《Nightmare》


 Aizan the Slayer

    There is a funeral for the great hero who slayed the demon king. He became cursed afterwards and died shortly afterwards. The whole kingdom is here weeping out tears of sorrow as the king and the pope give their speech. Each shovel of dirt moved over the coffin adds on to the mournful tears of the people. They get their strongest knights and wizards to move a statue of the mighty here over the coffin. It reads here lies Aizan the slayer of demon kin.


    100 feet below the dirt. In a gold and white masterpiece of a coffin all that can be heard is a loud sigh. ¡°So this is how they decided to get rid me eh. Well they probably decided I was too strong to keep around. But jeez they couldn¡¯t even kill me they just left me here. Since I¡¯ve trained my body I can probably survive a few years. I have a good supply of water and food in my storage ring.¡± But this is gonna be a long few years I wonder what I can do to keep myself busy.¡±


    Aizan the Slayer of demon kin was buried alive after foul play from the pope and the king. They gave him a strong poison that would slow all his vital signs for a day and played it off as a curse.


    After a month of solitary confinement with no hope something interesting happens. Aizan sees a black sludge about the size of a fist seep into the coffin. ¡°Well that¡¯s new. Hopefully it¡¯s something new to eat or interesting I¡¯m getting tired of stale bread and retelling stories to myself for entertainment.¡±


    The sludge reforms into a solid. It looks to be a baby fetus with no mouth and sharp claws. The lower part of its face rips open to reveal a mouth with black blood dribbling out. ¡°So mortal I have a deal for you that could get you out of this precarious situation would you like.¡± Aizan cuts him off quick ¡°sorry not interested you seem like you want my soul or me to sell my humanity for so dark powers and I still have faith in my god come back in a few years when I¡¯ve lost my sanity maybe I¡¯ll have changed my mind.¡± ¡°Hmp so be it foolish mortal If you want to change your mind just speak my name farewell.¡± ¡° Wait you never gave your name wait goddamn ass hole.¡±This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    After a year of isolation he¡¯s told his own story to him self so many times he now thinks of himself as a third person.


    After two years he¡¯s now gotten low on food and started relying on carving drawings on his coffin with bloody fingers.


    After the third year he finally snapped he thrashes around wildly yelling ¡°Let me out Let me out!!¡± Having ran out of food he¡¯s resorted to self cannibalism and eaten atleast 4 of his own fingers.


    He stops his tantrum after he sees out of the corner of his eye a similar black skinned being sitting with a mad grin. ¡°So I see you have all but lost your mind where is your god now.¡± ¡°Aizan still believes his god will save him had forgives all.¡± The little creature replies ¡°Well if he saves and forgives all why is there a hell in the first place? Why do good people have to die to go to heaven? Why do the evil rule everything but the kind get left poor and starve to death? Why have you who saved humanity from a ruthless demon king spent three years in isolation hmmmm?¡± ¡°Aizan has no answer for that little sludge man. Little sludge is right. but Aizan has come to a conclusion. Aizan wishes to leave this place. Aizan wishes for freedom. Aizan wishes for food.¡± Even though it didn¡¯t seem possible the little monsters smile got much wider as he approached Aizan. ¡°Aizan wonders what kind of demon or beast you are? Aizan never seen a imp like you.¡± The fetus abomination lays its claw on Aizan¡¯s forehead and says ¡°there are things in this world much worse than mere beasts and demons. Things that even devils have nightmares about. Now sleep fore you are about to have a long journey back to the surface it won¡¯t be easy or free. Sleep.¡±

 The test of death

    Aizan¡¯s eyes shut as his body is covered by the black goo.


    His eyes shoot open as he gazes around at a graveyard that looks so unfamiliar that it feels like a different world.


    As he sits up he sees a being that looks like a horrifying version of a jester but it has no color just different shades of black all except it¡¯s eyes and teeth which are completely white. ¡°Aizan believes you look a lot better like this all grown up mr.sludge man.¡± The jester smile turns into a face of disbelief ¡°mortal how can you still tell it¡¯s me even though I¡¯m in my true form and stop that foolishness my name is Doro you best remember it.¡± Aizan just tilts his head like a child and replies ¡° Well mr.Doro you look the same as before except grown up and with cloths.¡± He just sighs ¡°well let me explain what we are here for so I can leave you headache of a person to your own devices. I¡¯ve taken you inside a world that every mortal is connected to. My world. The world where nightmares reign every mortal briefly touches upon this world when they sleep but now have ever enter until now. I want you to be my apostle and put fear into the world once again.¡± ¡°But mr.Doro Aizan doesn¡¯t know how to make potions.¡±


    Completely baffled Doro explains ¡° Not apothecary you Dim wit apostle and let me explain your first test is to overcome your fear of death. Before you even ask no you can¡¯t study for this test. It will begin immediately your goal is to survive.¡±


    ¡°Wait when does Aizan become your apostle.¡±


    ¡°As soon as you came here you did I gave you the power to come here so you now have become my first and only apostle¡±


    Doro then fades out of existence. Aizan then gets a better look of his surroundings he notices that this graveyard is really big and filled with gravestones. That¡¯s when he noticed movement at one of the graves. A skeleton if you could even call it that it had the skull of a horse but instead of hands just sharp sword like bones. It¡¯s body wasn¡¯t see through like normal skeletons it was filled with bones that make it look much tougher.


    Aizan walks over to the skeleton and gets into a fighting stance. Before Aizan can even blink if it¡¯s already swung it arm. Due to pure reflex¡¯s Aizan jumps back with only a cut on his face and chants in his head ¡°oooooh strong fight fight fight fight.¡± But looking at him on the outside. You would assume he¡¯s concentrating and forming a plan. The skeleton rushes in again with a fury of swipes at Aizan. He dodges them with little trouble only receiving a few cuts here and there until he finds an opening and pow. The punch to the shoulder breaks off one arm and then Aizan continues with a round house kick breaking the torso in half. The skeleton then stops moving.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Aizan yells ¡°I¡¯m finished and I didn¡¯t need to study!¡± After that statement hundreds of more in many different shapes and sizes come out the ground. Aizan just looks around and yells ¡°nevermind!¡±


    Aizan weaves through each skeleton taking big gashes here and there and starts to look like mincemeat.


    He thinks to himself ¡°Aizan got to survive. Aizan can¡¯t die. Aizan does not even know what death is. But if Aizan doesn¡¯t know what it is it must not exist.¡±


    By some miracle Aizan has passed the test albeit not in the intended way but still overcome the fear of death. As he came to this realization he feels a new power inside of him. In between flipping through all the skeletons he lays on the ground in the fetal position. All the skeletons take this as a sign of weakness and rush in. Then bones comes shooting out of Aizan in every direction and impales all the skeletons.


    Doro says ¡°well he¡¯s been there for awhile let¡¯s see how he¡¯s done so far.¡± He fades out and appears on a war zone full of the bones of that cover the whole graveyard but what truly has him in awe was the sight of Aizan. Aizan is sitting down on a pile of bones with a skull in his hand talking to it. Doro just coughs to get his attention. ¡° Oh sorry mr.skeleton Aizan has to go now.¡± He nonchalantly tosses the skull in the pile of bones and jumps off his pile in front of Doro.


    Extremely curious Doro asks Aizan ¡°so what did you learn from this ordeal my young apostle.¡± ¡°Aizan learned he can move his bones but not like normal move his bones but magical move his bones see.¡± His finger tips that he ate back in the coffin regrow as big blades giving him claws. Doro says ¡° yes good that is the power you gained but what is the insight into death that you gained.¡± ¡°Oh that Aizan learned death isn¡¯t real you see mr.skeleton he¡¯s still alive just sleep.¡± Aizan crosses his arms with a smile like he wished to be praised.


    Doro smiles bigger then Aizan has ever seen him smile and lets out the biggest laugh ever. ¡°I think I made the right choice making you my apostle. Let move on to the next test.¡± Doro grabs Aizan¡¯s shoulder as they both fade out into a long corridor.

 The test of fear and pain

    ¡°Aizan this is the maze of fear filled vampires that make your worlds vampires look like common fruit bats. I want you to get to the end of it.¡±


    ¡° Aizan heard you loud and clear. Yes sir mr.Doro sir.¡± Aizan runs off into what could be his certain death but he would think he just went to sleep.


    ¡°Ok So left left left right left yup perfect¡±


    Dead end


    ¡°How about right right right left right¡±


    Dead end


    But this time he hears something from behind him. He turns only to see a massive, bulky bat like humanoid with long wings and a face dripping with blood. It takes one look and screeches as it leaps to Aizan. It pins him down taking a chunk of flesh from his shoulder. Then reaches for another bite but Aizan sticks his clawed hand into the creatures mouth scratching its insides. The giant bat beast bites down hard straight through the arm down to the elbow. Aizan in a frenzied rage places a finger on the bats head. All that is heard is a loud crunching sound as a white bone with blood comes out the other side of the creatures head. Aizan retracts his finger sword back and pushing the creature with a lot of trouble.


    He sits there looking at the blood gushing out of his arm upset and looks back at the beast then his stomach growls. Thirty minutes later there nothing but bone and blood of the once fierce beast. He lets out a belch and continues wandering through the maze now that his stomachs full. He runs into more of the beasts but after the first he knows how to handle them so he doesn¡¯t have much trouble.


    He finally after days reaches a corridor that ends in a big room with a table. He say out loud ¡°Aizan has finally reached the end.¡± He walks in casually and as something wraps around his neck. ¡°A chain?¡± As he is violently yanked to the side of the room there he sees a tall white skinned monster that has a red horns and half a robe covering only its lower body. It then raises its hand as it glows a faint red.


    Aizan then feels his body can¡¯t move. The vampire raises its hand Aizan floats up fowling the hand and is chained up to the table. The vampire walks over and says ¡°have you ever felt hell.¡± Aizan would think of a witty response but even his mouth is restricted. The vampire chains Aizan up. He begins to torture Aizan first by ripping out one of his eyes so he can watch the vampire eat it like a fresh plucked grape.


    Next is the other eye and he gets real close so Aizan can hear the gushy sounds of his eye being chewed. Next up he creates with Aizan¡¯s blood using blood magic a long thin spike. He pushes it through each ear destroying one ear drum.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    But before he does the other he whispers ¡°you know they say if you lose a sense the rest heightens. well I wonder what would happen if you lost all them except touch. Imagine the pain to the fullest degree.¡± Then pop and pain is the last thing Aizan hears as his eardrum is punctured. Next is the nose which he does by putting toxic acids made by slums of this world up to his nose. The smell it¡¯s putrid and he throws up but after awhile all he feels is a painful burn no smell.


    Next the tongue as he creates blunt scissors out of blood and precedes to slowly remove the tongue. He uses magic to clot up the blood so he can¡¯t die of bleeding. Then uses a candle to burn the mouth shut so he never opens it again.


    After that Aizan had no idea what happened but all he felt was so much pain it hurt it burned he wished it to end. The only thing Aizan can feel is pain and fear. Fear of pain. Fear of his scars. Fear of what¡¯s happening. Fear of the unknown. He then tries to think of why he fears the unknown. Because he is weak and strong don¡¯t have to fear. ¡°No that¡¯s not right¡± he thinks. ¡°If I fear the unknown. if I fear the pain. If I fear these horrors. I can become a horror.¡±


    Aizan feels tingling in his body for the first time in so long he could see but it was a weird perspective.


    The vampire in the middle of torture looked down only to see on the stomach a small eye open up. ¡°What the hell is this. I thought this was a mortal.¡± Then a mouth the size of a torso opens above the eye giving an eerie smile. The vampire backs up step in disbelief. Then the stump of an arm grows a giant snake like creature made of human flesh and stretches out toward the vampire. It bites it¡¯s jaw around the vampires neck and brings him closer to the torso mouth as a tongue sticks out. The vampire is completely swallowed whole as Aizan¡¯s body reverts to normal and he begins regenerating at an accelerated state.


    He completely heals and breaks the chains from the table with his fully recovered strength. Now that he now he stands there with chains hanging from his neck wrists and ankles. As he feel a change in the air and turns to it.


    ¡°Bravo bravo you could actually sense me phase in this time. I wonder what you gained from this¡±


    Aizan grabs his mouth that was burnt shut and rips it up but doesn¡¯t stop there continues ripping on one side up to the hairline. It opens and reveals a large toothy smile going up the side of his face and it says in a distorted voice. ¡°Why should Aizan fear abominations and monsters of the unknown when Aizan could just become one.¡± He then smiles.


    Doro just stares with a strange expression on his face as he thinks to himself ¡°He¡¯s improving at too fast of a Rate all I wanted was for home to learn how to use blood magic but instead he chose to forgo all his magic to become a monster. It¡¯s only one more test but I don¡¯t know if he will come out the same. Well who cares anyway he¡¯s already insane.¡± Doro says good job Aizan there¡¯s only one more test and if you finish you may return to the real world.¡± Doro places an arm on Aizan and they fade out

 The final test of limit and self

    In a flat black where the sky is only gray. ¡°Aizan your last test is to defeat my army then me. This will be a test of limit and a test of self. Then Doro disappears. All Aizan can hear is what sounds like a stampede of animals. Then he sees them from every direction. Human like creatures of all races ages but they have one thing in common. Their eyes glow a soft white and their skin is only black with no clothes. He sees giants, demons, behemoths, humans all around with no weapons other then sharpened claws and the same sick white smile of Doro.


    ¡°Well Aizan will find his limit and overcome it and I don¡¯t know what he means by self but I¡¯ll figure it out at some point right now Aizan wants to see a blood bath.¡± He smirks regular on one side and all the way to his hairline on the other. He grows two more arms with bone swords as arms. And bone spikes out his back. His muscles bulge a size bigger and eyes and mouths appear all over his body. As he lets out a roar and dives into the monsters.


    He extends his back spikes into a group of orcs and humans. Then using his two hand blades and spins


    Into a whirlwind of death and gore as black chunks and blood fly everywhere. He stops as a giant punches at him and he jumps onto his hand and runs up to its face. Using his regular set of arms throws to bone shattering punches. Then creates a torso mouth and takes a big chunk if it¡¯s head off. It falls limp. This battle goes on for days as bodies pile up but never slow but Aizan¡¯s regeneration begins to slow as he accumulates cuts. His flaw was he believed he was almost immortal until one of his extra arms got cut off and didn¡¯t regrow. ¡°Is this my limit. is there really nothing else left. will I be slaughtered like a pig here. There¡¯s got to be a way around this. I¡¯ve already given up my humanity what else do you want from me. I¡¯m your apothecary. No apostle. It¡¯s not fair I¡¯m only one being you have an army I don¡¯t. Then a light bulb goes off in his head. My limit is I¡¯m only one well I will then make many.¡±


    Using the corpses on the ground he sends a long tentacle arm snake with a wide mouth to eat the fallen bodies. Around him starts appearing a few creature that scare even the author. ¡°I am the apostle of nightmares I am Aizan Slayer of all I am going to show you real fear Doro.¡± All the creatures unique there are bone monstrosities, flesh abominations, blood golems. But the strongest looking of them all was a giant all black monster with it¡¯s only feature being one giant eye that covers its whole face like a cyclops. But giants only come up to this monsters waist.


    ¡°Aizan declares war.¡±


    All hell breaks loose as they kill and kill and kill until none of the enemy are left standing. So Aizan recalls his monsters and turns. As the world changes and everything is just white except it¡¯s a floor but you can¡¯t really see it. The only thing here is Doro.


    ¡°Aizan you have come a long way to get back to your world but let me tell you even though you came far this will be the hardest test yet. The test of self.¡±


    ¡°Aizan wants you to go to sleep.¡± All Doro can do is laugh at the situation he¡¯s gotten himself into by taking this man if you can call him that at this point as his apostle.


    Aizan gets into his fighting stance as does the jester Doro. In the blink of an eye Doro slams his knee into Aizan¡¯s face enough to shatter the nose. The kicks him as he fly across the room. It looks as if Doro is walking but he¡¯s keeping up with Aizan¡¯s flying speed from the kick. Doro lands three more hits before Aizan crashes into the ground. ¡°Strong even stronger then the demon king.¡± Aizan rushes at Doro only to get grabbed by the neck and held in the air. Aizan swings his body around breaking his own neck and lands a clean punch across the jesters face. Aizan¡¯s head snaps back in place as he looks at Doro. As soon as Aizan blinks Doro is gone. Aizan feels his presence like when he phases to another place behind him and ducks. All Aizan feels is the wind from the blow as he throws and uppercut to Doro. Doro lands on a handstand and says.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°If this is all there is too you then you have disappointed me Aizan.¡±


    Doro raises one hand and Aizan is caged in black sludge and can¡¯t move. He screams as it covers his face.


    ¡°What is it about Aizan¡¯s self that Aizan doesn¡¯t know. Aizan knows Aizan¡¯s self pretty well. Aizan needs to hurry and think because Aizan hates tight spaces since the coffin. Aizan remembers his time in the coffin.¡± He also remembers that he changed since the coffin. He¡¯s gone crazy. ¡°Aizan is now crazy So is Aizan not Aizan. Well if Aizan can¡¯t be Aizan then he will not be Aizan anymore. Aizan will now be Zan nightmare of the world.¡±


    Outside of the sludge only a few seconds passed in real time. ¡°I wonder if he died I know he hates being stuck in tight places.¡± ¡°What the hell is that?¡± Aizan is standing outside the black goo sitting cross cross just staring at him. ¡°Have you given up Aizan¡± all Doro hears is a small whisper. As he sees I visible crack go across Aizan¡¯s skin like cracking a mirror. ¡°Speak up¡± Doro hears the whisper a little louder but this time all around him as Aizan¡¯s skin cracks more. ¡°What are you saying mortal¡± Then Aizan¡¯s body shatters like glass all and the once white world turns black. As he hears a yell ¡°my name is Zan!!!!¡±


    Doro looks around shocked and intrigued by the display of power. He turns around feeling a presence behind him and turns to see only two giant eyes. In those eyes Doro see the world Aizan came from but the eyes zoom out farther and farther until it sees nothing but a sphere of dirt and water. ¡°Hmm so the worlds are round.¡± But then it points away and zooms past many more spheres until it stops and turns to something that even put fear into Doro. It was so massive that there¡¯s no word to describe it¡¯s size. It¡¯s skins brownish gray and face elongated going on forever like a tentacle. It has one eye in a triangle shape and a mouth big enough to swallow the spheres like gum drops.


    Doro frozen just looks at the monster that could destroy his whole existence without thinking about it.


    Then the monster faces toward the direction of the eyes like glass. Doro heart almost stops. He backs away in fright as the monster shrinks down to the size of him and just looks at him approaching. As it reaches the eye it passes through like water sending ripples through the eye. It then approach¡¯s Doro and looks at him. Doro does nothing other then shake. The otherworldly being raises a finger right before it touches Doro is sucked back into The eye. The room returns to white while Zan stands there with eyes white with no pupil but not glowing and says ¡°there are something¡¯s out there scarier then your worlds monsters and demon.¡± ¡°My new name is Zan and have I passed Doro.¡± Doro gets up and brushes off his clothes and says ¡°well this is the first time I¡¯ve felt fear good job you are my new official apostle.¡± He snaps his fingers and they are in a throne room. ¡°Ehem Zan I will now give you two choices. You can return to your world but you will be severely weekend and have a new body because your old one died. Or you can stay here and rule this world. What would you like to do?¡± ¡°Well that body belongs to Aizan and I wouldn¡¯t want it anyway so I guess I¡¯m going to my old world.¡± Doro sighs and says ¡°since it will be a long time before I see you here¡¯s a gift. This book will let you teach one person a power of this realm and has information on many of the nightmares that break loose in your world.¡± ¡°You will be severely weekend while in this world but retain many powers I¡¯ll even let you keep the name because you will be reborn this is about 50 years after your burial.¡± Zan look at Doro and says as one eye changes from white to regular ¡°Aizan and Zan thank you bye.¡± The eye reverts to its white state. Doro places a finger on Zan¡¯s head and say ¡°awaken¡±