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[DAiLiGHT]

He floated along the Nightmare river's edge, looking at his twisted reflection in the black water. I look so different in this form; it makes it hard to believe it's really me I'm looking at. He thought He was decked in colors of black, white, and gray. Black and white hat, with silver accents. Silver vest adorned with sapphires, as well as the hat. Tribal-looking tattoos of black sprayed across his arms, legs, torso, anywhere they could find open flesh. Black and white gauntlets, adorned with sapphires, covered his hands while three robotically-jointed, spindly fingers stretched outwards. Small, useless, feathery gray wings fluttered on his back, and a gray devil's tail with similar tattoos writhed about aimlessly behind him. A colossal scythe of epic proportions was strapped to his back. Ten feet tall and with a blade of crystal that could slice through the very air itself, it was a sight to behold.

Droiture LeReve wasn't full Maren nor Human. He was "Humaren", a forbidden cross between the two.

Droiture's senses exploded in anticipation, and he looked to the left.

"You! Droiture, your name is, am I correct?"

"What do you want, puppet of evil?" Droiture snapped.

Reala looked shocked. "Excuse me? I don't take that kind of tone lightly."

Droiture scoffed and turned his back. "Then don't. I am only speaking the truth. You're nothing but a puppet for evil, and I am not like you."

Reala growled and took a swipe at the boy, who blocked it with his epic scythe.

"I wouldn't. But that's just me."

Droiture pushed Reala back with the flat of the blade and took to the skies.

Damn that Reala. He's in my business like he knows something. He seems so familiar! A year of this mess, and still I can't find his secret. Damn, is there no secret I can uncover? I guess I'm just not cut out for detective work.

Droiture flew along the stars, sapphire dust twinking from his hands and feet and falling gently to the ground.

But who can I turn to?

[Ventro]

In the area, there was a thick gray tree with a hole in the middle, but it was covered with vines. Ventro woke up from his sleep when he heard something rustling lightly in the trees.

"What's going on?" He thought while he dusted the twigs and leaves off his blue and yellow hat and his light blue vest that had silver trimming. His purple eyes waved back and forth with concern, and his brown fur ruffled up with shock. He checked the five gems on his blue Ideya gloves to see if they were glowing on his long claw like hands. With curiosity, he floated from his nest quietly to the hole inside the tree and took a peek through the vines. He saw a strange nightmaren, but it was too far to take any notice that he's watching.

"Hmmm... I guess that's one of wizeman's lackys again stealing Ideya. I hope he has some.". He thought. He stretched his body and made a quiet yawn before he floated out of his hole. The branch that he landed on made a quiet creek sound. His tail waved as the wind blew. He had a good view of the nightmaren.

"Eeek... looks like a level one nightmaren. I might need to be careful around those. I'm not too interested in fighting I just needed to steal the Ideya from under his nose." He whispered silently to himself. He remembered that he was less on strength. He shrunk his size down to a size of a tree leaf and floated towards the area where he saw the strange nightmaren. Small blueish purple sprakles followed him, but it was small that it looked like a small flicker of dust. He spied on the nightmaren in a bush and landed on the branches.

[DAiLiGHT]

Droiture flipped his hair over his shoulder and floated down towards the trees. He sighed and put his blade down against a tall branch. He sat on the branch, and put his head in his knees sadly. He began mumbling unintelligbly, but the words sounded suspiciously like "SunnavaB*tch can't I do anything right? Goddammit!" He then let out a muffled scream of frustration into his knees and fell to his side on the branch, banging his head against the branch repeatedly in frustration. He sat up and looked at the sky as if talking to God. "Is it just me, God? Is it just me? Did you find some freakish way to screw me over once again? I mean, really! What did I ever do to you? Is the fact I'm half Nightmaren? Is that it? I'm not fully human so you decide to f***ing screw with me? I mean really. Come on now." He picked up his blade and went to go find Reala so's he could slice his stupid blue head off and be done with it and go home.

He knew it would never be quite that easy but it couldn't hurt to try, right?

[The wise Kitsune]

Grape sat on a branch in a forest of nightmare. She didnt like nightmare, but she would occasionally linger. She heard a Nightmaren with a scythe pass by. "Huh, so they hate reala too...hm."

[Ventro]

Ventro laughed uncontrolably in the bush after he watched Droiture. He caused the bush to ruffle a little while he laughed.

"This is quite entertainning. He must be crazy going after Reala. I must watch this." he thought.

Ventro floated from bush to bush and continued to spy on him. Unfortunately, he was unaware that there was someone else in the forest. Happily, he jumped from bush to bush and made light rustling sound with every jump.

"I wonder if this guy can really beat Reala, or he would get his own behind kicked to the ground. He's might even get his ass handed to him" Ventro chuckled a bit. With a small tug on his tail, Ventro snapped back into one of the bushes he jumped out of.

"Oh great! Not again." he complained. His tail was caught between a branch. He hanged upside down looking at the Droiture.

"Well, at least he didn't notice me." he said with a smile. He tried to get his tail unstuck, but the bush started to rustle while he was tampering with the branch.

[DAiLiGHT]

Droiture's senses snapped to life and he flipped around to see a Nightmaren right in his face. "Holy crap!" He cried in surprise. "Who the hell are you?!" He snapped, putting the blade of his scythe to the other's throat. "And what are you doing here?!" He panted heavily in anticipation, willing his heart to slow down. The other 'Maren had surprised him, causing his heart condition to jerk a bit. "Dammit... my pacemaker...." Droiture collapsed to the branch and began pounding on his chest. Finally he took a deep breath and picked his blade back up. He turned to the other. "Jesus H., man! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?!"

[Ventro]

Ventro snickered lightly.

"If you're truely this jumpy and this uncontrolable, there's no way you'll beat Reala. Worse... trap you in his stupid cage traps or he could kill you with a sneak attack. You got to learn to calm down a bit. Then again, I did startle you a bit, so you do have a right." He chuckled lightly with embarrassment.

Still upside down, he smiled to hide his shame of being caught by a tree.

"Hehehe... My name is Ventro, and this area in the forest is kind of my home... Well, atleast that tree." He pointed at a gray vine covered tree far away. "Seeing that you're not working with Reala or Wizeman, I guess you don't have any Ideya for me to take either." he chuckled lightly.
"I was hoping to watch you fight Reala, but I guess my fun is spoiled." he sighed with disappointement and crossed his arms. His tail was still stuck. Suddenly, he looked at Droiture's face. He noticed he looked like one of the visitors he saw when he traveled to the gate of dreams.

"So... Who are you?" he asked with a smile.

[DAiLiGHT]

"My name is Droiture LeReve Goldehart. I'm half-maren and half-human, however my father is either nonexistant or he left. My mother is all I have." Droiture replied, putting the scythe back onto his back. He then waved his hand over the thing trapping Ventro's tail and it covered over with crystal. Then Droiture clenched his fist and the crystal shattered, freeing the other.

[Ventro]

Vento's head slammed into the ground and his body followed afterwards.

"Nope... that didn't break a few bones in body?" He said with his eyes narrowed. He tried to get up, but his bones started cracking everytime he moved. He picked himself up with a light chuckle to hide his unsufferable pain. He humped up and streched out his body. Finally, the cracks in his body stopped.

"Thanks for getting me out of that tree." he smiled gratefully. He was still trying to hide the fact that his body was still in pain.

"A half maren you say. I never ran into those. You're the first one I ever met. If I didn't know any better, I would think you were a one of those visitors owl told me about." he stated and touched Droiture's nose with his long finger.

"You got no father ahey... you're lucky! I was created by Wizeman, the most laziest person in all of Nightmares. Atleast, I think of him that way. I like Ideya, but not giving it to him. He might as well get his lazy butt out of his whatchamacallit and get his own Ideya. Ha! Ha! ha! So, are you still thinking of fighting Reala? I heard he's pretty tough around the edges." he smirked. He looked at Droiture's clothes and weapon.

[DAiLiGHT]

"No one with lipstick that thick and fingernails that damn pink is 'tough around the edges'. Plus there's something about him that irks the hell out of me, like there's something he knows that I don't and he plans to lord it over me like some kind of jerk until I go nuts." Droiture said. "I swear to God I'm going nuts here trying to figure out what he knows. It already doesn't help that I've noticed the unfortunate coincidence between our eye color and facial tattoos. Now that's just scary." Droiture smirked. "But I guess it's the fate I've been allotted. Oh well." Droiture looked down at the Maren in pain. "Sorry about your body by the way. Didn't mean to hurt you."

[Ventro]

"No problem!" He gave Droiture a thumbs up and looked at him with convern.

"Maybe a few features makes you look like him." He walked slowly around Droiture with a puzzled look. "but who am I to judge a nightmaren by the book or human nightmaren that is." He smiled and shrugged his arms. Then, he pondered about what Droiture problem.

"Well, maybe I can help." he smiled and shrunk his size down about a size of a leaf again. "I can spy on Reala for you and get what info you need." He started zooming around Droiture like an annoying fly.

"He won't know I was there." he laughed.

[DAiLiGHT]

"Whoa, hoh, hoh, hoh, ooh! That's a neat trick! I would love it if you could do that for me! I'd be grateful as all hell, I promise. I'd do anything to figure out what Reala's hiding." Droiture said excitedly, his blue eyes flashing emerald for a split second.

[Ventro]

Ventro stopped when he saw Droiture eyes.

"What's wrong? Is someone in the area?" He asked quietly. Unfortunately, at his size Ventro's voice sounded weak if he doesn't yell.

"Squeak Squeak? Squ Squeaka Squea Squea Squeak?" was the response anyone could hear.

[DAiLiGHT]

"No, no, they just do that when I get excited. They do that when I'm human too. Freaks out my teachers to no end and causes me to be the local reject. Well, that, my tattoos, and my hands. Three fingers in a world where everyone has five. PEOPLE TEND TO NOTICE." Droiture laughed.

[Ventro]

"Oh!" Ventro slapped his head like he knew all along. Suddenly, Ventro noticed his stmach growling and reverted back to his normal size.

"Heh heh... Stocking you actually made me hungry. I hadn't eaten in a while." he chukled embarrassingly.

"No point in doing investigations on an empty stomach. Besides, being hungry in the open is not safe either." he looked around with a sigh.

[DAiLiGHT]

"Well, I dunno what to tell ya, big guy. I don't have any food. The only way I'm eating is if I wake up and make myself a grill-cheese sammich." Droiture said. He shrugged. "But let's see what we can find around here first."

[TORiAS_the_fallen]

TORiAS sighed, looking around the desolate Nightmare.
"I'm bored. I wonder where Rea is?.... Hmmm... who're they?" TORiAS glid down to get a closer look "Humaren? What the speck is a Humaren doing here?"

[DAiLiGHT]

Droiture floated off into a shrub to go forage for something or other that could possibly be edible. Being in the Dream world, Droiture idly thought that he could simply dream up something to eat, but when nothing appeared he cursed under his breath and began picking at the shrubbery, trying to find food. It was quite comical, as only the top half of his body went in and his backside and legs stuck out at an odd angle.

[Ventro]

Ventro looked at Doriture's backside in a very funny way. He made a light chuckle when he noticed how horrible he's trying to find food.

"You don't know your way around this place do you?" he asked teasingly.

"Well, I got some food back at my tree. Maybe we can discuss our matters there. Besides, I don't want to get caught by Reala if you know what I mean." He gave a wink and pointed at the vine covered tree. There were flickering lights between the vines. "You might as well hang out there til you think of a better strategy to defeat him." he finished and jumped into the air. He looked around to see if anyone is around, but he didn't see anyone.

"I was sure I sense someone." he thought.

[DAiLiGHT]

"No, I do not know my way around. I spent 17 years in the Waking World, I'm not going to magically know my way around this place just because Jesus has some sort of vendetta against me." Droiture snapped irritably. He turned and followed Ventro closely, however. His ears snapped to life and he heard a rustling in the bushes. He immediately pulled out his scythe and began waving it wildly. "Reala! Is that you?! Come out and show your ugly face! I mean it! You're going down, scumbag!" He yelled, slicing off bits of trees and leaves around him as he waved the ten-foot weapon around maniacally.

[Ventro]

Ventro's eyes was wide open when he saw Droiture swinging his weapon crazily. He quickly dodged his blows and landed on a branch.

"Okay... There's a bunch of nightmarens in the world and I had to make friends with a lunatic one." he thought with a sigh.

"Hey cool down? What happen if there's a nightopian that got stranded here. I know I sensed something, but really...? Is that necessary... ?" He yelled. Ventro floated back to Droiture, but he was far from Droiture's blows. With no success, Ventro shrugged his sholders and flew back to his vine covered tree.

[DAiLiGHT]

"Wait, Ventro, wait! Don't leave me here, man!" Droiture flew back and grabbed onto the back of Ventro's coat like a child clings to his mother. "I'm not loony, I just hate Reala." He mumbled. "thickheaded, lipstick-wearing, pink-collared, arrogant sunnavab*tch...." He mumbled.

[Ventro]

Ventro jerked back slightly from Droiture grasp. He made a small smile.

"Atleast we have something in common. I'm soo glad I'm not related to him or around when he was first created. That would be a nightmare. Hearing him talk all cocky, giving you commands, and down talking your abilities. I tell you. It's not very entertainning to hear him nag your hat off." he stated. He looked at the trees that Droiture sliced.

"You can let go now. What was it anyway?" he asked with curiosity.

[DAiLiGHT]

"Who cares? If it was Reala, he's probably wandering off headless due to my crazy swinging of doom. Man, I'm glad I'm not related to that guy." Droiture shuddered. He grinned widely, and let go of Ventro's shirt. "Yo man, I'm hungry. Need food." Droiture complained, holding a hand over his stomach.

[Ventro]

"Hmmmm... Maybe I should bring food from my place. You seem a little tired from all that swinging. Especially, a really heavy thing like that." he stated and pointed at Droiture weapon.

"Be right back okay!" He finished and quickly flew to the vine covered tree. Quickly, he went inside the hole and hovered over his nest like bed to the holes on the walls. Each hole had a glowing Ideya inside it and food he stored. His hands searched frantically inside each hole to find some type of food.

"Geez I know I stored dream berries and chocolates." he said in frustration and searched frantically through each hole. Suddenly, he stopped with a quick thought. "What do human marens eat anyway?" he pondered.

[DAiLiGHT]

"It's not that heavy...." Droiture said. "And don't worry much about what I eat... it's the same as humans." Droiture answered Ventro's unspoken question.

Meanwhile, Back at the Hall of Justice-- coughcough I mean Back in Reala's Bedroom...


"That blasted child thinks he's better than me.... I'll show him. All he needs is a little... guidance. Yes. A little manipulation and he'll be putty in my claws." Reala let out an evil, manipulative laugh of triumph.....

[Ventro]

Surprisingly, at the forest, Ventro floated towards Droiture with a bowl filled with star, moon, and weird shaped fruits with chocolates mixed in.

"Human food? I seen a couple when visitors came through the dream gates. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to make hamburgars. I tried using pians to see if it worked out, but I don't think they make good meat." he joked a bit.

"Well, What were the reasons you....?" Ventro stopped. He heard something moving around in the forest he sensed earlier. His eyes moved wonderously as the noise seemed to move around them.

"Hey, you hear that?" he whispered to Droiture. "Someone or something is really following us?" he noticed. The sound began to move around them quickly. Ventro was quite aggitated to pin point its location. Soon, he saw a flicker jump to a branch.

"There!" he pointed. He quickly grabbed a piece of fruit from his bowl and threw it quickly at that direction.

"Screeeeeeech!" something screamed in pain and fell to the ground.

[DAiLiGHT]

"Couldn't have been Reala... the scream was too annoyingly high pitched." Droiture commented. He looked. "It's a Maren, though!" He confirmed, taking a large swing at it with his scythe and slicing its head clean off. "Probably a spy for Reala."


Meanwhile--

"Gyaaa! That blasted child!" Reala swore and fumed as his Maren spy was destroyed and ceased relaying information.

[Ventro]

"Reala! You Better Have a Good Reason for avoiding my Orders." A voice echoed loudly in the darkness.

"I thought I gave you orders to capture some nightmarens that strictly disobeyed my orders. Why aren't they here yet?" it asked impatiently.

[DAiLiGHT]

"Look, Master, you can't bloody blame me for this! It's that blasted scythe child! The one with the tattoos and the anger problem. I'm doing my best here." Reala snapped back irritably. "I don't even know who this child is. He just showed up one bloody day and decided to have a go at me." Reala raved. "I don't know who he is or where he's come from but I swear to you I'll capture him and terminate him as per your orders."

[Ventro]

"Hmmmm.... Sometimes, I question your loyalty for such laziness. Don't Disappoint me REALA!!! Reala... Reala.... Reala... Reala...." the voice died in the shadows.

"Testing!!! Testing!!! Testing!!! 1! 1! 1! 2! 2! 2!"

[DAiLiGHT]

Reala snickered at the intercom system dying. He decided to shut it off completely before Master Wizeman got it up and working again. He sat back and raved to himself. "I must find a way to capture the child. Perhaps one of my young siblings can help me. Perhaps Jackle? No, he's trapped in that void of death.... Puffy? No, she's too busy with those voice lessons... Cerberus? No, last time I let him out I nearly ended up lunch...."

[Ventro]

Back at the forest, Ventro looked at the nightmaren that was now headless.

"Well, It won't be safe to be here now. Soon, they'll be trying to look for this nightmaren and be at our backs in no time. We got to leave here. Hey!!!! An Ideya!!!" Ventro said happily. Ventro picked up a green glowing Ideya.

"It seems like this guy wasn't empty handed after all." he laughed and threw the Ideya through the tree hole. He placed his thumbs together and whispered an incantation.

"Growth aid thee." he whispered in a very soft tone. When his claws had a greenish glow, he touched the tree. The tree hole closed up, and vines hid the crack. He canceled the spell when he thought it was ready.

"So, Where shall we go now?" he asked and flew back to Droiture.

[DAiLiGHT]

Droiture waved his hand and a gently radiating shard of crystal formed in his hand. "Guide us." He commanded softly, and the shard pulsated and vibrated in his hand before falling to its side and spinning in mid-air. It finally slowed and came to a stop, the pointed end pointing to Droiture's left, which was North. "Looks like it's North for us." He said.

[Ventro]

"Wow! What a nice little piece of shard." he said with amazement when he poked at the crystal in Droiture hand. Suddenly, he looked to the north. He noticed something scary about the path.

"Are you sure North? North seems a bit you know... very suspicious... I can't say what place is there, but something is strange about the place far north." Ventro studdered. He tried not to shake, but his fur ruffled up a little.

'You sure your crystal can tell if a place is safe or dangerous?" he asked.

[TORiAS_the_fallen]

They had started ignoring him, and he supposed it was time to make himnself known .... "HEY! YOU TWO!!!!!"
Very carefully, TORiAS manuvered so he wouldn't be seen as a threat I mean no harm. I'm alone completly, and I need to travl with someone. You see, I'm on a mission, and I'll only stay with you two until I reach my destination."
His hands were open and friendly, and he was trying very hard to smile, why was he bad with social skills?!

[Ventro]

Ventro jerked up quickly when he saw another nightmaren in the area. Unfortunately, he couldn't really tell if it really is a nightmaren.

"And who might you be? I hope you're not one of Reala's hired henchmen to trick us. If so, you might as well get out of here quick..." he warned.

"This guy is actually crazy! He already sliced the head of the spy nightmaren. You might be next." he whispered from the side of his mouth. Hopefully, he wasn't loud enough for Droiture to hear.

[TORiAS_the_fallen]

"You know Rea? Hmmm, haven't seen him in a while, but no, I am not your enemy. Just a rouge Maren looking for saftey in numbers." The Maren shrugged, and landed in front of the other Maren I'm TORiAS, and who might you two be?"

The Maren looked up at the sky, his breath came out in a slow sigh, and he smiled softly and genuinely "I'm just lonley, okay? I mean you no harm, and I rather die than face Nightmare and Wizeman again, Besides, I can take care of myself."

[Ventro]

"Oh! Sorry that I was being so rude." he apologized and made a smooth bow to TORiAS.

"My name is Ventro and this is my friend Droiture. I think... Anyway, we're on our way out of this forest since we know Reala might be on to us with his spy." he stated and pointed at the headless nightmaren.

"His crystal stated to head North, if you want to come along with us there. We'll be glad to have more company. Any enemy of Reala or Wizeman is always a friend to me." he smiled. Ventro took another look at the strange path to the north.

"Hey! Do you know your way around this place beyond the forest?" he asked politely.

[TORiAS_the_fallen]

"I've been up there, yes. That's where I'm headed, a friend of mine is waiting for me. Running from Rea? Me too, man, if he catches me, he'll drag me back by my insanely long red hair, but, whatever, pleasure to meet you Ventro." With a flouris, he returned the bow.

"We used to be friends, but Nightmare went to Hell in a handbasket ever since NiGHTS left."