The Author stood between a fleeing Sam and the overtaken body of his brother, now possessed by a monster called Apnea.

The monster's eyes were fixed on the fleeing child. It tried to take off after her but before it could take a step, it realized that its feet were chained to the ground by a group of strong, twisted vines with thorns digging into its body.

“I think you should worry about what's in front of you instead of chasing little girls.” The Author quipped.

“You are not much of a threat.” Apnea hissed. “We know your power is weakening.”

The Author smirked. “That doesn't mean I can't try.”

With that he made the vines tighten and made the monster fall to its knees. He reached into one of his coat pockets and pulled out two white chess pieces, a Knight and a Rook. He threw them towards the monster and they grew into life-size warriors.

The Knight became a knight on top of a black and white horse, wielding a lance under his arm. His armor shone like the sun and had a lion insignia on his shield. His horse had strong legs and a very fine mane. It was a proud and noble beast.

The Rook became a very strong man. He stood about seven feet tall. He had a hulking torso and small muscular legs. He wore a small vest that barely seemed to fit him and dark pants that only went to his ankles. His fists were clenched and wrapped in bandages.

When Apnea broke free from the vines, the chess piece figures leaped at the creature. Punches crashed and shook the castle. Screams filled the air as the Knight pierced Apnea with his lance. As the battle raged on, the Author snuck around the hourglass to check on the children. From one of his jacket pockets he pulled out a handful of dirt that had a faint sparkle to it and he sprinkled it in a semicircle around the children.

Out of the same pocket, he pulled seven small discs. He placed them about a foot away from the kids. He raised his hands and the seven discs began to shake as water erupted from them, each stream a different color of the rainbow. The water arced over to water the dirt. From the dirt grew a rosebush; the roses hiding the children from view. Thorns grew pointing away from the kids, to protect them.

Before the Author could do anything else, he heard the sound of chess pieces falling to the ground. The hair on his neck stood up. He turned to face the monster, closed his eyes, and let out a brief sigh.

“All your trickssss come undone!” Apnea teased.

The Author picked up the pieces solemnly.

“Thank you, my friends.” He whispered as he placed the pieces back inside his coat.

Apnea grinned a sadistic grin as little, golden veins spiderwebbed across its grotesque, black form. He drew the Sandman’s power and used it to begin breaking apart the castle. The rosebush did its job protecting the children as debris fell all around them.

The Author took out a handful of birdseed and threw it towards the creature. Pieces of the feed transformed into sparrows and they went on the offensive, pecking and scratching Apnea. The Author quickly pulled out two pieces of glass, then the birds were shooed away.

The birds stealthily made their way over to the hourglass and began pecking at it to weaken the glass. The Author used the pieces of glass to shoot forth beams of sunlight. As each beam hit Apnea and made Nightmares fall to the ground and scurry around until it reformed. Each hole in the monster's form revealed the limp body of Sandie. The Author’s heart sank each time he saw his brother and fought as hard as he could for him.

Apnea swung its arms wildly; causing more rubble to fall. One piece of stone fell and hit the Author in the shoulder; the glass falling from his hand and shattering.

“You couldn’t defend your own creation and now you will watch as this kingdom of dreams falls to nightmares!” Apnea boasted.

The castle continued to fall.

“Struggle as you may, but we told you there is nothing you can do to stop us.”

“I may not be able to stop you. But right now I can at least keep my promise and one day you'll meet your end.” The Author said between breaths.

He was exhausted and it was certainly starting to show. He didn't have many tricks left. He plucked a string that was barely visible hanging from the collar of his jacket. He elongated it in his hands and it formed into the shape of a bow. He pulled back an arrow of light and fired it at Apnea. The creature dodged the shot, but before it could jest about the shot, the arrow bounced off the wall and found its mark by piercing the weak spot of the hourglass that the birds made.

Sand erupted in all directions. It fell through spots in the rosebush and woke the children. Unfortunately, the sand hadn’t woken the children enough to pull them from the dream world as the Author had hoped, but it seemed the presence of the young dreamers had weakened Apnea; if only by a small amount.

The children yawned and moved groggily, trying to process what in the world was going on. Before the monstrosity could do anything to them, the Author waved his hands and created a hole beneath them that they all tumbled through.

Apnea roared in anger. Weakly, the Author smiled and fell to his knees in defeat.

“You have only delayed the inevitable. This castle will fall and we will find the children. This world will fall; where is your victory?”

There was nothing left he could do. Apnea picked him up and squeezed him. The harder the creature squeezed, the smaller the Author became. Then with a small pop, all that was left in the hand of the monster was a small flower. Apnea created a glass bubble around the flower and tossed it away without another thought.

* * *

Sam ran through the tunnel in darkness, the shaking castle making her footsteps unstable. Tears ran down her face as she thought of the Author all by himself and her brother still asleep; the image burned in her mind.

She ran past unlit doors that began to stretch and splinter along with the destruction of the castle. She raced back into the entranceway, the sounds of battle echoed off the walls of the empty room.

Sam waited in the room for a few moments, hoping that the walls would stop shaking and the Author and Issac would return with a parade of fully restored children. She waited, but it never came to pass.

The castle shook, louder and longer than ever. The room with its gemstone steps began to crack in half when the stone beneath her gave way. Sam fell through the air as debris crashed around her. Channeling her inner Mary Poppins, she made parasols appear and quickly grabbed one.

She floated gently as pieces whizzed past her. One small stone piece raced in front of her face, ripping a hole in the parasol, forcing her to enter freefall once more. She fell too fast to wrap her mind around a solution. She pondered until she landed with a thud on her furry friend.

Sam held tightly to Taali’s fur as her wings beat hard beside her. As she nuzzled her face in Taali’s fur she thought it was funny that the beast always seemed to know when she needed her.

Taali zigged and zagged through the air debris, but the castle fell faster than they could avoid. She dived directly down, picking up as much speed as possible. Sam’s stomach rose to her throat as they sped down faster and faster. She could see the glistening lake below and closed her eyes and gripped her companion’s fur even tighter in her fists.

The castle crashed into the lake with a deafening splash. Water and stone flew in all different directions. Despite all their efforts, Sam and Taali were launched in different directions. Then the once magnificent castle in the sky began to slowly sink in the lake.