Nightmare

"Oh, no, not again…"

This was a nightmare she had been having lately. For most of her life, her dreams were rather benign. She didn't suffer night terrors at all, but as of the last three months, this same nightmare recurred often. It all started with the storm… Kitaouji Aya suffered from astrophobia, the fear of thunder and lightning, and this nightmare worked on that hard. And in this horrible dream, there was a storm already raging.

A heavy downpour was ongoing, drenching the ground around her, while she remained perfectly dry. It was like she wasn't really there, which was apropos here. This was a dream, where logic was on holiday and common sense do not exist. And this this dreamscape, horror came frothing up from the shadowy depths. Aya was already frightened being brought back to this terrible sequence and the scene forming in front of her threatened to break her mind.

In front of her, figures moved in waves, swarming upon on a central figure. That central figure was fighting against the hordes, swimming against a tide of tenacious enemies. Screams rent the air, in between the cracking of thunderbolts overhead. The clang of steel on steel reverberated through the scene, as did the rattle of gear on combat rigging. there were already piles of corpses on the ground, along with weapons scattered among the bodies.

Lightning flashed overhead, illuminating the scene, more so than what Aya would have preferred.

"Monsters...!"

That central figure was battling monsters!

It was a terrible battle, to be sure. The figure in the middle of the scrum was outnumbered by at least eight-to-one. And the beasts descending upon them were easily stronger than even a gold medalist weight lifter. The weapons they wielded, ranging from elongated broadswords to massive battle axes and war hammers, all of which very easily outweighed steel I-beams.

And yet, that central figure was parrying their weapons with ease. From Aya could see, they used a hammer of some sort. Not a claw hammer nor a ball peen hammer, it looked like it was built specifically for combat. From what she could see, this individual's hammer had a large, flat head on one side, a curved spike on the other, and a blade or pike rising out of the end of the haft.

They were swinging this weapon, as long as an adult human male's forearm, with a finesse Aya didn't think was possible. It was less like they were swinging a toy sword around instead of a heavy melee weapon. Whoever was fighting off these beasts must have been exceptionally strong, Aya though.

She moved closer to the brawl that was occurring, she heard a shout from within the fracas. There was a brilliant flash of light. Aya felt a pressure sweep over her; she shut her eyes to avoid damaging them. When she opened them again, the beasts had been leveled, leaving a blood soaked battle field, and the single figure of a tall man.

The man was hidden in shadow. With the storm roiling in the sky, Aya see the billowing of a cloak around Him by the way the wind swept through the field. A lightning bolt struck nearby but in a location that kept The Man wreathed in shadow. In the burst of light the lightning created, Aya was able to see more than she would want to see. The battlefield, for lack of a better term, was a charnel pit. Bodies lay torn open, more than a few with suffering missing limbs and quite a few were beheaded. Pools if blood lay thick upon the ground and various pieces of viscera lay within those pools and strewn roughly across the ground between the pools.

As Aya's eyes adjusted to the returning darkness, she observed that the Man's eyes glowed. There was a goldenrod miasma that emitted from his eyes, adding a measure of menace to Him. He stood along amongst the corpses and standing pools of ichor, just as the storm began dumping fat drops of rain. He didn't seem to move, either because of exhaustion or because of mood, for the rain didn't seem to affect him. Aya could feel the chill brought on by the rain, even if she could not feel the precipitation failing upon her.

Even He stood stone still, and in spite of the pealing thunder roaring overhead, Aya could hear a hymn being sung. She was bilingual, her father being an American would spoke English...

But even this tune bewildered her.

♫"'Oh tell me, Sean O'Farrell, tell me why you hurry so?'

"'Hush a bhuachaill, hush and listen,' and his cheeks were all aglow,

"'I bear orders from the captain, get you ready quick and soon

For the pikes must be together at the rising of the moon.'

At the rising of the moon, at the rising of the moon

For the pikes must be together at the rising of the moon!

'And come tell me Sean O'Farrell, where the gathering is to be?'

'At the old spot by the river quite well known to you and me,

One more word for signal token, whistle out the marching tune

With your pike upon your shoulder at the rising of the moon.'

At the rising of the moon, at the rising of the moon

With your pike upon your shoulder at the rising of the moon!"♬

This was not a song Aya was familiar with. It sounded like a folk song, but she was unable to place it with her limited knowledge of American folk songs and names like Sean O'Farrell sounded Irish or Scottish, so it wasn't something in Japanese folklore.

She was musing such things so deeply that Aya missed The Man now waltzing or stumbling in her general direction. Upon taking notice of this, fear gripped her heart. It doubled when The Man went down to one knee, looking upon her with a keen interest - and breathing heavily. Thunder then rolled overhead...