Softly groaning as she was coming around and feeling the pain from the attack flooding her nerves Nyreena winced as she awoke and blinked to clear her blurred vision. As she did she noticed that she wasn't lying on the floor when she had passed out but was sitting on her knees and her hands bound behind her back. Wondering how that had happened while she was out something else caught her senses, something that was dark, foreboding, and filled her senses with a clear sense of fear that made even her apprehensive. Looking around to see where it was coming from a very familiar voice caught her attention and made her jump in surprise. "Ahh, it's good to see you up. I was hoping you would be, since we still need to have our little conversation, princess."
Quickly trying to calm down from being surprised like that Nyreena looked over at where the voice had come from and her eyes quickly blazed in fury at seeing the man she saw before blacking out sitting in her future throne. Having been reclined in Pariah's throne with his head propped up on his arm on the arm rest Pitch had a calm and cool air about him while a hint of a smirk played on his lips while he waited. Seeing how furious she was that he was sitting there he chuckled as he slowly stood up and walked towards her at a steady pace. "Oh, don't look at me like that, my dear. I just needed a place to sit while waiting for you to wake up. It's nothing to get furious about." Stopping when he was in front of her he looked down at her as his smirk grew a bit. "I hope you're not too sore from what my Nightmares had to put you through."
"Oh, I'm just peachy, thanks for asking." Her voice laced with malice along with her fury Nyreena struggled in her bonds while trying not to wince and show that she was still in a bit of pain. "And I've got every right to be furious. You invaded my family's castle, you attacked me for no reason, and you had the nerve to sit in that throne that's not yours to sit in. Who are you and what do you want? You're clearly not a ghost so you're clearly not from around the Zone so what are you doing here in the first place?"
Chuckling as his slowly growing smirk turned into a devious grin he snapped his fingers and several skeletal looking Nightmares quickly surrounded them, two of them grabbing Nyreena by her arms and lifted her up to her feet. Quickly struggling in their grasp Nyreena glared at them, thought at the same time she couldn't help but feel that they were familiar in some way. Seeing her react to them Pitch chuckled, making Nyreena glare at him again, and leaned in a bit closer to her face as his eyes seemed to glow in amusement. "Impressed? They're certainly are in my opinion. As for who I am, I have many names that I go by. Pitch, Pitch Black, the Nightmare King..." Letting out another chuckle he inched ever so closer as he continued. "But I'm sure that there's one name that even you know me by. Ever heard of...the Bogeyman?"
Leaning her head back in disgust as she watched his head lean in Nyreena was about to let out a growl of frustration when she heard the one name that truly gave her a chill, even more than the fear she had of becoming her father was like so long ago. Ever since she was little she had the biggest fear of the Bogeyman when her father had jokingly told her about him one night when she was going to bed. And ever since she had been very afraid of him, even now when she was older and it had been replaced once she learned more of who she really was. Feeling her eyes grow wide she slowly nodded as she tried not show any trace of fear in her eyes. "Y-yes, I...I have."
Seeing that she had revealed her greatest fear to him, even though he had seen it beforehand, Pitch chuckled in satisfaction as he grinned. "Good. Then you must know that I have the ability to tell what someone's fears are and in turn they give me power. However, thanks to this majestic place, it's given me more power than I can ever imagine with the fear it's held onto and the darkness that's running through its walls. And now, thanks to your deep, driving fear of me you've given me even more power than before. Isn't that something?"
Shocked that he knew of her fear of him Nyreena gasped and felt the usual intense fire that coursed through her chill in utter fright. Trying to find something to retort back at him she found that she couldn't say anything at all as her fear was fighting to take over. Watching how she was reacting Pitch smirked as he reached up and held Nyreena's chin between his thumb and index finger. "Aww, has fear gotten your biting tongue, princess? I'm sure that by now your overpowering fear is taking you over so much you can't do anything at this point to stop me."
Getting snapped out of her stupor by that Nyreena pulled her chin out of his grasp and glared at him again, finally letting out her growl as her eyes glowed brighter than before. "Then let me prove you wrong. Right here, right now. Guards, to me! It's time to throw this intruder out once and for all!"
Waiting for her skeleton guards to come to her rescue at that moment several moments passed as nothing happened and she started looking around, wondering where they were at and why they didn't come. Letting out a laugh her rather sad attempt Pitch gave her a wicked look of glee as he gestured to the Nightmares around them. "I'm afraid that they're already here, Nyreena. Don't you recognize them?"
Shocked that he knew her name Nyreena looked up at Pitch in confusion then looking at the Nightmares he summoned she gasped as her eyes grew wide in horror as she recognized them as her own soldiers. Unable to believe that this was possible she looked back at Pitch as her mind race in confusion. "What...what did you do to them? And...and how do you know my name?"
Grinning in pure glee at seeing how confused she was Pitch turned and walked a few steps away from her while gesturing to the entire castle before turning back to look at her. "Oh, that's quite simple to explain, my dear. Remember, this entire place gives me more power than I can ever imagine. And it recognizes me as the king of all nightmares so it lets me do as I please, including taking control of your army. Once I did I gave them a bit of an upgrade with my nightmare sand and now they do whatever I say, whenever I say. And well, as for knowing who you are, I may have peered into your dreams and dug through them to see what you truly feared most and...picked up a few interesting things along the way. One of them being your oh so interesting name. I must say it has such a...curious roll off the tongue I don't think I've ever heard it before. Or your true name, to be quite honest. Now that has an allure to it. Shadowmoon, if I recall from the papers strewn on that desk? Now that is a name that's truly unique all on its own."
Even more scared than what she was before Nyreena quickly started struggling more and more, trying to do everything she could to get out of her bonds and escape, but to no avail. Not even her intangibility was able to get her free, making her wonder if was because of how scared she was and it was giving it more power to her bonds.
Watching what she was doing Pitch scowled a bit and walking over he grabbed her chin once more and forced her to look at him. "My dear, the more you struggle the more you prolong what is inevitable for you. If you don't stop and comply to my wishes. I will make sure that all I'm doing here will be blamed on you and you alone. Therefore, making everyone believe that you are becoming what your father was and make that little fear of yours come very, very true. Essentially destroying all that you've worked for, all you've hoped and dreamed of. Do you understand?"
Softly gasping at feeling Pitch grab her chin Nyreena looked up at him as he spoke and hearing what he was going to do she felt both her heart and her fiery core suddenly stop in terror. Knowing that she couldn't let that happen she slowed her struggling to a stop and relaxed, looking down a bit as a few tears escaped and rolled down her cheeks before nodding. "I...I understand." Then looking up a pleading glance crossed her gaze as more tears rolled down her cheeks. "But...but please, leave the Ghost Zone out of what you're planning. Please. This realm went through so much when my father was in power. It can't go through it again."
Smirking in absolute satisfaction Pitch softly nodded as he basked in the misery that Nyreena was suffering in and leaned in a bit closer to her. "But of course, princess. I'll leave your precious kingdom alone but only if you do as I say without question and without fail. If not, I have a rather...devious plan in store for taking this kingdom as my own. Got it?"
Feeling a strike across her heart from that Nyreena slowly nodded, seeing that she had no choice at this point. "I..I got it. No...no need to tell me twice..."
"Excellent. I just knew that you would see things my way." Chuckling Pitch motioned for the two guards holding Nyreena to back away then made her bonds disappear, freeing her.
Letting out a sigh as she could freely move again Nyreena stretched a bit before bringing her arms forward and rubbing her wrists and forearms to get the soreness to go away. At the same time she was feeling her heart break from having to be forced into something like this for the sake of protecting her birthright from someone like Pitch.
Patiently waiting for her to relax for a few moments Pitch motioned for Nyreena to give him her right hand for something he needed to do. Seeing that Nyreena slowly nodded and hesitantly gave him her hand, getting an unnatural chill down her spine once he had taken it. Once he had gotten a good hold on her hand with his left he took his right and grasped her forearm, summoning his nightmare sand as he did. Twisting it around her arm he formed an intricate looking gauntlet-like bracelet upon it before letting it and her hand go. The moment she felt the sand touch her skin Nyreena gasped and winced as she felt something penetrate through her very core and chill her fire for a few seconds before feeling it fade. Wondering what that was Nyreena panted a few times while looking at what Pitch was doing. As she did she couldn't help but be mesmerized by the details, but also wonder why he was doing something like this. As he finished Pitch let go of her hand and arm and took a half step back to let her recover from what had happened.
Noticing the wondering look that she had he smirked as he crossed one arm behind his back and reached up with the other to tap on the bracelet. "That, my dear, will let you control your army for me at my command. After all, I can't take total control away from you since they are still your soldiers. That, and I figured I give you a bit of a special token of appreciation for what you'll be doing for me."
Looking up at that Nyreena looked a bit confused and surprised at the same time and figuring that it somewhat made sense she nodded in understanding. Then looking up she still had a wondering look in her eyes about what had happened with the chill. "But...but what was that that went through me just now when...when your sand touched my skin?"
Softly chuckling Pitch shook his head as he turned and started walking away. "Oh, that? Oh, I'm sure that you'll discover what it is in time." Beckoning her to follow he did the same to his Nightmares as he led them back to the portal he came out from. "Now come, it's time that we head home for the time being. We have much to do to plan for a few of my enemies that need to be taken down once and for all."
Wondering what he was talking about Nyreena slowly nodded as she followed along while the Nightmares dutifully followed behind her. Making it back to where the portal was in good time Pitch beckoned Nyreena to go through first before him, making sure she didn't have any last minute notions of breaking away from him and their deal. Looking up at Pitch as he did that Nyreena looked at the portal, shocked that this managed to even open to a, to mind the term, nightmare as dreadful as this and hesitantly stepped through. Seeing where it led to as she stepped through she looked back as Pitch came through behind her, giving her a smirk as he continued to lead the way. Feeling her heart to continue to sink and sink Nyreena had no choice at that point but to accept that she was truly in control of the Nightmare King, and that there was no going back lest she wanted to lose everything she had been working hard to achieve.
Whoa, looks like Pitch is meaning business by using Nyreena for his dark purposes. Just what kind of plans does Pitch have in mind? Stay tuned, you'll find out! See you at the next chapter!
