"You Ericsson, will be a man of many things, whether great or terrible; such is the fate of men with eyes and minds as yours. Watch yourself boy and mind your tongue, lest you lose it."

Mr. Markarson, had said that to him the first day he had found him at age 5. The old man was full of it, but he was one of the few slaves that would take an orphaned child as his own. Now he didn't really have much of a choice on who to go live with but he could have been in worse care.

Still, things were never the same when the Oldman became Steward for the new Duke and Duchess of the Second Kingdom. Two years, he spent as a Steward in training with Mr. Markarson, and then the oldman died in a Dragon's fire.

The Duchess decided to pity him and raise him alongside her sons.

Then she died too, of an illness no one knew how to treat.

The Duke, per his wife's final request, still raised the children as siblings, trained them to take his place and then he all but abandoned all three of his 'sons' by later taking his own life.

He had always surpassed the expectations of the late Duke, and should the eldest son not want the title, then it was to go to the youngest, to him- except...

It didn't.

The Eldest became Rose and thus could not take the title of Duke. Right then and there, he should have been given the title but no, it went to Charles; the only one among them who did not care for the title at all. The one who ruined and squandered everything he had worked for.

He left, determined to start anew.

Brought into the Kingdom by that wealthy Old Farmer, under the title of Steward, he worked for three years. Then with the lonely Craftsman, where he had his first taste of machinery. It was then, that he began to formulate his plan.

A Dream Machine would be sure to impress Prince Roman and Duke Remus.

The plan was only a tad soured by the fact that the new Aspect of Sleep was formed while his plans were still in their blue-printing phase; however the Aspect seemed to have quite a bit on his resume. If he were to make friends with the Guardian, Sleep would let him handle dreams while he tended to his other multitude of duties as protector of the subconscious.

He later found that the Twins had a disagreement and had separated their power. Main Kingdom became known as the Prime Kingdom and it was split in two. The Dream Tower in the center of it all.

Thankfully it seemed as though both brothers had good standing with Sleep, who was now given the title of Marquess, which meant that if he were to make friends with Aspect he was a shoe in for a recommendation of- no promotion to- a higher title than Steward.

But first he had to get his Blue prints done and a prototype built, only then would he attempt to befriend the Aspect of Sleep.

By the time he had gotten his first prototype to exist, the Guardian of the Subconscious was already firmly established and the Dream Tower looked more magnificent and technologically advanced than it ever had. Frowning, He looked upon his pitiful machine that he pulled in his beaten up red wagon.

No, that would not do.

Biting his tongue and holding his pride, he carried the prototype home.

He'd come by again another time when the Machine was bigger and better and guaranteed to impress the Aspect he had yet to meet.

He worked to make the machine larger and far reaching...

He never expected to reach Her.

Technically the Dragon Queen was the reason he was born an Orphan at the Pens. But he had never met her and she hadn't personally done anything to him that he could remember. Still he was no fool, he did not like a Woman in charge, Witch, Dragon or Both. He would let her assist but he would do this his way.

The bigger prototype was better than he could ever imagine, the Dragon Queen's help was substantial...not that he'd ever tell her that.

Up to the Dream Tower he marched, Blueprints in hand; the machine much too big to bring along but the short walk into the subconscious with the Aspect of Sleep would surely be worth it.

The moment he entered the Tower, he marveled at it, but shook his head, the last time he had done so he had gone home feeling beyond inadequate. That would not happen again. Never again.

He went to the front desk and the young Emotion there had instructed him to find Patience and Serenity as they were the Guardian's right hands. For a moment he had feared that his plan to befriend the Aspect had just gone up in smoke, but he calmed once he learned that the two were Female. Of course Sleep would listen to a fellow man rather than the chatter of mere wenches. All he would have to do was feign respect and he'd be in the Aspect's good graces.

He found them, the two were carrying boxes filled to the brim with various potion bottles; some completely empty and quite a few with not but a spoon's worth of a splash of color within them. Odd, but since the two women were obviously struggling, he went on to assist Serenity, not willing to touch charcoal that was Patience's skin, lest he contract something from it.

Taking the opportunity, he was quick to sell his pitch as they reached the top of the stairs, hoping that this meager act of aiding the woman would get them to help him speak with Sleep himself-

"We're sorry, but the Lord will not be able to see you anytime soon, he's very ill-", spoke Patience.

He blinked, looking to Serenity for confirmation-

He all too easily received it from the sound of retching he heard as he approached a hallway.

"Oh Remy...", mumbled Patience despondently to herself as she overtook both him and Serenity to rush into the room down the hall.

For that split second moment that the door opened, the sound of retching grew louder and He couldn't help but wrinkle his nose.

Serenity then turned to him, "thank you for your help, just leave a copy of your blueprints and such with the front desk and I'll make sure our Lord goes through it the moment he is healthy and able"

Dumbly, he nodded and handed her the box before turning, descending the stairs, handing the front desk the copies and leaving. He wasn't too sure if things went according to plan, or even if the Guardian would be receiving the blueprint- though he figured that he would via Serenity considering that most wenches of her ilk were simple and honest.

He would give the Aspect a week's time for recovery...

Then again those boxes were filled with potion bottles, empty as they may have been, that could mean that the Guardian was either ill for a while or that his illness was serious. He narrowed his eyes, both meant that the Aspect of Sleep was weak. No, he would not deal with weakness, he would not stand for it.

Changing his plans he went to further improve his Machine, He was going directly to the Prince. If that failed then he would go to the Duke, who may just hire him on the principle that his brother didn't like the idea.
...

The Prince embarrassed him.

Enslaved him to a wench no more worthy than the dirt under his shoe.

He was angry, far angrier than he had ever been. Angry enough to forgo his plan of introducing his Machine to the Duke. No, he wanted the Prince to suffer-

"I can help you with that~"

Her voice whispered so soothingly in his ear, a saccharine melody that promised destruction, revenge and retribution.

He liked the sound of it.

Just as much as he liked the feel of the power, of the screams of the maids-

The 'thumps' of Serenity and then Patience's bodies-

"Find the Dream Keeper and bring him to me alive~"

That, he could do, alive did not mean not battered or not broken, though he would be careful, the Aspect was weak after all.

"He's my son, he's lost and I want him found, alive and unharmed-"

That was a change, he wanted to 'play' with the Aspect, but then with his new power, play might be a bit much for the weakling. Still if it made His Mistress happy-

"Our Host is among us, find him and bring him."

Two missions.

All he had to do was find two people and he'd have all the power he ever wanted. All he had to do was follow his Mistress' orders.

He could do that.

----

Lightning flashed in the storm above the tree canopy.

Illuminating the pile of Ink and blood on the forest floor. The Ink shifts, wobbling to and fro before stretching forward-- not unlike a cat upon just waking-- after a moment, the Ink rose and from it, a sleeping man's face.

The lightning then flashed Pink; encapsulated by a blinding white.

Two Ink filled eyes opened-Ericsson smirked.

"I've found you at last Master Thomas!"

------

On the Gate of the Subconscious, Fiona sighs.

In front of her is the only Personality with them amongst the other Figments and Emotions; he turns to her curiously.

"Something the matter with you kid?" He asks. "Uh...Your brother will be back in a bit, he just when with some Guards for the perimeter check-"

The Girl shakes her head, "No, I'm fine and I was the one who sent him on the check, so I'm not exactly worried about Liam too much; besides he's with Desna so..." Fiona shakes her head again as if to stop herself from going off topic. "It's just...It's been four days and we haven't heard anything from Nate or the other Pens."

The Personality frowned, "Oh yeah, I was wondering about that. I mean, his team isn't too worried about him and they're all extremely competent...so I'd have to assume their leader is much the same, no?"

Fiona snorts at that, but smiles at the Other's attempt at comfort. "Yeah, something like that. Nate's a bit of a wild card sometimes, but he's always there so...", she shrugs, "there's that I guess. It just sucks that we can't use technology in this realm. Texting would be so much easier-"

That startled a laugh out of the Side, "Yeah, you can say that again. Roman and Remus had control over the Kingdoms because that's their section and they liked the whole medieval vibe for the imagination. Though, when dear ol' Dukey made his place-- our own lil' "Dark Side" mindscape--we had access to tech; probably 'cause Deceit kept pestering him about it. I assume there's tech on the Prince's mindscape too, yeah? And doesn't Morality also have tech in the Suburbs of his section?"

"Yeah, we had tech and stuffs everywhere except the Kingdoms, the suburbs always have street lamps on. Logic's section, with the Months and Figments who deal with memory things, has the craziest amount of computers and gadgets. Even the Dream Tower had tech...", Fiona pauses with her finger under her chin, "huh, come to think about it, the Dream Tower might have been its own communications hub, nowhere else had phones around except the town."

"You have a point there, exactly half the town connects to Morality's Suburbs, and the moment the Dream Tower went down, so did my cell service."

"Yikes, here's to hoping we won't have to fix the entire Tower to establish a comm-"

Fiona jumps back, effectively cutting herself off, when a Figment from Nate's team suddenly rushes forward a 6ft distance past them.

Liam and the Guards who had just finished checking the perimeter came back up in time to see Nate appear in mid-air and drop directly into the arms of the teammate who had just rushed forward.

The Aspect of Procrastination looked exhausted, his Sunglasses askew and his leather jacket half buttoned. He lay in his teammate's arms bridal style, head lolling a bit as he was seemingly fighting to stay conscious. As such, Nate whispered something to the one holding him.

Huffing in fond annoyance, the teammate brought their leader closer.

Fiona was the first to reach him, with Liam not far behind.

"Nate?" asks Liam, "you good, man?"

Nate smiles dopily at him, barely stifling a yawn. "Hey lil' man, 'm fine. Jus' overdid it with 'portin' an all"

"You always do that!" admonishes the teammate, "you're so lucky I sensed you, or you'd have a face full of Gate. I should have let you drop!"

"But ya' didn't", grins the Aspect.

The Figment then promptly drops him.

Nate laughs as he sits up, jokingly rubbing at his behind, he wasn't dropped hard at all. He leaned, back still grinning, bracing himself against his teammates legs. "Love you too, Kev", he mumbles somewhat groggily.

In response 'Kev', rather gently, kneed his leader in the back, this of course caused the Aspect to laugh again...only to be cut off by a yawn, much to his own surprise.

Fiona sighs in relief, but does not miss the opportunity to tease the tired Aspect, she crosses her arms and raises her brow. "Thought you said you can't help if you're unconscious, and here you are looking barely that"

"Pft, don' worry bout it, 'm not unconscious yet, was busy popping all around the place", he then tries to stand up but tilts sharply enough for the Figments around him to jump to his aid. The Aspect waves them off kindly, standing on his own, albeit shakily, with voice still low. "Gotta admit, helping get stuffs for the radio tower coms-thing was, a lot. But thankfully there's now one for each Pen- oh, right! Here-" Nate reaches into his Jacket pocket and pulls out two walkie-talkies and a letter, handing them off to the Girl in front of him. "Can't forget those, Jeeves told me to make sure you got them or he would have my head. The old man's nice and all but he can be pretty intense"

Fiona passes one of the walkie-talkies to Liam, clips the other at her hip and begins to open the letter. She as she reads, her brows furrow further and further, head dipping down until she's practically holding the paper against her nose.

She pulls it away to look at the rest of them with wide-shocked eyes.

"The Dragon Witch is back"

"What?!" came the simultaneous cry from every other Figment.

At the same time...

Nate loses consciousness.

-----

AN//: Check out Chapt 22 and 23 for a lil refresher about Charles and Ericsson if you were confused, though it isn't really that necessary. I know it's been a while XD.

Also, how to explain to your boss that you're writing fanfic during your 30min lunch break?

"Uh, Hw?" lol.

I've been hella busy lately with work (and mental health issues) and school is about to start up again, which sucks but on the brightside this will be my last semester and then I graduate with my Bachelor's degree (hopefully).

COMMENT OF THE WEEK:

BY kitkatnerds3

"well, this is confusing.

TOMMATHY WAS THE ONE GLOWING PINK!!!! he's activating his magic!

i'm confused, what happened to the pink glow stuff?

IT WAS A DREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 THERE NOT DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh god, it sounds like your saying it's a prophetic dream,I don't want it to be a prophetic dream!!!!!!!!!

Thomathy getting powers!!

this chapter has been amazing and I can't wait for the next one! Bye!"

Kit! You always make my day fam! And you are absolutely right! Now, let's find out what that means for everyone else. heh. >;)

PUN OF THE WEEK:

BY Blue Night

"The shells don't go near each other at the beach because they're sea-shell distancing."

HA! I liked this one! XP

Alrighty, see y'all in the Comments section and on the Discord Server! :)
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Next update: Jan 17th