SOLARVERSE: The Raven

Chapter 7 - Eulalie

Nightmare's Castle was just as dark and barren as it always was, it was once based on a long gone timeline of the Dreemurr Family's castle from Outertale, but now reduced, tainted greatly to a corrupted mess filled with nothing but the evergrowing influence of Nightmare, as that very demon of sorrow was sat on his throne, sat in a relaxed and casual position as in their hand, a book of poems as they scrolled through each page, having finished nearly all of them, their eyes sliding across each and every word with an astute precision, taking in even the smallest details, symbolism, and themes in seconds, as throughout it all, he smirked.

"Hmm... It seems that one thing from that brat managed to pass on to me, how truly shameful..." Nightmare remarked, smirking, though disgusted, he was quite intrigued by that idea, because of how simply thought-provoking it was, after all, he and the real Nightmare were two different entities, in fact, the corrupted and forsaken Nightmare had existed far before the true, good Nightmare culminated into their physical form, when their mother had perished that faithful day, perhaps it was because they shared the same soul? Likely, Nightmare thought as he shook his head side-to-side, with his eyes closed as he went back to reading his book.

"By now, he should have finished up exploring most of the castle."

"No doubt, one as barren as this is sure to leave some negative reactions."

"I wonder..."

"Just how deep will his rabbit hole go?"

"...'Insanity' is a fitting name for him."

"It's simple, straightforward... And usually, names are an omen."

"Good to be careful."

...

The long corridor of the lifeless castle seemed to stretch out endlessly to an undesired infinity, the darkness that leeched within was captivatingly nauseating, yet, amidst these quiet thorough halls, the sound of footsteps, clacking about and echoing throughout the marble texture approached cautiously deeper into the castle's underbelly, as Insanity walked forth, looking around the castle, with an unwanted smile fixed on their face, as if, on instinct, however, their eyes, which danced around the, what felt like rifting, corridors of the castle, told them that they were anything but joyful at that moment.

"...Can I really escape? Or am I just trapped here? He could kill me, right? Anytime? T-Then, maybe I shouldn't escape..." Insanity thought in a slight panic, they swore by now they should have accepted their situation as it was, but unbeknownst to them they... Couldn't, there was jaw shivering, smile trembling, excruciatingly as a headache rang through his skull the entire time, God, did it feel like he wished to scream, he wanted to bawl out his eyesockets and rip out his jaw, the mental anguish that still passed through was unbearable, although, Insanity, unknown if he was still truly safe, could only keep it in, for as long as he possibly could as he continued to trek down those corridors.

"God... Why the hell does it have to be so dark here? Why the hell does it have to be so claustrophobic for fucks sake?!" Insanity blurted out under his breath, uncomfortably as he made a clicking sound in his mouth annoyingly, gripping his fists, then grabbing his wrist, and, staring deep at the void before him, that would reveal the rest of the castle, but no longer did he wish to go further, he was sick of it, everything he had seen thus far, it was pointless, what was the point of doing any of this? Insanity furiously thought as he hastily turned around and began walking the opposite way, back to where he believed was the throne room of Nightmare to return to his... New 'boss'.