Little Dreams and Hollow Nightmares

Ph2 Ch1: The Cliffs

Seven woke up, gasping for air. He quickly checked all over his chest and neck to make sure there were no bite marks. Suddenly, he noticed his body was no longer a Nome! How was that possible? Seven concentrated his mind, trying to remember what happened. The last thing he remembered was getting caught by the Lady, and getting turned into a Nome. He made his way to the guest's quarters in the Maw, and then came to an open room. He met a girl wearing a yellow raincoat, who looked like she was going to die from starvation. Seven realized there was a sausage in front of him, so he picked it up, and offered it to the girl. But instead of eating the sausage, she ate him!

Seven gasped as he was brought back to reality. He looked at himself once more. How was he alive? How was he a boy again? Questions for later. He stood up, and looked around where he was. He was noticed he was on a large cliff, towering above the earth beneath him. He noticed the buzzing lights ahead, and figured civilization mustn't be too far from here. He climbed down the cliff, and noticed a few large bugs. 

Curious, he approached them, only to hear them screech, and then violently start attacking him. Seven ran away, swatting at the large bug, but the tripped, and fell down far onto a ledge. He stood up, and wiped the rubble away from his face. He opened his eyes, and saw a series of scattered pages. He followed them, and as he walked he heard some one humming. Seven walked towards the humming noise, and found a large bug, slightly taller that him, sketching on a piece of paper with a quill.

"Um, excuse me?" Seven asked, trying to get the bugs attention.

The bug turned, and looked at him.

"Ah, hello little one," he said. "Why are you in a desolate place like this?"

"I...honestly don't know."

"Me neither," The bug said. "But that is why I am here. To understand. That is why I map these areas out. To understand where i'm going, and where I'll be headed."

"You make maps?" Seven asked.

"Yes, I do," The bug said.

"Then, do you know where we are?"

"Of course! These are the howling cliffs. The entrance to the grand kingdom of Hallownest," The bug said, cheerfully. "If you are looking for shelter, then there's a town on the other side of the cliffs. Me and my wife Iselda moved there. Quite peaceful."

"Oh, ok," Seven said.

"That reminds me, I haven't introduced myself," The bug said. "I am Cornifer. What's your name?"

"I'm Seven."

"Ah, an interesting name," Cornifer replied. "If you're feeling lost, would you like to buy a map?"

"I don't have any money," Seven replied.

"Well, once you have some, you can buy a few maps at my wife's shop."

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind," Seven said. "Nice talking with you."

Seven walked off, and began climbing the cliff, towards Dirtmouth. Suddenly, a small, spikey bug crawled up, and bit his fingers! Seven fell further down the cliff side. He fell on his back, and found himself on another ledge. He needed to find a simpler way up. He walked up to a wall, and leaned against it to recover. Suddenly, the wall crumbled. There was something behind it.

Curious to where it would lead, Seven slammed into the wall with all his might, breaking it. A small cavern was revealed, and Seven walked inside. It was fairly dark inside. He needed to find a light source of some kind. Otherwise he would've seen the drop coming. He fell through a hole in the ground, into another cave.

"Are you kidding me?!" Seven yelled, angry at the fact he kept falling.

He tried to climb back up the wall, but he fell through the wall, revealing another secret passage. Seven felt the urge to explore it, see what was inside. It was bitterly cold inside, and darker than the other. But Seven's curiosity overpowered him, and convinced him to venture further. He arrived at the end of the cave, where there was a corpse of a large bug. It wore a red cloak, and it had a mask with two lines stitched across the eyeholes.

He noticed something shiny on the floor. He picked it up, and saw it was some kind of compass. The cold was getting to him now, so Seven decided to take a piece of the bugs cloak. It didn't need it. After all, it was dead. Once he put in on however, something strange happened. A burst of red dream catcher particles flew out, and surrounded the area.

Seven was curious, but he needed to get out first. Once he moved into the next room however, something was different. There was a large, towering structure. It looked like a clawed, four fingered hand, but at the bottom, there was a cage bearing a few coals. Thinking he could use them for warmth, Seven took two rocks on the floor, and struck them together. A spark came out, and fell onto the embers. They lit for a while, but it was not enough.

Seven cracked the rocks against the cage a few more times, and suddenly the fire lit, and the structure above burst out with a red fire burning brightly on top. The surrounding torched lit, and the cave began to shake. Seven heard a weird type of carnival music play, as the flames burned strongly, their red flames reaching out into the cave.

___

"Master, I need to speak with you."

"Not now Brumm, I'm trying to figure things out. The knight disappeared, the Grimmchild has been drained of its flame, my kin have all left, and we're now back in the nightmare realm!"

"About that master, the lantern. It's been relighted."

"Has it?"

"Yes, in Hallownest. Someone lit the lantern."

"Well then what are you waiting for Brumm? Alert the steeds! Inform Divine! We're going back to Dirtmouth!"

"Yes Master! I will do so at once!"

*Brumm walks away*

"Hmmmm, I wonder, how good will this new bearer be?"

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And with that, Phase 2 has begun! Normally, I would wait a week or so to take a break, but I felt like I owed you all to give you a little sneek peek at what phase 2 has to offer! (Also I already took a two week break when I forgot about the story)

See you next chapter ; )