Glorybringer: The Nightmare Within

Eat Well

It was just past midnight when Venom decided to take Deathbringer on a joyride. He pulled the nightwing from the bed and forced him clumsily down the hall, shooting out black tendrils to pull them along whenever Deathbringer resisted too much. By the time they were out of the palace and in the air, Deathbringer had completely given up on resisting and decided that it'd be best for his health if he just went along with the symbiote's plan. 

That was a nice dream, Venom said as if to break the awkward silence. Deathbringer ignored the symbiote, though he had to admit he agreed. In the dream, he had been the hero in his favorite comic from when he was younger, The Dark Knightwing Rises, and was beating up the bad guys. Though looking back, it felt quite embarrassing that a grown dragon such as himself was having dreams a dragonet would have. 

Don't be embarrassed, Venom said teasingly. It makes it too fun for me.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Deathbringer asked impatiently. They had been flying for quite a while. He had to admit that he usually enjoyed flying with Venom, flying much faster than a normal dragon would find physically possible; though he figured he'd enjoy it more if he wasn't a prisoner in his own body; but despite this, it was starting to get annoying.

Well if I told you, I wouldn't get to feel the utter and complete shock inside of you, Venom explained, with a smirk that Deathbringer could feel. Deathbringer rolled his eyes and purposefully said some nasty things about Venom as loud as he could in his head. The symbiote only laughed.

Something back shot up from the ground, barreling at Deathbringer at a frightening speed. Frightening to Deathbringer, at least. However, Venom dodged with nothing but a minor annoyance. I bet I know who that is. 

Venom dropped down and landed with a thud on the dirt. Deathbringer noticed right away that the dirt here was rough, dry even. Not just that, but it seemed almost brittle as if all of the things keeping it together had been sucked away. But Deathbringer didn't have much time to think about that as multiple strange creatures appeared from the trees. They were dragons (at least, they might have been at some point), but very different. For example, one dragon was a nightwing,  his eyes replaced with a black void with a red dot in the middle, and his entire left cheek was torn away, revealing rotten gums and oversized, sharp teeth.

There were 4 "dragons" in total, 2 rainwings, a nightwing, and a sandwing, all with horrific features in different places; there was only one common factor: blacked-out, red eyes. 

"You're late," the nightwing said, his voice coarse and grainy. 

"You're empty-handed," Venom retorted snarkily, and the dragon growled. "In fact, you're all empty-handed. Care to explain yourselves?"

"We don't all have the luxury of hiding in plain sight!" the sandwing butted in. "Besides, it's much more dangerous now that the Cawthon is here."

"So you really have nothing?" Venom asked incredulously. Who is the Cawthon? Deathbringer wondered, but his question went unheard and unanswered. This seemed to strike a nerve with one of the rainwings, who stepped forward.

"Look, just because Twisted decided to give you a big role in this mission doesn't mean you're Mr. Bigshot, we all remember what happened," the rainwing gave a smug grin, and Deathbringer felt anger building up inside of him. Suddenly, a black tendril shot out and yanked the dragon towards Death-Venom, It's Venom, Deathbringer reminded himself, who grabbed the dragon by the horns and twisted violently, snapping his neck.

"Anyone else wanna bring it up?" Venom challenged, and Deathbringer reminded himself again that it was Venom who had done it, not himself. The other dragon shuffled backward. "That's what I thought. And since you idiots failed to do your one job, I guess I'll have to feed myself."

Venom unhinged Deathbringer's jaw and made him bite down on the body. The blood gushed into his mouth and onto his face, covering his snout in the thick red liquid. He ripped away, throwing his head back to devour the flesh, before going down for another bite. Deathbringer was helpless to do anything as he was forced to simply endure. The worst part was that he didn't find the taste repulsive, in fact, he found it somewhat enjoyable.

After Venom decided he had made his point, he looked back up at the other creatures, who were looking at Venom in disgust, which only made the symbiote grin. 

"Twisted will be hearing about this," the other rainwing warned him. Venom scoffed. 

"Is that supposed to scare me?" Venom asked condescendingly, though Deathbringer could tell that Twisted, whoever he may be, still held some kind of weight for Venom. The other dragon shook their heads and walked away while Venom finished his meal.

"I am never doing that again," Deathbringer promised when they finished, causing the symbiote to laugh. 

You think that you have a choice? Venom asked, then barked a laugh. You lost your right to choose the moment I latched onto you in that storm. Besides, you weren't eating well as you promised, so I decided to take matters into my own hands

Deathbringer was yanked back into the air and they began their journey back to the palace. 

"What are you doing?" Deathbringer panicked. "I can't go back to the palace like this!"

Venom suddenly veered down, crashing the two into a river, before popping back out, leaving Deathbringer gasping. 

You're such a baby, Venom remarked with another chuckle. When they made it back to the palace, Glory was still sound asleep. To Deathbringer's horror, Venom slowly approached Glory's sleeping body. He examined the rainwing closely, marking which scales changed with colors and when. 

"Don't you dare," Deathbringer whispered, and Venom chuckled once again, which was really starting to get on Deathbringer's nerves. 

Relax, momma bear, Venom told him. She's too important to kill.

Before Deathbringer could ask what that meant, Venom threw him onto the bed and put him to sleep, muttering something. He couldn't quite hear what he was saying, but he could make out one sentence. 

Those damn Nightmares.