Chapter one:

Near's P.O.V.

I lay in my bed staring at my bedroom ceiling with my arms folded behind me to rest my head on instead of just on my pillow that's under my arms.

We have returned from our trip to take down the evil king that took place almost two days ago.

I roll over onto my side so I am facing the wall this time with one arm to rest my head on while my other hand drapes across my stomach to rest on the blanket on my bed.

'You are NOTHING compared to them! YOU are nothing compared to ME!'

My voice almost seems to echo from my head into my ears. I had said those words, this is true but it truly doesn't sound like me even though it was.

'You claim to know FEAR!? I shall show you TRUE TERROR!'

It makes you wonder what happened to me during that fight.

'I… am a nightmare.'

Yes….. that's what happened…..

I close my eyes and let them become narrowed like a cat's with a slight red glow to them before I open them. "I am a nightmare." I whisper to myself.

A knock comes to the door making me blink making my eyes return to normal.

Should I answer it? Should I leave it and wait to see if they go away?

"Near? You awake?" Beyond's voice comes from the other side of the door.

"Come in!" I call then I roll over to face him as he comes in then sits by me on my bed.

"How are you doing?" He asks watching my face.

I meet his eyes. "I'm alright." I assure him.

He nods softly. "That's good." He pets my hair. "You were awesome. Defeating the king like you did." He tells me making me smile softly.

"Thank you." I say a little softly. "You did really well in fighting as well."

He smiles and lets out a small chuckle. "I guess, if you count it as being trapped by a rock. Then yeah! I was pretty awesome."

I let out a small laugh closing my eyes happily.

He is good at cheering me up even when I am ok he makes sure to make me smile. Him and my other friend who is his lover are like family to me.

They are like parents to me and I am like their son.

"How's A?" I ask since I last saw him when we split up to head to our rooms.

He looked to be doing alright but I wanted to make sure.

"He was still a touch shaken up from living out his worst fear but he's going to be just fine." Beyond assures me.

I smile a little more. "That's good. You also alright?"

He nods. "Yeah. Say Near."

I blink still watching him. "What is it?"

"What exactly happened during that fight with the whole nightmare thing? What was that? Do you know?" He asks.

I glance away for a moment and my smile fades. I understand that he is worried and wanted to make sure nothing bad happens to me. "When I saw my worst fear come alive something changed deep inside of me like the dark magic cast upon me had activated something deep inside me that I has been holding back without fully realizing it. I often fight these monstrous shadows that are nightmares as I was born into the power of the darkness especially during the night is when they strike. But you know of that."

He nods. "Yeah me and A helped you a few times." He agrees. "When you didn't want to face them alone. I was a little surprised we had to be sleeping with the spell you used so we can join you, to actually do it. But it was awesome. Just like you."

I smile a little. "You two also were awesome." I tell him. "Well when I practically absorbed or defeated the dark magic cast onto me then I felt a surge of power like the darkness would bend at my will. I had to make a small sacrifice when becoming like that but defeating the evil king, protecting you and A, was worth it. I had to sacrifice a little of myself to Nightmare Near, I had to also sacrifice some of my sanity. I'm still alright even with that sacrifice. But it was the price to pay to defeat the evil king since I was trapped in my worst fear. Had I been able to avoid the spell he cast then I wouldn't have had to do what I did." I look back to him. "It's alright though. I'm still me power and all." I assure him as he listens intently.

He looks a little thoughtful for a moment. "Well if Nightmare Near starts bugging you or anything starts bugging you then let me or A know."

I nod. "I know and I will." I promise.

He kisses my forehead. "Get some rest." He makes sure I am comfortably tucked in before running his fingers through my hair once just right to make me drowsy like he found worked when I was younger to help me sleep. "Good night."

"Good night." I yawn softly after speaking and my eyes slip shut as I drift off to sleep. I hear his footsteps walk away and pause to turn off the lights in my room then leaves closing the door behind himself before I fall asleep.

My dreams take me to a familiar land since I used the spell only to get the other two in so I don't have to use it for myself. My dream is where I fight the darkness and though I still get my rest as I fight the darkness it isn't always easy to defeat them but as long as I don't die then I will be fine when I awaken.

I look around the dim rocky grey barren land that is nicely, but still dim, lit by the moon in the sky that still is surrounded by the softly twinkling stars. I look for darkness shadows that I know I'm here to fight. I wait for them to make themselves known.

When I defeat the darkness shadows those that are dreaming them wake up as the nightmare they have fallen into vanishes due to me defeating what is causing it in the dream land of the night.

I know this as when the darkness comes I get glimpses of the person dreaming of the darkness as well as the nightmare it is coming from. I catch a glimpse of the person waking once I defeat the darkness shadows.

Also to know your powers is essential but Nightmare Near is something I have kept away because of the small sacrifice I have to make so without knowing it I had fully held Nightmare Near back until he came out against the evil king.

So Nightmare Near's power is something that feels familiar so much so I can easily use the powers as well as easily transform, though I try to keep it to just my eyes but using Nightmare Near comes with the small sacrifice thus only transforming my eyes is ok as long as I don't have it for too long, now that he has come out once; but at the same time it's all so new.

I close my eyes and sense that the darkness if approaching as people start dreaming either having good dreams, nightmares or no dreams at all but the darkness only comes from nightmares. I open my eyes and I can see the darkness running towards me from all around. I smile. "Show time." I tense ready to jump into the fight that's about to hit me. I never asked to be the one to do all this but it is something I was born into so I know it is my duty to do this.

The darkness and I are battling in no time but of course I am winning.

The evil king has nothing compared to what I am fighting well he had a little more mind to perform somewhat better strategies but I could have easily beaten him had he not caught me with that spell of his. He still was no match even with that in the end though.

I cannot die here and I refuse to, I will never die here!

Dying here is out of the question.

I send magical blasts at the darkness and I do a little of actual fighting. I concentrate while fighting and I summon the sword that the evil king took and I use it against the darkness knowing I'll only be able to use it here as well as it takes magic energy to keep it here so I need to be careful on how long I use it.

After a little fighting….

Most of the darkness is gone so I allow the sword to vanish and I spin around to face the darkness that has approached me from behind.

The darkness standing there and the one dreaming it….. I should have known this was coming.