In Dreams: The Nightmare King

The King

The shadows swarmed forward, clinging to an unfinished form.

"Why should we believe your lies, Desecrator of Graves, Angerer of the Dead?" The low voice taunted. I shivered, as my mind screamed at me 'DANGER! DANGER!!'

"And you, little fierce one, with your senses all awakened-look at you tremble in front of me!" The chuckle rolled forth again. I snarled. I wasn't entirely sure, but if felt as if the comment was aimed at me. The chuckle turned into a laugh. A face started to take shape.

"I recognize you, little one. You venture into my kingdom often at night. Do you remember of what you dream?" The voice was mocking, with a hard edge of menace. Disjointed images ran through my head from my dreams. "You should know better than these others of what you face here." Eight feet above the ground a man's face had appeared. He leered, hard eyes and a cruel smile forming from the dark.  A heavy foot caused the shadows to scatter at his feet as he stepped forwards. Another step forward and his other leg appeared, along with a beard and short haircut. He swung his newly formed arms wide, shadows still clinging to them in tattered rags.

"For the rest of you, allow me to introduce the citizens of my kingdom." He glowered. Most of our group took a step back.

"These are you fears, they are your forgotten, they are your dead, they are your Nightmares, and I am their KING!" He proclaimed and the rest of the shadows solidified around his form, creating a loose black shirt, matching pants and a high pointed crown.

"Go, find the artifact! Let no man stand in your way." He bellowed to the assembled creatures with a smirk. "And mow these fools down if you must as you go."

'Yup, just like I thought' my internal commentary dryly informed me. The "King" gave me a smug look as if he could hear my thoughts. A hand dropped on my shoulder from behind, and I tried not to jump as I threw a look over my shoulder, prepared to bolt if necessary. The man standing behind me moved forward a pace, his hand still on my shoulder.

"Then we will fight back." He grimly pronounced, turning to the other people in our small group. "Protect the guests as well as you can. Try to get as many of them out of here as quickly and safely as possible." The group scattered and the shadow creatures streamed forward. We were badly outnumbered, and I didn't really know what these things were capable of. My mind clicked through observations and assumptions, trying to predict a possible course of action, as I quickly backpedaled so I wouldn't be overrun.

"Is this what you call fighting then?" The "King" challenged, his booming laughter chasing shivers down my spine. I turned in the direction of his gaze, watching as the others of our group tried vainly to make it up the hill before the swarm.

"Quick! The guests!" Yelled someone. I watched as the soft voiced woman tripped and was quickly trampled by the creatures. Brie was standing at the top of the hill, her hand over her mouth, eyes wide. Another of our group was knocked down by the creatures. Time slowed down, and I felt like I was trapped back in one of my nightmares. No matter how fast I tried to run, these creatures were faster. Brie was in the way, the two members who had been swarmed by the creatures were lying in the grass, still; and there were too many guests still trying to figure out what was going. I was trying to run up the hill, and realized too late that I was being pursued. I was grabbed from behind and landed hard on the ground.

Time started speeding back up again, there were too many things assaulting my senses at once. The man who proclaimed we would fight was yelling "Bomb!" at the guests, in what appeared to be a vain attempt to make them leave. The shouting, screaming and overall noise as people tried to escape or fight back became a jumbled up racket that was too much to process. I could feel the thundering of the hoard of shadow creatures' feet on the wet ground as the water soaked into my clothing. The prickly grass bit into my exposed skin and the weird unstable flesh of the creature that grabbed me rippled across my legs. My vision was obstructed by a tombstone, but I could still see the individual grass blades in front of it and read the etching on the stone. Brie was in trouble and the other guests were too, and that stupid tombstone kept reminding me how easily they might die. The hissing of the creatures increased around me and suddenly my mind started screaming that it was too much! Too much input! A ringing began in my ears and I clutched my head as the heat spread from my chest into my limbs. Screaming myself to block out the noise, I kicked my way free and rolled over slamming every limb at the creature I could. It hissed at me and I kicked it in the jaw. Some of its flesh flew off and it grabbed for its chin in disbelief. I used its confusion to my advantage, pushing myself backwards until I could stand up to run. I heard my skirt rip as I ran, but I was focused on the hill top where Brie was. One of the creatures was heading right for her.