ACT IV : HUNT
A month passed.
He walked, guided by the call of human souls, slaughtering them as they approached. He travelled slowly across Europe, and as he did, rumors travelled ahead of him. The blue armor he wore that once held a brilliant metallic sheen, now filthy and covered in blood and grime, had earned him a nickname - The Azure Knight.
When the name was spoken, it was spoken with fear.
Though still inexperienced, his understanding of the world was steadily increasing. He observed, he listened to the blade that guided him, he learned.
And as he trudged on through the forests of Germany, his path faintly illuminated by the weak light of the rising sun, he could feel it - though it was miles away, he could sense a mass of human souls, the strongest he had ever encountered. He had followed the call well.
An army of humans, my child... Warriors. These kinds of humans are the strongest of all. Though your strength far surpasses that of any individual, they vastly outnumber you. It poses a threat... Take care you are not caught off guard.
He would. Nothing was going to stand in his way of consuming their souls. Nothing.
He eventually came to the place of this human gathering, and watching them all move around the field laid out before him made him shiver with anticipation. Where to start? Which one to kill first? But there were so many, and the sword had warned him that they were quite capable of causing him injury if they wished it.
A smaller group moved about on the outskirts. Five, perhaps six. He would start with them.
He closed in on them quickly, as they had stopped to rest. He hid in the trees, where he would not be seen, and waited for an opportunity to strike.
One man continually glanced into the shadows of the woods, trying to source the faint sounds he had heard when the demon puppet approached. As the young warrior gathered the attention of his comrades, the puppet dared not move. Any movement would attract attention to his position.
After a few moments, the humans had written the young man's concerns off as the result of too little sleep and they all turned their attention back to talk of a reconnaissance strategy.
He rushed forward.
He had been fully ready to strike when the voice, that damned voice, screamed out in protest, the strongest it had ever been.
Johan! Josef! Rawlin! You can't kill them - you can't!
The unexpected force of the voice had caused him to hesitate, and thus given the prey time to ready themselves. One lashed out. Managed to strike him in the area of his abdomen left unprotected by his armor.
An injury. The pain was minor, but it angered him. He looked from face to face of the men he had come to kill - three sparked a strong wave of recognition from the host's mind. An older man, with raven-black hair that was beginning to gray on the sides. A boy, evidently his son from the resemblance, with a look of something that could almost be called amusement on his face. And the young man who had first heard him in the forest, another of the older human's offspring. His hair was dark auburn rather than black, but he had the same eyes. And gripped in the human's fist was a small axe. Blood dripped from its tip. His blood.
This human would die first.
A swift swing upwards knocked the weapon from the young man's hands and he frantically tried to make a grab for it. While he was distracted, another swing took off his head. It hit the ground and rolled before coming to a stop, and the rest of the body soon collapsed as well.
Dead silence. Every one of the humans stood motionless, dumbstruck.
Then, a cry of outrage from the boy. "Rawlin! Son of a bitch, you killed my brother! I'll rip you to shreds!"
The boy picked up the axe that had moments earlier been in the hands of his now-dead brother and charged, swinging the axe out ahead of him. The sword's puppet caught it in a parry, broke the hold their weapons had established on eachother, and thrust the sword forward, through the boy's chest. He slammed a booted foot into his stomach and ripped the sword away. More blood soaked the damp earth.
The power was coming again. He was enjoying this.
The other humans also made futile attempts to attack him, which he easily overcame. The rest were dead within minutes.
Except for one.
"N-no... My sons, y-you killed them... You killed them! You bastard, you murderer! Who the hell are you?!"
He stepped forward, sneering beneath his metal mask.
"I am... That which will remind you fool humans why you fear the dark."
It was the first time he had spoken, the first time he had used his voice. He liked the way it sounded. His own voice...
"Fear, why is there anything to fear now?! My sons are dead, you've taken everything from me! I'll kill you!"
The man snatched up a longsword and lunged, but the demon managed to knock it aside and slashed across the man's chest with his claws. He stumbled forward a few feet before collapsing onto the muddy ground, moaning in pain.
The human was not dead yet, but anger distracted him from finishing the job. That stupid fool, the inferior host, that maggot's memories were what led him here!
Yes, my puppet, the human is an irritating inconvenience, and one that I shall rid you of very soon. However... While you are still required to share this body... Perhaps he could be of some miniscule amount of use to us... He led you to these humans, so perhaps he could lead you to more until you have the skill to track them on your own...
A brilliant plan. Use the fool to his own advantage.
But now, the human's despair loomed sickeningly, irritatingly in the back of his mind. Rawlin... Josef... and now probably Johan, too... all killed while I had to watch through this monster's eyes... This... a living hell... a nightmare... a nightmare, that's all this can be...
The blade laughed, a sudden burst of cold, heartless laughter.
Oh, yes, human! You put it so well, that is exactly what this is! A nightmare, a nightmare from which there is no awakening! That, my puppet, shall be your name... There is none more fitting to describe what you will truly be to every one of these imbeciles who dares stand in my way!
You are the Nightmare that has come to destroy all their happy dreams!