Deep Sea Embers

With the loud echo of a gunshot, a figure clad in a blue uniform dramatically fell to the floor. Blood began to pool around him, and for a few moments, his body twitched uncontrollably as if in its final throes of life. The entire scene seemed like a straightforward enactment of a heinous crime. The spasms of the body only added to the theatrical nature of the supposed “murder,” making it all the more evident to Heidi that she had seemingly “taken the life of a regular individual.”

Yet, Heidi stood still, her face devoid of any emotion. She focused on the subtle sounds surrounding her—the gentle rustle of the wind through the grass, the stillness that enveloped the area after the body had stilled.

Normally, such a gunshot would reverberate throughout the entire structure, alerting security and guards stationed nearby. Oddly enough, the hallway remained eerily silent post the shot, with no one rushing to the scene. It was as if the place had been deserted all along.

Resting against Heidi’s chest was a crystal pendant, which was slightly warm to the touch. This pendant was not a gift from any divine beings but was exceptionally effective in keeping Heidi’s mind sharp and unclouded. This pendant wasn’t the one her father had initially acquired from an “antique shop”. That one had crumbled during a past incident. The current pendant, emanating the same powerful energy, was a replacement from the same old shopkeeper.

After allowing a few moments to pass in silence, Heidi exhaled softly. She held a revolver, which she had recently retrieved from a hidden compartment in her suitcase, and set the suitcase down. From it, she extracted a long golden spike, a tool from her medical kit, while never taking her eyes off the body before her. “Impressive performance, but isn’t it time to stop pretending?”

The “dead” man had ceased his feigned convulsions a while ago. At Heidi’s words, he stirred and then, with surprising ease, got to his feet, showing no signs of the gunshot wound. He gazed at Heidi, the psychiatrist who had supposedly “shot” him, and asked, “When did you catch on?”

Gripping her gun and spike firmly, Heidi faced the “dream intruder” with a sense of alertness and composure. “The room only had one bed. The game was up the moment I noticed the ’empty space’ beside it.”

“Remarkable,” the invader began, a tone of mild amusement in his voice. “Few possess the acuity to detect such anomalies once they’ve been ensnared in a dream. Certainly not so promptly.” Beside him, an eerie darkness started to merge. What appeared to be shadow or smoke at first began to solidify, taking on a distinct form. “This includes many of those ‘trained psychiatrists’,” he added mockingly.

Heidi’s eyes narrowed as she focused on the shadowy apparition materializing next to him. As its form started to clarify, her reaction was immediate, her voice tinged with alarm, “Nightmare Jellyfish… a servant of Annihilation?”

The recognition seemed to solidify the creature’s presence. A jellyfish-like entity, made seemingly of swirling dust and shadows, floated beside the invader. It was tethered to his head by a dark, chain-like appendage. The creature pulsated ominously, and from its body, myriad tentacle-like structures began to sprout, stretching perilously close to Heidi.

A deep-rooted sense of dread and urgency welled up within her. She could feel her mental defenses being assailed and corroded by this insidious force. The enemy’s infiltration into her mind had been stealthy, and she realized that had she not identified the Nightmare Jellyfish when she did, she might’ve already fallen victim to its mind-altering abilities.

Without a second’s hesitation, she gripped the golden spike in her hand and plunged it into her own temple!

A sound akin to a distant thunderclap reverberated in her consciousness. Her surroundings quaked violently. The once-familiar sickroom contorted grotesquely. Walls seemed to melt, revealing layers beneath that looked disturbingly like decaying flesh. The floor resembled parched, cracked ground teeming with unsettling, squirming creatures. The Nightmare Jellyfish, caught off-guard, emitted a shrill, agonized scream as its tentacles recoiled sharply.

As quickly as they had appeared, both the deceiver, who had once posed as a government employee, and the Nightmare Jellyfish evaporated, fading away like dissipating mist.

Yet, Heidi remained on high alert, her grip on the gun and spike unwavering. She mentally assessed her condition while remaining hyper-aware of her surroundings. The invader might be temporarily out of sight, but she was under no illusion that he was defeated or gone.

Her surroundings continued to retain the dreamlike quality, showing no signs of dissipating.

As she steadied herself, memories of her studies at the Truth Academy began to flood back, offering guidance and clarity.

The Nightmare Jellyfish, an offshoot of the shadow demons, boasted a vaporous form akin to dark smoke. They possessed a myriad of deadly and peculiar supernatural abilities, with a particular talent for assaulting the minds and senses of their victims. Summoners who shared a symbiotic relationship with these entities could harness their psychic damage spells or even extract the energy from these demons, unleashing it as acidic projectiles.

While most shadow demons had sturdier physical forms, the Nightmare Jellyfish was somewhat frail in comparison. However, their unique powers ranked them among the most lethal of the shadow demons. Often, victims would be mentally incapacitated before they had a chance to retaliate against these ethereal adversaries. Cunning cultists who coexisted symbiotically with the Nightmare Jellyfish would accentuate these demons’ attributes, rendering them even more formidable.

The warmth emanating from the crystal pendant on Heidi’s chest grew more pronounced. She sensed malevolent forces within the dream attempting to degrade and overwhelm her psyche. But the pendant’s energy acted as a shield, neutralizing these malevolent onslaughts and ensuring her mental clarity remained intact.

An impending sense of danger gripped Heidi in this delicate balance between invasion and defense. Out of instinct, she swiftly raised her weapon but halted mid-aim when a figure materialized before her.

It was Morris, wearing an expression of sheer bewilderment. “Heidi?” he inquired, his tone oscillating between confusion and concern. “What’s happening? Are you ensnared in a nightmare?”

“Yes,” Heidi affirmed. She squeezed the trigger without a moment’s pause, firing as she spoke, “I’m uncertain of the full situation. A cultist of Annihilation interfered with my hypnosis session. However, from what I recall, not even the Nightmare Jellyfish possess the power to manipulate the dream world.”

The gunshot resounded, its flash briefly illuminating her surroundings. Morris, with a look of disbelief, staggered briefly before collapsing.

Almost instantaneously, another figure took his place. An older woman, bearing a look of deep concern, gazed at Heidi. It was her mother.

“Heidi, what are you undertaking? Why would you…”

“I’m conducting a therapy session,” Heidi replied, pulling the trigger once more, her tone nonchalant.

As her mother’s image crumbled, another figure began to take form. But before it could fully manifest, Heidi preemptively fired her weapon and dispelled another apparition.

“You’re truly underestimating your opponent, Mr. Invader,” Heidi chided, shaking her head in mild disappointment. “Did you genuinely believe such a rudimentary ruse would ensnare me? And let’s not even mention Vanna if that is who you will use next. If it were genuinely her, she’d effortlessly catch the bullet, mold it into a sphere, and fling it back at me without breaking a sweat…”

The ceaseless procession of illusions ceased.

From somewhere unseen, an exasperated, gravelly voice queried, “Why does none of this affect you?”

“Isn’t it evident?” Heidi replied coolly. “I’m well aware that I’m trapped in a contorted dream, so naturally, I’m impervious to these phantasms you’ve conjured. But I suspect that’s not what truly baffles you. Perhaps you’re astounded that I remain resolute even when confronted by the repeated deaths of loved ones inflicted by my own hand. Such a repeated traumatic scene would mentally burden most, and over time, their logical barriers might crumble, regardless of their awareness. But, Mr. Invader, I’ve undergone specialized training.”

As she elucidated her position, the seasoned psychiatrist calmly lifted her firearm, pressing its cold muzzle against her temple.

“Do you comprehend the merits of having secured both a master’s degree and a doctorate, all fully funded, from the prestigious Truth Academy, Mr. Invader?”

Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger. The deafening sound of the gunshot filled the space as she fired a bullet through her own head. However, as she momentarily faltered, another version of Heidi seamlessly emerged from her shadow.

The recurring gunshots echoed throughout the twisted room. Impossibly, her six-chambered revolver seemed to possess an infinite supply of bullets. Heidi, or perhaps her “clones”, kept firing round after round at her own temple, with each shot giving birth to another duplicate. Armed with the golden spike-shaped instruments, these replicas dispersed in various directions—into the room’s nooks and crannies, through doors, and down eerie corridors.

“You’ve made a grave error challenging me in my field of expertise, Mr. Invader,” Heidi remarked, her tone dripping with contempt as she raised the gun to her temple one final time. “And never, ever disrupt my patient sessions. I utterly detest being made to work overtime!”

The myriad of Heidi duplicates swiftly fanned out, traversing the now grotesquely altered medical facility. Their mission: to meticulously scour this infiltrated dream for any anomalies or “cognitive voids”—potential points of entry or hideaways used by the invader.

Yet, as her replicas delved deeper into the dream’s intricacies, Heidi’s expression clouded with sudden uncertainty.

“…Did he leave?”