Chapter 311: _The Plague Has A Source
"Of all the things his dreamscape could’ve taken inspiration from," Viktor mumbled, hands folded as they walked through the streets of Bikini Bottom. "Why did it go with... this?"
"Well, SpongeBob is one of his favourite cartoons." Devon sighed. "I’m more concerned about how we can breathe underwater."
"You’re really asking that," Ambrose cut him a judgemental glance, "while we’re walking through a town with talking fish?"
They’d just walked past a small building shaped like a clam shell... when someone rushed out of it. Ambrose reacted, standing in front of the others and pulling out his Frost dagger without thinking.
"Stop." He warned, his eyes glinting with an icy light when the figure came to a halt.
The ’person’ was actually a 2D blue fish whose eyes bulged comically as he gawked anxiously at Ambrose’s dagger. "I-I mean no harm, weird-looking visitors."
"Yet you rushed at us like you were up to no good." Ambrose’s eyes narrowed. "Start telling us what’s up with that before I gut—"
"Rose." Devon seized his wrist gently. "Babe, he’s just a cartoon. I doubt he wanted to harm us."
"Curious." Valentine brushed past both of them, gaze pinned on Ambrose’s dagger. "Weapons from our physical body can also manifest here. So I wonder..."
He wiggled some fingers above his head.
His shadow expanded behind him, ghostly howls echoing from their dark depths.
Valentine smirked. "Would you look at that?"
"So," Ambrose reluctantly lowered his dagger, "if you aren’t trying to do something sketchy... Can you at least help us find the child whose dream this is?"
[Are you seriously asking a cartoon NPC that?]
’A-Aura?’ The Guide was puzzled. ’I thought you couldn’t follow my consciousness into places like this?’
[That was specifically about the Black mask’s dimension, sweetheart. It isolates your psyche entirely. No me, no links with your partners... but that’s not the same here.]
"Dream?" The fish appeared genuinely confused by Ambrose’s question. "Aren’t you all... land dwellers?"
"You really think all of this is real?" Gabriel arched his brow. "How long has this city been here for?"
[Ugh, this is pointless.]
’Tell me about it.’ Ambrose was already sheathing the blade. ’Can you scan the place for Orion’s signature? I mean you should be able to do it through the emergency mission, right?’
[Not exactly.]
"The... the city’s age?" Now the fish sounded suspicious. "Wait. Who really are you—"
ZRKKKKKK!
A large energy beam descended on the fish seemingly out of nowhere, incinerating him until he was nothing but a charred spot on the ground.
"What the..." Ambrose’s head snapped to the corner the blast had come from.
Troops of soldiers in black full-body suits rushed to them. Skeletal designs were etched across the suit, making Ambrose narrow his eyes.
What movie were these guys from now?
Every last one of the soldiers was armed with laser rifles, pointing them at the group. Nearby fish civilians scattered away from the scene.
"We have you surrounded, intruders." One of the men yelled. "Surrender now or face the full wrath of the lord of—"
Burning ice shot through the air, striking the laser gun between the soldier’s hands and melting it in a heartbeat. Ambrose’s palms ignited with twin tongues of Burning ice as he lifted his chin.
"This is a dream." He muttered, that familiar burning thrill that came from battle consuming his chest. "So I don’t have to hold back."
In one blink, he stood beside Devon; the next he reappeared in front of the soldiers, burning ice exploding from both palms.
The first three barely had time to register him before the freezing flames swallowed them whole.
Unfortunately, dreams didn’t care about physics.
The frozen soldiers folded like paper, crumpled into tiny cubes, then sprang back to life with exaggerated booing sounds before charging again.
"Seriously?" Ambrose deadpanned.
Laser fire rained toward them.
Gabriel immediately tore open half a dozen portals, redirecting every blast back toward the attackers.
Instead of exploding, the beams ricocheted between invisible walls like pinballs, striking random buildings before somehow returning to chase the group instead.
"What kind of bullshit is this?!" Viktor yelled.
"It’s cartoon logic!" Devon shouted, ducking beneath a laser that suddenly transformed into a flock of angry rubber ducks. "Nothing has to make sense!"
Valentine’s shadows erupted beneath the soldiers, skeletal hands dragging dozens underground.
For exactly three seconds.
The earth suddenly spat every soldier back out like watermelon seeds, each one completely unharmed.
"Oh, I hate this place." Valentine muttered.
More troops poured from every street. One even climbed out of an innocent-looking mailbox.
Loki had been right.
This wasn’t a normal dream. It was Orion’s imagination.
Which meant the enemy only had to exist because Orion believed they existed.
"We’re wasting time!" Gabriel yelled. "Fall back!"
Nobody argued.
Ambrose grabbed Devon’s wrist while Gabriel opened a chain of portals ahead.
The group retreated across rooftops made of giant cookies, narrowly avoiding an avalanche of oversized bowling balls that rolled out of nowhere.
Only after putting several streets between themselves and the soldiers did they finally stop.
Everyone breathed heavily.
"Well," Viktor sighed, brushing cookie crumbs off his shoulder. "That went terribly."
"It proved something though," Gabriel replied as Ambrose looked at him. "We can’t beat the dream. We have to find Orion so he can put an end to it."
A ripple spread across the sky just then.
Every cartoon building froze. Even the cheerful background music abruptly stopped.
Then footsteps echoed across empty air. A little figure slowly appeared atop a floating candy island, drawing everyone’s attention.
"Orion?" Ambrose frowned.
Gone was the cheerful little boy with oversized pajamas and sleepy eyes.
The child standing above them wore an immaculate white outfit trimmed with gold, his expression eerily calm as countless spheres revolved silently behind him like obedient planets.
When his glowing eyes finally settled on the group, every soldier across the dreamscape immediately knelt.
★★★★★
Back On Earth
"Still nothing." Apollo lowered his phone, frustration written across his face. "Loki isn’t responding."
Around the conference table, the remaining Pantheon members exchanged uneasy looks while reports from every continent continued flooding the screens.
"Casualties are climbing," Wukong stated the obvious. "We’ve got no cure, no identified pathogen. No fucking explanation for what’s happening."
Yemoja folded her arms. "We can’t just exterminate every zombie we see."
"They’re still people." Kali added quietly.
"They WERE people." Wukong corrected.
Silence followed.
Kali stared thoughtfully at the map displaying infection zones covering almost the entire planet.
"This isn’t random."
Apollo followed her gaze. "Do you have a clue on what’s causing it? Through your projections?"
"It has to have a source."
The room fell silent again.
If they could find the source... Perhaps they could end the apocalypse.
The problem was far more terrifying:
How were they supposed to find the source when the entire world was already infected?