Name ; R̶e̶a̶l̶i̶t̶y̶ Nightmare
Titles/Nicknames/Aliases ; The Dreaded, God of Negativity , King of Nightmares, Nighty, Noot Noot, The Scholar
Age ; 5000+
Identity ; Genderfluid (he/she/they/any)
Orientation ; Demiromantic Pansexual
Height ; 6'11
Species ; Guardian, appears as a normal skeleton monsters
Abilities ;
Shadow manipulation, Nightmare lives in the darkness. Here one moment and then gone the next, the shadows are both his sanctuary and his greatest weapon. He can summon almost anything ranging from weapons, to teleporting and to bringing his own minions from various locations. The full extent of this ability is unknown but it's limits is either nonexistent or at the very least immensely vast. He can even reduce himself to pure liquid shadow if so chosen
Nightmare is an empath. He can sense the emotions of others very easily, especially negaitive emotions and can gain power from them. He can sense postivie ones as well but they grant him no real benefit, this is frequently what Nightmare will use to manipulate others.
Nightmare cannot lie, he simply twists the truth.
Strengths ; Clever, intelligent, insightful, detail orientated, truthful, honest, confident & charming (when he wants to be)
Weaknesses ; Impatient, short tempered, bitter, manipulative, sadistic, selfish, prideful & arrogant
Personality ;
Nightmare seems to be exactly what you expect. A sadistic, manipulative, and highly intelligent villain, characterized by a cold, calculating demeanor and an endless thirst for negativity. He feeds on fear and despair, acting as a powerful, merciless entity obsessed with destruction. He wants nothing more than to conquer world after world, willing to destroy thousands to get so. Endlesslly enjoying the torment of others and all the suffering he causes.
He himself will tell you as such and delights in it, he is exactly as he seems. Even despite all his changes he's hellbent on the truth.
There is more to him that meets the eye, Nightmare was not always this way. And similar to how his brother Dream can still feel negative emotions...Nightmare can feel positive emotions himself. He can love, he can care and he is more than capable of kindness. He simply chooses not to be. In his mind you are either the one on top or the one dying in the trenches, he will never be the latter again. He refuses to be the latter again, he is aware that now he only gets respect and admiration (however twisted) because he's a threat.
He is an old ancient entity with the mind of a bitter old man who feels betrayed by the world who never offered him much of anything. There might be more to him. But he does not wish for anyone to see it.
Don't look further.
Biography ;
It all started with a tree. When the world was young and new, the goddess of creation decided to bless humanity with the ability to feel. She planted a single tree in the ground, from it grew the Tree of Feelings. With it's creation humanity could now mourn, they could now laugh, they could now witness the full emotional spectrum they had previously been blind to. One side of the tree grew golden apples, the other side black apples. Both are meant to aid humanity, both offer unique healing abilties however one made you dream and invoked positive feelings....the other made you see what was real and invoked negative feelings.
Nim knew the tree could potentionally be used for evil as much as it could be used for good, so with it she crafted two guardians.
Dream and Reality.
The first monsters to ever walk the world and with their very existence had introduced humanity to magic as a concept, this would later create a domino effect.... neither created all of monsterkind but effectively the species only exists because of them. Dream and Reality were the first monsters, heavily based off humans but lacking vital organs, flesh, and nerve endings. They cannot get sick, they cannot bleed, and they cannot feel physical pain. The perfect guardians. Nim brought them into this world, briefly explained their purpose, their abilities and the importance of guarding the tree....then left shortly after. The first and last time the twins have ever seen their mother.
For a few years things were fine, the twins guarded the tree, the two only having each other. They crew close and nearly codependent over time. Dream was the dreamer, it's in his name. The hopeful wide eyed idealist. Reality was the grounded and serious one. The two words together in perfect harmony, but all good things must come to an end. Humans has gained word of the magical tree and the unique creatures that guarded it, they sought to understood the strange creatures. Dream welcomed them with open arms, Reality was less approachable. The human villagers loved and adored Dream, but had failed to understand Reality. When they learned he was the cause of all negative feelings inadverently or otherwise it was all down hill from there. Dream was praised, respected, and even worshipped.
Reality was shunned, feared, mocked and belittled. The bad omen. They had started to call him "Nightmare" as a result, to them that was all he would be. A Nightmare. Reality hid mistreatment from his brother, not wishing to cause trouble and assuming the poor treatment would end on it's own accord. Instead it only grew worse, Reality was frequently beaten. He could feel no pain. It did not make their hatred sting any less. He was a guardian but he never defended himself, he was told to protect the tree and nothing else. They were never after the apples. They just wanted to hurt him. This mistreatment would continue for several years, the wedge between the siblings growing.
Reality started to develop a grudge not just against the villagers but against his own brother, he had never told Dream what happened however it says a lot Dream failed to notice. This wedge grew and Reality turned against his brother more with every day, by the time Dream had noticed it had been far too late. After a nasty beating that resulting in Reality losing his left eye... he had finally snapped. He went to the tree of feelings and started eating the black apples, the negative energy from each one giving him a natural power boost but left endless harm on his psyche. The villagers had called him Nightmare and he has decided to make that name a Reality.
Villagers killed and Dream likely would have joined them, but it seemed even with a new title and denouncing his brother claiming to conquer this world then move onto the next... he still couldn't stomach the idea of killing his first friend and only family. Dream was confused and caught off guard by his brothers new power surge and drastic change in apperance, was struck with a force of pure negative power. Not enough to kill but to greatly injure him and to avoid killing his brother....Nightmare turned him into stone. It was believed Dream would stay there forever but five hundred later Dream would return.
Reawoken and weakened, Dream would wake up to find his world a ruined wasteland. Everything dead or corrupted. Dream would come to find that his brother was true to his word, after bringing their own home to ruin Nightmare would travel across many different worlds. Conquering everything and anything, enslaving hundreds and killing thousands. Nightmare made it clear, submit to him or perish.
Dream ever the hopeful optimist hopes to redeem his brother but seeing the harm he is doing, he has decided his love for his sibling will not stop him from doing the right thing and freeing those from him.