Insomnia

48

Her Homespace. Quiet. Serene. Esme stared down at the endless field of bluebonnets. A memory she could no longer trust. Doubt roiled inside her. Esme summoned Nautilus to surround her frame and shore up her confidence.

She left this world behind and entered the public server. Chaos greeted her as she fell immediately into the sky above the city. Esme concentrated and slowed her descent, landing gently on the street below. It looked like an acid trip – and she would know. Esme had visited the dreams of drug-addled minds before. They were pure id.

A pirate ship lay embedded in the side of a skyscraper. Strange, inhuman monsters howled along the street. A mouse was singing an Italian aria atop a giant mushroom. Somnus was falling apart.

Esme extended a thought probe on all sides. She detected human minds and shifted.

The entirety of the WBI was gathered here. They might have noticed her if they weren't distracted by the dark pulsating orb suspended in the middle of the street. Esme stepped forward, and one by one they turned to face her.

Beneath their stares, she felt every bit a wanted criminal. Thankfully, they seemed to realize that she wasn't the real threat here.

"Trahan!" A voice boomed out. It was Rawley, the agent who'd searched her apartment.

"Agent Rawley," she greeted, as politely as she could manage. Esme knew she was already on thin ice with these people. No need to make things any more tense.

He stepped up to her and took her by the arm. His next words were under his breath. "Do you know what's going on?"

She regarded him quietly. To his credit, there was little fear in his eyes, only the haggard fatigue of someone decidedly out of his depth. Esme looked closer and found that even without her concentrating, memories dripped off of his frame. An old, beaten up motorcycle popped into existence on his right. Esme turned from side to side and realized that every person - the entire world of Somnus - was bleeding memories. Something about the Knightmare's presence was drawing whole volumes from their minds, a dark sun pulling in memory through intense gravitation.

"The Knightmare," she explained. "It's trapping people – lots of them, more than usual, in Somnus. And that's causing... whatever this is."

"You mean you don't know?" he whispered anxiously. Rawley exchanged a concerned glance with another agent. "Lucia reached out to that thing, and it sucked her in. We haven't seen her since. "

Esme placed a determined hand on his shoulder. "I'll check it out. Don't let anyone else in. Make sure to tell anyone that you see to stay away from these things, and to wake up if they can. Wake them up if you have to."

The man displayed remarkably good sense and followed her orders, repeating them to the crowd of agents. Esme approached the swirling mass of darkness. She turned to look at Rawley who nodded gratefully.

"My apartment's not as boring as you said it was!" she called. A sliver of a smile sprouted on his face. Esme turned back to the darkness and reached towards it with a Psionic probe. Seed images blasted across her mind, and Esme felt herself tear away from this world.

Fire. So much fire.

Esme placed a Belief onto her body and a fireman's suit grew over her form. It helped with the heat and she took the moment to examine her surroundings. It looked like a savannah from some outdated nature documentary. Except most of it was burning.

She heard the frenzied screeches of animals and watched as an entire ecosystem devoured itself. Before her were lions tearing at antelopes – vultures swooping down to peck out giraffe eyes – the sour stench of burning meat. They seemed indifferent to the flames, only concerned with causing as much harm to one another as possible.