Shadows Beyond Divinity

Secrets

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[UTMV Comics]

this is so scary can you guys like read my mind or something

….im such a sucker for these two doomed siblings

@just-stain this thing exists too

very sorry for any mischaracterization I had this scene in my head and had to project it somewhere; you should really talk more about your au btw

hey guys don’t I have very peak humor🥹🥹

Memento

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Hello! Ah, that's such a heartbreaking scenario... 🥲

If Dream could somehow look into these kinds of IF worlds, I think he would absolutely be saddened by them. Seeing the twins together would remind him of his childhood and make him think about a future he never got to know. A future he might have had. A future he may have lost.

I think what would hurt Dream the most is Nightmare's condition. The fact that even in a peaceful world like that, Nightmare still couldn't avoid the accident. The fact that Dream couldn't protect him from it. And most of all, the fact that despite everything, he still loves Dream. I think all of that would linger in Dream's mind.

Realistically, Dream would probably believe that Nightmare no longer cares for him the way he once did. They've come far too far for that. Nightmare hates Dream with an intensity that makes it seem as though he can't bear a world where both of them continue to exist. And somewhere deep down, Dream tends to assume that if one of them has to die, it will be him. Despite everything, he doesn't want to kill his brother. For Dream, losing Nightmare again—and especially being the one to do it with his own hands—is something he never wants to imagine, not even in his worst dreams.

Dream constantly wonders what he could have done differently. What if he had stayed beneath the tree that day? What if he had realized what was happening sooner? What if he had simply ignored the village entirely? If. If. And if again. Dream keeps thinking about all those possibilities, but reality never changes. He wasn't there beside Nightmare, and the brother he loved was murdered in a horrific way that day. Even if Nightmare exists now in a different form, that day still feels almost like an anniversary of death to both of them.

At the same time, Dream understands that he can't truly blame his younger self. They were never normal beings to begin with. They were created as spirits, designed for a specific purpose: to guard the fruit of emotions.

Since the topic came up, I'd like to talk a little about their origins. It ties into something I've discussed before, so I'll include a link to that post as well if anyone is interested in reading more about it.

Despite Mother Tree's fear of humans, emotions were never something that could be separated from mortals. The twins were created to protect the apples, but they were also guardians of emotions whose purpose was to guide those emotions in the right direction.

Directly interfering with mortal lives was never the way spirits were meant to operate. As beings of nature, they were supposed to guide others gently, influencing hearts the way a dream or a vision might. Even their names reflect the purpose they were designed for.

Dream represents hope. Through dreams, mortals imagine a better future and find the courage to keep moving forward. Because of that, Dream embodied a pure, almost idealized form of hope. His role was to comfort those on the verge of breaking and offer them a hand to hold.

But mortal hearts are easily tempted into dependence. Ideals are powerful and important, but if people become dependent on dreams, reality begins to crumble. Following something blindly without their own will is not a healthy path. That's why Nightmare exists.

Nightmare represents warning. To keep mortals from becoming lost in dreams and refusing to wake up, he stirs fear within them and prevents them from becoming complacent. Nightmares remind people of the value of reality. They awaken a sense of urgency and give people a reason to keep moving forward.

Because of that, Nightmare was always more realistic and pragmatic than Dream. He was born with a naturally cautious and sensitive temperament, because handling negative emotions requires a great deal of care. In many ways, that's why Nightmare always seemed more mature than his brother.

If Dream's role was to take hold of an outstretched hand and guide it forward, Nightmare's role was to push forward the person who wanted to stop. Both positivity and negativity are necessary to sustain the world, and the twins were created to reflect that balance.

But mortals feared nightmares too much and rejected Nightmare because of it. As a result, his purpose gradually changed from warning to suffering. Personally, I like to describe that change as a form of corruption. He lost the purpose he was originally created for as a spirit, and his emotions grew so overwhelming that he fell closer to humanity than nature.

And Dream, in his own way, has changed as well. These days, he lives according to human standards far more than spiritual ones. In that sense, Dream has also become a corrupted spirit. He can no longer judge the world through the perspective he was originally created to have.

With all of that in mind, Dream understands that this entire tragedy was never truly anyone's fault. Neither Nightmare's caution nor Dream's own naïveté was something they chose for themselves. But understanding something and accepting it are two very different things. His heart refuses to let go, and so he continues revisiting the past, imagining countless "what ifs."

And more than anything else, what Dream regrets most is that he didn't hug Nightmare that morning. The image of Nightmare standing beneath the tree, waving to him with a faintly lonely smile, remains in his memory like a scar that never fully fades.

Like a home he left behind, only to realize he could never return.

Even so, Dream never gives up. He knows that his brother hates him. He knows that this story may ultimately end with someone's death. And yet, he cannot let go. Perhaps part of that is simply because Dream was created to be that way. But unlike in the past, Dream has consciously chosen not to give up. He chose it himself.

And that choice carries even more meaning because it was not made as a spirit fulfilling its purpose, but as Dream himself.

Thinking about the twins is always fascinating, but it's also incredibly painful. Hopefully it's not too much to ask that, at least in some IF worlds, they get to be happy together... 😂