Helsing woke up in a sweat with his snake spiny tail quivering in fear. Not another nightmare..did I offend the boogeyman by being born or something? Granted I should be used to them by now. Yet they’ve been getting worse. He thought to himself as a throbbing pain on his right arm overwhelmed him. The pain is sourced from the bear paw-like mark.

Helsing took deep breaths in…and out..in…and out….in and ouut to help him swallow the pain. He sluggishly stood up changing into his soot-stained tank top, dark gray pants, and old-world charcoal-colored beanie that covered his dark ginger hair. He walked out of his room into the kitchen of the small cabin-like home he lived in. Helsing sighed softly, rubbing his eyes trying to shake the groggy feeling that tuned out reality.

“ Helsing. Helsing dearie are you alright?” Called the gentle elderly voice that sat at the table. Helsing looked at the source of the voice that brought him to the present, he saw his Gran. An elderly woman dressed in dull old robes with round glasses like owl eyes. Her long white hair was loosely wrapped in a bun, she sat up straight in her chair with a look of concern on her face. Helsing sat at the table with a plate of sausage and egg.

“ I’m fine Gran, just uh just another nightmare..”

“ Aye I see, I’m sorry lad that we still can’t find a cure for it.”

“ It’s not your fault, Gran. It’s our ancestor’s fault, and whoever cursed us.”

“ You gonna work today or is the pain too much?”

“ I’m going, Gran. Don’t worry I’ll be fine, I can’t miss any more days or my business will crumble. Plus I need to live somewhat normally.”

Gran nodded slowly and continued to eat with Helsing. When he finished Helsing put on his boots, and a metal splattered stained apron then walked out of the house. He walked through the small town.

The people glanced at Helsing in fear. They avoided him whenever they got near them. The children of the town either screamed or rarely gazed at him in awe when they saw the patches of dark green scales under his eyes and on his body and his eerie yellow serpent eyes.

As he walked through the town square he stopped to listen to the soft murmur of some merchants.

“ The High goddess Vita’s kingdoms and her angels have been taking over other gods’ kingdoms. She’s taken Crow’s kingdoms, most of Tonitrus’s kingdoms, and so many more. But while my ship was docked in the Thunder Kingdom Vesper I overheard some angels discussing battle plans to invade all of Pestis’ kingdoms,” said one merchant with brightly colored clothes.

“ By the gods,” gasped another merchant.

“ How bad can it be? I mean she is the High goddess of life and protection so she knows what’s best for the world. Maybe it’s a good thing,” said the merchant wearing normal clothes for their area.

“ She’s not as good as you think. She’s ordered her angels and Winged Archers to keep complete order in the kingdoms she conquers. If someone so much as litters they are publicly humiliated then sent to prison where they are starved for how many months they declare. I have even heard rumors that any royals that don’t comply are imprisoned or exiled or sent to worse fates,” replied the merchant in brightly colored clothes.

“ But isn’t there a law against all this conquering? My sibling is a priest and they’ve studied the Divine Laws cover to cover. And I’m pretty sure there’s a law against all of this, so why aren’t the constellations or the other High gods doing anything?” Another merchant chimed in.

“ The Divine aren’t that different from us,” said the merchant in bright colors and vibrant patterns.

“ How so?” The other merchants questioned in unison.

“ Vita is the daughter of the King and Queen of the gods. She can do what she likes with the world she created. Royalty always gets what they want.”

“ I suppose so. This world was created by her..”

“ But it was the others who made this world what it is!”

Helsing watched them talk and left when they saw the blacksmith watching them. How can beings who live in Heaven be so cruel? Isn’t that against their rules?

He entered his smithing shop with the sign reading ‘ Damascus’s Glass and Metal Smithing Shop’ overhead. Helsing smiled to himself as he entered his shop turning on the lamps, seeing a teenage boy satyr asleep at the entrance desk of the shop. The boy snored deeply as he drooled on the request slips from customers he slept on. Helsing rolled his eyes in annoyance. Take up an apprentice Gran said. It’ll be fun and a great experience, she said. Honestly, all this boy is good for is drooling on my papers. He thought to himself as he lit the furnace, stocking the shelves of the shop with weapons, armor, shields, glass pots, and vases that were already ready.

Helsing gazed at the boy who remained asleep as he shifted his head to nuzzle in the crook of his arms. Helsing smirked as he grabbed his smithing hammer using it to strike the anvil making a sharp loud ping sound that echoed throughout the concrete-walled shop. The boy shot up immediately and fell out of his chair squealing. The boy landed on the ground butt first.

“ Eh Sir! Y-you’re back!”

“ Yes, I am. You’ve let a few balls drop while I took a weekend off.”

“ Uh, y-yes sir. But they were only minor things! I fell asleep checking off the requests I did for the shop sir.” The boy stood up dusting off his slightly cleaner apron.

“ Were they satisfied with your work?”

“ Very much so sir! I followed your work journal for a few of the glass stuff, though. I’m not very good with glass yet.”

“ Don’t worry, Nako, you still have time to learn. Plus glass smithing is dull and useless most of the time. Now go see if you can get more scrap metal for the shop while I work on some requests.”

Nako nodded and swiftly trotted out of the shop with his hooves clicking on the concrete floor. Helsing picked up one of the request slips that asked for a sword to be crafted for a Stadiumship. Helsing gathered the tools needed and began crafting the sword requested, as he was watching the metal melt he heard two Pestis temple priests talking outside his shop window.

“ So in my nightmare, I was being attacked by my bats in an endless cavern all alone. Then I heard a voice say to just stop running. So I did and the bats swarmed around me, and somehow I ended up standing on a frozen lake in the Frozen Fears. Then the Boogeyman himself came to me and asked if I desired anything. I told him I desired to serve the goddess Pestis the best I can, then he called me lame and told me to tell this story in front of this sho,p and then he sent me back. In return, he’ll tell Pestis of my deed.”

“ Seriously? Why? The Boogeyman is strange compared to the other Divines. What makes him so different from the others? Anyway, now that you’ve done him a favor we can finally head to lunch.”

“ Agreed and really any human who passes the Dream Trials without struggling is strange.” They then walked away gossiping about more useless things Helsing tuned out.

So in a nightmare, if you just let whatever happens to happen you’ll be transported to the Nightmare Realm. Maybe at last I can talk to him and he can finally remove this curse before it takes over me. I hope he can do it. He’s the Dark Sage after all. He thought as he poured the melted metal into the mold of a sword. That’s when his apprentice busted through the door holding some scrap metal.

“ Helsing sir! The gang is back! They’re going after your Gran!”

Helsing’s pupils thinned as he ran out the door taking off his apron. Why won’t these filthy sea rats leave my Gran alone?! She’s done nothing to them! He thought to himself as he sprinted toward a crowd of people gathered at the center of town.

Helsing pushed his way through the crowd seeing his Gran being slapped around by a gang of pirates that all had tattoos of a skeleton compass on them. The people shouted various slanders from ‘ down with the CurseBlood family’ to ‘ kingdom desolators’ as the pirates continued to fight her, but Gran kept dodging the best she could.

Then the leader of the gang with the tattoo on the right side of her face, grabbed Gran by the old woman’s throat, choking her. She laughed and taunted the leader in her thick accent, but it was hard to tell what she was saying. Helsing felt his blood blaze in powerless fury as the pirates continued to mock his Gran. I have to do something! Argh! Why can’t they just leave us alone!?

Then a dark red haze began swallowing his body. Shit! No no no! Not this! Please do not do this! Not here! Not now!

A beast with a body like a bear and a tiger mixed leaped out from the crowd into the fight. The beast had a head of a tiger with large paws with bear claws sheathed out and a short cat-like tail.

Its pelt was a deep maroon with almost shapeless dark markings that decorated its body. Its wrathful eyes like a raging fire burning a forest. The edges of the creature didn’t seem defined but more sketchy and hazy. The beast roared with its white mouth wide open and strands of red goo that connected the bottom jaw to the top jaw or just hung from the top jaw.

“ Please, not this again. I know I know I shouldn’t have gotten angry. But please don’t hurt anyone!” Helsing pleaded inside the monster’s head.

“ All must die! They hurt innocent people! They die! I must! Hurt them! They hurt us!” The beast roared back at Helsing.

The pirates quivered in fear at the sight of such a beast. The crowd screamed in terror and then ran away cowering in their homes, leaving the pirate gang on their own. The beast snarled with anger but anger didn’t seem to describe what that beast felt. The beast galloped toward the leader of the pirate gang tackling her to the ground giving Gran a chance to slip away. The beast’s paw covered the pirate leader’s entire chest, crushing her. The leader gasped for air as the beast leaned his head in snarling and baring its fangs.

“ P-Please spare-!”

The beast cut off the pirate’s pleas with a single.

CRACK

The leader’s body was squashed like a fly against a wall. The rest of the pirates shook their heads and cowered off to the docs.

Gran watched them leave then looked at the beast, sighing to calm herself down. She carefully stepped over to the beast who was still clawing at the dead body, Gran rested her hand on the side of the beast.

The beast glared at Gran seeing the saddened expression on her wrinkled face, and the disappointment in her old golden eyes. The hazy beast figure slowly shrunk inward revealing Helsing on his knees in front of the mutilated corpse tears formed in his eyes seeing what he did. His body began shaking in shock as tears flooded from his eyes. Gran gently rested her hand on his shoulder.

“ Curses!!” Helsing shouted in frustration, as his gran remained silent still wearing that saddened expression.