The man spoke with a venerable air, some words could be translated. The woman hugged the Duum and tried to pull a smile. A man in a white coat came outside, muttering under his breath.
The rest of the day passed as usual: disgusting soup, a lullaby and fuss around, attempts to learn the language.
And again the land of dreams.
Byumu had a gray appearance.
"Don't forget, but the chains are a vital safety net."
"I can't trust the first stranger I meet, can I? And the reliability of our "connection" is difficult to verify."
After removing the shackles, the monster began to warm up. The Duum transformed the area into a Temple of Arts.
"Shall we continue? The "danger"gesture."
Byumu crooked his fingers clumsily. Nothing has changed. [Most likely, the sight of such monsters is impossible to teach sign language.]
"Byumu, let's do a test. As a teacher, I need to know your memory skills."
A nod.
"Great, huh?"
The dream was interfered with again. The king removed the temple, two acquaintances found themselves in the middle of a flat white area.
The Duum furrowed his brows.
[Pretend you don't see me, okay?]
The king called the clone, and he prepared to turn on Absolute Invisibility.
The hatch in the landing appeared, but already another one. With a triangular edge and a bard color.
"Should we go there?"
"Khla," Byumu scratched his temple.
The King thought about it. The gray eyebrows tensed like stung maggots. And a dark gleam appeared in his eyes.
"Please, Byumu, check it out."
"K-khla?! Khlaa! Khlaa-khla!" the monster, trembling, went to the triangular hatch.
"Are you sure?" suddenly the clone turned to the original.
"In what?"
"He's a living creature, even if he doesn't have a physical body."
"Hehe, really? He just needs to open the hatch. The risk is not great. It's better to go to Byum and be a bait to distract attention from Byum in case of a bad turn of events."
The clone did not have self-consciousness and only stated an "internal dialogue", so he obediently obeyed the order.
"Byumu! Be on your guard."
Absolute Invisibility.
[To be a ruler means to have power.]
The king began to observe the situation like a lurking predator. Byumu lifted the hatch. A look of anticipation appeared on the face of the Clone of the Doom.
Through the clone, the king saw the darkness filled with smoke.
"Let's go," the clone descended.
The crunch of bones, the connection with the clone.
"Run! Byumu!" the king shouted, but it was too late.
A huge maroon hand flew out of the hatch and pierced Buma with its claws. [El-ludas! What a huge one!] A slight movement-the Bum tore off half of the belly. The hand shivered, as if cold jelly had been leaned against her skin. She shook her brush, trying to wipe away Byuma's blood.
Then the hand rotated the fingers at unnatural angles. The King dragged Byuma out of the reach of the bard's claw.
The many-eyed man cringed; stinking blood flowed profusely.
[El-ludas! Most likely, his regeneration is useless here, hmm?!] The king's bones shook. The maroon hand. The fingers pointed at the Duum. Only now did the tiny eyes on the fingertips become noticeable.
Nausea. Weakness. The Duum had nightmares, but there were no scary giant monsters in his world.
The king took Byuma by the scruff of the neck and ran, not looking back, not thinking about anything. But at the most inopportune moment, a shadow hung over the king.
"El... el-l-l!" - The Duum rolled over.
The huge palm collapsed. The ground trembled. The king looked around: the maroon hand stretched for a distance of a dozen carts. Blue veins pulsed along its entire length.
The King tried to shoot the Needle of Oblivion, but it did not work. The other arts have also become useless.
Knock! Knock! Knock! Fear. Despair. Knock! Knock! Knock! Grief. Bad luck. Knock-knock-knock! Clang-clang! The clang of claws, whose hunger is directed at the prey.
[El-ludas! Am I really going to die here?!] There are no ways to escape. The king tried to turn off his consciousness earlier in order to destroy the dream at the root, but this did not work either. It is impossible to oppose anything.
[There's nothing left.]
"Why did you come?!! the king shouted loudly."
The hand's claw stopped. The eyes on the fingers widened.
"What a stupid question."
[So a dialogue with these creatures is possible.]
"I've come to taste a rare Dream Traveler."
A clawed finger dug into the Duum's shoulder and pinned him to the ground. The hand twirled its claw, enjoying the agony of the victim.
"Hee hee, your face has turned pale, but where are the screams and pleas for mercy? Come on, shout! Just know, I'll kill you anyway!"
"And if I know about the existence of another world?"
"Um?" the hand stopped, "A phantom spirit? Again?! Ahem! In any case, I can extract information from you under torture. Hee-hee. Nice try. But a failure. What a pity!"
"Khlaa!" Byuma got up on his flimsy legs and swung his fist.
"Stop, Byuma!"
"Stupid slave."
A cut.
The monster's face split into two halves.
"Khl-hl-lah," Byumu fell and did not move.
The King was left alone.
"Hee-hee, stupid slaves die a stupid death. Oh, his blood stained my nail!" the maroon finger carefully shook off the stinking liquid, "Disgusting! The blood of a slave! It's disgusting! It's disgusting! You fucking Rubber Ones can only be cut and stabbed. Disgusting! I hope you finally died there, you stupid slave." the hand began to chatter frantically.
Byumu froze in a crooked pose on the floor, all wounded. Most likely, he will never rise again.
[To be a ruler means to sacrifice, my dear nephew Duum, to sacrifice and rule,] the words from the past rolled in waves.
The King was gray. [So the slave blood is not to your taste?] Duum grabbed the fallen comrade by the leg. [Sorry, friend.]
"Taste some blood!" the severed limb flew into the hand.
"A-a-a-a-a-a!" the maroon hand bounced off. "Disgusting! Disgusting! Disgusting! The blood of a despicable slave is on me."
"Your screams amuse me so much! Heh-heh. Get more! if I die, it will only be seeing the irritation and anger of the enemy."
The hand became quiet. Green stuff was running down my fingers. And they were trembling slightly.
"You know, your boldness in the face of death is like the God Sola. This is worthy of both admiration and anger. However, Mommy told you how the great lover of freedom ended up, didn't she?" Five cold eyes stared at the Duum. "Say hello to eternal torment."
"Come on, come here! Let's see what you're made of! Kh! A-a-a-a!" the most severe pain in life has reached to the very heart.
"What?! I..." the hand did not have time to be surprised when the white area began to turn into chaos.
[A pain that can resist my control? I can't even touch the master of the dream! Really, a bite of Ranon?! We need to get out.]
"Good luck! If you survive, don't worry: I, Yukimoru, remember your smell!" a hand shouted from under the disappearing hatch.
For a moment, the Duum woke up, screaming from unbearable pain and rapidly losing consciousness. But he managed to remember that brief moment of wakefulness forever. A pale woman. Blood-stained fangs. Oceans of fire in the frenzied eyes. Thirst. Blood. Aura. Death.
And the cry:
"I hate you!!!"
If it weren't for the blissful haze of unconsciousness, the Duum would have gone mad.