“Hunger is coming.” His creature had said, taking the vigor out of him for a few moments. He’d been left hyperventilating as his anxieties ran about uncheck and only quelled thanks to Hope and Bliss. With the child holding his hand and Bliss singing his song, Dailin got over his shock. Though he still felt the mix of dread and fear, yet it had been subdued and put to better use urging him to act.

His first response was to flee, as he’d done since he’d born into this forsaken realm. But, unfortunately, he’d followed that path to its end, and there was nowhere left to flee to. He was at the end of the realm, or at least one of them. Now he had to face his troubles, and he wasn’t prepared, not in the way he wanted. At best he had a tenth of the sky covered by his Oasis, where originally, he’d planned to have his work finished before dealing with the Nightmare. The collective power of the suns above him at his command, and the source of the Mana finally contained and only available to him.

Instead, it flowed down as sparkling motes of light that collected into liquid streams when they neared the pull of the Anchors maintaining the flame malestream. Perhaps said storm would lessen the number of Nightmares coming for him, but he kept his expectations of that low. He saw what Bliss had, gazed upon the grotesque abominations Hunger had birthed, which were almost as large as the Oasis had been before he'd began covering the sky.

More than once he curst the Vails ancestors for the mess he’d inherited. Of a doom that never seemed to end.

A hand tightened around his own as Hope presence heightened, and the fluttering in his chest pushed back the worst dread and his fear had to offer. The time for feeling sorry for himself was over, time in general had run out, now that Sanctuary was gone. He and his family were all that was left now, the one thing the Nightmare craved, and with the Mana at their call. They would reach him, be it with towers of flesh or carapaced mockeries of his own Oasis. They would arrive and strive as before to consume the Vail. But this time, this time the Nightmare was going to experience what it was to hunt something cornered. Survival was past them, the horde cleansed and the realm remade, peace awaited, the path where he could fix all his mistakes.

“It’s all going to unfold for the best,” Hope said to him sweetly, a child smile offered as he looked down at her.

He gave a thin one in turn as he nodded his head. “All will be made right,” he commented. ‘My every mistake will be washed away.’ He thought to himself, mind skimming across Blisses as he watched the Nightmare rise from the waves of Mana. Hunger had prepared for this moment, many of the monstrous spheres rose, accompanied by the Carvers that merged together forming towers. They rose as one as Bliss retreated back through the clouds of flames racing towards him.

‘Gather all those that are ready Bliss,’ He commanded, sending the thought coursing through his creature. A heartbeat later different specks of lights filled his mind eyes. Spheres of Bliss, the souls once consuming Mana, surged towards him and collected tightly together forming a bed of stars. He’d planned to use them as a means to weaken the Nightmare and the ocean, have them and the troubles spend themselves as he finished his work. But that wasn’t possible now, the Nightmare had grown faster than any of them had expected. The mistake causing the loss of the central piece that was Sanctuary, and so the tool to keep the Nightmare stumbling about was now gone.

Already the monsters were coming for him, no delay or rest after the battle that just took place to claim the Givers last Vail. No, the beasts moved on, already demanding more of meal that was at its end.

‘So be it.’ Dailin thought, connecting his will to the Oasis. His home was as strong as it was ever going to be, time for improvements was done. The time to cleanse the realm was at hand, and like the Nightmare, he wasn’t going to wait.

He willed the Oasis to move, his landmass of a home gliding across the barriers of the Suns as it headed toward the rising beasts. Already the monsters entered the walls of flame, not bothered by their burning touch. From Bliss eyes he saw their path stay true, perfectly aligned with his home. The Nightmare knew where he was, always had by the looks of things. The past him would have wondered how, but given all that had occurred the answer was simple, the Mana made it so. Desire was all that mattered, and right now the Nightmare, Hunger, wanted him more than anything.

‘You’ll get exactly that beast,’ he thought, willing the Oasis on and glancing at the runes showing his home was fully charged. ‘You, all of your kind, will choke on that want while I burn you out.’ His home was suited for that, both in the power that it could unleash and the amplifiers that would keep it fed. He’d made more of those, had scattered them evenly about the curtain layer.

‘Everything is going to work out,’ he told himself as the feeling of dread increased. Even after all he’d done, the changes he’d implemented, both to his own body at times, and to his home. Still, instinct warnings never left, it had lessened, but with the Oasis no longer growing its call of threat returned to its steady incline. The Nightmare was a threat, his life was at risk.

'Always is, always will be,' voices whispered. ‘Life ends and starts again.’

‘Not if I have my way,’ Dailin sent back to his inner thoughts. He would make it that he lived forever, no longer would he be plagued with another life, forced to restart at the bottom. He would continue this life forever, sheltered and persevered. Same with his family once Bliss is remade and the souls are freed. Then brought back into a realm devoid of any form of Nightmare, real or etheric. They all will be happy.

The voices didn’t counter him, even when he felt reluctance words held back. He was fine with it, their opinions mattered not in the coming affairs, all that matter was his actions. And he was going to end this Nightmare, one way or another it was going to stop.

“I’m ready,” his creature announced. A quick look through the beast and he saw its lights had formed together into a single dangerous construct. It had condensed the Mana as much as possible, yet the construct was roughly half the height of the Oasis before its change.

“Stay where you are,” he instructed. “I’ll weaken the Nightmare as planned, if I get into trouble then you may act.”

“As you desire Maker,” Bliss said then added. “But are you sure you want to do this, should it not be reversed?”

It should. At least in the past, but not now, the Nightmare had to be slowed and so far Bliss and the Giver had failed in accomplishing that. The Nightmare was feeding too quickly on the Mana, its reserves keeping up with the demands of the Wards. But how well would they do against his Oasis?

It was best to find out, for if even he couldn’t stop them, then they would have to be swift with considering new means to end things. Well him anyways, Bliss would keep the beasts back while he thought, and the Giver would do something, probably not helpful or effective, as she'd shown she wasn’t the creative sort.

“It’s time the Nightmare experienced fear again,” Dailin said to his monster. “The Oasis is the only thing that can deliver that,” he answered. Maybe after a few losses of its mightiest forms, Hunger would retreat for a time and allow him to continue building. “Remember, stay where you are and continue adding to yourself.”

“Yes, Maker,” Bliss spoke, her voice cheerful, but not at the height it should be. A part of him wanted to accept the offer, well more than that, but he moved forward with his makeshift plan. Mostly because Hope was keeping him steady. His fears, still plaguing him, didn’t have the same depth as before. Nor was his despair or doubt affecting him like normal, the fluttering of belief in his chest was keeping the worst back, and for that, he was beyond grateful towards Hope.

Through scouts Bliss maintained near the Horde he watched their progress. The storm might as well not even existed at this point. Its burning touches once cleansing the realm of all life, was now thoroughly ignored by the new forms of Nightmare.

It was a fitting name as he looked at them, towers of flesh covered in maws full of pointed teeth and twisting mandibles. Clinging to them was bloated masses of flesh half-covered in misshapen limbs and patched carapaces. Worst was the realm eaters, the embodiments of Hunger. Flesh spheres, that were in truth just floating mouths, with a central maw that could unhinge and spread as wide as it needed to engulf its chosen prey. Like the rest of the Nightmares, it to was covered with smaller mouths, all just as hideous, and screaming as a staved child would. Dailin couldn’t forget the disturbing fact that each of those smaller mouths could spear outward and become snake-like appendages snapping at targets from a distance.

They were a fitting sight for him to behold, a statement really of the madness that awaited him if he fell further, if he didn’t fight to preserve his life.

‘If you don’t try,’ voices whispered. ‘If you give up again.’

It was cruel, that something so simple was the reason he was enduring this. Unfair really, someone should have told him sooner.

‘You knew, don’t lie to yourselves,’ the voices said. ‘You never felt right about what you were doing, but you just ignore it, too inconvenient, to bothersome to look at the harsh truths.’

Dailin frowned, had words at the tip of his tongue, but he let the matter slide. He had more important things to do than indulging in another argument with himself.

Watching through Wards, Dailin witnessed the Nightmare exited the storm and enter the calm golden skies above. They didn’t slow, or be taken by the spectacle happening above their heads, of suns spinning in an enteral dance. Of the glistening specks of Mana flowing down in a slow rain. No, their course and speed stayed the same, they only wanted him, everything else was ignored. Or maybe everything else might not even exist to them, blind to all but their overwhelming desire to eat Vail.

He increased the Oasis speed, though the Hearts could swivel about, he preferred the Nightmare to be directly under him. Better that way, so the beam of light would travel down into the depths of the realm and burn out the beasts at their roots.

As he traveled, he watched more of the towers of flesh rise from the flames, they appeared from multiple directions, some already directly under him. They screeched loudly as bold interlocked Cravers surged up faster, eager to be the first to reach him. It wasn’t long before Dailin saw towers collide with his home, the Wards flashed, and his instruments notified him of the barest of dips in his reserves before being refilled. The Carvers bounced back from the blow, the towers swaying and dipping back down for another go at his defenses. Soon he had multiple striking and ricocheting off his defenses.

Not all smashed themselves futilely at the Wards, a third instead fired collective screams. Their wind blades distorted the air, but nothing more, they like the other attacks were blocked by his defenses with ease. The instrument panel barely notified him of changes as his numerous amplifiers pulled in Mana from above.

That however slowly began to change as more of the foes appeared, amassing from the flames below. Runes pulsed at him calmly when the dense horde he’d seen rise first made contact. The flying caspases of bloated flesh wasted no time launching out their elongated hair-like mouths. Nor did they wait to open their central mouths and unleash a storm of lightning at his home.

Their mouth hairs did the same, the limbs wiggling about striking at the length of the Oasis with no real mark in mind. His home was a landmass after all, miles long, it wasn’t like anyone needed to aim to hit it.

Runes pulsed brighter informing the growing cost of keeping the Wards powered. Still, everything was fine, even with his body filling with nervous energy. That was only excepted, the sight outside even with it being held back was, unsettling to look at. Monsters had come for him, their intentions pure, and animalistic. It was either them or him.

Breathing in, Dailin slowly exhaled soothing away the energy rushing in his body. ‘It’s going to be them,’ he told himself moving his hand in place. The Oasis stopped, and he waited for more of the beasts to amass.

The minutes passed, the runes pulsed, whispering to him of mounting danger. The fifteenth layer began showing signs of reserves dipping for longer periods of time. Yet he waited, let the horde swell to the point it began to blur the vision of his Wards. They screeched so loudly, were saying something in their own native tongues as they tried to shatter his home.

A shift from how they’d been acting before when it came to the Givers Oasis. They'd been so careful not to harm it. Not so for his home, it could be because there was no possibility for any of the beasts present to wrap his creation inside a mouth to slowly chew on it. Or maybe the beasts were done with waiting, they’d got their appetite wet, and now they wanted more. And given the size of the Oasis, it properly gave the illusion of a bountiful harvest waiting inside. And like blood-crazed raiders, they blindly massed together falling into his trap.

His hand fell, and like never before lights erupted from the Hearts. The screeching was consumed by the roars of flame, his vision was taken from him as his mind eyes were made blind. The runes howled as the heat produced harmed all, even his home, forcing it to waste power shielding itself from its own attack. His hand stayed firmly pressed against the activation Rune as he dimmed the amount of light his Wards showed to his eyes. Slowly the whiteness fell away revealing the scene outside.

Gone was the serene nature of the gold casted sky and the sparking dews of Mana. The realm was engulfed in white and blue flame born from the lights that speared down into the realm. The flame of the storm was cast aside by the arura of the pillars his home-produced, engulfed by fires far beyond their own. The ocean of Mana below suffered the same fate as lights warped the air and pushed the ocean apart. Below, a searing hole was made as the realm melted and light dug deeper and deeper.

Even though Dailin couldn’t hear them over the roars of his chant. The Nightmares were still near his home, their forms twisted in gruesome shapes of pain. All were consumed in flame as the beasts thrashed about writhing as they fled. But that was only for the beasts on the outskirts of the attack, those directly in the path of the beams were no more. Larger swathes of the horde were simply gone, turned to dust. The rest plummeted down, racing and crashing back into the ocean below.

His attack didn’t go unanswered however. The realm below countered with an attack of its own. From every direction, chants came hurling up through the oceans and struck the Oasis. Lightning, the only spell the beasts knew that could reach so. Dailin traced his fingers around Runes, had Hearts once aimed perfectly down begin to turn about. The beams of light raced across the realm, cutting all in its path as it went and fell upon the main areas that the counter-attacks were coming from. Resistance quickly ceased in those areas, only to start anew in others.

the Nightmare learned quickly from his display. For the attacks became evenly dispersed, leaving him no choice but to have lights chase after small clusters.

His central Heart did not, that continued drilling down into the realm, burning it and transforming the landscape into a motel hellish ruin. Runes pulsed at him, stronger than before, the fifteenth layer had been spent and he was now using up the fourteenth. His own heart, even filled with Hope, spiked with fret, and without thinking his hand rose.

There was no transition, one moment the realm burned, the next it was freed from the flames. The storm and the air rumbled, so to the Mana ocean as they collapsed back into areas once denied them. Dailin was able to see, for a moment, a tidepool take place as the Mana flooded over the hole that had been made. All of it flooding down into the realm.

His home even freed of the burden of the chant, still pulsed at him. The Nightmares hadn’t stopped their attacks, no they only increased, more of the storm was pierced with bolts crashing into his home.

Still even as the underside of the Oasis was assaulted, the fifteenth layer began to refill, the suns above feeding his creation with their endless bounty. He watched the reserves rise, agonizingly slow, as he drummed his fingers on the panel. He wanted to activate the spell again, to cleanse everything, but worry kept his hands in check. He couldn’t risk letting his home run low on Mana. It took only one unlucky moment, one instant of his home being spent and the Nightmare would shatter it.

No, he had to wait, needed to be sure when he went on the offensive again it wouldn’t put him at risk. But that didn’t mean he was out of options.

“Bliss,” he said nervously. “Time to go introduce yourself once more, I need you to stop these annoying attacks coming from below.” He requested looking at the closest construct and showing it a smile. “It would make me very happy,” he added so the creature would fight harder.

The monster gave him the look of woman smitten. As if he’d said the most romantic and sweetest thing to it. “it will be done wonderful Maker,” the beast said as a construct moved closer and hugged him tenderly.

He allowed it, needed it in truth, the affection added to the mix being spun around him, keeping him from being consumed by a flood of worries and fears.

The construct stayed attached to him as Bliss colossal form outside descended in a blur of radiant light that plummeted through the storm. He watched through its eyes as the monster slowed its descent and hovered over the ocean of Mana. Said ocean moved up and fused with Bliss as it began to sing, calling to it and souls. Looking through Bliss eyes he saw them, witnessed the thousands of tiny spots that headed upward and joined with his monster. More kept coming, showing that his attack had killed untold numbers of the unprepared beast.

The construct scanned the area then dived down into the ocean. It charged towards a location where streaks of lightning were coming from. Dailin heart clenched when he gazed upon what Bliss saw, its vison well beyond his own. The ocean was polluted with Nightmares, thick clouds of eggs were constantly spat out and bursting open as new Nightmares swelled to life, growing horrifically fast.

The Nightmare was everywhere, growing, sucking down the Mana like fish breathing water. Bliss ignored them, its sight focused on the Nightmares attacking. It was the realm eaters, their roundish fat forms firing the chants out with their elongated mouths, while the true mouth of the beast sucked in Mana.

His creature fired upon one of the beasts, lightning striking it harshly, but meaninglessly. Its Wards flared, and the Nightmare sucked in more of the ocean while its Mouth hairs turned from attacking the Oasis, and fired at Bliss instead. His monster didn’t dodge, it let the strikes shattered upon its Warded frame same as the Nightmare. It too was consuming the Mana, kept unmarred by the life-ending chants being cast at it. Bliss collide with the beast, its size double what the realm eater was. Still, as Bliss latched out it, hammering its bulk with realm quaking blows, and sending light searing into its maw, the beast merely thrashed at Bliss, annoyed more than anything. Any loss to it was restored as its many mouths drank in the ocean around it.

The ocean due to all the inconveniences it brought, felt like another enemy for him to deal with. The Nightmare was at home within its depths, a favored environment for them to spread unchecked even with others trying to undo their progress. Even with Bliss more powerful than the beast it was facing, the ocean was making that fact mute as the two restored their reserves continuously. Yet there was one thing it could do to end this problem, and his creature was uniquely qualified for it.

“Bliss,” He called out, the idea forming in his mind out of nowhere. “Encase the beast with your form, cut off its ability to acquire more Souls.”

Bliss looked at him, a picture of stupefied realization, afterward Bliss gave a self-mocking look. “Most wise Maker, my appearance isn’t so appealing to them anymore, not with their eyes set on you.”

“Hurray,” Dailin said bitterly under his breath, as he watched Bliss act upon his command.

The form it once had of a gentle-looking Vail dissolved and the slightly pinkish hued colored Mana coated the Nightmare. Bliss covered everything, became a second glowing skin taking on the shape of the beast that squirmed underneath. The Mana in the area warped as Bliss consumed more of the substance to maintain herself, for the beast trapped within was launched chants from all its mouths. It tried piercing the prison skin, wasting itself faster as Bliss performed its own spells against its trapped frame.

It screeches echoed harshly within Bliss, but only there, no sound was able to penetrate his creature. Sadly, the horde around Bliss still acted. Fellow Realm Eaters turned their attention to Bliss, striking it with lightning. Carvers speared and bounced off the skin of Bliss, the Wards glowing pretty as his creature drank from the ocean and undid all the harm taking place.

Slowly, at least to Dailin, as while his monster was trying to stop the Nightmare assaults. His home was still being fired upon by an increasing number of chants. The Nightmare head within Bliss died, with the flow of Mana cut off, and its own attempts to escape speeding up its own depletion. the Wards encompassing it blinked out and Bliss, sickeningly crushed the beast to death contracting its construct. After Bliss shredded the flesh then burnt it to cinders.

The deed done Bliss took own it previous Vail form, its smile unnaturally wide as it looked at the other Nightmares striking at it. Showing teeth Bliss rushed at them, other versions of itself splitting off the main, all enacting their new method of attack.

A small victory as his creature spread out attacking more areas assaulting him. At least now Bliss could deal with the larger Nightmares, but his home was still being sieged. Waves upon waves of bolts tried to flay his home, to end the safety it provided for his vulnerable family. Yet Dailin continued to wait, watching the layers as they refilled from the sun’s strength. He would not act till all were full again no matter how alluring it was to believe he’d never burn through all the stores of Mana held within the fifteen layers. Even with Hope assuring him all would be fine, he still waited, he wanted, needed to be sure he was at his best before acting again. There was no need for pointless risks, time was all he needed, that slow steady movement that placed things in his favor. His source of power was infinite, the Nightmare source was not. As long as he was careful, things would work out for him.

Runes flared in protest to that thinking, and the steady rise of Mana slowed even more. Hesitantly Dailin looked through the Wards. Beheld a great arc of lighting hammered into his home, followed by another, and another.