The light in your nightmares

Entering head first in the cabin his first thought is about the leather piece at the entry and how it stinks. Then his second thought is when the leather piece take his place back at the exit. Blocking the light from coming with him in the room. Making him think about the darkness reigning in it.

 If there is no lamp at the side of Suspicious the whole place will be as dark as the mine. This finding is quite unpleasing and bring unwelcome memories. 

Like The face of One who come in a flash in his mind and bring a bitter and salty feeling with it. The emotion behind this is quite hard to name for Dust but is a mix beteween mild sadness regret and slight fear.

The ligh provided by the lantern is weak but warm, an orange glow contrasting with their surrounding. 

Suspicious give him a glance at the end of the cabin. The light reflecting in his pupil like a fire. 

-The ladder must be raised to block the passage.

Dust answer him in a whisper.

-It 's already done.

The red-haired man doesn't react  his gaze returning to watch the small flame in his lantern. 

He is already sitting on the bare floor. One leg bent thw other leg extended. His back against the wall facing the sole entry and the lantern.

Around him a pile of scrap who seem to have been once some kind of cover for a bed. He kept his pants on but his shirt, shoes and socks are all over the floor. 

Under the warm light is white skin is almost translucent blue veins scretching from his belt to his navel.

His position appear to be relaxed but the way his muscles including his abs are tense prove to the smaller one that he is ready to fight if he dares to attempt anything.

The boy walk in hesitantly then to show that he hasn't any wicked intention sit on the ground next to some stacked plates made of wood against the the wall at his left. Far enough from Suspicious to not appear to be in the midst of planning an attack while still keeping a cautious distance with the entry.

They don't speak after that the silence is heavy between them. 

He retrieves his top too and shoes and sock like his companion. After all it is better to be cold than being all wet.

With care he folds his clothes and try and put it on his thigh to aviod any dirts.

Now that they stopped walking Dust find the time to think a bit more about the whole situation.

The first time he woke up, he found himself without memories, desoriented, and all alone.  The following events happenned too quickly.

The door, the key, The monster.

Drowned by fear, anxiety and the short laps of time between discovering and adapting to new unknown added with surnatural beings like the dark fog and seeing people being killed…. In this situation there is no time to realise what is really happening and there is much less time to think about it.

After that there was the castle. Still disorienting. People you think dead like Follower is actually well alive after being abandonned by everyone else, new people are added, Pony has her finger just…

re-fixed like it was nothing.

Everything is in place the dinner, the guests are there but no host.

Little is the time they had to discuss details or even to get acquainted before blacking out and ending here in the middle of nowhere.

There is time for questions but no time to think about it.

Directly after coming the group start to divide itself because of the new " nightmare". Suspicion is here and arguments between each other is bound to come.

Futhermore the memory of the mine or of the Middle-Age village for Ugly, Handsome and Charismatic is fresh enough for them to fear that some monsters will kill them when they will be the most unaware.

So really it's hard to find a moment to reflect about everything.

 Dust can actually find some invariables elements: first they wake up on some kind of beds and end up in a different locations each time a collective dream occur.

He also has the feeling he will see the castle again as it seem ot be a " safe" place.

But why does this  " safe place" exist? To wait for others to join? Is there some kind of quota for different " Nightmare"? 

Then what about the healing of Pony? Does this mean that everytime they end a " Nightmare" they will be healed of any injuries? 

The boy isn't so sure after all he only has one example of this happenning but his theory isn't that impossible. Why heal her one time ? if you don't intend to do the same for every " nightmare"?

Of course maybe there is a condition to achieve in order to be healed or it's some kind of Prop for " beginner".

Speaking of it is this some kind of game ?

Somehow even if it isn't pleasing for the player it does sound like it.

The memory about the first nightmare is kind of blurry but he remembers that at the end of it what was said is well rooted in his head for some surnatural reason:

"End of the short story: "Glimpse of light". 

Level: F- 

Please, keep in your head all the hints! 

Guest of the horror, please awaken and survive!"

Not only the nightmare has a name but a level. A level mean there is a ranking. A ranking mean that others before them has tested it and by some criteria it was evaluated. 

Then there is the title: Glimpse of light. 

In itself it is an hint.

They needed light to survive.

When they ended it the formulation has changed, what is the most noticable is " awaken and rise". 

A word play : not survive but rise signaling perhaps the break time between the two nightmares. Another thing that seem to verify his hypothesis about the castle.

For the second dream what was said change including the level:

"

 End of the short story: "Smuggler of illness" .

  Six nightmares  with this one included to go before you can ask for your most dearest wish!

 Please, keep in your head all the hints! Guest of the horror, please awaken and survive!"

Again there is the word " survive" but not just that.

However the level isn't specified.

why?

Is it something that wasn't tested before? In the first place why give the level of the nightmare to the player? What  can they do with this information?

It's not as if they can choose a nighmare in place of another or that they can prepare for the difficulty beforehand.

Is it just for raising awareness of the difficulty level? then why this nighmare has no  level? An omission?

Dust can't find an answer to this question for now and to be honest he isn't quite sure of the utility of the answer so he shift his attention to the title.

" Glimpse of light"  was a hint which reinforces the clues given by the vision with the man and the door.

Then following this logic " Smuggler of Illness" is an hint too.

But this one appear to be a bonus hint with the vision.

Smuggler: it must be about the creature of the boat. Then illness? it doesn't appear in the dream… 

Dust look at the orange light lost in thoughts breathing with his mouth open to not smell the moldy odor escaping from the moist wood.

The cabin is really poorly constructed and while the roof doesn't leak it  it isn't in any way isolated from the humidity. The mold as even started to eat the wood making a part of the wall more grey than dark brown.

Wait.

He remember that the smuggler has bluish rotting skin. At first he thought it was logical if we consider that it is a monster, the head given was blue too but this kind of discoloration can be considered normal about the dead.

However The little boy when he threw the bag it was so fast … but his skin was blue doesn't it? Rotting alive and blue.

Does this mean there is a possibility they catch the illness? But what about it? If they are healed once they come to the castle it isn't worth mentioning.  is it so fast to die from it ?

No, maybe he need to think about it in another angle.

The smuggler is a smuggler of illness why?

He allows the ills to cross if they pay the price.

He can't have this title if they are no more ill people who want to cross. hence the name.

its a word play by his action he is spreading the disease.

Then continuing this theory if the vision of " Nightmare" is like for the mine everything and every details are an hint.

Like the door the key the flash light, the darkness…The flash light wait.

This time what was given to them was a knife. Like the lamp torch the knife is for they protection.

He assumed at first that the knife was to fight the monster of the boat and then he believed that it was to protect himself against the other in the group or to kill one to take his or her head. But what if its for another "monster"?

Why call him " smuggler of illness"  like this if there is no more contaminated person apart from him?The smuggler in the dream didn't seem willing to step on earth when he recall the dream and didn't attack others...

Now he doesn't look at the lantern but at the room in a new way.

The lantern bring enough light to see the whole layout but some corners are deep in the shadow. 

There are not many objects:Wood plates, and wood bowls crudely done the corner with Suspicious has some old piece of rag to form some kind of bed eaten by insects. and a empty wood box. Its clear that it was deserted a long time ago.Who lived here? And Where are they now? Why did they leave? 

They thought that if they meet other persons they could ask for their help but what if it isn't the case.

What did the old man said again?

"Human presence isn't necessarily a good thing."

Dust start to doze off.A lucky thing is that no much time must have passed between the castle and the forest as he doesn't feel hungry yet. Putting his reasonning away he closes his eyes.

After all he is just randomly making things up  until he is proven to be right.

 " 6 nightmare including…" " for your most dearest wish" A wish?  Like recovering his memory? did he participate willingly at this " game"? or not? 

Did he have a wish before losing his memory? One so important that he was willing to risk his life for?