Chapter 6
Beyond the threshold, there was no more staircase, no more tower. Instead, he found himself in a vast plane, surrounded by colossal mountains with snow-capped peaks that pierced the sky. The air was thin and crisp, the kind that made your lungs burn with every breath.
Viktor took a moment to steady himself, the sudden shift in scenery making him feel slightly dizzy. He stared at the horizon, where the mountains formed a natural barricade around the flat expanse. At the center of this circular plain stood a mesa mountain, its flat top a beacon in the sea of rock and snow. His eyes were drawn to the two mysterious lights shimmering at its peak.
He approached the towering structure, feeling the cold stone beneath his feet. The closer he got, the more intricate the engravings on the mesa became. They were entirely unknown to him, but fascinated him nonetheless. They weren't the simple symbols of any language he had ever encountered. They were ancient, complex patterns that danced across the rocky surface.
Viktor reached the base of the mesa, the two mysterious lights at its peak pulsing rhythmically. He knew he had to get closer. He looked around for a way to ascend, but the sides of the mountain were sheer and unforgiving.
Remembering Elena's words, he took a deep breath and focused on the plane around him. He willed the stone beneath his feet to rise, and with a gentle push, a flat platform emerged from the ground. It hovered in the air, just high enough for him to step onto it. As soon as he did, the platform began to ascend, moving steadily up the side of the mesa.
The wind whipped around him as he climbed higher, carrying the scent of distant fires and the whispers of ancient secrets. The glow from the stones grew stronger, pulsing in time with the beating of his heart. He could feel the power of the Codex resonating within him, responding to his will, eager to be used.
As the platform reached the peak, the two lights grew into two large crystals, a meter in length each, levitating off the ground. One was a deep, vibrant green, the other a fiery red. They hovered in the center of the mesa, casting an ethereal glow across the flat plane. His eyes, however, were drawn to a peculiar sight: a broken tree stump, surrounded by a ring of frost, with a statue of a man dressed in archaic garb, a monocle over one eye, holding a pocket watch that remained perpetually still, staring at the stump.
Viktor stepped off the platform, the cold stone biting at his boots, and approached the scene. As soon as his foot touched the ground, though, the crystals dropped with a thud, sending vibrations through the mesa. He watched in amazement as the green crystal began to sprout tendrils that grew into thick vines, weaving into the earth and forming a tree trunk. The red crystal fractured into a web of lightning bolts, digging into the ground and reconfiguring itself into a tree of pure energy.
The statue of the man in the monocle remained unchanged, but the frost around the stump grew, spreading outward in a circle that began to encapsulate the two trees. The green vines grew rapidly, wrapping themselves in a spiral, while the red lightning tree crackled with a fiery intensity, its branches reaching for the sky.
"What is this place?" Viktor murmured, his breath misting in the chilly air as he approached the bizarre sight.
"This is your Mind," a familiar voice echoed around him, though it didn't seem to come from any particular direction.
Viktor spun around, his heart racing, only to find an exact copy of himself standing several meters away. The copy had the same disheveled hair, the same tired eyes, and the same bewildered expression. But what made it unmistakably not him were the pupils—completely white, devoid of color, like twin pools of moonlight.
The copy spoke again, "This is your Mind, a world inside, which you entered when you tuned yourself to the Codex. Normally, a Codec wouldn't be able to access their Mind's plane. Of course, to any rule, there is an exception, and we both know who that is."
Viktor's heart thundered in his chest as he stared at the mirror image. It was like looking into a reflection that wasn't quite right, a version of himself that was eerily similar but fundamentally alien. "What do you mean?" he managed to ask, his voice trembling slightly.
The copy took a step forward, the moonlit eyes never leaving his own. "You, you idiot." It said, with a tone of amusement and scorn. Raising both hands, it open its palms and balanced them, like a scale.It lowered one hand then continued, "Let's play a common sense game, shall we? Normal people, have Codex's of fire, or water, or sound, or whatever." Then it brought the hand back, and then lowered its other hand. "You? You have a Codex of Dreams. And how do people access, the Mind's world?" It paused for a moment, letting the question hang in the air.
Viktor's thoughts raced as he tried to piece together the puzzle before him. "Through dreams?" he murmured, the words coming out more as a question than an answer.
"No shit, you idjit," the copy said, a smirk playing on its lips, which vanished when it turned in the direction of the red tree.
It walked over to it, its branches flickering with the intensity of a thousand suns. The refclection's eyes narrowed as it studied the intricate patterns of the tree, the way the light danced across the lightning branches. It reached out a hand, feeling the heat emanating from the branches, then pulled back with a hiss. "Damn thing's hot," it murmured, before raising its foot and delivering a punt to the base of the tree.
"This is your other Codex," it said, gesturing to the tree with a jerk of its head. "And as if having one wasn't enough, you've got two." It spat the words out like a curse, envy clear in its tone. "But you're not the first. There's others like you, a dual-frequency Codex, but they're rare. Extremely rare."
The copy's gaze remained fixed on the red tree, its eyes narrowed in contemplation. "The question is," it began, speaking more to itself than to Viktor, "How are you still alive?" It circled the tree, reaching out to touch the sizzling bark, only to jerk its hand back with a wince. "It's like trying to pet a sun," it murmured, shaking its hand as if to cool it. "Nightmare is supposed to be the complete opposite of dreams."
Viktor took a tentative step forward, his curiosity piqued. "Nightmare?" he echoed. "What do you mean?"
The reflection continued staring at the tree for a few more moments before snapping his head back to to face him. "What? Oh, Nightmare," it said, "is the exact opposite of Dream. What's normally supposed to happen is, the moment you awaken both of your Codexs, you experience a horrible and certain death, with a few additional sensations in between, such as dissociation, loss of self, mental instability, insanity and finally... death" It finished off listing with a smile.
Viktor felt a cold sweat trickle down his spine. "But I'm not dead," he said, his voice shaking slightly.
The copy turned to face him fully, the smirk gone. "Not yet," it said, "but you're playing with fire, Viktor. The Nightmare Codex is a beast, a destructive force that can rip reality apart. It's not something you want to mess with unless you're ready to burn."
"Why? What is the Codex of Nightmares?" Viktor's voice was barely above a whisper, fear seeping into his words.
The copy's white pupils grew large, and it took a step closer to him, the air around it seeming to warp with the intensity of its gaze. "Nightmares are the dark mirror to dreams," it spoke, the words dripping with a malicious excitement. "They're the shadows that lurk in the deepest recesses of the mind, the things that go bump in the night, the monsters under the bed. With the Codex of Nightmares, you could tear the fabric of reality apart, twist it into something unrecognizable. You bring the greatest darkest fears, and shape them into beings."
It gestured to the statue of the man with the monocle, standing untouched by the growth of the two trees. "You see that?" it sneered. "That's your fear, frozen in time. The moment the Nightmare Codex bloomed, it took your deepest, darkest fear and shaped it into that."
Viktor's eyes grew wide as he took in the statue, seeing each of the representations of the office where he had been trapped for what felt like an eternity. The plain archaic garb - the beige walls, the stop watch - the ticking clock — every detail was there, immortalized in stone. "That's... that's terrifying," he murmured, his voice shaking.
The copy chuckled, the sound echoing eerily in the vast, open space. "But it's also incredibly powerful. Imagine, the ability to bring the very essence of fear of your opponent to reality. To make the terror manifest, to bend that fear to your will and control it as you wish." It paused, then added, "But, as I said, it's a double-edged sword. You're playing a dangerous game, my friend."
Viktor took a step back, his mind racing. "What do I do?" he asked, his voice shaking with a mix of awe and terror.
The reflection considered him for a moment, the white pupils unblinking. "That," it said, "is entirely up to you. But if I were you, I'd tread incredibly lightly. Tiptoe even. The Nightmare Codex is a force of destruction. It's the manifestation of chaos incarnate. And you, my friend, are a mere mortal playing with the gods' toys."
Viktor swallowed hard, the gravity of the situation settling in his chest like a cold stone. "But how do you know all of this?" he asked, taking another step back from the reflection. "What are you?"
The copy looked at him with a mischievous smile, raising an eyebrow. "Oh, I'm just a figment of your imagination," it said, "But with a little bit more bite." It took a playful bow, the edges of its form rippling like it was made of water. "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Dream. The manifesation of the Dream Codex you so graciously absorbed."
Viktor stared at the figure, his mind racing with questions. "But, why are you here?" he asked, his voice barely audible.
Dream straightened up from its bow, its form solidifying slightly. "Because," it said, "the Codex of Dreams isn't just a simple tool. It's a living part of you now. And like any living thing, it needs a host. It's like having a second heart. Sure, you can ignore it, but it's always there, beating away." It stepped closer to him, its movements fluid and graceful despite the harshness of the wind and the coldness of the stone beneath their feet. "Since the codex wasn't originally yours, it required a secondary consciousness to fuse completely. And as fate would have it, that consciousness is me."
The two of them stared at each other, the real Viktor trying to wrap his head around the concept of sharing his mind with a sentient manifestation of his own power. Dream, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying the moment, a wicked smile playing on its lips. "But don't worry," it said, dusting off some non-existant dust off its clothes, "I'm not here to take over or anything boring like that. I'm here to guide you, to show you the full extent of your abilities." It paused for a moment, its smile growing larger and terrifyingly sinister.
"And watch as the chaos ensues..."