Nightmares Reimagined

[Nox]

Sleeping had always been hard for Nox.  His first kill saw to that.  And every subsequent death only added to it.  They only got worse when he slept in his own bed on the regular without the comforting scent of his ex or the lull of his breathing.  Before that it had been Aurora when he was in need of comfort and now that was all gone and he struggled to find peace.

His nightmares were exponentially worse after seeing his grandfather's best friend again and the ignition of additional repressed memories horrified Nox. Every face in his dreams now had names -- except one, the random rapist he'd found on the street.  There was no name, only the feelings left behind by his slaughter.  If Nox had the horde then the man would not have been identifiable. 

His nightmares stoked by the horde's instinct obliterated any recognition of those scenes.  The faces were not randomly placed in a sequence of failures.  Nox relived the hunter he was in his nightmares.  They made his previous nightmares pale in comparison.

His mother being ripped to shreds, or ripping Raffe's heart out with his bare hands were nothing compared to the brutal murder of a child and his family.  Things exaggerated by the dream that had really happened.  Things Nox had chosen not to remember somewhere deep inside when he'd lost all memory of who he was.  He was not that person anymore.  He stopped -- he asked questions.  He didn't live by the strict credo of the Atharim any longer.  He was a monster but he wasn't that monster!  He wasn't a cold-blooded killer.

Nox woke every night before his alarm sweating and wheezing from the memories -- often afraid to go back to sleep or see the images floating in his mind.  But tonight was not one of those nights.  He'd taken something to sleep and it dragged him down deep into slumber unable to wake himself from his nightmares just so his body could try to rest.

A litany of scenes played in his minds eye.  On deck was his one and only god killing spree.  The boy at the top of the stairs, Nox's knife jutting into his back.  The blood spilling across his fingers making a sticky mess, looking past him as Uncle Jake smiled proudly at him.  Nox didn't want to see the pride on his face, feel the smile spread his lips.  He hadn't enjoyed the kill, but he had loved the look of pride on Jacob's face.  Someone was glad he existed in that moment. 

Nox shook in horror at his memories at the boy he was, the hunter he might have become.

[[ ooc: Nox doesn't remember his dreams so any dreamwalker is welcome to come play with Nox's nightmares and not affect any of his on going threads  ]]

[Adrian Kane]

The Sandman

Mara’s nightmares feasted this night.

Across the domain of the entire Dream World, the Sandman sensed the carnage. He would not normally intervene on such a buffet, but the ferocity of the devoured called for his oversight.

Sometimes the nightmares raged so great, the integrity of the Dream was threatened, and the Sandman would come.

He leaped from his cave upon the power of two enormous wings. When he landed, it was as witness to those thunderous vortices from a distant horizon.

Arms folded over his enormous chest, he peered deep into the heart of the storm where Mara’s pets shredded the soul of their meal. The Sandman bore no empathy for the victim, but the power was crackling close to the brink.

He lept again, and the devilish overseer of the Dream outpoured his will upon the creatures. Be gone! His wings beat heavy and powerful as he rose above and around the storm. Their bite snipped at him in return, evidence of their rebellion. The Sandman snatched the offending nightmare and devoured it whole.

After that, the nightmares released their victim and the storm broke much as smoke dissipated on the wind.

With the folding of heavy wings, the Sandman stood before the human left behind, arms crossed, eyes beaming red, and peered within the human’s heart to confirm it remained in tact.

“Hmm,” he mused to himself and waited.