Nightmare in Knighton

An All-nighter

"It's worse then I predicted."

Merlok watched as Macy and Aaron tended to Jestro's wound. Jestro bit his lip and closed his eyes shut as Macy dabbed some disinfectant on the claw marks on his arm. Then Aaron tightly wrapped some bandaging on it; stopping it from bleeding out any more blood. Clay felt his stomach churn as he thought of that monster that called himself Monty. He felt absolutely disgusted of how that thing turned one of Jestro's most cherished memories into something that came straight out of a horror movie. Clay clenched his fist as he thought of that voice. Something about it felt all too familiar to him.

"C'mon J-man, don't squirm so much." Aaron warned as he wrapped the bandages around Jestro's new scars.

Jestro still closed his eyes shut as Aaron tended to the wound. Lance and Axl watched with looks of confusion and terror.

"Seriously; what was that thing?" Axl questioned in fear.

"And how could it do that!?" Lance pointed to Jestro's now bandaged wound.

"I'm afraid what did that was a real dream demon." Merlok answered. "We might be up against a powerful one too."

"But how did it hurt Jestro like this? He only dreamt of being hurt." Robin tried to make sense of it.

"I'm afraid Dream demons can have an impact on the real world as well as the dream world. That's how they get their victims. If a dream demon broke someone's leg while in the dream, then the sleeper would wake up with a broken leg. Or if they made you drown in your dream, you might wake up coughing up water and gasping for air."

Jestro looked up at the holographic wizard with wide and fearful eyes.

"You're saying that whatever happens to me in the dream happens for real?" Jestro asked in a shaky voice.

"I'm afraid so, Jestro." Merlok answered truthfully.

Everyone watched as all the colour from Jestro's face quickly disappeared; replacing it with a white more pale then his jester makeup. He closed and opened his mouth as he tried to say something.

"So... if I... got really hurt... I would... die for real?" He questioned in stutters and pauses.

Merlok could only nod; making Jestro turn away and curl up in his chair; rocking back and forth as he stared into nothing. Clay quickly stepped forward.

"There has to be something we can do!" The blue knight said in protest. "We can't just let this thing scare Jestro to death!"

"Isn't there something that we can use with Ava's program to stop it?" Robin suggested.

Merlok was about to say something when Ava beat him to it.

"Well, maybe there's a way I can use my program to combat this thing somehow." She tried to think of something.

"What if we could go into Jestro's dream and fight this thing?" Axl suggested.

Ava raised a brow as Macy disagreed with Axl.

"That just sounds like something out of a movie, Axl." The princess knight compared the strange idea to film.

"But, it could work." Ava went along with idea in theory. "If I can make some alterations to the program and attach more sensors, I can hook multiple people up to the computer and place them inside Jestro's dreamscape; allowing you guys to fight this thing."

Jestro and the Knights all nodded and agreed; thinking it sounded like a good idea.

"Absolutely not!"