[Contest] Nightmare

    Chaotic Evil is the truly free evil spirit. Someone of this alignment will do whatever they want, whenever they want. Seeing as they are more evil aligned this often times means they are typically of the antagonistic and aggressive nature. Death and Destruction truly follow these individuals more than most of the other types of their evil brethren. More often than not being possessed of an impulsively violent nature and a total disregard for people, laws, or even the world around them.

   Traditionally this means that Chaotic Evil is best representative of destruction, not only of life and goodness, but the very laws and orders that sustain and protect them. This is one of the primary reasons why Chaotic Evil characters tend to be the most terrifying type of evil to come into opposition with, as their blatant disregard for reason, rationale and rules of society makes them incomprehensible to most (even the order and rules of a Lawful Good/Evil and the selfish/selfless pragmatism of Neutral character).

   Nightmare is a living embodiment of these values through his manifestation of many different attributes. The most apparent one being that he is an Intelligent Monster Chaotic Evil character. The Intelligent Monster has no care for whom or what they destroy, and they often times do so in a method that is excessive and brutal out of sheer satisfaction. While they display the actions with brutality equivalent of a Feral Beast, the Intelligent Monster actively makes plans and shows to have a horrifyingly twisted and intelligent comprehension. While this is the most accurate comparison for Nightmare to a Chaotic Evil character trope, even this is not entirely accurate in every regard, as the character is their own unique blend and fabricated character.  

     What is a Nightmare, but the poetry of fear itself?

   A nightmare begins at a point that the mind typically cannot remember, so too is it with the one whom shares the namesake. Nightmare was not born, it was not fabricated or created. One moment it was not and another it simply was, it began. When it began, so too did the count of many missing persons cases. Beginning with Lieutenant James Avery, part of the Los Angeles Police department. After a dispatched unit was sent to Scratch Robotics for complaints of public disturbance call in; Lieutenant Avery would radio back to the department that they had found “something”. When asked to elaborate, Avery said…

”We need EMS here! We’ve got a person, approximately six foot three. He was sitting in the corner covered in blood, entire streaks of it on the ground, looks as if he crawled from another room.”

”Copy that. Dispatch will work on getting EMS there. Is there anyway to I.D the victim?”

”No, I haven’t checked pockets yet. I came out to get the first aid fro- SHIT!”

“Avery, what’s wrong!?”

“They’re gone!”

“Gone? Avery what do you mean they’re gone?”

”They aren’t here! Got bloody boot prints headed to the next room. Standby.”

“Avery, stand down! Do you copy? Wait for the others to rendezvous with you….. Avery? Do you copy? AVERY!?!”

Lieutenant Avery was never seen again. The LAPD had to release hope of his return, and eventually he was presumed dead. That’s how the nightmare began. It only picked up from there. Across LA there were people receiving phone calls that resembled someone “struggling to breathe”. People would walk pass the living room and swear they had seen something out of their peripheral vision, but when they turned there had been nothing there. The number of phone calls increased, and several reports were made. People would come home to find their front doors open Within two weeks each of those people reported hearing someone walking in their bedroom, but most of them had not reacted, as they assumed it was their partner moving about for the bathroom. The only person missing was Morgan Pikes, whose bed was left unmade and messy. No signs of struggle, and no one to know she had been missing for over three days. Altogether the people whom were plagued by the increasing creepy calls and the strange occurrences came to an end.

Four months later and Las Vegas, Nevada would experience the same string of events. Several people took calls that noted the sound of asphyxiation. Multiple people had seen things out of the corner of their eyes, and as fear compelled them to loon, they would find themselves scared by nothing out of the ordinary. There was an increase in the number of calls, an increased number of sightings and eventually they heard footsteps throughout their bedroom at night, though this time they heard the footsteps all throughout their house during the day. By the time they called 911 investigators could find no trace of anything unusual. Then, just as had happened prior. It all stopped. Three days after the harassment stopped, there was a report that Kayden Hart had gone missing, and no one had been able to locate him.

The smaller city of Manchester in the state of New Hampshire would begin to see this trend beginning not two months later. Several phone calls being reported, but the numbers were much greater in mass. The occurrence became a federal investigation as the calls became larger in numbers. The calls number almost tripled in this area, bringing more and more paranoia throughout the community. The media covered the story like the vultures they were. The police could hardly hold themselves together as they tried to search for a pattern, trying to get ahead of the mysterious caller, to see whom he would try to abduct next. Then a new development came as a local forge manager called about a stranger vehicle being present several days out of the week with a falsified permit. Initially it was believed to have been unrelated, but much to the dismay of the police it would prove to be more. Just as they found a patter, the caller had changed things up. The course of the investigation met it’s roadblock when the single woman Darcey Thomas called in crying one day, saying she locked herself in her room and calling for help. She reported a six foot tall person dressed in black with skin falling off it’s face and a hood shuffling towards her from her front yard, making the same noises that she had heard on the phone. As the police went to protect the woman that night, using her as bait, they tried to lure the caller.

The caller stuck that night, but not at Darcey. The Westons, a family of four, consists of Mr.Weston, Mrs.Weston, teenager Sarah Weston and little brother Max Weston. In the home of four that very night, Max had gone missing. As the room was investigated the police found their first clue, fingerprints and a few strands of hair. The caller hadn’t left any evidence before, and so the forensics team was quick to work. Though the story the forensics had to reveal had only brought sorrow and grief to all. The DNA revealed that the prints and hair belonged to none other than former Lieutenant James Avery. From the hair they were able to find presence of soot, and quickly the police moved to detain the abductor, Jamed Avery, at the nearby forge. By the time they got there, it was too late.

As the police swarmed the forge, they found themselves stumbling upon a small room in the back, hidden behind chains. In this room, on a chair was a severed hand gripping tightly to a handful of hair, hair that did not belong to James, but rather to the child abducted just the night prior. Blood was splattered upon the floor, Arterial spray and venous blood mixed across the floor with a blood hacksaw. New Hampshire then went silent on the issue. Next it was Pennsylvania a place by the name of New Castle. While drugs polluted the area, the police were still very horrified to figure out that the calls had begun there as well. The numbers were even greater this time. The same old story, but this time it was not one person who went missing, and rather than taking weeks it happened within two days. It was two...or rather, a little girl, Melanie and her dog.

Police were left reeling as they tried to tie the connection between the victims, and continued to look for the girl. Their investigation led them to finding fur upon a bed in a hotel, the fur being the skin of the girls dog, it’s collar ripped off, and the girls necklace tied around it. The harassment continued for several days after the abduction, until eventually the police knew he would strike again. Melanie’s mother went to the media and pleaded with the abductor to let her have her little girl back. So the abductor struck again taking Melanie’s cousin, Samuel, in the dead of night and leaving Melanie within the room.

The abductor’s traces were few and far between. There was speculation as to who it was, what their motives were and who could possibly be behind these disappearances. Fear was running rampant and even federal officers were struggling to keep things pinned down. But when the disappearance picked up again was less than a month, and it was in the very place that it had begun.

Los Angeles…

Testimony from the little girl, Melanie, revealed absolutely nothing of her captor, other than she felt an overwhelming sense of fear as it would sometimes claw her arm to make her bleed. The entire time she smelled nothing but putrid odors of decay, and the abductor made the growls constantly, not just while he was on the phone. What it did with the blood she did not know, but she knew that it was very scary and that there were “others” there like her. When she was asked what they were talking about, she was able to change the color of her hair and eyes. Within hours it was revealed that every missing persons had in fact been a metahuman, and James Avery had once been placed on suspension for accusations of mistreatment of a metahuman civilian, though the investigation proved this to be false.

Los Angeles became the new stomping ground for this epidemic. There were phone calls ringing left and right, the same sounds and the same strange “Corner of my eye” reports. Sightings were still rare, but there was new information. People were beginning to comment that there were strange smells around the time they had seen something from the corner of their eyes, or when something would fall off the wall. Soon at night there would be full out attacks, attempts to terrorize. Phones would be turned off, cell phones missing as the elusive caller seemed to infiltrate their home, and continually chase them throughout the halls of the place they once felt safest. But by the hours of the morning, he would be gone, though the smell and the feeling of fear that he left behind would linger.

You see the thing about Nightmares is that they have a beginning that no one can truly remember. But even if the nightmare ends there is a lingering fear, a thing of trepidation when you go out into your waking world. But nightmares only increase in intensity...until eventually you wake. Just yesterday they found all of these missing people, sitting in a room together, dressed in the most strange manner of clothing.

A man in a duster coat with no hand, wearing a porcelain mask as he sat in a chair with a book of academia before him, his insides ripped through a way that was akin to wolves just to remove the heart. Another man sat dressed in colorful fabrics with Kevlar beneath kicking back with his throat slit and several bite marks, his tongue ripped from his throat wound as he held a soda can in his hand, a nice rounded mask with a wide display of laughter, hiding the horrified face behind it. Further down the table there was a woman in a skull with a burger king crown on it sitting on a pile of ashes on a fancy chair. The next was across from her, and it was the child. A young boy that had been physically scarred and left to bleed out. They had found him just in time, and thus making him the only survivor of the group. Then, at the head of the table there was a chair without anyone in it, in the seat there was a complimenting mask to the other two men, this one depicting the emotion of anger.

His abductions turned to murders. The main suspect, a dedicated warrior of justice with a hidden temper was found dead at the table dressed in the mask of a neutral person, his heart ripped from his chest. The happy and jovial masked one was poor Mr.Hart pulled from his life of debauchery and his silver tongue pulled through a wound in his throat. A woman was cremated alive and had a child’s paper crown placed upon her skull, and finally there was a child that was alive but slowly bleeding away from life. Thankfully he could be saved...but all that remains for us to wonder now is who fills this last seat, and will this be the end of the nightmare? Or will it only increase in intensity? Is this maybe just a taste of what it will accomplish?

The Detective assigned to the case was Detective Jonathan Robins. He was a recipient of one of the abductors calls, finding himself in direct confrontation with this beast. Turning to the help of a consultant, the Detective managed to ascertain that the creature held some greater level of intellect, as all of his calls were ordered in a very particular way. He found a list of every person called, and the exact time they were called They were categorized by their last names, and they were placed in that order upon the board.
Victim: Morgan Pike      Location: Los Angeles   Message: “Payback”
Victim: Kayden Hart      Location: Las Vegas      Message: “Can you hear me”
Victim: Max Weston      Location: Manchester    Message: “Thought you had me”

   The detective sat in his chair looking at the board, realizing that the entire time the killer had been leaving entire messages without anyone having received them. This could help build a psychological profile, or it could help in some way assist in the investigation. But now here he was, knowing that he was the third person called this time. They had three victims dead with one survivor in critical condition. The man leading an investigation was a possible target and all he had to go on was what he had to see on the board for THIS time. He knew the reports, he knew what the Weston girl had said about the stench of death…. Which is why the moment he realized that he could smell something off he sighed and walked up to the board and changed the board. Stepping back he reached for his gun and checked his safety off. He quickly made his way out of the office. He was perfectly capable of handling himself, but he knew that if he was not careful he would be just another victim.

   As the detective left, his final notes on the board, including the message he decrypted were left behind for whomever came next….

Target: Jonathan Robins   Location: LAPD   Message:


“Our little horror story has just begun”

Left Hand: Necromis -Nightmare's left hand is the flayed and salvaged flesh of a villain known as "Necromis". Everything this hand touches dries out and becomes abiotic, meaning that the tissue and living flesh is transmuted into non-living material which causes the creation to become brittle and flake away. Beings with regeneration, regardless of how powerful will find their regeneration heavily slowed.
   Necromis Weakness: Any power of light or healing will cause the hand to smoke, harming Nightmare and disabling its powerful affect.

Right arm: Dysphasia- Nightmare's right hand when applied to a target causes them increased difficulty to swallow and breathe. This means that the longer he touches a target, the longer it takes for them to breathe even after his grasp of them has been released. Even if the being cannot be killed by means of lack of oxygen there is a constant and lingering sense of dread. For every second that Nightmare has their hand on a person, they will experience the effect for a second after his release. Making it effective for him to strangle someone just by having contact with them for slightly over a minute.
  Dysphasia Weakness: As Nightmare focuses on this power, he himself suffers the effects as long as his hand is in contact with organic tissue. Meaning that while he is not required to breathe, he has a paranoid and horrific sense of urgency to attempt to breathe, which can be very distracting.

Torso: Vestige of Ash- Nightmare's torso is stitched together with flesh and remnant skin of a being known as The Vestige of Ash, an ancient primeval man that terrorized Excalibur city. After the death of the man, it's large body disappeared in transit, attached by animals it would seem. The flesh of this torso allows Nightmare to move unimpeded through ice and fire, causing it to part ways around him and leaving him unscathed.
  The Vestige of Ash Weakness: The flesh of this being reacts horrifically to steam and mass quantities of water, causing it to become like a heavy congealed tar which slows the movement of the one wearing greatly.

Name: Cadejo
Age:  5
Race: Undead Hound

Appearance:


Personality:
   A fierce and nearly feral hound, the Cadejo is Nightmare's personal hound, and it takes after it's master quite well. It's prone to violent outbursts and hunts down any and all whom come within it's master's territory. It's built to kill, maim and torment foes while corralling them to it's Master's domain. It holds an almost uncanny intelligence, though it seems to be capable of rebelling against it's master under some circumstances.

History:
  Cadejo was once a single being that belonged to a young girl named Melanie. The hound lived a rather average life for it's first five years, but then it's life was cut horrifically short when it, along with the girl Melanie were abducted. When Melanie was released, however, the small hound was not. Nightmare kept this dog and began to imbue it with remnant, tripping away it's flesh and instilling it with several metallic claws on it's paws.

   Cadejo earned it's name when it was hunting a small family, it's exposed black flesh and unnatural fangs and claws earning it a reputation, as well as the flesh of other beings melded into it's tail to make it much more ferocious. Much like the mythos of the Cadejo, it hunts down people who travel, corralling them to death itself.

Powers:

Undead hound Physiology: The beast is a Frankenstein like amalgam of hounds and dogs of all kinds. It holds the ability to function like that of a wolf, with powerful jaws an raking claws that can carve through cars. It also survives things that would otherwise kill most normal things. Even dismemberment fails to stop this creature form persisting past death.

Cadejo's Call: The Cadejo is capable of mimicking almost any noise it hears, and is capable of recalling what it has heard for a long time. It is known for letting out shrieks that are meant to demoralize enemies, or even separate family members and then lure them farther apart by mimicry of voice.



Weakness:

The Bane of all Life: The Cadejo despises fire, for the same reason as it's master. Fire is the only true means in which to kill the creature.

Purity of white: The Cadejo's construction has lead to it's eyes to being sensitive to the color white. Anything colored white seems to have a harsh glow when it's retina processes light. This causes the beast to calm itself and select targets other than these beings dressed in white. Even on Nightmare's command, it will not attack someone dressed in white.

True-Name Nemesis: Anyone whom knows the Cadejo's name from prior to becoming an undead beast, will cause it to immediately pacify and regard them as friend rather than foe. The Cadejo will not only refuse to hunt these individuals, but will actively attack Nightmare for actions taken against them.

Telltale signs: The Cadejo is more often smelled long before it is seen. The ever-present smell of sulphur and brimstone surrounds the beast, making it also incredibly avert-ant to any fire of any size, due to it's likelihood to combust.

The rain drowned out all else. You could barely hear her labored breaths, or the sound of her soaked feet padding against the floors. Her lungs burned as oxygen filled them as her heart was left racing so powerfully she could swear it felt as if it were trying to burst from her chest. She had long passed the point of exhaustion, and by now on an average day she knew that she would have been done with such exertions over an hour ago. Looking behind her as she felt her hair stand on end. nothing but the dark empty hallway behind her, flashes of lightning illuminating the dark corridor with moments of light.
Nothing there.

    She felt herself almost collapse with exhaustion as she ducked into a room, closing the door behind her. The torrential downpour battering the metal roof, cleansing the earth a thunder bellowed it's ominous murmurs in the distance.  Her back against the door she slid down, bringing her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs and buried put her face upon them. Her black hair was still strewn about as she tried to keep herself quiet, sobbing silently as her entire body seemed to quake. A violent crash rang out as the electrical judgment cracked like a whip upon the cruel world. The sudden nature of the violent noise caused the young woman to lose control of herself, crying out "NO!" for a moment before uncontrollably weeping. She hugged herself tighter, trying to regain some sense of control. The flash of light coming in through the window next to the door, an echo of light bouncing from the hallway.

     She tried to force the haunting visage from her mind, desperate to rid herself of what she gazed upon not half an hour ago. The more she tried to purge her mind of the monster, the more the creature seemed to dig it's bladed claws into her scalp, anchoring in...wrestling with...choking it until it's futile attempts to be free had been snuffed out. Her head shook as she would look up, peering in an almost hesitant manner, unsure if she truly wished to know if she shared proximity with the monster. The room was still empty, save for the girl, a desk and a filing cabinet. She almost refused to believe her eyes, a feeling within the pit of her stomach surged forth. Her hair stood on end as her skin was covered in bumps, a heavy sense of nausea flooded the woman as she swore that she could sense the creature were there, it's very presence haunting her.

     The creature towered over her at six foot, standing greater than any man she knew with shoulders so broad that it seemed to be doubled in size. Each arm was inherently different, the asymmetrical monster was all too unique. It's left arm-or was it it's right? Try as she might she could not remember. She knew that one arm seemed to be metal surrounding what appeared to be two rather human like bones in the forearm, the rest above had been obscured by the shroud it wore. The metal formed around the arm like a brace, but at the wrist it seemed to melt into the bone and produced blades from the creature's fingers, curved like talons one would imagine upon the reptilian predators of a long-gone world. It's other arm was perfectly in contrast, appearing to fit well with the beast, a humanoid like hand covered with a black glove that seemed to have some form of apparatus upon it, though it was hardly noticeable.

    She tried to push it from her mind yet again, but she couldn't bring herself to wrestle with it. She watched this monster's talons shred through the flesh of her friend. The creature did so without mercy as it slowly seemed to take the other girl by her throat in one hand, slowly lifting her up as he let the talon rip through the skin like leather from the base of her neck to her sternum. Despite how she kicked, screamed or tried to strike, the creature was unphased.

     Her fiance, Robert, even tried to stop the monster from killing her friend, but the creature then opened it's mouth, revealing not one but two sets of teeth. The first being a set that appeared to be sharpened and plentiful, like the mouth full of thickened needles, and the second row appearing to be similar to that of man. The thought of this monstrosity being a man made the young girl shudder, trying to push the images from her mind once more with no avail. She watched as the beast took a bite of her Fiance’s arm and he yelled for her to run.

    The creature was covered in black from head to toe, it's face hooded as a shadow was cast to obscure the face behind. The face appeared to be like that of a shambling flesh amalgamation, shredded and rotting with protruding bone. The black duster-trench coat it wore seemed old and frayed, the visible blanching and growth of mold and cultivated spores from years of neglect. Beneath the coat there was a thin black cloth that seemed to obscure things even farther, a redundant system for such a mindless beast, but she had known what she saw beneath that. The faint glisten of a polished metal. She could not be sure, but given the way that the creature had yet to be harmed by bullets or blades, she had to guess it was a form of titanium or tungsten. The metal itself was quite obviously anodized, the way that the colors of black and maroon meshed together were something she had only seen with the decorative coloration of knives that her father had. He had said they had undergone that process.

    The creature's armor, and it's cloak, were covered in a thick and very viscous gelatinous looking substance. The color had appeared to be a very dark red, making the young woman wonder if that had perhaps been blood. She was almost certain that it had been, but the way that the substance seemed to be coagulating, and how it seemed to seep from between the areas of its joints and armor, she couldn't help but wonder whose blood it was. The creature wore boots like man, it wore humanoid clothing. But this was no man, even if it was human this was truly a monster. The first thing she knew of the creature though was the overwhelming stench of rot and decay. As if all the corpses laid to the worms had been dug up and left to the sun for days, that would be the smell she would imagine this beast to smell as. She shuddered, the pouring rain's chill finally having taken her attention. Rummaging into her pocket she had found a lighter, the only source of light and warmth. With a quick flick she let out her shaking breath, trying to calm her nerves for even a moment as the shock still sank in.

    A loud thud shocked the woman as the window beside the door, she jumped a little, as she saw a twitching finger placed against the window. She was fearful for but a moment before she realized that the hand was human! She saw the ring upon the finger and knew immediately that it had to be Robert. Quickly she felt her heart leap, the chance for her beloved to be okay was too good to be true, and while she knew that it simply hadn't registered. Had he evaded the creature? was it following him? How did he find her!? None of this mattered to her, he was the only thing she had in the world that seemed to be worth enduring for. The chance he had made it back to her was enough.

   "Robert!" She called out as she seemed to shoot up, her desire to save her loved one overpowering all fear and caution. She reached for the door, opening it only to look to the side, seeing Robert was not there. When she turned again, her heart skipped a beat, seeing Robert's hand holding the door. In her mind she could see it all so clearly. He was holding the door, helping to support himself after trying to drive off that monster. Her eyes welled as she placed her hand upon his. It was cold. "Robert!" She said as she tried to pull his hand, only for him to take hold of her hand, unmoving. She tried to step aside, only to see metal talons slowly revealing from around the side of the door. Each one clicking against the metal as the creature peered from the side. She stood, paralyzed as her heart seemed to work so quickly that it simply stopped. Her legs would not run, knowing it would be of no use anyway did not help matters.

  The creature locked eyes with her for a moment, leering up form the shadows which the hood normally cast. The silver eyes seemed to be lined with a sickly yellow glow, causing the woman to whimper. The creature stepped aside, causing her to sob and shake her head. The hand that once held hers down the street, the very hand that gripper her shoulder through every scary movie, the very hand which held the ring when he proposed to her. That hand, the man it belonged to was gone, and now this monster was wearing it like a glove. The creature's eyes looked to the small flame in her hand, it's jaws opening and revealing the human set of teeth behind as it seemed to hiss and snarl.

     She knew what this meant as the creature towered over her, it's clawed fingers reached out and seemed to place a hand on her shoulder. The creature let out a little growl, the smell of rancid meat quite prominent now as it seemed to slide it's hand down her arm, leaving a trail of flesh so rotted that it smeared off.  She trembled and she closed her eyes. She tried to think of something else, anything else. She tried to think of the man she loved... of her brother that she would be leaving behind. But she couldn't.... all she could think about was this creature.

    "JUST GET IT OVER WITH!" She had had enough. She was so terrified that she had actually become numb. Her mind tingled a little as she forced her eyes she would shout, forcing herself to be done with this. She dropped the lighter, causing it to land upon the creature's boot. The creature seemed to recoil slightly, it's harsh gargling noises seemed to give pause as it's foot ignited. Quickly the creature began to drag it across the ground, as the fire extinguished it began to lift the leg, revealing that it was no longer functional. Then the creature's slowly raised it's head to her, glaring. It's fanged mouth seemed to open, the top of it's face ripping back, throwing the hood off and giving view to the monster that possessed the sickly silver eyes. She saw this as a chance for her to run. She began to turn and run, the sound of her shoes against the tile loud and clear as the creature leapt with inhuman strength. Despite it's foot no longer functioning, it had no issues dropping onto all fours and using it's three other limbs to leap and bound forward like a rabid animal. It wasn't long before it soared through the air and was upon her again. It lifted it's head back, the tufts of dark hair barely visible under the hood. The top part of it's head was pulled back revealing the disfigured horror that seemed to howl before throwing it's head down and sinking it's human teeth into her throat.

  She should have been dead. It should have been over with quickly. But she was still here, lingering. Her body wasn't moving save for the occasional twitch. Her leg had been removed as the creature took it and retreated deeper into the building. She stood there, a spectator to her own slow demise. She wept quietly as she realized what had happened. Even though she had died, had been murdered...she was still here.

The creature walked the halls once more. It stopped at her body, then it's head raised, looking straight at her. Could it see her? Was her hellish torment not over? It's sickly eyes were horrific reminders, especially as she looked down to her own body, realizing the color had been drained, leaving her own once chocolate colored eyes a lifeless silver.  She wanted to run, even as the veil of life and death separated her form this beast, she still was not safe.

The woman had been numb, thinking she could feel no more fear, and in her final moment she realized....

      She had never been so wrong.