The Raven's Nightmare

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

The pure white snow was painted in red by the time Nightmare had finished slaughtering the townsfolk. His appearance has changed during his rampage; the skeleton was now completely covered in the inky substance, with one socket being covered and the other's eye light changing from purple to cyan, while four tendrils that connected to his back waved around in a defensive position. The corrupted skeleton was still crouching down and clutching Raven's body as if it was his lifeline while Dream shakily stood up from his trance and questioned, "𝗪𝗵𝘆...? 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲?"

     Nightmare stared blankly at his brother as he answered, "They needed to be punished for the sins that they've committed."

     Dreams sockets widened in disbelief as he shouted, "𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝘀?! 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱?!"

     "Did you not see what that maggot just did?! He killed Raven right in front of us! Plus those 'innocent' people deserved what they got for all the pain and suffering they've caused to us!"

     "𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲! 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝘀𝗼!", he paused for breath before asking, "𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱?"

    Rolling his eye and scoffing at his brother's naivety before admitting, "While you were so busy with spreading positivity, Raven and I had been the center of the towns hatred and abuse; constantly beaten and tortured just for being different. But it seemed that she had found a way where she spared me from most of the impact and keeping me blind from her actions."

    "𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁?! 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝗲?!"

    "Because it wouldn't have mattered if we did. Those lowlifes would have went right back to their behavior the moment you let your guard down. Now...", Nightmare stood up as he held Raven's lifeless body bridle style as he turned to face the blackened form of the Tree of Feelings, "I got to find a proper place to put Raven to rest before I kill you."

    SLASH

    Before Dream could even stop him, Nightmare had used one of his tendrils to cut the sacred tree down as it landed with a CRASH before the upper half rolled down the hill. Letting out a battle cry, the Guardian of Positivity charged at his brother before being stopped as another tendril wrapped itself around his neck and lifting the skeleton to be eye level with his scowling brother.

    "𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂?! 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿!"

     "Stop your whining; our creator died a long time ago. Besides, I never saw this old pile of firewood as a mother figure. The only people who I saw as parents were Salem and Batair, Raven's mother and father."

    "𝗕-𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺! 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿?!"