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Rounding the corner of the hill, Dream looks down to find a small village, nestled cozily into the rolling hills and lush forest. Punz, heaving for breath behind him, looked over his shoulder. "
"Perfect. I was getting tired of trekking through all this greenery. Let's rest up here."
"Alright. We'll stay here for a bit, restock on supplies, and then keep moving forward."
"Right, right. We're still traveling aimlessly through the land, hoping that by some miracle, we'll figure out a way to get rid of this damn poisoning."
Dream didn't reply, instead electing to head down the hill toward the village.
"Hello!" He called out to the people outside as both he and Punz made their way to the village entrance. "We're travelers who happened to come upon your village, can we stay here for a while?"
"Ohoho, visitors! Our humble retreat don't get many of you often. Come, come, we can arrange a place for two travelers!", answered an old man who trudged up to them while using a cane. Thanking the old man, Punz and Dream followed him to a small house on the outskirts of the village.
"This here was the home of my wife before she decided to travel the world. I've kept the place quite tidy since she left, hoping that she would come back soon. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if two other people on the same road as her decided to stay here for a bit."
"Thank you, sir", Dream bowed to him, earning another chuckle from the old man.
"No need for such a fancy title like 'sir'. You are quite welcome, however. If you two aren't too tired, come to the village center after the sunsets. Tonight is story night and I hear our oldest elder has quite the legend to tell!"
"I see", Punz replied, smiling back as the old man turned and left.
"A legend huh", his smiled dropped the instant the man was out of sight, "fancy hearing it out?"
"It wouldn't hurt to", Dream replied as he unpacked his bag and rearranged some of his items, "we've got all the time in the world tonight anyway."
~Later
Dream and Punz walked towards the village center after sundown, finding it to be lit up quite brightly by torches. In the center was who both assumed to be the 'oldest elder', sitting down on an old wooden chair. In front of him were many of the villagers, all kneeling on some sort of cushion on the ground. Even the children, roudy and loud as they were, stayed in their spots on the cushion.
"Oh, our two guests have arrived!" Dream and Punz both looked over to see the old man who had helped them earlier today gesturing them to come over and have a seat next to him. Having nowhere better to go, both walked over to him and settled down on the cushions cross-legged. A couple of the villagers watched them sit down curiously.
"Have you never seen people sit like this before?"
"Hmmm I can't say we have. Not many travelers come here and even less come here on a story night", the old man replied, puffing on a pipe that he seemed to have manifested out of nowhere.
Dream was about to ask another question when the raspy voice of the storyteller cut through the air.
"Now, now tonight you shall here about the legend of Reverie!"
"Reverie?" "What's that?" "Is it something you can eat?"
Murmurs flew through the crowd, only to fall silent once the elder spoke again.
"Reverie! A grandious place with pristine white buildings that shone in the sun. Everything in it was abundant and everything about it was brilliance given physical form! Reverie was a city, vast and large with many people within it, many, many more than people within this village. It was the center of trade, politics, culture, music, and so much more! But what set Reverie far apart from any other place was its heroes."
"Heroes! Wow, so cool!", one of the kids piped up only to be instantly shushed by his mother sitting behind him.
"Heroes from far and wide gathered to Reverie and lived within its pristine walls. However, tragedy would soon befall this place. In a weeks time, Reverie would disappear, along with records of everyone and everything within it."
Gasps of shock flew through the crowd as many couldn't imagine a city as big as 'Reverie' disappearing.
"For you see, Reverie's citizens had done something blasphemous and terrible. They had the arrogance to announce themselves equal to, no, above that of God! God, in His righteous anger, decided to enact divine punishment on this arrogant mortals. For a week straight, lightning struck down from the heavens, destroying everything that it touched. Red rain fell upon the city, blinding its citizens and causing them to lash out at each other. And then, after a week, Reverie would fall silent. All of its citizens had been slain. This was an act of God's will, a showcase of His fury. However, do you know what happened next?"
The elder leaned forward as far as he could go on that chair, eyes scanning the crowd closely.
"Reverie...vanished!"
"What?" Punz breathed out, his voice only audible to Dream who was next to him. "This is the most ridiculous story I've heard."
"Agreed", Dreams murmured back.
The elder continued.
"In a single night, the city disappeared, leaving behind only a single lone figure in that area. And not before long, that figure too vanished. Reverie was no more..."
"Aww....", a couple children cried out.
"If I may ask, elder", Dream called out, raising his hand. "How do you know of this story?"
"I see, the traveler doubts the story's authenticity. I understand, I understand. It is quite unbelievable at first for how could such a thing happen? However, it truly did happen, Reverie did indeed exist. Do you see that mountain over there, that impossibly tall one that breaks through the clouds?"
"Yes?"
"That...is Reverie's gravestone. The night it disappeared, that mountain also appeared. I know this because my ancestor saw everything and wrote it into his diary."
"But..."
"Shush! Show some respect", the old man next to Dream barked, shutting him up.
~
Now that the 'story night' was over, the crowd began to disperse as people headed home, yawning as sleepiness over took them. Dream and Punz also turned to make their way back when a voice called out after them.
"Excuse me, dear travelers?"
"Oh, hello elder", Punz bowed respectfully, his disgusted face dropping the moment he turned around.
"I understand your doubts of my story. I also hear that you two are travelling the world?"
"Something like that..." Dream had some idea that this was the old man's baseless assumption that he had told the elder, but he saw no point in fixing it.
"Then perhaps I can interest you in travelling towards where Reverie once was."
"You mean the mountain?"
"Yes. Consider it an old man's musings, but I believe there is evidence of Reverie's existence on the other side of that mountain.
"But earlier you said-"
"That the mountain was the gravestone of Reverie which existed on this side of the mountain. Yes, I know. However, does the mountain not look quite strange to you?"
"How so...?", Punz asked, puzzled as to what the old man was trying to get at.
"Doesn't it resemble the shape water takes when someone pushes into it at an angle?"
"No..." Punz still couldn't wrap his head around it and turned to Dream for confirmation. Instead, he found a frozen figure staring wide-eyed at the mountain.
"I understand, elder", was all Dream said before bidding him good night and turning away.
"Hey, hey wait up! What do you mean you understand?", Punz called, chasing after him.
~Elsewhere
“So this is your decision? You’ve let them hear that story.” Philza spoke, not caring to turn to look at the god beside him.
“It is time he learned of his true destiny.”
“...I see.”
“You are not surprised.”
“After the events of that day, I assumed this would be the path you would take.”
“...You are unhappy with what I have done.”
“Yes. There was no need…”, Philza grit his teeth, before taking a deep breath and calming himself down, “no need to send him away, to essentially kill him in this world.”
“You already know why I did so.”
“Because he’s dangerous? Because he could potentially become someone that could kill you? Technoblade has never bore any ill intentions towards you!! In fact, he even told me of the favor you did for him while stuck in Pandora's Box!”
“That does not matter. He is the same as me. A champion of his world, empowered by the dead who stood behind him while they lived. There cannot be two me’s in this world.”
“Says the one who f**king created Dream.”
“That is different. You understand that.”
“This conversation isn’t going anywhere. Get out. And don’t come back. My house will never welcome you again.”
“...So that is your choice. Farewell then, Philza the forgotten god. When we next meet, one of us will die.”
“And it will be you.”