BEHOLD - the sequel. The second of a trilogy. The thrid will actually feature me, unlike the first one. That was an error as you will know if you read the quick update i posted before.

Holly was having a terrible nightmare. She saw in her mind’s eye a scene of destruction the likes of which not even Opal Koboi’s twisted mind could conjure up. An army of humans was destroying Haven mercilessly. The plague-bearers spread disease before them like butter on toast. She saw her best friends - Artemis, Butler, Foaly, Vinyaya and Mulch - tied to stakes and burned alive by fanatical wild-eyed servants of the ruinous power that had forced its way into her peaceful mind. She heard the horrific whispering voice in her head…

“…your soul is mine, pathetic creature…”

She screamed and ran, but she knew that she could never outrun her own mind. Suddenly, she was in a ballroom, in an emerald dress and dancing the waltz with Artemis, her head resting on his chest. The voice whispered again…

“…your pathetic races fall before my power like flowers before a glacier…”

All of a sudden, a gauntleted fist grabbed Artemis’s arm, another grabbing his left. They pulled, and the boy’s limbs came away from his body in a spray of crimson. His carcass was thrown aside, and the huge ogre-like monstrosity that had abominated the boy genius was revealed. It was at least ten feet in height and clad in blood-red armour plating. On its back, a tall smokestack belched foul fumes into the ar, and she realised that this mechanical monstrosity represented the effect of the human race on the environment. It looked at her, beady red eyes burning in their sockets, and roared, smoke pouring from the vents on its face. It took two loping steps toward her, raising an axe that crackled with dark energy in one iron hydraulic fist, and brought it smashing down…

Holly was knocked off her feet by a speeding figure who had emerged from the shadows. The mechanoid’s mighty axe was stuck into the floor immovably, and it was engrossed in removing it. Holly looked at her saviour.

“Hallo!” he said. “You probably don’t know me, but Artemis told me that I had to enter your mind to get rid of these enemies because you did the same for him a few weeks ago. You can call me Ace.”

He was clad in a black and blue jumpsuit, balanced on his toes like a velociraptor. He had a space-age visor covering most of his face, and his posture suggested that he was ready to pounce. His entire body was designed to be as streamlined as humanly possible, and even his eyes were darting around quickly.

“We have to go. Now!” he said, grabbing the struggling elf under one arm. She objected a little until she was forced to close her mouth for fear of losing her dinner. The human was travelling so quickly that by the time she saw something they had already passed through it and left a burning hole through it as well - this applied to everything, from walls to enemies. The ground beneath his feet was ablaze, and his body had become almost flat to be as streamlined as possible. Even his cornering was fast; he simply turned his head and his body followed, kissing the apex of all corners. They finally stopped somewhere out of the way and hard to find.

“The only way to wake up is to see something that will give you a burst of positive emotions - love, joy, kindness, and so on. Think of something like that. I’ll be back in a second.”

Exactly one second later he was back, having run a circuit of Haven and evaluated the threat.

“This is a dream! So you have to dream! Dream up something to help you!”

She closed her eyes for a moment, and felt a familiar weight in her hand. When she re-opened them, she was holding a Neutrino 2000. She set it to maximum and began shooting. Every burst took down an enemy.

“NO!” roared the voice in her head. “YOU CANNOT DO THIS! DESTROY HER!” it commanded the minions. And they would have, if they could. Because at that moment, she vanished.

Holly sat bolt upright in bed. She was home, with Artemis and Foaly sat on chairs in her room. On the metal table, Ace was twitching as his mental self ran. She pulled herself up (she was dressed in a light tank top and knee-length shorts) and walked over to the table.

“Why isn’t he conscious yet?” she asked Foaly. His brow was furrowed and he was typing rapidly.

“He’s still in the dream. He’s out of your head but he’s trapped in the other realm with those things. We’ve lost him.”

Holly cast her eyes down.

“He was a good person. He saved me.”

Artemis nodded, patting her on the shoulder. “Without his sacrifice, the Lower Elements would have lost one of its best.”

Because Ace had not yet stopped moving, Artemis had insisted that his physical body be frozen cryogenically in case he came out of it. Foaly had obliged, putting the mud man in the Section Eight cryo-labs, top security.

And one day, a few years later, his eyes opened…

Some other stories by LEP-recon124:

• Easing back into this...
• Probably the coolest thing ever (Part one of a series that I have no idea when will finish)
• World War 3 (Part 1)
• LEP-centurion001 part two
• Pariah (a dreams and nightmares spin-off)