Chapter Twelve: Nightmare

[Nightmare Invitation Letter]
Type: Single-use consumable / Special Item
Function: Summons the Nightmare Pumpkin Carriage, initiating a nightmare challenge
Description: This invitation can be used in the central ring area of the Fairy Tale Town to summon the pumpkin carriage that carries fairy tale nightmares and begin a nightmare challenge tailored to the player's strength. Succeed in the challenge, and you will receive generous rewards.
[Hint: If you wish to exit the nightmare challenge early, you may consume a "Match" to burn away the nightmare, but you will forfeit the final reward.]
[Hint: This item cannot be taken out of the current trial space.]
...
[?? Remnant Soul]
Type: Special Item
Function: Unknown
Description: This is the incomplete soul left behind after the death of "???". You can deliver it to the Nightmare Pumpkin Carriage in exchange for a certain reward.
[Hint: To find the Nightmare Pumpkin Carriage, you must use the special item "Nightmare Invitation Letter."]
[Hint: This item cannot be taken out of the current trial space.]
...
"..."
Rendered speechless by the descriptions of these two items, Ash was truly at a loss. To obtain the remnant soul's reward, one must summon the Nightmare Pumpkin Carriage. Yet upon summoning it, they are compelled to begin the nightmare challenge. Although the "Match" can interrupt the challenge, neither Ash nor Wine-in-Hand wished to waste such a precious and crucial item so carelessly.
...
[Match]
Type: Single-use consumable / Special Item
Function: Wish (Upon striking the match, you can choose one of three wish options determined by the game system based on the current environment to fulfill a goal.)
Description: This is a special item from the fairy tale world. Though its flame is not especially bright, it holds a trace of greatness, lighting a path forward for you in the dark world.
[When will a flame bright enough finally appear to illuminate the future of the fairy tale world? — "The Little Match Girl."]

[Hint: Once the matches are used up, you will be unable to achieve a "Perfect Evaluation" in this trial.]
[Hint: This item cannot be taken out of the current trial space.]
...
According to the trial description, the crossing operation in the Paradise World had not received approval from the Wasteland, but instead received aid from the fairy tale world—the Matches.

Ash speculated that the existence of the Sun Staircase, closely tied to the fairy tale world, was likely the reason the great figures of that world chose to cooperate with the Paradise World, presenting two matches to Ash for achieving perfect conditions, and one to Wine-in-Hand for an outstanding evaluation, to reveal the final secret. Thus, no matter what, the matches were not to be used lightly. Whether to use the Nightmare Invitation Letter, and how to make best use of the three matches, was something neither wished to decide on a whim.

As the game timer neared twenty minutes, Ash and Wine-in-Hand waited in anticipation for the transformed fairy tale world of nightmares, wondering what strange and unknown sights it might hold.

[Hint: The medium-sized building anomaly "Mobile Corpse Nest" will instantly teleport to an unknown area in ten seconds. If you choose to remain, you may encounter unpredictable dangers.]

The prompt appeared. Ash and Wine-in-Hand exchanged a nod. They noticed that the moment the countdown ended, the scene outside the Corpse Nest changed: what had just been a forest clearing was now nothing but bare ground, with even the faint outlines of the withered trees vanished.

This instantaneous shift left both Ash and Wine-in-Hand slightly disoriented.
So, this is Fairy Tale Town? It looks far too ordinary...

"Disappointed?"
Little Bob noticed their mood shift and smiled softly. "My father was a renowned scholar of the wild. Before the Gardener appeared, he led an expedition team that first discovered a path into the central ring. When we first arrived here, we had no idea this was the lost fairy tale world. We thought it was just as plain as you do. But believe me, the very existence of this place is a nightmare."

At first, Ash and Wine-in-Hand found this hard to believe, until, led by Little Bob, they passed through a thick curtain of darkness and saw the land break off into a cliff. Only then did they realize they were on a floating island. But if that were all, it could not be called a nightmare.

Three meters below the cliff, Ash saw bloodvines—endless, writhing, crimson tendrils that coiled like crazed serpents, occasionally sending waves surging through this ocean of bloodvines.

What startled Ash even more was that, sometimes, strange objects surfaced in these waves: severed bodies, shattered skulls...

Suddenly, a massive surge broke forth, and Wine-in-Hand, unable to contain herself, covered her gaping mouth in shock. For after this wave, the head of a one-eyed giant floated up. The giant’s eye was long gone, its socket now occupied by a cluster of wriggling bloodvines. This scene lasted only a few seconds before another wave washed it from view.

"What is this...?"
Ash’s brow furrowed, a chilling thought forming in his mind.

Little Bob, expressionless, nodded gravely. "In truth, the nightmares of the fairy tale world began with the Cataclysm. The spiritual planes they created stood no chance against the dark flood of the Forbidden Zone of Life. Most of the beings living on those planes were erased instantly. Even those who escaped faced a dilemma: the number of physical fairy tale islands is too few and too small to shelter everyone."

Little Bob gestured downwards. "Even the emergence of the Wasteland World couldn’t stem the tide in time. Countless fairy tale species, even if they escaped spatial annihilation, fell into the endless void and vanished, or worse, crashed to death at the bottom of the newly formed abyss. Layer by layer, their bodies filled the chasm, and the rising stench of blood lured the bloodvines from the inner ring to feast upon them."

He looked up at the two, his smile now strangely twisted. "So, would you call this a nightmare? I certainly do! For those fairy tale survivors, however, the nightmare had only just begun. I once deciphered a broken stone tablet that spoke of survivors facing starvation. I didn’t see what happened next, but the outcome is obvious."

Ugh...
Wine-in-Hand dry-heaved for the second time, her face ashen. She suddenly felt she ought to sue Singularity Corp. for failing to warn of discomforting content in this trial. She had known "Anomalous Paradise" was a sci-fi horror game, but this sudden display was a lot to stomach.

"You only heard about it and feel unwell, but I have lived through a similar nightmare," Little Bob snorted, a twitch at the corner of his eye betraying the indelible trauma of his own misuse of the Nightmare Invitation Letter. After a moment’s silence, he strode toward the suspension bridge at the cliff’s edge without looking back. "Come on. Don’t worry about what’s below. Your bloodvines possess the Gardener’s bloodline. Juvenile bloodvines won’t dare approach, and they lack the potential to mature further. As long as you don’t fall into the abyss or provoke them, you won’t be attacked."

Each floating fairy tale island was anchored by iron chains, with several suspension bridges linking neighboring islands in a scattered constellation.

Despite Little Bob’s assurances, Wine-in-Hand remained nervous. Following closely behind Ash, she clung to his sleeve, terrified but unable to resist peeking down. Thankfully, the bridge’s railings were sturdy, or her trembling legs might have given way.

Crossing several bridges and islands, Ash found the central ring much safer than expected. There were neither monsters nor any sign of wasteland explorers. Their guide, Little Bob, seemed to be searching for something himself. Upon crossing a particularly barren island, he exclaimed excitedly, "We’re lucky! The Mobile Corpse Nest didn’t send us to the outskirts. I see the special sign my father left. Once we follow it, we’ll find the notes!"

Encouraged, Ash and Wine-in-Hand felt relieved to have this living map to guide them, saving them much aimless wandering. On closer inspection, Ash spotted the sign Old Bob had left—a burning leaf.

"Plants are rare in the Wasteland, let alone normal ones, so we like to use them as names and markers."

Perhaps buoyed by the discovery, Little Bob shared this tidbit. Ash then noticed several more leaf markers, each cleverly blended with the background, their subtle differences apparent only to a keen eye. With Little Bob as their interpreter, they soon found the first note.

Inside a half-collapsed mushroom house, Little Bob leaped onto a beam and read the special script his father had carved:
...
A complete mess! An utter mess!
The texts we’ve found reveal little of worth. The people from the Giant Tree Institute are obstructing us at every turn, and the Gardener is changing in odd ways.
Everything—simply disastrous.
I feel an invisible hand tightening around my throat, forcing me to use this method to ease my terror.
Little Bob, my son, if you were still by my side, I wouldn’t need to do this.
...
Little Bob translated as calmly as he could, even the final sentence. When he finished, Ash and Wine-in-Hand heard a system prompt: find two more notes to complete the first stage of the hidden quest.

However, as the three hurried to the next location, they inevitably encountered a large contingent of wasteland explorers.