Pheoshan Chapter Two The Six Dream Hells

The First Hell

Pheoshan woke in a dark village looking up at the dark sky. 

Hold on! She thought. 

That's the sky? There seems to be no clouds in the sky. If that is so, then where's the stars? She wondered.

She developed parallels to the sky and the void of space as she was able to see nothing but the blackness of space. There was nothing in the sky whatsoever, not even a moon. This would make it difficult to figure out where she was.

Well, I can't stay lying around here!

Her eyes slid down to the corners only to see the villagers walking to and fro with nothing but a grim and dead look on their indistinguishable face. They all seemed to meld together in her head. Just a bunch of blank slates with nothing to make any of them stand out. Their eyes even seemed to have died and given up on life or trying to escape a long time ago.

Feeling their depression spilling into her, she wanted to focus on anything else. So that their depression would not get her to give up too.

She looked back at the buildings behind. They were old, small and cramped. They were lit by candlelight and had a crooked look to them. The doors were the same dark dull brown and had stairs leading down to them. They looked like the kind of buildings found in old Christmas films only without the snow, and with a sinister edge.

"Get off the road!" Shouted a man in a top hat in a heavy black suit and a British northern accent.

"Didn't you hear me? I said, get off that road!"

Pheoshan raised her arms above her head. Leaned back and propelled herself up, flipped and landed on her feet. She jogged lightly over to him and spotted his dead brown eyes and hair.

"Why? What's going on?" She asked, clearly out of the loop and wanting to get to know the place better. 

That way she would find out how to get out of this dreamworld and back into the real one. Any clue would be enough for her to act upon it.

"This Dream Hell's Dream Demon. That's what!" He said trying to sound lively but failing epically.

She frowned.

Just go will it!

"Right." She said, not really understanding the situation but not wanting to sound too foolish. "So, who're you?"

"Damon Hargreaves. Now who're you? They don't send anybody here for no good reason, you know. So why'd they send you here? After all you are a girl ain't you?" He questioned.

"Al-" No! She was not her anymore. 

Alex Fistone was dead. 

No, more like she never existed. She was just my dream name, a false name. Now is the time she started to get used to being called and go by my real name.

"I mean Pheoshan Wolfhimestien. The v is actually a w and the sh is just s okay. I'm probably here because I refused to join the Demon King's side-"

"What! You were offered a place on the Demon King Wolfox side and you refused!" He exclaimed with a definite distinct shock.

This surprised her as this was the first time she saw any actual emotion since she woke up.

"Yes, anyway it doesn't matter for I'm going to get out of here, in fact I'm determined to." She vowed.

Damon bursted out laughing. He hit Pheoshan on the back several time. Until he suddenly clutched his stomach as some internal pain forced him to stop. He frowned as he wiped away a tear in the corner of his eye with his index finger. Which stirred up a mild rage in her as she started to feel mocked.

"I'd say 'bless you' but if you're in here then there ain't any chance of that!" He laughed. "Blimey! I have not laughed like that in a long time. Then again I never thought that I would ever laugh for that matter!"

They then sat on the pavement as neither could be bothered to walk over to a bench. Pheoshan dug her heels into the curb. She leaned back and looked up at the starless sky, wondering if there was anything else out there, or was it all just a void?

"Alright then Damon, so suppose I do kill the Demon of this Dream Hell, then what would happen?" She asked, trying not to sound too sincere.

"Oh, I wish that would happen..." He tailed off as he looked out in the distance. 

His eyes were back to the dull sorrowful state that resembled everyone in this Dream Hell.

"Well what if it did?" She prompted, trying not to sound too impatient.

"Then you would have freedom as well as anyone you choose. Well,apart from if you have eaten the black demon apple. Then whoever you chose would be free but you shall go to another Dream Hell." He explained. 

Pheoshan was disappointed and answered by this but was already killing the part of her that cared. She let out a sigh.

"Right, so just out of curiosity, how many Dream Hells are there?" She asked, wanting to know how many Dream Demons she would have to kill.

"There were seven." He explained.

"'Were'?"

"The seventh was destroyed by the Demon King Wolfox himself and, it is said that he ate the Dream Hell's Demon alive!" He told her.

Alarmed by this she, her eyes widened. Yet she knew that she had to get herself under control.

She knew that she would have to pursue this later on after she had woken up. But all that registered on her pale face was a raised eyebrow.

"Right." She said slowly to conceal her fear. "So, where is this Dream Hell's Demon? So I might know where to go."

"You're a mad'n' you. Well over there!"

He pointed to a large castle-like Gothic mansion of black and shades of dark grey. It sat on a tall hill filled with dead ground and trees. With a graveyard surrounding the mansion.

Pheoshan nodded and stood to her feet and turned in that direction.

"Well better be off then." She sighed as she started to walk in that direction.

"Wait! You're actually serious?" He exclaimed. 

Pheoshan turned to him and smiled cockily and nodded confidently. She looked at him dead in his eyes with determination.

"I'm going to get out of here or die trying." She vowed, with a light hearted tone. 

"What?"

She let out a chuckle.

"Don't worry about me. I grew up in a dreamworld and I now have a fair few tricks that I picked up from the ones who woke me up. See!"

Suddenly her clothes changed into red and black armour and in her hand was a katana that matched.

Nice!

"See?" She said as she winked. 

She then closed her eyes again and imagined that she was at the Dream Demon's mansion. Opened her eyes to see the double doors in front of her. Congratulating herself she walked up confidently and out of spite she knocked on the already chipped door.

They opened much to Pheoshan's mild surprise. She raised her eyebrow and half smirked as she entered the frey.

Inside, much to her surprise was nothing but a spiralling stone staircase cut from the rock surrounding the walls.

Steadying her heartbeat she travelled down them, keeping close to the walls as she descended. She looked up and down to minimise the chances of a surprise attack as the darkness embraced her as she went down lower and lower. By the time she was half way she started to wonder if the stairs were ever going to end or if the staircase went on forever, until she finally reached the bottom of the stairs. She then had to take a short break to recover the energy that the stairs had taken from her.

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness she could see that ahead of her was a sloping cave-like corridor, not knowing how long the corridor was or what position it was in she refrained from imaging herself further in. Not knowing what it looked like she refrained from doing that too. 

So, when she gathered up her energy she stood up and, wanting to preserve her energy, walked in the hallway as it went down lower and lower. Soon she was using her muscles to both steady herself and to prevent her from going faster. She had to do this for what seemed like hours before she even saw a speck of light. As she came closer and closer she spotted that the light flickered which implied that it came from fire.

She found herself gazing at a large chamber with hanging crevasses and the uneven walls were decorated with chains and below them bones of her predecessors that failed to kill the Dream Demon. The ground too was uneven and bone dry. 

Pheoshan winced as she knew that this fight was going to be a painful one.

She barely walked out when a hand snatched her up from the ground forcing her head back in the process. She stabbed repeatedly the wrist that the hand belonged to before she imagined herself on the floor below. Barely taking a moment to rest she charged directly at the Dream Demon. The Dream Demon clearly was out of practice for it seemed to have no time to retaliate before she sliced the ankles. This prevented it from running as she jumped above the beast and dragged her kitana into the back of it's skull and the head fell.

Pheoshan thought that she had victory until she heard the head of the Dream Demon laughing.

"What weakness do you know that you have? And who do you want to be released?" It asked.

"What?"

"That is how you and anybody else gets out of my or the other Dream Hells." He explained tauntingly.

"Alright, I'll call your bluff. I rush into fights too quickly and I'm releasing everyone and not one gets left behind!" She demanded as she sliced the head in half just to be sure that the thing was dead.

The Second Dream Hell

Pheoshan woke up in the Second of the Six Dream Hells that she would have to go through in order to wake up again. 

One down five to go! She thought as she noticed the unbearable heat. 

She could feel that her mouth was dry without one drop of saliva inside. The sun there was like a furnace cooking her alive. There seemed that there was not a drop of condensed water vapour to be found that could shield her from the harmful rays of the merciless sun. She could feel that even the dry sand beneath her was just as hot as the sun.

She quickly sat up and imagined a metal bottle of water and grabbed it. She unwound the lid of the bottle and as she drank the water it started to get hotter and hotter. Soon she had to stop as it climbed to boiling temperature! She then threw it away out of spite.

She got up and started walking aimlessly just hoping that, out of sheer dumb luck, that she would find the place that the Dream Demon of this Dream Hell was dwelling. She could feel that the dessert was getting hotter and hotter the longer she stayed out in the open. It was getting to the point that she could swear that the sand was starting to turn into glass! 

She tried to blow on herself to cool herself down but that did nothing. She could feel that her mouth was getting so dry that she knew that she was either going to throw up or faint out of dehydration.

In this maddened state of mind she spotted a cave in the distance. It's probably an illusion or hallucination brought about by the heat and the...Dehydration! 

Yeah that was the word! Her mind told her but as she got closer and closer she saw that it grew bigger and bigger. 

You know, I don't think that either illustrations or hallucinations act like that. She concluded. What if it is a cave like your eyes are seeing?

Knowing that she had nothing to lose she headed straight to it. Soon she was at the mouth and as she looked up, she could not believe just how big the cave was and how deep it dug into the land. She then stepped in. 

Yup! This cave is real alright! She thought as she immediately felt relieved to be out of the lethal heat of the sun.

Curious to where the cave lead she walked and walked until she looked back and found that somehow she was still at the mouth of the cave! Huffing to herself she continued until what seemed like hours only to find that she had not moved at all in the cave. Was her mind playing tricks on her? Had the heat done something to her mind and brainwave patterns that gave her the illusion that she had moved when in truth she did not?

No, this must be the work of the Dream Demon of this Dream Hell, as well as the heat outside. Pheoshan thought to herself. 

Well that means that there must be a way to get into the cave to meet this foe standing between me and my freedom! She deduced. 'Foe' have you listened to yourself?

Slapping herself she gave one thing a try; she closed her eyes and imagined herself in the Dream Demon's layer, but by the looks of things there was still a way to go. She was about to walk on until her vision blurred and she then fainted out of exhaustion. She had used up far too much of her energy.

"Pheo! Pheo!" She heard the voice of her mother. 

She sounded frightened, she thought as it faded as she regained consciousness. This time she was shivering. It must be night in the Dream Hell. She concluded as she walked deeper into the cave wondering if there was anybody else that had made it in this far. 

She also wondered who the voice belonged to but then she remembered that it was the voice of her mother's! How could she have forgotten that? Was this Dream Hell getting to her?

She then came to some old eroded stairs ahead of her leading down further. Beside her she spotted that there was another staircase, but this one was on a different level as if it was bigger than the one that she was on and when she could see the flat of the staircase she could see a foot as long as her body!

This must have been the foot of this Dream Hell's Dream Demon. Pheoshan's eyebrow raised as she came to the conclusion that if there was anybody else here then if they too wanted to fight off this Dream Demon then that foot alone would deter even the bravest of men or women!

I am not like most bravest of men or women! She told herself. I grew up not only in one of these but with the Demon King Wolfox himself! This was all she needed to think to herself to get herself into a less afraid state of mind. She knew any other would have proven fatal.

She thought about taking a rest as she reached the bottom only for her to see the gigantic mess of an insect with a golden brown exoskeleton. This must have been this Dream Hell's Dream Demon. It was breathing beep but then it released like a huff that sounded like a soft snore.

Letting a silent sigh escape her lips. She now had one advantage; the creature was asleep and, back when she was Alex Fistone, she lernt how to be light and quick on her feet. That was how she earned her title of Street Queen in her Dream Hell, well back then she did not even know that she was even in a Dream Hell! Controlling her breath she imagined her katana and the head rolled.

"I am afraid of heights and I am here to free everyone from here!" She demanded as the Dream Hell faded when the head ran out of blood.

The Third Dream Hell

Pheoshan again woke up in the next Dream Hell. The sight that greeted her filled her with nostalgia for it looked a lot like the other that she grew up in. The difference that told her that she was not in that one was the whole place was covered in nothing but rubble and debris. With bricks and metal out at increasingly dangerous angles.

She then spotted something that caught her eye. It was a rusty man with wheels like clockwork on their knees and feet. Had Pheoshan grew up in her own world she would have not recognized them to be steam punk robots.

She was about to walk up to them to ask which one knew where the Dream Demon lay, but, to her alarm, she felt her knees involuntary bend and slam on to the ground below. She then started to move forwards to the direction that she wanted. Her head fell forwards to see what was going on and she was shocked to see that she was now a robot!

She followed the other robots as she, what could only call, wheeled on. For her, it seemed odd and alien to move like this but at the same time, perfectly natural, as if she had been doing this her whole life! When she looked around her her robotic head moved just as smoothly as if she was a brand new robot! Well she, in that Dream Hell, was a new robot, but the sounds that her body made in this Dream Hell was nothing but mildly irritating.

"Hey!" She shouted to get the attention of another robot. 

They looked at her with their rusted lightbulb of eyes.

"Do you know why we're all robots?" She asked.

"Beep! Meep! Beep! Keep!" They replied but oddly enough, Pheoshan understood this, as if this robot's language was a second language!

"So this is the work of this Dream Hell's Dream Demon? So do you know where he is?" She asked.

"Meep. Bleep, beep, meep, meep. Bleep meep beep." He replied.

Pheoshan nodded with her robotic head but was over-exaggerated for the limitations of the robotic form.

"Thank you." She said as she left them to do what it was they were doing.

She wheeled to a construction site that the robot had told her was an old factory that was sat beside a mine, this was where he, or she told her to go. She wheeled to the doors of the mine and opened the bars welded rectangles for doors. When they both were open she wheeled in and pressed the button to the lowest floor in the mines and closed her eyes by putto g out the light in her lightbulb eyes.

She tried to imagine herself human again but when she opened them again she was still a robot, but as she looked down she spotted that it was not as robotic as the other body. This one was white with a more humanoid form that looked more like armor than robotics. The only thing that she had to remind herself that she was still a robot was the noise that her body made. As she imagined a kitans in her hand she looked down to see that her hand had changed into a slim silver blade that looked like it could cut through anything with ease.

She waited patiently for the doors to open and when they did she ran. She spotted that her weight had increased, but then again she was in a robotic body thus as much to be expected. She just hoped that it would not get in her way when she was fighting.

The Dream Demon was ahead deep into the mine. He was a gigantic thing that had the body of a round Victorian furnace with coal and fire in its stomach for fuel and a thimble head with iron nails holding it together. The arms and legs were made of metal with rubber tubes over like skin and had a robotic claw for a hand. On its face, where the eyes were, were two clockwork pieces as if to substitute.

She charged at the thing and with a bizarre springiness jumped and imagined a rocket jet pack and as the thing's slow movements tried to hit her she was able to dodge out of the way and cut into the rubber but her hand-blade became wedged in the metal beneath. She placed her feet on the arm and tried to pull it out but as much as she yanked she could not pull it out and then as if to make matters worse she spotted that the other claw had started to close in on her. The light in her eyes decreased in fear as she pulled and pulled as the claw came closer and closer slowly as if the creature was taunting her. She pulled and then the moment came when her heart would sink it had her by her hips! They then pulled at her, slightly weak at the first two times but then it pulled and pain entered her as she felt her wrist being pulled and then her blade-hand came free.

She had no time to be happy for she looked to her left and spotted that the furnace was getting closer and closer. The temperature rose and rose as the guard opened but then she had an idea. If she could imagine a blade for a hand why not a super sharp blade that could cut through metal without a sweat?

She wondered as she did just that and then she cut the guard and all the conence of the furnace fell out in a laver fall. Well it could not be called a waterfall now can it?
Then the creature fell on to the pool of lava and Pheoshan was free from the claw. She then ran to it and raised her blade-hand above her head.

"I'm not too bright when the real world is concerned, but in here, this dreamworld, I know I am in my element. Now I am here to free everyone!" She spoke with authority as she brought the blade down thus ending her time in this Dream Hell!

The Fourth Dream Hell

Princess Pheoshan felt her eyes open but no sight came from them. She frowned as she wondered if she was awake. She raised her finger and felt the edge of her lower eyelid. She could feel the eyelash row below but not the bottom of the upper eyelid, thus she concluded that her eyes were open. 

Her eyes widened as she felt her heartbeat increase.

For a moment she was afraid that she was blind until she managed to imagine a ball of light next to her. However this immediately went out. She closed her eyes knowing that they were useless in this Dream Hell. This on the contrary was a good idea, for when she did, she suddenly could see things around her! 

She quickly found out that she did this in just the nick of time for she was just about able to get out of the way for an incoming attack of a thick spiked whip! She felt a slight sting of pain as she realized that one of the spikes had skimmed past her thus cutting a chip out of her arm muscle in the process.

She dared to look up at the creature as she started to realize that what hit her was but one of the creatures twin tails with an odd head that was the other tail. Its legs were like a millipede and the thing had the wings of a bat! As she looked up at the thing that was in front of her it was all too clear that this Dream Hell's Dream Demon had no eyes, thus making it easier by far to see in this Dream Hell, meanwhile she was struggling to keep her eyes closed at the horror that let before her very eyes.

She imagined her kitana that was whipped out of her hand as quickly as it appeared. She was now forced to dive out and away from the kitana to dodge another hit. As it flew she spotted it's squid like mouth underneath. For a moment she wondered where it's dung came out, that is if it needed to get rid of waste or did the thing consume everything?

She, again just about managed to dodge another whipping from the Dream Demon as she felt something hit her. Instinctively she opened her eyes to see what it was which proved to be a mistake as she felt something hit her in the stomach! She shut her eyelids already knowing one of the tails had hit her. She then felt the other tail hit her from behind giving her no time to recover as the creature's multiple legs hugged her in a locking embrace as she felt herself falling. 

Then she quickly realised that they were manoeuvring her to the Dream Demon's beak-mouth!

This is going to hurt!

Wincing she decided to let the Dream Demon lead her to its mouth. Then she closed her eyes and imagined her kitana in her hand and then when she spotted that the mouth was underneath her she pushed away but the Dream Demon had an abnormal strength so she knew that she had to cut away its legs. This proved difficult but only when she hit a joint did it become easy.

She felt herself falling to the side but before she fell out she grabbed a freshly cut stub. The Dream Demon waved and waved, trying to get her off, and letting gravity do its work for it. Knowing this she tightened her grip. Then something else provided her a challenge of holding on to the stub the creatures blood was trickling down her arm and it was burning her.

She had to bite her lip to help her deal with her pain as she clenched her already tightly gripped hand causing her fingernails to dig into the flesh of her hand nearest the thumb.

Once she had gotten used to the pain she spotted that as the Dream Demon swung her it edged her towards the mouth, this gave her an idea. She opened up her body and started to swing with the stub as she edged closer and closer to the mouth. She then was within an arms distance away but she knew that this was not the moment. She swung again but again this was not the moment. Only when it swung for the third time did the moment come and as she swung in and the beak-mouth opened she let go.

"I am cold and hot headed, but now I am patient and I am here for everyone!" She shouted as her kitana pierced the Dream Demon right through the body! 

She then dragged the blade aside, cutting the creature almost in half just to make sure that the thing was dead. Thus ended her time in the fourth Dream Hell and on to the next.

The Fifth Dream Hell

Pheoshan woke up in the fifth Dream Hell. 

One more to go...she thought as her body became rebellious to movement. 

Her eyelids were heavy and her body hurt. So she was forced to take a break. She had been fighting for a long time and going from one Dream Hell to the next giving herself no time to just rest. She had become exhausted and she knew it, and despite her desperation to wake, she knew that she had to take this break for if she did not then she knew that she may not even wake!

She remembered all her fights and how well she had done. Yet she knew with that last one she had almost died. She knew that she had to learn to fight properly when she woke up. 

She also knew that she would have to make sure that when she faced Wolfox next, then she would not be so weak. After all, if she was not so weak back then, then she would have been able to fight him and she would win.

How do I know? I mean the size of that thing was just huge! How can I fight that? Also, how do I even know that I'm even strong enough to take him on anyway? I don't even know what his power is! He was inside me for all those years and I don't know a thing about him!

Why does this matter? All I need to know is that I need to wake.

She had just about replenished her strength when she spotted a hand fall down on her, quickly she dodged easily then she spotted another and then another and suddenly like a cloudburst more appeared and this time she knew that she could not dodge. The beating did not stop, not even when she could taste iron. She raised her arms above her in defence which was just as useful as a child with a driver's licence.

She thought that this would be the end of it until she felt a hand swiftly grip her arm and like a vegetable pulled her up from the angry mob. Suddenly she was riding on a black stallion and a boy her age was in front of her. One very recognizable boy.

"Coalphyre!?"

"Yes, I have only just arrived and it has been very bizarre! All of the other Dream Hells have been destroyed and their Dream Demons are all dead. Care to fill me in on what happened?" He asked.

Cockily she shrugged, trying to hide her relief.

"Well...I did." She replied, barely hiding her pride.

"And the prisoners of four Dream Hells suddenly waking up?" He inquired. 

Pheoshan nodded with pride.

"By The Great Being, you can kill demons!" He muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" He called as he imagined a sword with a reverse blade and used the blunt side to wipe some of the angry mob away from them with just one hand!

"Woah! You were holding back that much in our fight?" She questioned. 

Coalphyre tried to conceal a smirk as he brushed the other side of the mob away from them. He then gave her a mocking smirk as if to say; when are you going to join in? Taking the hint she imagined two katanas and like Coalphyre she imagined them with a reverse blade as she ploughed through the maddened crowd.

They then approached a grave yard. Knowing that this was the place to be Coalphyre jumped off and either out of instinct or humour, extended his hand to her. Smirking already knowing that she was going to, she jumped off beside him barely touching the hand. Coalphyre laughed to himself.

"Typical, can you not let me have at least one moment of chivalry?" He laughed. 

She too let out a laugh which was disguised as a sigh.

"Do I look like someone to waste chivalry on?" She threw back.

"Yes." He replied as the angry mob ran to them before she could replay.

"Look, I have to get the boss so do you think that you could take care of them?" She asked. 

Coalphyre raised his eyebrow cockily.

"Of course I can!" He replied as she turned to run. "Oh! And do not forget to give him a good thrashing for me!"

She ran and ran until she came to a tomb, where she knew that the Dream Demon lay. The black gate opened and then the blackwood door. As soon as she was in she slammed her back against the wall and walked sideways. Getting rid of her katanas she used her hands to keep herself from falling. She slowed down her breathing and closed her eyes and opened up her hearing as she descended. She hoped that she could hear the Dream Demon but all that she heard was her echoing footsteps.

Then she heard it before she felt herself slashing beside her as she opened her eyes to see she spotted nothing, but she could have sworn that she had hit something. She soon felt a breeze followed by pain across her forehead. Something warm flowed down like water soon blood was getting in her eyes as she felt something slash across her back then as she felt something slice her hip she dug her katana into her opponent. Soon followed by a frightful roar.

She heard something was coming towards her at a great speed, instinctively she turned and then a tail hit the floor as she felt something dig into her sides. She was now in the air and as she felt pressure beside her, she stabbed blindly behind her stabbing it in the nose! It let her go and as she started to fall she imagined herself behind the Dream Demon but when she did she just caught the sight of the Dream Demon.

It had a dragon-like snout and black crooked horns tipped with red that gave the illusion of blood and its humanoid form was like a human with scales and spikes of its back. She spotted its dagger long claws and her flesh hanging from it as it flicked it off. Then it too disappeared. Already knowing where it was going to appear she turned her body and hit the arm of the creature she imagined her blade to be thinner and sharper and soon she pushed the blade deeper and deeper as she was picked off like a leech. She used this to her advantage as she pierced the wrist almost severing it until she used it as a swing to dive her blade into the creature.

"I...I..I think..." She stuttered as she tried to find the right words to say. 

"I am...Vulnerable and insecure which leads me to become aggressive. Now free all of the prisoners here as well as Coalphyre. I must face this last one alone." She recognized as she left to the final Dream Hell.

The Sixth Dream Hell

Even before Pheoshan woke up she became aware of the immense and painful heat of this Dream Hell. It was hotter than the second and as she opened her eyes she started to learn why. There was fire all around her! No, she was in the middle of the fire! As she looked around she found that there was nothing but a sea of fire! She looked up to see even the sky, just like the first, had no stars or any sign of anything or any one.

She tried to think and come up with a plan of how she was going to defeat this Dream Hell's Dream Demon but the pain of the flames prevented her from doing so. She huffed and tried to become angry and let her anger deal with the pain while she thought but this did not work. Only making herself worse. She tried to imagine that there was no fire but that too proved to be useless.

She could feel herself crying yet the heat seemed to burn her eyes and evaporate the tears before she even ahead them. She could feel the pain digging deep into her. Her tongue felt bone dry and the heat made this worse. She screamed out in pain as she breathed in and out rapidly, gasping for air as her thirsty became sore as it to became bone dry.

Stop it! Stop it! In bed to calm down! I need to calm down!

Closing her eyes she knew that there was only one course of action, getting used to the pain. This she did but she did not like it one bit but she did it nevertheless. She knew that if she did not then that would mean that fighting the Dream Demon would be very difficult for the pain of the fire would become a distraction. This could cost her the fight. When she felt like she was accustomed to the pain enough, she opened her eyes and proceeded with porpoise and the flames, nothing but an annoyance.

She then came to a crater and the fire fell down like some bizarre waterfall. 

Then as her eyes dropped that was when she saw it, a creature of flame and rock! Its eyes were balls of fire that seemed to peer into the depths of her soul and one single crimson flame for pupils. They were both staring at her with its painful looking smile and its rocky teeth on complete display.

At this sight she felt like she wanted to run and hide from this monster. She knew that there was nowhere to hide and running was out of the question. Feeling herself tremble and her legs shook uncontrollably unnerved her. 

Trying to bury her fears she looked away from the Dream Demon and tried to imagine her katana in her hand but when she opened them again he was nowhere to be found. She frowned for a moment.

Where could he have gone? She wondered as she felt something hit her in the side. 

Instantly she recovered however where the Dream Demon was to hit her there was hardly anything there. Knowing what this meant she was about to ready herself for another attack when it came from behind.

She felt helpless as her hip collided with its hand and was tossed away as she felt its fist dig into her in the back in mid-flight. Then its tail whipped her in the stomach. Sending her flying into the pain of the fire below. Suddenly as her face touched the flames the Dream Demon gripped her body so tightly that she was afraid that it would crush her to death and flung her back into the air. He then gave her another brutal beating until she heard something crack.

However she was not out of the fight for she quickly imagined herself away from the Dream Demon and was about to think of a way to attack when she heard something and she quickly dodged and found that she had avoided another onslaught of attacks. She imagined her katana and hit the back of the knee but this was futile for it only, at best jammed into the joint as she heard another attack coming from behind. She only just managed to dodge the tail as she spotted the foot of the Dream Demon come down on her as she could only roll over away from it and into the other. Then when she flipped up and landed on her feet the Dream Demon was already gone.

"Hello!" She heard as she turned around and tried to kick it in the face as she jumped. 

Only for it to grab her by the leg with its finger and thumb. It again gave her the smile that frightened her in the first place. He slowly applied pressure onto the lim and as she tried to pull it out of its grip she felt blood flowing down it as the pain increased. Then she imagined her katana in hand and dug her blade into the wrist. This made him loosen his grip but he then whacked her away and her back collided with the furnace below igniting her all over. She tried to get up but soon felt a claw on her chest pinning her in the painful place.

"Did you really think that you could defeat me? The Dream Demon King?" It taunted. 

Soon as their eyes locked her fear was immediately kicked into its maximum and she was now sweating as well as shaking. What was it that made her so afraid of him, after all she could hardly call herself as afraid of the other Dream Demons as she was with this one?

She then felt her chest getting heavier and heavier as she slowly realised what he intended to do. She tried to close her eyes and imagined herself away from the Dream Demon but her eyelids just would not budge like something had jammed them into place. She tried to lift herself up off the ground but her body was shaking so much that she might as well dive into the eye of a needle! She knew that she had to get out of there. It was just she was too scared to do anything let alone get out from under the Dream Demon's crushing claw!

Then the pain became too much at which point she blacked out. When she came to she spotted that the Dream Demon was on the ground and a blade with spikes had jammed itself into the Dream Demon's chin and into the Dream Demon's brain and his face was filled with terror. Soon she was shaking as her mind was processing the sight.

"I'm frightened! Get me out of here just get me out of here!" She cried. 

Then she realised what she was doing and struck herself in the nick of time. 

"And everyone that is trapped here too!" She added.

She then spotted that the whole place shook and lava flowed freely as she woke up now safely out of the Dream Hells above her, her mother.

Awakening

Princess Pheoshan woke and saw her mother in the corner of her eye. She was glad to be awake but she felt pain all over. As she looked down she spotted that her body was covered in cold bandages. 

Why am I covered in bandages? Hold on, did the injuries that she acquired in the Dream Hells manifest into real life? If so, then how? What power did that? 

Then again, how was she even still alive? Surely, her logic told her, the combination of the flames and the battle would have been enough to have her bleed to death?

Still, it hardly mattered. After all, at least she was alive! And she was safe. That would have brought a smile to her face if not for the pain however, she could not budge the feeling that she was missing something. Something important... 

Ah! Of course! Sythvin! 

She had to tell someone about what he was about to do! She tried to get her calm, sleepy mind awake but still she felt peaceful in her heart, like she did not have to worry about it any more.

"All is right Pheoshan. The one that did this to you has been executed by my husband in private." Her mother said. "When we found you all those months ago...We both did not rest until the one who was responsible and when we found out that it was... It was Sythvin... My husband told me that when he confessed he killed the sorcerer right there and then!"

"Months..."

"Yes, you have been in those Demon Realm destined Dream Hells for six months in our time. And I must say that I am proud of what you have done and sorrowful that I could not protect you in there. Now that not only are all of the seven Dream Hells are all destroyed but every single one of those who were trapped have now been freed all thanks to you my love." She explained. "Although I am curious as to why, when we sent Prince Coalphyre in to help you, you freed him along with the others. Care to explain?"

"I knew that I had to face the last one alone. I knew that I had to, although I just can't explain why or how." Pheoshan replied, ignoring the pain. 

Her mother nodded and laughed lightly.

"Sounds like something your father would say when he was your age!" She laughed. 

Pheoshan smiled. She knew that she looked a lot like a younger version of her mother but she had no idea that her father was anything like her!

Now that the threat was over she drifted off. As she recovered two months passed and the first fakes of snow fell outside. Prince Coalphyre entered her room as she read a crimson book about the history of the land.

"You called for me?" He asked. 

Pheoshan smiled as she averted her eyes from the book and placed in it a black leather bookmark.

"Yes. You know that over the past...couple of months, which is abouts three from my perspective, wow I can't believe that I used that word! Anyway I just wanted to say, thank you for all that you've done for me, even though you didn't have to." She explained.

"Actually I did."

"And why's that?" She asked slightly suspiciously.

"I will tell you when you are ready. However, for now I think you should just learn as much as you can about the real world. After all, it is nothing like those Dream Hells." He said. 

She huffed playfully as she showed him the cover of the book that she was reading.

"Oh!" 

He laughed more to himself but then Pheoshan started to laugh as she nodded as if to say 'well daa' until they both laughed like two children at an immature fart joke.