Nightmare Mythos

"It has been a week?"

As if Cesar had asked a weird question, the others couldn't help but stare at him blankly. Only then did they realize what he was trying to imply and Klaus, standing from the side answered his inquiry.

"As you can see, the days we got transferred here vary." Klaus explained briefly, "The longest one here is Leah, three days earlier than Jeremiah who has been in this hallway for a week. A day later, Erin came. Then, me, Quentin, Amar, and you."

He added, "Like you, well, judging the way you look now, we've also passed through hallways on our own. Leah said she passed through two hallways, this is her third one. We just passed through one hallway before climbing up towards one of the table's segments and made our way up,"

Seeing that they were normalizing the irregularity of their arrival in the hallway, Cesar didn't get too excited anymore. By the looks of it, this mansion really had its way of putting someone in a tight spot, giving them all questions and no answers.

Transferring every individual in the city inside of the mansion walls was one thing but to send them in different time intervals was on another level.

Cesar discovered yet another finding that he wouldn't be too sure if it would be helpful enough but it was there.

With a sigh, Cesar relaxed as he sat down on the floor and asked, "Hello, everyone, my name is Cesar Sparrow. Before coming to this table, I went through three hallways that made me run forward, fall, and run upwards. Oh, I came from the opposite side of the table before coming to this candelabra."

"Four hallways in total?"

Quentin stated with a hint of surprise but the same could be said for the others who also gave proud and disbelief expressions.

Only then do they start conversing on their own, reporting whatever findings they found from their journey to this table.

Cesar, on the other hand, had to keep a handful of information to himself.

…

"How are we going to proceed from now on?"

Eventually, their conversation started to tit in the more pressing matters. The idle talk was just a way to release the stress that Cesar had suffered which the others understand, just judging the way he appeared.

Quentin can vouch that it was the real Cesar they were talking to even if he had changed so much, appearance-wise or demeanor-wise.

That's why the adult ones wanted this kid to take a moment of breather.

But it was Cesar who brought the conversation, knowing wasting a single second to idle talk would get them nowhere.

Jeremiah, the one acting as the speaker for the team, didn't idle any longer as he preferred to be talking the important questions rather than wasting 'assuring' someone who didn't really need it.

He answered his question, "We're considering going below this table and went for the other side but Leah strongly warned me not to go under in any circumstances. The Darkness creeps her out for some reason,"

He added, "She also told me I was fortunate enough to be able to climb without encountering something in the darkness. As for her, she specifically told me that someone watched her from the darkness but it kept getting out of her sight,"

'That's… Is that what Cedeit was referring to? The Dwellers in the Dark?'

Cesar mused inwardly, remembering the words of the voice when these creatures living in the dark were mentioned.

He also noticed the shorty react, albeit barely, which he ignored right after.

'For Cedeit to mention it, it's probably a big deal. I see, it makes sense now. He was implying that going through the darkness to get to the other half side of the table is not an option. However, defeating the Nightmare is something that can be manageable somehow,'

Cesar then gave his opinion by speaking his view, "We absolutely cannot go under the table. I thought it was just me but I couldn't see anything when I set my sight in the middle of the table while I was making my way up here. On the far edge of the table, it was already hard to see but here… there was nothing but absolute darkness,"

Klaus couldn't help but applaud his observation, "You know, that's exactly what Jeremiah told us about when we came here. Honestly, I don't even know how I was able to get up here but it wasn't very dark yet when I climbed up."

He paused, "But then again, we also searched it ourselves to confirm our suspicions. And as you know, under this table in our position… we couldn't see anything below. Walking blindly is not an option for us if we want to move forward,"

Jeremiah let out a sigh of disbelief before shifting his gaze at Amar and Erin, "You heard him. It looks like our movement are set in stone. We're going to defeat that Nightmare ourselves... or escape it somehow if possible,"

'Here it comes…'

This is what Cesar had been waiting for. By the looks of it, the cohort was considering this option in the first place. No, it was one of the two choices they had if they wanted to leave this cursed place.

Now that Cesar came in here, their doubts about wanting to travel under the table seemed to have been solidified.

They are never going to cross it.

"What do we know about the Nightmare, sir?"

Cesar asked, wanting to know about the Nightmare beforehand and waiting for Cedeit to come and give additional information. He wanted to see the progress that the cohort managed to compile while being here.

"It's not a lot but… well, I guess it's enough to have some prior knowledge aside from being clueless entirely," Jeremiah paused before letting out a short cough, "The Nightmare we're going to face is very sensitive to noise. Don't worry, this tent is soundproof and the only reason we're able to talk even though we're kilometers away from this fellow,"

He added after a short pause, "Second, it seemed so obsessed with the candelabra for some unknown reason. Why? Well, you can see its figure resting on the handle itself,"

The talk went on for a while as the other shared their own discoveries regarding this Nightmare itself which couldn't be proven right now due to it being a Fresh Nightmare, in an unknown place.

Even so, they started strategizing on how to take their stance regarding this creature, thinking how they'll defeat this monster without losing a single man from their side.

In the end of their plan, Jeremiah announced that they'll start their operation in three days.