"It's so dark! And this thick smoke... I can barely see a thing," Noémie said, raising her left arm to shield her eyes, trying to make out her surroundings.
Then a voice spoke:
"Come on, kid. I don't have all day. Give me your soul and let's get this over with, instead of passing out every three seconds."
It was the demon's voice again. The malice kept clouding Itoî's mind, draining his strength and vitality bit by bit.
Hearing the demon's first words, Noémie sprinted toward the source of the voice.
"Itoî, I'm coming!" she cried, interlacing her fingers to form a dome.
"Barrier of Light!"
A barrier materialized in front of her. Noémie formed a second one above the first, then shouted:
"Barrier of Light! Shatter!"
She sharply unclasped her fingers and spread her hands wide, never breaking her stride toward the voice.
The second barrier exploded with unimaginable force. The flash was so blinding that the smoke-filled room vanished completely.
In its place, a new landscape materialized: a starry sky above and a water-covered ground below, as if she were standing on the surface of an ocean.
"Huh?"
The voice whipped around toward the burst of light, noticing the scenery shifting around it.
"What the fuck is going on? What human can just barge into the dream world like that?"
The voice took on a monstrous form, standing several meters tall: a grotesque mass of rotting flesh that reeked of decay.
On his knees, Itoî stared at his reflection in the water, then slowly turned his head. He was battered and bruised, completely overwhelmed by what was happening.
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"M-Mom?..." he said weakly.
He didn't consciously recognize her as his mother, but he felt it instinctively.
The demon pressed a hand to its forehead and grimaced, narrowing its eyes.
"Uh... Hmm... That's your mother? What the hell is she doing in this shitshow?" it asked, annoyed.
Noémie came to a halt about a dozen meters away from the demon and her son.
"Itoî! I'm here. Don't worry, everything is going to be fine. We're going home," she said in a reassuring tone.
"Mom...? Is it really you?..."
Then, he passed out.
Noémie glared at the demon.
It was a walking mass of flesh, oozing from every pore. It almost looked like a mud elemental. It had three pairs of arms and six bulging eyes, but no legs.
"You're an abomination... What do you want with my son, demon?!" Noémie roared, blind with rage.
The demon raised its arms and replied casually:
"What do you think, madam? His soul, nothing more. And his body to go with it, obviously. I didn't come all the way here to stay in a world where the mind and dreams intertwine."
Noémie closed her eyes and charged the demon without a second thought. Moving at blinding speed, she formed the dome with her hands twice more, followed by the shattering gesture.
She moved so fast the demon couldn't even retreat or counterattack.
"Shatter!"
The three barriers detonated simultaneously. A massive shockwave of light flooded the space.
The night vanished, replaced by daylight and a radiant sun. The ground shifted into a lush, green meadow, dotted with flowers as far as the eye could see.
Noémie rushed to her son. The demon was gone, vaporized in the blast.
"Itoî! Itoî! Can you hear me, sweetheart?" she cried, tears in her eyes, gently shaking her son.
"Mamaan?... What are you doing here? I was in a nightmare... And then..."
She knelt and cradled her son's head in her lap, tenderly stroking his hair.
"Everything is fine now. Close your eyes and rest," Noémie said with a soft smile.
The sun kept shining down on them, and the flowers swayed in the gentle breeze.
It was a dream. But a dream so sweet and tender, you'd never want to wake up from it.
Feeling safe at last, Itoî drifted off to sleep with a faint smile. His wounds, his scratches, and the grime on his skin faded away along with the nightmare.
Noémie gently laid her son's head back on the soft grass. Eyes lowered and brow furrowed, she rested a hand on her chin, deep in thought.
"I've done what I needed to do here. But what was that? It wasn't a vengeful spirit, but some kind of minor demon... I should try to contact Dad if I want to learn more."
She closed her eyes.
"Ellenir, goddess of dreams, return me to the real world, for I have lost my way in this one."
Noémie was enveloped in a soft, haloed light, and was pulled back to the real world.
She sighed, utterly exhausted. She had burned through a staggering amount of mana. Unable to stand, she collapsed to her knees.
Itoî was right there in front of her, sleeping blissfully, without a care in the world.
"All that matters is that he's okay," she said with a smile, gently stroking her son's cheek.