Oblivion

Chapter 6 || Hidden Pathways

(No pov)
!!Swearing!!
-A few days later-

Ever since Karl had informed Dream of the arrival of the Dream Battalion, they've both worked twice as hard and fast. Dream was crafting Eyes of Ender while Karl began planning routes towards the Arctic.

They both didn't know where the End Portal was located, only that there was one in Techno and Philza's base. So Karl brewed invisibility potions as he planned out the quickest route to the Arctic.

Their base's floor was now covered in messy, ink-covered maps, spilled ink jars, and broken quills. The duo would often say that they'd clean it up soon, but that never happened. Karl would often sigh as he watched Dream work.

Ever since they'd began to speed up their work, Dream was beginning to spiral into something that was similar to, but not quite, insanity. He was silent and always had a distant stare in his eyes, the only thing that he'd talk about was The End and 'setting things right'. Karl could do nothing but watch as his last source of comfort faded away to insanity.

Karl wasn't doing that well either though. The Voice was constantly talking to him and often left him with splitting headaches and sleepless nights, causing his work to become messy and unorganized. His travels were also still picking away at his memory, he'd often forget what he'd even been doing before Dream came to him.

He never forgot about the two he needed to get back to though. Sapnap and Quackity, his fiancés. He'd already forgotten them once and he was not going to do it again, not if he could how it.

Karl looked out over his work as he bit on the feathery end of his newest quill, his calculations were almost correct! He was so close to getting this job over with, he could return to his loves soon! He smiled at the thought and looked over to Dream.

His smile immediately fell as he saw the swaying man drawing scribbly words on a map and speaking in Enchanted underneath his breath. Karl sighed as he called out tiredly, "Dream? Are you awake?" He asked as he added more notes onto the map.

"I'm almost there, almost there." Dream whispered to himself, Karl bit his lip hesitantly before placing his quill down and walking over to Dream quietly. Once he was close enough, he placed a hand on Dream's shoulder and slowly asked, "Dream? Are- Are you alri-" he couldn't finish his sentence as Dream had snapped his head towards him with a snarl.

Dear XD that's not normal

The voice helpfully chimed in as Karl's hand snapped back fearfully as Dream quickly calmed down, his fangs dulled, his snarl stopped, and his eyes relaxed. He shook his head and took a deep breath before smiling up at Karl.

"Sorry about that, what did you need?" He asked with a guilty laugh, Karl was still on edge about the reaction but he still responded. "I- um, was just wondering if you've found anything yet?" He asked nervously.

Dream glanced to his map and messy writing and equations before sighing, "Nope, not yet." He responded, Karl exhaled and nodded, "Ok, sorry to bother you." He was about to walk away when he noticed something weird on Dream's map and in his notes.

There were drawings of strange islands with dark pillars that had a dragon around them, and around the drawings were words about a queen and a commandment Dream didn't want to fulfill.

In his notes were a bunch of equations that had nothing to do with what they were supposed to be researching. There were equations about probability, questions about if a dragon was right, and apologies that were too long for Karl to read.

Karl had never seen The End before, he'd heard of it and was taught the legends, but he'd never been there before. Were the islands really The End? Wasn't it a grand city that could never fall? Karl shook his head and walked away from it.