-Blessed by Divinity: Eternity-

Nightmare World II

Without waiting for me, Darkrai turned in the air, fading back into the fog. Quickly, I took off, following the nightmare pokemon through the thick clouds.

Soon enough, the fog was no more. As I pushed through the clouds, I found myself in an opening, surrounded by nothing but emptiness. The worn stone path under my feet was still there but one mis step and I'd end up falling into the void below. I looked up to see Darkrai just ahead, continuing on.

I followed the path with my eyes, seeing that it lead to a small hill just ahead. Quickly, I took off after the dark type, following the spiralled path, making my way to the top of the hill where Darkrai was waiting.

At the hill's summit, there stood a small lonely house atop the stone hill. It was in poor condition, holes filling the roof and walls. The door was hanging off its hinges, the windows smashed in.

I turned to Darkrai who only continued on, entering the house through the front door. I wasn't surprised to see that the interior didn't look much better. The inside was barely decorated, an oak wood table at the center of the room the only furniture.

Darkrai hovered between the table and I. There wasn't much else in the room for me to look at so I made my way over to the dark type's side, seeing a torn piece of paper face down on the table. Darkrai watched patiently, as if waiting for me to continue.

Carefully, I picked up the paper, reading out what I could. Some of the text was too faded to read and the message was incomplete due to the poor condition of the paper.

But I recognised where this paper was from. I thought back to Celestic Town, more specifically, the mysterious book Cynthia's grandmother showed Dawn and I. The handwriting was similar enough, any differences must have been due to the paper's poor condition.

I studied the piece of paper carefully, noticing that the page was filled with those same inscriptions. My eyes flared up in the darkness, reading out the information on the paper.

"Darkrai, the guardian of the dream world."

I half looked over to the dark type who was contently listening to me read. I turned back to the page, continuing where I left off.

"With its innate ability to read people's dreams, Arceus created Darkrai to watch over the dream world. Not much is known about this mysterious pokemon as it's only been seen a handful of times over thousands of years."

I paused for a moment, processing what I had just read. I looked over to Darkrai, curiosity taking over. The dark type shook his head slowly, as if to tell me to continue reading.

"Anyone that comes into contact with Darkrai is said to experience terrible nightmares which is why it seldom reveals itself to people." I thought for a moment, realising that what I was reading wasn't entirely correct. Sure, I was back in the dream world but I didn't feel like I was experiencing a terrible nightmare.

"I'm guessing you showed yourself to me for a reason?"

Darkrai hovered in the air, silent. He nodded ever so slightly, looking back to the page. He raised his left arm, his palm outstretched. There was a brief flash of darkness and as it faded, I could see that Darkrai was holding another page of the book. The paper slowly floated toward me and as I took it into my hands, I began reading.

"Encountering a mythical pokemon is said to bring great fortune to whoever is lucky enough to see one. Although it is believed that they only show themselves to trainers in times of crisis, choosing not to expose themselves to people unless absolutely necessary."

I let out a short sigh, understanding the situation now. "Well, this is definitely not a good sign. Everything is bad enough as it is, and now it's only going to get worse?" I spoke out loud to myself, voicing my thoughts.

Slowly, Darkrai made his way toward me, a serious look in his eye. His body flickered in the darkness, shifting into something else. He had taken the form of Lysandre, of Team Flare for whatever reason. I took a step back, unsure what he was going to do next.

Now in a human form, Darkrai was able to communicate with me. In a deep voice that definitely wasn't Lysandre's, the dark type spoke up, "The Great Marsh. There your questions will be answered."

In another flash of darkness, Darkrai shifted back to its original form. He floated in the air, making sure I understood his instructions.

I didn't have any time to respond before my vision turned black. As I reopened my eyes, I could see that I was no longer in the dream world. Dragonite was carrying me in her arms, hundreds of feet above the ground. It took a moment for me to adjust to the new environment so that I didn't throw up from sudden motion sickness.

Dragonite looked down to me, a wide smile on her face. Her eyes were filled with joy but at the same time I could see the seriousness behind them. I relaxed into her arms, needing the rest after what I had just seen in the dream world.

The real adventure was yet to start.