That wasn't so bad, now was it? Here's chapter 8 for you guys!

Chapter 8

...

"Dreambert, please let me in...please don't shut me out."

"...I can't."

"Yes you can! You can't just isolate yourself like this!"

"Go away, Antasma."

"Ve vere so close. Please, I vant to be there for you."

"Leave me alone..."

"I can't, Dreambert. You're all I haff left. It's just us now...just you und me. Please don't leave me like this!"

...

"Ah, yes. This is where he is mostly found."

Lady Lima held her torch up to the forest before us. Chucklehuck Woods seemed like a friendly forest in the daytime. At night, it changed dramatically into a haunting one. I could not help but shiver at the sight of the darkness, even with a full moon shining tonight. "So this is where he thrives?"

"You are correct, Prince Dreambert." She answered, "I advise you all to be careful, for there is no telling what Antasma is capable of."

Isn't that the truth.

"I'll scout ahead first." Peasley said. "With Dragohoho's strong senses, I'll be able to track him down faster."

I glanced at Peasley, "I thought you said that your curse was hidden."

"Well no, everyone knows about it. But only Lady Lima and my mother truly know why I am able to."

"Okay..."

I watched as Peasley got on all fours and morphed into Dragohoho. He grunted and gave himself a good shake. I found it simply astounding how he has such an ability. He may call it a curse, but in my perspective it was a blessing. I would trade it for this curse in a heartbeat, if I could.

"So what do we do?" Starlow asked, "We can't just sit here and do nothing."

No, you guys go on in, I'll just scout farther ahead. I'll give a roar or something like that if I see anything.

"All right, if you say so." She replied, "Ready guys?"

I took a deep breath, getting myself prepared to face him. I was honestly scared, for I had no idea what Antasma was going to do...especially to me. I only had to hope and pray that it works out. It had to. I turned to the brothers and gave them a nod. They then took the lead, Mario holding up his torch while Luigi grabbed his hammer.

I exchanged glances with Starlow briefly before gazing over at Peasley, who snorted and swiftly strode into the woods. Lady Lima waved her hand, "I wish you all luck! I shall wait here for your return."

As we went deeper and deeper into the woods, I gradually got more and more nervous. The torches gave us some better visibility, but not enough to satisfy me from the creepy darkness. I jumped at nearly every shadow and any animal that whipped by the torch light nearly made me jump out of my skin. There were some strange noises that came from the deeper parts of the woods, and I quickly assumed that it was just Peasley roaming around. As a big dragon, I do not imagine him being the quietest thing in the world.

"See anything yet?" I asked the brothers.

"Not-a yet."

But then I felt it.

I could feel his presence near us. I remembered that feeling far too well, and chills went down my spine as soon as I felt it. The curse began acting up as well, pumping and flowing through my veins eagerly. It made the experience so much more eerie for me. I whirled around, making sure that there was nothing behind me.

Starlow stopped and gave me a puzzled look, "Whoa, are you okay?"

"Yes...it's just..." my voice shook, "He is near...I can feel his dark presence."

There was a pause before she gasped, "Dreambert! We lost the brothers!"

Instantly, I turned the other way. Sure enough, the brothers were no where to be found. No torch light, nothing.

"I-impossible! They were just with us a second ago!"

"Wait, I think they went this way! Come on!" Starlow zipped off in a random direction before I could stop her. I tried to follow the glow of her star, but it was not bright enough and I lost her. Nearly panicking, I turned in circles, desperately trying to find any signs of light. But there was none.

How could I lose them so quickly? This is ridiculous!

"AH!"

I nearly face planted on the ground as my legs were suddenly tied to the ground. I tried lifting them, only to be held down by some sort of force. I sucked air in sharply as some strange tendrils slowly climbed up my legs. Looking down, dark purple vines grew out of the ground and held me firmly in place. I felt the blood rush from my face.

Taking in a deep breath, I opened my mouth and yelled as loud as I could. My lungs actually hurt from the effort, but I hoped it would draw everyone back to me. Feeling the adrenaline, I writhed in the vines as hard as I could. After a minute of struggling, someone emerged before me.

"My goodness! Are you okay, Prince?!" Lady Lima exclaimed. I breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh...Lady. These vines are holding me down and I just panicked..."

She only stared at me, a strange look on her face.

"Um...Lady?"

Her eyes gradually went past me, and her face became fearful. It was that moment I realized that there was movement behind me. I could hear thick breathing as a pair of golden eyes bore holes through the back of my head. I froze, my heart nearly in my throat as I slowly, ever so slowly, turned around to see Antasma.

He was barely recognizable, as his body was transparent with a cold dark aura surrounding him. His body looked like it was made of purple smoke, as it was very distorted. The only feature that remained the same was his piercing eyes. He literally looked like a ghost, a phantom in the night.

I see why his name is Antasma now.

My uncontrollable breathing was cut off as a chilling hand grabbed my throat right when I turned around. Dropping my torch, I gasped and hacked for air, the hand getting tighter and tighter. The vines loosened, letting Antasma lift me up off of the ground and stare into my soul as he blocked my windpipe and proceeded to choke me to death. My vision got blurry, but I still made a feeble attempt to claw at his hand. Getting no where, I swung myself forward to kick him...

...When my legs went right through his body.

I hung in disbelief, unable to comprehend what just happened as I slowly lost consciousness. Even though this escalated in only a few minutes, the situation felt hours long for me. I was beginning to lose hope when a frightening roar erupted from somewhere.

From the side, a large figure burst through the trees and charged straight at Antasma, jaws wide open. In response, he finally released me and I collapsed to the ground. I did not really know what happened, as I was focused on inhaling large amounts of air to regain myself. I did, however, hear the distinctive sound of jaws clamp together, as if Peasley tried to bite Antasma and failed.

Actually, I could envision his jaws just going right through Antasma.

Once I was able to stand up, Antasma hovered a little ways away. Peasley was crouched in a lunging stance, his snout curled up to reveal his very large teeth that glistened in my fallen torch's light. Just as he leapt, Antasma summoned a blast if energy and threw it, knocking Peasley back in midair. Once vulnerable, Antasma raised his hands in a summoning motion and large vines grew out of the ground and quickly wrapped themselves around the fallen dragon, holding him down. Peasley roared and grunted in protest as he violently thrashed within the vines, his incredible strength successfully tearing some up. If given enough time, he was surely capable of getting himself free. Lady Lima ran up beside me, "No, impossible!"

I took my gloves off, ready to use fire against fire. I had no idea what do to, but my body acted on instinct as I thrust my hand forward and flung my own energy blast. Although Antasma dodged it easily, his eyes widened in what looked to be surprise. We stood in a strange silence, Peasley still fighting the vines, until he raised his head and let out a shrill, earsplittng screech that could easily be heard throughout the kingdom. Both me and the kingdom's ambassador collapsed on our knees and covered our ears to prevent them from exploding.

I heard him screech many times before, but this one just took the prize.

His screech was agonizingly long and the intensity made me dizzy and confused. Peasley suddenly roared, not quite as loudly but enough to block out Antasma and cut him off. He whipped around angrily at Peasley, rage blazing in his eyes. The dragon only glared back and shot out a ball of fire from his mouth, hitting Antasma who was clearly not expecting it. A strange feeling pressed into my mind and Peasley's voice suddenly boomed in my head, jolting me back into focus. ATTACK HIM NOW! Do SOMETHING until the brothers get here!

Feeling the nightmare energy build up inside, I formed another sphere of electrical energy between my hands and thrust my arms back to toss it. It successfully hit Antasma on the side and he screeched, his ghostly body getting electrocuted. I tossed another, but he disappeared before it hit him. I quickly grabbed my torch and waved it around, trying to spot his figure in the moonlight. I broke out into a cold sweat, nervous as to where he went. Not even a minute later, he reappeared a few feet away and lunged at me. I yelled and jerked my hands up in a pathetic attempt to block him.

Nothing happened.

I opened my eyes to find myself in a completely different place. Looking up, Antasma stumbled where I stood just seconds ago.

Did I just...teleport?

With one last heave, Peasley finally ripped away the last of the vines. At the same time, the brothers appeared and ran straight at Antasma, one jumping while the other stuck with his hammer. Their attacks failed miserably as Mario went right through him and so did Luigi's hammer, although he swiped away a cloud of...whatever Antasma was made of off of him. Antasma growled and teleported away, reappearing before me and leaping forward...at Lady Lima.

I grabbed her as quickly as I could and suddenly we were enveloped in darkness. I could not move or see anything, and for a moment I thought Antasma got us. But not even a minute later the darkness disappeared (well, most of it) and we were back in the forest. It took me a moment to see the portal underneath us that shrunk down to nothing and realize that I dragged us both down into a strange harmless void to get away from Antasma.

Mario and Luigi kept trying to attack Antasma, only to have no luck. It confused me greatly how they could do nothing, yet Antasma was fully capable of strangling me. They tried everything: shells, fire flowers, slingshots, nothing was being effective. Yet, as Antasma unexpectedly lunged at me, I was able to grab his cold wrists to prevent him from clawing my eyes out. We struggled on the ground, Antasma screeching and grunting as he tried to claw and bite at me. His apparition of a body swirled around me, intimidating me with his malice filled eyes.

Antasma suddenly teleported way and I yelped when Peasley's jaws snapped in front of my face a mere second later. Quickly, I grabbed his snout and used it to haul myself up. Reaching for the torch, I wearily searched for him in the darkness. This time, he did not reappear immediately and that worried me. Did we lose him?

I looked over at Peasley, who grunted and began to flick his tongue.

I can sense him. He's still here.

"Well then where is he?" I asked more to myself.

I don't know, but you need to calm yourself, Dreamy Boy. You're shaking like a leaf, literally.

I gazed at the torch, which was shaking from my unsteady hand. It took me a moment to realize I was shivering...really bad. I could not tell if it was the curse chilling me again without noticing, or Antasma's different but definitely scarier appearance. Maybe it was both, but Antasma frightened me enough to skip a few heart beats. Peasley nudged me and made that humming sound in what appeared to be an attempt to soothe me. I lifted my free hand and felt around my throat. It was sore...very sore. There was surely going to be a big bruise around my neck.

"Dreambert! Behind you!" Starlow screamed. She and the brothers tried to run towards me, only to bounce back to the ground after colliding with a dark purple barrier. Something grabbed me from behind and dragged me away from Peasley, who tried to run after me and ended up running into a barrier, too. He tried to bust through it, but it seemed invincible, even against Dragohoho's massive body. Peasley roared and clawed at the barrier while Lady Lima stood frozen behind him.

I struggled in Antasma's grip. One cold hand grabbed the back of my head, pulling my hood off accidentally, while the other latched onto my chest. I suddenly got a horrible case of deja vu as he lowered his head on my shoulder. My breathing became uncontrollably rapid as my heart rate got faster and faster. I got legitimately worried if it could take anymore of this.

"You..." Antasma's voice sent more chills down my spine, "You deserve to die. I vould love to rip your throat out und vatch you bleed but..." He chuckled, "That vould be too easy, vouldn't it?"

"You would do no such thing." I growled, refusing to look at him, "You are dead and you should not be here."

"Oh yes, I am dead. But Jaydes vas so kind as to let me...explore. I know you don't know much about the supernatural, so let me enlighten you."

He nodded his head at the others, who were glaring at him through the barrier, "You see them? The pathetic bunch you call your friends? You saw how not one of them could touch me..." His ghostly tail wrapped around my legs and he rubbed the side of his face against mine, "...Und yet here ve are..."

I turned my head the other way, trying to get his face off of mine. "Stop touching me!"

"I can touch you, und you can touch me. We are special, Dreambert, we haff a connection...a bond that keeps us together. Even death cannot do us part. Queen Jaydes knew of this bond, und she knew that the Underwhere vould not keep me away from you..."

I could feel his piercing eyes on me, "Even if my soul belongs to her, my spirit, my consciousness remains vith you. Always..."

"But...but you are not alive..."

"No. Vhen one dies, their soul is given to either Grambi or Jaydes. One they haff your soul, you are never alive again. I am but a ghost, a shell vith nothing in it. But your consciousness stays, your spirit is still a permanent part of you. That is vhat I am...a spirit."

I kept silent, taking in the information he gave me. After a moment, I spoke, "But are they able to give your soul back?"

"Yes, but they never vill. You know vhat they say, the dead should stay dead."

Then I really need to reach Jaydes to make this work...

"But anyways...Let's see how my vork has been paying off..." His tail raised up to my waist and he let go of my chest. His palm hovered over my face, his fingers closing and extending as if he was trying to pull something.

Then I felt it.

The nightmare energy inside of me gradually left my veins and moved itself upwards. I knew at that moment that Antasma was taking it out of me...and it was not fun. It was very painful, to the point where I could not even describe it. I arched my back and screamed as the curse was being ripped out of me. It had no taste or no smell, but the foul substance poured out of my mouth into Antasma's hand. It was a dark purple cloud that swirled around Antasma's hand. It shaped out into a snake-like figure and wrapped itself around his fingers.

But then it spoke.

"Master...why do you summon me?" It's high voice was faint as it's small yellow eyes looked up at him. I nearly fainted right then and there, staring at it in horror. The curse...was alive. And here I am, looking looking at the curse itself.

"My my, look at how much you've grown." Antasma smiled, admiring his dirty work, "You haff done well."

"Thank you, Master. But my progress is halted, for you have taken me out of the host." The curse said with no emotion.

"I am aware, I just vanted to check up on you."

"WH-WH-WHAT IS THAT? IT'S ALIVE?!" I hollered, "H-how did you...when did you..."

"My master has practiced in forming lifeforms out of nightmare matter." The curse explained, to my surprise, "Although he cannot form a living thing to start with, he can turn an item made out of nightmares into something alive, such as me as a dagger or Antasma Munchies when he heals."

I shook my head, unable to get my head around all of this, "Th-this is insane! Let me go, now!"

Antasma laughed as I thrashed in his grip. I was hoping I could throw him off, as I no longer had the curse in me, but he only tightened his grasp around me and straightened my head out. "Not yet, now hold still!"

I continued to fight him, making sure to keep my mouth shut. Finally he growled and bit into my shoulder. I screamed as his sharp teeth sank into me. I could feel the skin break and begin to bleed. At that moment, the curse surged into my mouth and down my throat. I gagged as it made its way back into my body.

Antasma let go of me and I collapsed. I gasped for air as the curse settled itself and resumed its feeding on my cells. I heard the others call my name, but their voices became faint as I slowly began to lose consciousness. Antasma leaned over me, "You shouldn't haff abandoned me, Dreambert. If you could haff just let me in, none of this vould haff happened."

Then he disappeared into the night. I could feel the footsteps of the others towards me, but I closed my eyes and succumbed myself into darkness.

...

Are the pieces coming together yet? This just got intense, didn't it? :3

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