Nights and nightmares
In the summoning room
The demon knelt down once again in the centre of the demonic circle, after having drawn other runes on the margins. The clown has disappointed him, even with the ring he gave him. He underestimated the Archmages himself a little. But this time… he would bring something… trickier to kill. He raised his hands slightly and recited:
"1, 2, Freddy's coming for you…"
"3, 4, better lock your door…"
"5, 6, grab your crucifix…"
"7, 8, gonna stay up late…"
"9, 10, never sleep again…"
The circle on the wall had caught fire once again, and out of it a metallic claw and a human hand came out and next came a horribly disfigured man, seemingly having been burned alive. He otherwise looked surprisingly normal, wearing a fedora hat, striped sweatshirt and black trousers and shoes. He then stretched, grinning, and bowed his head.
"I thank you for getting me out. I guess it wasn't a purely-selfless act now, though, was it?" he asked.
"You guess right, Fred Krueger. Your purpose is to haunt and try to kill these people." he said, and with a wave of his hand, projections of the Archmages appeared. Freddy stared at each one in particular, analysing them. Finally, he nodded and the demon made them disappear.
"Now, there will be many more victims to be had, minds to be penetraded, and blood to be shed. You may do more killings, but always remember your primary targets."
"Very well." replied the killer. "Any other details?"
"No. Take this, for… good luck." He handed him a talisman. Freddy put it on, felt it chain itself to his throat, and suddenly felt extremely light, like smoke, then he looked down and his feet weren't there! He was a wisp of smoke. He moved around the room, and when he thought of his body, he hit the ground and almost lost his balance.
"You can rematerialise anywhere you want, travel faster, sneak up on unsuspecting victims, for you make no noise. It also makes mind penetration much easier to do than you could already. So even in the real world, you have much more power", said the summoner, his back turned.
Freddy bowed his head again. He had an idea. How about he would try his gift… now? He closed his eyes and tried to get into his summoner's mind, but was quickly brought back to reality, and he felt as though he was kicked out.
"Don't try your tricks on me. They won't work. If you ever try to haunt me, think twice, o Krueger, for you won't be in this world for much longer if you do." the demon said in a deadly calm voice, which sounded even more terrifying than if he would've yelled. Freddy said nothing, only looked at the demon's turned back. The Nathrezim turned and activated a rune on the ground and made a fiery portal.
"Go. And… good hunting."
Freddy merely grinned horribly and stepped through the portal, leaving the demon alone in his dark summoning room.
That evening, in Jasper Park
The warm evening sun was basking Jasper Park in it's pleasant sunlight, giving it an orange veil. The summer sun wasn't so hot in Canada, so the Pack had no problems whatsoever with the water sources. Kate and Humphrey's family were sitting outside the den, on the small extension that overlooked part of the valley. Humphrey suggested slightly to go on another vacation, but the rest of the family reminded him that they were most likely expecting more horrid monsters, so they had no time for relaxing, they were needed.
"Cheer up Dad, we're certainly gonna have an eventful enough summer!" laughed Runt.
"You don't take anything seriously, do you?" asked Claudette, shaking her head.
"Come on, we have to lighten the atmosphere a little, we can't just sit on our asses here, trembling, waiting for the next monster which we think will be our doom-" replied Runt, rolling his eyes. "Ow!" he put his left paw on his muzzle, where his mother slapped him.
"Don't swear while I'm still here." Kate warned him. "Or it will be your butt next time." she added, smiling slyly.
Stinky sniggered.
"Mom, we aren't little pups anymore, you can't just whoop us whenever you feel like it." he said, rolling his eyes.
"Wanna try me?" asked Kate, smiling out of the corner of her mouth.
"Ummm… not especially…" mumbled Stinky, pawing the ground.
"As I thought!" she laughed.
"Luckily we can fucking swear whenever we fucking want." chuckled Fanneras. The wolves turned to their left and saw the Archmages walking towards them.
"Yeah, doesn't mean you have to do it every 10 seconds, Fann." said Lara rolling her eyes, while Fanneras sniggered.
"Well I can see y'all are feeling better!" smiled Claudette.
"Yeah, after two good nights' rests and some magic, we're back on track." said Shalidor.
"How're you feeling Claudette?" asked Ithilden. "Anything else happened?"
The young she-wolf shook her head.
"Nope. I remember just him opening his mouth, some lights there, and I woke back up with Fleet smooching me." she laughed.
"It was pretty awkward watching him for a few seconds, not going to lie," said Mithrandir.
"It was a stupid solution, but it worked." said Kharazim.
"Hey, Murphy's Law, 'if it's stupid but it works, it isn't stupid.' " replied Shalidor.
"And I would gladly apply it again," said another voice behind Claudette.
She instantly turned around and kissed Fleet deeply.
"How did you even know it was me?" he chuckled, surprised.
"I'd recognize that voice anywhere." she said breathlessly. "And I thought I could get your scent." she added.
They were about to lock lips once again when Humhprey cleared his throat and pointed to the approaching Leader, Tony.
"Hello Kate, Humphrey, pups. Greetings, Archmages."
"Good evening, Tony." replied Mithrandir. "How can we help you?"
"Well, I just came to report that everybody is here, all wolves present."
"Great. So we have a two-day break so far." replied Lara.
"What are you talking about, uncle Tony?" asked Runt confusedly.
"Well, we're keeping an eye out for all the wolves, nephew. If we see any go missing, at least we know if the next monster's here or not." answered the wolf.
"Oh, makes sense." replied Runt, slightly embarrassed for the question.
"We'll check once again tomorrow morning. We shall meet again then." said Tony.
"Very well, we shall be waiting. Thank you very much, Tony." said Shalidor.
"No problem, it's my job to keep the pack safe." the old wolf replied, bowing his head. He then went back to his den. A while later, Garth and Lilly joined them.
"Hey Claudette, wanted to tell you that starting tomorrow morning, you're in the hunting team." said Garth.
Claudette squeaked joyfully and hugged him.
"Thank you, thank you, uncle Garth!" she said loudly.
"Alright, alright, just don't squish me!" he laughed.
She let go and went off with Fleet to the lake for a drink, almost skipping.
"They grow up really fast, don't they?" said Lilly softly.
"Yep." said Kate. "She already has a boyfriend which will soon be her mate I expect!"
"Well, get used to it, we're not small pups anymore." said Stinky, smiling. He and Runt went into the feeding grounds to bring the family dinner, and Kate and Humphrey went into the den, and they all noticed at the lake in the distance, Claudette and Fleet passionately.
"We thank you again for saving our niece." smiled Garth.
"And our granddaughter." said a voice behind Garth. He turned to see Eve.
"I'm sorry I was doubtful of you, you really are amazing humans." she said, hanging her head slightly.
"Had no good reason to trust us," said Fannaeras. "I wouldn't have trusted just anyone who said they wanna help me right off the bat."
"And maybe we weren't exactly looking very trustful." smiled Lara.
"It isn't a problem, Eve, do not worry. We thank you for accepting us nonetheless." said Shalidor respectfully.
The she-wolf smiled.
"I think Tony reported to you already, am I right?" asked Winston.
"Yep." replied Mithrandir. "We'll see it tomorrow, I think we'll go.
"Do you want to stay for dinner? We wanted to make a family-dinner." said Lilly.
The Archmages looked at each other, communicating through thought.
"Thank you for the kind invitation, we shall accept it." replied Ithilden, smiling.
The wolves beamed.
"Great, then! We will see you at the Leader's den very soon." The wolves turned and left.
The dinner was quite enjoyable. They laughed and talked about the Pack in general, the wolves and just a little about Pennywise. Then they all tuned in with the rising moon. To Claudette's parents' displeasure, she slept the night with Fleet at his den.
That night
A she-wolf was thrashing and turning in her sleep. She was dreaming that she was being chased in a strange room, by a horribly disfigured human, wearing what looked like a bear claw on his right hand. She ran and twisted, trying to escape him, but to no avail as the door to escaping closed right in front of her. Her final scream didn't make it out as the claws pierced her abdomen and throat, and a hand started choking her. The last thing she heard was only the man's evil laughter. A large boulder fell, and covered the den, but strangely it made little noise that no one heard.
The next day
The pleasant morning sun was rising, but with it was rising worry.
"Casia!" called Tony the third time. "She isn't here?"
"I think I saw her last night sir. She was at her den." said a wolf.
"Alright, thank you. You may go." shouted Tony.
The Pack dispersed in different directions. Two Alphas went to get the mages, knowing from the Leaders where their house was. They returned with them soon after.
"Where's the she-wolf's den?" asked Mithrandir.
"North. It's a short way, come on.". They all rushed off to the den, only to find it blocked off.
"Should I guess this wasn't here before?" asked Lara, staring at it.
"You guessed right." answered Eve. "We need to get in somehow!"
"Allow me." said Kharazim and they all stepped back.
After a few very powerful kicks and punches, the rock broke into many pieces, leaving the entrance clear.
They all went in, only to find out that…
"She's dead." said Fannaeras, using a spell to make sure.
"Fuck." swore Kharazim loudly, looking at her mangled body.
"Four large claws slashed her, horizontally…" mumbled Ithilden. "But it seems that they came from…"
"Below." finished Shalidor. Mithrandir made the body levitate, but there was no trace of any tunnel below.
"She's been dead for hours." said Lara, feeling that the body is cold as ice and already flies were settling on it.
"Killing must've been done last night." spoke Fannaeras.
"But how?! There's no trace of anything, it's just the slashes there." asked Shalidor.
"Wait, look!" said Mithrandir, looking at her throat.
"Choked to death. By a human hand." announced Mithrandir, looking up at the wolves and mages.
"So it has big-ass claws on one hand, and a normal human hand," said Lara.
"Pretty much." agreed Kharazim.
"Well, only problem left is how the fuck did it kill her." said Shalidor.
"Is there only one entrance?" asked Kharazim.
"Yep. Only the main one." answered Winston.
They quickly checked it, but found no traces of teleportation, footprints, or movement at all.
"Then it must've attacked her psychologically." said Lara.
"What do you have in mind?" asked Fannaeras.
"I don't know. But somehow it got in here, leaving no traces, and attacked her from below... It doesn't really make any sense otherwise." she finished.
"Good point." replied Shalidor.
"We're very sorry we couldn't have done more." said Ithilden to the wolves, bowing his head.
"It's alright, we couldn't have done even this analysis." replied Tony, shrugging.
"We shall prepare her send-off. Do you wish to examine it more?" asked Winston.
"No, I don't think we can learn anything else here," said Kharazim. The Archmages nodded and left, all teleporting back to their home, leaving the wolves to mourn their loss.
That night, at the Archmages' treehouse
All the Archmages were resting soundly, except for Lara. She kept turning and thrashing around in her bed. She was running around a boiler room, unable to use magic or her sword. She tried to scream but no one heard. She managed to dodge a slash but the next one hit her shoulder. She kept running, being faster than Krueger, clutching her bleeding shoulder. She turned around and suddenly saw the disfigured man holding his claws at her old mentor's throat, Avallac'h.
"Welcome to Krueger's world, bitch!" he laughed evilly. She started screaming in despair as he sunk his claws into the elf. Krueger stopped laughing and started to curl up when Lara's scream was unbearable. Only then he noticed she was gleaming with light green light, her eyes blank. He tried to approach to kill her, but couldn't. He tried turning into mist but still couldn't get any closer to her. She was shining brighter and brighter, and Freddy's ears started bleeding. The dream was finally interrupted as she woke up, with Shalidor over her face.
"What the fuck happened, Lara?" he asked confusedly. "We heard your scream, and we came to find you doing the Elder Scream, so loud that I think half of the forest heard."
"What's with your shoulder?!" added Ithilden loudly, and immediately started healing it, as Shalidor made the Mage Lights shine brighter.
"It attacks through dreams, it creates nightmares." she whispered.
"What?! It CREATES nightmares, killing you through them?" asked Fannaeras.
"Yeah, that's what it does. He said 'Welcome to Krueger's world, bitch'. I think he meant the dream world."
"Well shit, this is gonna be lots harder." said Kharazim.
"How did you resist?" asked Mithrandir.
"I managed to run, he isn't very fast. I couldn't use my powers, and I didn't have Zirael either. He made an illusion of my old mentor, apparently killing him. That's when I lost control and the Elder Scream kind of just... came out." she explained.
"Well, we're not totally powerless in the dream world... we still might have SOME powers, just some basic ones. Do you think we can get objects inside?" spoke Shalidor.
"We can most likely take things, I could do it in the Emerald Dream." answered Ithilden, having finished healing Lara.
"Maybe if we have something in our hands or something..." said Fanneras. "Or maybe we can pull people into our dreams! That would help!" he added.
"Well, we kind of need to figure if that works or not, two IS better than one." confirmed Kharazim.
"That's how the she-wolf must've died... through a nightmare... that's why we couldn't find any traces of other presences there." said Mithrandir thoughtfully.
"Yeah, that must be it. It slashed her inside the dream, and the slashes transferred to her real-life body." said Ithilden.
"We must sleep together from now on, no question about that." said Shalidor.
"Clearly. We must hear each other." nodded Fannaeras.
"We should also alert the wolves, who knows who might be next-" began Lara, but was interrupted by a wolf's howl outside. They all went outside.
It was Lilly who howled, and Garth and Kate were also with her. Shalidor quickly explained the situation.
"Well... shit." said Garth exasperatedly, after Shalidor finished.
"This isn't gonna be easy. At all." added Kate.
"You can come and sleep with us!" exclaimed Lilly, startling everyone. She laid her ears back. "Sorry."
"It's alright, continue." chuckled Lara.
"We could hear you if you keep thrashing around. We have good hearing. We also can put guards to watch us, Alphas deal very well with staying up." she explained.
"Good idea, love." said Garth, nuzzling her.
"You could crash in with us, our den's quite spacious." shrugged Kate.
"Alright. It's a good idea. Then we shall see you tomorrow-" began Fannaeras.
"What do you mean tomorrow? You're coming back with us now." said Garth.
"We are?" asked Lara.
"Yeah well, half the pack heard you, Lara." smiled Kate. "My parents want you guys safe, you're kind of our best hope for survival. And the Pack comes first."
"Fine then. Let's go now." shrugged Shalidor. He and Fannaeras opened portals and everyone went through, teleporting to Leader's den.
"I said our den." said Kate.
"We don't know where that is, so we came here." explained Fannaeras. "I guess it isn't far?"
"Nope. Come on." replied Kate and led them to their den, where her family and Leaders awaited. The moon was shining beautifully upon the hard rocks, illuminating them with gentle silver light.
"Are you all safe?" asked Eve hurriedly. Fannaeras chuckled.
"First you want us out, now you're concerned?" he asked. "It's alright, it's alright." he added hurriedly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry I woke you all with that." said Lara embarrassedly.
"It doesn't matter, the most important thing is that you're safe," said Claudette.
Shalidor explained once again the situation with Krueger.
"It's even worse than that clown, isn't it?" asked Tony.
"Pretty much, but we'll figure something out." replied Lara.
"Well, we should go to sleep now, it's the middle of the night," said Fannaeras, yawning. "We'll worry about Krueger tomorrow."
They all went inside the den and slept soundly. One good night's rest, for tomorrow's fight.