Nora had prepared a spacious room for Siderius, Jude and Caterina to go deeper into the dream layers.
The room had two beds placed parallel to each other. A window looked out to the open area of the castle, showing the Tri-Primes Barrier with its three distinctive colors.
"Only two beds?" Jude said.
Siderius nodded. "Only two. You must go because you are the anchor. I also need to go because I am the only one that can remove its connection to you.
When we enter your subconscious, the Phantom will attack my Palace. This is where you two come in."
Siderius turned to Caterina and Nora.
"You must buy us as much time as possible so that we can remove the anchor. Once the anchor is gone, the phantom will no longer be able to resurrect itself. If we kill it, it will cease to exist."
"And you’re sure that this will set Jerath free?" Jude said grimly.
Siderius nodded. He was lying. A phantom had no afterlife. Once a soul becomes a hostile specter, they are forever denied from reincarnation. The only path left for the specter was destruction.
But Siderius couldn’t tell Jude.
Destruction for the Nightmare Phantom was mercy. But Jude would only see his son being killed one more time.
Caterina, on the other hand, seemed to catch onto the lie. She squinted her eyes gently but didn’t say anything. No mother would want to see their kid die twice. But she was the more sensitive person of the two. She knew that it was the only way.
"Go, my love." After a long time, Caterina expressed a gentle gesture toward Jude. She caressed his cheek. "Go and set our son free. He has suffered enough."
Jude’s eyes softened and he leaned into her palm. He might have remarried but he never took his heart back from her.
"After all this time?" Jude said.
"Always." Caterina said.
"I will save our son." Jude grabbed Caterina’s hand.
"You do what you need to do... And always listen to the white witch. He is much more powerful than you think he is." Caterina said.
Jude nodded. He had figured that out himself when Siderius easily intruded into the nightmare and saved them from the phantom’s hands. In the real world, Siderius seemed to be very ordinary but he was an entirely different person in the mind.
All witches knew that your true self was always revealed in your mind. That made Jude think that the true Siderius was very powerful and his weak facade in reality was purely a disguise.
"I am ready, white witch." Jude said.
Siderius pulled the sheet off the bed, revealing a complicated Alchemical Seal underneath.
Jude laid upon the bed as Nora controlled the Seal with a sign sequence. Nora was a true Alchemist inside the Mind Palace so she could manipulate the seal like Siderius.
Jude quickly drifted into his sleep. He dreamed while in a dream, accessing another level of the dream world.
Siderius turned toward Caterina. "You already knew, right?"
Caterina nodded. "There is no way to turn back once you become something like that. Do what you need to do. I will talk with Jude later."
Siderius laid upon the bed and drifted into his sleep as well.
He opened his eyes to see himself returning to the Baron’s estate at night. Scalize was a bit different and the estate was brand new. This was a dream constructed by Jude’s memory.
"Jude! STOP!" Caterina’s scream was heard, reaching out from inside the estate.
The Baron was standing not far from Siderius, eyes looking at the estate with his fists clenched tight. The scream of Caterina already made him reliving those traumatic nightmares. He couldn’t be sure he could come inside and face what he did.
Siderius stood next to him.
"No. But let us march forward. I have to face it." Jude relaxed his fists and led the way.
The Baron kicked open the front door of the entryway. The moonlight from outside shone into the dark hall of the estate. There, another Jude was present.
He was the creature of many things, holding Caterina in his hand.
"Release her, you damn beast!" Jude lunged forward. His body transformed into a similar but much less grotesque beast.
The real Jude slammed into the past Jude, causing the past him to be flung into the wall. The real Jude caught Caterina in mid-air and carefully placed her down on the ground.
He swiped her hair to the side and mumbled. "I can’t change what happened but at least let me live this dream."
Then Jude ran into the hole on the wall and battled with his younger self. Siderius observed everything with interest but he had no intention of joining the fight. He was here to find the anchor and the past Jude was not it.
Siderius’ dark eyes draw his attention to the outside of the estate. There was green magic floating in the air.
"This is a dream. There shouldn’t be any magic here." Siderius thought.
A dream could have the presence of magic. But that magic would be a projection of the real thing, not actual magic. But the magic that Siderius saw was real.
Because Siderius had conquered the owl, he was able to see magic. This ability seemed to extend to even the dream world
Siderius jumped out of the window and followed the trace of magic. It led him into the outhouse next to the garrison, where all the human waste was collected.
The trace of magic seemed to lead to the hole underneath the outhouse. Siderius was not going to check that out himself.
He flexed his left hand and the Platinum bracer appeared. With one simple sigil, Siderius punched his fist in the air, blasting the entire outhouse away and opened up the hole beneath.
Inside the pile of shit was a gemstone pulsing with green light.
"A delusional seed. No wonder." Siderius flicked his finger and pulled the gemstone out of the pile of shit using an invisible force.
The gemstone landed on the ground. Siderius was not going to touch that thing.
"Jeffrey must have planted this. The seed made Jude lose control and kill Jerath, eating Caterina’s mana core. But it isn’t the anchor..."
Siderius released a light arrow that broke the gemstone into thousand little pieces, forever freeing the Baron from the influence of Jeffrey. Googlᴇ search 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✶𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✶𝓷𝓮𝓽
Suddenly, Jude was sent flying out of the house. His current form was no match for his enraged form. He lifted his body up, only to vomit out a pool of blood.
Siderius’ brow furrowed. He looked over.
The past Jude walked out, looking twice as big as he was in the memory. A necklace dangling on the creature’s chest, releasing dark smoke that influenced this dream.
Siderius blinked a few times then smiled.
"That is the anchor."