Chapter Three: Recognition
Twirling his Creylon .45-caliber semi-automatic in his hand, Grand Admiral Silver Crescent emitted a wistful whistle, staring at me with his burning blue eyes. He was dressed in his full military uniform, a suit of Everstone armor clad in Red Oak fashion (a parody of the Hervalen race he took after in heart if not species), a series of round plates of Red Oak wood applied over every major part of his person, from his great wooden-sheathed breastplate to his pauldrons, all the way to the grieves protecting his shins. The dull green fabric of the heat-retaining padding he wore as an under layer of the armor peeked out from the joints of the armor.
Docking the weapon in one of the black holsters at his side, the admiral stepped forwards. The sword strapped to his side rocked around in its sheath, making a muffled clank as it clattered against the side plate covering his left hip. Even for all his grandeur, Silver Crescent was actually not very tall (I was easily half a foot taller), and although the armor exaggerated most of his contour, he was still quite thin, unhealthily so. No one would believe this man was the Grand Admiral were he not in his armor, of course, as he had not aged past his early teens. I knew some of the reasons why. He had stopped aging right as he entered his first growth spurt due to a medical condition that would have left him dead in months were it not for intervention. As a matter of fact, I knew more than anyone else, certainly as much as him. After all, had I not created him, the protagonist of my stories, a shadow of my own paltry image?
I found my voice, although it was not easy; how does one speak to those one usually speaks for? "What… are you doing here?"
We stood for a moment, eyes locked. It was like I had been isolated, cut off from everything else. It seemed like eternity before Silver Crescent, blood of my spirit, child of my imaginings, chuckled and gave a soft response, his calm voice like a northern spring. "In so many words, you called."
Just as it had come, the moment was gone, smashed to a thousand pieces like a pane of glass; the sharp cry (or should I say 'grating snarl') of the present summoning me back. I whirled around to the side and nearly fell backwards. The Nightmaren had snuck up on us, it would seem, and they weren't looking for autographs!
NiGHTS had called them 'Nightmaren', but I had no doubt in my mind that this thing that sprawled out before me, hissing like a cobra, was no mere creature of little children's bad dreams. It was humanoid in form, impish and squat in posture, and terrifying in form, clad from head to toe in black and crimson armor, although its 'armor' looked more like bits of scrap metal hastily assembled with a nailgun than anything else. A horizontal slash in its head-armor revealed a single glowing red light, like an ember from the fires of hell. It was not armed, but its misshapen hands bore bent claws, talons more than fingers, crude implements by anyone's standards but certainly enviable from the viewpoint of someone completely without a weapon themselves, in this case, myself. It lunged forwards, slashing out with its talon-hands.
I jumped aside with a yelp, narrowly evading the creature. It swung again, and this time, managed to catch me in the arm. Its claws were apparently blunter than they looked, as the edge didn't even penetrate my sweatshirt. The force of the blow knocked me around, though, and it reared back for a quick slash at my face, which was not nearly so well protected…
There was a brilliant flash of gold as Silver Crescent cleaved the beast clear in two with his slim longsword, its bright Everstone blade rending its armor with ease. Another hiss rang out from behind me; I turned around, and sure enough, there were more, two of the ones I was now so acquainted with, one of which clutched a wicked-looking black hatchet in its clawed grasp. Both of them lunged forwards, glowing eyes set solely on me. I screamed and recoiled, covering my face.
Silver Crescent slashed at the two beasts, cutting down the first of the two. The second ducked around his blade and cleaved at me with its hatchet; I swiveled sideways and evaded the blow. The admiral thrashed backwards and struck it with the hilt of his sword, sending it stumbling backwards. He then moved forwards, shoving me out of the way, and stabbed at the creature. It lashed out with its hatchet, but missed. Silver Crescent whacked it again and then turned his sword over, slashing it clear in half. As its body crumbled to dust, it emitted a final snarl, and hurled the hatchet at me, watching in awe a few paces away. I yelped.
Silver Crescent moved swiftly to his right, catching the hatchet on his shoulder. It bounced right off of his pauldron and into the air, barely leaving a scratch.
I was billowing like a steam engine, my heart a throbbing piston in my chest. The admiral hardly looked shaken in the least, and casually sheathed his sword. "Anything broken?"
I shook my head. "No, I think I'm all right… what were those things?"
Silver Crescent gave me an odd look over the rim of his spectacles. "How about you tell me that? You made them just as surely as you made me, you know just as much if not more than I do."
I thought about it for a moment. The answer hit me like a stack of bricks. Of course I knew what they were. What an idiot I was being, even needing to be reminded of the fact! "Those were demons," I said thoughtfully. "Shadows, Frights, whatever I've been calling them lately… they're the cronies of the Dark One. Judging by their poor issue of armament, probably Level Ones and Twos…" I made a face. "So I just nearly got my backside handed to me by a freaking Level One. Such competence I display…"
Silver Crescent shrugged. "Level Ones are just as fatal as Level Elevens if you have no experience fighting them, it's all a matter of discipline and how much it takes to rattle you. Besides, think about it—was that Fright actually successful harming you?"
"It… wasn't," I admitted. "It couldn't even penetrate my sweatshirt…"
"You do realize why, right?"
I considered for a moment. "Because the Dark One shirks with arming his less-valuable minions?" I offered.
The admiral rolled his eyes. "Shamerdes," he muttered to himself. "Even he hasn't figured it all out yet…"
I suddenly recalled my previous companion, NiGHTS, who had apparently vanished. "Hey, did you see where NiGHTS went?"
"NiGHTS?" Silver Crescent frowned. "The little violet jester? Oh, I am not sure myself, the fellow was there, and then not. It's probably for the better, though, Forerunners do tend to try my patience, it's only in their nature..."
"Forerunner?" I asked. "Gee, how the hell do you know all this stuff even I don't yet?"
Silver Crescent smiled mysteriously. "Because you think I ought to, of course."
I opened my mouth to give another frustrated response, but paused. That was true; the Admiral often was the guy in the know in my stories… had I not explicitly stated that he was nearly three times as intelligent as the average human was? Why should he NOT know everything? I just write his roles, I don't live his life. Though sometimes I wish I did…
"So, may I presume this is your Nightopia?" The admiral glanced around, his sharp sapphire eyes scrutinizing his surroundings. "Nice Art Deco-Gothic touch, I see."
"Yeah, I like it," I mentioned. "I'm not sure exactly why I got this one, but I'm not sorry I didn't…"
"Of course you aren't, these are your dreams, inclining that they are mostly 'pleasant'." Silver Crescent chuckled. He began strolling casually down the middle of the street; I matched his pace, and he continued speaking. "Curious that you should get the Midnight Casino like I do. Or, perhaps because I do? A perplexing question to be sure. The Dream Realm keeps well its secrets."
"Midnight casino? Where's the casino part?"
The admiral inclined his head, eyes riveted straight ahead. "Oh, it's farther in that direction, I believe. You'll know when you see it, the tables are hard to miss."
"Sounds pretty cool. Are we going to go check it out?"
"Intriguing it might be, but it is crawling in Frights," Silver Crescent warned. "And no, we're not going there. You may be, but, well, I have some pressing matters to attend to elsewhere…"
"You're leaving?" I asked. "You just got here, why the hurry?"
The admiral gave me a sad smile. "You know how I am. My secondary function, outside of main character, is a character of convenience—I'm always showing up just when I'm needed, and then dropping back out for a while. If you need me, I will be there, but until then, it is not my tale to be cluttering, is it now?" He oscillated his head, casting a piercing glare across the sidestreets as we passed a street corner. "I want to find out where all these Frights are coming from, and see if I can stop them from getting in. Then we can focus our efforts on eliminating the remaining ones, and purging the Dark One's presence from this place."
He paused in the middle of the street, turning to face me. "Farewell, Narrator; may the stars light your path."Silver Crescent vanished in his customary burst of light, Power-Jumping away before I could make a rebuttal.
Narrator… did he call me Narrator? I frowned. It was a curious name for sure, but… it did make sense, thinking about it. That's exactly who I was. I watched the story, fed it, moved it onwards, and recorded all I saw. It was a title that befitted me as much as Professor did. Silver Crescent had also used the traditional parting phrase of the Ancient Empire, a statement of passing used with one's respected peers. Did that mean he respected me? It was hard to think that Silver Crescent, Grand Admiral of the largest military force of the Terrene, Lord of Red Oak, would have any reason to look in any bright light upon the likes of me. After all, what had I done that would be notable? I had created him; perhaps, that was notable enough, then? Wretched creator complex—I neither was, nor am, nor ever will be a deity, and would be loathe to be compared to such lofty beings!
There was a gust of wind at my back; I swiveled around, and nearly went blind from the bright flash of NiGHTS' streamer. The jester's obnoxiously boisterous voice trilled out from over my shoulder and the all-too-familiar tug on my arm as she began animatedly towing me around the street. "You won't BELIEVE what I just found! C'mon, c'mon, let's go check it out!"
I once again suffered myself to wrenching myself from NiGHTS' grasp. "For the love of god, NiGHTS, you don't NEED to drag me around!"
NiGHTS whirled back around, bubbling as brightly as ever. "I found the awesomest place ever! You're gonna love it!" The jester leaned forwards, gracefully extending a hand. "C'mon, let's go check it out!"
"Why would I be so interested in this place you speak of?" I asked cautiously, hesitant to expose myself to the travesty of person NiGHTS advertised.
"Trust me," she assured. "When have I led you wrong?"
I paused, unsure of the choice ahead. NiGHTS caught my wary gaze, and gave me a friendly smile and a nod. I ducked my eyes away, and heaved a long sigh. "Alright. Let's check this 'fun' place out." I took the jester's hand. NiGHTS' chiming laughter rang in my head as we bolted off down a sidestreet, not a care in the world for how far we wandered.
