"Marellia--Fainntwo, this is a whole lot all at once--"

"How I love hearing my name come from your mouth," she said, her voice echoing in our minds despite her lips not moving. That voice--it sounded like hundreds of voices were laid over top of each other.

"Mommy's happy. You always just fill my body with that smoke of yours so silently--"

"Can it, Mother. Today--Today's the day that chore comes to an end."

"You're going to release me?" she said with a giggle.

"No. This is the end. An end even you can't fathom."

Her eyes met mine. "Hmm. So you had a fragment too? How wonderful. You were able to learn from me after all?"

"What?" I asked, confused.

"That's my power. It's one that I discovered a long, long time ago. One that I earned through my efforts... See? You were able to earn it too. Like parent, like child."

Fainntwo held out his hand. "Fainn, don't talk to her for too long."

"Why is she here, Fainntwo?"

"Because she invested a piece of herself into our body. She kept doing that because she kept wanting to incarnate in the human world again. The Madonna--she wasn't supposed to be bat shit crazy." Fainntwo pointed at Marellia. "She did that to her. She leaped from us, and into her, and possessed her. She is the root of all that misery--"

"Don't listen to him, Fainn. Come hug your mother. Let me get to know you."

I shook my head. "I know a bitch when I see one."

"I'm hurt. When I get out of here, I'm going to spank you both," she said with a sinister giggle.

"Mother, you aren't going to win—not this time. Too many things have gone our way," Fainntwo said.

"Your little poison isn't going to protect you forever, my dear."

I raised a brow. "Poison?

"Fainn, I got a power during the Apocalypse too. I'm calling it Mind Rot. It's the power born to help me fulfill my function—keeping her behind our door by weakening her. Gaining that power gave me a lot of room to breathe. Ain't that right, Mother?"

"It was surprising at first, but it's only a matter of time until I evolve and overcome it," she said, a peaceful smile on her face.

"It's kind of annoying how calm she is," I muttered.

"This is her all the time," Fainntwo said.

"My mood is a testament to the truth. I will escape from this clever prison you erected."

Fainntwo ignored her. "Your power though, Fainn—the core of it is the most critical. Your job was to interface with the world and live without her. You exist to deny her—so that her place in our history may never control our future. You are the proof of our peace, the testament that rejects her. That's why your power became what it is—+Nightmares ARE Fiction+. It's a power that always seeks to remind people that nightmares are not real. But that aspect is inexplicably tied to your nature as the external personality. Just like how you were the one that lived in the Outside world, the power had an external function. However, when the external personality goes inward, so too will +Nightmares ARE Fiction+. But here's the thing—+Nightmares ARE Fiction+ is a statement. It is a truth—one that Fainn is always supposed to declare. It won't adjust itself to the space it is used in. That's how powerful that statement of fact is. It was designed for the real world, and it will blur the lines as intensely as it does in the real world. A power meant for the outside world, where the space between fact and fiction is so vast, used on the inside. It is a paradox engine."

"A paradox engine?"

"Fainn, did you ever wonder about the name of that power?"

"I just had it in my head. Were you the one that gave it to me?"

"No. That name, the place it came from... I think... it is the battle cry of the child who screamed it at his mother as he tried to disbelieve her away. It is what he told himself, desperately trying to convince himself that she and her cruelty couldn't be real. Do you get it, Fainn? That power which manifests as one that blurs the line between fact and fiction, is the one that exists to tell that Nightmare that she isn't real. It will treat that nightmarish specter as fiction and close the book on her story. My power weakens her, but your power denies her into oblivion. Only you could have gained that power, and now that you're here…"

Marellia winced for the first time, and she cocked her head at Fainn. Meanwhile, Fainntwo smirked.

"She knows it too. Mother, you're about to lose your right to exist. Isn't that just great?"

"Don't you dare!" she screamed, her eyes bulging.

"I'm so glad that you always had such good ears!"

Fainntwo rushed in, his eyes filled with anger, ironically mirroring hers. He got to her quickly, way sooner than she could notice.

"That child's cry—that child's wish. It is one so powerful it's created a reality-bending paradox and is about to become true." Fainntwo formed a sword of nightmare smoke and slashed upward, tearing through her body. "I don't know where these powers came from, but they answered our cries." Black veins spread out across her body—it was the mind toxin's weakening effect. "Your existence is about to be stolen from you!" Fainntwo snapped his gaze to me. "Do it, Fainn!"

I knew what I needed to do—here and now, I snapped my fingers and activated the nightmare dome.

I don't need to use her nightmares.

I jumped up and channeled my memories. A mouth tore open my stomach, and my legs became tentacles. Toothy wings sprouted from my back, followed by white wings and black wings, and I flew toward the woman as the fanged blade tore through my arm.

This is just like with the Inverse—her nature was already mental—she was a mental specter. In the face of +Nightmares ARE Fiction+ the boundaries were already close enough. Now, they're SO blurred.

I swung my blade at her.

There's no 'real' in this space. This is just fiction tearing through fiction.

The sword started tearing through her shoulder.

You're NOT REAL! You're FICTION!

A black form suddenly flew in with a boom and struck Mother in the side as black flames came and swallowed Fainntwo and me up. Fainntwo got closer to me, and I used the wings to protect us.

"Conversely," Fainntwo whispered, "how real are we to the power now? +Nightmares Are Fiction+ is a double-edged sword."

"Yeah, but that's nothing new." I beat my wings and flew into the sky, carrying Fainntwo with the tentacles sprouting from my arm. "+Nightmares Are Fiction+ has always been dangerous... On the plus side, I can touch you without triggering it."

We looked down at the two--Marellia and the silver-haired child trying to free her.

"Well, look at that…" Fainntwo said. "Does that kid know how dangerous of a situation he's in? Is he real, or is he just a bad dream too? What do you think, Fainn?"

"Doesn't matter what we think—+Nightmares ARE Fiction+ has already made its judgment."

"You just got to get him."

"Funnily enough... his fear has been feeding into me the moment he entered the dome." My neck started stretching, becoming serpentine in nature. "I know the depths of his fear."

I extended my neck to that brat as a beak grew out of my face, and feathers started covering me—

The child screamed. "Marellia! Come! I will pull you out and reunite you—"

"You fool! Run!" Marellia screamed back.

That punk looked right at me in the split-second before I reached his chest.

Terror—that was what lived in his eyes.

Good.

My razor-sharp and needle-like beak tore through his armor and foisted him high into the sky.

Your mind shouldn't have left the safety of your body. There's nowhere for you to hide!

"RAAAGH! HELP ME!" the silver-haired child cried. "It hurts! It burns!"

Three more deformed bird heads with crosses sticking out from them sprouted from my neck. They opened their mouths and let out squawks as trumpets sounded. Light poured out like beams, and struck the child. He was wiped away by brilliant light, with nothing left behind.

"It's done," I said, my voice traveling down my serpentine and feathery neck.

A shrill scream erupted from down below. I glanced down and saw Fainntwo covering Marellia's mouth as he hoisted her into the air.

"Fainn?" he asked, a smirk on his face. "Let's end this. For him."

He didn't need to tell me. I retracted my neck and bent it toward Mother, snatching her limp body and taking her into the air, my neck extending once more.

"No! Please! Don't! I'm your mother—your mother who loved you—I always loved you--"

The squawking bird heads stuffed her mouths with their beaks as more sprouted from my neck. Those extra heads pierced her body and took her up higher, where they started to glow gold. Joy reverberated through my body as she screamed.

This is so cathartic.

I opened my mouth and fired a beam of golden light as trumpets blared, accompanying the beam.

Marellia screamed as she was consumed by the light. But those screams didn't last a second.

"Fiction VS Fiction—a fictional angelic abomination VS a fictional demonic bitch” I said. "In this story, the abomination won. And now, it's time to close the book."

I closed the dome and lost the form the nightmares afforded me.

"Done deal. Nightmares aren't real after all."