Ugly Bastard

“So there’s no doubts now…” Said Noah with a grimm voice looking at Kate, Sam and Danny that sat inside his mind realm looking around with interest. “It’s not only Lily.”

“Unless they all had some extraordinary world defying experience recently allowing them to gain tremendous spiritual power and will…which I highly doubt,” said Ugy. “I would say, yes. It does prove that Lily is not special.”

“Hey. I am still a cute-looking healer girl with a gorgeous body.” Said Lily standing near them with an annoyed expression on her face.

“Oh my apology, my Lady.” Said Ugy suddenly turning to her and bowing deeply with his plush forehead almost reaching the ground, before gazing up at her. “Please don’t be offended by the words of this uncouth pig. Please allow me…ubghe” 

“Stop, peeking at her panties. Bastard.” Said Yuko angrily, stepping on his head and pressing his face into the ground.

Lily looked down at herself and realized that she was still dressed as a prostitute in a sexy party dress that revealed her legs quite a lot, indeed allowing the plush bear to gaze up her skirt from the angle he gazed at her. Remembering that her panties were still wet from the performance she saw in the private room with William, her cheeks went beet red.

“What the fuck is wrong with your system!?” Exclaimed Lily pressing her palm to her skirt as if trying to cover herself, which did not help much.

“He’s a bastard system.” Said Brianna snickering from the side.

“Literally,” Said Priscilla, smiling.

“You’ll get used to it.” Said Tessa.

Aster, Zinnia and Dahlia gazed at Ugy warily and took a few steps away from him.

“Ummm…People? Would someone explain what the hell is going on?” Asked Samantha standing up from the ground, with Kate and Daniella following her. “Where the hell are we?”

“In a dream…apparently.” Said Lily. “This little plush fucker is Noah’s system.

“Dream? It doesn’t feel so.” Muttered Samantha. So you saying this is all a dream? Am I asleep? You all not real?”

“No, Sis, it’s not your dream so, you’re not dreaming about us. And we all are real. So no you're not asleep, and that’s a problem here apparently.” Said Lily, shrugging.

“Kind of confusing.” Said Samantha

“Dream space?” Muttered Kate.

“Let me explain.” Said Noah. “This is my system’s special skill. My own space. This is the skill that I use to transfer you all from one spot to another when Dryads put you to sleep. You were all supposed to be asleep but when I pulled Lily here this time she turned up to be awake. So we did an experiment and resent you all here with the same condition as Lily as an experiment. I am sorry I did that without asking.” Said Noah.

“So we are not dreaming?” Asked Samantha to make sure.

“No.” Said Noah, nodding affirmatively

“Aah! My dear, Lady Samantha! It is so good to finally meet you in person!” Exclaimed Ugy jumping up from the ground and rushing to Samantha.

Samantha looked at the strange toy running to her with open arms and an expression of delight on its face, and did not feel any threat from it. 

She bent down slightly to pick it up but it avoided her hands and smacked against her abdomen before starting to rub his face on her exposed skin.

“Ah! These tremendous abs! This is a dream come true! I told him, he put too few attention to these gorgeous thick contours of your muscular body. That uncouth scum. He under appreciated your beautiful abs when you two were fucking. I told him, he should lick the sweat off of them. Here… Let me! Bughhegh!”

“What the fuck is this!” Shouted Samantha as her initial surprise passed, tearing the plush toy away from her abdomen and throwing him against the ground.

“My system.” Said Noah rubbing his forehead as he felt Brianna’s, Priscilla’s and Theressa’s gazes on him.

“Abs?” Asked Tessa quietly, raising an eyebrow?

“One of the big five.” Said Noah sighing.

“Five of what?” Whispered Tessa?

“Body Fetishes. Bubble butt, big breasts, thick thighs, six pack abs and hot armpits” Said Noah going red in color.

“Armpits?” Asked Tessa raising her eyebrow in incredulity.

Noah just raised his hand, stopping her curiosity with a gesture.

“Tell you next time.” Muttered Noah.

“System?” Asked Kate, her scientific interest piqued, as she hunching down and poked Ugy with a finger a few times. “But he is real?”

“Ss..System?” Asked Samantha. “What the hell was it spouting?”

“Well…you see as a system…ummm…it can see and hear everything I do….” Said Noah with an uncomfortable face as he scratched his cheek.

Samantha looked at Noah with a stupefied look for a few seconds before her face went beet red. Did it see their night together back in Greenville town? 

“Oh, yes! And not just see. I can record it and play it back. And I am telling you the record of your abs has been replayed to the utmost…ah they are simply magni…fgfhr.” Said Ugy before Samantha grabbed his face with palm squeezing it so hard his head got distorted.

“Erase it!” Said Samantha as she picked him up from the ground by the head and looked him into the eyes with a death stare full of killing intent. “Erase it you fucker.”

“Yoth sthure abouth ith?” Squeezed out Ugy through his distorted mouth. “Ipf I dtho, Noath woulth forgeth it, you knowth?”

“I…” Said Samantha stalling a bit before throwing her gaze at Noah with a shy expression, her face going red once again. “Don’t fucking mention this again, you fucker.” She finally said, throwing the plush bear away toward Noah.

“The fuck is wrong with your, System?” She asked Noah, glaring at him.

“He is a bastard.” Said Lily.

“See. You’re getting used to it already.” Said Priscilla with a smile.

“Interesting.” Muttered Kate.

“I don’t care what that shit is. Keep it away from me.” Said Samantha, still glaring at Noah before she realized they locked eyes for a long moment, then a red tint spread further to her neck and she turned her gaze away. “And don’t let it get near, Lily and...” 

“I don’t mind. Can I bisect it? I want to see how it’s made.” Said Kate making Ugy shiver and step back from her.

“Lily and Dany. Don’t let it get near me, Lily and…” Said Samantha, stopping suddenly on the last word and looking around. “Where’s Dany?”

“Huh?” Voiced everyone collectively

“She was just here.” Said Noah.

“Oh, I saw her go in that direction.” Said Aster. “I think she wanted to explore a bit so I did not stop her, I will go get her…”

“““NO!!!””” Shouted Noah, Ugy, and Yuko in one voice.

“Wha? What?” Asked Aster, stopping abruptly in surprise.

“Fuck! You all stay here!” Said Noah, before rushing in the direction that Aster pointed to.

“The hell I will.” Said Samantha turning to run after him but Yuko stopped her jumping in front of her.

“No. Don’t go. You will only make it worse. They’ll get more agitated.”

“What?” Asked Samantha. “Who? What’s going on? What’s out there in the woods?” Asked Samantha.

“It’s not the woods.” Said Yuko. “The mountain. She went in the direction of the mountain.” 

“Oh.” Said Aster remembering Noah’s words banning them from going toward the mountain to not bring disaster to the Dryad core forest, when they came here for the first time.

Samantha looked further into the distance over the tops of the trees and saw a mountain top covered in black clouds.

“Why? Is it dangerous there?” She asked.

Everyone stood silently not sure how to answer before turning to Ugy.

“Not if you don’t seek what’s in there. But in her state…damn how did I not think about it. Girl is clearly hurt and has her own nightmares. They must have been calling out to her through them.” Muttered Ugy.

“Who?” Asked Lily.

“Nightmares.” Said Tessa. “Noah’s nightmares are imprisoned there.”

“What do you mean?” Asked Kate. “Like…bad dreams?”

“No. They are not just dreams. They are amalgamations of the idea that the author has put into them.” Said Ugy.

“Can you explain more clearly? Who and why is calling out to Dany?”

“This world is Noah’s skill. He can learn a lot of things using this dream world.” Said Theressa. “Like reading stories. Only the stories are very realistic. These stories are made up by different people. Some are good and very helpful to Noah. Others are outrageous and sickening. But no matter good story or bad, all of them leave some imprint within this world with some kind of meaning resonating with Noah. You see that mountain? That is an imprint symbolizing determination, persistence and unbending will to not give up. Under those feelings, Noah hid another type of imprints. Nightmares.” Said Tessa, glancing quickly at Yuko.

“And I am one of them. Hi. I am Yuko, a nightmare. Unlike you all, I am real only in this dream world.” Said Yuko, lifting her hand. “But the ones hidden there are a lot less friendly.” She said pointing with her chin at the mountain.

“Well. It’s far and Dany was not gone for long. He’ll catch up…right?” Said Samantha.

“The distance does not work here. Only the wish to get somewhere.” Said Dahlia. “This is a dream world after all. If her wish is greater no matter how fast Noah is he’ll never catch up.”

“D!” Said Zinnia, poking her sister into the side with a glare. “You’re not helping.”

“She’ll be fine.” Said Theressa calmly before turning to Ugy. “So what did you want to speak about that you needed to send Noah away in such an underhanded way?”

“You figured? No wonder.” Said Ugy impressed.

“Wait, what?” Asked Samantha.

“He is a system. He feels every move of those nightmares, even if Noah doesn’t. If they called out for Dany, he heard it and did not tell anyone. Question is why? He needs Noah gone for some private talk with us. So talk.” Explained Tessa before turning to Ugy again.

“You fucker risked my friend!?” Shouted Samantha grabbing her sword but was stopped by Theressa’s hand.

“It’s no use. This body of his is fake. It will not do him any harm.”

“Exactly. On the contrary, it will release him from this clown costume that Noah made for him to make him suffer.” Said Yuko.

“Tsk.” Voiced Ugy. “Let's go inside.” He said walking back into the house with everyone following after him.

“So?” Asked Tessa sitting down on the couch with Yuko as Brianna sat on the other one with Priscilla, Kate and Samantha still standing while glaring angrily at Ugy. Dryads stood at Noah’s mate’s sides as if maids at attention.

“What I wanted to talk about is the reason they are here in the flesh. Although it seems good, it's not. In fact it's very bad. When User returns, he’ll start asking questions, however I want you to keep your mouths shut.” Said Ugy from his armchair.

“Why?” Asked Tessa.

“Because I know what’s wrong, but the best solution is for User to have a calm, unbothered mind.”

“So what’s wrong with this?” Asked Tessa pointing with her head at Samantha, Kate and Lily.

“It could mean only one thing. This world is dungefying.”

“The what?” Asked Lily

“It is turning into separate space within another space, but it happens sporadically and uncontrollably. It is turning into a dungeon.” Answered Ugy.