Dio

"Can you ask the spirits, if it's possible?"

The dwarf rubbed his hands with anticipation.

"I envy your optimism, Sir Gomel." I grinned. Fang tried to look as small, as possible but with his stature, he did way worse than me. He seemed to be quietly mumbling something, maybe he conversed with the spirits. "If someone can do it, it's Fang."

"I'll brace my shield in case something goes wrong," Bastion noted, releasing the wagon we found. "They are pretty big horses, to be fair..."

They sure were. They were Nightmares, straight from the abyss, their large bodies all charcoal black. Their manes emitted an orange glow like they were on fire, or as if magma was about to erupt from their backs. In a way, they looked majestic, but also incredibly scary. They had a long, twisted horn growing from their heads. From the top of their nose, to be exact. In a way though, they were the complete opposite of Unicorns.

"The real issue is that there are five of them." The beastmen finally said something we could hear too. "And the parents won't take it lightly if I approach them with those colts around... You decide, Dio."

"I decide..." I pondered on the options. "What if they attacked us? Can we beat them, or run away? Or could they call in more monsters from the dungeon as reinforcements? I never had to deal with their kind."

"Your guess is as good as mine, Captain." Fang shrugged. I couldn't read much off his face either. He was certainly scared, but I saw some anticipation in his eyes. When he first tamed a wyvern for the New Order, that earned him quite the prestige.

"I trust that you know your limits..." I claimed. "If you think it's possible, go ahead, but let's look for escape routes first."

I wanted to take a look at the main square first. I saw no gates in there and doubted they would be already in ruins. But the chief of staff or not, I've never actually seen one, no matter how much I traveled.

"I don't think these things can fly or climb walls," Gomel told us, pointing at the buildings around us. Ornate balconies lined the square, some of them thirty feet high. "If we were to get inside one of these structures and barricade the doors, they couldn't get to us, for sure."

"No good, I'm not a shaman." Fang shook his head. "The spirits will only aid me if my request can be fulfilled within my body. I need to touch them while my miracle is active, and it will take some time... I can't just sneak up on them either, plus it's five of them."

"What about a shield wall?" I asked next. "If the blacksmith can hold your shield and Bastion has the other, we could safely approach them."

"I'd hate to disappoint you, Sir Goblin, but I'm not sure I could hold my own against a running horse, let alone one of these." The dwarf protested. And he was the one hellbent on taming these monsters.

"There is their ability too... They are called Nightmares for a reason. You'll see all kinds of hallucinations approaching them." The beastmen explained. "Even if you know, what you see is not real, your fear will be."

"And I take it, once we turn and run, they'll trample us..." I concluded, trying to get a better look. "What do they eat? Why are they here?"

"This is just my guess... I think the magicules leaking from the Gate lured them here." Gomel theorized, pointing towards them. "Even if they no longer work, mages claimed they are still active."

"I can't even see the arches..." I admitted, trying to tiptoe. Dwarf or not, I was still the shortest of the bunch, but he smiled.

"I bet you never actually saw one, Sir Dioneras." He hit the nail on its head. "It's a magic circle, runes painted over the stones. No grandiose Gates arching over the square can be found. At first glance, you can't even tell, how they lasted this long, and in perfect condition too."

"That explains it..." I dropped down on my heels. "Well, I traveled all over the continent in the last decade, but somehow I've never been in any of the Seven Capitals... Now I feel a bit silly..."

"You shouldn't." The dwarf patted my back. "If I'm being honest, in my three hundred years, I never once left the hundred-mile area of this city. Well, I say that, but I did travel through the Gates a few times... But only there and back. I can't tell you how the other capitals looked."

"The continent is vast." Bastion chirped in too.

"Well, we still didn't get closer to the solution," Fang noted. "I'd hate to go there alone, but I'm not sure if going together would make a difference, especially, if one of us starts to run."

"I've never left any of you behind." The ogre claimed. It was true, if only I could say the same... But I did leave him behind in the Cyreneian pass. "I won't pretend I'm immune to fear, but I'd protect my comrades."

"Aye. I don't know how much help I would be there, but you can expect my support." I added it as well. I glanced at the dwarf. "How about you, Sir Gomel? I've known these people for a while now, we fought many battles together, but I won't blame you if you didn't want to come..."

"I couldn't stomach it if you were to risk your lives for my whims, and I'm not even there to help." He firmly rejected the idea of sitting this out. "I might not be a fighter, but my arms are strong. I did face fear during my years. While I don't usually put my life on the line, if Sir Wolfman thinks he can tame these monsters, I'll back him up too."

"All right then, a shield wall it is." I nodded, and we took up the stance. Fang took some deep breaths. "No matter what you do, just don't turn and run. As long as you are in formation, we can protect each other. Once you are out, they will trample you into the ground."

I didn't have to explain this to my comrades, but I hoped this would stop the dwarf from running. I didn't know if I could trust him with this much, but I was about to find out. If the beastman was right, the ultimate test of bravery was about to commence. We didn't try to hide. Stepping out of cover, we approached the Nightmare herd head-on.

"Steady, no rush," I commanded fifty yards from them. "Think of them as regular horses... If you don't scare them with sudden movements it should be fine. Don't act threatening... Just nice and slow."

"Since when did you become such an expert?" Fang asked, in the point of our formation. The monster's fear ability didn't kick in yet if he still had the strength to argue with me. The Nightmares noticed us.

"Don't raise the shields too high, let them see our eyes" I said, following my guts. They were soon to be turned upside down.

The first visions were subtle. Flashes of wolf fangs, biting into my flesh a few days ago. I got the chills but had no problem pressing on. I kept my eyes on the others, expecting they'd see similar images too. For now, it was easy to tell reality from fake.

Twenty yards closer, it became a lot more difficult.

"Your betrayal will not go unpunished." The Demon Lord announced, his eyes glowed red. I shook in my boots, alone in the throne room facing him. "We overestimated you. A goblin is not fit to command in the New Order after all... We will take the heads of every goblin officer in the army to right your failure, and you will watch them each."

It didn't matter if I closed my eyes or not, the image would not go away. And it wasn't just my vision, I heard, smelled, and even felt his presence. I could tell, the Demon Lord was serious. Yes, this was a possibility, my fate if we returned, which is why I wasn't particularly rushing. But since I was still able to tell, it did not happen yet, I steeled my resolve for now.

But the thing is... I couldn't see my actual environment, nor my comrades. I assumed they went through the same, but did they figure it out? Could they resist? Are we still in formation? I couldn't feel my own body. Or rather, what I felt was part of the hallucination.

And yes, the fear was real. Very, very real.

Even after I convinced myself I couldn't be in the throne room alone with the Demon Lord, I was still there somehow, and his eyes burned a hole into my chest. I could see his breath in the cold. He was well over three times my height and could have crushed me or stomped on me.

"Answer Us, Dioneras." He demanded. "Why did you let the Princess go? You knew it all well, she is the only one that can harm Us. This way, it is almost as if you attempted to assassinate Us yourself."

He slowly walked towards me, step by step. I felt the ground shaking under his feet. I was not restrained, I could freely run away, and he suggested that too. His eyes menacingly glowed.

"Did you already give up on your life?" He asked, his voice echoing. My ears rang. "Run, let Us enjoy destroying you. What good if you don't even try to escape? We demand you try to survive, struggle for Us, show your leader, how much you are sorry..."

I refused to listen. I had to stay in formation, no matter what. Even if I couldn't see them around me and unsure if I walked at the right pace. Well, in the hallucination, I was prostrating myself which didn't help either. But somehow, I had to drag myself back into the real world, out of the terrifying vision the Nightmares caused.

But it was easier said than done.

I decided to stand up. I was once a slave, but no more. Demon Lord or not, I decided to serve him on my own, as a volunteer, and I should have been able to leave whenever I felt like it. Otherwise, it would have been from one slave master to the other. To make sure, I kept up with the formation, I walked in the hallucination too. I took up the same pace and ignored everything else. The huge creature shouted and threatened me, but never came close enough to reach me.

If anything, now that I started to walk towards him, he backed away. He was only a vision after all, if he were to touch me, things might have fallen apart. I considered chasing him, but that would have threatened the formation to break. I just had to hold on and ignore the voices, or at least the one belonging to the Demon Lord...

"Snap out of it!" Fang shouted, slapping me across my face. "Come back to us, Dio. We are under attack for real now."

The Nightmares were still there but weren't looking at us. They faced the other pack of monsters now... One was even larger than the equines with three heads, three mouths, and hundreds of teeth.