Chapter 37

[Location: Salvatore Boarding School] [3rd POV]

It was now the morning, and the sun had already risen. And there was yet another assembly called by Alaric. This time, it was about the new monster, a supposed "Night Hag" That Talia knew was an Oneiroi. Sitting next to Hope, Talia yawned, having only just woken up a little while ago.

"Our latest monster is a Night Hag, a malevolent spirit trapped on the astral plane that can only interact with us through dream. In this case, nightmares" Alaric said, opening up with a upfront explanation on the newest monster.

"So, like Freddy Kruger?" MG asked, as the two were a bit similar to one another.

"Well, in the sense that what happens to you in your dreams seems to also happen to you in real life, yes. But the good news is we're safe, so long as we stay awake" This got murmurs out of the students, before Alaric continued "Now, I've lined up more evacuation shuttles. They should be running all afternoon, so please, for those who don't want to stay and fight, take advantage of them. All right, that's all" After finishing his little explanation, students got up, before beginning to murmur to one another.

Getting up, Talia began to walk and talk with Hope. "You haven't had any bad dreams, have you?" Talia aksed, wanting to make sure her girlfriend was alright. Hope shook her head with a soft smile "Nope, cuddling with you stops that from happening"

"And how is Alaric so sure that this is a Night Hag?" Talia asked, causing Hope to blink in confusion. "What else could it be?" Hope asked, knowing that Talia had far more knowledge in monsters, than just about anyone else. As she seemed to know exactly what the creatures were, just from a few clues.

"An Oneiroi. I'm assuming it's hiding its true appearance so that we don't know how to stop it. It's got shapeshifting capabilities, and has pretty much the same abilities of a Night Hag, but better" Talia answered, causing Hope to blink and began to think it over. "That does make sense, but knowing Dr. Saltzman, he isn't going to listen to you" Hope said with a sigh, knowing the man, and knowing that he's become rather...questionable as of recent.

Talia snorted at this "That's an understatement" Hope giggled at the snort from her girlfriend, before Talia decided to change the topic "You need help with your studying?" Hope looked at Talia before nodding "I could use some help, especially from my super awesome girlfriend who has already finished all of her classes"

"Except Chemistry of Magic" Talia finished with a grin on her face. The two walked off so that Talia could help Hope with her studying.

[later]

After a couple of hours of helping Hope with her studying, and training a bit, the two were now being dragged to the library by Alaric, who was called there by Landon. Landon believed he found something out about the monster, after he was injured by it, due to him falling asleep in class.

Walking into the Library, Landon began to speak "Let's protend for a second that the research isn't wrong. Maybe the Night Hag can't hurt us in real life. Maybe the Night Hag can't leave the astral plane and get a hold of the urn, so maybe we are not dealing with a Night Hag"

"Well, if it walks like a Night Hag, and talks like a Night Hag, what else could it be?" Alaric asked, causing Talia to speak up.

"It's an Oneiroi. It's hiding itself so that we don't know what it actually is, as if we knew what it was, we'd know how to stop it" Talia said, annoyance clear in her tone. Hope struggled not to crack a smile at her expression, while Landon grit his teeth in anger at her taking his thunder. While Alaric was thinking it over, before nodding, agreeing that it made a lot of sense.

"Hope, kiss her for me" Alaric said, walking off to think of a way to deal with the Oneiroi. Hearing this, Hope shrugged before pecking Talia on the lips. Before the two walked off, not caring about the angry Landon who was trying to call after them. Neither of them cared about the teen, and were hoping he would get the picture, but he wasn't exactly the brightest tool in the shed.

[Night]

It was later into the day, Talia and Hope were currently explaining what the creature was to Kaleb, MG and Rafael.

"A black-winged what?" Kaleb asked with confusion clear in his tone. Having heard their explanation on the Oneiroi, but still not getting the full picture.

""Shapeshifting dream demon"" Talia and Hope said at the same time, causing them to glance at one another with a smile.

"I know it sounds bad, but now that we know what the creature is, we can fight it" Hope said.

"How the hell are we supposed to kill a dream demon?" Rafael asked, confusion and disbelief in his tone.

"Leave that part to use. But since we can't fall asleep without compromising the location of the knife and the urn, I need someone else to pull it out of the dream plane and into our waking reality. Talia would do it, but the Oneiroi can't get into her head due to her mental defenses blocking it" Hope explained, causing MG to reply.

"So, Freddy Krueger. Like I said"

"Wait, how the hell are we supposed to do that?" Rafael asked, wanting to know how exactly they're supposed to drag a dream demon into the real world.

"If it's anything like the movies, we just grab and pull" MG said, answering Rafael's question for him.

"Yeah, okay. Is it too late to get on the, uh, evacuation bus?" Kaleb asked, not wanting to be apart of all of...that.

"No, I mean, I'm not gonna ask all of you to stay for this, it has to be your choice" Hope said, causing the three teens to glance at eachother. While Talia shrugged "I'm not leaving unless she does"

"We already know that's not happening" Hope added.

"Well...I guess I can't leave Landon behind" Rafael said, knowing that Landon hasn't left yet, and was still inside the school.

"I'm a founding member of the Super Squad, so I can't bail" MG said, getting up. This caused Kaleb to respond "Y'all gonna get yourselves killed" Kaleb said in disbelief.

They all glanced at him, causing him to shake his head in defeat, while sighing "But if MG stays, I stay. No child left behind"

"Well it's naptime then" Talia said, causing Hope bump her shoulder "That was my line" Hope said with a huff.

[3 hours later]

"So...he fell asleep?" Talia said with a snort as she walked up next to Hope, ready to drag the Oneiroi into the real world.

"I guess so. He must be so tired he nodded off on his own" Hope replied, before the two walked to the gym. Seeing the beds already prepared, and the others getting ready, Talia sighed. She would have preferred to drag it out herself, but she didn't really have a spell that could do that, not easily at least.

Slowly the four teens, with Landon having joined in, had layed down on the bed, and fallen asleep. Causing another hour to pass, with Talia standing next to Hope, waiting for something to happen.

After waiting for a little while longer, Talia blinked as her senses flared "It's here, and is going after the safe" Hearing this, the two made there way back and upstairs, where they found a tall, black creature with wings. It was prying open a small safe in the wall, where the urn and knife were supposedly held.

"Oops. Did I tell them the lond hiding place for the artifacts? My bad" Hope said, before Talia knocked the creature back with a spell. "Go for the eyes!" Talia said, grabbing a sharp edge of wood, and tossing it to her girlfriend.

Gripping the sharpened wood, Hope raised it over her head, and drove it through the Oneiroi's right eye, killing the creature, as it turned into smoke, and disappearing for good.

Looking at Hope, Talia couldn't help but comment.

"That was sexy as fuck...but also anti-climactic"

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That's the end of this chapter. This chapter was a bit boring to write, as the Oneiroi episode is also kind of boring, as it mostly covers their dreams, and Landon and Hope. None of which matter in this story, so a lot of it was skipped. Next chapter will probably be nore dungeon diving, as the next monster (the little slug things) won't even be an issue in the first place, not with Talia around.

Anyways, have a good day! Point out any mistakes! See you tomorrow!