I repeatedly hit the statue but it didn't even budge. It just dented slightly.
I heard the voice of something breaking behind me.
I looked back and saw a wall of this house break. Zombies rushed inside.
Arun all by himself was unable to deal with the horde. He soon got captured by the zombies.
They held him by his arms, legs and even his neck. But he didn't stop resisting. Like a rabid dog he kept up his efforts.
At that moment, some intense emotions started coming up inside me.
I used all the power in my body to hit the statue blocking my way again. But just before I could make contact, something caught my wrist.
Another statue had appeared behind me and caught me by one arm. Another appeared and caught my other arm.
They pulled backward, trying to snap my shoulder joints.
"Aaaaaaagh"
I started screaming in pain. The rod almost dropped from my hands and was barely in contact.
In my peripheral I saw all the other zombies trying to keep Arun in their grasp while another tried to rip his head from his body.
I started hearing his screams too. I could slowly see the skin and muscles around his neck tear.
At that moment I started feeling my connection with my nightmare deepen. I could almost contact it.
I was filled with hatred, pain, agony, resentment and a thirst for revenge and destruction. But there was still fear and a sense of helplessness.
I understood this was the barrier keeping me from fully connecting. But I just couldn't understand how to let go of this fear.
I needed to find a way… to become angrier… and crazier.
The pain blurred my vision, nearly dragging me into unconsciousness when my eyes fell upon the nightmare again.
I noticed its clothes and appearance.
It was trying to mimic a human. But who exactly was he trying to mimic? Someone Yuan trusts? A relative? A sibling?
At the state of being almost unconscious, I remembered a picture I saw at Yuan's house. It was of a child being held dearly by his mother. And next to it was a photo of his dead mother.
Both of them overlapped. I figured it out. The nightmare had taken the form of his dead mother to fool him into destroying himself.
This realisation was the final push I needed. I finally sensed a connection with my parasite. It was like a loose chain being tightened. Or a bridge suddenly appearing between two cliffs.
I used the rest of my strength to scream.
"I… GIVE YOU FROM MY LEFT LEG TO RIGHT ARM."
As soon as the sentence left my mouth, I was covered by a load of energy bursting from inside me.
It covered my entire body. From head to toe. It enhanced all my senses and boosted all my physical abilities.
My muscles expanded and tightened. My veins popped up.
I retracted my right arm holding the rod towards me. The statue holding me couldn't keep up with my sudden strength and got pulled towards me.
Then I bashed my skull into his.
The first hit cracked it.
The second hit did irreparable damage.
The third turned it into powder.
It fell to the ground, turning to dust like a broken sand castle.
I tightened the grip on my right hand holding the rod and impaled it through the skull of the statue holding my left hand.
When I became free, I looked at the rod. The half a meter long rod within my hands, transformed into a long spear.
Statues around me rushed towards me, but I was faster.
I aimed it towards the nightmare, hiding within rows of statues. The circle had retreated to inches away from it.
I lifted my left foot, then slammed it down with all the energy I had
Using the momentum and energy it developed to my entire body, I threw the spear in my hands.
I felt the energy from my foot to my hand. All the bones in my foot broke instantly, turning to powder. My muscles tore and joints broke as well.
The spear left my hands like a bullet, carrying all the energy I could give it.
It pierced through the rows of the statues. Crushing them with just a touch. But the spear didn't change its trajectory.
It reached the nightmare which had almost taken control of Yuan. The spear pierced the nightmare, straight in the heart, where I aimed it.
The spear penetrated and left the nightmare's body, instantly breaking it down to pieces.
The nightmare's body turned to a statue and became ash. From it, a black liquid leaked out.
The spear went through it and passed through the rest of the statues before breaking and leaving through the wall of this house.
It all happened so fast that my eyes couldn't keep up with it. But well, even if it happened slower I still wouldn't be able to see it.
As soon as I had released the spear, my body received more damage than it could handle and I instantly collapsed to the ground.
My skin had popped like a balloon and my veins were flying outside my body.
The pain was horrendous and indescribable.
Moments before I lost consciousness, I glanced at the child Yuan. He was crying, holding the ashes of the statue, the nightmare was possessing.
He had likely remembered the sight of cremating his mother. He slowly aged up to the adult Yuan as he kept crying.
All the statues around us turned to ash as well. They all dropped down like buckets of sand being poured.
Soon, even the buildings around us started turning to ash.
The pain in my body subsided as my body started turning into smoke. It was highly likely that I was being pulled out of the dream.
At that moment, I found myself in complete peace. I didn't know the reason behind this feeling, but I felt a little proud of myself.
Then ripples started forming in my mind's vision and the dream ended.
—x—
I woke up and jolted my body instantly.
My body didn't have any injuries nor did I feel any pain. It was all left in the dream world.
I looked to my side and Arun had woken up too. He sighed deeply as he opened his eyes.
His eyes had a tint of black as they looked around us. Right, he had made multiple deals.
Soon his ear, some fingers and I assume his tongue as well, got a tint of black.
His toes and finger were making those random movements again. Stretching and becoming loose.
I looked over at Yuan who was still sleeping. A black mist formed around his body.
Then it flowed towards the dream catcher hanging above him, as if it was being sucked towards it.
In a few seconds, the presence of the nightmare completely disappeared from Yuan.
I looked at the wall clock and saw it was 4 AM.
I got to my feet, with a very tired expression.
Suddenly I felt as if a shock ran through my body.
It went from my left foot to my right hand. I saw my skin colour change. This was the result of the deal. This was the exchange of all that power.
My body lost control and fell down again. I was trying to get up but I just couldn't. More than half of my body made random movements.
These movements kept slowing down as my body tried to crawl to the door. It wanted to go somewhere.
The movements kept getting slower and slower. And they completely stopped just before I got to the door.
I saw my body colour return to normal and I regained control within seconds.
I waited in that position for a few seconds, trying to make sense of this short possession.
It took Arun more than a few minutes to get control and stand up. He extended a hand and I took it, pulling myself up.
Without a word he started to clean up the place.
I helped him.
—x—
We got on my bike and started going back to the cafe.
I was very tired, even though I just slept.
My mind kept racing between all of today's events as I silently rode my bike.
I decided to fu*k it all and just enjoy the breeze to calm my mood.
I felt an energy, similar to which I used earlier, slowly seep out of me.
The nightmare had started losing his energy passively after we established a means of contact.
I was one step closer to getting rid of it.
—x—
A knock was heard on the door to the cctv room where Neil was at.
Aayan wanted to question if Neil ever slept, but didn't care enough to actually ask.
After Neil asked them about their success, he questioned Aayan about his first deal.
"Remember to never make a deal related to your emotions. Those are addictive to them."
Aayan didn't question Neil as he didn't have any extra energy.
After they finished talking, Aayan left the building on his bike.
Arun stayed to talk to Neil.
As Aayan got to his home and laid on his bed. He immediately fell asleep in complete peace without any external help.