Glorybringer: The Nightmare Within

What exactly in an inspiration room-- OH MY GOSH!

"Awww, you missed-" Deathbringer stopped himself abruptly. What just happened? Wasn't he just fighting? Who... what? So many questions raced through Deathbringer's mind. Was it possible that it had all been a figment of his imagination?

It was the mystic! Venom growled. It wasn't your imagination. All that stuff you saw when Glory opened the door was real. He has the power to manipulate time, but usually, we're left clueless as to what happened, but this time... We remembered somehow.

There was that same knock at the door, but this time, when Glory went to open it, Deathbringer stopped her. "I'll get it," he insisted, trying to sound calm. He opened the door, and everything else, everything that would happen, and everything that had happened ceased to exist for just a second, as he became acutely aware of everything in that present moment. And then he was back, the strange nightwing was there, except, this time, he seemed a lot less optimistic and a lot more tired. He had long, elegant wings, with crimson red edges. His eyes, or eye, since his left eye was missing, were also a strange red, but not evil... more hypnotizing.

"Hi, Glo-" the nightwing started, but stopped, his eyes going wide. "How?"

"Omniverse?" Glory said from behind him. The nightwing quickly straightened himself out and returned to smiling tiredly. 

"Queen Glory," he greeted as Glory pushed Deathbringer away. "It's good to see you. I was just coming to confirm whether or not you had made a decision. 

"Of course," Glory said regally. "You have partial jurisdiction over my kingdom. Though I will have to be informed before any big decisions are made."

"Of course," he said, then looked at Deathbringer. "You're Deathbringer, right? I heard that you got struck by lightning."

"Twice," Deathbringer corrected, still a bit disoriented and wary.

"Amazing. You will have to tell me about it, it could bring a lot of new information to light." Something about the way the nightwing said that... It didn't bode well.

"Anyway," Omniverse continued. "My boss will be here soon to talk to you, while I look over the Kingdoms he gained. Hopefully, this will all be over soon."

There was a slight twinge in Deathbringer's mind, something like a tugging at the back of his brain. Now? Venom questioned in an annoyed voice.

"There's apparently a virou going around, along with a gang or cult of some kind. They're offering us protection."

"Can't we protect ourselves?" Deathbringer questioned as Venom cursed inside of his mind.

"I thought so, but hen he explained it to me, I realized it was much bigger than any of us."

"Excuse me please," Deathbringer found himself saying, before flying out of the hut toward... who knows where?

It's time you meet the brains of this operation. Venom decided, continuing to pull Deathbringer further into the forest.

"Twisted?" Deathbringer asked, which Venom confirmed. They reached a ravine of some sort, and the nightwing's stomach clenched. To his despair, the symbiote pulled them toward the old nightwing tunnels. Venom tried to bring Deathbringer into the tunnels, but the nightwing resisted, refusing the move. 

A million memories flooded back to Deathbringer all at once. His starvation, his brutal training, watching his friend die in the lava. He thought that he had left it all behind when he had made his desperate escape beside Glory and Starflight. But now... to go back...

Stop being such a baby. Twisted doesn't like to wait! Venom warned him, and realizing he had no other choice, Deathbringer slowly walked into the tunnel, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. He forced himself to think something lighter and more optimistic than the nightwing island, like the plague. 

Turn right, Venom commanded. The nightwing did as he was told, and walked forward. Sure enough, it opened up into another black tunnel. Venom led him deeper into the passageway making so many twists and turns he lost count until ahead of him he could see a metal door. Suddenly, though he didn't feel it happen until it was done, his snout was tied closed, along with his wings and talons, and he was pressed to the floor. 

"Move and I'll make you wish you were dead," she had a knife pressed to neck so tightly that Deathbringer had to constrict his breathing to not be cut. "What are you doing here?"

"Calm down Z-20. It's me." Venom said through Deathbringer's snout, taking control. 

"Venom?" she asked, slowly releasing Deathbringer. Deathbringer saw that this was another strange, torn up dragon, this one a rainwing. "This is the form you chose?"

"I couldn't be too picky, considering I only had 2 hours in this dimension before complete cellular decay. Where's the boss?"

"Where he always is," the dragon replied, rolling her eyes. "In his 'inspiration' room."

Venom nodded and walked through the metal door, which opened for him automatically. He walked through metal corridors, reaching multiple checkpoints where Venom had to input a password until they reached a door with words written in blood, though Deathbringer couldn't read it. 

What you are about to see will be very unnerving, but do NOT react. Do not say anything, do not do anything, do not touch anything. Just... stay cool.

This only made Deathbringer more worried, but Venom didn't seem to notice; and with that, Deathbringer was pulled inside of the dimly lit room, with dead dragons hung from the ceiling. Nooses tied them to hooks on the ceiling, though it was clear that's not how many of them died. Most were rainwings and nightwings, but there were some from every tribe. The worst part was due to them being at different heights, ranging from their tails limp on the ground to high above their head, sometimes blood would drip onto Deathbringer, making him recoil and end up bumping into another corpse. They all had horrible slashes with a blade-like weapon, and some of them had their guts ripped out, which now laid spilled on the floor... Had somebody been eating them?

A voice not at all like Deathbringer was expecting suddenly spoke. This voice wasn't demonic, or blatantly evil... It was actually somewhat smooth, the only thing unsettling with the sinister intent that laced his voice. "Welcome, Deathbringer, to your new future."