Book 2: The First Fallen Human

Calm Down

Dream shrieked as Nightmare lashed out again. This time, Night blocked it with his own staff, throwing his alternate self back. "This wasn't his fault!" He snapped. "How was Dream supposed to know that the damn thing could melt through the floor?! You're being RIDICULOUS!!" He spat.

Nightmare growled at his counterpart. X remained close to Glitch, knowing he had to make sure Glitch was safe, no matter how bad he wanted to go over and help Night. He didn't like the way that Nightmare's companions were eyeing Glitch. It seemed they recognized him.

"Weak..." Dust muttered, twitching as he leaned back against the wall. He twitched again and slowly bent over, sliding down. He sat on the floor, his glowing eye sparking. Horror was quiet. His axe tapped the floor as he stared at Glitch. Everytime he took a step forward, X would snap at him and force him back with his blade.

"Weak... weak..." Horror echoed quietly, shuffling his feet. X scowled. He turned his gaze to Killer, who was assumably watching Nightmare, though it was hard to tell with his empty eyesockets.

"Can you tell him to back off?!" He demanded in annoyance. Killer turned to him before scoffing.

"They don't listen to me." He said simply. X rolled his eyes. Killer turned back to watching Nightmare. X warded Horror off with his blade once again. Dust twitched, that being the only movement from him as he sat back against the wall. X still had that uneasy feeling. He kept his eyes between Horror and that hole in the floor.

"WHY..." X jumped as Dust spoke, his scratchy voice annoyed. "Why do you keep staring at that stupid hole?" Dust had one glowing eye fixed on him, bright with irritation. X scowled and flipped him off.

"It's BOTHERING me, alright?? Something feels wrong about it." He muttered, his eyes moving back to it. He smacked Horror with the flat of his blade once again, making the other squeak and back up. He stopped. There was a soft noise. A clinking. He froze up. "Something's in there."

Killer blinked and turned to face the hole. He was listening as well. Dust had even lifted his head. From the hole, there was a quiet rattling sound. Like someone was shaking a tin can with a rock inside. Even Horror took notice.

Night quickly realized the others were staring and smacked the floor with his staff, startling Nightmare. "Shut up for a sec!!" He hissed. They all paused and rattling grew louder from the hole. Dream covered his mouth as there was a whispery, high-pitched groaning.

X got to his feet. They all jumped as a glowing, bright red hand with long, needle-like fingers poked over the edge of the hole. It lowered itself and gripped the ground, leaving deep scratches in the tile. An elongated arm followed before a body. Night shivered. What the HELL was that???

It was a spindly thing with long, sharp fingers and a spine made out of glowing bullets. The spine grew out in a whirring tail made of the glowing red bullets. It didn't seem to have eyes, but it had a short snout with a hauntingly wide mouth that nearly split its head into two. Blood dropped from its jaws. Its legs were built like a dog's, but its body resembled an extremely starved human.

X felt a chill as he heard more clinking. "More than one..." He whispered, wielding his blade. Sure enough, the clinking had multiplied. He could hear a swarm. Night was shaking. Killer blinked and glowing red knives appeared around his head, spiraling in place.

Dust had pushed himself to his feet. He had two long, sharpened bones in his hands. His eyes sparked dangerously. Horror was hunched over, his head tipped as he leaned against his axe. The creature seemed to scent the air, sniffing. Its bullet spine clinked as it moved.

Nightmare turned to look at it. He didn't know what this thing was. No one did. It was unlike anything they'd ever seen. Dream looked like he was going to be sick. More of the creature began to pull themselves up out of the hole, some walking, some creeping on all fours.

Horror blinked and his axe scraped the floor. Immediately, the leading creature's head snapped towards him and its mouth split open to reveal jagged, needle-like uneven teeth. It screeched and leaped forward, flying towards Horror. There was a sickening bending noise as one of Killer's knives hooked on its bullet spine, sending the creature into the wall next to Dust.

Dust drove his bone shard into its neck, snapping it and the creature dropped before disintegrating. X understood after a moment of debating whether it was the spine or not. "The neck." He muttered.

All hell broke loose as the creatures all seemed to snap simultaneously, lunging out in every direction. X turned and sent up bone walls around Glitch, encasing the other in some kind of bone teepee. He turned just in time to receive a burning slash across the cheek. He swore and pinned the creature down by its spine, before severing it completely. He lifted the blade again, striking its neck.

He jumped as several of the creatures lit up with a purplish glow, being lifted off the ground, and turned to see Dust with his eye lit up. Dust snapped his fingers and X flinched at the sound of their necks all breaking.

Killer was efficient, every hit on the things a critical one, if not the one that killed them. X yelped and ducked as one was flung over his head. He watched as Horror grabbed a bunch by the tails, yanking them towards them and absolutely whaling on them with the axe. He didn't seem to even be aiming. He was just hacking away and sometimes he would actually hit their necks.

Nightmare snatched up creature after creature, before snapping their necks and dropping them. Night hooked one with his staff and flung it into the wall. Dream aimed carefully with his bow and arrow. He wouldn't shoot often, but when he did, it was a direct shot to the neck that would kill whatever creature instantly.

Night scowled. "This is BULLSHIT!" He hissed. He wrangled another with his staff before throwing it back into the hole. Horror noticed this and grinned, dragging along a ton of creatures by their tails and stuffing them into the hole. Their spines were heard crunching and scraping and breaking against one another, but Horror didn't seem to mind.

All of a sudden, bright blue strings lit up all over the room. "EV-EV-EV-EVERYONE DOWN!!" Everyone dropped to the floor as the strings suddenly sliced their way through the room, cutting down every single creature. Within moments, the last creature had dropped. They all got up, X pushing himself to his feet.

They all turned to the couch, where Glitch had broken down X's bone shelter. He had his hands out with wide eyes. He was shaking violently as he lowered his hands and moved to fix his glasses. "Wh-Wh-What's g-g-going-g on?"