ACT IX : HELL'S JUDGEMENT

They walked on for a few days; the snow accumulating snow had slowed their progress slightly, so they were set back and had to stay in a small village about fifteen miles from Sylva.

Nightmare recognized this place. He'd torn through here on a rampage when he'd still had Soul Edge. It was obvious the lasting impact it had had - houses were empty and abandoned; most of those who had not been killed had likely left, and no one was going to be eager to come back after what had transpired.

It was a good thing, then, that he'd made some effort to disguise himself - his wings were pulled in as close to his back as he could hold them and hidden by a thick cloak that he also pulled forward to hide his arm. The remnants of the village wouldn't likely appreciate the return of the demon that had destroyed their village, and though he knew he could defend himself without difficulty, there was no need to cause trouble unnecessarily.

There was one inn left in the village, and it almost appeared to be as abandoned as the other - negelcted, run-down - the only sign of anyone being there was the dim light emitted from one of the windows.

Nightmare let his hair fall over his right eyes as they entered. Subtlety was key in effectively hidings things. Unfortunately, this method could not be employed for Tebryn and Adramellach, who had no choice but to keep their featureless faces shadowed by their hoods. The innkeeper was noticeably suspicious of the group as they entered and Ismaire approached.

"We need a few rooms," she stated, not bothering with any sort of polite greeting.

The man raised an eyebrow. "And why might you need rooms here of all places? Nobody ever comes through here, and no one's stayed at this inn in months."

"We'll, we're all somebody, and we're asking for rooms. It isn't as though I'm making an unreasonable request, which you seem to think I am. I'm not requesting rooms for free, I'm willing to pay a fair amount. As for why we need lodging here in the first place, I don't know... Perhaps it's the goddamned blizzard happening outside."

The man scoffed contemptuously. "Well, I don't see the logic in selling rooms to people like you." He motioned to the group behind her.

Ismaire grumbled a curse under her breath. "Look, I will admit we're a rather odd-looking bunch, but let's be fair - We're the first paying customers you've had in a long while, and I think we're the last you'll see in another long while."

As the argument dragged on, Nightmare seethed, irritated. He imagined how easy it would be to simply kill the man and be done with it. However... he decided he would try something different - something more fun than that.

I find your unwarranted pretentiousness very unamusing, human.

The man stopped dead in mid-sentence, glancing around. "What the hell was that?"

"What?" Ismiare asked in an exasperated tone.

"That voice! Didn't you hear it?"

"I couldn't hear much of anything over your exceedingly irksome rambling. Which, by the way, were you planning on stopping any time soon?"

The man glared daggers, growling. "I'm serious. Get out. I'll not do business with any people such as yourselves."

Most unwise.

The man looked around again, starting to panic, trying to place the voice's source.

You do anger me, human. I do not tolerate things that anger me. Perhaps you'd like to see for yourself?

The man's mind was entirely unguarded, so Nightmare rifled through his memories. What did he most fear, what would truly affect him?

What would leave him in complete, unbridled terror?

I know what you most fear, pathetic worm. How would you like to see those fears realized...?

And into the man's mind were projected images of everything he'd ever feared - from his earlier childhood until now, everything, all the things that had ever terrfied him, gotten under his skin... Total, all-encompassing darkness, monsters straight from the blackest depths of his imaginings, his own family, who he'd killed with his own hands in a drunken stupor, returning to exact their revenge, dragging him down into that black pit with them...

"Stop!" he pleaded, his voice broken in a choked sob. "Ta-take whatever you w-want, I don't care! Take everything, take the rooms, I-I don't care, just make these things stop!"

Ismaire stared. "What the hell is..." She started to say, but slowly came to a realization and turned around. "Clunky? Did... you do this?"

The faint malicious smile lingering in his expression was answer enough.

"He would not comply with a reasonable request," Nightmare stated as though it were the most logical thing in the world, as though it offered complete justification for his actions. "So I employed one of my negotiation tactics. He really deserved it. You should see what filth his mind is."

Ismaire scowled. "That wasn't necessary."

"The alternative was killing him."

She looked back at the man - curled in the corner, sobbing and clutching at his head, whimpering for mercy, begging the lingering visions to cease their plaguing of his mind. "I'm not sure this was a much better action to have taken."

Megumi spoke up after a moment. "...She's right, Nightmare... He was being unreasonable and pompous, but that does not merit... this."

Nightmare's instantaneous transformation from a cold-hearted, immoral torturer to a demeanor more like a chastised child - guilt-ridden and deeply ashamed, unwitting and innocent, until right then unaware that he'd done something truly wrong - was shocking. Ismaire stared, astonished at how he now looked hurt by the reprimand - and even more astonished at how genuine it seemed. This couldn't have been feigned.

The man was truly over the edge. Off the deep end. Completely, unquestionably insane.

"Megumi, I- I..." He shifted nervously. "I didn't... think that I... I was trying... I thought... he deserved..."

Megumi realized she'd sent him into a panic and, with a concerned frown, reached out to touch his arm. "It's... It's alright. Just... don't abuse your power... Alright?"

After a moment, he relaxed and nodded.

Ismaire watched him for a moment, deciding to let this one go for now. After all... That innkeeper had been greatly irritating, and deep down, she somehow agreed with Nightmare - the man had gotten what he deserved.

"Right, well... May as well go ahead and take those rooms, eh? Not like I'm sleeping in another blizzard after all this. Let's go get settled."

Nightmare remained a few paces behind the group as they slowly filed up the stairs. He shot one last twisted sneer in the direction of the near-catatonic innkeeper.

"Worthless piece of shit. And you humans call me the monster."

Lost in another waking eternity, Nightmare had wandered up to the inn's roof and sat etching symbols into the wood with a small shard of stone. Tebryn and Adramellach stood at the two edges of the roof, keeping watch. He'd noticed their arrival a while ago, but hadn't said anything.

The shard snapped between his fingers. He tossed the broken pieces aside and looked out to the forests. The sky was dark, clouded over, rpoducing an eerie absence of light, and it was pitch-black in the distance, but he could see everything. He was at home in the dark.

"Tebryn. Adramellach. I didn't ask to be followed and babysat. Leave."

Adramellach responded with a shrug, turning to climb over the edge of the roof again. "Alright."

Tebryn stomped over with an angry huff to intercept him. "With all due respect, honored Khthon, the Council has decided that until your powers are fully realized, you are still vulnerable and therefore should not be left alone without a guard."

Still vulnerable.

Nightmare gave a bitter laugh. "Tebryn, there isn't much that would be able to stand against me. Not in this world. Even in my supposedly... vulnerable state."

Tebryn wouldn't argue with him, though he disagreed. His eyes expressed what might have been a frown if he had features capable of making one.

Adramellach shrugged once more. "Ah, you know Tebryn, he does have a point. He hardly needed us in our last battle against that horde of Baels, remember?"

Tebryn gave a near-imperceptible sigh of annoyance, but he knew Adramellach was right. Even vulnerable, Nightmare was exceedingly powerful.

But before he could say anything else, someone else came to join them on the roof. Tebryn tensed to attack when he heard footsteps approaching, but backed down when he noticed it was Cassius.

"Odd place to sit around," he said in greeting to Nightmare. "Unless you like the cold as much as I do."

"I'm used to it," Nightmare replied.

"Mm. Well, I simply thought I would come up to properly introduce myself. We haven't yet spoken, and I figured since we'll be... comrades of a sort, what with this impending war, that I should attempt to get to know you better."

Who says we'll be comrades? I kill even my own men without so much as a second thought.

"I see why you're Ismaire's friend. By this you mean to catalogue my weaknesses, don't you?"

Cassius frowned. "Of... course not. I figure she's done enough of that already. Are you always this distrusting?"

"I don't make friends."

"Just enemies?"

"Usually. I find the more I know, the less appealing friendships seem."

"That's a rather... Broad statement."

"And when you know what I do, you can afford to make such statements. You're beginning to irritate me."

Cassius was slightly taken aback by his bluntness.

Noting this, Nightmare smirked. "You didn't honestly come up here expecting to make friends with me just like that, did you?"

"Well, to be completely honest, I might have expected something a bit less harsh." Cassius didn't seem hurt by it, though - more amused.

"And that is something you will have to earn."

"Then I look forward to earning it. Lack of common decency aside, I ca nsee you as someone I'd like to count among my friends in the future."

"Don't count on it."

"Oh, I won't."

Nightmare stood and slowly walked back to the roof's edge. "Seems I can't go anywhere without being followed. All your presences make it difficult to think. Not to mention I can barely hear you over everything else going on in my head." He sighed. "It never stops. I have to hear it all, and know all I'm hearing... The noise becomes grating. It never shuts up."

Tebryn followed him after he'd climbed back in through the window. Adramellach went to follow them too, waiting until Tebryn was out of earshot before saying in closing to Cassius, "I'd give up on trying to understand anything he says."