She doesn’t have any imagination… but once she creates something, she knows instinctively how to make the best use of it. Intriguing. Useful. Does this only apply to her, or the other nightmares as well?
“Don’t stray too far. Remember, we’re still in enemy territory.”
She laughed, some more, ignoring my call.
“Onna. Enough.”
She didn’t stop. She was laughing. She continued laughing, zipping back and forth, laughing harder, and harder, and louder and louder. Her laugh changed from being filled with glee to being manic, uncontrollable. She rushed back at me, landing atop the icy staircase, and grasping my helm.
“H-ha – hahaha – hahahahahahaha!”
She tried to speak. Yet, before she could utter any words, she would start laughing again, laughing and grasping her chest. Laughing and slamming her head against my knee. For a brief moment, the laughter would stop, and she would open her lips, only for her to start laughing anew.
“Ha -hahahahaha – h-he- hahahahaha -me – haha!”
Help Me.
“This is…”
With one hand, she dragged me off the staircase of ice. The Lagoon was crystal clear below us. The fog was gone. Onna’s manic laughter continued, as we descended, her finger pointing straight toward a creature standing atop the clear water.
Giggles
[He Who Laughs Last]
[Elder One of Cosmic Humor]
[Ancestral Deity of Krvavi Lagoon]
Nuckelavee
Level ?
Chapter 17: Revelations
[Path A: Janus]
“Elder One?”
“It is a title given to a nightmare who has lived, at the barest minimum, nine-hundred and sixty-nine years,” Erzili explained. “An Elder One has their mastery alongside their title to indicate what the Elder One has mastered in the years they have been alive. Erzili is the Elder One of Ecstasy, which indicates all the years Erzili pursued and invested in the field of attaining mastery of human pleasure.”
Erzili sat on the bed, crossing her legs. “Erzili’s mastery of pleasure was the reason Erzili was approached, one day, by a mysterious being who at the time simply went by ‘The Dreamer’ bestowing the position and title of Night Emperor of Lust.”
“What does it mean, the title of Night Emperor?”
“There were seven of us originally, each one named after the seven vices. Two others eventually joined in, and we became known as the Nine Night Emperors. We were strong, darling. So strong that at the height of our power, all nine of us together nearly defeated an Anathema. We commanded territories spanning half a continent and had armies and vast Domains larger than countries. We were the strongest nightmares in Alamir, capable of challenging Champions. Alas, darling… it wasn’t to be.”
I frowned. “What happened?”
“The Dreamer happened. He was convinced, that Alamir wouldn’t last another thousand years. He said that we should all abandon ship. He argued there were numerous realities, universes, and timelines, some running parallel from ours. He urged us to leave Alamir and become gods in another reality.”
Erzili shook her head. “We believed it. We had no reason not to. The Dreamer’s Epithet Skill allowed him to foretell the future, so if he saw that the world was to end, we were inclined to trust him and search for greener pastures. Some of us were eager. Erzili agreed to Dreamer’s plans.”
Erzili waved her hand. “There was a machine constructed with thousands of enslaved Alamirians to take us across worlds – or so we believed. Ultimately, we realized too late that it was all the Dreamer’s ploy. There were no other worlds. The machine ripped the vast majority of us of our powers, and the Dreamer gained all of our Epithet Skills and powers for himself. His goal, he said, his true goal, was to challenge Alamir.”
“Challenge… Alamir?” I tested the words. “Challenge the world? I don’t understand.”
“Erzili never quite understood it either. Dreamer said he had to ‘end it this time’ and took off. In the chaos surrounding his betrayal and disappearance, the rest of the Eight Night Emperors turned against each other. The Dreamer had not been the strongest of us, but he had been the one to bring us together and was the one that stopped us from killing one another. Without his leadership – the Nine Night Emperors were done. During this power struggle, Erzili was killed. Erzili’s lands – taken. Erzili’s darling army, beautiful castle – destroyed.”
“You were… killed?”
“At the time, yes. But a small fraction of Erzili remained. Small enough to regenerate from. Erzili was weak, weaker than Erzili had ever been… but Erzili was alive.” Erzili shook her head. “All of Erzili’s former enemies that knew Erzili as a Night Emperor began hunting Erzili for vengeance. None desired to let Erzili return to the height of power that Erzili once had. In between evading former powerful enemies and evading the fallout of Dreamer’s treachery, Erzili has been trying to rebuild... with so far, very little success.”
Erzili sighed. “And then, Erzili began hearing rumors. A new group had formed again – a new group that had taken on the mantle of the Nine Night Emperors. And once again, they were led by a person who called himself… Dreamer.”
Erzili laughed. “Though, there are clear differences now. This new group, rather than working together, it seems they all take orders from Dreamer. Erzili does not know why Dreamer resurfaced with this new group, but Erzili wants to find out. Erzili wants vengeance. Erzili wants answers.”
I pointed to myself. “And me? Where do I fit in?”
“Like you, Janus darling, Dreamer was a Demiurge.”
“…I see.”
“He was the one to teach Erzili the knowledge of the Nightscripts, the one to explain the Mothertongue, to decipher the language thus that we, the Night Emperors, would not go insane from reading it. However, as we were not
