is the first time something like this is happening, we know for certain it isn’t a passive ability. Someone is doing it on purpose,” Skyber added, picking up Sherlock Possum and holding them in her hands. Nova transformed back to normal and curled into a ball. “Abilities such as this one would have to be specifically targeted, the range would be small and everyone affected would’ve had to be in close proximity… Does this ring any bells for you?”
“Oh!” Nikki suddenly sprung. “It probably happened in theater class! Luckily for you I probably have the best memory in the world,” she boasted, before sitting beside Skyber on her bed. “It went something like this…
“I’m pretty sure it all started yesterday. Er, maybe the day before. But that’s not important! Anyways, the teacher announced there was going to be tryouts for some stage play soon. You should’ve seen it, we got some new lights and even a bunch of huge smoke machines! And she was all, ‘There are enough spots for everyone, so nobody is left out of the experience.’ But of course, me being the most talented meant the lead role was practically begging for me. I had no choice but to show everyone my true talents, y’know?
“Needless to say, I blew it out of the park, as usual. And that was just using half my effort. Imagine how much I would’ve blown everyone’s socks off if I had—Oh, wait! I remember now! The major role tryouts were yesterday, and everything else was announced the day before. Yeah, see, told ya I have an awesome memory. Now where was I…
“Right, the lead role! Everyone loved me. Well, everyone already loves me, it’s just that they probably love me even more after I performed that solo number. You should’ve been there for that, I think I got a standing ovation. Oh, Pearl, you were there, right! You can tell them later about it, I’d love to hear your opinion on my amazing performance! So yeah, I’ll definitely be getting the part for sure. Especially since there was only one other guy who tried out for the part, he some nobody I couldn’t recognize. If he really wanted the role, he should’ve had talent first. Served him right for trying to be promoted from a stagehand.
“Heh, did I mention how much people loved my audition? Everyone was like, ‘You did so well, Nikki! I wish I could be just like you one day. No wonder you’re the most popular girl in school!’ I was thinking about it so much, I couldn’t sleep the other night. Like at all. And now tonight, it’s really starting to worry me.”
Pearl raised a finger as she was about to say something but ultimately decided against it.
“…So uh, what was the question again?”
“Nikki, we were asking whether you’ve seen any Electi with a close-proximity ranged ability that interferes with Deg’s,” Skyber folded her arms.
“Not that I know of, no,” Nikki answered sheepishly, looking up to Skyber.
The dragoness facepalmed, losing her patience. “Alright. As far as I can tell, the sleep problem started yesterday. You and Pearl were both in class, and now the two of you can’t sleep. Did the two of you share any other class that day?”
“No.” Pearl said meekly. “We only share theater class. Any other time, we’re in different classes, and theatre is like an extra thing for more credits.”
“That’s good!” Nova said from Skyber’s arms. “Then our creep is in the same class as you, and they were there the same day this started! All we gotta do is narrow down everyone that was there—ooh, I love mystery stories!”
“Now that I think about it, it was probably the other guy that was trying to steal my spotlight.” Nikki perked up. Skyber turned her head to the pink haired girl with an irritated look.
“You could’ve said that in the first place before reciting everything.”
“Hey! The context is important, I promise! Look, as I was doing my bit, amazing everyone in the crowd, popping eyes of their socks, dropping jaws-”
“Get on with it,” the goddess groaned.
Nikki coughed aggressively. “-I caught a glimpse of the other guy that was auditioning for my part. I couldn’t really catch his face, and I wouldn’t remember it for the life of me to be honest, but he gave the stinkiest of eyes I’ve seen in my life, and I’ve seen a lot of those.”
“You can’t tell me you’re basing your suspicions based on that alone.” Skyber raised a brow.
“I sure am! Everybody loved my audition and only that guy was all sourpuss, you know how jealous people are! Crazy I tell you!”
“I think you’re overdoing it but…” Pearl started. “Some people do get a little extreme when push comes to shove. Jealousy, pettiness. I hate to admit, but even I had some weak moments before.” She looked down for a moment and shrugged it off. “He could’ve been intimidated by Nikki’s.. Urm.. glamor, and tried to sabotage her sleep so she couldn’t be in the play.”
The dragoness sighed, her energy quickly depleting. “Well it’s worth a shot I suppose. Deg, get over here.” The dog perked up from Pearl’s bed, quickly jumping off from it and sitting before the towering dragon.
“I need you to go out there and figure out who did it so we can make them stop. Nikki, who else do you remember was there?”
“Uh..” She looked up as she was trying to recall again, twirling strands of her pink loose hair around her finger. “I think that botany kid was there, the tall dude with sunglasses, but he was only there for like five minutes ‘cuz he forgot his bag.”
“Wait a minute Skyb, why Deg?” Pearl said, puzzled. “Wouldn’t you rather find the guy yourself?”
“As much as I would love to go around school in the middle of the night searching for this one kid, threatening every suspect I find into submission until I find the one, not only would it be incredibly inefficient…”
Nova gave Skyber a stern look.
“…It would also be incredibly immoral. Deg here could easily get inside someone’s dream and gather all the information we need—whether the person remembers it vividly or not. Nova, go with Deg and help him access wherever he might need to go. You’re faster and quieter than I would ever dream to be. Go after that botanist guy first and try to find anything useful. With any luck, we could finish this tonight.”
Nova jumped out of Skyber’s arms and stood next to Deg, saluting to their divine companion.
“Aye aye la comandante del gusano alado! Come on Deg, let’s bust some crimes!”
Deg barked in excitement as the fluffy duo triumphantly opened the door and embarked on their quest, but not before returning a minute later to ask where Fraise was residing.
Although Nova considered the night to still be young, it was already way past midnight. As they carried the canine cotton-ball on their back as they flew above campus in the night sky, they noticed almost all the lights turned off throughout the dorm building, save for a few late night crammers, studying last-minute for exams. Though, they suspected not everyone was asleep despite their lights having gone off—some could have been affected by the insomniac ability, like Pearl and Nikki. Whatever it was that was causing this strange phenomenon, they were bound to find out soon.
Swooping down to the windowsill of Dorm 4, the duo peered through the glass as if it were a pair of binoculars, finding all three inhabitants fortunately sound asleep.
“In any other case I’d call this breaking and entering,” Nova said, “but it’s for the good of our friends, right Deggy boy?”
The Shiba yipped in response.
“Yeah! This is totally justified.” Nova tried the window, finding it conveniently unlocked. It appeared the boys inside weren’t exactly expecting someone to enter through there, much less a dream-entering dog and his flying reality-bending chauffeur. Once opened, Deg leaped into the room, using the divine humanoid’s fluffy shoulder as a bounce pad. He stuck the landing with an approved score from Nova’s “10” card they raised out of nowhere.
The air in the dorm was much cooler than outside, mainly on Leaf’s side where some areas had been frozen over. Next to the mint-colored Anthro was Hugo, a significantly louder sleeper. His snores even masked the dog’s pitter pattering on the floor. And next to him lay his target: Fraise, the only man on campus to not only wear sunglasses at night, but to bed as well.
Deg looked back to Nova, who transformed into something resembling a potted plant in order to avoid any suspicion of a rainbow-colored humanoid with wings stalking outside someone’s dormitory in the middle of the night. One of their petals gave a reassuring thumbs-up somehow.
No turning back now. The dog hopped up to Fraise’s mattress, careful as to not make any noise or disruptions. Soon, he positioned himself just beside the back of the young man’s resting head. He twirled around in place for a moment, finding the right place to lay down. Only then did he have brief second thoughts. Aside from one other time with Pearl, he had never entered someone’s stream of consciousness without direct permission before. Yet, as Nova said, this was for the good of their friends.
Now on his stomach, Deg pressed his head to the student’s, and focused. As he concentrated, his physical form began to dissipate and vanish, his bright and soft fur turning more and more into smoke and dust. He closed his eyes, knowing when he’d open them up again he wouldn’t be inside the dorm room. Then, he was completely gone.
All around him, the observable dreamscape was nothing more than a thick haze of indecipherable moving blurs. This was nothing unusual, it simply meant he was just entering REM sleep, where the real dreams would occur. He was lucky to catch the young man while his dream was just starting.
Like a movie theater about to premiere the film after fifteen minutes of trailers, the room went dim. Suddenly, color. The blurs had refocused into discernible objects, painting an image of a grassy field in an early morning. Despite not taking on a form yet in this state, Deg was free to look and move around, able to spectate whatever came into Fraise’s mind next.
Swiveling the opposite direction, Deg realized the field had much, much more to it than grass. Sectioned off in beautifully crafted wooden fencing, a vast garden filled with a plethora of plants and flowers flourished. The garden itself looked like one massive floral arrangement, each plant perfectly chosen in the most beautiful position. It was every florist’s dream to have a field like this, Deg supposed.
Suddenly, a large cottage appeared in the center of the expanse of the garden, a humble home made of polished white wood, with large windows to let the early morning breeze whisk anyone into pure bliss with the view of the green garden with its many colorful plants. Deg could smell cooking from the house, and the sound of soft humming from within what he could assume would be the kitchen.
Deg entered through the front door. He assumed his regular canine form, as it was what most people recognized him as; he wouldn’t want to break the immersion of the dream too rapidly, lest he risk waking the botanist up and screwing up their only lead. He walked through the minimalistically decorated corridor and entered the kitchen where he found Fraise, standing in front of a simmering pot with a large serving spoon. It smelled so delicious, the Dog struggled to surpass the urge to beg for a bite.
“Excuse me, Mr. Fraise?” Deg spoke in a gentle tone.
Fraise turned around and found the dog sitting behind him, tail wagging and tongue out with his rapid breathing. Thankfully this being a dream, reality didn’t have to make too much sense.
“Oh, you’re that dragon girl’s dog, aren’t you?”
“I’m more of a communal dog, so to speak. But I was sent here on her behalf.” Deg began, scratching the back of his ear using his hind legs. “You see, some students have begun developing a severe case of sudden insomnia. Skyber believes it to be a cause of another Electi, since I couldn’t help one of the victims fall asleep using my powers. We came to a conclusion that our culprit was present in today’s theatre class and I was informed you were there. Is there a chance that you remember anything out of place?”
Fraise tapped his chin using his free hand, looking up as he tried to recall. Deg noticed a bunch of the cookbooks that were neatly sorted in a nearby glass closet started to open, their pages flipping on their own. Suddenly, all but one closed, leaving a single one open with a page open on a picture displaying Fraise standing in front of the door to the class.
“It’s a bit hazy, nothing too interesting caught my eye. I only came in there because I forgot my bag,” he began, and a page of the cookbook flipped. “It was in the middle of an audition, and that pink-haired skater chick was on stage.” The book displayed a stencil drawing of Nikki standing on stage with a microphone. It even displayed a recipe on how to cook a Nikki. Deg didn’t want to read that. “She was really loud. I just took my bag and left, didn’t have much to do there aside from getting a headache. You know how it is when people try too hard? That was that coupled with the fact she was already doing fine. I felt like my ass was sent to High School Musical for a minute. Not a fan of musicals.”
Deg began to look a tad worried. This was getting him nowhere fast. “Well that’s not too helpful… Do you mind if I take a peek in these books of yours?” Deg lifted his leg and gestured to the closet.
“Aww… Sure my man, just some old recipes. I made them so many times I remember them by heart,” he claimed, and returned his attention to the stove.
That explains a lot, Deg thought as he went up to the closet of books, opening it and peering inside. The books were now closed, the covers were illegible, but he could at least make out dates. He opened the book that showed the recipe of Nikki. Most of the pages were filled with recipes for different meals he ate in recent days, though more recipes were dedicated to events that stuck out to him and to people he knows. The Nikki one contained gum, 5 kilos of pride, a megaphone (extra decibels to taste), text highlighters and more illegible text. Deg assumed that’s how Fraise interpreted personalities. He wondered if he was even aware of this, not that he didn’t see weirder ones. He didn’t want to recall the goddess’ dreams.
He flipped through the pages, reaching to the point where the events Fraise described transpired. Going through them again, it went just about how he described it.
Maybe he missed something…? Deg continued further into the book. The closer to the present it got the more detailed the drawings and the recipes became. About an hour later in the book, a drawing of a familiar anthropomorphic fox caught his eye. The text read:
Recipe for a Well Meaning But Worrisome Roomate
Ingredients:
-
A pair of small canine ears.
-
One large clump of mint fur.
-
One wardrobe of hoodies depicting mythical creatures and/or fictional characters.
-
A brain aged in frost for about 20 years or so.
-
A confusing and biologically improbable family tree.
The rest of the list was written in more illegible text. Next were the thankfully more readable instructions.
\
-
The ingredients will appear in your dorm after you’ve retrieved your forgotten bag from theatre class.
-
Inquire why the ingredients look like they are in a hurry.
-
After they tell you they are going to theatre class, inform the ingredients they are late by half an hour, for about two minutes.
-
Watch the ingredients scurry out of your dorm repeating the words, “Oh gosh, oh geez.”
-
Chill the dish and serve.
\
Leaf was there too! The dog was overjoyed, he managed to find their next lead after all.
He went out of the kitchen, letting Fraise dream in peace as he closed his eyes, and the world around him began to disappear and he was met with the chill air of Dorm 4 on his physical fur.
“Well? How’d it go?” The potted plant on the windowsill spoke.
The two looked at each other for a minute before Deg hopped up from Fraise’s bed and spun around on Leaf’s, panting with a wagging tail.
“Awesome Deggy, good job! That must mean you got a clue! And he’s right here too, so we don’t have to go too far-” As they spoke, Leaf stirred in his bed. He was hugging a rather large pillow and mumbled something into it, though neither of them could understand it. Nova held two leaves to where their mouth would be on a flower. “Hehehe… I should probably keep quiet. See you on the flip side buddy!” The plant jumped out of the window into the darkness of the night, only to reappear in the air as its leaves were spinning around like a helicopter and flying away to keep watch from a safe distance, leaving Deg to do his work.
The dog gently maneuvered around the bed and stood before the snoring Anthro. Once again, he laid beside him and closed his eyes, his form disappearing from reality in a puff of smoke as the world around him spun into darkness, and reformed again inside the dream.
Deg found himself in a landscape of white. At first glance, it seemed normal enough. Perhaps the dream was still starting to form, like last time. The Shiba started to think it might take a while before he would be placed in some outlandish scenario.
It didn’t take long, though, to realize he already was in the dream. The whiteness—it was moving. Moving fast. Faster than he could run in the waking world. Like an unrelenting gust, it was unnoticeable but powerful, almost sweeping Deg off his tiny little paws before gripping into the cold, malleable floor.
He never felt something this frigid before, but from what his humanoid friends watched on television, he could only assume where he was. A snowstorm.
The canine swiftly altered his form, a small Shiba Inu was certainly not fit for environments like these, but a husky was perfect for the job. He could already feel the relief, effortlessly traveling through the thick snow of what he guessed was a mountain or a steep hill. His only concern now was to not bump into any trees.
Deg climbed the mountain for what felt like eternity. Nothing appeared to have changed in the white wasteland of snow and ice. The only sounds that accompanied him were the howling winds and the muffled sound of his footsteps crushing the snow beneath.
Maybe it’s one of those environmental dreams? The dog thought, looking back from where he came. His footsteps were already concealed by a new layer of snow. If that’s the case I can’t do much of anything.. maybe it’s best for me to retreat. But…then I won’t have any leads. What should I…
Just as he was about to lose hope, something caught his eye. A small glimpse of lantern light, deep inside the storm.
Finally! Deg barked to himself happily, though fully capable of vocal speech. As he strode towards the faint light, Deg started to notice the storm was getting worse the closer he came to the light. The pure white of the snow grew darker and murkier, and darkness fell unto the dream just as Deg arrived at the origin of the light: a small wooden cabin in the middle of nowhere.
Not wanting to risk staying outdoors, the canine made his way to the entrance, unsure if anyone was home. Although, where would Leaf be if not inside this horrible storm? It was his dream, after all. He found a small window near the door and peered inside the tinted glass. Sure enough, he saw the anxious mound of green fur inside, sitting by the hearth of the cabin’s fireplace. He was covered completely by fuzzy looking blankets with only his head popping out if it, and his paws were holding a book Deg couldn’t read the title of.
Just looking at the rox made Deg realize
he was freezing his tail off. He hurried to the door and attempted to knock on it. This, consequently, prompted a crashing sound coming from within the cabin.
“G-GO AWAY!” Leaf’s terrified voice cried from within.
I should’ve expected that. Deg sighed. He’d be terrified too if he lived in the middle of nowhere and suddenly there was a knock on the door. He began to worry getting inside the cabin would be harder than getting close to it.
“Leaf! It’s okay, it’s me, Deg!” He cried out, hoping his voice would reach to the boy through the loud wind.
“D-deg? Don’t bring Deg into this! Quit messing with my head!” Leaf stammered, his voice quivering more than the freezing dog outside. “G-go away already!”
Who’s bringing me into what now? Obviously, Leaf wasn’t convinced he was talking to Deg. He had to prove himself. The husky then turned back to his waking form, as bitter the feeling as it was.
“Please listen to me! I’m the adorable Shib Skyber and Nova and Pearl have in Dorm 2! I’m not part of this world, you must believe me!”
“That’s exactly what a shapeshifting Rox-eating monster would say!” Leaf retaliated. Although to Deg’s surprise he could hear footsteps coming to the door.
“Firstly, I have no idea what a Rox is!” Deg said. “Second, there’s no shapeshifting monster to begin with! This is only a dream, I came here because I need your help!”
“A-A dream?” Leaf said quietly. As soon as the prospect of this all being a dream occurred to him, everything started to make sense and he realized this in fact was a dream…
With the Rox calmed, the storm seemed to die down along with it. The dark clouds backed off and turned a less intimidating white, the snow grew less heavy, and patches of sky started to come into view until finally the air was clear. Before the two of them opened up a view of rows of beautiful mountain ranges, covered completely in a thick white blanket of fluffy snow, with green peaks of trees that miraculously missed the terrible storms earlier.
The Rox stared in awe at the view surrounding him, what not a minute ago he had thought to be a dark void of storms. Such a mesmerizing spectacle—he could’ve gawked at it for hours if he wasn’t distracted by Deg running excitedly around the small cabin.
“This view is incredible, Leaf!” panted Deg, noticing Leaf had been staring at him instead of the mountains for two laps straight. “Even I can’t shape such landscapes! Are your dreams usually this beautiful?”
Leaf laughed shyly, holding the back of his head. “S-sometimes on nice days, I remember my dreams are actually this pretty… I can’t remember most of what happens but I always remember this view.” He turned back to the mountains. “Uncle always talked about the mountains when I was young. I want to see it for myself one day.”
As Leaf spoke the ground shook. Deg gripped onto the snow to not lose his footing, despite the shaking not being more than gentle vibrations. He noticed some of the mountains in the distance were.. changing? Snow was falling off of them, changing the shape of the peaks. One of them took the shape of Leaf’s head, only he appeared much younger. The other took the form of a different person with much more Avian features: Uncle, Deg assumed.
“You said you came here because you needed my help…? Couldn’t that wait until I got up or something? T-This feels a bit invasive..”
“Sorry Leaf, but this is urgent,” Deg started. “I was informed you were in theatre class yesterday, right? Did you see anything unusual or suspicious?”
“That all of a sudden… uhm.. Well…” Just like last time, as Leaf began to recall his memories, the dream changed. The mountains began to move and shift, changing their forms to appear as enormous pawns that played out Leaf’s memory as he spoke.
“I didn’t spend too much time at class, I realized I was really late and by the time I was there it was already o-over…” The mountain of Leaf stood alone in an empty sky. Although, Deg could spot another mountain standing alone far far away, staring at Mount Leaf. Deg squinted his eyes, trying to make out the details of that mountain.
“A-And worse of all, theatre is so creepy when no one is there! Such a big s-stage and rows and rows o-of empty seats.. It’s like someone was watching me…” Snow began to fall from the lonesome mountain as Leaf described his fears forming a large, non human head with no nose, three eyes…
And tentacles running down to its base.
The Dreamweaver gasped dramatically. “I should’ve known!” he said, quickly turning towards where he came from. The world around him once more broke away.
He awoke on top of the bed. The dorm was now completely silent, and Leaf was sleeping peacefully like a log. With a confident smile and a new drive and lead, Deg walked up to the window, and turned his gaze to the night sky.
“Hey!” A snake with white beady eyes called out to the dog, slithering up to the window he was looking out of. “Did you get anything worthwhile?”
Deg barked. Hopping up to the window, he stretched his paw out and drew a “D1” on the fog-covered glass. Which was surprisingly easy to make out, considering how cold the room was.
“What’s that, Deggy? We need to go to Dorm 1?”
He nodded frantically. Nova shifted back into their usually ecstatic self. “Then there’s no time to waste! Hop on, my canine compadre!”
Opening the window a little too loud, Nova took the dream hopper by the arms and soared away into the night sky. They flew off in such a hurry, they neglected to close the window on their way out.
The three members of Dorm 3 sat on their beds, looking at the window in complete silence, trying to comprehend what just happened. Hugo brushed away the lock of hair that he usually braided and snickered.
“It’s a dog eat dog world out there… And we’re the dog food!”
A pillow was thrown at him.
Three windows down, the flying duo reached their destination. The night sky was about to brighten up—the first sign of dawn approaching. The lights inside the room were unsurprisingly on.
Peering inside, the two dream rangers spotted Splats laying on the floor in her pajamas, her expression exhausted and a scowl on her face which was half covered by long bangs of messy orange hair. They could hear the yelling from outside.
“Come oonnn!” cried Splats, “We have to do something or else I’m going to fucking lose it!”
“I don’t want to keep playing truth or dare, if you pull that box out of your bed again then I’m going to lose it!” Knowledge cried from the ceiling which she made herself float to. “Besides, what are you going to do? Yell? YOU ALREADY ARE YELLING!”
“Ugh…” Carrie murmured from within her covers. “Not only have you kept me awake through the entire night, now you insist on yelling! The things I would do to you if I was not… so… “ Carrie yawned loudly. “Tired.”
“Says the only one who can actually sleep,” Splats snapped, sitting up. “The two of us are suffering and you complain you can’t sleep? You’re probably enjoying this. Look, I can already hear it: ‘Oh yes, their suffering will make a great offering to the great spoiled calamariii,’” She mocked, falling back to the floor.
The two outside the window looked at each other. It was worse than they thought. Nikki never said Splats and Knowledge were in her class, yet here they were, most likely affected by the Electi responsible. They realized whoever they were looking for was out of his mind.
“I am not nearly awake enough to be offended. Obviously, great Lord Cthulhu, the Great Dreamer, is securing my dreams since I am so devoted. Maybe if you were to follow him, you would have been spared from this curse. Alas, you’re foolish and are suffering greatly for that.”
“Maybe it’s not too bad to give it a try…” Knowledge murmured, causing Splats to get up entirely.
“What?! Don’t give in Knolly! That was your plan wasn’t it?!” She pointed to the squid mask rather than the woman as a whole. “Make us lose sleep to get more souls for your calamari god! I would rather pray to Skyber’s toenails than that green bean!”
“I thought she didn’t have toenails?” Knowledge squinted.
“JUST AS THERE ISN’T A CALAMARI GOD.” Carrie slammed her fists on the bed frame, which made too much of a creaking sound than it should’ve. “YOU WILL CEASE YOUR INSOLENCE, HEATHEN! DON’T SPEAK HER NAME IN MY VICINITY!”
“Sheesh, this could go till the sun goes up!” Nova then twisted their head backwards as an owl would. “And it already is! We have to get Carrie to sleep! But how…” Nova stroked their goatee.
Deg stroked his… fur. Well, he would if he had opposable thumbs. There had to be some way to separate the girls from his target. But Nova had a point: How?
“I’m not doing that,” Skyber’s harsh staticky voice spoke from the other end of the line.
“C’mooon Ber-Ber! It’s the only way we can empty the dorm to get to Carrie! And before you ask, no, you can’t just go in and beat her up, we have to make sure she was the one behind it to begin with!” Nova spoke to their smartphone which Deg barely managed to hold.
“What am I even supposed to do? Do I look like a babysitter to you? And for the love of my hat, why me?”
“They’re not babies! They are childish adults! You’re the only one Carrie wants to do nothing with. I just need you to keep the girls busy for a little bit while Deg gets the info we need. Just… make them pancakes or something, I dunno.”
A growlish groan was heard through the phone. “Fine. I’ll be there soon. Pearl! Put some clothes on, we have a job to do!” The call ended. Within a few minutes, Nova spotted Splats moving from her spot on the floor. The redhead opened the door and saw half of Skyber’s body behind it. The two were talking for a while and finally Knowledge floated down from the ceiling, leaving the room with Splats to follow Skyber and Pearl. Carrie was left behind as planned.
Whatever that was, it worked, Deg thought. Now all we need to do is wait for Carrie to fall asleep and-
“No time for niceties Deg! LET’S GET THIS BREAD!”
The dorm window was suddenly opened. Carrie lifted the covers from her mask, but before she could question why the window was opened and who was yelling about bread outside, she was met with a seafoam gradient colored rocket launcher, firing a dog straight into her face.
With a surprisingly soft impact and a puff of smoke, the world around them spun into darkness, and Deg found himself in an empty void. This is as early as Deg has ever entered a dream, he was surprised he even managed to make Carrie fall asleep so effectively—although this could’ve been the result of her prior exhaustion, or the impact, or a combination of the three together.
Slowly the world around him began to build itself. A fire was lit in front of him, followed by a rain of bricks, materializing out of nowhere and swimming in the void like a school of fish to construct a fireplace and a chimney. A polished wooden wall rose from below, standing tall behind the fireplace and multiplying it’s facets to construct a room that was lightened by the warm fire. A chandelier suddenly fell from the ceiling, stopping mid air by its chain. It dangled back and forth, the embers from its wax candles falling gracefully on the floor and shaping into furniture and decoratives. A green rug, matching couches, a large bookshelf filled to the brim with books of all shapes and sizes.
A window opened in one of the walls, giving Deg a view to the vast, corrupted landscapes outside, filled with enormous tentacles that emerged from the earth, separating huge chunks of land. Floating eyes emerged from their flesh, wandering aimlessly in the murky air, looking down at the dying grass below and the bleak world outside. Deg was completely content staying inside this room.
“What is the meaning of this, Furred One? Or should I call you the Invasive One from now on?”
One of the eyes flew into the room from outside, it’s viens replaced by green tentacles. It spoke to him. It glared at him. It laughed at him. Deg was mortified.
“I-I—” Deg stammered, taking a step back as the large floating eye judged him. “I- I am looking for Carrie, please don’t m-mind me.” If he wasn’t a dog he would be sweating bullets. More eyes from the outside turned to look at the dog.
“Carrie…” The eye spoke. “Individuals matter not, Deg. Outside they may present themselves as such, but all of them are simply long, connected branches of my will. You may speak to one, but in reality they all lead back to me.”
“…Y-you don’t mean—are you?!”
“Yes, my child. I am the great dreamer, the high priest of the great old ones, The Sleeper of R’lyeh; the one your kind calls Cthulhu.”
Deg was frozen in his place. As much as he tried, he couldn’t leave the dream, nor could he conjure anything to fend himself—he completely lost control. His fear consumed him, the Shib was trembling in his paws as he could do nothing but stare at the eye and pray for mercy.
The green tendrils of the eyes grew with a squishing sound, forming a humanoid body made entirely out of green, slimy tentacles with eyes opening within it’s flesh. It fashioned the form of a woman wearing a long dress, the large eye acting as the head growing a pattern of familiar tentacles.
“In any other case, I would punish the likes of you for showing such irritability in the presence of a higher being… but seeing you are an invader of dreams such as I, this once I shall spare your life and honor you by listening to your pleas. Perhaps I might even offer you what you seek, for a price.”
Thank the great biscuit above, I’m alive!
“Y-You see, Mr. Dreamer sir… I-I was sent here to retrieve information r-regarding a problem we are facing—a great number of students have been suffering from insomnia, and we think there might have been an Electi behind it and… n-no offence, Sir Lord Mr. High Priest, but we think it might be C-Carrie’s doing…!” Deg closed his eyes, expecting to be smitten in place.
After a few moments of silence that felt like eternity, Cthulhu finally spoke.
“Foolish little dog…” The Old One laughed slowly. “What would I gain if my subjects cannot dream? I lay madness upon the mortal realm, but I will not cause anything that would damage my will.”
“C-Carrie didn’t do it?” Deg opened his eyes in shock. “W-Who could it be other than Carrie?”
“Ah ah ah, little one.” The Carrie-like avatar of madness stepped closer to the dog. “I’ve told you enough for free… my kindness only stretches so thin. I know the answer to your desires, but I demand something of value in exchange.”
Deg looked aside, furrowing his canine brows. “I am but a s-simple dog, I don’t have much to offer someone such as you.”
“That is where you are wrong, my child. You were sent here, weren’t you? You were accompanied here by the Empty One… which means you were sent here by her. The False God.”
“Skyber?”
The world rumbled violently. Parts of the ceiling began to fall as the tentacles outside thrashed wildly, ripping the ground to shreds and causing pieces of it to fall to the void below.
“DO NOT DISGRACE ME WITH HER FOUL NAME!” Cthulhu shouted, the iris of the avatar of madness shrinking in an enraged glare.
“I’m sorry!” Deg squealed, flatted on the floor and shaking like his life was about to end.
“In exchange for information, I will give the False One an opportunity to start redeeming herself. Have her act upon my bidding, and by that you shall repay the price you owe me. My branch you call Carrie shall forward my commands upon her. What say you?”
Deg gulped. I’m sorry, Skyber…
Not seeing any other option, he held his paw out. “I accept your offer,” Deg said with all the courage he could muster. “She will know of this exchange by the time you awake.”
“Good…Good…!”
Tentacles burst out of the floor in a violent shake, they lashed out at Deg before he could even notice. He was completely entangled by them and by the time he mustered a yelp, they impaled his head- filling his mind with vivid visions. Theatre class.
Behind the stage.
Watching. Studying.
Mortals participate in a pointless effort to entertain themselves.
Loud, Annoying.
One of them glares at the Prideful One with an envy filled glare.
He fumbles with the machine of fog and smoke’s creation.
Forgotten bag of the Envious One lays on the cold floor.
Class ends. The Cold One enters late.
Almost spotted. Hide.
The Cold One leaves in a hurry.
Exit through the backstage door.
Take the bag as a sacrifice, may its contents serve the Great Old One.
“Return to Benjamin Matthews III of Dorm 27” written on a fancy note.
What a shame to be him.
Deg felt an unbelievable force pulling him from the world. It was as if he was being ripped out of the dream, something he’d never experienced before. Was this still Carrie, or something much bigger than herself inside that mortal body? Or even more terrifying: was such a mortal mind able to imagine itself so powerful it became as such in reality? He couldn’t figure it out before he was already back in the real world. Carrie lay sound asleep on the bed.
“Did we find our guy?” Nova asked Deg, hacking away on a high-tech computer in detective attire. “We can’t let a case like this run cold!
They were right. If Deg was planning to find the culprit before the other students woke up, he needed to do it now. Who knows how many more victims this kid would affect in the morning?
Looking out from the window, the aforementioned morning was coming up fast. Deg leaped onto the getaway flyer’s shoulders, barking incessantly at the direction they needed to go. Had Carrie not been an expert at sleeping as well as dreaming, it would have surely woken her up.
“You sure he’s a floor above us? Alrighty-o, you got it dude!” Nova held a thumbs up, cartoonish props gone and back to normal. “Going uuuuup!”
Holding on tight, Deg felt the rush of flying out his second ever windowsill. Benjamin Matthews III of Dorm 27, here we come!
“This is it, buddy! Our adventure’s coming to an end!” Nova assured a nervous Deg as they swooped by the Dorm 27 window.
They looked back, and the skies were already brightening up. The sun should peek out any minute now. “We’re running out of time though, make it quick! Nineteen pages is long enough for one adventure!”
Nova opened the miraculously unlocked window and peered inside. This looked like a relatively common dorm, and there was only one student sleeping soundly in his bed. He resided between two other beds, one of which completely covered with crystals. Nova could feel sweat running down their forehead, urging them to work faster once they realized this dorm spelled more bad than they imagined. Leaning closer, Nova got a good look at the sleeping student’s face.
He had a tanned complexion, a blushed nose, and hazelnut hair done up in a pompadour. He was certainly not unattractive to the average student, yet it was probably due to the makeup he wore to sleep for whatever reason.
Beside the bed frame sat a vintage brand of backpack, which he neglected to zip closed. He was storing a reusable metal water bottle with stickers all over it, an equally decorated MacBook laptop, a playbook to last year’s Newsies play, and a…miniature fog machine? This was getting weirder by the minute.
“How rude,” Nova commented. “He drives everyone else crazy with his insomnia ability, then he gets to sleep like a baby! Even babies sleep less comfortably than him, and I’ve met a lotta babies!”
They rested Deg down on the floor and nudged him encouragingly. “Go get ‘em, tiger! I mean, Shiba! Show him who’s boss! And also teach him not to put others’ well being in jeopardy, preferably.”
Deg could have been a little less apprehensive, but he caught himself shaking nonetheless. They’ve been tracking this guy all night, it would be awful if he somehow screwed it all up now…
No. He wouldn’t mess up now. Not after all he’s done so far. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t allow it. Mustering up his courage, the dream hopper hopped up to his final target of the night (soon to be morning), and pushed his focus into Benjamin’s mind, his form warping and dissipating until he was inside the boy’s mind.
He rematerialized into a rather strange circumstance. What lay before him was an auditorium filled with students and a tired teacher directing them. She didn’t seem affected by any ability, she was probably just overworked. And for good reason. The students seemed rowdy, jumping all over the place as if they were high off caffeine that the teacher needed much of at the moment.
This must be the theatre class Nikki was talking about, Deg thought as he looked around Benjamin’s dream, trying to find the man himself.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to look too hard. The class was dimmed and a large spotlight hung over a guy standing proud on the large stage with a flashy outfit. Benjamin posed with a smug smirk that would put Splats to shame, with the crowd erupting at every bow he performed.
Deg didn’t know what to feel about this. Any other person would laugh at such a pathetic dream, but he couldn’t muster it. He simply felt sad for the guy.
“Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night ‘till it be morrow,” he quoted as he made his way backstage with the crowd blindly cheering him on. Deg jumped on the stage, as expected the crowd continued to cheer for Benjamin, not paying any mind for the dog. It didn’t surprise him that this dream revolved around him and only him.
Only the dreamer himself noticed the unexpected visitor once he entered backstage uninvited.
“What’s this? A puppy?” Ben turned to Deg, a warm smile on his face. “Aw… look at you! Sit boy!”
Deg sat on the floor.
“Shake!” He held his hand to Deg, he placed his paw on it.
“Good boy, well trained I see! Speak!”
“Hi there!”
“AAAH!” Benjamin jumped back, his arms flailing in the air. “You can talk?!”
“When the time is right, yes. I’ve come to talk to you, Benjamin.” Deg scratched behind his ear with his hind legs. “I know what you’ve done last theatre class.”
Benjamin’s face fell, his brows furrowing in sudden anger. “Who are you gonna tell? You’re not exactly real, mind you! Or rather, mind me! You’re just some… some illusion of the mind making me feel bad! I can’t believe I mistook you for a smol bean, yet now I see you’re but a vicious hound!”
Deg blinked. What a strange mix of Nova-speak and Skyber-speak, he thought. “So you admit it was you, then. Why did you do it? What were you trying to gain? Was it because of your jealousy at Nikki?”
Ben stomped forward. “You already know why! Quit messing around with this interrogation BS! Everyone knows that boobs-for-brains doesn’t deserve the lead role! It should’ve gone to someone more deserving, it should’ve gone to me!”
By this point, the dream had narrowed down to just Deg, Benjamin, and the small cubic space they were standing in. It wasn’t easy to imagine an entire artificial memory when you’re stuck arguing with a dog.
“So you sabotaged the play with your ability in order to make her too exhausted to play the role!” Deg accused. “You were the one who tampered with the smog machines and injected your insomnia gas so nobody would suspect a thing! And you took it out on everyone else just for good measure! You even affected fellow students who were never in your theatre class to begin with! How could you, Benjamin?”
Benjamin stepped back. “I-I couldn’t just… walk up to her and blow my load—wow, that came out wrong. Y-YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN! And—Wait, you said people that weren’t in theatre were affected..?”
“Yes! You must have been so caught up in your nefarious schemes, you lost sight of your true objective! You’ve been causing many innocent people much distress, Benjamin. People throughout the school who have never met you before cannot have a good night’s rest due to your pursuit of revenge! Can’t you see the error of your ways? Is this what you really wanted?”
The boy’s eyes widened. “Y-you’re lying. It can’t be true.”
“If you don’t believe me now, wait until you awake and see the damage you have caused,” Deg somberly replied.
The drama king fell on his knees, with his hands on his head. “Oh my… I- I’m-“ he whimpered. “I… I just wanted to show the world my talents… how can I do that with no audience? Who will see me perform if everyone hates me? Because of what I did to them?”
That was easy. Deg smiled. The dream suddenly began to collapse, the scenery for the final time today swirling around them until they simultaneously woke up.
Dawn had broken. From across a few rooms, alarm clocks were going off to annoy the early birds out of bed and to their morning classes. Nova sat on a chair, smiling and twiddling their thumbs. They saw Deg materialize back into the waking world, and with him came an awake and humbled Benjamin. Deg jumped off the bed and walked up to Nova, climbing into their lap.
“Howdy!” the void waved. “I take it your talk went well?”
Deg barked in response. “Oh, poggers dude! Great job!” Nova ruffled Deg’s head, his tail began to wag excitedly.
Benjamin looked at the two of them for a solid minute before he could muster a word.
“Y-you’re real?” He glanced at deg, and then looked up to Nova. “And who are you?”
“Eh, don’t worry ‘bout it.”
“Right, right… then it’s all true. The dream, what you told me, i-it’s all true! I’m a criminal… I can’t believe I was blinded by my jealousy and caused harm to so many innocent people! But no longer!” Benjamin suddenly got out of bed.
Nova was eating popcorn from a comically large bucket with multiple pairs of old 3D glasses on their eyes.
“Thanks to you, dream dog, I can finally see my wrongdoings! I’m a changed man!” He struck a pose with his hand in the air. “I am going to fix my mistakes and become an upstanding student of this academy, so people can finally appreciate me for my hard work and dedication! By my copy of the original Hamilton playscript, I WILL do it or my name isn’t-“
“Benjamin Matthews?” A voice was heard from outside the door with a gentle knock on the door. “Are you in there?”
“Dammit Oliver, we got a warrant. Let me show you how it’s done!”
BANG!
Three officers flushed the dormitory. One was a small, meek Anthro bunny, another was a much larger Lion Anthro in contrasting demeanor to the first, and the third was an old, white Wolf Anthro who was likely the commanding officer of the furry trio. Benjamin, surrounded by animals of all shapes and sizes, thought he was still dreaming.
“Hey, what’s going o- AHHH!” As soon as the kid pinched himself, he was tackled to the floor by the towering lion-man.
“Oh, gosh, be careful with him, Joan!” The bunny cried as his partner struggled to keep the suspect down.
Nova greeted the officers, though still confused as to what in Skyber’s name was going on. “Morning, coppers! Um, would you mind telling us what you’re doing here and why you have this poor boy pinned to the ground?”
The old wolf pulled out his badge. “Officer William Hagen. We received reports of suspicious behavior and malicious intent by this man right now, and we’re here to bring him to justice.”
“Reports?” Nova tilted their head. “By who?”
Suddenly, an all too familiar pastel-wearing girl ran into the room, her eyes baggy and red.
“That’s him! That’s the man who ruined my beautiful healthy complexion! Take him away boys!” Nikki pointed directly at poor Benjamin, who was too stuck in awe to say anything.
“Nikki?” Nova said. “What are you doing here?”
The tall girl crossed her arms. “Normally, I wouldn’t trust my life to a bunch of lowlife cops, but my lead role is at stake here! Plus my damn sanity!”
“No, I mean, how did you know it was Benjamin who caused all this?”
“I told you, already!” Nikki raised her fists in the air and took a prideful stance. “I have the greatest memory in the world!”
Nova and Deg stared around the room, taking in the situation. The officers took the boy away with Nikki following behind, and left the dorm in complete shambles. The duo remained, feeling in their gut they spent all that time and effort for nothing. After drawing a long breath, Nova had only one thing to say…
“Well, fuck.”