Chapter 7 Part 1

A Nightmare Reborn

Chapter 7 Part 1

Now I've truly gone mad. I've passed over into the past and can't find my way back. This must be an illusion. Gustaf seemed calm, and I asked, beckoning him for understanding,

"How has this happened?"

Gustaf grabbed me firmly, and looked into my eyes. He then let me settle, and answered,

"You're not in the past, but a nightmare."

My eyes opened further. I asked, as if I'm supposed to,

"Am I not already in a nightmare?"

Thus, the nightmare had been reborn. The past has reawakened, and the nightmare lives once again, ready to destroy all that we know. Everyone has gone mad. None of the occupants in the mine are privy to this fact. The future may never come to pass. Instead, the sun will rise over and over, not giving birth to a new moon. It is clear that our greatest challenge will be to stop Althia. She is the one causing the nightmare to repeat. All of the madness is her child, with Alice bringing forth the nightmare child. Each child becomes a beast, one ranking above all the others. The child is a foul mockery of the cosmic great one, being born with no conception. The other half of this story makes less sense, however. As Gustaf studied my blank expression, he noticed that the change has occurred in me as well. I'll attempt to relate all of this for my own mind alone.

I am the chosen one to defeat the nightmare. I have been reborn as the other one. The nightmare child also threatens my own life. I have been brought into the past for the sole task of ending the wretched child. Father Gustaf, is an old hunter, dedicated to my upbringing in the hunt. If I complete the task I will be given the chance to live on. There is one thing that is more unsettling than all the rest. I will undoubtedly have to kill Alice. Although she is innocent, she is now the doomsday's device. Gustaf, as if he could read my thoughts, said,

"Now, now."

These were the only words he offered me, and they were enough. My mind has multiplied enough words. We pressed on, my hand next to my gun. We left our slumbering bodies behind, knowing that only the death of this nightmare will allow us to return to them. Cursed be us. We are instruments of a cruel doctrine. We have no choice, being the puppets of some ill-conceived great one. Why must the old gods be so sadistic? Nothing can express my hopelessness.

The atmosphere shifted to one of danger, as we moved towards several human miners. Their expressions were not of surprise but instead rage. Their faces were flushed like the beasts they will turn into. As they gripped their pickaxes, I knew they wished us dead. Gustaf pushed me back, and challenged the gruff, burly men. Each man had not seen the light for exactly one aeon. Their demeanor breathed of heartlessness. (Is this what I am to become?) I grabbed my gun, astonished to find six shots in it. Had my bullets somehow been replaced when I entered the nightmare? As I pointed my gun forward, Gustaf did not try to deter me from aiming it at the nearest approaching man, one with a long beard and dirty grey hair. He mocked both of us, as if our weapons had no bearing on his fate. As he approached closer, he drew back his axe, and swung it wildly at Gustaf. In an act of loyalty, I fired at the man's head, the blood from his resulting wound ran down his entire face and tattered shirt. As he fell lifeless, the other five men approached us, Gustaf working quickly to attack and kill two of them with one blow, conserving energy for the next. I grabbed out my knife, and drove it into one of the men's neck, my favored place of killing. As the final two men tried to flee, I shot one, and watched as the other dropped to his knees and cowered. Gustaf closed in on him, transforming, showing both I and the man his inner beast, a large, grey wolven creature that clearly was an alpha. Gustaf stood over seven feet in this form, and he was a sight to behold, one of raw power. His fur shined in the darkness, and I was relieved this man was on my side. As Gustaf grabbed up the man, holding him up easily with one arm, I smirked as he began to bite the miner, consuming his still living flesh, gratified over each  bite. As the man screamed in terror, I went to each of his companion's corpses, ensuring they were indeed dead.

As Gustaf  finished his meal, he growled, fiercely, and let out a triumphant howl. I prayed that all would know where man has came from. We did not come from apes, but instead beasts, crows, wolves, and goats. We have challenged the true measures of sanity, but possess the true ability to grasp the truth. What tortured reality there is in these memoirs must remain hidden in your heart, as none truly hath the capacity to believe that we were once meant to scurry and crawl. Our putrid sin means nothing, as the simple pleasures are darker, such as murder and slaughter.