Needless to say, Hero had been feeling off all day. It began with the weird dream about needing to find Basil, then when he found out what the violin meant in a dream and deduced what it could have possibly been since it was broken he was on an edge of some kind.
At one point the feeling of dread raised so high in his stomach that his colleagues were concerned about how pail he was getting. He assured them that he was fine and just needed some rest.
He also began seeing figures, mainly the dream beings from last night. He just assumed he needed to get some sleep.
The feeling of dread grew even more during the day. It even got to the point where he felt woozy and almost threw up because of it. Then it randomly left as if it was never there. Hero still doesn’t understand what happened.
Maybe he should go see a doctor when he arrives in Faraway tomorrow, hopefully, his parents wouldn’t mind that.
He set up his bed for the night and stared at the ceiling. He wonders if he will have a continuation of his dream last night. He sure hoped not, they always begin so nice but end so horribly. Maybe he can try to wake himself up before everything turns south but how would he manage to do that?
He would try getting beaten up a lot but that just sounds unpleasant and he also learned that he turns into toast when too badly damaged so that isn’t going to work.
He pulled the covers over himself and just prayed to whatever god out there that exists to not give him the dream.
~~~~~~
You know what? He should have expected the gods liked feeding off his suffering. Why? Cause he is back in the colorful room with Kel and Aubrey.
“Hey, Aubrey! I forgot to say this earlier but thanks for the money!” Kel smiled at her.
“Whatever, I just wanted you out of my sight.” Aubrey groaned.
“Did I miss something?” Hero decided to ask, lost on what they are talking about.
“Yeah, Aubrey gave me ten bucks for giving me a critical while fighting the windows downloader.” Kel looked over to Aubrey who rolled her eyes.
“Huh.” That was all Hero had to say in response to that.
The white door creaked open and out came Omori, still looking a lot like Sunny. Hero still felt like an idiot for not recognizing Omori as Sunny before Mari brought up him being her little brother.
Who knows, maybe when he visits Faraway he could convince Sunny to come out of his house.
Omori walked over and sat down next to them.
“Hey, Omori! Guess who just gave me ten dollars!” Kel grinned.
Omori simply pointed over to Aubrey who rolled her eyes yet again, “Seriously Kel, getting ten dollars isn’t much.”
“Yeah I know, I just like bragging.” Kel laughed.
“So are we all ready to begin searching for Basil...again?” Hero asked as he got up.
Everyone followed suit by getting up and nodding.
“We should go see Mari first, right? She might know something.” Aubrey suggested.
“That would be a good idea.” Hero nodded in agreement.
“Alright! Onwards to Mari!” Kel ran up the stairs quickly before stopping, “Wait, she is at the park right?”
Omori gave him a quick nod with a thumbs up.
“Sweet, thanks, Omori!” Kel ran outside the stump.
“We better catch up to him…” Hero sighed as he and Aubrey ran after him.
Omori was a little bit behind, talking to the snake and collecting 750 clams before making his way out as well.
Hero was in no way used to seeing Mari. She just acted so...real? If that was the right word. He couldn’t tell. He had dreams of Mari before, normally a nightmare and on a lucky occasion, it was him reliving a memory.
He sighed when he caught up to Kel who was already bragging about getting ten dollars from Aubrey to her.
He wondered if anyone else here felt the same way. Well, probably not, after all, it isn’t like he, Aubrey, and Kel were all having the same dream...right?
Actually, now that he thinks about it, that could actually be the case. It could be that he is sharing a dream with Kel and Aubrey. There is a lot of evidence that supports it, like Kel getting the ten dollars he and Aubrey betted about in secret. The currency here is clams, not dollars, if they were dream versions of themselves Kel would be talking about clams instead.
Omori also acted strangely. He may not talk but his body language says a lot about him. What if he actually is Sunny? The temptation to call him that is large but he feels like if he says it something unpleasant might happen.
Hero suddenly got an idea. He would text Kel about what happened in this dream and see if Kel says he had the same thing happen to him. He would just need to find the time to do it.
Right now however Kel was waving him and the others over to Mari.
“Hey, Mari!” Aubrey waved.
“Hello, Mari!” Hero walked forward with Aubrey towards Mari who was looking at them with a huge grin.
“Hello everyone! Glad to see you all are safe.” Mari warmly smiled at them.
“Yep! We’re all good!” Kel smiled.
Omori walked up to Mari and opened his arms. She took that as an opportunity to hug him, “Glad you are safe as well Omori!”
Hero’s heart melted. Everything he would trade in the world to see Mari and Sunny like this again, for everything to go back to normal. It hurt to watch.
“So, do any of you have anything to bring up about finding Basil?” Mari asked.
“Still nothing. I don’t think he would be in...Otherworld? That is the name right?” Kel looked over to Hero who nodded, “Yeah Otherworld is its name.”
“Yeah, I don’t think he is in Otherworld either. He would have been found by Spaceboy by now.” Aubrey added.
“So Otherworld is checked off. Are there any other places we can explore?” Hero asked Mari.
“Hmm there is a forest west to the stump but I have a feeling you wouldn’t like going there, Hero. Nor would Omori by any chance.” Mari informed the group.
“Huh? Why?” Hero asked as Omori tilted his head.
Mari nervously clicked her tongue, “Um, well, there are a lot, and I do mean a lot of insects crawling about.”
“Huh? Well yeah, it is a forest after all.” Kel rolled his eyes, “Hero and Omori should be fine.”
“Yeah, I would normally agree with you Kel but most residents in the areas are mainly spiders…” Mari trailed off.
Hero and Omori both froze at the mention of spiders. A million thoughts began going through his head at lightning speed.
This is a dream, right? So they should be absolutely harmless, right?
Once again though this is a dream. What if they are absolutely terrifying? Hero doesn’t want to deal with that.
“Oh, I think you broke them…” Aubrey muttered under her breath.
“Yikes, they aren’t going to have fun at all.” Kel sighed.
“I know it may be tough for you two, but I believe you can get through it! After all, if it makes you feel better, you can beat them up!” Mari tried to make the situation at least seem a bit better.
That at least seemed to take Omori out of his fear a bit. Guess he wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to stab something or someone. Classic Omori…? Hero didn’t know.
“Come on Hero, need me to play older brother and hold your hand?” Kel teased jokingly. He wasn’t expecting Hero to actually grab his hand.
“You get to kill the spiders. The moment I see one I will do nothing but cower.” Hero decided.
“Pff, fine you baby. I’ll kill the spiders for you.” Kel laughed.
Listen, you might think Hero’s fear is a bit irrational but he’ll have you know that he has dealt with spiders a ton in his life. If he is far away from it he will simply run. If he sees it blocking his path he will stay still until the spider moves. If he is nearby it and notices he will panic. Why? Cause when he was five he woke up with a giant spider crawling on his face and life had never been the same.
“Alright, are we done coaxing Omori and Hero into going into the forest?” Aubrey asked, “Cause I am ready to go destroy things!”
“That’s the spirit!” Mari cheered.
Hero sighed. He really was going to deal with this, wasn’t he? Sometimes he wished he could make Basil appear with his mind but that would be too easy wouldn’t it?
Omori began leading the way, instead of heading to the forest however he headed down.
“Omori? This isn’t the right way…” Kel pointed out.
Omori nodded and just made the motion to follow him. They did only to find wilted flowers in Basil’s garden. “Oh! You wanted to water the flowers!” Hero realized as Omori picked up a watering can.
“Aye! I’ll help you water them!” Kel smiled as he ran forward and picked up another can and began pouring. Aubrey and Hero joined in as well, making sure to water only the flowers that needed to be watered.
Hero actually felt at peace while watering the plants. It was a calm before the storm moment for him, well, more like flowers before walking into his worst fear.
He had a feeling he was absolutely going to hate the forest with every inch in his body. Who knows, it might not be that bad.
~~~~~~
He was right, it was terrible.
The place was really, really, really foggy. Hero felt his spine shiver from just the atmosphere. If he wanted to see his enemies he was going to have to strain his own eyes, which is stupid cause this is a dream.
They managed to find an empty joke book in the fog which is a shame cause Hero could really use a joke right now. You know how it is though, Hero can’t have anything nice.
There was also a minecart that everyone immediately hopped inside upon seeing.
“Hey! Kel! Move! Your butt is too big!” Aubrey complained.
“Yeah? It ain’t my fault that Hero has long legs!” Kel yelled back.
“...Maybe we should have hopped in one at a time.” Hero muttered.
Omori on the other hand decided they were fine the way they were and pushed the cart forward. It went slow at first but began picking up speed. Hero would have thought they were in for a quick ride before the cart suddenly stopped and began heading backward.
Eventually, they ended up right where they were before.
Noticing that the minecart wasn’t going to be of use right now they began to walk ahead. They finally encountered their first enemy while doing so.
It was a rabbit, just like the ones in the forest. It seemed harmless and they weren’t even going to fight it. That was until it stood up revealing fuzzy spider legs on their bodies.
“Oh my god, they look adorable,” Aubrey muttered, her love for bunnies showing.
“Look at them! Their little fuzzy legs are adorable!” Kel agreed with Aubrey.
Omori and Hero on the other hand were thinking one thing and one thing only.
Kill it.
Omori quickly pulled out his blade and stared at the animal with bloodlust in his eyes. Aubrey and Kel both seemed to notice it a bit too late.
“WAIT DON’T KILL IT!”
Omori was already putting multiple stab wounds into the abomination. Hero felt no sympathy for the beast.
“NOOOOO.” Both animal lovers fell to their knees to mourn their bunny spider friend. Meanwhile, Hero and Omori high fived in mutual respect.
“I get you two hate spiders but did ya really have to do that?” Aubrey yelled.
Omori and Hero nodded, “I declare a killing spree on their whole race.”
“NO!”
Omori rolled his eyes and put his knife away while Hero sighed, “Fine, we won’t attack the next one we see unless it gets too close.”
“Sounds fair to me.” Kel shrugged.
Aubrey just groaned and shook her head in disappointment.
They found a matchbox on a mini hill and were satisfied when they saw it worked. They moved back down and found a candle. Omori decided to light it and he immediately regretted it when a hoard of spiders went to it to take it out.
It also got a scream out of Hero which made Kel, who was also a bit scared, laugh.
Omori realized that the spiders were blocking and preventing a spider web from being knocked down. He knew that if he wanted to get through he needed to be quick.
He made a motion to the others of the plan and they nodded in agreement. Omori lit the candle again and they booked it to the web while the spiders made their way to the light.
Cutting the web and moving to the left allowed them to find a track they could use to fix the path the minecart takes.
Feeling happy enough with their work they were about to head back out normally until a shadow from above covered them.
The gang looked up to see a giant spider jump down on top of them. Hero, Aubrey, and Kel all screamed while Omori stared in shock. The spider grabbed all four of them and dropped them on the other side of the web before disappearing.
Hero is glad he went to the bathroom before heading to bed.
After a while of blinking at nothing, the gang moved forward. They found yet another spider web with a candle near it and everyone groaned, knowing what they had to do.
Omori lit a candle and the spiders jumped at it, giving the group a chance to break their web. Behind it was another piece of track they could use.
Another spider came down from the sky and grabbed them, bringing them back to the entrance.
“I hate this place, I hate this place, I hate this place, I hate this-” “We get it, Hero, you hate this place. We hate it too, you are not alone.” Kel sighed.
Aubrey squinted, looking ahead, “Huh, what a neat plant. Should we be screaming Basil’s name while searching or-” the plant suddenly got up and looked at Aubrey with its one eye.
She screamed and Omori immediately ran towards it to stab it. Aubrey ran up to it as well and broke the whole pot.
“Huh, I thought you didn’t want us to kill anything.” Hero laughed at Aubrey’s suffering.
“Shut. Up.” Aubrey growled.
While they spoke Omori put one of the tracks back on the ground right where it belonged.
“Nice job Omori!” Mari’s voice rang out as everyone realized she was in the next room over. She still had her picnic basket by her side with some tofu. Not the greatest food but certainly not the worst.
“Hello, Mari!” Hero waved, then immediately cried inside. God, why does this one remind him so much like her? Almost as if she was the real deal.
Omori moved forward, putting another track in the ground after waving hello to his sister.
“Hard at work, I see! How has it been?” Mari asked.
“Omori killed a rabbit spider that I and Kel liked and then a plant startled us,” Aubrey explained.
“You forgot the huge spider that came from the sky!” Kel added.
“I wish I could forget.” Hero shivered.
Mari only laughed in the face of his suffering. That’s fair, she would also joke about him screaming when a tiny spider crawled up his arm, so that felt in character for her.
Omori proceeded to find yet another floating mirror. The group walked over to him and gave him warm and supportive smiles.
Hero doesn’t know why they do this each time Omori looks in the mirror but it just feels right. It was as if he was comforting someone in some way. Hero sometimes wonders who he is comforting. Omori? Aubrey? Kel? Himself? He could never be sure.
They proceeded to walk to the left and found yet another spider web. Or should Hero say spider webs cause there was a lot more than one with spiders this time around?
Omori lit the candle and instead of one herd of spiders, there were multiple. Hero was terrified but still tried to push through, following Omori as he cut down the spider webs. Omori was able to get the last track right as the spider came down from the sky and grabbed them. Bringing them back to the entrance of the area.
Omori and everyone else walked out of the area and traveled further up the tracks. They found what part of the track was missing and placed down the track in its place. They were about to head back down until they noticed a path heading to the east.
“Hey, do you think Basil could be down there?” Aubrey asked.
“There is a chance…” Hero muttered.
“Then what are we waiting for, let's go!” Kel began to walk with a pep in his step.
Omori looked...nervous? Hero wasn’t good at reading his emotions, he never could even read Sunny’s emotion four years ago. He normally had to be explained to Mari what Sunny wanted.
He sighed. Why did he have a bad feeling about this?