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added part 3
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“I am now. There is much work to be done. Hatred must be known…to all.”<br>
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====<u>Part III: Terror’s Return</u>====
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I’m scared, I don’t like it here. It’s cold and I can’t see anything. My head hurts, but I can’t bring myself to reach up and find out why. This place…It looks like the catacombs under that old cathedral. It has the same smell of a tomb, I don’t like that smell. I got lost here once. I wasn’t supposed to be here; dad says the church is left over from some old religion and we follow the Zakarum now. Dad and his guards spent hours wandering down here looking for me; he was very mad at me and made me promise never to come down here again. I didn’t have to promise, this place scares me like nothing else I’ve ever known. Why am I here?<br>
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“Albrecht”<br>
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That voice again. I’ve been hearing it for a while now; I don’t know where it’s coming from but it’s getting louder. I’m trying to remember how I got here, but it’s still fuzzy. The last thing I remember was archbishop Lazarus coming into my room and saying he needed my help. He said dad was in trouble and needed me to do something for him. I believed him, dad had been acting weird the last few weeks: he was angry a lot, he mumbled to himself, he had even sent our soldiers to fight one of the kingdoms we were allies with. So I followed him into the cathedral and down the stairs towards the catacombs. But I didn’t want to go in –I don’t like that place. He…wait…he…grabbed me? Yes, I remember; he hit me and dragged me with him into this place. I begged him to let me go but he just looked at me with a cruel, heartless expression of contempt.<br>
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“Scared brat. He will have no trouble overtaking you…so weak.”<br>
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Who was he talking about? I don’t understand any of this. There were eyes looking at me from the shadows –they seemed to gleam with their own light like the monsters I’d read about. Lazarus saw them too, but he didn’t look scared…or ever surprised by them.<br>
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“Leave us be. This one is for out lord.”<br>
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The eyes vanished. Why was he acting like this? He was always so nice to me and everybody else. Was he crazy? He set me down to unlock one of the old iron doors and I could barely do anything except slump against to icy stone wall beside me. With a harsh metallic click the door swung open, flooding the room with flickering torchlight and a rotting stench. As he drug he forward, I looked around and I saw people, dead and bloody. No…NO! Sajai. She was my nanny. She always kept a special eye on me, held me when I was scared, played with me when I was alone. Why her? She was there, broken, twisted in horrible ways. Her hands were gone and strange symbols were etched in her skin; it looked like someone had cut her heart out! Everything started swirling; I was losing focus. It was too much…I fainted. When I woke up, I was here…and Lazarus is gone. Where is dad?<br>
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“Albrecht”<br>
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The voice. I’m trying not to tremble but I can’t. The cold is bad, but it’s really because I’m afraid. But I have to know…<br>
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“Who are you”<br>
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Nothing for the longest time. Maybe I’m hearing things; maybe I hit my head. But the voice that answers in such quaking, growling tones is far from imaginary:<br>
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“I am you. You are me.”<br>
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“That doesn’t make sense…..I must really be losing my wits.”<br>
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“Yes…mad. Like your father. Do you want to know who I am, Albrecht? Who I really am?”<br>
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Now I’m terrified. I’m alone with him, I know. And I can’t do anything to stop him. I can’t even move from where I am; it’s as though some great weight is on my body holding me down, like I have no energy or will. The fear is thick in the air –my heart feels like lead in my chest. But I want to know.<br>
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“Wh…who?”<br>
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“I am the fear in you. Every monster you’ve imagined, seen in your nightmares, I am.”<br>
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No. That’s not right. Dreams aren’t real, he’s lying. It’s a trick.<br>
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“No trick, child. Shall I show you?"<br>
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How does it know what I’m thinking? Is he really in me? No…it’s all magic. He’s a sorcerer or something trying to get in my head. He’s probably the reason dad’s been acting so strange. He must have cast a spell on him or something. Well I won’t help him!<br>
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“Leave me alone. I don’t want you here. Let me GO!”<br>
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“I’ve only begun, Albrecht. You’re not nearly as strong as your father. Leoric resisted, refused to give in to me; but you will do, your will is weak. Do you believe in demons, Albrecht?”<br>
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Dad? What does he mean? Did he do to dad what he was doing to me? Was he the reason dad went mad? No, I don’t believe it…in demons. It’s a lie.<br>
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“Demon...yes. Feel my terror, Albrecht. It is the last thing you will ever feel. Already we are uniting, and I reach into your heart.”<br>
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A red glow is filling the room, it seems to be coming from….me. I finally reach up and feel it –some kind of stone is in my head. It’s burning but I can’t get it out. All I can see is red now, I feel like I’m falling. The burning in my head isn’t stopping either. It’s like I’m in a nightmare. I see a big scaly red-eyed bird with razor claws and giant lizards vomiting acid at me. This isn’t real, it can’t be…I’ve only seen these monsters in my dreams. But it IS real. The stone has fire coming out of it, filling up the whole room –and the monsters are coming out of the fire. The rocks in the wall are shaping into beasts, skeletons of people long since dead are pulling free from the walls and chains to wander to me. Why are they bowing?<br>
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“Go away…go away…go away.”<br>
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It’s all I can say. They’re all there: circling, chanting, grinning at me. I’m curled up with my hands over my ears, trying to block them all out; but it’s more than just outside…it’s in me. Whether I close my eyes or stare out…they’re there. What is this place? What if dreams and the real world are all the same here –a living nightmare?<br>
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“Do you see know, young prince? They are all from you.”<br>
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The room is gone; I walk through the halls, seeing the monsters dance around me in madness. I’m surrounded by fire and boiling blood. They chant and march in this madness, changing shape from my nightmares to the people I know and back again, tearing themselves apart and being reborn in the flames. My father, mother, Sajai, then rotting zombies, hooved beasts and winged horrors, all twisting one into another in a mocking diorama before my eyes. This is hell, I made it.<br>
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“No…no…NO!!”<br>
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I can’t take it. If it’s all from me, maybe it’s my fault, maybe I am the demon. The world is twisted, burning. Their cackling fills my ears. They’re waiting for me to crack…to lose my mind…..or have I already lost it? I can’t feel anything anymore…all that’s left is my fear…and the nightmares all around me. I know I’m bleeding…even digging at my eyes does nothing to stop the visions; but there is no pain anymore, only fear.<br>
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“I’m scared.”<br>
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He speaks again. Not comforting or caring, only commanding. I cling to his words because they are the only strong thing in this madness I have to hold to.<br>
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“No, I am Terror.”<br>
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So lost, alone, I can only wonder at his order:<br>
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“Terror? I am Terror?”<br>
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“Yes, not scared…Terror.”<br>
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He is right. He is stronger than these nightmares. He can protect me…if I let him.<br>
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“I am Terror.”<br>
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“Yes, I am…sleep, prince, and let the nightmare awake. I am Terror.”<br>
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“Terror…”<br>
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- - -<br>
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The boy shattered. His soul tortured beyond what he could bear. His will was weak, no promise of power in his soul…but he will do. These eyes return to the red blaze they once were; the flesh burns, horns and spikes emerge, as I regain my true shape. My minions are the terrible creations of the boy’s mind, the nightmarish figments of his imagination that haunted his childish mind at night. From his broken soul I laid bare his deepest fears and gave them form; I ripped the terror from his heart and rebuilt myself with it. His weakness gives me strength…I feed on his fear. I flick my hand and the demons, ghouls and ghosts vanish into the passageways of the catacombs, ready to bring true fear to any that encroach on my lair.<br>
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Now I will gather my strength, the time is coming when I will leave this wretched place and free my brothers…the plan is moving forward as we intended. A pity I could not have Leoric, for he was much stronger than his son. Yet that same strength kept me from the deepest corners of his mind –he resisted me. No matter, Albrecht is mine until I find someone stronger, then I will truly begin my work. I am the Lord of Terror; I will soon bathe this world and all its mortals in fire, blood, and fear. In my deep, rumbling laughter I pronounce onto the world the words that will shake it from its foundations to the wretched High Heavens:<br>
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“Terror is come.”<br>
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