"Just what the-"
Whoosh!
A red haze whizzed past the hunting group; it was Leon, heading towards the explosion of energy.
Cain, too, stood up. His speed wasn't as fast as Leon's due to his injury, but with his imagination, he easily made himself weightless and then gave himself a constant blast of air from behind.
Propelling forward, Cain's eyes soon reached the dead zone of the explosion over the horizon.
Wrapped in a veil of black horror, a pale-skinned human was hurdled like a bug in amber. The human looked exactly like him. They also looked to be losing control of their mind.
The Nightmare Cain bashed himself again and again against the black barrier. Slowly but surely, his body began to morph into something similar to the Mysterious Shade trapped in his own Nightmare.
'No..... It can't be.'
Cain's thoughts became chaotic as he watched the fall of himself, an unholy transformation took place on the other side of the veil.
The Nightmare's left arm sprang out like tree roots, covered in black ooze. Next, his chest separated to reveal a red gemstone with no clear form. It was hard to tell if it was a solid, liquid, or even gas. Reaching out, the Nightmare's right arm phased in and out of reality, taking on a more grotesque mold with each reform.
The most strange and terrifying transformations were in his legs and face.
The Nightmare's legs split apart like they were pulled like string cheese, forming tiny, bloody black strands that wove a closely knit web inside the veil.
As for Nightmare Cain's face, his jaw broke down into a strange gem, while his mouth spewed out tendons and strings of flesh that rapidly grew into bloody tendrils of atrocity.
Cain finally made it beside Leon, and with the servant, the two looked at the Nightmare trapped behind the veil.
He was undergoing an unknown transformation, or maybe he was just crumbling under his own power.
"Lord...." Leon stepped closer to the black veil separating the Nightmare from the world, "My Lord, are you in trouble?"
Leon's voice cracked, he had lived through much, and in truth, he always wanted to serve someone.
Ever since he was little, he wanted to join an organization, fight for a king, or serve an honorable man. Of course, he never got the chance. He was always told he was weak, that he was an embarrassment.
Only in the Dream Realm did Leon become strong, and now when he finally found someone willing to have him by his side...
Leon had to watch as black blood flowed from his Master's eyes, he had to hear their body crack and break. It was a Nightmare for Leon, his dream crumbling before him.
"Cain" saw his other self and servant outside the veil. Moving the intricate web of bloody strings below him, he descended and moved towards them. Then, the gem behind the cover of bloody tendrils glowed with a dark light.
His voice echoed out from its glow, but it was strange and foreign, as if coming from the abyss itself.
"I-I s̴e̵e̴m̸e̷d̶ ̸t̷o̵ ̴h̴a̸ve̶ ̴m̸i̷s̵c̴a̶l̶c̵u̸l̸a̵t̴e̶d̷....I̵ ̴f̴org̶o̵t̶, ab̵o̵u̷t̴ m̷y̶ c̶o̷n̵d̵i̵t̷i̴o̷n..."
Leon responded, but he could only muster a whisper, "Condition my Lord?"
The voice grew erratic, and emotions flowed from the gem with every word, directly influencing Cain and Leon.
"ɎɆ₴, ₮ⱧɆ Ø₦Ɇ ł ₲Ø₮ ₣ⱤØ₥ ₮ⱧɆ ₱Ɽł₴Ø₦ ł₦ ฿₳Ɽ₵Ⱨ. ł₮'₴ ₳ ₱̶Ⱨ̷Ɏ̸₵̷Ø̶Ⱡ̴Ø̸₲̷ł̵₵̷₳̴Ⱡ̶ ₱ⱤØ฿ⱠɆ₥ ₴₮Ɇ₥₥ł₦₲ ₣ⱤØ₥ ₩ł₮Ⱨł₦ ₥Ɏ ₴ØɄⱠ. ł ₮ⱧØɄ₲Ⱨ₮ ł₮ ₩₳₴ ₣ł₦Ɇ ₦Ø₩, ฿Ʉ₮ ₮ⱧɆ ₳ĐV₳₦₵Ɇ₥Ɇ₦₮ ₩₳₴ ₦Ø₮ł₵ɆĐ ฿Ɏ ₮ⱧɆ ⱧØⱤⱤØⱤ₴. ₮ⱧɆɎ ł₦₮ɆⱤ₣ɆⱤɆĐ!"
They could feel his hatred, his bloodlust, ....his fear. The great Nightmare was scared, he didn't plan for the Horrors of the Abyss to directly interfering. He didn't intend for his plan to fall apart.
How "Cain" made his veil was intended to help only against forces within himself and more elusive and indirect things like Fate. However, he didn't prepare for direct attacks that could affect him, hence he wasn't untouchable. Now he was paying for that mistake.
When the Horrors interfered deep within the abyss, they broke the veil, and with it, the emotions Cain was suppressing surged forth.
It forced him to lose control of his mind and his advancement had in turn negatively influenced him. It was like an already broken dam suddenly trying to stop a tsunami double its size. What made it worse was the resurfacing of his bloodlust, the thirst imprinted on his mind long ago.
Leon pressed his hands against the cold, dark wall separating them, "What should we do? What can we do to help?!"
"₦Ø₮Ⱨł₦₲....₮ⱧɆⱤɆ ł₴ ₦Ø₮Ⱨł₦₲! ₴ɄⱤVłVɆ ⱧɆⱧɆ, ⱤɄ₦! ₦Ø!" Cain's voice became distorted like it was fighting between itself.
Beside him, Cain placed his hand against Leon's shoulder. In an attempt to comfort the conflicted operation.
"Leon....believe me when I say this, we have to run. I don't know why you easily follow him, but now you'll know why I fear him."
"W-Wait, didn't he say this was due to a psychological issue? How is that bad? We can help, right?"
Before Cain could respond, a foreign man with bronze skin appeared before them, covered in tattoos.
'Who-'
The Mysterious Shade glanced at Cain before turning to Leon, "His issue lies in the soul; it's like a scar that will never heal. All he can do is defend against it; it's a part of his nature. Incurable"
Leon acknowledged the man's words but not before his face scrunched in confusion, "You are?"
The man looked at the Nightmare bashing itself against a wall of its own creation. Its eyes were dimming and becoming more ravenous, more... animalistic and demented.
"I'm the one he saved." His words were soft and gentle, Leon could feel the wellspring of emotion hidden in this man's past.
"The trapped Shade!" Cain exclaimed.
"Yes, now quickly. We must run; the nightmare is collapsing. We should head to the City of Dreams."
It was perfect timing, as Rex and the rest made it to the scene. Their faces already showed remnants of horror and confusion they felt on the way here.
"Can someone explain this? Also, who is this guy?" Cessair stared at the weird man half-naked and covered in black tattoos.
"No time, we have to leave before his advancement is completed! Otherwise, we're all dead."
Before anyone could agree with Cain, the Mysterious Man interjected, "Follow me; I've sensed the door out of this place. It will lead to the higher levels, from there, we can escape to the city."
Spending no time to argue, the party left immediately. With half of them injured, Leon recalled the apparitions under him and used them to help carry the slow runners, including Cain.
Not five minutes after they left the site, a massive explosion broke the sound barrier, shattering the sky, land, and veil containing it.
The abomination's roars filled every living being's mind with illusory cries of madness. The Nightmare had been freed; the Corrupt One had "succeeded" in its advancement and had lost its mind in its overflowing emotions and madness.
Noticing where the Dreamers went, the Crimson half-moon on its head glowed bright, and the bloody strings below it moved.
Like steel rods, the strings forced their way into the rocky terrain as black blood seeped from them.
The speed and distance of every string increased step by step, while a cluster was made underneath the torso for better support.
The Nightmare propelled itself forward like a cannon. Its shadow drowned the illusionary land as the ground became smaller and smaller.
The nightmare pocket was crumbling and soon, there would only be the abyss.
...
By the time the Corrupt Nightmare could be seen in the distance, the hunting party was already before the door out of here.
"Haha! We made it. I got to say that thing is in no way a Corrupt; it has to be a horror!" Cessair was laughing in triumph, unlike his companions.
It was then the mysterious Shade interrupted the Dream Soldier's hearty laugh, "That's not it, he's just special. That Nightmare must have been blessed by the abyss itself; the Horrors gave him their blessing.
"You should instead call "it" the Corrupt One, a title given to Corrupt Nightmares used to invade dreams to fulfill the desires of the Horrors."
As a Nightmare himself, the mysterious man knew quite a bit about such topics. He had gathered all the information he could over the years, and he was lucky to have a few scholars here and there, offering up their tombs of knowledge in exchange for their lives.
Surprisingly, many knowledgeable creatures and men had entered his Nightmare throughout the ages.
'The blessing of Horrors? So did they interfere by blessing him? They did something to him that was, in fact, a blessing? But then how did it have such a radical effect?'
Cain stared up at the broken, fragmented sky; far out in the darkness, he could make out an outline of a massive head. It was just a skull, one that seemed to seep in and out of the pitch-black around it.
'Horror?'
Cain didn't get a chance for a better look; the Corrupt One had made its way to them, and he was quickly pulled through the door, successfully escaping right before the bloody wires reached them.
With its prey gone, the Corrupt Nightmare cried out in anger, looking up above the abyss. It saw a sprawling city filled with life and dreams.
It licked its lips in anticipation.