Absolution
My stories are copyrighted, so NO takee! This story is related to "The Seeker" series and basically introduces two new characters, a most unusual pair of friends and lovers. Sorry, no Yiff in this one!
Absolution
By William W. Kelso
Gnik was a dream demon, the kind that comes into your dreams and scares the living crap out of you. Their victims are mostly children, but adults can be vulnerable to their attentions as well. They do not in any way harm you physically as after all they can only appear in your dreams, but they can mess you up, as in drive you insane, make you insecure and an underachiever, scared of the dark, antisocial, etc. Ever wonder why so many people die in their sleep? They're scared to death. In other words they like to mess with your mind, it's what they do. They know your innermost fears and terrors, and manifest them in your dreams. It doesn't have to be a monster or something horrible and drooling, but that IS one of their main manifestations. They are the monster under the bed or in the closet, the thing that goes bump in the night, the boogey man. But they can give you dreams in which you fail a test, relive an unpleasant experience, get lost, run from something you never see, can't find your car, have a nice dream that suddenly goes bad, etc. They are quite versatile. However, not all bad dreams come from dream demons, just the really bad ones. And there are many different kinds. Gnik specialized in children since he was a fairly young demon and needed 'experience'.
Every child is visited by one, some more than others. Most humans manage to banish them by becoming 'mature' and non-believers in childhood terrors and other boogie-men. Once you stop believing in them they have no longer have any power over you. But for some the visits never stop, those poor souls pack insane asylums and loiter in back alleys talking to nobody. Or in some cases rise to great prominence on waves of their own terrors and fears, the dream demon that tormented Hitler is a legend in Hell. They are very real demons, and just as terrible as the ones that appear and drag you down to Hell when your time is up. In some ways they can be even worse as they destroy you from the inside out by using your own fears against you. Most have more than one 'customer', some have only one. Some actually grow quite fond of those they torment and continue to 'visit' them even after they are dead.
Gnik was such a dream demon; he had been for over 800 years. He didn't particularly care for his job, but it was what he was, what he did, what he had been born to do. His parents were dream demonkind, as were all his friends. Dream demonkind don't associate with other demonkind much because in some cases they can appear in their fellow demonkinds dreams as well, and most demonkind didn't care to be friends with someone who might show up in their dreams and scare the Hell out of them. Usually that happens by accident though, but a dream demon never apologizes. After all, they're just doing their job. The 6th Level of Hell is their domain, and they seldom have visitors.
Gnik's specialty was to scare little kids, so fell into the 'monster under the bed' category of dream demons. He would manifest under their bed, or in the closet, and then take on the form of their deepest childhood fears, usually an icky slobbering drooling monster of some kind. But it could be anything, from a blob with lots of tentacles and mouths, to a caricature of a feared Aunt or other relative. 'Give Auntie a kiss Bobby, num, num's time!' That usually really scared the crap out of them, and he considered it a good night if the kid wet its bed. It was fairly routine, he'd manifest, take on a form, chase the kid around for awhile, and just when he grabbed the kid, or was about to eat it, the kid would wake up screaming for Mom or Dad. The parent would come, check the closet and/or under the bed, tell the kid it was just a bad dream (which it was) and go back to sleep. If the kid persisted they'd make an appointment for therapy. If it got to that point Gnik felt proud of himself. He was very good at what he did.
That was until he met Christy. He responded to a 'call' from someone who was ready to have a bad dream. He had no idea how it worked, he would just appear and do his thing. This time he appeared in a closet, but when he tried to read the mind of the child all he encountered was a formless terror, something he could give no shape too. So he kept his true form for once. It was bad enough, but nowhere near as bad as the dream forms he took. Like many demonkind he had quite a bit of reptile in him, the primal form that all demonkind have to some degree, but in him it was almost 100%. He was a bipedal lizard like thing with slick plastic looking skin instead of scales, a light bluish-grey color with greenish-brown mottled splotches and a stripe down his back and tail. His legs were digitigrades like the beast he was, his feet having short blunt toes with very nasty claws that clicked when he walked on a hard surface, they sounded like tap dancers shoes, and they were powerfully muscled legs designed for speed and jumping. His torso was somewhat humanlike as were his arms, except for the long sharp claws on the tips of his three long fingers and thumb. He had a fully developed; though somewhat shorter than usual, tail with a raised ridge running from his head and down his back to the tip of the tail. He had no real shoulders, just a thick neck ending in his most impressive feature, his head. It looked like an alien dinosaur with a raised prominent bone structure giving it an almost skeletal look, and he had fangs that would make any carnivore jealous, and even with his large jaws shut they were still protruded. He had no real lips, and like most reptiles his facial features were frozen and incapable of expression. His eyes were the emotionless eyes of a reptile, glowing faintly with the fires of Hell. So, even in his true form he was scary as, well, Hell, even if by Hell's standards he was pretty mellow.
So he left the closet and approached the bed with the small human female child in it. He approached in a crouch, jaws drooling, clawed fingers spread wide, figuring this would be a short gig. He'd leap on the kid, she'd wake up screaming, and he'd have plenty of time for another visit before he 'went off duty'. But to his surprise she just stared at him blankly. No fear, no terror, no nothing, just that blank stare. She knew he was there; he knew that, but she just wasn't scared of him, not in the least. So to say he was caught by surprise was an understatement, he was shocked. He'd never had this happen before! He knew he had been 'called', that the kid was having a nightmare, or was ready to have one with his 'help', but something was wrong. So he stood up straight and looked at the kid in bewilderment, the kid staring back at him, eyes wide, but showing not a trace of fear, at least of him. He tried some different poses, opening his mouth wide to display his fangs, licking his long forked tongue over his fangs and drooling all over the place, rubbed his stomach and pointing at her like he was planning on eating her, and then pretended he was going to eat a teddy bear that was on her bed, and when that produced no results he finally just stood there scratching his head. What the Hell was this kid's problem? Did she have mental problems? What could be scarier than a dream demon??
Finally Gnix did something he'd never done before, but knew he could do. He reached down and gently put his fingers on her head. He was capable of a more direct contact to her innermost fears and terrors that way, was bound and determined to find out how he could scare her. Normally if he actually touched a child in a dream they would wake up as that was the end of the dream, but in this case touching was allowed. It was his job, and a matter of pride. He found a traumatized mind that saw as little of the world as it could, that had withdrawn deep into itself, a mind that had thrown up walls and barriers to keep any outside contact at bay. But being what he was he pushed them aside and found what he was looking for. He saw a car with a family in it, a young human male and his wife, their three offspring in the back. It was nice day, and they were on their way to their favorite restaurant.
Christy had been five years old then, and was six now. She had been sparring with her pest of a brother in typical sibling rivalry, and not paying attention to anything else other then jabbing him back every time he jabbed her 'You're hogging the seat!', and never saw the large SUV, the driver intently talking on his cell phone. She felt a sudden jolt, heard screams; including her own, and was thrown free as the two vehicles crumpled and merged with one another. Her parents and brother and sister were not so lucky, and were still alive but pinned in the twisted wreckage. The driver of the SUV was just a smear of pulverized flesh and bone. She sat up; her ears ringing and her eyes hazed by pain, and remembered how hot it was and the smell of gasoline. She heard a loud 'whoosh', and the screaming started again, and lasted forever. She stared at the figures in the car as they shriveled and writhed in the hungry twisting flames, screaming and screaming...
Gnik pulled back like he'd received an electrical shock. Even he was horrified, so much pain in one so young. He terrorized and scared children, yes; it was what he did, but this?? Nothing he could come up with; nothing he could do, could come close to equaling this terror. Compared to the horror and terror this child had seen he was an amateur, a funny little lizard man, a welcome visitor to give her a brief respite from her own never ending nightmare. And he felt something he'd never felt before, pity and maybe a little sympathy. Humbled, he turned and left, the blank eyes watching as the closet door closed.
Gnik visited a 'normal' child that night as well, taking on the form of a giant bunny rabbit with huge fangs. He chased the kind around a dream jungle for awhile before finally pouncing on him, and the kid wet the bed and woke up screaming. Mission accomplished. But as he returned to Hell he couldn't help but think about the small human female child. He had never failed before, and was bound and determined to find some way to scare her. He knew he could turn her 'case' over to a Nytmare, a higher level dream demonkind, but had his professional pride at stake. So he visited the little girl almost nightly. And nothing worked; he was unable to even make her blink no matter what he did, no matter what form he took. Finally he would just collapse in a chair and stare at her in frustration; her staring back, until it was time to leave. It was downright creepy.
One night, after he had exhausted his attempts to scare her and had sat down, to his surprise she spoke to him. They usually didn't do that, screaming was the norm.
"Doctor Prescott says you're not real." The girl calmly stated.
"I assure you, I'm very real." Gnix answered.
"I knew it, the girl said, what are you?"
"Me? I'm your worst nightmare, or I'm supposed to be." Gnix answered.
"You're not scary, just ugly." The kid said.
Gnik hissed in amusement, "By my standards I'm a hunk."
"A hunk of what?" The girl asked.
Gnix just hissed, that was funny!
"Why are you here?" Christy asked.
"Because you called me." He replied.
"No I didn't, I don't even know your name!" The girl pouted.
Gnik reached up and tapped his head with a claw, "You called me up here, in your mind. And my name is Gnik."
"Pleased to meet you Gnik, my name is Christy." The girl said.
Well, Gnik thought, that's a new one, no one's ever been pleased to meet him before, at least any mortals, that is. It was kind of nice.
"It's nice to meet you too Christy, that's a pretty name." He hissed.
"Thank you, and yours is stupid." The girl said innocently.
Gnik hissed in amusement again, that was funny too.
"But WHY did you come?" Christy asked.
"I came here to scare you, to give you a nightmare, Gnix replied, but I can't for some reason."
"I'm sorry." Christy said.
"For what?" Gnik asked in confusion.
"For your not being able to scare me."
"I am too, Gnik said, but I don't want to scare you anymore."
"Why not?" Christy asked.
That one took him completely by surprise. It was a good question, and confused him. Why DIDN'T he want to scare her anymore? It took him some time to figure it out; and she waited patiently for his answer, but finally he realized it was because he knew her now, she was no longer some faceless kid, a'job' to be done. She was the first mortal he'd ever actually touched, or 'met'. For some reason he found he was embarrassed, but finally he said,
"Because you're my...friend?"
She snorted, and said "Well of course I'm your friend silly! You've been visiting me for weeks!"
Gnix felt strangely...pleased at the idea of having a friend. Oh, he had plenty of demonic friends, but this was different somehow.
"Do you like the Tele-Tubbies?" Christy asked.
"What, are Tele-Tubbies?" Gnix asked curiously.
"Oh, they're really cool!" Christy bubbled, "Look, I have a book with pictures of them!"
Gnix ended up sitting on the edge of the bed while Christy showed him her book, and frankly he thought the Tele-Tubbies were pretty weird. They didn't seem to do anything that made any sense. But to his surprise he found he was enjoying himself, and before he knew it the dawn was approaching and he had to bid his new 'friend' goodbye, and left through the closet. And for the first time in years Christy had a good night's sleep.
Gnix begin to visit Christy almost every night, looking forward to visiting with the small girl, as long as she 'called' him he could do so. He was soon familiar with her collection of books, and knew all her dolls and stuffed toys by name. He realized it was wrong and definitely not normal, but he felt something for the small girl, something he never had before, compassion. By visiting her he kept her terror at bay. He still did his job, but somehow it just wasn't the same anymore. And eventually his demonic friends realized something was wrong, and he was summoned to see his Lady, the demoness in whose service he was bound. She was also his mother.
He entered her office and gave Lady Gnaxa a deep bow, and said, "Greetings mother, you called for me?"
The Nytmare raised her equine head and looked at her son, her glowing eyes leaving a fading trail in the air. "Hello Gnix, she said, how have you been, my son?"
Gnix looked at his mother, as always amazed by her beauty. She was a Nytmare, part horse, part bat, and part lizard. She had the neck and head of a horse with horns, red glowing eyes, and fangs, the torso of a beautiful woman, bat wings, an equine rump and legs ending in bird like feet, and a long reptilian tail. She was sitting at her desk, and had pushed the computer screen to one side so she could see him better.
"I'm OK mother, Gnix said, I just ran into a, well, little problem. I've been meaning to tell you about it." So he did, and she listened giving him her full attention.
"Hmmm, Gnaxa said, I've heard of similar problems before, but it IS unusual. Did you try scaring her with fire?"
Gnax nodded, "I appeared as a fire sprite, but still no reaction."
"Uh-hmmm, Gnaxa pondered. Well, you should have turned it over to your shift supervisor; we'll have to send a Nytmare to do the job."
"A Nytmare mother? Gnix said, but surely she's too young for that! I mean, I thought they only visited adults?"
"Normally yes, Gnaxa replied, but this is a special case."
"Do we have to mother, Gnix pleaded, she's so young, and small, she's already suffered so much."
"Gnix! Gnaxa said with a deep rumbling snort, don't forget what you ARE! We scare mortals in their dreams, it's what we do! You are a demon, NOT a babysitter! What would happen if children came to realize they didn't have to be scared of us?! It would be a disaster! You'll never move up to teenager sexual nightmares if word of this gets out! Now don't worry yourself about this pesky child anymore, I'll assign my best Nytmare to the job. Now you may go."
"Yes mother." Gnix replied as he slunk out the door. He knew she was right.
Gnaxa watched her son leave, worried about him. He had always been kind of moody and didn't seem to get the same thrill out of his job as his fellow apprentice dream demons. Oh, he was good at his job, very good, he just didn't seem to enjoy it as much as he should. Despite the fact she had given birth many times over the eons she managed to keep track of all her offspring, and of them all he was the strangest, which in a way made him one of her favorites, and in her own way she loved him. She planned to move him into management in a few more hundred years, she had a feeling he'd be happier there. But he had to build up seniority and 'field time' first. She sent a hmail to dispatch to reassign a Nytmare to the human child, and then pursued other work that needed to done.
Gnik went back to his 'regular' work, scaring the beejesus out of little kids, but his heart just wasn't in it anymore. Not that he slaked off, if anything he threw himself into his work with a passion to try and help him forget about his human friend. But it didn't work.
"Well?" Gnaxa asked the Nytmare standing before her.
"Lady Gnaxa, the Nytmare said, that child is, is impossible! I tried every trick in the book, every way I know of scaring a mortal! She just, just...laughed! Then she asked me to give her a, a RIDE! Called me her rainbow pony! Ohhhh, the NERVE! The little BRAT! I'm, I'm sorry, she is beyond my power, I failed My Lady."
"Well, Gnaxa said, I'm sure you did your best, that's why I sent you. If you couldn't do it, no one can. She is just beyond our reach. You may go, and I'll keep this quiet."
"Thank you My Lady", the Nytmare said with relief, if word got out there was a mortal she couldn't scare, well, she'd never live it down.
Gnix could feel Christy calling him, but resisted that call for days. She had been reassigned to another dream demonkind, so was off limits. But finally, after having finished early with a little kid who was scared of play-do monsters, he decided to make a little trip on his own time. No one had said he couldn't. He appeared in her closet as usual and the door slowly opened, mist flowing forth as he stepped into the room.
"Gnix! Christly squealed, clapping her hands in glee. I thought it would be the nice horsie again, but I like you better!"
"Hi Christy", Gnix said, equally happy, an emotion with which he wasn't very familiar, but it was nice nonetheless. Then he listened in fascination while she told him about a place called Hogwarts, and about young mortals who could work magic and do wonderful things. When she described some of the 'spells' they cast, Gnix snorted, and said,
"I can do that!"
"Nu-uh! Christly said, you're not a wizard!"
"I'm better, I'm a demon! He replied, I don't even need a wand."
"Demons are big dummies, Christy said, the only do bad things!"
Feeling strangely hurt, Gnix said, "I can do good things too!"
"Like what?" Christy asked curiously.
"Well..." Actually, Gnix had no idea!
"Hah, liar, liar, pants on fire!" Christy said triumphantly.
"What do you WANT me to do??" Gnix hissed.
"Hmmm, Christy thought, then, I know, make little birdies fly around the room!"
Gnix did his best, but little bats were the best he could come up with, but Christly loved it, and shrieked in glee as the little phantasms flew around her head squeaking and pulled at her hair. Then he performed some more 'magic' for her, and had more fun than he could ever remember. He stayed so long he almost got caught by the dawn; and just made it back to the closet in time.
For two years Gnix visited her as often as he could get away with it, some nights he was too busy though. His work didn't suffer though, but increasingly his heart just wasn't in it anymore. And make no mistake; he did have a heart, a rather large one as it turns out, which might be why his fellow dream demons thought he was kind of odd. But he still managed to scare the crude out of little kids, but was less enthusiastic then he could have been, all but Christy that was, his only human friend. He knew that one day she would outgrow him though, but he tried not to think about the day that would come when she would no longer believe in him. He knew he would miss her.
As it would turn out that day never did come. He was in the process of terrorizing a little boy named Brad, chasing him around his room in the form of a huge man-eating pickle, when he felt Christy call him, but this was different. Her call was full of a horrible terror, more than he had ever been able to inflict on one of his victims. In mid leap he disappeared, knowing he had to answer her call.
He materialized as usual in the closet, and found it full of smoke, and not the creepy mist that always accompanied his arrivals. It was a thick choking smoke, but being what he was it did not bother him. Hearing a shrill scream he tore the door open and entered her room. She was sitting up in bed staring at something, and turning he saw flames flickering under the bedroom door like bright tongues, smoke billowing up to hang from the ceiling. She screamed again as a crash sounding somewhere close by and a long stream of flames shot under the door before dying back down again, and held her arms out to him, and he went to her.
As the flames worked their way under, and through, the door he held her as tightly as he could, shielding her with his own essence. Being what he was the flames normally would have been of no danger to him, but he formed a kind of bubble around her using his own life force, and that could be burned under these circumstances. But it protected her body from the eager flames. And for the first time he felt pain, true pain and agony, as the fire burned what he had for a soul. He could have withdrawn that protection at any time, let the flames have her, but he refused to do so and suffered horribly. He heard her uncle calling her name, and knew he was trying to reach the girl he had adopted after his brother's family had died in the car wreck, and to his credit the man suffered second and third degree burns trying to climb the stairs to her attic room. Gnix heard the sirens as the human fire fighters arrived, but it was far too late. He could protect her from the heat, but not the smoke. He felt her life fading, but still he protected her from the flames, he would not let them have her, not let her feel that horrible terror again, even if it meant dissipating and ceasing to exists, for there was no afterlife for his kind. The fire raged around, and on, the bed, but he kept it at bay even after he felt the life leave her body, took the pain that was meant for her and made it his own, and then came oblivion.
Somewhere the incident was observed, a question was passed on to a higher power, and a decision was made. There only remained one more thing that must be done.
Christy had felt the flames as they came for her, but her friend held her tightly and kept them away. She felt his pain, and cried for him as she hugged him. But now she was alone, but there was a bright light, a long glowing tunnel full of sparkly drifting motes and white mist, and somewhere she heard a voice calling her name, then more than one.
"Mommy, Daddy?" She asked, and heard their joy as they called for her to come to them. She started to enter the tunnel, but the paused, and turned around. Where was her friend?
Gnix was surprised to find he still existed, and he stood in the shadows and turned his head from the light for it was dangerous to his kind. He knew his friend would be safe though, and could feel the nothingness dragging at him, pulling him farther into the shadows towards oblivion.
Christy couldn't see her friend at first, and when she did she had trouble making him out in the gloom. He was almost transparent, fading as she watched. She walked over to him, and said,
"Come on, let's go, we'll be OK now. I want you to meet my Mommy and Daddy, and my little brother loves scaly things."
"I'm sorry, Gnix replied, but I can't go. That place is not for one such as I, but I'll be OK." He flickered as he felt the nothingness continuing to pull at him.
"Then I won't go either", Christy said, and reaching out she took his hand, and her warm little hand held him in place. "I won't leave you alone, you're my bestest friend ever, I love you."
And Gnix gasped as he felt a gentle warmth wash over him, and his body became solid again. And he heard a voice in his ear,
"We have a place for you, Welcome." And he followed as Christy led him into the light. All the criteria had been met. Compassion, self-sacrifice, but most of all, love. And in Hell another grieved as she felt her son cease to exist.
The fireman battled the fire valiantly; as usual, trying to save the little girl trapped in the upstairs bedroom, even though they knew it was hopeless, but still they tried, sweat pouring from their bodies as the fought their ancient foe. When the flames were finally beaten back and put out the little girl was dead, but amazingly her body had not been burned, not even singed. Except for a layer of fine white ash that completely covered her body she was untouched by the flames. She lay on her bed with a calm smile on her face, and they couldn't explain it.
Gnix materialized inside a supply closet, and quickly took on the form of a large yellow bird. He was very familiar with the place; he had been there many times. He exited the supply closet in the Children's Wing of the Hospital, and as he entered the cancer ward all the children saw him, but no one else did. No one noticed when they left their beds and played for awhile, all the pain gone, as their new friend did tricks and gave them rides. And when dawn approached he took one frail little girl back with him when he left, for her there would be no more pain or suffering.
"I have someone who wants to meet you; he told Mandy as he held her hand and they walked into the light, she and all her friends are waiting for you. You'll like it, I promise."
It wasn't much of a miracle as miracle's go, but it was enough for one little girl. And he was very good at what he did.
The End
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