Chapter 7:

A giant, black, raven-like foot gripped hold of one of the holes in the bedroom wall, followed by another. The sharp talons sunk in, cracking away at the drywall, as a lion-like face with fiery eyes emerged from the dark ether. Atop this Chimera stood a humanoid figure. He was too tall and too thin to be human with an ashen face, black eyes, and wild black hair that reached his waist. His green and silver robes floated around him, as if he were submerged in water.

Stepping down the arm of the Chimera, he entered through the breach into bedroom. Once inside, the Chimera dissolved into smoke and shadows before disappearing completely.

"Who are you?" Clea demanded.

"All beings of sentience know who I am, Clea," he spoke, his voice soft but chilling. "You know me especially well. I am Nightmare."

Clea eyed him suspiciously, making sure to keep enough distance between the two of them. "Explain yourself, because I certainly don't know you."

"My dear, Clea, I am the architect of your dreams. The realm beyond this room is my kingdom where the darkest parts of the conscious and unconscious mind become the clay from which I form my world."

This man wasn't just an other-dimensional being, he was the living form of an entire conceptual dimension- i.e. Nightmare. That alone was enough to send Clea's heart leaping into her throat.

"I'm assuming you created this bridge between our worlds. For what purpose?" she said, remaining stern.

Nightmare glided further into the room, as he continued to stare down his nose at her.

"A king should not be a prisoner of his subjects. Don't you agree?" He asked. His eyes were like black, bottomless, pits boring into her soul. "It's time I broke free from the stifling confines of the subconscious and enter reality where I can shape your world in my image. In the end, Nightmare will become all and the darkest truths of humanity will be revealed."

"Charming," she muttered, trying to pretend his plan didn't shake her to her core. She could really use some backup right now, she thought, looking over at the motionless Stephen. She had assured him she would be able to handle things while he searched for the girl. Clea was going to make sure to keep her promise. "I hate to break it to you, but you're not in reality. You've merely crossed over into the Mirror Dimension. Nothing you do here can affect the outside world."

Nightmare looked around at the fractured planes of the Mirror Dimension. A hallow laugh passed his lips as he realized she wasn't lying.

"You humans are clever, the workings of your minds are so intricate that my world basically populates itself with all kinds of horrors." He mused, his thin grey lips pulling into a callous smirk that never reached his eyes. Clea felt her skin crawl at the eerie sight. "The Mirror Dimension is merely a parlor trick which can easily be broken once the caster is disposed of. You come from fine stock, Clea- not only of human ancestry, but of something far grander. Please, don't force me to kill you. Just step aside."

"I cannot do that."

The silver-haired mystic took a strong fighting stance, rooting herself to the spot. She would not yield even to harbinger of her nightmares. She had to protect Stephen, the girl, and reality itself.

"Very well," sighed Nightmare, disappointed in her predictable decision. "Though it's a shame, you will be but one of millions to fall in the coming days."

With a wave of his hand, the room sprang to life. Pictures of Marianna's friends and family reached out beyond the photo paper, their eyes blackened, fingernails grown to long claws, and teeth sharpened to razor-like points. They stepped out of their frames and ran at her, hobbling quickly on distorted legs. The small flowers printed on the wallpaper began crawling downwards, making their way towards her as they took the form of spiders. The water spots on the ceiling began leaking acid, burning holes into the floor and furniture- landing dangerously close to Stephen and Marianna.

Clea smacked the photo monster closest to her in the face with her staff before jamming the back end of it into the stomach of another that was running up behind her. Spinning the staff, she brought it down on the monster's head, cracking it's skull open and causing it to disintegrate.

Summoning up a shield spell, she cast it on the ceiling overhead, blocking the acid. The moment it was under control, she stomped her foot firmly on the ground, creating a ripple in the floor which knocked the spiders back. With a few elegant hand gestures, a fiery orange spell sword appeared in her right hand and she used it to dispatch the rest of the photo monsters. The light from the sword caused the spiders to shrink into the dark corners of the room and disappear.

"Such power," Nightmare observed. "It's always a pleasure weaving your kind's nightmares. But magic takes such a heavy toll on the mind." He turned his black gaze to Stephen then, a cold smile tugging at his thin lips. "The Sorcerer Supreme- the keeper of so many burdens. Are you curious to know what lurks in his dreams?"

Feeling a surge of protectiveness, Clea immediately placed herself between Nightmare and Stephen. She pointed her sword at him in a stern warning.

"You will not touch him," she snapped.

"So defensive," murmured Nightmare. "Must be your human half speaking."

Before Nightmare could launch another attack, Stephen suddenly sprang back to consciousness. His eyes snapped open and upon seeing the monster before him and Clea bravely using herself as a shield to protect him, he levitated off the chest he was sitting on and summoned two vibrant golden spell discs. With Nightmare distracted by Stephen, Clea launched an all-out attack on him. Her spell sword disappeared, replaced by brilliant purple volleys of magic energy which shot from her open palms.

Nightmare was knocked backwards by each blast which bore away at his flesh. Her tattoo began to glow a vibrant purple, becoming brighter the longer she continued her barrage. Instead of inflicting pain on her, the mandala chain fueled her with even greater power as she blasted her target apart. Stephen watched in shock and curiosity as the now ragged form of Nightmare was blasted out of the bedroom and back into his realm. He had never seen an acolyte of the Anchient One use such destructive magic before.

Once Clea stopped firing, she shook her hands. The purple light vanished from her tattoo, like the last embers in a dying fire. She knew her attack was not enough to kill him but it would be a while before he recovered. At least she bought them some time.

"Clea!" Yelled Stephen as he scooped Marianna up in his arms. "Come with me, we have to hurry. She doesn't have much time."

"What's wrong?" She asked, breathless from her last attack.

"The girl- she overdosed on sleeping pills. We have to induce vomiting right away."

Clea followed Stephen as he ran through the living room and into the kitchen.

"So, what's the story with Slenderman?" Stephen asked as he lay Marianna down on the kitchen table and then turned on the sink faucet.

"He is the living embodiment of the realm of Nightmare. Coincidentally, that's also what he calls himself." She informed him.

"Nightmare?" He asked, tearing through the cupboards, looking for the things he needed, while he waited for the water to heat up. Time was of the essence.

"Yes," Clea affirmed.

"Very creative," muttered Stephen sarcastically as he slammed a mixing bowl along with a box of salt, a bottle of mustard, and a bottle of vinegar onto the counter. "Can you find me a turkey baster?"

Clea nodded, quickly getting to work while Stephen began adding the ingredients to the bowl. Getting a mixture of equal parts he then added the warm water and stirred up the vomit-inducing cocktail.

"I believe it's safe to say the situation has reached the level of worst case scenario. He's the architect of an entire dimension... not to mention, he has full access to our subconscious when we sleep," explained Clea, whipping out a turkey baster from one of the drawers and handing it to the former doctor. "He knows things about us that we would never tell anyone."

Stephen hardly had time to take all this in as he brought the bowl to the table. Just then, more photo monsters appeared in the kitchen doorway and Clea blasted them back until they were merely dust.

Nightmare was already regenerating. It wouldn't be long until he was back in full force.

"You're going to have to prop her up so her airway is fully open," said Stephen. Hoisting Marianna up to a sitting position, he had Clea stand at the edge of the table behind her.

Stephen then sucked up a good amount of the cocktail using the turkey baster. Holding it poised above Marianna's mouth he looked over to Clea. He knew what he was about to say next was not going to go over well with her. "In order for this to work, I need you to bring us out of the Mirror Dimension."

Clea stiffened, her eyes widening in shock. He had to know what he was asking, she thought. Had he gone mad?

"But the breach- that thing could brake through to our world!" She argued.

"I know," he told her, his piercing eyes connecting with hers. She could see that his certainty was unwavering. "But we have to help her."

Clea did not have time to think, she only knew what her heart told her. It begged her to trust him, to save the girl.

"Alright," she agreed. "Just realize I don't know how to kill a concept, Stephen."

"Noted," he muttered.

The vicious scratching of Nightmare's monsters could be heard from the other room. It sounded as if their forces were multiplying. They were coming for them. Closing the Mirror Dimension would be like opening the gates of Hell and unleashing its demons on Earth.

"One."

Clea could barely feel Marianna's heartbeat as she held tightly to her, keeping her upright. The mystic's heart, however, was working double-time.

"Two."

Stephen's brow furrowed in complete concentration, his shaking hands becoming worse and worse as he pulled Marianna's mouth open and fed the turkey baster down her throat. This was his first attempt at any sort of medical procedure since the accident. He was silently cursing his clumsiness the whole time.

"Three."

Clea broke them out of the Mirror Dimension sending them back into reality. Once the fractured walls of their isolated world were gone, Stephen depressed the pump on the baster, squeezing out every last drop of the cocktail before quickly pulling the kitchen utensil out of the girl's throat.

Marianna remained limp in Clea's arms, her heartbeat too faint to feel. The silver-haired mystic looked up at Stephen in concern.

"Stephen…" she breathed, her hold tightening on the Marianna in a vein attempt to comfort the dying girl.

Nightmarish ghouls tore through the living room as Marianna's mother could be heard screaming at the top of her lungs. Clea was prepared to drop the girl and fight them off until suddenly Marianna lurched forwards in her arms and threw her head over the side of the table to vomit.

"Oh, gross," Clea murmured, watching as Marianna emptied her stomach onto the floor.

"Alright, she's awake! We can close the portal now," said Stephen.

The two sorcerers ran out of the kitchen and began bombarding the monsters in the living room with spells, incinerating each one as they made their way back to the portal.

"Quickly!" Clea cried as they leapt not the bedroom.

Just as Stephen raised his hands to seal the portal shut, the two sorcerers were knocked back by a burst of black energy shooting straight out of the portal. It was too late, Nightmare had broken through. Throwing his hand out, Stephen created a spell shield to protect them from the impact of the blast. The dark magic cracked away the protective barrier bit by bit until there was nothing left. Clea and Stephen were both thrown backwards into the wall of the bedroom as the tail end of the energy surge shot from the Nightmare realm. Once the barrage was over, the portal closed shut.

"Stephen…" Clea breathed as she pulled herself to her knees. "What have we done?"

The Sorcerer Supreme stood silent, looking at the spot where the portal had been. They had gambled and lost, unleashing Nightmare onto the world. He had to fix this.

"Stephen?"

He had to.

AN: I know it's been a while. Endgame (and it's lack of Stephen) got my writer's brain fired up again. Hope you guys are still out there and along for the ride! Now we have a villain! Woooo. Cookies to all who guessed Nightmare. I hope they do use him in the MCU, I think there's a lot of potential there both with storytelling and visual appeal. Tell me what you think :) I'm trying to hone my narrative structure and pacing. I tend to let my stories get bloated with subplots and flashbacks so hopefully I'm doing better about getting to the point.