Brush your teeth before you crosdsft the rooad

Nightmare trudged through the forest somewhat hesitantly, hands buried deep inside the pockets of his lilac coat he'd thrown on for extra warmth. It was a cold night. The wind howled as it rushed past the guardian and caused him to shudder and tense up though he kept on moving through the prickly bushes and towering trees. The leaves were violently rattling in the wind as if they were struggling and the thin, twisted branches looked about ready to snap. The forest floor was blanketed with a familiar mist yet this time it seemed more sinister.

Nightmare didn't know why he was doing this. He's thought of numerous reasons as to what compelled him to do this and what it'll achieve though none of them seemed right. The thing in his mind knew why he was doing this.

'Keep going left.' The voice mumbled and Nightmare obeyed, trekking through the mist and pushing aside twigs and brambles that blocked his path. He couldn't remember the way so he hoped to the stars that the voice was giving him truthful directions.

"Are we almost there?" The guardian asked quietly, glancing around for any flicker of light. 

'Turn and go forwards.' The voice answered after a moment of silence.

Nightmare sighed however nodded, turning around and venturing forwards. The wind seemed to suddenly grow harsher, bombarding the guardian and causing him to almost tumble down into a wide ditch. He felt a shiver run down his spine.

'Why have you stopped?' The voice hissed. 'Keep going.'

Nightmare glared at nothing in particular, dusting down the dirt on his coat and treading forwards once more. 

A few minutes of silence passed until a faint light caught his attention.

'It's over there.' The voice muttered.

Nightmare nodded and hurried through the bushes and warped trees towards the dancing flame. He ducked underneath a few branches that protruded out dangerously from the nearby trees. The clearing in the forest soon came into view and this time the guardian was careful not to trip over the exposed root like he had last time he was here.

The shrine was the same as he'd left it last time, though the candles surely must have been replaced and relit. He shrugged it off and stepped towards the table, running a hand along the books he'd read last time. He never expected himself to return to this dreadful part of the forest. The memory of what he'd read stuck with him and often replayed in his mind when he blinked or when it was quiet- why would he return?

'You know why you are here.' 

Nightmare shook his head, switching his focus onto the small statue that had an uncanny resemblance to the thing in his mind. He plucked it from off the table and rotated it in his hands, analysing the figure. It wasn't entirely accurate for obvious reasons however the shape was very similar. It had one eye in the centre of it's melting face and five tentacles protruding from it's back. The body was plain and simple with no detail and the only depiction of a mouth it had was a curved, white line that seemed to stretch from ear to ear. The statue was painted entirely black save for the mouth and eye that were white.

'They got me completely wrong.' The voice grumbled and Nightmare rolled his dull lilac eyes.

"How are they supposed to know what you look like."

'What we look like.'

Nightmare frowned and shook his head again, placing the statue back down onto the table. He and the thing were not the same. He was certain.

'You can lie to yourself all you want.' The voice snarled, startling the guardian with the sudden hostility. 'We're the same.'

Nightmare stayed quiet, eyes flickering back to the books. 

'You came here because you wanted to know more, right?' 

Nightmare didn't like the tone of voice the thing had. It was eerie and laced with poison- he could picture it grinning widely at him. He thought about what it had said and shrugged.

"I have no idea."

The voice growled, clearly not happy with the blunt yet truthful answer. Nightmare honestly didn't know what made him itch to come back here.

'Just read the stupid books.' 

Nightmare let out an exasperated breath, reaching out and grabbing one of the books. This was the book that had made him realise who and what the 'god-like being' was. He opened the book and flicked past the few pages he'd previously read. His eye's widened slightly at the next page; it was an illustration of the being towering above a village. It looked exactly like the statue on the table however had pointed fingers and seemed to be extremely malnourished. They seemed to think that the thing was a huge creature and the truth almost made the guardian snicker. The thing was the same size as him and Nightmare was smaller than most of the villagers- Bonnie was almost as tall as him and he's nine!

'Why are you grinning?' the voice hissed.

Nightmare ignored the voice and flicked the page over. He briefly scanned over the text, eyes drawn to one of the subheadings titled 'possible names'. 

He scanned through them all, wondering how they came up with the names.

'Abyss, The Dark God, Salvation, Akumu, Night-Terror...' and the list continues. 

Nightmare didn't see his name written down anywhere which gave him a sense of relief yet seemed to annoy the thing in his mind.

'Write our name.' It seethed. 

Nightmare scowled and shook his head- he wouldn't let this thing boss him around. The thing snarled and Nightmare twitched.

'Write our name.' It repeated and the guardian could sense it looming over him. He knew it wasn't actually there- it was his sleep-deprived mind playing tricks on him. Nevertheless, he still felt a great sense of fear and dread. He glanced down at a bottle of ink and a quill pen and suddenly felt an urge to grab it and write his name.

'Write our name!' The voice yelled, making Nightmare yelp and instinctually grab the quill. He dipped it into the ink bottle with trembling hands and lifted it up, holding it above an empty space beneath the list of names.

'Write our name.'

The voice echoed around in his mind, repeating over and over again. He winced and quickly scribbled down his name in large capital letters. It was messy and crude considering he'd never actually used a quill pen before. The forest seemed to grow colder and Nightmare felt as if he'd just done something terrible- like he'd just participated in some kind of messed up ritual. 

The voice maniacally laughed and Nightmare whimpered, dropping the ink-stained quill onto the open book. He took a few steps backwards before bolting away from the shrine and rushing through the forest, all the while the voice laughed.

"Good morning Night, did you sleep well?" Dream asked, taking a seat on the edge of his brother's bed. Nightmare sat up and grinned lazily at the other.

"Yeah." He answered, yawning loudly and stretching his arms. Dream didn't need to know about last nights events. He shouldn't worry his brother.

--End--

*Intense laminated paper wobbling sounds*