//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: The Nightmare Without // by Dihinner //------------------------------// A cool breeze drifted through the foggy forest. A single ice blue eye gazed at its surroundings. All around it small animals were shaking in terror. Most would think they were intimidated by the owner of said eye. Although the owner had a rather menacing appearance, being entirely black with a red collar that looked like a gaping, bloody maw around its head. Its head was small and pitch black with a substance that looked like smoke that billowed out of the entire right side of its head and most of the left, leaving its eye and part of where its jaw should be uncovered. On each side it had two rather long arms with a three fingered hand at each end and three small spikes about half way up the forearm. At the tip of each shoulder it had two streamers of smoke, similar like the kind atop its head but black like the rest of its body instead of white. The lower part of the creature body looked like a torn cloak that was carved out of the darkest of shadows, torn in multiple places and a ridged tail like thing facing backward. Its legs however, were usually non-existent except when the creature decided to rest or watch from a distance. When they were being used however, they looked like nothing more than round black stilts that got thinner the closer to the ground they got. With the added height it brought the creature to exactly eight feet tall. The creature was certainly a sight to behold, despite being barley under five feet tall. But the animals still shivered in fear as the creature passed through the meadow on the new moon night. All the animals in the meadow had one thing in common, however different they might appear. Every single one of them was locked in a horrific nightmare. Which were caused directly by the mere presence shadow being. The dark being mentally smirked at the pale red aura of fear drifted off them and drifted through the late night air like smoke and wrapped around the dark creature. Its eye blazed a brighter blue as more and more fear was leached off the animals and absorbed by the creature. This was the fourth and hopefully final night of gathering fear from animals, which the creature fed on. The clouds around the now moon parted, revealing the moon in all of its pale silver glory. The creature gazed up at the moon and smiled, despite having no visible mouth, anything watching could tell it was a smile that held no warmth, only the coldness of the air around it. That fact brought grim satisfaction to the creature's mind, for its plan was starting to set into motion. Suddenly, a bright moon ray descended onto the grass just a few feet away from the shadow creature, blinding it for a very brief moment. When the light cleared it revealed none other than Princess Luna herself. Luna stared at the creature for a moment before trying to communicate to it. “I presume it is you who is causing the unnatural rise in night terrors?” she asked. The shadowy being continued to stare at Luna, like she was nothing more than another creature that resided in the meadow. Luna found the creature slightly disturbing, mainly due to how it looked like an old black cloak with the jaws of a predator around its neck like a trophy of some sort. “Can you understand me?” asked Luna again, unsure what exactly the creature was. Never before had she seen or heard of anything that even remotely resembled it. “I can understand you perfectly, Mistress of the Night,” said a harsh voice that sent a slight chill down Luna’s spine, “what an honor it is to speak with you at last.” Luna continued to stare at the creature, unsure if it was the source of the disembodied speaking or another being entirely. Again, Luna asked if it was the shadowy being who spoke. A harsh sound echoed throughout the meadow again, which was soon accompanied by the voice again, “yes, it was I who spoke to you, Luna.” Luna stared menacingly at the creature some feet away from her, most would be thoroughly intimidated by the stare, the creature, however, and was not. ‘How does this creature speak?’ Luna thought to herself when she noticed that there was no mouth on it. After thinking about it for a moment, she decided that is was some form of telepathy or something similar to that. Finally, Luna spoke to it again, “who are you?” To her surprise, the creature bowed to Luna and spoke again, “I have many names, Princess Luna, The Nightmare, Lord of the Shadow, and Bringer of the new moon. You however, can call me Darkrai.” Luna still stared art this ‘Darkrai’ and asked it one final question, “why, exactly are you here?” Darkrai gave a Luna a menacing smile, “why, to do none other than plunge the world in eternal darkness. You, of anyone should know what I mean.” Luna stared at the creature in shock, the way it had stated that so calmly had disturbed Luna. “Try as you may, Darkrai, you will never gain control of the moon or the sun to create your ‘eternal darkness’.” Darkrai gave out an even more disturbing cackle, “My dear Princess, plunging the world into eternal night is not my plan in the slightest, no.” Darkrai’s grin became even wider before Luna discovered it was never really there. Darkrai seemed to have noticed Luna’s realisation and its stilt like legs formed to make him at least two feet taller than Luna. The white smoke drifting out of Darkrai's head suddenly became a dark red as Darkrai continued to smile. Suddenly the entire world became dark except for the white smoke and the single left blue eye of Darkrai that filled Luna’s vision. “My plan it to plunge the world into a never ending Nightmare.” The world finally became pitch black once more before a blinding light erupted everywhere, illuminating Darkrai once more before he disappeared into nothingness. A chilling voice echoed throughout Luna's mind before the bright evening sunset awoke her. “Make sure you tell your sister that i'm waiting. I hope she's not scared of the dark."