Eragon and the main team stretched in the hallway as some sneered at the Twins entering the study.
"I'm sorry that you're in trouble because of me." Eragon apologized to Orik.
"Don't bother yourself." He answered with a grunt. "Ajihad gave me what I wanted."
Eragon reeled at the statement, Nightmare chuckling at his shock. "What do you mean? You can't train or fight, and you're stuck guarding all of us. How can that be what you wanted?"
The dwarf stared at him silently. "Ajihad is a good leader. He understands how to keep the law yet remain just. I have been punished by his command, but I'm also one of Hrothgar's subjects. Under his rule, I'm still free to do what I wish."

Eragon thought about that. "In other words, Ajihad placed this good dwarf in a powerful position as a form of punishment."
"That's gonna piss off the Twins." Red chuckled, hands in pockets.
"And in a way that they can't complain about. A tricky one, that Ajihad." Orik grinned. "Come on, I'm sure you are all hungry. And we have to get the dragon settled in."
She hissed.
"Her name is Saphira." Eragon informed him.
"My apologies, I'll be sure to remember that." Orik spoke whilest taking an orange lamp off the wall and guiding them down the hallway.

"Can others in Farthen Dûr use magic?" Eragon quested curiously while hiding Zar'roc's symbol.
"Few enough. And the ones we do have can't do much more than heal bruises. They've all had to tend to Arya because of the strength needed to heal her."
"Except those spineless Twins." Cross commented a little venomously.
"Oeí," Orik agreed. "She wouldn't want their help anyway; their arts are not for healing. Their talents lie in scheming and plotting for power- to everyone else's detriment. Deynor, Ajihad's predecessor, allowed them to join the Varden because he needed their support… you can't oppose the Empire without spellcasters who can hold their own on the field of battle. They're a nasty pair, but they do have their uses."

"I'd call them Soulless, but no one here has Souls like we know it, so it wouldn't really work." Geno admitted as they entered one of the main tunnels, people freezing in place as they saw Saphira and the skeletons. Orik ignored them and headed for one of the distant gates.

"Where are we going, dvergr?" Nightmare asked before realizing what he'd called Orik. The dwarf raised an eyebrow at him before answering. "Out of the halls so Saphira can fly to the dragonhold above Isidar Mithrim, the Star Rose. The dragonhold doesn't have a roof- Tronjhiem's peak is open to the sky, like that of Farthen Dûr- so she, that is, you, Saphira, will be able to glide straight down to the hold. It is where Riders used to stay when they visited Tronjhiem."

"Won't it be cold and damp without a roof?" Eragon pointed out.
"Nay." He shook his head. "Farthen Dûr protects us from the elements. Neither rain nor snow intrude here. Besides, the hold's walls are lined with marble caves for the dragons. They provide all the shelter necessary. All you need fear is the icicles; when they fall they've been known to cleave a horse in two."
I will be fine. Saphira told them. A marble cave is safer than any of the other places we've stayed.
Eragon mentioned something to her.
Ajihad strikes me as an honourable man. Unless Murtaugh tries to escape, I doubt he will be harmed.

Eragon crossed his arms, thinking, then asked, "Where are our horses?"
"In the stables by the gate. We can visit them before leaving Tronjhiem."
They exited via the same gate they entered, seeing the blackness inside Farthen Dûr as the sun had moved past the opening up top. Now the only thing lighting up the place was Tronjhiem, it's glittering radiance spreading out hundreds of feet away. Orik pointed up at the top.

"Fresh meat and pure mountain water await you up there," he explained to Saphira. "You may stay in any one of the caves. Once you have made your choice, bedding will be laid down in it and then no one will disturb you."

"I thought we were going to go together. I don't want to be separated." Eragon protested. Nightmare frowned at him while Error explained. "They probably make the food down low. It'd be hard to get it to the top in time before it goes cold, so it's preferable she waits for us, right?"

Orik nodded slowly, but then said, "If you wish, a servant could be sent up to the with a meal for you. It will take some time, but you could eat with Saphira then."
Eragon blinked in surprise, then thought to himself.
I'm weary. Saphira huffed. And the dragonhold sounds to my liking. Go, all of you, have your meal, then come to me. Unless some of you choose otherwise, I know Eragon will sleep with me. It will be soothing to rest together without fear of wild animals or soldiers, whether or not you join us. We have suffered the hardships of the trail too long.

Eragon gave her a look, then said to Orik, "I'll eat down here." Nightmare nodded. "And so will we."
The dwarf smiled as though satisfied, removing Saphira's saddle as Eragon asked her something.
Yes. But keep your bow. We must trust these people, though not to the point of foolishness.
He was disquieted.

"About weapons." Killer started as Saphira took off, carrying Zar'roc and her saddle.
"When are we getting them back?"
Nightmare glared at him. "Give him a moment." He ordered, the dwarf having not even noticed the question as he stared after Saphira.
He sighed when she disappeared over the peak. "Boy, you have been blessed indeed. I find a sudden longing in my heart for open skies and soaring cliffs and the thrill of hunting like a hawk. Still, my feet are better on the ground- preferably under it."

"Well, I have a question." Killer interrupted before Orik could continue.
"Where are my knives?" He asked severely. Dust facepalmed with a clack as well as Geno, Red and Horror snickering before Horror remembered his axe.
"Wait, no, I wanna know too."

Orik's eyes widened. "I had forgotten you had weapons. We can get them immediately, or eat in the banquet halls first."
"Weapons!" Horror exclaimed. "I need Axella!! She could be hurt!"
"Dude, you love that axe the way Ink loves his paintbrush." Cross deadpanned. Horror turned around slowly, his eyelight burning brighter.
"No fighting, you two. Have some self-respect." Nightmare ordered.
"Yes sir."
"Okay, Boss."
Horror stared at Cross with empty sockets in an obvious threat of I'm gonna get you for this later.

"Weapons first, since the boys are moody without their toys." Nightmare informed the dwarf. Eragon saw this and shrugged. "I'll come with."
Their unusual group of skeletons and human followed Orik back around Tronjhiem, walking with the jet black of Farthen Dûr on one side against gleaming colors and the white of the city-mountain on the other.

They entered a hidden room, an armory, after the dwarf unlocked it. Their weapons, along with many others, lined the walls and tables, Cross's knife most obvious among them.

They swarmed over, grabbing their belongings, Horror literally kissing his blade, much to the other's amusement. Orik gawked at the size of Cross's knife. "That's the most unwieldy weapon I've ever seen!"

"Well, you should see me fighting with it." He snirked.
"Cross is my greatest assassin. He's also my most loyal soldier and servant."
"It only helps that your passive form is so adorable."
Nightmare scowled. "For the love of the Tree, I am not cute!" He hissed.
"Sure, keep telling yourself that." Error snickered.
Before Nightmare could snap at him, Geno interrupted.
"Why is it you're in your passive form now, anyway? This is the first time I've ever seen it."
The King of Negativity sighed into his hand. "Think, bloody glitch. What do you think is a more diplomatic appearance to take? Black tentacles and coated in liquid negativity or this?" His crown gleamed.
Geno blinked. Or winked. His right eyesocket was covered by his glitch, who would know?

"You have a point, but why? Why are you trying to be diplomatic? You normally take what you want, so why are you being nice and all that?"

"Why am I-! Are you blind, or just stupid? This isn't the Multiverse, Geno. Things have changed, we have different goals and objectives. We have changed- haven't you noticed that? We're merging with the magics of Alagaësia. We are a part of this world, now. And it's not like we can go home! So of course, I'm making the wise decisions for the good of monsters. It may be possible that if we have more monsters scattered throughout Alagaësia, after all, you three and Chaos are here while the rest of us were with Eragon! Chaos said you fell with Reaper; it's likely he's somewhere else in Alagaësia. Who knows, maybe when the Multiverse collapses because of Ink, it'll send all monsters to Alagaësia." He spat, glaring at Geno.

Error had a blank look on his face. "...Nightmare.."
"What?"
"If all monsters are sent to Alagaësia…"
"Wait, do you think it's possible?" Fresh suddenly asked, dropping his lingo.
"If our codes are recognized by the Void as the Multiverse is collapsing, it might transfer surviving code to the new location, aka Alagaësia, so.."
Nightmare leaned back, realizing what he meant.
"Where would all those monsters fit in Alagaësia?"
They asked at the same time.

________

Orik was leading them through a maze of corridors to a sort of lunch room, trying to cheer them up after the terrifying conclusion they had made earlier.

It was mostly working, except on Nightmare and Error. The pair were busy dreading the idea of meeting their counterparts again; Dream and Ink. Horror, however, was silently cheering the idea of seeing his brother after all was said and done, and Blue was literally a bubble of energy upon the possibility of seeing Carrot once more.

They entered a sort of Dwarvish lunchroom, the tables only big enough for Blue to sit at- or obviously, a dwarf.
They were handed stone plates heaped with fish and mushrooms. Orik then took them to a wide alcove, and they sat, eating peacefully.
Mostly.
Horror was shredding his food, Killer stabbing the fish playfully, Dust spinning a bone attack absentmindedly while he used another as a kebab. Error slid his share to Horror, not wanting to eat. Blue and Geno smacked him, insisting he do that. He complained, but then Chaos appeared and started begging.

"Where did you even come from?" He asked her incredulously. "Daddy, you weigh like, five pounds. It scares me…" After giving him a long look, the glitch scowled and started on the food. Blue hugged Chaos gratefully as Orik stared in shock.

"You say you haven't eaten in months..?" He asked slowly. Geno huffed. "Long story short, he's originally me before I existed but played with things he shouldn't have messed with. He created Fresh by accident, and got yanked into a place outside existence, where nothing exists. There, he was tortured by a deity to become the god of destruction, destroying AU's, short for Alternate Universes, for the sake of the Multiverse as a whole. He doesn't need to eat or sleep."

"You see," Blue picked up the narrative as Error scooted away, self-conscious. "In our interconnected worlds, there was someone who created them on the regular. He, his name being Ink, didn't know that creating too many Universes would overfill the Multiverse, causing AU's to crash into each other and destroy everything. But when he sent us here, he was still unaware of that balance. So, without Error destroying AU's, Ink is creating freely. He's going to destroy the Multiverse." He pouted unhappily.

"But the good news is everyone still back home might live!" He chirped.
"Bad news is that it's still only a possibility; and that it's more monsters than there are stars in the sky that could get sent here. And Alagaësia does not have that kinda space." Geno explained.
….
"So where could they go?" Eragon asked.
"No. Funking. Clue. And stop censorin' me." Red said.
Orik dusted off his hands, pulling out a pipe. "Honestly, I don't know how to help you, Lord Nightmare, Lord Error, and Rider Eragon. I do believe you should take this issue up with Hrothgar and others in power. It isn't my place to give you suggestions."

"The only thing that we can do now is to take one day at a time." Chaos said, after she swallowed her mouthful of food. "And do what we can to help, and somehow, now that I think about it. Geno must have done something to let me near the armoury. I kinda couldn't sleep last night, so I sharpened and cleaned what I could of your weapons."

"I kinda noticed." Killer commented, observing his knife covered in fish and mushrooms. "You already dirtied it." Blueberry pouted at him. "Shut up."
"I saw that ya polished Axella, yeah. Tasted it." Horror muttered.
"WHY DO YOU LICK YOUR AXE-!?" Dust questioned loudly.
"Cuz I smelled somethin' suspicious."
"That is not healthy." Geno deadpanned.
Chaos giggled. She had missed this. She continued to eat her food, pushing the last few mouthfuls around her plate.

Nightmare ignored their shenanigans and faced the dwarf and human. "Orik, just because you're in a lower position shouldn't mean you are not allowed to have opinions or make suggestions. Status doesn't dictate sparks of brilliance. Schooling doesn't, either. The mind is what we should rely on. Try to keep that in mind, though I understand you cannot do anything about it."

Orik took a long drought on his pipe. "That is a strange way of viewing things. What is your society even like, if I may ask?"
The King of Negativity sighed. "The King looks out for his people. The people are put first, there are few exceptions. The subjects serve their king, with whatever their duty is. Most of the time there is no duty. However, in my case, there was. Looking back, I understand how foolish and selfish it was. But I do still have my reasons, however bad they are." He admitted.

"I see. You were driven by some event in the past, I presume Lord Nightmare?"
The skeleton stared into the darkness of Farthen Dûr for a minute before answering.
"Yes. I was." He hesitated, glancing down.
"I was once only a Guardian of Negativity. Positivity can't exist without it. Neither have meaning without the other. I was hated because of what I was. Tormented. Until one day I snapped." He grew tense, a few black tears dripping down his face as only his left eyelight shone, cold and blue.

"I took every single apple of darkness and then killed the Tree, my… mother." His voice broke for a second. He had never told his story directly. He normally let Error tell it, as the glitch had read it in his world's code. This was his first time talking about it for real.

"Your mother was a tree?" Eragon asked quietly, hardly paying attention to the tentacles rising from Nightmare as he was halfway between passive and Corrupted. Orik, however, took great notice of this.
"Yes. And I killed her in my madness. I was insane for several centuries, actually. I won't deny, I was a lot like Galbatorix. But Error… helped me to my senses. That, and recruiting my men to spread negativity made me mellow out somewhat. Eventually they all sort of grew on me." He pointed at Error hanging like a spider from the ceiling, Chaos hanging from his strings and noticing their conversation while Fresh made jokes that Error scowled at, Red and Dust wrestling while Killer shouted insults at them, Horror gnawing on a fish while his eyelight gleamed in amusement. Geno wasn't impressed.

Orik scooted away from Nightmare a little, fear and suspicion radiating off him. Eragon seemed more confused than anything.

"Being alone is one of the hardest things that you can go through." Chaos said, as she slid down a string. "Believe me, I know what that feels like. I was alone, and so cold, until Daddy found me, and he brought me home, into the warmth, and to the company of those who cared for him. I grew to love them as well as I healed, but the scars will never go away... I mean, even today, I hate the cold and I can't stand being alone sometimes…"

"I was trapped outside of my AU, forced to watch everyone I know and love die over and over again. I couldn't do anything about it. The kid, and yes I say kid when I'd rather call them a demon, knew I watched after a while and kept killing them just to make me suffer all the more. I was alone until Frisk and... Sans found a way to get me out of there. I wasn't even the first. Error was me before, well, me. I wouldn't wish that fate -heh- on anyone else." Geno spoke somberly. Error awkwardly held an arm behind him until Fresh pushed it down on Geno's shoulder.

"We were abandoned. The one kid that could save us left us, killing our old king and leaving us to rot. We ran out of food. And we got so damn desperate and hungry. Our new queen was a complete bitch, expectin' me to fix the Core that had been keepin' us alive till it broke down. But I couldn't, it was just too damn complicated. So she tried to kill me." Horror dipped his skull, showing off his hole. "One thing she didn't expect was I'm a goddamn Sans. I can put up a fight, even as a togira. Cripple, I mean. Me and my bro were lookin' after the people in our town by spiting her until Nightmare found us and saved us. Our whole town follows him now while I'm enlisted in his service. Anything for the guy who helped feed us, especially Papy." He blinked at Nightmare fondly.

"Human kid, demon Chara, killed everyone over and over and over and over again. Killed me over and over.. I finally snapped." One of Dust's bone attacks broke in half when he uttered that word.
"I had to stop that demon at all costs. I couldn't take it anymore. So next Reset, I killed them all before Chara. It was a race. Who could get the most kills? Heh. Heh heh heh. Heheheheheheh-" "Dust." Blue interrupted his moment of mental instability. "Right, right, right. I killed the kid. But I killed my own brother, too…. But he stayed with me. Papyrus couldn't leave me. He's my bro, we look after each other. Die for each other. He helped me defeat that sick human. Then Nightmare found me and we joined him."

"What do you mean he stayed?" Orik asked quietly, brow furrowed. Dust chuckled. "Wanna show yourself, Papyrus?"
The air behind him shimmered, then the disembodied skull and gloves floating upon the spiritual scarf revealed itself.
"Of course, Brother. How else can the dvergr and Shur'tugal know of the Great Papyrus?" His sockets flickered with orange lights. "But of course, they may call me Powder. I respect you, Eragon. It takes a lot to earn that. Congratulations, human!" The ghostly skull faded. Orik looked just as pale as Eragon.

Cross stepped forward. "Dust isn't the only one with a spirit attached to him: I have my Chara, as well. Where all of us come from, we have physical Souls." He explained on Orik's behalf. "Our Souls are a manifestation of our being. Our true self, and in monsters it sustains our bodies. That's a short version of a long story. Anyway, my Soul is ripped in half. The other half is replaced with Chara's. My Chara. You can call him XChara." The human ghost appeared, waving boredly as he hung upside down beside Cross. In a more normal voice than Powder he said; "Don't know about Alagaësia enough but so far it doesn't appear to have spirits. Like, our kind of spirits, not whatever Durza is. Also, I seriously need chocolate." Killer snorted. "Addict." The human spirit glared at him, then disappeared. Cross quickly looked away from Killer while his face twitched.

"What is X doing. What is X doing?" Killer seemed alarmed.
"Nothing." Cross wheezed.
They continued their banter as Error spoke up.

"I was like Geno once. But I was watching before the kid knew. I got frantic and messed with the code, the stuff that is the fabric of everything. Not quite magic, but nonetheless. I accidentally created Fresh from my own Soul before being ripped into the Anti-Void, a place no one should ever exist in. It messes with you. It turned me into an Outcode. I used to look like Geno. It made me into a glitch, a mistake, an Error. And then Fate laughed at me. Reminded me over and over. And then made me destroy AU's. If Ink didn't create, there'd be no needless genocide. I'm sick of it. I kill and I kill and I kill, then I delete the world from existence. I destroy an entire history, a society, a part of the Multiverse. And I get beaten for doing my job. Ink fights me for destroying his creations. Calls me a Soulless destroyer. Funny. He's the one who's Soulless. Ink the god of creation, and me, his forced counterpart. The god of destruction." He sighed.

"Ink is a thardsvergûndnzmal and a Grimstborith." Chaos snarled. "He claims to be a good guy and the Guardian of all AUs, but he is actually a Soulless being, upset and throwing a temper tantrum because everyone won't play by his rules. Because Daddy has to destroy what he builds. It's not Daddy's fault that he is like the Master Blacksmith that melts down the Apprentice's work because he found so many flaws that it would be easier to start all over again instead of leaving the work as it is, with Ink being the Apprentice with a lot of connections to powerful Chiefs and those in seats of power."

They quieted. Those who had yet to give their backstory did not wish to. Orik and Eragon were thinking to themselves.

"I would tell you what happened to me Orik, Eragon, if I could remember…." Chaos frowned. "I don't remember my real name, I don't even know if Chaos is my real name or if this is my true form, much like Nightmare and his two forms.

I just woke up in the middle of a snowstorm, in the form of a feline, with only a raggy sweater to keep me warm, and a bleeding ear.

I don't know how long I spent walking through that snowstorm, but when I finally reached a village, everyone was trapped in an eternal sleep, everyone but me.

I only had the silence and the cold as friends, until my Father found me after one of his fights with Ink. Ink was trying to fix something that was broken that could not be fixed, he refused to listen to his advisors and he just jumped into it.

Father was cleaning up Ink's mistakes when it happened, he took me with him and we've been together ever since...

I have what I think are flashbacks into my memories before I woke up like this, in my nightmares, but all that I can see is someone who is a lot like Galbatorix, and a cold, dark room."
She reached up and she messed with her mauled ear.
"Or a memory where I am running away, trying to get back into the light, only to be dragged into the darkness, but the one thing that never changes in these memories is pain, so much pain. I have scars that I can't explain, wounds that I don't remember receiving, like the ones criss crossed on my back, under my fur. I want answers but do I really need them or can I move on and live without them? I don't know..."

Everyone fell silent for awhile, each lost in their own thoughts.
"Let's talk about something else." Geno suggested, his voice loud in the hushed atmosphere.
"Yes, let's." Blue muttered, hugging himself.

"Do you farm in Farthen Dûr?" Nightmare asked Orik. The dwarf flinched, caught by surprise. "Ahem, eh, eta. No. There's only enough sunlight for moss, mushrooms, and mold. Tronjhiem cannot survive without supplies from the surrounding valleys, which is one reason why many of us choose to live elsewhere in the Beor Mountains."
"So there's other dwarvish dras- cities?" Error concluded.
"Not as many as we would like. And Tronjhiem is the greatest of them." Orik glanced out into the lengthy shadows of Farthen Dûr.

"You have only seen the lower levels, so it hasn't been apparent, but most of Tronjhiem is deserted. The farther up you go," he gestured with his pipe, "the emptier it gets. Entire floors have remained untouched for centuries. Most dwarves prefer to dwell under Tronjhiem and Farthen Dûr in the caverns and passageways that riddle the rock. Through the centuries we have tunneled extensively under the Beor Mountains. It is possible to walk from one end of the mountain range to the other without ever setting foot on the surface."

The skeletons stared at Orik, mostly out of incredulousness. "You would rather live away from the sun intentionally?" Blue questioned. Orik faced him. "Our feet belong under the earth. But the way you phrase that sounds like you do as well?"
"Not under the best circumstances, no." Blue shook his skull.

"You see, where we come from, we come from many worlds, interconnected and possible to travel between them. That's what the AUs are. But another detail you should know is that they are all Alternate Universes. Different versions of each other, with minute or major changes between each and every Universe. But it doesn't change the fact that they are all versions of each other. And they generally have the same story for monsters."  Error explained carefully. They were about to explain a few things that Eragon had already been told, as well as things they had not.

Geno took up their narrative. "And in most AUs, the story goes as this;

Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: HUMANS and MONSTERS.

One day, war broke out between the two races.

After a long battle, the humans were victorious.

They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell.

"But yeah, that's putting it simply." Geno added. "Humans in our worlds are often stronger than monsters due to their Souls. And to destroy the magic Barrier keeping them trapped in the Underground you need seven human Souls. But then the seventh human to fall, most of the time is Frisk, has a Soul of Determination. In the Underground that gives them the ability to turn back time. Avoid death. Go all the way back to when they fell into the Underground- that's called a Reset. They can Save monsterkind or," Geno's eyelight glinted with hateful severity.
"They can commit mass GENOcide."

Eragon recoiled a little, realizing what Geno's name was short for as he recalled his backstory. "There's a lot of details we aren't telling you, but that's because we'd be here forever if we tried." Dust said nonchalantly.

"But the thing is, most of us here experienced our kid's genocide over and over. The sadist of our AU's or Timeline just kept Resetting to kill every last monster over and over. And us. I exist because my Frisk's first genocide resulted in cutting my Soul in a piece after killing me. Now there's two of me in my AU. I took the name Geno."

Killer lifted a knife. "My little shit killed everyone over and over, saying that they felt something new and I could join, just to see what it was like. One day I just snapped and took up the offer." He held a hand to his face, touching the black liquid seeping from his sockets as faint eyelights glimmered for a moment.

"I became like the kid… then Nightmare found me.. and took me away. I killed my brother, and his last words were "whatever makes you happy, brother"...." He whispered the last part, voice cracking too much not to.

"My Frisk did something completely different. They went through the Underground, killed our king, and left. We were abandoned. Left to rot. To starve. To go insane. To fall to pieces." Horror snarled, clinging to the hole in his skull as his eyelight sparked.

"In my world, nothing the kid did was the problem. It was the monsters. In my AU, the rule of thumb is kill or be killed. It's a vicious place. I was tortured all the time by Boss, well, my bro, for bein' weak. Then my Frisk came and saw the good in our shitty Souls. I know I'm kinda lucky in regards to them. I got a Pacifist ending. Though it ain't perfect; monsterkind is still cruel." Red muttered while gnawing on a bone attack as a toothpick.

"And yet they call us completely evil. Because we snapped." Dust growled. The group fell into silence, letting the dwarf and human think upon what they learned. Then Orik brought out the question that not even Eragon had ever thought of.
"If you are all from worlds that are all versions of one another, then does that mean you are copies of people from those worlds?"

"Heh. Haven't you figured it out yet? Didn't notice how similar we all are?" Red shot back.
"Yes, we are all copies." Geno confirmed.
"We are all the same person in our AU's." Cross explained.
"We're all Sanses." Blue finished.

Eragon did a double take. "How did I not see this before?"
"No idea. Took ya long enough, though." Horror chuckled.

"The only one here who is really weird is probably Boss." Killer pointed out. "Both he and Dream are Sanses, they don't have a Papy, and they were never trapped Underground, and their story is just about how Nightmare snapped at the villagers and killed everyone. Dream is the last golden apple. Nightmare Corrupted all the others."

Nightmare didn't look at them. He just continued staring off into the distance, eyelights glazed as he thought to himself.
"Oh thank Asgore he didn't hear me." Killer muttered. "He'd be pissed."

"I heard you, I just didn't say anything." Nightmare said, still staring into Farthen Dûr. Killer blanched.
"Things have changed; they deserve to know." Nightmare went on in a quiet voice.
"Maybe I won't even attack him immediately next time we meet." He never looked away from the distance, his crown hanging from his hands as he spoke. Then his soft purple eyelights drifted to Orik.
"You should probably report to Hrothgar. Or keep talking to Eragon. We can let Geno, Fresh, and Red show us some empty rooms."

"But that isn't very polite of me as your-" "Nonsense. We won't be repeating what we said here tonight- certainly not any time soon. So relax yourself. Both of you are more tense than a cornered wolf."
He stood, still shockingly calm and gentle, giving the pair a long look.

Then he faced the skeletons. "Well?" They all got up quickly, cleaning up their mess and stacking their plates against a wall. Orik had also stood, desperate to be a good host, but the others had already grabbed onto each other as Geno teleported them all away.

They were in a random hallway, doors running down it's length much like apartments. "This is where we've been staying. There's enough room for all of us, we're too high up in Tronjhiem to be bothered by everyone. Watch out for the floor below though, there's this fire elemental, human and werecat staying down there." Geno told them.

"Oh finally, something like the mansion!" Dust cheered as the boys took off down the hall. "So is it only us and the folks a floor down?" Error asked as Horror body-slammed into a door further down.
"Yeah, they're really weird too, Daddy!" Chaos exclaimed.
"They're… eccentric." Geno added.

"How so?" Nightmare asked, still freakishly calm despite the emotional moment recently. "I think you'll have to find out for yourself." Geno told him, staring at him suspiciously.

"I suppose we can do that later." Nightmare sighed, teleporting to a suite near the entrance of the hall, stairs running by. "I'll be getting settled in here. Don't bother me." And disappeared inside. The door locked behind him.

He immediately found a bed and collapsed into it, curling up and choking on his breath.

The King of Negativity sobbed as he was overcome with his own emotions.

"WHAT AM I SORRY FOR?!?!" He screamed into the pillow. Because he felt regret, so much regret, but for what, he couldn't tell. His Soul ached with the emotions that made him stronger.
He hated it.
Ever since he landed in this accursed land, Nightmare's old emotions from so many centuries ago began rising up.

What was it about Alagaësia that kept peeling away his eons of layers and laid bare his core? That weak, pathetic, scared creature that just wanted to be?

Suddenly he arched backward and vomited beside the bed, black liquid splashing onto the floor and steaming as it just evaporated. Nightmare coughed, retching as he became overwhelmed.
Too much.
It's so much pain..
So much Negativity….

He gripped his skull and moaned. He cursed the Void for leaving him here. He cursed Fate. He cursed Ink for sending him and his family into the Void so carelessly. He cursed Galbatorix for making this land so unbearably miserable. He cursed his nature, he cursed, he cursed everything under the sun, he cursed everything he could think of for no reason other than just to curse them.

Nightmare bit back a scream of frustration. He had so much power here it was making him ill. He was sick. If he didn't expell his energy one way or another, it was going to hurt him, and badly.

And yet, he couldn't bring himself to hurt, for it only caused more pain. So he puked, again. Oh, how the feeling of greater pain in the future was rampant. He could feel it….
War.
Fyrn.

Suddenly words of the Ancient Language filled his mind, echoing as they were uttered so quickly their meaning escaped him. Until he felt his Soul thrum. They went slower, repeating.
They elicited a reaction out of him, not one he could quite describe. But they felt like.. him.

Nightmare sat up, blinking.
He whispered them into the emptiness of the room, taking note of each word as they seemed to describe him without any form of subtlety. They were blunt, and made him uncomfortable…
But it was him.

It sent him thinking… for hours.

...

Äfdraumr sat there for hours, wrapped up in his thoughts. And contemplation.

.....

Zíllandr Cicállaé found it in itself to finally forgive it's naive half. The Ástaréra Cicállaé.
The Yin of the emotional Balance finally accepted itself into Alagaësia. At last, accepting the name..
Alalëa…. Äfdraumr.
Accepting that it's grammaryé was now part of and joined with vanyalí.

Understanding that monsterkind was part of Alagaësia, becoming something called…
Vanyalíkyn. The true race of Magic.
The creatures between all the other races.
The dragons.
The elves.
The dwarves.
The humans.
The Urgals.
The Ra'zac.
The connection between mortals and gods.

…..

And on that day, Alagaësia accepted the vanyalíkyn into it's wyrda.

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐.