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Being chased by a horde of demonic creatures was not the direction that Helen wanted her dream to take. The stress of choosing between her rehearsals and her friends, not to mention her upcoming recital, was already enough to deal with; she didn’t want her problems to follow her into her dreams as well. So when she had seen the bright, white light appear ahead of her, Helen immediately raced for it. She opened her arms wide as the light engulfed her and stole her away from her current nightmare.
When the light dissipated, she found herself in a clearing within a mysterious, unfamiliar forest. A stone path underneath her feet led to an elaborate fountain within the middle. Helen took a step forward hesitantly. What was going on? She had to be still dreaming, right?
There wasn’t enough time for Helen to contemplate her surroundings. “Oh ho hoo! We have a guest!” A short, rotund owl with small spectacles and a red jacket floated down to greet her. “Is this your first time here, mademoiselle?”
Helen cocked her head and gave the owl an inquisitive look. “Allow me to explain,” he continued, noticing her confusion, “You are now standing at the entrance to what your people would call the World of Dreams.”
Her eyes widened, and she approached the old owl. “The World of Dreams...?” she asked, intrigued.
“Hoo!” The owl puffed up his chest and continued flapping his wings as he elaborated. “Listen well, young lady. Don’t be fooled by that name: ‘The World of Dreams’. Now, I don’t mean to imply that the world itself doesn’t exist.”
Helen blinked, perplexed by his statement. “It is simply… oh, how should I put it?” The owl took a moment to search for a proper way to explain. “It is another world, one that you are able to visit only while you are fast asleep. We ourselves refer to it as… the Night Dimension.”
Helen took a moment to think about what other creatures besides the old owl could inhabit the Night Dimension. Other owls? Perhaps another human? Or maybe, something completely different? If she were in a dream, then theoretically, the possibilities would be endless. Then again, the owl was the only creature she had met here so far, so there wasn’t any real way of knowing.
“And people who come to the Night Dimension from your world are known as Visitors,” the owl continued. He stopped upon noticing that Helen was beginning to drift off into her own thoughts. “Oh, pardon me! I do tend to rattle on. You may call me Owl, Visitor.”
It was then that a low, dark chuckle sounded from somewhere nearby. “You’ve grown self-aware, old timer.” Helen took a step back, and she followed Owl’s gaze over to a nearby tree. “Frankly, I’m surprised that you yourself haven’t put the Visitors to sleep yet.”
“Hoo!” Owl declared, surprised by the sudden interruption. “I wonder who that could be…!”
A creature unlike anything Helen had ever seen before glided out from behind the tree and flew between Helen and Owl at a surprisingly brisk pace. Helen nearly stumbled over from the force of the breeze flowing from behind. After a few brief loops, the new creature stopped and floated in front of the two of them. Upon sitting up, she noticed that the being was almost human in appearance, with chalk-white skin, icy blue eyes, and muscular arms. He was wearing a red and black waistcoat with a matching striped jester hat.
“I say, Reala!” Owl huffed in exasperation and let out a snort. “I would think that you, of all people, would know how to properly treat your elders!”
Reala tipped his head back slightly and gave Owl a satisfied smirk before turning his attention to Helen. “I’d like to apologize on behalf of this old bird here.” He moved towards her. “To this day, I still have no idea how the Visitors keep putting up with his endless hooting.”
Helen crawled back a little in order to create some space between her and Reala. “I beg your pardon?” Owl flapped his wings and flew in between the two of them. He looked utterly offended. “I was simply educating this visitor! Somebody had to give her a warm welcome, after all.”
Reala rolled his eyes and returned to addressing Helen, who had gotten up. “Visitor, I don’t believe I caught your name.”
“Helen,” she said, a hint of shyness buried within her tone. She momentarily glanced down at her feet.
“ Helen ,” Reala repeated, letting the sound of her name sink in, “I think you’ll find you’ll learn much more about this place if you fly around with me than if you keep talking with the old timer.” He gave her a catlike grin. “How about it, then? Dualize with me, and perhaps I’ll let you try your hand at flying around.”
Helen took a step back, attempting to absorb every single inch of new information. “Du-Dualizing?” She looked around. “ Flying? ”
“Hoo!” Owl declared proudly, as if he had been anticipating this moment. “Reala here has the ability to ‘Dualize’ with Visitors. This process allows your bodies to assimilate with one another.”
This explanation, unfortunately, wasn’t enough. “What do you mean?” Helen asked, still confused.
“Ah.” Owl coughed. “It would be probably be much easier to understand if you just tried it.”
Reala placed his hands on his hips and looked at Owl, as if he were saying “ See what I mean, old timer?” Owl, undeterred, flew over to Reala’s side. “Go over and touch Reala. You’ll understand what I’m talking about.”
Reala’s eyes widened, and he gave Owl an uncomfortable look. “That is, of course,” Owl said, catching himself, “If you’re interested in that sort of thing…”
Helen considered this offer. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt,” she said to herself. She took a few steps closer to Reala, who slowly reached out a hand towards her. Helen braced herself; then, she reached out her hand back. As the two hands made contact, a bright, white light filled the surrounding area, engulfing the two of them.
Immediately, Helen found herself suspended in the air, with Owl poised to give her the basics on flying in Reala’s stead. It wasn’t steady at first; at first, Helen found that the shared body was prone to flying at unsteady altitudes and frequent tumbles in mid-air. It was like a baby learning to walk, but in mid-air. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Helen to steady herself and fly at a consistent height.
“Well done, Visitor!” Owl seemed rather pleased with the progress that Helen was making, and proceeded to teach her a few more tricks. Soon enough, Helen found herself soaring around the area, flying through golden rings and slowly gaining a decent handle on flying.
You’re getting quite good at this . Helen was startled by this thought for a mere moment before remembering that she was currently sharing a body with Reala. This was probably a compliment. Owl took a moment to remind Helen to pick up Blue Chips while flying, and the flight continued on all around the forest.
Flying, Helen discovered, turned out to be a pleasant experience. Sure, she had had dreams about flying when she was younger, but this was something completely different. Soon enough, Owl had challenged her to try her hand at Reala’s paralooping ability, which she used to scoop up some extra Blue Chips on the way. Helen had just flown over a grassy ledge when Owl stopped her.
“Nightmaren at the Dream Gate!” Owl screeched. Helen sensed a intense feeling of alarm emanating from Reala. “Visitor,” Owl continued, “Use the paraloop to suck them up!”
As Helen continued flying, she noticed that a group of unnerving and brightly colored creatures lay ahead of her. Those must be the Nightmaren, she thought as she went to work on using the paraloop to get rid of them. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like it was too serious of an issue, as there only appeared to be three Nightmaren there. However, Helen could tell that Reala was still on edge. It was as if he were anticipating something, or even someone , to show up.
They kept flying for a short while afterwards, until a great black void lay just ahead of them. “ Enough! ” Reala barked urgently. He stopped and pointed ahead. “See that dark ocean just ahead of us?”
“The one over there, with the black water?” Helen asked. Now that they were no longer moving, she could clearly see him next to her. “Why?”
“You’re better off staying far away from it,” he replied, “I know nothing about it myself, but I’ve heard that it can destroy a Visitor’s soul in an instant. You’d never be able to return if that happened.”
Helen tensed up. “Oh my…” she whispered.
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Reala said, “It’s an old story. We’d best be getting back to the Dream Gate.”
Upon flying back to the Dream Gate and reuniting with Owl, Helen and Reala separated from one another. Helen took a moment to adjust to being back in her own body and no longer suspended in mid-air. After flying for so long, it took some getting used to.
“Ho-hoo!” Owl declared, looking beyond the two of them, “How curious! The door to Nightopia has appeared.”
“The door to Nightopia?” Reala puzzled over this. “That must mean-”
“I believe so, Reala,” Owl said, cutting him off, “It appears that you, Visitor, have an Ideya!”
Helen wondered if she should start taking notes about all of the strange concepts within the Night Dimension. “What’s an Ideya?” she asked, “And what’s Nightopia?”
“Ideya,” Owl began, “Are sparks of light that dwell within the hearts of Visitors. Here in the Night Dimension, those Ideya can give form to the paradise known as Nightopia.”
“Paradise?” Helen looked excited. A paradise sounded like something interesting! She was curious to hear more.
Reala made a noise. “If the old timer is finished with his exposition,” he said, “I’d be willing to take a look with you.” He began to move towards the door.
“Wait, Reala!” He turned around to look at Helen. “I just wanted to say that it’s been a pleasure meeting you.”
Reala looked at Helen, surprised and a little unsure of how to respond. Helen, meanwhile, looked at him expectantly and waited for an answer. Eventually, he managed a small smile. “The feeling’s mutual,” he said, “Come now, we should be g-”
The next few moments happened too quickly for Helen to process. One moment, Reala was positioned next to her, and the next, he was dragged away and restrained in the arms of somebody completely different. The newcomer was noticeably similar to Reala, but with a purple color scheme, violet-blue eyes, and slightly tanner skin. They were wearing a gold mask with a red jewel and two blue feathers in the middle, as well as an elaborate purple cape. At the moment, they had one of Reala’s arms twisted around his back and were covering his mouth with a single hand.
“ Reala! ” At the sound of his own name, Reala squirmed and made a muffled noise. “Reala, do you know how long it’s been since we last encountered each other? Don’t tell me that you’ve been trying to avoid me all this- Ow!”
Reala bit his captor’s hand and attempted to struggle free. It was to no avail, as they quickly grabbed Reala and slammed him against the door to Nightopia. “Bad Reala! Bad! ” they hissed, “There was no need to be rude! Besides, you know how Wizeman feels when you start getting defiant.”
“ Wizeman… ?” Helen looked to Owl for a possible answer.
Before Owl could say anything, Reala’s attacker turned away from him and looked towards Helen. “Oh!” They looked a little too excited. “Reala, you didn’t tell me you were playing with your little Visitor friends again! Personally, I find them amusing .”
Reala hissed in pain and tried to pull the aggressor’s hand off of his throat. “NiGHTS, I’m warning you-”
“Oh please, what are you going to do? Bite me again?” NiGHTS whipped back over to face Reala and made a faux-sympathetic expression. “Honestly, Reala, it’s not like it’s anything personal . Wizeman just wants me to lock you up for a while. Or, at least, until you start behaving.”
“Stop it!” Helen ran towards the two of them, aiming to break up the struggle. “Leave Reala alone! You’re hurting him!”
“Visitor, no!” Owl blocked her off with his wing. “You mustn’t go near that monster!”
“Monster? Really? You couldn’t think of something even remotely original?” NiGHTS gave him a bored look, as if they were used to this moniker. “Still, I guess he’s right. One powerful First Level Nightmaren versus a helpless little girl doesn’t sound like a very fair fight, after all.” They booped Helen’s nose, causing her to let out a frightened squeak.
Reala, meanwhile, let out a pained growl towards NiGHTS. “Anyway, I’d rather not waste my time on you, Visitor,” NiGHTS said, “I’ve got a job to finish. Until next time!”
Helen reached out and watched helplessly as NiGHTS teleported away, taking Reala with them. She dropped to her knees and felt tears beginning to well up, concerned for the fate of her new acquaintance. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” Owl said in a comforting tone as he flew down to her, “That was terribly frightening, wasn’t it? Hoo! ”
He threw a look back towards the door. “NiGHTS, as you probably guessed, was a Nightmaren, one of many creatures hailing from the dark realm of Nightmare.” Helen looked towards Owl. “Their aim is to take Ideya from unsuspecting Visitors in order to destroy Nightopia! Whenever a Visitor arrives, they ambush them and steal away their Ideya.” He sighed sadly. “In all likelihood, your Ideya must have been stolen as well…”
Suddenly, a red glow began to form within Helen’s palms. “Oh hoo!” Owl fluttered over, surprised. “That crimson light! Could it be… a red Ideya?” Helen’s eyes widened, and she stood up while staring at her hands in awe.
“Ah yes, I see!” Owl continued, now delighted, “That red Ideya must be what summoned this door! You hold the Ideya of Courage. With that… why, you just might be able to save Reala!”
“Really?” Helen asked, surprised.
“Well, that is your decision,” Owl replied, “I will wait for you beyond the door.” He disappeared into thin air, leaving Helen alone. She turned towards the door, continuing to stare at the red light in her hands in awe. She looked up towards the door to Nightopia.
She knew exacty what she had to do.