Birth of a Nightmare Man

Chapter Thirty-Three

The announcement was sent all over magical England, written by members of the Wizard's Council themselves. It was read by higher wizards and witches in various magical villages and small towns, as well as Hogwarts and other official magical buildings.

"The Nightmare Lord has been caught. He will soon stand trial for the lives he has ruined, and the laws he has broken. Rejoice now in the peace that will follow the end of his rein."

Some people were cautiously optimistic, while others remained sceptical to the truth of the statement. They had heard it before, the talk of the Nightmare Lord being gone only to reappear again. For those who believed it to be a group, they awaited a new Nightmare Lord to take the mantle and continue the chaos and terror. So for some, they didn't truly believe the announcement. Not yet anyway.

But the Nightmare Lord himself had started laughing when he heard the announcement, and said to one Wizard's Council member:

"You forgot the detail where I didn't slaughter your little men and women when they failed to kill me. That they didn't capture me at all. That instead, I chose to surrender."

In hindsight, that had been his first mistake. Not that the Nightmare Lord realized it at the beginning of his capture.

-o-

Being surrounded by people who wanted him dead was not news to the Nightmare Lord. Rather, it was a scenario he had encountered several times. He always won in the end, even if sometimes winning meaning he was gravely injured and would have died had it not been for the fact his body simply refused to let him die. Or rather, Death itself refused to accept him.

It had been an hour since he left the manor. He had just travelled a bit, to see something new. He hadn't even made a move against any villagers. That day he had set out for his version of a walk, Apparating over England to freshen his view.

How they found him he didn't know. Maybe they had tracked him for better part of that hour. He wasn't sure, because he hadn't paid attention. All he knew was that one moment he was alone, the next he was surrounded.

They hadn't said anything to him. Instead the spells had rained over him. He deflected a few with a shield, let others run through him with barely more than a shudder, and put up another shield to let some spells simply slide off him.

It had been fun for a while, dodging spells and letting them run circles around him trying to get him killed. But then the lord thought, what would happen if he stopped. If he let them. What kind of things would await him if he was… captured?

When he would think back to that moment, he would realize it was one of the stupidest decisions he could have made. But the lord wasn't always smart. In fact, Elise and his other servants would probably have appreciated if he stopped doing foolish things so often.

But he stopped. Held out his arms and they all stood still. Some bleeding, others out of breath. All with their wands trained on him. He smiled.

"Alright," he said. "I'll play along. You want to catch me? Congratulations; you just did."

They looked at each other. One apparently couldn't keep it together, for a moment later the lord saw a sickly green light coming towards him. He took the killing curse, and responded by laughing. They all drew back. He raised his arms again, showing his bare hands.