Chapter 22: Chapter 22 – The Climb
It was impossible.
No matter how long he thought about it.
It was just impossible.
Yet, Nick just couldn't stop getting excited.
He wanted to do it.
He wanted to try it!
…
But he would likely die…
Nick clenched his fists.
'I know it's a shit idea.'
'I know I will most likely die.'
'But I have to give it a go!'
'I just have to give it a shot!'
'Otherwise, I will never become happy!'
Nick took a deep breath.
Then, Nick silently swam over to the black domain.
Nick tried his best to move as silently as possible as he moved in a circle around the domain.
He poked his head into the darkness and looked at the ceiling from different angles.
Since Nick now knew what the Dreamer looked like, he could search a larger area of the ceiling.
However, even after searching for over 15 minutes near the edge, Nick still couldn't find the Dreamer.
'This means it has to be at the center.'
'It's probably even sitting on a part of the broken tower.'
The tower in the middle had several holes in it and a very uneven surface. Half of it had collapsed, while the other half supported the block of houses above it.
The Dreamer had to either be in one of the higher windows or on top of one of the two walls leading up to the ceiling.
Nick took a deep breath and looked for a good way upward.
'I have to move silently. This means I can't just jump from wall to wall.'
'I have to climb constantly and consistently.'
After a bit of looking around, Nick found a fitting spot.
'I can only climb the small windows at the tall front of the ruin. I think the tower is just one big spiral staircase in the middle, but I doubt that the spiral staircase is still intact.'
'I could attempt to walk up the staircase, but the Nightmare's illusions won't allow me to actually see where I'm going, and if I'm not careful, I might actually fall through a broken or missing step.'
'That would alert the Dreamer to my location.'
Nick just looked at the broken tower.
It was so enticing.
He could just use the stairs.
Nick sighed.
Nick couldn't trust his eyes in the darkness, and since he couldn't inspect the staircase from here, he couldn't risk climbing it.
He had to navigate blindly, and he preferred taking the difficult route he could see instead of the potentially easy route that he couldn't see.
'Luckily, there are quite a lot of windows.'
'Right to left for about three windows. Jump to the top right to grab the lowest one of the next floor of stairs and climb another three.'
'After that, two more windows will be above me and one more window above those.'
'There's a small chance that the Dreamer is in the two lower ones but a relatively high one that it's in the highest one.'
Nick went over this plan a couple more times.
And finally, he was done.
The plan was set.
Nick slowly swam to his starting position, which was facing the highest part of the ruined tower.
Silence.
Nick couldn't see the Dreamer right now, but he knew that it was there.
He knew that the likelihood of death was very high, but he had to do it.
Nick took a deep breath as he closed his eyes.
Silence.
Seconds passed.
Nick's eyes shot open, and he swam forward.
As soon as Nick entered the darkness, he closed his eyes again.
Then, he suddenly submerged!
Swimming on the surface was way too loud, which was why Nick decided to move forward while being about a meter below the surface.
Almost immediately, Nick felt several small fish glide across his body.
It was like Nick had been submerged in a thick vat of small fish.
The bodies of the fish disoriented Nick's senses, and he couldn't even feel the liquid around him anymore.
Was he swimming forward or downward?
He had already lost all sense of direction.
'The only thing I can rely on is my muscle memory!'
'As long as I order my body to continue swimming forward, no matter what, I will reach the tower!'
However, just two seconds later, Nick felt things around him change.
The mouths of the fish opened, and they started to tear into his body.
Right now, Nick was surrounded by a pile of swimming maws with terrifying teeth.
They were tearing at Nick's muscles, bones, and tendons.
The pain was horrible.
Nick's body kept shaking, but he just kept moving forward.
'This isn't real! This isn't real! This isn't real!'
'The pain isn't real!'
'It isn't real!'
Nevertheless, Nick felt like a dark void of hopelessness had opened in his chest.
'Just continue!'
Nick's flesh and blood were scattering across his surroundings.
He was dying!
But he continued!
He had to continue!
BANG!
Suddenly, Nick hit something solid!
'Did I reach it?!'
But then, Nick found an issue.
Was this actually the end?
Or was this another illusion by the Nightmare?
At this moment, Nick's emotions were going crazy.
Was he?
Wasn't he?!
In a state of panic, Nick did the first thing that came to his mind.
BANG!
Nick rammed his face against the wall!
Nick immediately felt his eyes water as his nose broke in several places.
'This feels real!'
The Nightmare's illusions were terrifyingly accurate, but when Nick compared the Nightmare's sense of pain with actual pain, there was something different.
Yes, the pain the Nightmare created was real, but there were some accompanying sensations missing.
For example, Nick had felt his entire head and mind vibrate when he had headbutted the wall.
Additionally, Nick had felt like he was about to lose consciousness for just a moment.
While the pain was the same, these sensations didn't exist when the Nightmare created an illusion.
'Luckily, the ruin is massive. The Dreamer shouldn't have felt that vibration.'
The next moment, Nick surfaced and grabbed the wall in front of him with his hands.
'I have to find the first window!'
In Nick's mind, he was rubbing against a huge wall as he desperately tried to find an invisible hole in it.
'Where is it?!'
'There!'
Nick felt something and pulled himself up with one arm.
'This proves that my ability is still active, which means the Dreamer hasn't noticed me yet!'
CRKSH!
The hole Nick had put his hand into suddenly sprouted teeth and was grinding it into a meaty paste.
Nick's eyes became bloodshot beneath his eyelids as he tried to ignore the pain.
After pulling himself up, Nick moved his hand to the left and jumped.
He knew where the window should be, but he didn't know where it was exactly.
CRK!
Nick's hand entered a hole, but his fingers hit the other side of the window, splitting the nails of two of his fingers.
Nick just gritted his teeth as he grabbed the window with his hand.
The fact that he could stop his jump with one hand meant that the Dreamer still hadn't noticed him!
The next moment, the wall seemed to split open, and Nick felt like he was falling through it.
'It's not real!'
Nick moved his bleeding fingertips to the left side and felt the scratching feeling traveling over his body.
He was still in the window!
Even though Nick felt like he was falling into a never-ending abyss of pain, he jumped once more to the left.
CRK!
One of Nick's nails exploded off his body as it hit the wall of the window again.
But when Nick felt that he could still pull himself upward with one arm, he became more excited.
'I'm doing it!'
Nick hadn't opened his eyes yet.
He had done all of this blind.
'Now, for the most difficult jump!'
After amending his plan a bit, Nick decided to jump to the second window in the second row.
The jump was a bit higher vertically but not as long horizontally.
Nick's knees bent down, and he gathered all his power.
The next moment, Nick jumped upward.
In Nick's illusory reality, he felt like he was jumping upward hundreds of meters.
It was impossible to tell how high he had actually jumped.
Nick felt the wall in front of him rapidly move as he desperately tried to find the window.
Fear and terror reached new heights.
CRACK!
When Nick felt the tips of the fingers of his left arm getting crushed, he felt elated.
The window!
Nick fell a bit, but he managed to grab the bottom of the window with both of his hands.
By now, Nick's left hand had become severely injured, with a couple of broken bones and destroyed nails.
He pulled himself into the window easily, which meant the Dreamer hadn't noticed him yet.
He was so close!
Nick quickly jumped to the left again as razors appeared on the wall in front of him, cutting his chest into pieces.
CRACK!
Nick felt the impact of his broken bones rubbing against each other and grabbed the window.
After pulling himself into the window, Nick's excitement reached new heights.
He was so close!
He could do it!
Instead of jumping towards the next window, Nick grabbed the last tube of Arclight.
The next moment, Nick opened his eyes.
A red hellscape of flesh and blades encompassed his reality.
Everything was being consumed by the Nightmare.
However, Nick's eyes only looked forward with determination.
Then, he threw the tube of Arclight upwards with all of his power.
BANG!
The tube broke, and the Arclight exploded at the ceiling of the dark domain.
For an instant, all the darkness vanished as a shining star seemingly appeared in the dark sky.
The hellscape vanished, and Nick found himself in the third window of the second row.
However, Nick's eyes immediately moved across the ruins above him.
'There!'
In the highest window, Nick saw a black owl with black eyes.
It was quite big, over half a meter tall.
At this moment, the owl was looking at the Arclight shining on the ceiling.
This was why Nick had thrown the Arclight instead of breaking it directly.
The Dreamer's attention would remain fully on the Arclight, and Nick would get a bit of time to reach the Dreamer with his ability.
As long as he managed to grab it without it noticing him, he could break several of its bones, turning it almost helpless!
When Nick saw his target, his eyes narrowed, and he immediately jumped upward with all of his power.
Nick easily and quickly grabbed the window directly above him, but instead of pulling himself into the window, Nick continued.
The Dreamer was now paying attention to its surroundings, and pulling into the window would take too long.
Because of that, Nick immediately pulled himself upward and threw himself at the Dreamer.
The Dreamer was still looking at the Arclight.
Nick was only a meter away from the Dreamer!
But then, he noticed that his jump hadn't been strong enough, and he found himself dropping.
Nick gritted his teeth and rammed his feet into the broken stone of the tower.
Some of his toes broke, but Nick managed to create a hole in the wall, making a foothold.
Naturally, that was extremely loud, and the Dreamer's head turned towards Nick.
But Nick had already jumped again.
Nick was flying at the Dreamer.
The Dreamer was turning to Nick.
Nick's hand came closer.
And then…
Their eyes met.
Nick managed to grab the wing of the Dreamer.
He pulled with all of his strength.
The Dreamer pulled its wing upward.
CRKSH!
Nick tore out a couple of feathers.
His ability no longer worked.
He didn't have enough strength to break the wing.
Nick's expression turned into shock and horror as he felt himself fall.
The Dreamer's black eyes looked into Nick's eyes.
'No!'
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