Algernon Black

(Chapter 7) Awake to the Nightmare

Algernon woke from his sleep to immediately fling off his sheets. He was drenched in sweat, his face pale white, while his ring vibrated manically.

He could feel the presence of cool dread in the pitch darkness like it was a cold wind on his cheek. He tried to calm down, but he'd already lost the fight with his mind, and awakening from his nightmare opened his eyes to the one he formed into reality.

Near his door, an upside-down face materialized from the top corner of his room where two of the walls met in darkness. Out of the shadow, stretched the old, wrinkled face of a man the color of graying human flesh. The two black voids of its wide eyes stayed fixed completely on Algernon as its body slowly unrolled.

Algernon remained as calm as he could watching the rest of the creature uncoil like a snake until the mangled bony form of an inhumanly tall and thin person faced him. Its mouth cascaded black oozing clouds that fell into its wisps of caustic black hair. Yet it didn't move. Only keeping eye contact with Algernon, who stared back while suppressing all feelings of fear. Every feral detail of the creature became clearer as he concentrated on it. Its gray see-through skin clinging to its bony frame. A mangled fleshly smile with teeth bigger than any human should have. And black chipped nails as sharp as razor talons.

Algernon faced the creature head-on and his heartbeat steadied with his fear abating. In reaction, the monster, with eyes still locked on Algernon, began coiling back into the darkness it was birthed from.

Algernon trained all his attention on the creature, forcing it away with his mind, which was the same way it had come alive. It was all but gone, its black eyes being the last thing to vanish when a sudden noise at his window spiked his adrenaline again as he switched his gaze away for only a second.

Shit, he thought, and in the millisecond, it took to turn back around, the creature was before him, hanging by its feet from the ceiling with its talon finger slicing at his neck.

Its long black nails cracked against steel to create the sing of metal; the only sound made in the room as Algernon called his artifact just in time to prevent it from gouging out his throat.

The expression on the creature's twisted face stayed the complete same as it drew slowly closer to Algernon through the curve of his scythe. It only stopped when it was a hair's length away. Its huge gaping black eyes peered directly into his with an upside-down smile. From this close-up, when one was supposed to be able to see themselves reflected in the eyes of another, all Algernon could see was a black draining void.

Algernon swung the back end of his blade up, until the other end of the double-ended scythe pierced the hollow body of the demon. The monster seemed not to notice at all as it continued with its wicked smile, even as its body began to vaporize in a cloud of dust. Again, its black eyes were the last fragments of the alive nightmare to disappear.

Algernon signed and returned his weapon to its ring form. He glowered down at the jewelry piece and placed it onto his right ring finger before raising his hands to the sconces of his room. They all lit themselves alive at the minute use of his magic.

The bleak room of Algernon's childhood was sold and austere, decorated in a timeless fashion that hadn't been updated since the estate was built over 500 hundred years ago. It had stayed the same all his life, as had the nightmares made real by his mind and magic.

Drawing back the curtains, Algernon peered out into the night scape, watching the moon as he contemplated his never-ending hardships. He knew there was only one way to put an end to them, but he could only fantasize of such a peace, for now. Donning his black overcoat, Algernon stalked out of the room.

His steps landed on a thick-aged carpet that kept the silence of night completely intact as he passed six doors, all of which had remained unoccupied for decades. On the other end of the hallway was another corridor with another six doors, one of which was the master suite where his mother slept alone. His father's presence had long ago been lost, but his memory endured. Algernon had been young at the time, but still thought about his father every time he passed his portrait. His mother always said they looked so much alike, but all he found similar was their black hair and eyes, because in his father's portrait, he always seemed to have a light, like he was seeing something good, drastically different from his son who had his eyes pried opened to the brutal truths of this world far too young.

Algernon wound down with the curve of the grand staircases leading to the foyer. The only light guiding his way coming from moonlight reflecting off the massive overhead chandelier.

He parted the french doors at the back of the living room and followed the outdoor pebble trail to his safe haven—his greenhouse. It was here he had spent the best times of his life as a child, quietly toiling to keep alive all varieties of plants.

He lit the overheard chandeliers with a wave of his hand. The room was 50 feet long and 20 feet wide, harboring an uncountable number of plants lining every wall and table. Stained glass windows cast back the light of the chandeliers in a variety of bright hues, but all the color was lost on Algernon—his black hair and eyes absorbing all light, never giving any off.

Algernon moved to a group of barley budding flowers he had set aside earlier in the week, carefully monitoring one of its kinds development. He had made the arrangements to transfer them to the greenhouse of Attwood where he would be starting his education on Monday and would be moving into the dorms tonight. The plant's stem drooped sideways, absorbing his feelings on the matter.

You're one to worry. He silently chastised to the most ficklest and sensitive species of plant he had ever raised.

His one place of peace, traded for a palace of monsters. At least he had experience with them, enough to prepare him for what awaited him in that castle in the clouds.