Riddle’s Dream

On the subject of Riddle’s dream Ace guesses, “He’s probably having some dream where every Heartslabyul student’s memorized all 810 rules and never breaks any of them.” (Cater: “We can only hope it’s something so petty-yet-cute.”)

Instead, Riddle in his dream is the magicless singer of a two-person band who does not go to school, meeting with the group after being dropped off at his home by police, having been giving a live musical performance in front of a station without a permit. (Riddle: “Our performance was rudely cut short by complaints of ‘breaking the rules.’ “

Riddle explains that their band consists only of himself and Chenya because, “Every time we bring on someone new, they whine about “creative differences” or something asinine like that and leave!”

In his home in his dream the walls of Riddle’s living room are covered in photos of his family and friends, and he eats slices of strawberry tart twice a week. Instead of being medical mages, his mother is a stay-at-home mom and his father is a novelist. 

Ace gets into an argument with Riddle, saying, “You’re not making even the slightest effort to listen to what we’re saying,” and Ortho reflects, “Is this why all your band members keep quitting? Because of your abysmally low EQ and lack of any desire to learn or grow as a person? It occurs to me that I don’t actually want to join a band with you as the leader!”

Riddle becomes enraged and the other students are then trapped within his house. Idia observes, “…It’s the house. This isn’t an NPC taking human form. The house itself is the darkness!” Not even Idia is able to free the group from the home (“The house’s spellscript is being constantly overwritten. I can’t unlock the doors or windows from the outside”), and when they try to enter the kitchen the room is nearly flooded with tea.

Scanning for Riddle’s aether readings Ortho says, “It’s been jumping all over the place-the attic, the basement, even inside the walls,” but Idia explains, “It’s not Riddle that’s moving. The whole house is shifting like a 3D puzzle in real time. And there’s no coherence to this spellscript. It’s like a coder is just scribbling out whatever code they feel like!”

The room begins to fill with tea, threatening to drown the students, and Chenya encourages them to let Riddle sleep: “He’s got a nice mom and dad. And no magic means no need for a bunch of mind-numbing academics. If he wakes up, all the memories of his family and friends on these walls will go poof.”

Leona and the Heartslabyul group refuse and Chenya seems to guide them into a deeper level of the dream where Trey failed to overwrite Riddle’s unique magic as is seen in Book 1 and Riddle never overblotted.

With “a whole reign of terror thing going on. Pure tyranny” in his dream Riddle declares, “Yes, I wasn’t wrong. Ruling through discipline and fear is how order is upheld. Mother was right… I was right!,” but Leona asks, “What’s so great about getting fawned over by illusions of your own making? It’s gotta make you feel empty inside, right?”

Riddle responds, “It…makes me happy. Even if this is all a dream… I’m happy. After all, I’ve proven myself right. Everybody respects me. They genuinely fear me, and love me! It’s fine if it’s absurd. This is my ideal kingdom made manifest!”

Riddle is nearly awoken by memories of Ace punching him and students throwing eggs in Book 1, but darkness versions of Trey and Cater encourage him to stay asleep, saying, “If you go back to reality, you’ll be all alone and hated again.” Riddle responds, “No… Not that… Rgh!”

In the abyss Riddle says, “I smell roses and fresh paint,” and he is met with an overblotted version of himself demanding that everyone be beheaded. Riddle observes, “Is that…me? My word. I don’t come off as very intelligent or sensible.”

The overblotted version of himself asks why no one will follow him and Riddle explains, “Even from my perspective, something’s clearly wrong with you. After all, you never make the slightest effort to listen to the people around you. That’s the problem with you-no, with me. That’s why I went down the wrong path and became a self-righteous tyrant.”

The overblotted Riddle agrees: “For all your perfect test scores, you get perfect zeroes in human relationships. You’re inflexible and barely capable of controlling your emotions. You’re childish and prone to anger. Everyone at school hates you. You cling to your study desk, fighting desperately to maintain your top academic spot. After all, If you lose that spot, you’ll truly have nowhere you belong!”

When the overblotted version of himself refuses to let him leave the dream Riddle asks, “Shall I show you REAL tyranny?,” taking on his overblotted form himself and defeating the illusion. Riddle declares that he will become “the strongest and most correct—someone worthy of having everyone bow before mel”

When Riddle awakens in the earlier level of his dream his dream-Mother asks, “You nodded off while I was reading to you?,” and Riddle begins to laugh: “If I fell asleep while you were reading to me, you’d yell at me so much, I’d wish I’d never woken up at all. But your style of education is what made me the strong, exceptional individual l am today.”

Riddle becomes enraged at his dream-Mother for referring to him in an “endearing” way that his real mother never has: “How dare you impersonate my fearsome, awe-inspiring, beloved mother?”

Having beheaded his dream-Mother Riddle says, “I will no longer stand idly before a door that won’t open. I’ll force my way through any passage, even one as narrow as a keyhole. That…is MY way!”