Little Dreams and Hollow Nightmares

Ph1 Ch17: The Collector

Mono climbed up the glitched ladder for a lot longer than he expected. The ladder went so high up, that he needed to grab onto the patted walls in order to stop the constantly growing pain in his head every time he glitched. Eventually, he made it to the top of the ladder, and found a large lever. Mono tried to pull the lever, but it was stuck in place, and he couldn't do anything about it. He thought for a moment about the ways he could possibly pull the lever, and then he swung his ladle against it.

That did the trick, as the lever was jerked to the other side, due to the ladle striking it. Mono heard a loud sound from underneath him that sounded like a door opening. Mono climbed back down the ladder, making sure to grab onto the walls when his head started to hurt too much. He arrived at the bottom of the ladder, and was shocked out of his mind. The knights nail was lying on the ground, and the knight themself was nowhere to be seen.

Mono's mind began to pace as he tried to think about what could've happened to his friend. Okay, I don't think they left me, because even if they did, they wouldn't leave their nail behind. Mono thought. Were they killed? No, that wouldn't make any sense. Suddenly, the answer clicked in his mind. They were captured. he thought.

He picked up the knights nail, and hung it around his coat. It would need this once he found them. He looked to his side, and saw that the door was now wide open, and without hesitation, he walked through. Behind the door was nothing but a room filled with empty jars, and nothing else. Mono looked for a way forward, and spotted a vent close by. He climbed on top of the jars, and crawled through the vent.

As he crawled, he heard several laughs and giggles coming from above him, followed by the sound of someone skipping on the floor above him. Mono followed the sounds, thinking that maybe whoever was making these noises was the one that captured the knight. He crawled through the vent for a long time, but he soon came to a hole in the vent. Mono looked out of the hole, and just stared, at the room in front of him. Inside the room, was a large, black bug, with four arms, and a weirdly shaped head. But it wasn't the bug that Mono was staring at, it was what the bug was holding. In its two left hands, it held a jar, with the knight stuck inside. 

The bug placed the jar on a shelf, and Mono watched as his friend desperately tried to escape. Mono needed to find a way to get into that room. He continued to crawl through the vent, and he came to a long drop. He looked for another way, but that drop was the only way out. Thinking fast, Mono leapt down the vent, and fell for a long time. Once he saw the floor of the vent getting too close, he glitched himself, and landed on the floor, without any pain. Just like he planned. Mono unglitched, and crawled to the exit right in front of him.

Once he got out of the vent, he stretched his back. It hurt from being crouched over in the vent for so long. After he was done stretching, he continued forward. He had fallen a long way down into the tower, and he needed to find a way back up. Something like and elevator or staircase would do. As he wandered through the rooms of the tower, he saw black tentacles, just like the ones he saw in the Queens Gardens, rising up from the floor of this room.

He walked around, searching for a way up, and then found a large room, with stairs, spiraling upwards. Perfect. he thought, and he began to climb the stairs. As he climbed, he heard the giggling of the bug that had captured his friend. He looked around, and suddenly saw the bug looking down at him! Mono shrieked as the bug leapt down closer to him.

"Do not be afraid~" the bug said in a playful voice. "I have your friend! You can both stay here and be safe from everything forever!"

Mono didn't trust this thing. Whatever it was, it captured his friend, and he was not going to let it capture him. Mono drew his ladle, and continued to advance up the stairs.

"Not listening are you?" the bug asked. "Well then the collector's going to have to do this the hard way then~" It chuckled as it leapt up to a higher ledge on the wall.

Mono started to run up the stairs, trying to avoid this foe as best he could. The collector jumped down with two jars in its hands, each one containing a hostile bug. They threw the jars at Mono, and they broke open once they hit the stairs. Mono leapt at the hostile bugs, now free from their cages, and smashed his ladle on top of them. He continued to run up the stairs, but the collector wasn't making anything easy. It kept throwing jars at Mono, and increased the number of them as well.

Mono slammed his ladle onto any bugs that came near him, and started sprinting up the stairs. He was getting very tired and worn out, but nothing was going to keep him from getting to his friend. He kept climbing, and suddenly, the collector jumped behind him, its arms ready to snatch him. Mono quickly glitched, avoiding the collectors clutches, and then proceeded to thrust his ladle into its face.

The collector leapt back up the the ledges, and continued to throw even more jars at Mono. After it had thrown a few of them, it would jump down and try to grab Mono with all four of its hands. Mono however, was beginning to predict the collectors pattern, and was able to escape its grabs, and land a hit on them.

After a long period of running, avoiding jars, attacking bugs, glitching, and striking the collector, Mono eventually made it to the top of the staircase. He arrived in an open room, where the collector skipped around him, leaping at him with its hands out every once in a while. Mono was so tired to the collector by now, and he fought ferociously against them. When the collector jumped at Mono again, he struck them with his ladle, and the collectors arms melted off, and the rest of its body began to drip.

Mono struck the collector with his ladle several times, and it suddenly burst into small, black particles.

"AHAHAHAHAHA! WOOHOOHOOHOOAHAHahagggh...agh," The collector laughed out as the particles burst from its body.

Once it had finished laughing, it fell to the floor, and its body turned to liquid.

"Serves you right," Mono said to the collectors puddle of black substance.

Mono continued walking, and found a room filled with jars. Inside each jar, was a caterpillar-looking bug, all of them hanging their heads in despair. As Mono walked into the room, a bunch of the caterpillars looked up at him, their stubby little legs poking at the glass walls of their jars, and making cute noises with their mouths. It was as if they were begging Mono to release them. Mono didn't know if he could trust them, but their cries were just so painful to listen too. He struck one of the jars with his ladle, breaking it. The caterpillar jumped up and down with joy, and then dug into the ground. 

Mono looked at the several other jars in the room. This is gonna take ma a while. he thought. Suddenly, as he was looking, he saw a familiar face looking at him. It was the face of the knight. Mono rushed over to his friend, and broke them out of their jar. Once they were out, he fell onto his friend, hugging them. He didn't want to lose them again.

____________________________________________________________

Hope you all enjoyed reading this chapter! 

I would like to thank everyone who has voted on this story so far. When I look on my profile and see that people are enjoying this story, it just warms my heart, and gives me the motivation I need to keep writing these chapters! See you in the next one!