Page 72 of The Iron Vow

We straightened and turned back to the Nightmare Tree.

The throne was empty.

26

THE NIGHTMARE KING

“Iwill destroy all.”

The voice echoed through the chamber, shaking the ground and rattling the branches of the great tree. We turned, drawing weapons as we searched for the voice, the ground beneath us starting to pulse and roil. The tree shook, the twisted bodies trapped in the bark writhing in fear and agony.

“Where is he?” Ash said, glaring around the room. I gazed around as well and saw nothing but shadows and the pulsing light of the Nightmare Tree.

“All will be darkness.”The voice continued to echo, coming from every direction. It seemed to vibrate from the sky and the earth itself.“All will be fear. The sun will never rise, and the shadows will consume the world. This will be the new dream. This will be the eternal nightmare.”

The voice echoed directly overhead. I looked up...and the Nightmare King descended from the black. His eyes were open, two fathomless pits that held no light, no color or remorse or sanity. His face and hands seemed to glow as he hovered there, hollow eyes staring right through us.

“The dream has ended.”The king slowly raised a hand, pale fingers clenching into a fist.“Now the nightmare begins.”

The ground beneath us heaved. It pitched like the deck of a ship, and cracks opened in the surface. I staggered as huge shapes began pushing their way through the ground, claws and antlered skulls, tentacles and writhing bodies, leathery wings, spines, bones, and teeth. Dozens of Elder Nightmares clawing their way into the open, their eyes gleaming a soulless white as they lurched to their feet.

“Oh man.” Puck raised both daggers, glancing around at the tide of Elder Nightmares. “More giant monsters, yay. Why are all the nasties so huge in Evenfall?”

We have to stop this, now.I clenched a fist, feeling my magic spark to life. The air turned static, charged with energy, and thunder rippled through the blackness as lightning flickered over the head of the Nightmare King. In the heartbeat of stillness between one flash and the next, the Nightmare King turned his head, and his empty, pitch-black eyes fixed on me.

I raised a hand, and a ribbon of red-hot energy flickered from the sky overhead, striking the form of the Nightmare King square on. He burst into a cloud of black flies that swirled away in the darkness. Almost instantly, however, the swarm of insects reconverged, melding together into the Nightmare King once more. His void eyes were no longer impassive; now they burned with rage as they stared at me.

“Your world will die first.”The Nightmare King slowly tilted his head at me. His lips didn’t move, but the words vibrated in my ears like worms burrowing into my mind.“I will destroy everything you love and cover your world in despair. Everything you have built will be torn away from you. Everything that matters will be buried in fear, drowned in terror, eaten alive by rage. Until all you see is darkness, and all you hear are the screams of those who cannot escape their endless nightmare.”

“You are not the real Nightmare King!” Ash stepped in front of me, facing the terrifying creature floating overhead. The Elder Nightmares started forward, pressing in from all sides, but Ash stood firm. “You are not the real king, and you will not touch this world or the next.”

“Not the real king?”The Nightmare King turned those hollow, void-dark eyes on Ash.“You know nothing, little dream. You wish to face the true ruler of this world? Very well.”

His body rippled, then plummeted from the air, bursting open as it hit the ground, releasing hundreds of rats that scattered into the darkness.

“I will show you the face of darkness. Look upon me and know fear.”

Around us, the Elder Nightmares staggered to a halt. Throwing back their heads, they screamed, their voices rising in a terrible cacophony of shrieks, wails, and roars. Their bodies frayed apart, becoming tendrils of darkness that swirled into the air, then converged into a single whirlwind that solidified, took form, and turned into the Nightmare King. But this time, he was clad in black armor made of chiton and bones. A ragged cape billowed behind him, and I could see faces trapped within the folds, twisted in silent screams.

“I am the Nightmare King.”The armored figure reached back and drew forth a blade so dark it sucked in the light. He moved forward, not walking, but gliding like a wraith over the ground.“I am all of your fears, all of your terrors and phobias and secret horrors. I am the fear of darkness, and death, and the unknown. I am every crawling, flying, slithering thing that bites, stings, burrows, and devours. I am the hand under the bed, the tapping against your window, the killer who smiles as he raises the axe. I am blood. I am bones. I am the cold certainty of the grave. You cannot kill fear. You cannot defeat what is in your mind. You will fall, and I will consume your entire world.

“Come then, dreams.”He raised his blade in a grim salute.“Let us begin the dance of terror.”

He flew through the air like a shadow, that obsidian blade a blur of darkness as it swept down at me. I raised my own sword to block, and shook from the jarring impact as the blades met. A chilling cry rang out, coming from the black sword, causing my stomach to clench. For a split second, the agonized scream sounded like Keirran.

The Nightmare King’s visage changed. For a moment, I saw myself, eyes completely black, drenched in blood, mouth open in a wail of madness, staring at me over our crossed blades. She rose into the air like a puppet, her head hanging at an awkward angle, but her lips still moving in a soundless scream. She slashed at me, and I parried her blow, twisting the blade around to stab it through her chest.

The bloody Meghan exploded, dissolving into clouds of black insects, their wings a deafening buzz as they swirled around us. Dozens of tiny bodies landed on me, and stinging pain coursed over me as they began burrowing into my skin.

Cold flared as someone, either Ash or Keirran, sent a pulse of Winter glamour through the air, dropping the temperature in a heartbeat. Ice coated my skin and hair, and the squirming bodies stilled and fell away, becoming a carpet of half-dead bugs all around us.

“Okay, this is gross!” Puck’s voice echoed into the void around us. He took a step back, wincing as his boot crunched into the squirming carpet beneath. “I officially don’t like this.”

“Then perhaps you should be silent.”

The carpet of bugs rippled and abruptly slithered across the floor toward Puck. He gave a yelp and threw himself backwards, but the half-dead insects swarmed up his legs, his chest, his neck, until they reached the top of his head, covering him completely. Puck flailed, and we rushed toward him, but the swarm of bugs suddenly exploded, flying into the air and vanishing into the darkness. Puck fell to his knees, one hand covering his face. His shoulders heaved, and his other hand beat the floor in a fist, making my stomach clench with alarm.

“Puck.” Nyx dropped to a knee beside him, grabbing his shoulder. Muffled moans came from his hunched form, though I couldn’t see any wounds on him as we crowded around. “What happened?” Nyx asked, her voice tight with worry. “Talk to me, Goodfellow. What is wrong?”

---