Waiting patiently in line, I'd just counted my fingers and realized it was a dream. My classmates from highschool stood to my left and right. Teachers were giving us a talk about activities inside the mansion as well as information on our sleeping arrangements.
I let them talk, not wanting to upset the storyline, until they let us go. Everyone seemed to be obsessed with this balancing contest. I struggled to focus my mind on balancing. Sometimes in dreams it doesn't matter if it's easy or impossible in real life because in dreams anything can happen. You'll achieve nothing however if you can't concentrate.
I managed to beat the game first much to everyone's amazement but the students left to do their own things in groups afterwards. They all split up to explore the mansion. I took in my surroundings.
The floor was entirely made of wooden planks like the floor of a houseboat. The walls were thicker and beams held up the ceiling which had rafters bridging accross. Only, it seemed to stretch up and up. Higher than any wooden building I'd seen before.
Passageways and corridors revealed more and more rooms. There was no ordinary furniture to be seen but instead there were ledges and steps coming out of the walls and floors. Most of them led nowhere though.
Drifting from hallway to hall, I didn't find much else until I'd made my way in one big circle back to the starting room. The teachers were quietly discussing something important but I can't remember the words specifically.
Other students returned to the start now too. I began to see less and less of them so I assumed they'd found a cool hangout spot. Off in search to find the area they'd migrated to, I wondered if it had been one of the rooms I'd gone past but they were no where to be found.
Peering into rooms, I saw a guy walk into one but after having a look myself, he'd disappeared. Even after searching every crevice, there didn't seem to be secret passages or anything. I was scared that I'd soon be left alone in the dream so I rushed back to the start again.
There were only two teachers and ten students left. I made sure to stop anyone else from leaving once they'd arrived. It confused people but the teachers agreed as they were slightly worried as to why the other teachers hadn't come back yet.
Jess showed up too and although I was scared everyone would be gone by the time I'd got back, I had to explore alone to see why students were vanishing. Jess stayed back to make sure the others didn't run off.
Flying through the corridors, I explored every room and hall I walked into but there wasn't even a trace of humans left. The floors actually looked polished as though teenagers hadn't just stomped through here.
Turning around, some part of me wondered if I'd just missed something behind me. There was nothing of course because I'd been really meticulous with my search but when I faced the direction I was travelling in again, what waited for me was petrifying.
A wicked grin filled with black teeth all sticky with black goo. Fingers with untrimmed nails longer than my forearms. Dark, spiky hair dripped grey acid. An uncanny number of limbs. Uncountable. Every single one stretched longer than it needed to be.
My legs moved before my brain could make a decision. Steps backward evolved into a desperate run before I began putting up walls to keep it at bay. Reaching the main hall in record time, I sealed the other entrance too. "Do not under any circumstances leave the room!" I announced. Jess found me and I explained the situation.
Just as I'd finished my rushed recount, a blast tore through my barricades. I'd built them with magic and pulled together the toughest materials but they'd only bought the lives of everyone in this room thirty seconds at best.
The dust settled immediately as though the demon had ordered it to. Spinning a bar of holy power in the air, I slung myself forwards and threw the weapon like a boomerang. My adversary simply batted it back and I caught it myself.
Coming down on my enemy, the bar of light extended to a quarterstaff which I swung at their head. It passed through black fog though as the demon had already evaded my attack.
It was all I could do just to spin to my left and block the jagged sword it wielded. Serrated teeth went along the entire edge which was made up of tiers of thorns. It would certainly eat through more than flesh.
The attacks were unrelenting but for the first time not from my end. All my previous fights had cleared my head of most of the lower demons. Now agents of darkness higher up had a reason to come after me. If I'd have to fight hundreds of these one day, I couldn't see a universe in which I might survive.
Kicking the demon back, I snapped my staff in two and moulded them into twin blades. Now in a whirlwind, I could shred through their defences. Parrying and stabbing, holes began to appear in the husk until it exploded just like every other servant of darkness had before.
Sealing off the entrances again, I made it my priority to fit everyone into protective body armour and a simple dagger of light for now. Thankfully being lucid allowed me to alter clothes and appearances instantaneously. Maybe my classmates could take a hit from those things and if necessary kill one if at least by accident.
Jess had stayed back to protect the students in case another showed up but now I'd need her assistant as three came in from my side and another on hers. Sticking my blades back together again, I knew a staff would be more effective against multiple enemies.
I swung it in waves to fend off attacks while keeping them back. I summoned a dragon to assist Jess with hers but I honestly needed the help more so I rose a phoenix from the ground to keep at least one off me if even for a second. The students roared a battle cry and all tried their best to help Jess.
Spinning my staff of light, I went for their legs and just managed to snag the feet of the one occupied by my phoenix. Taking advantage of the situation, I unleashed a heavy attack to stop the other two from saving their companion before finishing it off with another from above.
The other two didn't look like they had been interested in saving them anyway but they did act more cautious afterwards. I wouldn't let up now though. Them being more cautious would just give me more room to breathe so I sent out magic missiles.
Their black claws were blurringly fast and easily destroyed them all. However, the smoke blinded them to my assault. I spotted Jess in the corner of my eye. She might not have the same power as me but her skill level wasn't far off of mine.
Together we took them out in a quick slash. A sharp blade of light appeared on the end of my staff and it beheaded my target. Jess swiped her short, curved sword with an inverse grip before switching hands and bringing it down using the ordinary grip in her other hand. She'd sliced her target in to three pieces.
The smoke dissipated and for what felt like weeks, I finally got the chance to just breathe and hold her in my arms. The dream faded too fast to the sound of my radio alarm playing early in the morning.