Lost in Dream Woods, Part 3

Castelilise had been hanging out in a river for awhile, unsure of how to participate. If it wasn't for how Z, Nox, and Smith had all run off near the start, she would've been worried about coming in last place. As it was, she knew she wasn't going to do well, and was frustrated to be essentially punished for her very nature. The whole experience reminded the nereid far too much of the arbitrary punishments of society.

But then the world she was in shrank to the point that Castelilise could see Noah and the others. They had somehow changed the very world she swam in, and while it made sense, given that they were in a dream, it was still confusing. One moment, she was swimming in a river that was inside of a dream forest and wasn't near anyone. The next moment she was near everyone, and Noah, in the form of a very chubby human guy she didn't recognize, ran up to her.

"Castelilise!" Noah yelled while running up to her. "Sorry for the abrupt shift, but we needed you here, and we're still getting the hang of how to alter this landscape. Despite using some mathematics to try and wrangle it, this is still more art than science at this point."

"I... sure." Castelilise replied, unsure of what to say. Even as a human, math and similar weren't really her thing, although she suspected she was still better at it than Felix. Becoming an embodiment of nature didn't help in that regard.

"Alright, we're going to grab Felix, but I want you to go grab everybody else from the original group you can find and meet us back at the entrance," Noah said. "Do you think you can do that?"

The nereid nodded and then swam off at full speed. Search and rescue wasn't necessarily something she was good at, but it at least made use of her incredible swimming speed while not requiring her to spend a bunch of time on land, much less figure out how to alter a dream world through sheer focus...

Cammy continued to troll Smith until he finally got the message, and trudged away to look for the rest of the group. Whether he could actually get back to the group in time was not her problem, and even if he did, she had ensured he would get a garbage ranking. With that accomplished, it was time to find Z, so that she could confront the oni, and Nox the goblin for that matter, in a similar manner. She was choosing to alter who would score well, a decision that worked well enough with the instruction to test the harem, to ensure that only the parts of the harem she liked would graduate. It was something she could do given her position, and this was the last time she could do it before other graduates arrived to make things more complicated.

So she strode through the forest, her unique status giving her knowledge of where she was relative to the others, and also how to get to them much faster than should be possible given the distances involved. That was because in this dream world, what really mattered was how far one thought one was away from something, not how close it actually was. That knowledge, along with a crash course in dream navigation Cammy had gotten from Vizrokoth, let her find Z and Nox in short order.

When Cammy found them, she caught the tail end of the conversation that accompanied... a beating. "... and you're lucky we're in a fucking dream, or I would've beaten you a lot harder than that! Because of you, we didn't accomplish anything! So tell me, what was the fucking point of anything you just did?"

With every word Z screamed, she'd slap Nox again, but with such **** that he threw up blood, or with somewhat less ****, the oni would still punch him so hard that Cammy suspected out of this dream world, the former bully would be dead. He was in the body he used to have before being a goblin which would've looked impressive for a teenage boy. That was until of course the oni had systematically beaten him to the point that any possible thing Cammy could say or do would not compare.

"WHAT WAS THE FUCKING POINT!" Z screamed even louder, while she slammed Nox's near lifeless body against a tree. "Why do you make me chase you through the fucking woods for fuck knows how long, and waste everyone's time? Until you answer me, I'm going to continue finding ways I can break your stupid fucking face all over the ground, the trees, everything!"

All Cammy could do was watch. The word beating felt inadequate for the level of **** used on Nox, even though all Z had done was punch and slap him, at least from what she had seen. In the waking world the oni would've lost VP, and she should've lost VP here for the kind of brutality she had just exposed Nox to. Yet somehow, Cammy knew she wouldn't, and that was confirmed when the oni turned to face her.

Z just sighed seeing Cammy before saying, "I know it ain't a pretty sight. But when someone makes you chase them for an hour while insisting that because they're a Hanson they deserve better than to be a wimp's fucktoy or an ogre's ****, so some massive punishment was in order when I caught up. It's like every single bit of progress we had made got thrown out for FUCKING NOTHING!"

The last statement had the oni turn back towards Nox to scream at him. Not that he was any in to respond, he was too busy lying in a pool of piss, blood, and at least a few knocked out teeth. Even if Cammy had wanted to say something to him, she could tell he was in no shape to respond. So instead, she turned her attention to Z. "Maybe some was in order but..."

Cammy paused to collect herself from the continued sight of Nox's broken body. "...there's no possible way that counts as sexy ****. I don't know what the demon is going to think of that but-"

"The demon will understand," Z said. "Besides, my score is shit anyway because I had to deal with Nox's bullshit. Now, why are you here?"

"Normally it'd be to test you, but I... don't think I'll need to do that this time," Cammy said while she continued to gather herself. "It looks like Nox did it for me. So instead I must ask... would you ever do something like that to Felix?"

"No," Z said, and then explained in a way Cammy didn't expect. "And it's not because he's the master protected by a demon who makes reality itself her plaything. Rather, it's because Felix is a good boy, who doesn't imagine he can **** his will onto an oni far stronger than him."

That made Cammy angry. "So you treat him better because he lets himself be a doormat?"

The oni rolled her eyes before responding. "If you want to put it that way. I think of him more like a client who does what I tell them when it's important that they trust my advice. I'm ultimately having to serve him, but it's good to have an employer who understands what you do and don't know how to do."

Before the conversation could continue, the very land around them shrunk in on itself. At that point, Cammy realized the rest of the group must have figured out a bit about this place worked, and to an impressive degree. She had far less time than she thought she would...

After giving Castelilise her new instructions, Noah turned to the rest of the group.

"Alright, I'm going to try to get Felix, but this not out of bravado," Noah said. "I want you guys to stay back and keep an eye on me. If anything happens, get Felix and run back to the entrance. Do not wait for me, I can figure out a way back if that's what it comes down to, what's most important is that we get Felix out of here as quickly as possible, and in the process, get out of this damn dream. Got it?"

The rest of the group nodded in response to Noah. With that understanding gained, the chubby nerd set about making their way to Felix. They had no idea who this woman was, but given this was a dream realm, and a challenge about getting Felix out of this place, she was likely to be bad news. Still, they weren't going to show fear, not after everything they had gone through at Harem Hotel. At this point it wasn't about the promise they had to Felix, but more a promise to themselves to never let cowardice rule their life again.

"Felix!" Noah screamed once they got close enough. "Lets get you out of here and away from whoever the heck this is."

The bombastic entrance was intentional. Noah didn't think they could hide from whoever Felix was with, much less somehow sneak him out of there, so it made more sense to just get out into the open whatever was going to happen as quickly as possible.

"I'm Zaynab," the woman replied, "and I'll let Felix go after a quick chat. Otherwise, as a Jinn, and someone who has a lot more experience manipulating dreams than you do, I think you'll find I can make it quite impossible for you or Felix to leave."

"It was worth a shot," Noah said as they went over to where Felix and Zaynab were sitting. "Alright, what do you want to talk about? Trigonometry? My massive video game collection? The finer points of Felix's body?"

"Cute," Zaynab said. "I almost buy that you aren't scared of me. Tell me about your relationship with Felix before the Harem Hotel season, what you think of Felix now, and... what you think of being made of slime."

Without missing a beat, Noah launched into it. "My relationship before Harem Hotel with Felix is complicated. I say complicated not as a dodge but because there are two different versions of it, and one of them I mostly don't remember, but was also reality when I was initially **** to the season. My current reality leaves me frustrated with Felix, as I didn't do the things to him that were so bad last time, but I also have a better understanding of where he's coming from. Also I'm normally a slime girl whose sexuality is fundamentally different than the one I currently have, which helps because it means I'm very attracted to Felix in the slime girl form, and want to fuck him. Would you mind answering why I'm in my human form?"

"Certainly," Zaynab said. "A part of this realm is a test of whether you've learned anything from your time in Harem Hotel. I can tell you have learned a lot, because you are much braver than you were when you came here, and that confidence is serving you well. You aren't overestimating yourself, but you also aren't quaking in my presence, something that would've been the case before this season."

"I can see that," Noah said. "But how come Castelilise got to keep her form?"

"Oh dear, that's because she never liked being a human or male," Zaynab answered. "She wouldn't have learned anything from that."

Noah just nodded hearing that before moving back to the original topic. "You asked me about being made of slime. My answer is that while it is often frustrating, and can attack my fundamental sense of self, it also liberated me from a lot of my prior fears. Since I know my current form is fake, and never really coming back, I just keep in mind that my real self is, for the most part, indestructible. Satisfied?"

"Surprisingly enough yes," Zaynab sounded sad while answering. "Alright, I'll let you go, but keep in mind the whole group has to leave if you want to wake up."

After grabbing Felix, Noah initially just walked away with him before, once they had gotten what they thought was a relatively safe distance, they both broke into a sprint to get back to the rest of the group. Felix almost ran into the group, and got hugged by Kei Winters for his trouble. That caused her to ask, "How was it?"

"Not as bad as last time but not something I'd recommend," Felix said while holding Kei Winters. "Alright, how did we get out of here? You guys seem to be able to alter this place, so hopefully won't take too long?"

At that moment, Castelilise came swimming back. "I told them where to go. If they follow the river, they'll get back to the rendezvous point, and if not, I know where to go looking. Let me just grab Felix and swim him back in case there's something last minute bullshit from the dream realm as an extra challenge."

"Great idea," Noah said before turning to the rest of the group. "Lets take the longer way back in case there are any stragglers. We all have to leave as a group, and I worry that includes Cammy..."

Z was at the end of a long, infuriating night. After Nox turned back into a spoiled child shockingly quickly the second she was in her male human body, the night turned into a massive waste. The meeting with Cammy hadn't helped matters, nor had the nereid showing up to reveal that the oni had run out of time to salvage the evening. She was **** at this point to salvage anything from this damn challenge, but also wanted to be done with this whole damn affair. So to say she was angry when Smith decided to basically throw a tantrum and refuse to enter the exit area would be a vast understatement.

"Smith come on, what are you doing?" Noah asked. "Would you please stop wasting everyone's time and-"

"You will not talk to me that way!" Smith screamed. "I'm a damn adult, and until all of you start treating me with some respect, I will not be going anywhere!"

The oni had enough. She had heard this kind of petulant behavior from far too many spoiled C-suite executives and the rich brats of Yakuza bosses in her time as a mercenary to put up with this bullshit. So she walked out of the circle, and up to Smith. "If you don't join us when I finish counting to three, I will beat you like I did Hanson, as Nox likes to be called in this dream world, and then plop your beaten body next to his before we return home. You can ask him how it went, although they may not be able to respond between the broken teeth, shattered jaw, and a lung that would collapsed if we were in the real world."

"You canno-"

"1." Z said as she prepared to deliver another beatdown.

"You will get punished by the host-"

"2." Z said as purposefully invaded Smith's personal space.

Rather than try to speak, Smith launched himself against Z in a futile attempt at agency. The oni smiled as she grabbed him, and then pushed him to the ground with nothing but a firm shove. "Well, I won't even need to count to three."

She then straddled Smith, and punched him in the face. Unlike humans, Z didn't have to worry about breaking or hurting her hand on a human skull, because of how tough her bones were, and because she could regenerate. So instead, she just pummeled him by alternating between slaps, punches, and occasionally picking up Smith to slam him against a nearby tree. All of it was done at maybe a sixth of her actual strength, so this beating wouldn't be a good workout, but that was okay. The only people she got to hit at full **** were either wearing power armor, or were those she was okay with killing, and she didn't want to test whether a dream world protected against that.

"You know," Z said while lifting Smith over her head, "if you weren't such an asshole, you probably could've done fine. But no, you had to be a big man, and like every other arrogant shithead I've encountered in my life, you're about to face the same violent, humiliating result."

The oni then concluded her beatdown of Smith by throwing him to the ground. Once satisfied he couldn't whine anymore, she dragged his body next to Nox's. Before anyone could say anything, she just replied, "Hey, we're in a dream. When he wakes up, none of this will have happened..."

Felix, to his surprise, woke up with a respirator over his mouth, and he was underwater. He tried to swim to the surface, but then noticed he was being held by Castelilise. Why was he underwater? This isn't where he the nereid had dropped him off yesterday. Was it because had carried him back to the entrance in the dream?

His squirming did manage to wake up Castelilise, who then helped him get out of the water. It turned out they were in the master suite bathroom, and more specifically, in a strange section that was underneath the bathtub. How any of this fit Felix couldn't figure out, but perhaps Vizrokoth used magic to get it to fit or something. Once they were both out of the water, the nereid said, "Well, I guess we now know what it would've been like if you had slept with me."

"Yeah... I guess we did," Felix said while getting out of the tub. "Now we just need to..."

He trailed off because he was face to face with Vizrokoth. "Morning dear. Lets get to the transformation room. I'll let you have all the breakfast you want after that..."