Caspian was unpleasantly surprised to find out that the water felt just as if not more unbearably cold than in reality.
It stung when stung every cell in his body scorching his flesh as he pushed deeper and deeper into the lake.
Soon he could barely see a thing. The entire lake was shrouded in deep exaggerated darkness.
Caspian could assume that it had something to do with how his younger self had remembered this moment.
He was only a child there for the fear and powerlessness must have warped his perception of reality. Now the water was colder than it should've been and the darkness was even blinding.
If that was the case… would what he had encountered here as a child worsen as a result?
If so he was already retreating his decision. But unfortunately, it was already too late to retreat.
Fortunately for him, it didn't take long till he found himself. Maybe it had something with him being the owner of these memories but either Caspian soon saw himself swaying in the water with his eyes open and bubbles escaping his pale blue lips.
His body at this point was still that of a Calamity. It would've taken up to a day for Caspian to die from lack of oxygen, meaning he hovered there in the dark with the horrifying discomfort of a suffocative death.
Watching himself drown Caspian's heart had begun to race. It was almost like he was reliving the moment, so vividly that he was suddenly that five-year-old self again, drowning and dying a slow torturous death.
He had replaced the young boy he watched drown, and when he looked up his older sledge was nowhere to be seen.
He was now drowning alone. He wrestled trying to free himself from his chains, all the while battling the mental pressure drowning caused. He couldn't see a thing he couldn't hear anything– besides the wet splashes.
It was suffocating.
Something like this was hard to un-live. He had no idea how he had managed to live above it but somehow he did. At least until he watched the lady light a smoke before throwing him into the lake.
That was enough.
He went further down the exaggeratedly deep lake, there was no escaping it. Caspian was going to die.
"You can't drown in your sleep silly."
Caspian suddenly heard, as soon as his mind registered the words that were spoken to him his eyes immediately shot open.
With that came air rushing into his lungs as he heaved laboriously.
Caspian was on all fours coughing and panting as he tried to regain composure. As he did he noticed something strange.
'I'm not even wet.'
How was that even possible? He had been submerged in freezing water mere seconds ago now he was out of it and when he looked back he could still see the lady in black with the cigarette still in her hands.
He couldn't wrap his mind around what had just happened.
"You can't drown if you don't want to. At least in here."
Caspian heard from behind, panicked he immediately turned to face the childish voice.
When he turned he saw a young boy with black hair and ruby red eyes. The boy was dressed in white and was the spouting image of Caspian. Only his black hair seemed to be alive dancing like some magical wind blew on it.
Caspian was stunned. He first thought it was one of Makima's, but that couldn't be true. This one seemed much less sinister, and it could speak.
It didn't look completely like the ones Makima had been sending, and neither did it look exactly like him.
"What are you?"
Caspian asked with a cautious stare.
The dark-haired Him seemed to think for a while before it said;
"I am a monster."
"…That's good to know. So what do you want from me?"
Caspian asked.
"For you to be a monster just like me."
"I'm good thank you."
Caspian replied as he rose to his feet.
'What the hell did that even mean.'
The eerie part wasn't even the strange bird-like gaze the 'monster' placed on him. It was how casually it spoke, it was strange.
The thing was he had no idea if the monster was a friend or foe. It hadn't really done a thing to hurt him, but it hadn't helped him out either.
It didn't speak like it wished to hurt Caspian, but he couldn't help but wonder what it'd do now that he had declined.
With how it kept gazing at him with wide blood-red eyes, Caspian couldn't help but shiver.
Just then the Him-named monster took a step forward, Caspian in turn backed off till his back was against a tree.
Monster only came nearer till they were face to face. Caspian was actively trying not to look into the monster's eyes, but the monster made sure they held each other's gaze.
"…Well there is no leaving here without becoming one."
The monster said.
"What do you mean by that?"
Caspian asked.
"You aren't in your head, you're in my dream world shaped like your head. Even Makima doesn't know this."
Monster said with a chuckle.
"I don't understand."
Caspian muttered. What did he mean by a dream world modelled after my mind? And even if it meant what it just said why would it ever?
"Wait did you do this to deceive Makima?"
Caspian asked as he took his back off the tree.
"Yup. Now you don't have to run around till she eventually consumes you. And trust me she would've."
Monster chuckled again.
Caspian watched Monster closely as he considered its words.
If all it had said was true then does that mean that…
"So she can't kill me?"
"No, she still can. But I won't just let her."
Monster answered as it looked around the forest.
"And how do I trust that you can? and what do you get in return?"
"Well, all I want you to do is tame that."
Monster said pointing to the lake, just then the water surged and out of it came to a massive paw.
"Wait what?!"
Caspian stuttered.
"And don't bother yourself about whether or not I can hold her off."
Just then the corpses that stood frozen all over suddenly began to move, their eyes stark white and lifeless.
"Dreams are my Domain."
Caspian first gazed at the monstrous figures that suddenly came to life like ancient engines and then, back at the young boy in white.
For a moment Caspian considered pulling the boy into the snow to hide him from the abominations. But then the chill that ran up his spine as he stared wide-eyed at the child named Monster made him decide otherwise.
It sounded insane but certainly Monster had all these fearsome creatures subjugated and they were all strolling in the direction Caspian had come through.
"So you don't have to worry about Makima, all you have to do is tame that."
Again Caspian's attention was drawn to the abomination that crawled out of the lake. It had pale bone-white skin with steel claws. Its back was hunched over like a fox with a similar fox-like nozzle, only this one had a single vertical eye radiating a sinister red glow at the centre of its forehead.
"My advice. Take him somewhere much more confined."
Monster said as it fashioned a blade out of thin air and handed it over to Caspian.
'What the?!'
"You're joking right?!"
Caspian stuttered as he alternated his gaze between the mirrored him and the one-eyed fox thing.
He would have honestly even preferred having to face Makima, but unfortunately, it wasn't seeming like he had a choice.
Gazing at the exquisite blade it had fashioned out of thin air, Caspian couldn't help but admit that he was certainly dealing with a true abnormality.
The blade itself was made of stainless steel with a golden hilt. The power it radiated was just ridiculous. Staring at the blade and then at Monster, Caspian couldn't help but shudder.
'Just what are you?'
Monster had this childish innocence around its mannerisms and gestures. But Caspian could easily tell that it was no regular being–at least in here, and the way it spoke most definitely couldn't be taken likely.
Caspain was in its world and its rules seemed absolute, for whatever reason.
Certainly, it had to have known that Caspian couldn't possibly do anything to harm that beast.
The abomination wasn't large but four meters could hardly be considered as small.
The thing was Monster never said it wanted Caspian to kill the beast. Instead, it had wished for him to tame it.
'If that's the case…?'
Caspian thought as he peered at the beast, then at the lake behind it.
"This world is just like the mountain?"
Caspian asked.
"Well, it's as vivid as you remember it."
Monster replied with a thoughtful expression.
'Wasn't it even sure.?'
Caspian thought with a sigh.
Either way, it still made sense, all he had experienced as he drowned in the lake could only be gotten from his memories. This meant that there had to be a relation between Caspian's mind and the dream world Monster claimed to be Sovereign over.
But if this world was truly modelled after his mind and memories, then his objective didn't seem too unattainable.
If he managed to make it to the base underneath the mountain, then there really could be many ways he could bind the beast.
He glanced at the abomination one more time as it tried to pass its steel claws through the ethereal figure of the lady that stood beside the lake.
The claws went through her like a bird cutting through the air. Yet she barely flinched, only lifting her lite cigarette to place between her lips seconds after.
Caspian ignored the strange phenomenon, passing it off as something that happened in dreams.
Soon he was circling the lake.
It wasn't long before the beast picked up on his activity.
Moments later he was running through the forest with an abomination locked in a demented frenzy chasing him tirelessly from behind.
Caspian was already heaving and panting laboriously before he found the massive maw that served as one of the many entrances into the government's underground base.
'Thank God mg trauma made it shorter than it actually was.'
He barely had enough time to stare at the eerie chasm that stood out from the white snow like a gap in space. Neither did he have enough time to shiver at the sinister updraft that spilt out of that gap.
He immediately ran inside, his steps echoing after him.
The fox-like thing was already upon him, curling its gaunt figure so it fit into the tunnels.
With how much it struggled Caspian could only thank Monster for first planting the idea to lead the vile thing into the tunnels.
Although it was still covering the gap between it and Caspian quite quickly. It was still being slowed down.
Caspian meanwhile only had his breath to focus on as he ran in absolute darkness. Sometimes he could feel something strange trying to pull at his legs, but he refused to buckle and fall.
After all, they were only the stuff of nightmares.
With how over-exaggerated his memories were it only made sense that the cave would be much darker than it had been. Even the creatures he could hear crawling about and trying to grab onto his feet were all constructs of the trauma he had developed climbing down to the base so often as a kid.
For as long as he could remember visits down here were a weekly occurrence and it only got worse the more Calamitous Will his body learned to harbour.
At some point, this had even been his home.
Caspian's mind was already stroking at deep mental wounds when suddenly he heard metal groan like it got ripped apart like cardboard.
When Caspain turned he immediately caught sight of the fox's claws tearing through the metal-plated tunnel as it struggled to pass through.
It was only a matter of seconds before it would befall Caspian.
A few moments later Caspian was leaping into the air trying to avoid the claws as they grabbed onto the metal plates.
It took careful consideration to avoid those claws.
One mistake and he could get sawed in half just like those plates, and he couldn't promise how long he could keep himself from error.
Soon hope shone in Caspian's eyes in the form of lights at the end of the tunnels.
These white lights, however, weren't rich and radiant like the golden glow he had heard the sun spilt constantly in the south, and in other events.
No, these lights were eerily bright and lifeless.
When Caspian finally leapt into the lit area, a massive opening with metal panels and strange contraptions received him, with the strange ceiling lights helping to push away as many shadows as they could.
Caspian rolled on the floor and immediately picked himself up with the sword Monster had gifted him pointing directly at the hole he had leapt out off.
Soon the fox was out too, its claws landing solidly against the metal flooring.
Caspian stared at it and then at the strange contraption that lay behind him.
"Come on then."
He said with a nervous grin.
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