Chapter One
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Right here I've kept my place, in this blissful form. My every thought takes a flight of freedom at this point that the moon becomes emphasized in the deep hue of its sky. Music forever plays mutedly here, and language forever becomes tubed and drained like the water that flows through the pipe drains of the household. Ah yes, the household; I've never cared much for it. It's a necessity in which to 'live' of course, but...it's not what you would call my life. I do not live as what I really am there. What I really am....yes....how uncalled for that a name has been given to me. Though there is no other name that would possibly suit me better...that of "Nights".
The other beings here always call me by that name. There are other beings of course, because otherwise I would not have ever gotten the name. Though, as I've always thought, I don't need it. Greetings are hardly ever in order here. By that time we've all already been coated in our craft, and ready to take another flight through Dreams.
These are where extraordinary stories are made. Scenerios that glimmer with the life of their own nature. And just as often as I expect delight in this realm, there are occasions when I can expect to meet up with a certain character that comes from a darker nature. He is shown before me almost in the very same image as I am in, though with his own vile, motley-like style. He is my equal in our world. Whenever it is that I manage to come across him, a clash will ensure me of such. And I can always count on a locking of horns for sure.
He goes by the name of Reala. I myself have not quite given him that name or ever really called him by it, but that is his good name. One might think that my main priority is to destroy this character, this Reala. That is not entirely the truth. Reala is not the bringer of nightmares as one might conceive him to be. He is what you would call a Bishop of darkness, just the same way as I am of light. We each dwell in our chosen allegiance and take charge when a line would be crossed by either one of us.
It has positively nothing to do with the position of loyalty. Neither he nor I have taken any vows to law, because quite simply, this is not civilization. We are not bindingly enlisted in any part of the livelyhood of the universe. I imagine this is how it will always be until the universe comes to its end.
Now that the verification process has been completed, I believe I'll rise.
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Things seemed very inviting this evening. I found myself floating down a hallway with many aqua-colored glass windows, large ones. The path of this hall had seemed to go in a circle, though this structure looked as though it was built just for me. I didnt see anybody else here, though after a little bit, I had managed to get a glimpse of someone in the center of the place, mopping the floors.
It seemed to me that he had known I was there, though he didnt really care. I didnt want him to care either; I loved the deserted comfort of this place, and I wanted to savor it for as long as dreams allowed. So, on I drifted, through the empty halls in a circle, embracing my flight. I had begun to view my reflection in the glass windows, smiling slowly as my happiness grew.
Rainbows of pleasure enveloped my sensors. A bit of the feelings that go with each holiday of every planet were present within my emotion. What a beautiful night this was. Truly legendary. I'd had hopes that it would go on and on for an eternity, the best of any previous anticipated infinities.
Some of the walls I passed had started to change color in accordance with my drifting mood. A feature I loved as it was noticed. I then looked to my other side at the glass windows...and suddenly I was startled at knowing that the reflection staring back at me was not my own.
Not in just one of the windows, but in each of them that I passed when I had made my gradual stop, Reala was there, looking right at me...blankly. It seemed as if he was waiting for me to do something, and when I had stopped completely, my voice came through. "Reala. Tell me what you're doing here."
Reala then disappeared from the window that I had looked directly at, and with the next moment, his full bodily image had flown out of one of the windows above me, slowly descending down. He looked rather different tonight. He wasnt smiling as he usually was; that ready, forward smile I'd always seen in him.
"Nights", he said in a low tone that sounded slightly out of character for him. "I haven't come here to you to disturb your peace." That's something I thought I'd never hear from Reala. I almost wondered if it really was Reala, and I would have felt disbelief if I hadnt known better.
All I could really say at that time was..."You haven't?" He looked down the hall at the opposite side as he replied to me. "Yes, that's right. With the time that I have on this night, I must use my power for something that will make a difference." Make a difference in a dream? Reala?
I made my tone solid and calm at once. "Could you please explain this to me?" Reala turned back in my direction, facing me in a firm stance. "What can be explained...I will tell. You see, Nights...I have been casted out of the nightmare kingdom. My seat at its place has been stripped from me, and it was all because of a new arrival to our mare."
Just what could I say to all of this? Nothing really; for I did not yet know his intentions, so I let him continue. He turned his now temperate eyes back to the opposite side of the hall. "He's just like you and I, only....his power is like nothing I've ever seen before. He's like an impassible phantom. The almighty lord of darkness wanted this new creature and I to test our abilities against one another."
I listened on as the evil soldier's eyes closed shut in further thought. "I was performing flawlessly in that battle, but it still was not enough. He had far too many unchartable tricks. I was no match, and he leveled me. I felt as though I'd become useless, and it seemed then as though the lord had felt the same way."
I turned my eyes over to one of the glass windows, staring again at my own reflection, finally coming up with something to say. "I see...but...why have you come to me?"
Reala's eyes slid open to look at me. "This dark minion's name is Silvechte....and the main thing that would become a problem to not just you, but the both of us...is that he is fights as a protector of the family of darkness. He's a loyal soldier, and not a freelancer like us."
That was more than a good enough reason. I turned my glance back to my life-long rival with my take on this information. "In that case, he'll try to destroy us both if we don't make ourselves rid of him first." Reala flowingly nodded. "So you do understand after all, Nights. Then I will tell you the rest of what I know." He then floated down to what looked like an exit to this hall, motioning me over. I braced myself and followed after him, and just before leaving, I noticed that the floor-mopper that was there before had disappeared.
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Reala had led me through misty skies, and for the first time, he and I were flying alongside each other, this time without anticipating a moment to attack. We were flying in a sense of bonded synchronization. It was a very nice concept to me, though I wasnt so sure if he felt the same way.
Finally, after these moments of joined flight, Reala flew far below the skies to a luscious, color-coated field. There he landed and sat down with one knee up, looking straight ahead, far past the eye's reach of the area. I descended after him, landing a few feet beside him and looking to the opposite angle of the field. There were a million things I could have said and asked about this spot, but I saved it.
So...Reala began his piece, still not sounding like his old self (I supposed a little bit of time wasnt going to change that). "Silvechte aims fanatically to get his task finished to the last drop, and his forces are large. In the middle of fighting him, I thought there were no limits to what he was capable of. By then I had seen enough. It can't even be explained."
Still looking where I had been, I thought it all over and responded to him. "Something not being able to be explained won't prevent me from knowing the situation when I really need to." That was a lie. Apparently I hadnt thought about it enough, because just as I finished saying this, I recently remembered certain nights when I had no idea what was going on no matter how much time passed.
Though, Reala didnt seem to want to challenge what I said, and he continued talking. "When you see him for yourself, you will know what I mean. In a phantasmic manner like no other, he'll try to stagger us before we even put ourselves in an offensive position."
These words ran taunting circles around in my head; for Reala was not someone who didnt pay careful attention to the happenings in his boundaries of consequence and emotion, and I was certain that his take on the matter actually was the case.
"So", I gathered in my words. "How will we go about making a stand against this tough-shelled ghost?" Reala then turned his head to look at me, studying the mannerisms in my words and on my face. "You seem like you are strong in your will to take him on, Nights."
I caught his glance out of the corner of my eye and then steadily looked back to him, nodding my head swiftly in confirmation. "Desiring to stay in the breezy worlds of pleasure only brings down the faith in my existance. This obstacle must be met so that I can truly enjoy that which surrounds me."
Reala then tilted his head back a small bit to stare up at the sky above. "...I know the way to the containment of our adversary. Though, many things are possible to get in our way on the way to the ebony ditches that confine him. For instance, Nights....I urge you not to look behind us right now; for it seems one of our playmates are already here."
I thought that I would have been better off not looking just as he said, freezing up in control of my composure and staying right where I was. I heard nothing. "What shall we do, Reala?" The focused Reala's eyes remained frozen on the sky as he answered me. "Keep your hearing well sharpened, and you will know."
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The two of us remained frozen right there in silence, a silence that seemed to hold on and on. What could possibly have been moping around back there that Reala didnt want me to see right away? Something was telling me that I'd eventually find out, so, in all of the steady pressure, I continued to wait with him there.
It seemed as though now I was counting each second that passed, because this was how uncertainly fearful I'd become with time. I've never seen Reala become really calculatingly worried about anything before, and now that it had also become my affair, that added twice as much to my concern.
Finally, breaking the silence, from fairly far behind us....I heard a breath-filled, almost muted little laugh. The confidence of jest was with the nightmarish demon on top of everything else. Just perfect...
How much longer would I have to wait before I'd deal with this beast the right way? The feeling of this was then cut off by a considerably louder, muffled laugh from the same direction. I turned my eyes quickly over to Reala beside me. He was still staring at the sky, and he quietly spoke to me.
"Do not make a move yet. You'll have plenty of time to know why when this little game is over." Plenty of time? I didnt want plenty of time; I'd been through too much standstill, and what I needed was space. Space to get at the devil's face.
After the passing of another few seconds....riotous, hurried stomping came behind us. Reala quickly muttered "Wait..." to me. I closed one of my fists, doing just that. But, as the stomping had gotten closer and Reala had still said nothing, I had a quick thought in my mind that all of this might be a trick.
I had to give him a good look before being sure of something like that, and it was magnifyingly evident that he was solidly truthful in everything he was planning. That erased that little doubt. But....the stomping rampaged...just too close.
Reala then finally yelled out swiftly "Dash into the sky!" I sprung out of my sitting position and soared as high as I could launch myself. Reala was right next to me through every action. Then the two of us took a fast look down at our stalker.
The thing that I saw looked like a large, wilted, nearly dead sunflower with a deep red face, no eyes to see with, and a tremendous grinning mouth. I also noticed that there were two containers beside him that were shaped like spades, and they had what looked like a black clock on each of them.
"He can't follow us up here", finally spoke Reala. "But he can try to imprison us in those death timer cells just by throwing them at us." So this was what the hideous nightmare had brought with him; those objects that would possibly end our dream and existance for all time. Not a comfortable scenerio.
"Have you ever been threatened by those things before, Reala?" He nodded his head a little bit to me. "Naturally, the clocks themselves, but...never the death clocks. They seem to have the same makeup, though. All we have to do is get clear of them and attack that maniac."
The creature below started to scream out in laughter as Reala and I remained above, anticipating his move, though an irritated anticipation it was. The vile ghoul then started to speak in an unknown tongue past his laughter and tossed the death clocks up into the sky, one with each arm of his.
I instantly performed a backwards loop higher into the air, making my way higher and higher, though the one of the clocks followed right with me. I could hear the sounding of the little bell alarm on this clock...and it was not the usual one that would pull me from a night's enjoyment. It was much slower, and it's pitch grew and fell rapidly and interchangeably like a chorus of different-sounding telephones through a household. I suppose this is what death really sounds like.
Even though I was unsteadily frightened at this, I couldnt fly too far away from Reala. He was the one who had all of the information about all of this foul play after all. So, I changed my flight course from up to down, using another loop to curve around the death clock and descend quickly, the loop having caused a staggering after-effect to the clock since it had been done so abruptly and gatheredly.
In moving closer to the ground, I turned my eyes over in Reala's previous direction, seeing that he was not having much trouble staying coordinated at all in keeping clear of the perilous clock. He was practically performing ballet around the blasted thing.
I could still hear the laughter from the freakish monster below us, and that reminded me to look back up from where I had lost the clock before. It was coming back down at me...and this was an uneasy thing to watch. It was like watching the sky fall, because being caught by it would be just as bad as having my world slip away. Actually, it'd be the very same thing.
Involuntarily, I dashed off to the left of me. Apparently I'd been deprived of having a chance to plan for movement or even breathe in. I heard the toll of the clock again...that dreadful sound that I wanted to silence forever....just like the brainless laughter of the creature that brought it forth.
As I continued in the potency of the dash, I realized that if I couldnt exactly make contact with the clock, I would have to make contact with the maniac that was controlling it. There was no other real option in my mind but to do this. So, I again performed a loop to change my course, and remained with my back facing the ground, floating backwards toward our enemy.
He was upside down in my vision, but he was still wide open for me to strike. I noticed that his smile started to falter abit, and I soon found out the totality of the reason for it. Reala was coming at him from the back, because I too heard the second clock ringing on in that direction. The speed of the clocks was not sufficient enough to stop us from reaching the target. We both had him now.
Gradually, within mere seconds of time, we came closer and closer; louder still came the sound made by the clock that was following Reala...and then POW! Reala from the back and I from the front...sandwiched his unprotected head. The thing that appeared to be his neck had now failed to stay up, and it wilted all the way down with the creature's head, hanging there like one of the more lengthy ornaments on the branch of a Christmas tree.
The sounding of the clocks quieted down for good and fell to the ground, shattering on impact. I finally lowered then to land firmly on the ground. Now I had the time to reflect. I had then seen Reala whimsically make his way around the wasted monster, looking to me with a devilish kind of smirk. The Reala I knew seemed to shine through at that point. He always loved a good taste of war games.
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The feeling in the air after a confrontation like this is always a kind of chipper and carefree envelopment pumping through my veins, and Reala's too I'm sure. After all, his old exhilerated nature seemed to have returned to him. Though there was still the real opponent to deal with. The one named Silvechte needed to be wiped from my worries.
"So", I started to Reala with a light return smirk. "Now that we've gotten rid of that, what're we going to do?" He lowered his hands down by his hips. "We should hurry over to the dark domain where Silvechte is. We don't want to be troubled here with another wacked-out puppet."
I nodded to him, controllably removing my smirk and slowly rising above the ground. He did the same, floating in front of me. He then turned his head around informingly. "I'm taking us there now. Prepare yourself, Nights. That is all I will say."
Then, up and out we headed, leaving the beautiful fields...and the fallen demon. Were it anything else, I would not have left it lying there, but I strongly decided against touching it now that it was dead. It would soon decay and become part of the fields, transformed into a beauty it would never have been expected to be a part of.
Soon, we were beyond the misty skies, and had now entered an atmosphere that made the landscape look like a pitch dark basement with occasional spurts of light coming into view, almost like those from planets. A large embodiment of light momentarily highlighted a small fortress that looked as though it was made entirely of wood.
This was a little bit confusing, considering how much Reala and his kind of darkness was about. Though, as I studied my surroundings more carefully, I found magnificence in them. A lulling magnificence. The kind that one gets after a long day, whisking themself away to their own shade. I understood why Reala would find contentment with it, though I didnt say anything. I think he knew.
"Just in case you did not know", came Reala's voice. "That little structure is where he is. Do not break in; ...we will enter from the front." "Alright", I replied, carefully flying downward toward the front of the fortress. I wouldnt have thought of breaking anything in the first place. I wondered why Reala would think I would do something like that.
There was no ground to descend on to. None that I could see anyway. It was too bleak below to find a landing spot of any kind. As I looked to Reala, I noticed that it seemed very much like he was standing, firmly supported by something below him. It wasnt that much of a puzzler, but it was strange.
I then turned to look at the entrance of the place. The door of it seemed very flat and had no knob or grip at all. It didnt have any hinges on it either. So, in finding this little mind-boggler, I looked again to Reala. "How is this opened?" Reala did not speak, but floated over to the door and slowly held out his hand, placing his palm firmly on it.
Without a thought of how, we were both standing inside the place. The second I noticed this, without carefully examining the atmosphere, I looked behind me. The door was there as it was before, of course. I then turned back around to see what was waiting for us.
The lighting of the room was like that of the sky at night in the lighting of all of the stars and planets, things I could not clearly make out were glowing in the dark. Very large, thick candles were all about the place that had the same glow to them, bearing flames of a hypnotic dark red.
After a small while of observation, I looked again to Reala who held out his hand, signaling me to keep silent. I sensed then that something was coming from the end of the little spiral staircase that I saw in the corner. Gradually, this being had made his way out of the shadows and made himself viewable to us.
He was definately Silvechte. Just as Reala said, he embodied a state identical to ours, though he was the color of a dark grey, and he had large dots of a much lighter grey stamped all over his body. His eyes were green and luminating. But....we now would have to fight.
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This may have not been the easiest scenerio to explain, but the confrontation would be understood. Reala and I ridding ourselves of one who posesses power greater than ours and who would use it not only for the practice of evil, but for complete erasure of our happiness.
Myself, Nights, at one side of the little area. My rival, Reala standing right beside me. Our opposition, Silvechte, waiting before us with a deadly sense of discipline like a shark in an aquarium tank...waiting for his fish to come. But, I knew that our team was not as outmatched as such a picture, so the mannerisms of the being did not hold me back.
Silvechte did not make a sound, staying right where he was. Just as I felt crucially cornered as to what to open with, Reala attacked. He soared across the room and performed an upside-down loop just before reaching Silvechte, proceeding to maneuver himself like a corkscrew right between his eyes.
I then saw Silvechte drop backwards and almost immediately dash back up, knocking Reala high into a corner of the wall. I was nearly stunned. This being must have had an immeasurable amount of force. But still, I could not just stand there.
So, I flew over to the ghostly figure...but he then drove himself down below the floor. I didnt quite know what he was up to...and then I heard the floor break up behind me. I twisted off to the side to see what was up.
Silvechte had moved behind me somehow---no...that wasnt really it. Because I then noticed that he was also standing right where he was when Reala attacked him. There were two of him now?
How fitting...just like the two death clocks. There were two of us, and we could not be killed with one stone. Although...Silvechte seemed to me like he was conducting everything. Perhaps we were fighting one stone after all.
Reala, without looking to me or my new opponent, headed right for the Silvechte that attacked him. He seemed to have a bitterness in him at this point. How much defeat can a playful energetic like Reala settle for? But, nevermind him now...because I had my dance partner waiting for me.
The second Silvechte was standing there just as the first one was; sharply patient. I couldnt let that be anymore. I practically threw myself at him and opened up into a releasing round of swats at the being's face. He closed his eyes in a soft, wincing way. I was hurting him, but he didnt move. He was taking it in like a fierce wind in the dead of winter. Was he trying to feel out my power?
I could hear Reala and the other one in the background of my focus, dashing back and forth riotously, almost routinely. But, I still had to make some mark on my foe. His eyes were still closed. I stopped moving, studying him for a second carefully, though keeping defense at some part of my mind.
This Silvechte then opened his eyes and raised his arm, seeming to take his time as if he'd known I'd be slightly bewildered or startled. He then closed his hand around my throat, staring me in the eyes, the look not being any different than it was when we had entered. He was tranquil, though his grip could have told me otherwise.
I didnt have the ease to try to figure this out right now; I had to just break free. I gulped potently in my throat just before throwing down one of my hands to grip the back of one of his legs, using the advantage of the imbalance to ram my head into his, flying with him as I forced him into the wall.
I then floated back carefully, taking a glance around me after I'd noticed that the blow seemed to have some affect on him, for his eyes were flickering with a still calmed surprise as odd as it may sound. Everything around me was the same as it had been. For some reason, I had expected a change of the atmosphere since things had gotten riled up. I was apparently wrong. But, that didnt matter; I could study it better after this battle was over.
I noticed that Reala was standing firm across from me, catching a breath of reflection. He was certainly giving it what we had. We both were, though the fights that we had with one another prior to this were nowhere near as perplexing and freshly painful.
Soon...I felt the dual force of the two Silvechtes coming. They were heading right for their targets. On my side, the Silvechte I fought was flying towards me with a darker, kind of forest green shade to his eyes. I immediately floated in the opposite direction, trying to buy some time. Reala was flying right at me as well, I then noticed.
His attacker was right behind him just as mine was. In being presented with this, here was our maneuver. In colliding with one another, Reala and I locked on to each other's shoulders and swung upside down so that we were matched with the opposite of what our opponents previously were. Then..in the next second..we used the leverage of one another to dash right back at the Silvechte that was in each of our ranges. Both dashes connected, and both Silvechtes were struck.
Each of the beings froze in place, their darkened green eyes started to widen. Their bodies started to float further down to the floor without any outward movement from either of them. Reala and I had accomplished quite an offensive strike.
I spun my body around to look at Reala then and he had a smile dancing at the edge of his face. "I know", he said to me. "I know what we've got to do..."
I then watched him float over to the Silvechte on his side and turn over in the air so that Reala was now hovering behind him. Strangely, as I followed this, I was compelled to do the same with my current opponent. After a breif moment of staring ahead at the frozen Silvechte, I could feel Reala's energy force growing, absorbing the molecules of the air into his body.
Soon, I felt the power coming to me as well. There was actually the flowing presence of a kind of wind in this room, and it seemed to nourish the both of us. All we had to do was smother this evil with it, just as it had smothered us all along. This was definately a mark that would hold righteous and deserving.
Reala and I were now fully empowered by our coordinated willpower, and it was time to use it. Simultaneously, the two of us rammed into our oppositions like charging wildebeests, driving them magnetically toward one another, Reala's charge just as spirited as my own....and the two halves of evil shattered against each other.
Their appearance had completely smudged out of my sight without a single cry being heard, and after about a minute, Reala and I were the only two in the room, looking to each other. An unfathomable recognition of my true self seemed to be even clearer in his eyes. And then....every candle in the room had burned out gradually...and complete darkness followed. The night was truly closed.