I quickly stowed the Looking Glass away, while scrambling backwards until I hit one of the off-white walls of the small room within which the boy slept.

  “Bastard killed Chris!” Panda exclaimed in outrage.

  “I WILL EAT YOUR FLUFFY FLESH, TRICKSTER!” Logan exclaimed, his voice like a fork scraping glass.

  “I think he might be talking to you,” I said to Panda, as the monster lunged forward with its sword arms.

  The resemblance to Logan was basically just the silhouette, as the face itself was without eyes, nose, mouth, or anything else to identify him by. His body did seem to match the original appearance that I’d first encountered him in, but it was like he’d been cast as a glass statue, with the hair on his head stuck in place and his arms warped into long blades.

  I dodgerolled through his body as he slashed for me. At the same time, Tina and Steve came into the white room. I had no idea if they’d seen what transpired from the other side or if the Venomancer had known something was wrong.

  Then I recalled Nina’s cryptic words from the past: “The lost child is found in the temple, when the crestfallen hero gets his revenge.”

  “You’ve gotta wake up the Dreamer!” Panda yelled to the two of them, when it looked like they’d try to join the fight.

  Steve kept staring at Chris’ bisected body with a mix of sadness and fear on his face.

  I put a hand to my chest and brought out my Soul Blade. A purple gummy trident appeared in the grip of my balloon gauntlet and I immediately shot myself towards the Voidspawn with a lunge of the spear.

  Logan swung for me with both of his arms, but the left blade was returned to sender thanks to Reflective Shell, folding back to strike him in the shoulder. The other blade tore through the side of my abdomen cleanly, just as the tip of my weapon struck the center of the Voidspawn’s body. Following the strike, my Soul Blade disappeared back into my chest. No matter how many times I’d already experienced the effect of ‘Damage.sleep(3000)’, it was hard to get used to the long delay.

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  Before the Voidspawn could strike back, I followed up my initial attack with a series of quick punches and jabs, then dodgerolled through its glass body and popped up behind it.

  As soon as it began to turn, a crater was formed in the center of Logan’s chest, creating ripples of cracked glass that moved across its body, which were quickly accompanied by a series of smaller craters appearing from everywhere I’d punched.

  The Voidspawn’s body exploded into a million balls of glass, plinking into the walls, bed, and the three of us. None of them hurt when they hit me, as though they weighed nothing.

  “That was easy,” I muttered, while I noticed how Tina and Steve’s attempts to touch the sleeping boy were ineffectual, thanks to a protective soap bubble that surrounded him.

  “Are you okay?” Steve asked me, looking away from the Dreamer. “You’re bleeding pretty badly.”

  “I’m fine,” I told him.

  The glass balls began to roll towards each other, before clumping together and starting to take on the shape of Logan again.

  “Spoke too soon,” Panda scolded me. “Voidspawn don’t follow the rules, remember.”

  “Then how the fuck am I meant to kill it?”

  TICKLE…

  TICKLE…

  Suddenly a bunch of black baby hands appeared in the air, before wrenching open a hole.

  “Hurry up and wake the damn child!” I yelled to Tina.

  Her bald head sprouted neon-green fiery hair as she replied, “Only the tongue of familiarity may lick the Lost Child’s ear.”

  “Eww, why did you have to phrase it like that!?” Panda exclaimed, while Arney was halfway into the small off-white chamber.

  “The only familiar tongue is Chris’, since they’re brothers, but I don’t think it’s literal!” I translated.

  “Fudge this!” Steve shouted, before pulling in a deep breath.

  Logan finished forming, but instead of heading for me, he leapt for the boy in the bed. Nina immediately moved to defend the child, conjuring a wall of neon-green energy in front of herself. I used SPRING_HEEL to launch myself forward to intercept, because I knew she would die to the Voidspawn’s attacks.

  Then a loud voice filled the room, right as Arney the Tickler had fully entered. “Steve Says: Wake the fuck up, James!”

  Challenge Complete

  ‘You successfully awoke the Dreamer.’

  Darkness overtook me, while a sense of falling pulled at my stomach and flared up the pain in my side.

  Then, suddenly, I was back out in front of the entrance to the bedroom furniture shop titled ‘Sweet Dreams’. Tina, Steve, and half-a-dozen other people appeared on the sidewalk next to the shop as well. The last person to arrive was a small child: Chris’ brother.

  A fluffy white pillow appeared in everybody’s hands. Several of the survivors slumped to the ground and started crying, but I couldn’t tell if it was because they were finally free or because they mourned the loss of their friends.

  I frowned. If I’d tried to properly understand Nina’s warning, I could’ve saved my best friend Chris.

  “You couldn’t have known,” Panda told me. “Also, why do you keep insisting he is your friend? The guy clearly didn’t want to join us.”

  I shook my head. “I’ll honor Chris by properly killing Logan the Voidspawn next time I see him.”

  “Sure, good luck with that. Also, what are you gonna do about Arney? He’s still on your trail, and I doubt it’ll be long before he figures out how to leave the Dreamscape and come here to tickle you.”

  “Maybe he’ll die permanently if I kill him in the real world,” I theorized.

  Tina and Steve came over with Chris’ little brother. The Venomancer was holding James by the hand, while he just looked around in confusion.

  “I got the CPS Flare,” Tina told me, handing me the item that was rewarded when someone interacted with a Wayward Minor.

  I took it from her and said, “Let’s not waste any more time. Bee is waiting for us.”