## Story 1 ![21-1.png](/uploads/21_1_f630cd7bb1.png) Corpses litter the wastes. Endless mountains of corpses. Each one belongs to a most uncanny creature.
Standing in the middle of them all is a dark monster. The bodies look much like himself, but he pays
them no mind as he drags from them what he desires. It is dreams, you see. He craves dreams.
To monsters such as himself, there is nothing more sublime. He inhales the dreams and growls in anger.

"Is that all!?" He angrily hurls the bowl away from him and watches it shatter with a terrible sound.
The echo in the wastes lasts a lifetime, as though urging him forward. "What a trifling dream! I could
eat a million like it and still not be satisfied!" Ah, but something has heard his grumbling. And from
behind a nearby rock comes a sneaking voice.

"I have something to tell you," it says as a set of
eyes peer out from the darkness. "I believe I could be of great service to you. Now come! Tell me your story!"

Despite how the eyes glint in the shadows, the dark monster senses no life behind them.
Though he is doubtful, starvation spurs him forward. His problem will not be solved without risk. "Come now!"

Slowly, the dark monster approaches the pair of glimmering eyes... ## Story 2 ![21-2.png](/uploads/21_2_9b4d8a44e3.png) He once had lived without goals. Without purpose. The dark monster was drawn to the brilliant dreams
other monsters had. He desired them so intensely. It was a hunger. A pain. A rage. Unable to fight
against the impulses deep within himself, he finally attacked other monsters—his own kind. He forced
down any that resisted and devoured their stolen dreams.

The first time he did so, his hollow heart
exploded with overwhelming bliss. It was a rich sense of satisfaction paralyzing in its intensity.

Almost as if the desires from the original owners of the dreams were a seasoning for his own. And as
he ate, a thought occurred to him: "I wish to become human."

This thought, this desire, was an
instinctual one for monsters of his kind. He instantly understood that his wish could come true if he
ate a great many dreams. And once the thought was in his mind, it grew like a fever.

"More. More.
I must eat MORE!" The dark monster gave in to his basest impulses and rushed forward. He would find
those of his kind, steal their dreams, and consume them all. ## Story 3 ![21-3.png](/uploads/21_3_ea5dbb7a19.png) The dark monster was a violent dream-thief who attacked without discrimination or mercy. No one
liked him. Of course they didn't. Soon, an order went up throughout the monsters' world: His days of
stealing dreams would be ended.

His fellow monsters banded together in an attempt to take him
down. But he fended them off and stole the dreams of all who dared threaten him. The dark monster
would be human soon. He knew this. Felt it.

But as his conviction grew, the seasoning of the stolen
dreams grew ever more bland. He remembered how delightfully sweet and filling they had been at first.
But now, they were ashes in his mouth. The more dreams he ate, the more unsatisfied he became.
It was as if he were starving while surrounded by plenty.

"Perhaps this is what happens when I eat
dreams tainted with my siblings' desires..."

The dark monster finally understood: No amount of
poor-quality dreams could ever turn him human. And when he arrived at that realization, the small
flicker of hope within finally went out. ## Story 4 ![21-4.png](/uploads/21_4_20816304d4.png) "I believe I could be of great service to you. Now come! Tell me your story!"
"I can't believe this!" sneers the voice when the monster finishes the tale of his past. "You mustn't stay
in this world! The only dreams you can eat here are dreadful!"

Enraged, the monster tries to drag the
speaker from the shadows and crush it. But it doesn't work. No matter how hard he squeezes, the
speaker only laughs.

"Oh, I have the perfect place for you, my friend! A place filled with nothing but the
richest and most divine dreams!"

Who could possibly believe such a thing? But the monster has no
other choice. Still, he is wary of the speaker—this thing that calls himself Carrier. He angrily threatens him
with death if the plan is a trick. But Carrier only giggles with delight.

He produces a giant door out of
thin air and gracefully motions towards it. The dark monster slowly walks into the abyss. Carrier watches.
He chuckles.

Now let us go to the world of The Cage, where all our dreams come true...

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