Their relationship wasn't something that could easily be defined in mortal terms.
Two Lights, two invisible consciousnesses, two gods of a sleeping mind. Grown from the same tree, cut from the same cloth, what have you. But they could not be explained away as mere "siblings".
Grimm had been reading up on theology in the Archives before he had been so rudely interrupted. Some of them referred to the two Old Lights as "siblings". Others theorized that they were "estranged lovers". Some even suspected they were "parent and child".
One particularly creepy bastard had thought them to be all at once, as if incest just didn't apply to gods. Grimm hoped his office got raided.
Two sides of a coin, two peas in a pod.
The Nightmare King was really not excited to see Her again.
"It is the finest pleasure to see you once again, my dearest…" Grimm's smooth, seductive hiss caught in his throat for a moment, the entire argument about their relationship running through his head one more time, before he settled. "...Dearest friend!"
Her blinding Light gave him a headache. "...Pleasure? You speak of pleasure after our last meeting?"
"Now, you were the one who called me here–"
"–After you discarded me just as everyone else had?!"
"You discarded me first," Grimm snarled, realizing they were already starting to sound like schoolchildren. One would think immortality would grant infinite wisdom, when all it granted were infinite chances to make a fool of yourself. "You heartless bitch."
A pause. Their lights simmered.
Grimm laughed, throwing his crimson hands back as he grinned up at the sun. "Hah, get it? Heart less?"
"...You'd do well to hold your tongue if you want to hear my offer."
This was how they always were, always had been, always would be. For longer than anyone else in Hallownest had ever lived, or would ever live. Two slighted gods, always drawn together by the hand of fate, no matter how much they wanted the other gone. Eons of pissing contests.
"...And you instilled a Nightmare in the Wyrm to manipulate him into sending that… that Void-thing away to these Archives?"
"Ah, just a touch of mindless fear from a safe distance, yes. In truth, I was asked to do so by a customer of mine.
Her Light shifted, shadows dancing behind him on the floating cobblestone. "A customer? You… sell your authority in your domain?"
"Yes, yes, I'm a whore, but it truly is good money," the Nightmare King cackled, knowing damn well that no amount of Geo would last long enough to be meaningful to him. "As for my client, I doubt you are familiar. A very wealthy and very dangerous bug, at least as far as mortals go. I believe his name was Topaz?"
"Ah. I have heard that name whispered across Dreams… He seems useful, if nothing else."
Grimm paused, tensing in confusion. Useful? Since when did She want anything to do with anyone else? "You have plans for him?"
"Not exactly, though he may make a good puppet. Rather, I believe I have found a very… interesting bug that I wish to meet. I believe she has potential. Not as a pawn, but as one who could stand beside myself…"
The Nightmare King thought the eternal flame in his chest was snuffed out with cold realization. "You… You intend to take a Seraphim," he breathed. The exhalation of a Seraphim hadn't been performed by any Higher Being in centuries, and now Layla wanted to start granting godhood?
"...Look at me, Nightmare King." Distant as always. "I barely live. My Light has dulled and flickered into a dim glow ever since that Wyrm robbed me of everything. Worshippers, lovers… You understand how belief is our lifeblood."
The one thing that every creature, that every god and mortal and cell had in common with one another, was the need for power. Power to eat, to reproduce, to survive. And there was no greater show of power than cruelty, the enforcement of needless suffering on others being the ultimate show of power, a badge for the strongest to wear.
Of course this primal cruelty could be found in gods as well as mortals, only expanded tenfold. Power was nature, cruelty was fate. How else did they become gods to begin with?
"So you're lonely?" Grimm snapped. "And you're exchanging godhood for a few friends? Which one of us is the whore now?"
"At least I am branching out. You are withering."
Oh, spare him, here she goes.
"Even surrounded by dozens, hundreds of fervent followers, you still cannot maintain your mortal form. It burns alive, unable to bear the heat of your godhood, and you scramble to complete a trite Ritual to prevent your precious worshippers from falling into despair. Can you fathom how your foolish Troupe feels? Watching the living symbol of their entire creed crumble into dust, time and time again, locked in a cycle of death, cursed with a mortality even worse than most mortals experience?"
"And you have a solution?"
"Of course I do. That offer is why I called you to this wretched kingdom of traitors to begin with."
Of course she would, if it weren't so out of character for her. She was never one to help others, to raise them up, especially out of the good of her own non-existent Heart. Not since the Wyrm, anyway.
That was one of the many ways they were polar opposites. Same coin, but two distinct sides. Grimm was the underdog, the scavenger-god, existing to be loathed and feared for his mere existence. He played on the divine comedy of 'punching up', relishing the slow climb of every ladder, the endless ascension.
Layla loathed anything that lorded above her, which was now many things, in her diminished state. Her opponents, Light and shadow alike, she wanted to she crushed under heel. She refused to have her Light manipulated, refused to be controlled.
They both wanted to be at the top, but Grimm wanted to ascend there. Layla wanted to tear everything else down.
"Your Ritual is dependent on scavenged scraps of Nightmare Essence. Why not prepare an entire feast of terror? The Wyrm's kingdom will be our livestock."
Grimm fucking choked. "Y-You–!" The amount of Nightmare Essence needed to make a truly immortal form was incalculable. "T-That's–! What you're proposing is a genocide of Hallownest!" He could understand her anger at the Wyrm and even at himself, but to slaughter the innocent masses who hadn't done a thing to her…!
"They ABANDONED ME!" the Light screeched. "They'll allow my voice to be muted, my Light to be smothered?! I'll MAKE them listen! I'll shine until I BLIND THEM!"
His ears were ringing. His eyes were burning. "L-Layla–"
She must have realized their discussion could only go south like this. The Light forcibly receded its assault on Grimm's senses, barely managing to restrain itself.. "...You haven't called me that name in untold ages."
"Layla–" Grimm kept calling her that name, he needed to get through to her, to keep her from doing something she could never undo. "Please, old friend, let's rethink this. There must be a better way to reclaim your honor–"
"You know honor is meaningless to us both," The Radiance saw right through him. "Are you afraid? We will each live for longer than every life in Hallownest, combined tenfold. The pain, the regret, the horror of every atrocity will one day fade, even for ourselves. Your newfound immortality would not."
The Nightmare King clutched at his chest, feeling the Heart beating in a panic. Involuntary thoughts urgently tugged him out of focus."That's…"
The faces he'd seen flashed before him, memories of chitin and fire and rainfall–
"I intend to find vengeance for myself and my people regardless. Either you will profit as well, or you will not."
Grimm's throat tightened. He was suffocating. "I…"
Memories of pale skin and raven hair–
"You can no longer save them. For as diminished as I have become, my Light is eternally greater than your desperate flame. Will you turn away? Or will you help change the face of Godhood forever?"
Valleri–
"A-Alright," The Nightmare King conceded. He didn't feel like a god. In that moment, he barely even felt alive.
"Let's make… a deal."
Chapter name and summary are a reference to Fracture by King Crimson.
This is just a short teaser chapter before we go back to Ethno to wrap up a major story arc for Chance, so we may not return to Midnight Rider for a little while. Consider this the start of a hopefully brief hiatus.
In the meantime, hope this chapter gives you some things to think about. :)