Endless Dream

Eye for an Eye

Iris watched the nightmare raise the knife over their other eye, the blade reflecting in their pupil. He licked his lips and slowly brought the knife down, enjoying the terror on their face. Iris begged him to stop and weakly pleaded with him. The nightmare smiled.

The sky cracked again, a spurt of lightning splitting the earth near the nursery. The nightmare ignored it, keeping his attention on Iris. Iris felt the ground rumble and roar beneath them. There was static in the air. It made the strands of Iris' hair rise and coil around itself. They let out a stunted breath. Another spurt of lightning cracked the ground—thunder rumbling along the skies. The nursery started to melt. The walls bubbled with a strange, steaming liquid.

"Well, well, well," the nightmare laugh demonically, holding the knife a hairbreadth away from Iris' eye. Their bottom lip quivered.

The nursery bubbled and dissolved around them, losing its shape and drifting upwards towards the looming grey clouds above. It looked like paper being burnt in a chimney, flecks and fragments of the walls swirling out into the open air. A thunderous boom shocked the sky; even the nightmare flinched from it. The sound was so loud that it popped Iris' eardrums.

"Come on," the nightmare challenged. He could feel Dream's rage in the air; the stifling cold rippled outwards. "Come out, come out," he sang.

The clouds grew darker, thin veins of bright light pulsating along the surface. Lighting struck out from the veins, singing the edge of the nightmare's coat. He pounded his chest with his free arm and bellowed, "Again," another arm of lighting forked around him, striking his shoulder and bent legs. Iris screamed, one of the bolts striking their arm.

The air stilled, hesitant to strike again. The nightmare growled, snatching Iris up and clutching them against his chest. "Come on, don't be a coward," he said to the tempestuous sky. Iris sagged to the side in his arms, unable to muster the strength to move. He put the knife to their throat and pulled their head back with it so he could display it to Dream, "...They're just sand, you can make another little pet to keep. What's so special about this one?" Iris croaked as he tapped the blade on their Adam's Apple.

The sky rolled along itself, plotting and waiting. The nightmare was growing impatient with it, "Come on! What's so special about this one?" he asked again. The sky darkened further, spreading outwards further and further until they were left in complete darkness. The nightmare squinted, and the teeth lining his eyelids chattered loudly.

"Release them," Dream ordered from the darkness. The outline of his silhouette was a faint line of smoke against the vast emptiness.

The nightmare gripped Iris tighter. "No," he argued. Iris' head rolled backwards, blood gushing from their wound.

"I won't ask again," Dream's voice was eerily calm. His eyes flickered with a strange pale glow.

Iris tried to speak, blood silencing them as it gathered in their mouth; they were trying to warn Dream. The nightmare's heartbeat was steady, unbothered by Dream's sinister display, and it worried them. Dream was powerful but not invulnerable. The monster was waiting for an opening, a chance to strike at the Lord whilst he was distracted.

"Maybe I'll hold onto this one a little longer," He used his long fingernail to poke at the edge of Iris' socket. They writhed and screamed in pain, and the nail traced a scorching line along the bone. Iris could feel it scrape along the bone like chalk on a school board. Iris' fingers twitched and spasmed.

Dream grimaced, "I order you-"

"You order nothing; I hold all the cards here," the nightmare snapped, refusing to indulge Dream, "I will kill them here and now, and I will make you watch every second of it," he said sinisterly, using the blade to carve another line in Iris' face as a demonstration, "-Or you give me what I want,"

"I do not negotiate w-" Iris cried as the nightmare struck them in the throat. Dream stiffened, watching the reddish mark form below their chin and reconsidered, "What do you want?".

He smiled, "I'm so glad we could do this civilly," he loosened his grip on Iris and ceased his pointless torture, "I want to go into their world; I want safe passage into the waking world,"

Dream looked between Iris and the man, the cogs in his mind whirring as he weighed the possibilities. He knew he couldn't reach them in time to stop the nightmare, and Iris was too close to him for Dream to be able to dissolve him. He saw their pathetic form, crumpled and covered in iridescent blood. His heart ached for them. He couldn't bear to see them in such agony.

Iris tried to look at Dream, pleading with their one good eye for him to stop and kill the nightmare, even if it cost them their life. They were terrified of dying. They wouldn't deny that, but to allow such an abomination to let loose into the mortal realm. It would be outright murder. They had seen how hungrily he looked at Unity and heard of the nightmares he had orchestrated. They wouldn't let him anywhere near that girl.

Iris knew Dream was considering the proposal. He would be willing to kill for them; there was no question. Iris couldn't let him make that mistake. Iris peered at the blade in the nightmare's hand. They spotted a glimpse of their reflection in the knife; they looked mutilated and horrifying. Crusted blood knotted in their hair and drenched their face. Iris bit back a sob.

"Those are my terms, freedom in exchange for your little pet," he said again, reaffirming his position.

"Dea-" Iris struck their head against the blade, lodging it in their face and burying the weapon deep enough to brush the inner part of their skull. The pain echoed across every nerve in their body. They tore into their lips and cheek to stop them from screaming, chunks of flesh and blood filling their mouth again. Iris' breath was ragged and strained. The nightmare rolled away from them, unsure how to react. Their unhinged behaviour frightened him. Iris slammed the blade again. Their thoughts scattered and started to unravel. Dream roared at them, rushing to their side. The nightmare ceased to exist to him. He could only see Iris' mutilating themselves and beating their brains across the floor. Iris tried to smack their head again, using the little conscious thought they had left to bring their face down. Dream took hold of them, cradling them against his chest. Their blood clung to his woollen coat.

"Iris!" he shouted. He didn't know if they'd heard him. He watched their pupil roll into the back of their head. Iris told themselves to slam again but couldn't lift themselves. A numbness spread along Iris' arms and face.