Black Heart
The halls of the castle were unusually quiet. The night sky was darker than usual, and there was no star shinning in the sky. It seemed as if they were afraid of what was going to happen and had ran away with their light, leaving everything in a pitch black darkness.
Footsteps were heard suddenly in Nightmare Castle, followed by screams of desperation and sorrow. Whispers were the background music in this horrible scene, talking about what was going to happen. The voices were scared but excited. They knew something big was coming, something that was going to change their lives forever.
The screams were getting near. They were screams of rage now. Their source was struggling to get free of the claws that were holding him tightly, never letting go of him and not allowing him to escape his certain death. The two figures walked through the long and dark halls, avoiding the hundreds of confused stares.
They finally arrived to their destination. Two huge black doors laid in front of them, waiting for a trembling hand to knock on them. The prisoner gasped at the sight of the so familiar doors. He glanced at his brother, who was starting to hold his arm so tightly that his claws went into his skin, bright red blood started emerging from the wounds made.
A trembling, insecure hand knocked the huge doors gently. His yellow claws shinning , his ice blue eyes not daring to look at his prisoner. A deep and strong voice was heard from inside. "Enter".
The siblings did as told. One of them started struggling again, but he knew it was useless, his brother was way stronger than him, he was not match to him in strength. The only thing he could do now was wait. Wait for the impossible to happen.
They entered a very large room. There was no lights anywhere and everything seemed to be consumed by darkness. The stronger one pulled his prisoner's arm, forcing him to walk towards the center of the room. The prisoner started trembling furiously with pure fear. He knew what was going to happen, and wasn't prepared for it yet.
"You can release him now, Reala" said the same deep voice than before. Reala did as told and let go of his brother, who tried as hard as he could to hide his fear. " Well done, you are dismissed for now." Said the voice who was talking to the General of Nightmares, Reala. At the mere thought of being left alone there, the prisoner started to panic. He turned to his brother, eyes begging him not to leave.
Reala, avoiding his brother's stare, nodded to his master, and turned to leave the room. He could feel him, his brother, staring at the back of his head, his beautiful big eyes begging him to stay with him, to protect him … but he was going to be alone now. Reala wasn't going to disobey his Master's orders, never.
"It was his fault. He shouldn't have disobeyed Master Wizeman's orders. He has to pay what he did. He has to face it on his own … but … " he exited the room and stayed there in the hall, his back facing the huge, beautiful doors. "I don't want him to get hurt … " He shook his head at this thought. What was he saying? He betrayed Master Wizeman, he ruined their plans, he left down all of the Nightmarens that looked up at him as an example, he betrayed… him. He deserved to be punished, he deserved to be hurt, and no one could help him.
Reala sighed. He looked at the ceiling; so many emotions inside him, and he didn't know half of them. Everything was so confusing…
"What were you thinking NiGHTS?" Saying that, the General of Nightmares started walking towards his room.
He was alone now, completely alone. He looked around nervously, searching for his Master to appear and punish him. But he was nowhere to be found.
Suddenly a huge caped figure appeared in the center of the room, six hands floating near his body, with a faceless head. He moved his hands near the frightened Nightmaren, each one of them with it's huge eye fixed on NiGHTS.
He analyzed him, watching his every movement in silence. NiGHTS didn't dare to move, he could feel all the eyes surrounding him. All the stares felt like if they were burning his skin.
"Why did you betray me? Your creator, your Master?" Wizeman was still staring at him, waiting for the reaction towards that question. NiGHTS' mind was in blank. He wasn't able to think of a correct answer , his brain wasn't working well. Wizeman waited patiently for his creation to justify himself. He still couldn't believe that one of his First Class Nightmarens, one of his best creations had disobeyed his orders, betrayed him. How could he? He simply stared at NiGHTS, maybe he had a good excuse for this? No, there wasn't any. Nothing could save him now. Still, he decided to hear his creation's side of the story.
Then NiGHTS remembered. He remembered the look of that dreamer's face. The horrified look they had every time he snatched their Ideya from them, the pain and sorrow he caused them. He didn't like that. He didn't like that look on their faces, and he knew he was going to see more of them if he let Wizeman make this bridge towards the waking world.
He also knew the young Nightmarens weren't ready, not yet. They lacked experience in fighting, many of them didn't even know how to defend themselves. They were weak, they weren't going to survive in that hostile ground that awaited them in the waking world. Why no one could see this? That so many lives were going to be sacrificed? For what? For Power? That wasn't a good reason for him. Why was he the only one who felt like this?
He gathered all the courage he had, the same one he used to steal the Ideya from Wizeman some hours ago. He felt secure of himself. His fear had almost disappeared. He started to feel confident again. He had something to protect now, and he wasn't going to regret what he did. They were the ones wrong, not him.
He also found the idea of conquering the waking world extremely boring. Where was all the fun in a world that looked all the same?
He faced his Master, and with a very confident voice he said "Because I think that the young ones aren't ready yet. They need more training." He paused for a moment and notice that his Master was paying full attention to him. "What are you thinking Master? If you take the waking world now, they are all going to die! And for what? So you can have a bigger empire? And what about the dreamers? They are the energy source of this world! If they disappear, our world will too!"
He didn't notice that he was nearly shouting now, but he couldn't care less. He needed to let out all of his thoughts, he had them inside him for too long. It made him feel so good, letting it all out.
Wizeman stared, quiet. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Did this fool just say he was wrong? Him, the ruler of all Nightmares? That was surely impossible, he was never wrong. "Pity, what a pity. I was so proud of you NiGHTS … you were one of my best creations, but … " his voice was incredibly sharp and cold. He was angry, that was for sure.
"First you disobey me, then you steal the red Ideya and you ruined my perfect plan. I can tolerate that. A strong and painful punishment would've just be enough to teach you not to disobey orders. But to disrespect me saying I was wrong? That's something I can't tolerate. You've crossed the line NiGHTS."
Wizeman was doing his best attempt to control his rage. He was the supreme ruler of the Nightmare. He wasn't going to leave a stupid little fool like NiGHTS to tell him what to do with his creations.
NiGHTS just stared at his Master. Why? Why was he so blind? Why couldn't he understand? He suddenly started to feel angry, angry with his Master for not understanding him, for not seeing what he saw. "Why can't you understand Master?! Why are you so blind?!" He wasn't expecting what followed. He was too angry to actually notice.
He got what he deserved. One of Wizeman's hand hit him hard. His little body flew some meters backwards, then hit the ground. He couldn't move, he was shocked. The blow was so hard he wasn't able to think right. He just did what first came to his confused mind. He started sobbing. His frightened self came back again. The blow made him realized he was talking with someone dangerous. He had forgotten. All of his thoughts had made his fear disappear, and he regret that now. He was already in trouble before coming here, now he was surely dead. He hated himself for being so foolish.
From sobbing he started to actually cry, as he noticed he was in extreme pain. Every movement hurt so much. He wished he was here. Telling him how stupid he was for saying such things, then protecting him from those horrible hands. But he knew he wasn't there, he knew he wasn't going to come. "Reala…"
"You just made a great mistake NiGHTS, and you are going to pay for it."
Reala was in his room. He laid on his bed trying to get some sleep, but it was impossible. His mind was set on his brother. He was worried. Worried? Why? He closed his eyes. Why was he feeling like this? He tried to sleep again, but it didn't work. It was useless, he had to know that he was alright, or he just wasn't going to be calm. He was mad with him, but at the same time worried. So many emotions and just so little space where to put them.
He sat down at the edge of his bed. He held his head on his clawed hands and sighed. "What is happening to me? I'm not supposed to feel like this… " He closed his eyes tight, trying to think of something else rather than NiGHTS.
Out of nowhere a huge scream was heard. It was heard in all Nightmare Castle. It echoed though the empty halls and into the ears of all the sleeping Nightmaren. The scream came right from Master Wizeman's room.
It was a heart breaking scream, of pure pain and horror.
Reala sat there, not able to move. He wasn't processing the information that just went inside his brain. That scream. That scream was from …
"NiGHTS!!"