//------------------------------// // 15 - Youth in Ecstasy - The Last Nightmare. // Story: Diamond of Darkness // by alfonso_rd_33 //------------------------------// Morrigan had minimal information to fit the mortal's dream. She wasn't expected to be someone specific, just an attractive young woman walking the streets alone after dark. This mortal was a predator in every sense of the word. Morrigan felt numb with fear. Diamond of Darkness Chapter XV: Youth in Ecstasy - The Last Nightmare. As she walked down the dimly lit street, aware of the human monster following her, she wondered why a succubus should fear a mortal. It was really ridiculous.*She* was the demon, the true monster that mortals must fear in their nightmares. Even these sexual dreams that succubi provided to mortals were supposed to be a subtle form of attack. Encouraging mortal men to act on their primary desires without being impeded by morality in their dreams increased the likelihood that they would act upon them while awake, in many cases staining their souls and helping them win their way to Makai to be reborn once they died. *She* was supposed to be the monster she feared, not the other way around! Maybe it was her human blood that weakened her, scared her like that. That was certainly the idea whoever it was who was sending that horrid witch and Opal seemed to want her to get used to. She was half-human, therefore she deserved to be a victim. Morrigan felt an emotion begin to rise within her that she had rarely felt in her life. Anger. If she was half-human, she was also half succubus; half-demon! No mortal should take advantage of her! It should be the other way around! And so, with this new anger burning in her womb, Morrigan turned to face the human monster, who had followed her into a dimly lit alley. A predator was soon facing against another of a different type; very different, which was evident when Morrigan's demonic wings sprouted from her back and head. Her green eyes glittered with unholy fury, and mouth opened in a scream, showing before his frightened eyes her long, inhuman fangs. The smooth, soft-textured arms, lacking the up strength to push a man of his size, gradually tightened, filling themselves with powerful, sinewy muscle. What was to be a very satisfying dream full of pleasure, intended to solidify and encourage the mortal's evil tastes, quickly became his worst nightmare. And the last. Some time ago, Morrigan had begun trying to direct the fights she experienced on her borrowed dream assignments. She used the skills she had learned and really fought. She had had to lose each time, of course, since dreams would not progress to pleasure otherwise, but the young succubus had been forced to hold back more and more to lose each battle. She had become a strong and skilled fighter, no longer needing to borrow skills from the women she personified in dreams. She was a warrior. This demonic warrior now used those same abilities to destroy his opponent. They say that one cannot really feel pain within a dream, but most dreams are not being controlled by an angry demon. Morrigan hit him, broke him, and hurt him. She hurt him for hours, dragging the nightmare until she tried all the techniques she knew about his battered and bleeding body, and some she invented on the spot. He should have died a dozen times from the injuries she inflicted on him, but she exerted influence on the dream she now controlled and forced him to continue living. In her mind, she wasn't just fighting a sick mortal who had wanted to hurt her. She was fighting Opal for giving her to him, and that witch for her abuse. She was punishing all the people who wanted to hurt her. And it felt great! Finally, once she was satisfied, she allowed the tormented mortal to dream of collapsing on the ground. He was finally dying. Dying in a dream isn't supposed to be possible either. Normally, you wake up abruptly just before that happens. The mind cannot imagine something that it has never experienced, and the absolute terror it feels when approaching such an event is enough for the mind to stop the dream. When your dream is being controlled by a demon, that cannot happen unless she allows it. Morrigan was controlling the dream, and she wasn't going to let it end until she was well and ready. However, at his feet, the mortal was dying. When his mind could no longer conceive of any reason why he should still be alive, he accepted death as fact. A bright little miasma emerged from the body of the dream; The immortal soul of the man. Acting on instincts she didn't even know she had, Morrigan drew his soul to her. She opened her mouth much more than a human jaw should be able to stretch and sucked the soul into her body. She could feel the soul in her belly, it was a warm ember as relaxing as a hot winter meal. And it gave her something more than he had ever felt; An avalanche of incredible power! Regardless of the opinion of Opal, Morrigan was truly a succubus; A demon. She was by nature a selfish being, even if they considered that her personality lacked evil qualities. The soul she had just devoured was indisputably that of a very wicked man and filled her with power that was her birthright. It was a whole wave of excitement! Her whole body sung with energy! She had never felt so strong! This power was different in many fundamental ways from the physical strength she had developed while training. It was pure demonic energy, like the one her Father could handle; the kind that was said a mongrel like Morrigan could never use. Grinning from ear to ear, Morrigan decided that he had ended the dead mortal's dream and returned to Makai. It was a wave of excitement! Your whole body sang with energy! He has never felt so strong! This power was different in many fundamental ways from the physical strength he had developed while training. It was pure demonic energy, like the one his father could handle; the kind that said a mongrel like Morrigan could never use. Grinning from ear to ear, Morrigan decided that he had ended the dead mortal's dream and returned to Makai.