third dream 🌱 it's rising again

[multidisciplinary]

Sender: Zelda
To: Everyone
Subject: Passive Dream Recording
Warnings: Nightmare containing generalized descriptions of violence and death.

--

Zelda's dream begins on the final night of the flower festival. The last hints of sunset colors have faded and the inky sky is bright with stars. Without the light of the moon, the stars seem to shine unnaturally bright. Zelda and a few of her friends—Satan, Mammon, and Link—are sitting on a picnic blanket spread out atop a grassy rise. The group is sipping chilled sake and chatting idly while they wait for the flower fireworks show, which is just about to begin. (Thankfully, they are comfortably dressed in their normal attire instead of their ostentatious festival costumes.)

A spot on the horizon begins to brighten, a soft crimson glow slowly blossoming from the direction where the flowerworks are being prepared. Everyone's attention turns to the source and excited murmurs run through the gathered crowds. The flowerworks are promised to be an incredible spectacle to cap off an unforgettable festival and almost everyone in Reverein has turned out to see.

Before the show can begin, a sour burning smell tickles Zelda's nose, pulling her attention away from the horizon. She looks around for the source, wondering if someone has started a campfire. There's no campfire to be seen. But as she turns back to the horizon, she catches a flash of motion out of the corner of her eye. A single tendril of smoke rises up from the grass a few inches away from the edge of the blanket.

As she turns her attention to it, she catches sight of another one a few feet away, then another and another. Flecks of black ash and smoldering embers materialize out of nowhere, fluttering upwards into the sky as though gravity was suddenly reversed. The crimson glow on the horizon brightens, spreading out over the night sky and dying it in red and orange hues, like a sunset happening in reverse.

She knows what this is. She's seen it before. Her heart begins to beat faster and panic squeezes against her chest like two strong hands. Tension presses in on Zelda from all from all sides.

The air grows thick with smoke, causing Zelda and her friends to start coughing. Unsettled murmurs spread across the hillside as the other dreamwalkers start to notice the smoke and ash in the air. The entire sky has turned shades of red, so bright that the stars can barely shine through it.

Then, on the horizon, a red sun begins to rise again.

The hands squeezing Zelda's chest suddenly clamp down, crushing her heart and lungs in their grip. A choked gasp escapes her lips. No, not a sun.

"The blood moon...!" she rasps, voice hitching.

The red sun crests the horizon and comes fully into view, plain for all to see. It's not a sun, but a full moon, the source of the red glow brightening the night sky, with the same luminosity one would expect from the full moon on a cloudless night. But no one feels a sense of beauty or serenity as they gaze up at it—only a sickening dread curling in the pits of their stomach.

Zelda is the first to react, scrambling to her feet in a panic. She clutches her hands to her chest. Her heart races, thundering in her ears. "No, it can't be. Please, not here! I beg you! Not here, too!!"

A low, fearsome roar reverberates across the field, its source unseen, as if answering Zelda's pleas. She lets out a sob.

Suddenly, monsters materializes across the hillside, exploding into life from a swirl of black smoke and burning embers. The monsters brandish their weapons and howl, answering their master's call.

All around, startled dreamwalkers are leaping to their feet. Link jumps up immediately after Zelda, one hand yanking free the sword from the scabbard strapped to his back. He motions for Zelda to stand behind him, but the fear roots the princess in place. She squeezes her hands together, fingernails biting into her palms.

There's barely a moment to react before the monsters lunge forward to attack the nearest dreamwalkers. The dreamwalkers' screams join the chorus of roars and howls as battle breaks out across the hillside. But it's hardly a battle at all—more of a massacre. The dreamwalkers find themselves defenseless, bereft of weapons and dreamotion magic. They are easily overpowered by Calamity Ganon's hoard, slaughtered without mercy.

Link manages to fight some of the monsters off, but Zelda's group is beset on all sides. Satan and Mammon stand as if to fight as well, but also find themselves unarmed and magicless. A crowd of monsters rushes the group from the rear and a moblin manages to grab the two demons, one in each hand. With a roar, the moblin hefts them by their wrists above its head, boasting its catch. The beast opens its crooked maw, ready to consume them.

"No!" Zelda screams and dashes towards her friends. She throws out her right arm to reach for them, begging her sealing magic to stop the beast before it rips her friends apart.

But nothing happens. Her divine power ignores her pleas, as dormant as the day the Calamity befell Hyrule Castle and she was forced to flee with Link, leaving her father to his death.

"No!!"

The dream ends abruptly before the demon brothers can be violently dismembered and eaten alive. Zelda jerks awake in her own bed as she continues to scream.

--

( ooc: Zelda is having a nightmare of the rising of the blood moon, an event in Breath of the Wild that resurrects slain monsters. Here is a 62-second video of the event, if you want to see the visual effects in motion.)

Comments

Sender: Alastor

[lonelysmiles]

Ah, so that's what the shadow you mentioned looks like.

[He's deliberately not saying anything about the rest of the dream just yet. Giving her a moment to collect her composure in a rare moment of not being the biggest asshole in Reverein.]

look at him, being ~considerate~

[multidisciplinary]

[ A minute or two passes before Zelda even picks up her journal. Maybe she can get her mind off of this nightmare by reading the magic journal and seeing that the other dreamwalkers are alive and well. It's then that she sees Alastor's message.

Oh. Oh no... ]

You saw that?

[ Pleasepleaseplease be a misunderstanding. Please say no one saw that nightmare. ]

He'll find a way to even it out later. Like forcing you to help him eggsit.

[lonelysmiles]

I believe most if not all of us saw it. You do remember where you are, don't you?

Regardless, you didn't answer my question: The young man you were with was the shadow you mentioned previously, correct?

Someone needs to be a good influence on those eggs

[multidisciplinary]

[ A sinking feeling drags over her as she reads his response. It's been months since anyone saw any of Zelda's dreams. She was starting to think maybe her privacy was safe.

Apparently not. ]

Yes, I remember. I am still in Reverein, which means I am still asleep in the seal.

[ At least Zelda can be sure that Calamity Ganon's seal is intact. Her real self in Hyrule would certainly wake up if the seal broke. ]

And yes, that was Link, my personal knight. My own shadow.

Sender: Satan

[angelbirth]

[ After her nightmare is put on display for everyone to see, Satan tries to logic out the best way to approach the situation. Does he reach out to her and ignore what just happened? Tease her a little by telling her he's insulted that she thinks him so weak that he'd die to--to what, a puny gremlin? Does he go to see her in person?

After mulling it over, he determines that while it might make Zelda feel better if he pretends he didn't see her nightmare, it wouldn't do their friendship justice. If she doesn't want to talk about it, that's fine, but he realizes he can't just ignore what he saw. Plus, if he went to see her in person in the middle of the night with no warning, she would be well within her right so slam the door in his face. ]

I'll be straightforward: I don't really know what to write to you, but I wanted to let you know I'm here to support you. If you'd like to talk about it, we can. If you'd rather not talk about it, or would rather not talk at all, I understand.

Please know that I'm not trying to make light of your dream, but I'm a little embarrassed that such a goofy looking gremlin was able to best both me and Mammon.

[ Although he understands that, accurate it or not (and maybe it is accurate), nightmares are great at playing at someone's fears. He just really wanted to make her laugh, or yell at him -- to focus on an emotion that wasn't terror. ]

[multidisciplinary]

[ Now that Alastor has told her that her dream was shared through the lanterns, Zelda can at least hope that maybe Satan and Mammon didn't see it.

...

No, that just isn't her luck.

She feels an unwarranted sting of guilt as she reads Satan's words. She's tempted to reply back with an apology for the defamation of character he and his brother suffered in her dream, but holds back. In fact, that little jab actually gets a laugh out of her: a choked-up laugh/sob that encapsulates the weird mix of feelings swirling around her mind right now. ]

Moblins are more dangerous than they look, but I imagine a demon's true power would easily eclipse theirs.

[ His joke successfully cuts through some of the tension. ]

I would like to talk, if you don't mind. The distraction helps.

[angelbirth]

Oh, a Moblin.

[ Well, now he knows what it's called, although he thinks such an ugly creature doesn't deserve a name so cute. ]

While I'm not naïve enough to assume that I can demolish everything, it still hurts. However, I didn't actually see the aftermath, so maybe Mammon and I just

devoured them.

[ It took him a moment to think of another ending to her dream. Not that he would actually want to eat a Moblin. Eating its soul would be bad enough, if it even had one. ]

What kind of distraction are you looking for? I have a laundry list of complaints, but I'm not sure that's very fun. I would also be all ears if you had grievances to air.

[multidisciplinary]

[ Zelda tries to imagine Satan and Mammon devouring a moblin and her mind supplies her with two scenarios: one in which the brothers are able to unhinge their jaws to a comical extent and swallow the beast whole; and another where the moblin has been roasted and laid out on a dining table like a suckling pig, complete with an apple in its mouth.

Both images earn an amused snort from Zelda. ]

I suppose it's possible that you two were simply waiting for an opportune moment to turn the tides of battle.

[ The ever-rational Zelda doesn't truly believe what she's saying, but playing along is preferable to imagining the real outcome of that moment. ]

My grievances? [ There's a distinct pause in her writing. ] I don't believe anyone has ever asked me that before.

Sender: Isabela

[senorita_perfecta]

Hey excuse me, Miss: Are you alright from witnessing that terrifying dream? That entire scene has to be the scariest thing I have ever seen. And why is the moon colored red though?

[multidisciplinary]

I am

[ The sentence sits there for a few moments, incomplete, while Zelda tries to figure out how she is. She wants to answer "fine," but that would be a lie. "Upset" would be closer, but doesn't feel right. "Hurt?" "Scared?" "Miserable?" In the end, she crosses those words out and starts over. ]

I will recover in time. Thank you for your concern. [ She means it, but it has the double meaning of trying to put a pin in any more inquiry into her feelings. ] That was the blood moon. It is a phenomenon in my world that occurs every moon cycle and resurrects slain monsters.

[senorita_perfecta]

Oh, so the moon would turn red every moon cycle and bring back dead monsters to the world of the living?

(Just imagine the shock Isa is having from just hearing about monster resurrecting phenomenon. Maybe unknowingly sprouting flowers and cacti buds out of the blue at the treehouse she has found.)

[multidisciplinary]

That is correct.

[ For a minute, Zelda considers leaving it at that, but she decides she doesn't want to be misinterpreted as curt. Especially by someone she's never met before. ]

It was not always this way. The blood moon is a byproduct of the cursed power that currently controls my homeland. Our moon was perfectly normal before.

sender: phantom

[removal]

[ A nightmare. Somehow, Zelda's nightmare doesn't seem too out of place with his own. Fear, terror, despair and slaughter... at least Zelda did not kill her friends with her own hands. In that aspect, she was more fortunate than he.

Still, he'll send her a message, written in an elegant penmanship. ]

Lady Zelda, if you need a listener for your troubles, I am glad to be of assistance.

[multidisciplinary]

[ Zelda would be inclined to argue that her role in her friends' and countrymen's deaths is worse than Phantom's, but it's not a competition. Truly, it is the prerogative of survivors to feel guilty for living through fatal disasters. ]

I could not trouble you at this late hour, Phantom. Please accept my sincere apologies for troubling you with my nightmare in the first place.

[ She does actually want to talk, though... ]

[removal]

[ His reply is swift, yet his handwriting remains as near as ever - years and years of practice have hammered etiquette into his soul. ]

Worry not, you have not disturbed me, for the night is my home, far more than the garish light of day. I will be here for a few more turns of the hour, should you wish for the company, whether in person or in correspondence.

[ Translation: he's pretty much nocturnal. ]

[multidisciplinary]

[ Being nocturnal seems to be a running trend with Zelda's friends. The princess, who comes from a racially diverse kingdom, finds nothing unusual about this.

The instinct to be excruciatingly polite and insist that she doesn't want to impose on him is countered by a very real need not to be alone right now. ]

I am about to brew some tea. Would you care for some? You are welcome to bring Miss Christine as well.

Sender: Mammon

[stupidmammon]

[ Oh... what a sight to see this late at night. Very clearly something he knows Zelda wouldn't want to just broadcast to everyone purposely. It's not like he purposely watched it or anything! But... it honestly gave him flashbacks to his own past. When him and his brothers fell from the heavens, it was tragic like this... and Mammon was the only one pulled together enough (or feigned being pulled together enough) to take care of the others and their nightmares.

As Zelda's friend, he felt... like he wanted to do the same for her. She seemed like the type that found it hard to lean on others. ]

hey zelda.

i'm sneaking out for a walk. you wanna come with? i mean night walks are like the in thing now, ya know?

[multidisciplinary]

[ Zelda had been hoping against hope that at least Mammon might have slept through her nightmare, but luck just isn't on her side at all tonight. She's already dreading what complaints he must have about how grossly mischaracterized he was in her dream.

But when he ultimately doesn't even mention it, Zelda is left taken aback for a moment. A little feeling of hope flutters in her chest. Maybe he isn't really bothered by it? Or maybe he didn't actually see it at all? Either way, his invitation is too tempting to resist. ]

Yes, I would love to. My treehouse is very stuffy tonight and I cannot sleep.

[stupidmammon]

[ Unfortunately for Zelda, Mammon was more of a night owl, especially as of late. She wasn't lucky enough that Mammon didn't see what happened in her dreams, but at the very least she was lucky enough that he wouldn't bring it up just yet. ]

Hey cool! I was hopin' you'd say yes. I mean, I'd look totally lame if I went walkin' around on my own ya know?

Sender: Luca Balsa

[allegedprisoner]

[ Oh... Dear... That was horrid to witness.

It's a blessing he could identify the dreamer quickly enough. ]

Zelda, are you alright? Do you want me to pay a call?

[ Why does he feel like she's talked about a calamity before...? ]

[multidisciplinary]

[ If she wasn't so shaken up from the nightmare, Zelda would probably be delighted to see that Luca got her name right on the first try. She's always had the impression that he has a hard time with names. ]

Oh no, I could not ask that of you at such a late hour, Luca.

[ Or at least, that's what good manners tell her to write. Zelda stares at the words she's written for a moment before crossing them out. ]

Yes, I would like that. I am [ A pause. ] shaken, to say the least.

[allegedprisoner]

[ The fact that the names are automatically listed on network replies helps a LOT.

But that's not important. The fact was, he was about to write a somber response when he sees her reply crossed out and contradicting itself... This dream must have been a horrid one. ]

I'll be there as soon as possible. Could you send me your address in a private message, please?

Sender: Merisia Thenel

[likescaves]

[ Seven hells.

Merisia has lived through the calamity. She was there when Dalamud fell, when it burst open and Bahamut destroyed the Eorzea she once knew. For a moment, she thinks she's about to relive it. But this is something different. Different, but still just as terrifying.

When the scene abruptly ends, Merisia takes a moment to process what she's seen before gathering herself and sending a message to Zelda. Gods know after having a nightmare like that, she'll need some grounding. ]

Hey. Calm down.

[ Nailed it. ]

lol what is it with calamities and red moons?

[multidisciplinary]

[ A swing and a miss, Meri.

While Zelda doesn't normally take Merisia's brusque nature personally, this nightmare has triggered all of her worst traits. Gripped tightly by anxiety, the princess's usual feelings of guilt have skyrocketed, knowing that she has unintentionally inflicted her personal fears upon all the other dreamwalkers. ]

Merisia, please accept my deepest apologies. I did not mean to disturb you, especially this late.

apocalypses gotta keep with the trends yes yes

[likescaves]

[ She's never been particularly good at this sort of thing. Maybe one of her friends would know how to handle this, but Merisia...well, as much as she cares, she's no wordsmith. ]

Save your apologies. I don't need them.

Where are you? I'm coming over.

[ Luckily, she has just enough experience with dreamotion that she might not need to rely on words, necessarily. ]