Midnight Terrors

Arthur woke up. 

He jumped up from his bed, his eyes wide. His chest was heaving violently, beads of sweat running down his forehead. 

Memories of the dream he had just seen flashed through his mind: streets full of corpses, the sounds of insects crawling in the dark, and his own feet. 

"That black-haired figure... "Arthur shook his head and tried to escape the afterimage of that hallucinatory dream. 

Just remembering that figure made him tremble with fright. 

Then Arthur had the vision of a pitch-black hand sticking out of his chest. 

"Ugh..." Suddenly, Arthur felt something rising in the back of his throat. He put his hand on his mouth and bent over the side of the bed and gasped. 

"Eww!" Arthur threw out the contents of his stomach. The yellow liquid flowed down onto the floor with a sound. His throat was sore, and his stomach hurt, but he couldn't stop vomiting and was crying so hard that it looked like he was trapped in a nightmare. 

After vomiting he coughed a bit and immediately grabbed his chest trying to see if the 'Hand of Darkness' was still there or not. He started rubbing his face and head with his hands to check if they were still intact and in one piece, and also to come to terms with reality. 

For a few minutes, the only sound in the room was of a person breathing heavily. 

After some minutes that felt like hours to Arthur, he finally calmed down and started thinking. 

What kind of nightmare was that? Thought Arthur in his mind with his eyes closed and his hand still on his chest, still feeling the goosebumps from the events transpired in the dream. 

Most people forget the contents of their dreams the moment they wake up from their sleep. Some people remember only slight details of the dreams. But Arthur could recall all the vivid details of the dream down to the slightest detail of the tall figure's embroidery on the coat, which was a pattern of an eastern dragon. 

Just who was that figure? No, what was that figure? And why did it suddenly change? It was like something horrid or inexplainable took its place. No...it was more like it had fallen into the darkness, like he was somehow corrupted. And how come it was suddenly able to look at me? 

"Sigh*~...." Arthur sighed loudly and stopped his mind that was starting to hurt from thinking anymore. It was not like he was going to get any answers just thinking about the nightmare. He stood up from his bed, which was now fully drenched in sweat with some effort. 

He stood up with the support of the bed and started walking through the bedroom. 

The bedroom was very large for a room whose whole purpose was just for sleeping at night. It was filled with luxurious furniture. The mat was velvet in color as well as the curtains and bed sheets, giving the room an extremely noble and luxurious ambience. 

The sight of the room was like the dream house of many people. 

The room had a warm, woody aroma of sandalwood emanating from incense sticks or scented candles. 

The sound of Arthur moving and crushing the extremely soft carpet was the only sound in the room. 

There was even a chandelier on the ceiling of the room, a library filled with some books, a table with chairs in front of a window for enjoying teatime. There was a giant body mirror standing by the side of a big cupboard. 

The room was made of extremely wealthy materials. Even the curtains on the walls could sell for a price that will let a knight live a year in luxury without any worries. 

Arthur walked towards the mirror with some difficulty and stood in front of the mirror looking at himself. 

Arthur gazed at the fourteen-year-old boy staring back from the glass. Though tall for his age, the boy's slender frame seemed diminished, curled in on itself. Dull silver-gray hair fell across a hollowed cheek. Deep set purple eyes bore the bruises of sleeplessness, standing out starkly against pale, sallow skin. In spite of it all, traces of handsomeness remained, hinting at the vibrant beauty that once drew eyes and whispers when he passed. 

His figure was slim and lean. His body looked weak; one can even see the bones of his ribs. And why wouldn't it? Arthur has lost a lot of weight in the past week. 

"How disgraceful..." Arthur said with a heavy voice. His throat, still sore from the vomiting earlier. 

The figure in the mirror could have made people awe of his appearance. However, at the moment, the only thing he could gather was pity for his looks. 

Arthur's face was pale, he had deep dark circles under his eyes hinting at the exhaustion he was feeling. Even though he just woke up from his sleep, it didn't look like he had slept at all. From the condition of his body, he looked like he hadn't slept for a week. 

And OfCourse he was exhausted. Even if sleep could recover physical exhaustion, it cannot recover the mental exhaustion he felt because of the nightmares. 

Yes, 'Nightmares'. Today wasn't the first time he had had a nightmare. 

It all started a week ago. Arthur was enjoying his peaceful evening tea, when suddenly his head started hurting like it was splitting apart. He dropped his tea and grabbed his head tightly and gritted his teeth trying to endure the pain he was feeling at the moment. 

Soon he lost consciousness. And that was when he had his first nightmare. However, they weren't as clear, and didn't feel as real as they felt today. And obviously, in none of those dream, was someone able to see or talk to Arthur.

Those dreams were like observing something or someone. This one was an exception.

They were fragmented. He couldn't make sense of them and most of the time he forgot what he saw the moment he woke up. But they still consumed his mental strength, making Arthur mentally exhausted. Even during the day, Arthur had a series of headaches that he lost most of his appetite. 

Arthur still didn't know the cause of these nightmares and headaches. But he has a gut feeling that it is not something good as has been proven in this recent dreadful nightmare that he had. 

Whatever the cause of it is, I hope it's not something terrible. He thought as he observed his sorry state. 

"I wonder how mother would have reacted, after looking at this disgraceful figure of mine" Arthur remanences about his mother, who was no longer with him. 

Memories of his mother enveloped him, glimmers of warmth against the darkness. He could see her smile, the golden hair she brushed tenderly as she tucked him in at night. He could hear her lilting voice weaving fanciful stories as they played hide-and-seek in the courtyard. The ache of losing her two years prior lurked below those happy recollections, raw and gaping. 

The memories were still fresh in his mind, and the pain of losing her two years prior, was just as fresh as, if not more so than those memories of playing together. 

If only, if only I hadn't been...He immediately shook his head and stopped thinking about these things. Thinking about these things won't help in my current predicament. 

"Ugh..." Arthur winced and held his head with his right hand, feeling the never stopping headache, that was more painful than before. 

He grabbed a handbell from the bedside table and rang it gently. 

Ring...The bell rang gently, and in the next moment, a middle-aged man, wearing a black butler coat with a white mustache entered the room. 

He was 1.87m tall and had a rather strong build for a butler and his eyes have the look of a seasoned expert. 

"Good morning, Your Highness. You look...rather unwell this morning as well." The butler bowed and put his right hand on his left chest to pay his respect and greetings. He had a worried look in his eyes as he greeted Arthur. 

"Oh? You think so Clause? I thought I was a bit livelier than yesterday...ugh..." Arthur said with wry smile, trying to sound a bit sarcastic but failed when the headache strikes his head like a hammer again. 

"Your Highness. Should I call for the Imperial doctor? And maybe for the maids as well." Clause, the butler inquired, worried about his prince, and also held his nose while looking at the artwork on the ground of the bedroom that Arthur painted with his bodily fluids. 

I know it's disgusting, but please don't make an expression like that. Even I can have my feelings hurt you know! Ugh...This terrible headache will be the end of me. 

"Yeah. And please prepare a bath for me as well..." Arthur said as he smelled the sweat and vomit on his body. If this terrible smell doesn't kill me first.  

"Very well Your Highness. And Your Highness..." Clause looked at Arthur with an uncertain look. 

Arthur, who saw the look on Clause's face and got annoyed as a bad premonition entered his mind. 

"Out with-it Clause. I'm already feeling terrible as it is. What else can make me feel more terrible?" Please don't let this bad feeling of mine be true... 

"It's...Her Highness Ariel. She is looking for you. She said she will be waiting for you in the palace garden." 

Arthur grimaced when he heard the name Clause speak. 

"I take my words back. Something definitely can make me feel more terrible than these accursed headaches and nightmares" Arthur said looking more troubled and annoyed at the situation. 

"How much longer do I have left in meeting her?" I definitely want to avoid meeting her if possible. I don't want to suffer from anymore headaches than I already am suffering from. 

"One hour." Clause replied coolly as if to say he won't get involved more than necessary. 

Only one hour! And you didn't wake me up early...well I can understand his reasoning for not waking me up.  

"If you don't mind me asking Your Highness..." Arthur looked at him without saying anything. 

Clause took his silence as his permission and asked, "You said Nightmares...Your Highness, did you have another one last night as well" Clause narrowed his eyes and asked with a bit of an edge in his voice. He was worried about his prince who had been having constant nightmares for a whole week, making him more and more exhausted. 

He was afraid that someone had cursed his prince, and knowing the contents of the dreams can help in identifying the cause of the curse as well as how to cure it. 

An image of a horrid figure, covered in pitch-black substance appeared in Arthur's mind, making him shiver. He immediately shook his head and looked at Clause with a serious look and ordered. 

"Don't ask more than necessary and do your job" Sorry Clause, but I don't want to be reminded about that thing again. I just barely stopped vomiting my stomach just now, I don't want a stomachache with the accursed headache as well. 

Clause looked at his prince for a while and then lowered his head. 

"At once! Your Highness." And then he left to carry out his orders and duty. 

Arthur looked at his butler's back and sighed loudly. 

"Ugh...I don't have much time. I can't make Ariel wait or this headaches will be the least of my worries." For a moment, the picture of his sister, Ariel overlapped with that of the abomination from his nightmare, giving Arthur the greatest fright that he had till now.