Eyes fluttering open, you find yourself there in the Nightmare Realm again. You're sprawled out on a soft, eerily warm ground. A dull, strange pulse that trembles through the ground. The ground's texture is unnerving as your fingertips run across it, closer to flesh than earth. You squint, making out thin veins spread out through the ground, pumping a black liquid through the flesh that stands in stark contrast to the brownish-red of the floor. You briefly look at yourself for any injury, but you don't see anything wrong, at least visibly. You're wearing a pair of simply cloth pajamas that hang off your pale, frail frame and some small, featureless blue slippers.


Standing, you look around at the nightmare realm surrounding you. The sky is black and lifeless, not a single shining light to break the dull veil of oblivion that hangs over your head. You're in the middle of a forest of jet black trees that spike out from the ground like pillars of obsidian, their trunks all charred and blackened by what you presume was fire. From the tree's branches hang red, glistening organs and chunks of flesh, blood dripping down from them. A length of rotting intestine, a split open stomach whose food has spilled out to the ground, a long strip of unidentifiable flesh, they all just hang their like some horrifying butcher's display.


In contrast to the dark floor there's several chunks of bleached white bone about the size of a child's head in the ground, sticking out like everyday rocks. You grab the nearest one cautiously, turning it over in your hand to reveal the bottom of it is covered with beetle-like creatures, which make a strangely human-like panting. Thin, long pink tongues extend from their mouths towards you, before you frantically shake them off the chunk of bone. Nervously, you toss the chunk of bone back to the ground.


You look around for anything useful, something to help you get out of this insane hellscape. Next to one of the trees, leaning against the gnarled black roots is a red, plastic Zippo lighter, seeming out of place in the whole world of nightmares. There's a lake of black, unreflective liquid that you stare at, its waters thick and oil-like. Sitting next to it, far enough away from you that you're not too scared, is a figure.


The figure looks like a badly deformed child, although its face is closer to that of a hairless rat, a long snout that extends past its face. You pause, noticing its eyes are a pair of black buttons, stitched straight into its sockets with red thread. Its limbs are thin and frail, and although it seems to be naked. Its skin is pale and leathery, hanging off it in patches to reveal the black flesh underneath. It holds in its hand a fishing rod, sitting there casually as if nothing was wrong. You wonder if it'll act as a friend or foe. Sitting next to it is a black oil lantern, from which the only light in sight shines out, brightening the area.

You follow the pulse of the ground

Dropping to your knees, you press your thumb against one of the veins going through the ground, feeling the warm pulse of blood go through. You follow the vein, the pulse growing louder and louder, stronger and stronger with every beat. 


Continuing to follow it, you soon reach a thick mass of flesh, coils of muscle filled with the black, oozing blood. The thing spasms every few seconds, and you wince as you realize you're listening to the beating of a heart.


The heart lies there, spasming and beating as you wonder what to do.

You attempt to kill the heart

You take a deep breath, looking around before seeing a chunk of bone. You lift it up, shaking off the bugs that cling underneath, before ramming it into the heart. It bounces back, but you feel there's some leeway, so you heave it back into the air before bringing it down. The heart bursts open as you drive the chunk into it, spraying you with the black bile-like blood as it covers your arms up to your elbow as you plunge your hands inside. It spasms one final time, spraying blood out, before you toss the chunk aside.


Listening to the silent night air, you hear the faint beating of other hearts, keeping the nightmare realm alive. There must be hundreds of them. There's no way you're killing this hellhole.

Back

Eyes fluttering open, you find yourself there in the Nightmare Realm again. You're sprawled out on a soft, eerily warm ground. A dull, strange pulse that trembles through the ground. The ground's texture is unnerving as your fingertips run across it, closer to flesh than earth. You squint, making out thin veins spread out through the ground, pumping a black liquid through the flesh that stands in stark contrast to the brownish-red of the floor. You briefly look at yourself for any injury, but you don't see anything wrong, at least visibly. You're wearing a pair of simply cloth pajamas that hang off your pale, frail frame and some small, featureless blue slippers.


Standing, you look around at the nightmare realm surrounding you. The sky is black and lifeless, not a single shining light to break the dull veil of oblivion that hangs over your head. You're in the middle of a forest of jet black trees that spike out from the ground like pillars of obsidian, their trunks all charred and blackened by what you presume was fire. From the tree's branches hang red, glistening organs and chunks of flesh, blood dripping down from them. A length of rotting intestine, a split open stomach whose food has spilled out to the ground, a long strip of unidentifiable flesh, they all just hang their like some horrifying butcher's display.


In contrast to the dark floor there's several chunks of bleached white bone about the size of a child's head in the ground, sticking out like everyday rocks. You grab the nearest one cautiously, turning it over in your hand to reveal the bottom of it is covered with beetle-like creatures, which make a strangely human-like panting. Thin, long pink tongues extend from their mouths towards you, before you frantically shake them off the chunk of bone. Nervously, you toss the chunk of bone back to the ground.


You look around for anything useful, something to help you get out of this insane hellscape. Next to one of the trees, leaning against the gnarled black roots is a red, plastic Zippo lighter, seeming out of place in the whole world of nightmares. There's a lake of black, unreflective liquid that you stare at, its waters thick and oil-like. Sitting next to it, far enough away from you that you're not too scared, is a figure.


The figure looks like a badly deformed child, although its face is closer to that of a hairless rat, a long snout that extends past its face. You pause, noticing its eyes are a pair of black buttons, stitched straight into its sockets with red thread. Its limbs are thin and frail, and although it seems to be naked. Its skin is pale and leathery, hanging off it in patches to reveal the black flesh underneath. It holds in its hand a fishing rod, sitting there casually as if nothing was wrong. You wonder if it'll act as a friend or foe. Sitting next to it is a black oil lantern, from which the only light in sight shines out, brightening the area.

You inspect the tree trunks

You head over to the black tree trunks, running a hand over the ash-covered trunk. Some of the ash rubs off, and you roll it between your fingertips. You notice that there's several deep gouge marks in the tree, no doubt from some horrifying beast.


A drop of blood lands on your shoulder from the organs hanging above you, and you step back away from the tree.