Night Terrors ~Solo~

Altar awoke to a flash of light from seemingly nowhere, and a loud clap of thunder. He had the same nightmare as the past few nights. It was always the same, no variety what so ever. The same mysterious attacker, the same splashes of blood, the same blood curdling screams, the same inability to save them. Always the same. Never different. And it bothered him to no end. He could never shake the feeling that he had the nightmare for some reason, but the reason was never explained. It was almost like something was leading him to an important message that he never received. He had always been annoyed at that fact. It was almost as if some unseen force was toying with him, giving him leads and hope, only to draw it all away in the end. And it was only made worse, as Altar couldn't shake the feeling that the message he was supposed to be receiving was incredibly important somehow. He would definitely need to figure out a way to get that message somehow. But that would need to come another day. Now, he had business to take care of. Well, not really, but he figured he wouldn't be getting to sleep again. Not that easily, anyways.

And so, Altar walked out of his house, still mulling over the nightmare as he began to walk. He paid no mind to the few people calling out his name as he walked along the street. It was pretty late, so barely anyone was out and about now. But Altar had gathered a bit if a reputation for walking alone at night, so the few people out along with him at that time of night knew him well. He had always preferred the dark, after all. He guessed it was just natural to him. He was a Shinkou, after all. Still, even before he had grown to know and adhere to his dark side, and his blood, he had had an almost unnatural fondness of the dark. It had always been so much more peaceful, so quiet and loving. It made him feel known and heard. It was so quiet at night, that no matter how soft spoken you were, your words could be heard. They echoed and bounced off everything, until even the stars hanging over your head heard what you were telling them. It tended to just be imagination, but damn it was still a cool thought.

Altar continued his slow walk through the village, going past the training towers and the tech shop, eventually finding himself alone in the plains. He had always loved it here. The softly glowing flowers gave off an aura of peace and serenity, and the stars and moon itself above the rolling plains only seemed to resonate with the flowers. Everything here seemed in tune with itself, and it was a glorious and almost breath taking sight every single time he saw it. It managed to keep the whole feeling of the dark and night, but it illuminated it and gave it a safe, serene feeling as well. It was hard to accurately describe and portray. Altar snapped out of these thoughts to once again found himself underneath the sole tree in the plains. He loved this tree. He had never figured out why, but he had always loved it. However, it probably wasn't the best place to be during a somewhat severe storm. So, Altar moved to keep going. However, a sudden flash and loud crack of thunder proved to be his undoing. Altar's right eardrum nearly popped as he looked in that direction just in time to see the tree he had always loved come crashing down on top of him. And that was when things went dark.

Altar awoke the the strangest sensation he had felt in a while, and the sound of voices. He tried to move, but soon found the task impossible. This caused him to panic, struggling against the invisible binds as much as he could, trying to get a reaction, a movement, a wiggle, but to no avail. His body refused to move. It was like he was locked down by the strongest bounds ever made, but he felt no pressure. It wasn't that he was locked down, it was just inability to move. Another strange thing was, he could not see. His eyes felt open, but nothing but pure dark surrounded him. It wasn't like a pitch black night time kind of dark, it was pure black, nothing to see dark. It was unnatural, and combined with his newly found inability to move, it was starting to put him on edge. Then the voices started.

They were hazy and far away at first, but slowly approached him. They were coming from all sides, and there were so many he couldn't count them. They all seemed to weave together to form a single verse, then split apart, as if saying different things then. Then they started moving. Almost spinning around in circles, or so it would seem. The voices started speaking faster, as if they were being rushed or hurried along. They grew more urgent, saying more words faster and faster, until they all became a huge jumble of nothing but noise. The voices became incomprehensible and dizzying, spinning faster and faster, getting louder and louder, more and more urgent and rushed. And then it all stopped, as one voice rang clear of the noise. Altar instantly recognized the voice.

"Altar? Altar! Come on, wake up! This isn't real. You can fight this. But you need to wake up. Now listen to me, and listen closely. I know i've told you before to ignore and escape the darkness, but this is one time that I need you to embrace it. But don't let it take you. You need to take it, and you need to mould it. Shape it. Use it as your own. You are a Shinkou. You are a master of the dark. You can use it as as much of a weapon as you can see it as. So wake up, Altar. Wake up and do what you do best." The voice of Nekoda, Altar's yuumei, rang clear through his head. And with those words bouncing around his head, everything shattered around him, and he found himself able to move, and able to see. Looking around, he found himself in a strange place. Everything was as it should be, except two things. One, there was no perception of time. Everything stood still. Secondly, everything was a dull grey. It was all monotone, various shades of grey everywhere, however it never strayed from the same dull base tone. It was almost as if all the color had been sucked from the world, and due to that lack, it was standing still.

Altar took the opportunity to walk around, trying to realize what had happened. However, a voice sounded from behind him. It was a somewhat familiar voice, but it still shook him. Looking behind him, Altar spun his body and was instantly shocked by what he saw. His parents stood behind him, their mouths moving, but only repeating one line.

"You failed me."

Those words caused Altar to falter on his feet, finding his new stance on his knees. Here, his parents stood before him, with no expression, and only repeating the same damned phrase. Soon enough, another voice echoed out from behind him again, and Altar turned to see his sister. He smiled, but only for a second, before his smile faltered as well, a frown forming as he realized she was doing the same exact thing as his parents. Her mouth moving, she repeated the same line as his parents had. Soon, it was the only thing he heard. He believed them. He wanted this to stop. He didn't understand what this was or where he was, but he wanted it over with. He wanted to be home now. He tried convincing himself this was all a dream, but he refused to wake up. This was all too real. Perhaps he had died and found himself in hell enduring an eternal torture. After all, the last thing he remembered was the lightning, then the tree falling on him. Could that have been enough to kill him? No, that seemed to small a blow. There had to be some catch here. If this was all just his mind playing tricks on him, then there had to be an abnormality. He would've over looked something if the size was of this caliber. And then it hit him. His parents, for all he knew and cared, were dead. He wasn't sure of that, but it was the most likely reality of the situation. They had reason to call him a failure, and curse his name. His sister, on the other hand, he had saved. She was alive and well. She had no reason to call him a failure. This was an inconsistency.

Altar looked to his sister, as much as he didn't want to, and walked to her after finding his footing again. He took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes, trying as hard as he could not to freak out at the sight.

"Sis, I saved you. You're okay. Stop this. Please, for me. For your brother." Altar said, hoping that this would shatter the illusion and bring him back to his reality. However, the exact opposite happened. His sister grabbed his hands and threw him away, as the voices grew louder, adding more lines to the constant rant. More of how he was a failure, how he should've died a long time ago, how he would never grow to be what he wanted, how he would never be able to protect anyone. This caused Altar to snap. He fell to his knees again, desperately trying to get the voices out of his head, clutching at his head, trying to block out the sounds of his family insulting him.

"You're a failure."

"Stop it..."

"You should just die, you worthless scum."

"Go away."

"I wish you had never been born, you pitiful excuse for a brother."

"ENOUGH!" Altar shouted, his anger coming to the surface. His Meigan flashed from it's usual crimson to the jade green it takes when it's active, as a huge pulse of energy came from Altar. The pulse disrupted the figures of his parents and sister, and momentarily gave the world color, and time started to move for a second before halting again, and everything returned to grey. The figures took form again, starting back off on their rant. Altar looked at himself, wondering just what he had done. It seemed to have been a huge pulse of pure yuumei, or some what mixed with chakra. Altar decided to try it again, and tried adding more power. This time, Altar willingly and consciously gathered yuumei and chakra together, before forcefully expelling it from his body. Again, a large pulse went outwards from him, and this time, the pulse was much larger and stronger. The figures dissipated entirely, not reforming, and the world once again took color, and time once again resumed moving. Altar sighed a small sigh of relief, as things appeared to become normal again. However, he looked up to see the tree coming down on him again.

Altar deftly sidestepped the tree, moving out of it's way with ease. That was close. A second late, and the tree would've crushed him entirely. And wouldn't that have been a shame after learning this new, nifty trick. It seemed to be just a huge expulsion of yuumei mixed with chakra. But then again, that could come in handy. While he doubted it would be very useful in physical confrontations, yuumei was an anti chakra, so it could possibly be used to sap and drain chakra from a target, given that they could be caught in the blast radius. With that in mind, Altar made a mental reminder to try it against an actual human target when he next had the chance to see if his theory was correct. With that in mind, Altar moved to return home and get some rest. All this mindfuck had really tired him out...

~TWC: 2045~
~10 SP~
~Learned Meiton: Dark Pulse~

Approved.