Dreamtale reimagined: Dreamscape Tale
I've always disliked how 'Dreamtale' really has nothing to do with dreams at all, so here is a little reimagining of the AU, which will hopefully live up to its name.
Renamed to Dreamscape Tale for differentiation sakes.
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Somewhere, someone spoke a dream. Somewhere, someone lived a nightmare.
And something wondered, what if? What if these desires and fears didn't need to be simply discussed or experienced? What if they could see them when they closed their eyes, even for just a little while.
A spark was created. It split in two. Two souls, from the same source but different in every way, grew from the pieces of the spark. They found vessels within abandoned universes, stories that were never supposed to be told, repurposed to tell a new story.
They were brothers. Their names were Dream and Nightmare.
Dream's role was to tap into the hopes and dreams of mosters and humans all over the multiverse – his soul assisted in his identification of those desires. He could feel the positive emotions radiating off of people. He practically absorbed them. He would give out dreams to those across the multiverse who needed them most during the night.
Nightmare's role was the opposite. His soul, feeding off the negative emotions radiating off of people, would help him figure out their fears, their hatreds. And he would use that. Meticulously crafting nightmarish scenarios to plant in their heads. He found a sense of peace in the creative process that went into his work.
But despite assuming their roles well and getting invested in the hands they played in other people's lives, Dream and Nightmare were not content in theirselves. They couldn't be.
The positive and negative emotions emitted by their souls were overwhelming.
Dream found himself unable to feel sad or angry. He couldn't cry from anything but laughter. Not that he laughed all that much.
Nightmare spiralled into his own despair, unable to muster a smile or a laugh at anything. The darkness weighed him down.
The brothers came to an agreement with each other. Maybe, if they each had a lottle piece of the other's soul in theirs, they could have the strength to regulate their emotions in something close to a normal manner.
They tried it. Dream's soul accepted the transplant, and he was finally able to loosen the tight smile that had been plastered on his face for so long.
But Nightmare's soul rejected the transplant. The piece of Dream's soul that was supposed to connect to his shattered... Nightmare was consumed by his own negativity, following the failure.
Dream no longer recognised his brother. Nightmare no longer recognised himself. But he had a new goal in mind. He was going to bring everyone's worst nightmares to life. He might as well become more powerful if he was doomed to suffer in a pit of negativity for the rest of his life.
And it sounded fun to his newly adjusted mind. After all, the creation of such personalised nightmares had always been the only thing that made him less... negative.
Dream caught on to Nightmare's little plan relatively quickly. He vowed he would stop his brother from turning the multiverse into an everlasting living nightmare, no matter what it took.
And so, the ongoing battle between the brothers began.