Blessed by Night

Nyx gradually started to back away under the scrutinizing gaze of Malachi, feeling like their roles of parent and child had suddenly been reversed.

"You brought one of my siblings here…to beat me up?" He asked in a dry tone.

"N-No, not quite! There's a bit more to it than-"

"Is this because I won't let you watch me have sex?"

"No, but I'm certainly not happy about that either."

"Ma!"

"Sorry, sorry! But I honestly only called your sister here so that she could help you with your little… hesitation problem."

"What are you..?"

Nyx suddenly reached up and touched the golden earrings hanging delicately from her son's ears.

"Your sister gave you these for a reason…Don't you owe it to her to actually try to use them as intended?"

Immediately, Malachi grimaced and began to wish that he had avoided this question all together.

During one of Aubrey's many visits to the realm, she had gifted Malachi these special earrings made from her magic.

Apparently, she was becoming rather proficient in the field during her free time on earth, and she had given these a very special effect.

According to her, they would help link his conscious and unconscious minds together when he was in his nightmare state and allow him to remain cognizant in his other state.

Theoretically…

Everyone had been patiently waiting for him to test them, but for understandable reasons he was a bit apprehensive about doing so.

"I called your sister here because I figured that she could help assuage some of the worries you had about this undertaking. If Keres are here then you can use the earrings guilt free without worrying about losing control and hurting someone."

"Because she's going to beat me up if I lose my shit?"

"Yes!"

"But we like brother." Keres reaffirmed. "We do not wish to hurt him."

As evidence of her new affection, she gave her brother a small pat on the head like he was some kind of dog.

"I appreciate the sentiment but you don't need to worry about beating on me unless I start doing some bad stuff, okay?" Malachi reaffirmed.

"Bad stuff..?"

"Yea, like if I try to eat our mom or any of my girlfriends or even you-"

"You could eat me if you wanted to!" Nadine said happily.

"I will keep that in mind for later."

Keres looked like she was wrestling with the proper decision to make before she eventually nodded in her usual slow and unfeeling manner.

"Alright… I will do this for you if that is what you truly wish for."

"Wonderful!" Nyx said happily.

-

Malachi finally separated from Nadine begrudgingly and headed back to the empty room where he explored all of his new powers.

Sitting directly in the center of the room, he was surrounded by all twenty copies of Keres.

Nyx was floating around somewhere out of sight, leaving her son with the peace of mind needed to focus.

Malachi didn't actually know how to use his nightmare bloodline, but since he had a little experience with transformation already, he thought he may have known where to start.

His earrings started to glow as his skin solidified and he started to feel a bit lightheaded.

His body slumped over onto the floor and his mind was transported somewhere dark inside his subconscious.

But he didn't feel quite alone here.

"Hello?" He called out aimlessly hoping to hear some kind of response, but he received nothing in return.

Suddenly a figure appeared through the darkness.

It was him, or atleast the version of him that he became when using this hated power of his.

A tall and powerful looking creature with black skin and a powerful physique paired with four snake-headed tails jutting from his lower back.

"Heh… I really am a monster. No wonder I've got everyone in the world above spooked."

"Mon…ster..?"

"What else would you call something mindless that goes into random frenzies and attacks people?" He said angrily.

"Love… We…love…you. Eat…to…make…you… strong."

Out of all of the things that Malachi was expecting a large alien to say, the fact that it loved him certainly wasn't among them.

Previously, he had been understandably hostile toward this creature he saw as mindless.

And yet, it had never responded to his hostility even once; meeting it with only good graces.

He didn't even remotely know how to process that.

"Make me strong, huh..? I don't need you to eat people to do anything like that. I'm already plenty strong."

"Need… more… strength… if had… would not… have… to… leave."

"Leave? Where am I supposed to be going?"

"You… stay… I… leave."

Right before Malachi's eyes, the monstrous silhouette in front of him changed into something entirely different.

It's features were replaced with feminine ones instead of masculine, and it's irredeemably dark skin was lightened to a pinkish grey hue.

It's legs split apart into lengthy slender tentacles as it's limbs became more wiry and seemingly lacking in power.

Even in a million years, he would never forget this face that most would have considered frightening.

"Shear!"

Oblivious to her pointy fingers and shoulder appendages, Malachi embraced the loveable monster as he felt a wave of emotions rushing through him.

He understood it all now.

Shear had been unconsciously driving Malachi to gain strength because she didn't want anything like what happened to her to befall him.

If they were stronger when facing Arias for the first time, they would have never been separated.

But there was still something that he didn't understand.

"Why would you make me bite Aubrey..? You know her, she fed you chicken strips under the table when she thought I wasn't looking..!"

Shear turned into her smaller and more easily held form as she wrapped around Mal's neck like a scarf.

"Did… not… recognize… until…too.. late. Very…different… from… before."

Aubrey had gotten her blessings only after Shear had died.

Since she suddenly possessed such a large amount of power within her body when she formerly had none, Shear did not recognize her, and thought that she would make the perfect morsel to strengthen them.

And because nightmares do not 'see' in the traditional sense, she was only able to recognize her by her blood that was staggeringly similar to Malachi's instead of her looks.

"Okay… I guess I understand that… but what about the time that Luna and Bianca said you were trying to jump on them in the middle of the dungeon?"

"You…revert…to…. instinctual…thought… and…behavior… when… see… them. Overwhelm… me."

"Oh…So I'm just a horny beast then?"

"…." Shear did not answer, but Malachi noticed she was going to great lengths to avoid his gaze.

'Sei was right…maybe I do have an addiction… She doesn't seem to mind though, actually she-'

Shaking his head free of useless thoughts, Malachi walked around the dark space aimlessly as he held Shear in his grasp.

"You know… I know now that you were only trying to help me. And I appreciate it but you gotta let me have some control now, alright?"

"… Are…you…displeased…with…my…help?"

"Never that. But It's a real scary thing to not know what you're going to do sometimes, you know?

I need to be able to make my own choices at all times, and not lose my head because you saw something that made you hungry."

"…Understood."

"That's my girl. I've really missed you."

"Miss… too."

Holding Shear out in front of him, Malachi smiled at her proudly.

"I'm usually not okay with it but I promise… I'm going to bite Arias' head off for hurting you."

What followed from Shear was a chorus of happy clicking noises that he didn't realize just how glad he was to hear.

-

Finally, the nightmare started to pull itself up from the ground after lying motionlessly for several minutes.

The creature let out a distinctive hissing noise from it's mouths and tails as it rose to it's full height of seven feet.

A gust of wind blew, and the creature was surrounded by pointed weapons from every conceivable angle; the Keres closing in when they saw the creature climbing to his feet.

However, the nightmare remained calm and showed no visible signs of stress or agitation.

"You were acting like you were against hurting me before. I fell out of your good graces that quick?"

Keres dispelled all of her weapons almost as fast as she had summoned them, and instead gave her brother her version of a gentle pat on the cheek.

She wasn't at all disturbed by the unholy sound of his voice or even the sight of his terrible new face.

"Brother is still my favorite. I was only doing as asked."

"I know, I know."

Suddenly, the air in front of the nightmare distorted and Nyx was revealed to be floating in the air, her hands covering her mouth in shock.

"My boy… have you really done it…?"

Malachi fell silent momentarily as he placed a clawed hand across his chest.

"Nah… I haven't done anything at all."