Home once more in Collodi, Nico Paolo's body crumpled to the ground, exhausted from the relentless assault on the wealthy elite there and elsewhere. As he lay there, his mind began to unravel, conjuring an aberrant hallucination of his transforming into a hamadryad, his body merging with an ancient oak, his voice silenced forever! The horror was palpable, but before it could consume him, his Nightmarian aspect burst forth, destroying the imagined scene!
Freedom from the hallucination came at a trifle cost: Nico's gifted voice, locked away for a while, erupted in a deafening scream! (He wondered if the sound would awaken his mother in her grave, a morbid thought that burst through his emotional dam.)
“Dammit! Ragazzi don’t scream, and neither do cantanti!”
Despite his protest, tears streamed down the young man's face, the first since discovering his parents' lifeless bodies. The anguish he had suppressed for so long now poured out, a cathartic release of grief and pain. He mourned the loss of his parents, his sense of self, and his humanity. As exhaustion overtook him, his sobs gradually subsided into quiet breaths, and sleep began to pull him into its depths.
His oaken heart raced as he navigated a dark, opulent hall, his target's fuchsia and gray bedchamber within reach. But a massive silver automaton cricket emerged, its shining, clockwork body as large as Nico's! His bark itched and burned as the horrid insectoid neared, his dermal allergy to silver flaring up with extreme intensity.
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The argent insect's silver body seemed to absorb Nico’s nightmare powers. His wooden limbs faltered, his legs splintering beneath the cricket's barrage of kicks and stomps! Finally, its mandibles nibbled on his xylem, leaving him a hideous husk! He tried and tried to scream, to wail, to protest–but he had no mouth!
Nico woke up with a start, his human heart racing. He looked down at himself, relieved to see his familiar flesh-and-blood body. He even sang a snippet of a chanty for good measure! The wooden limbs, the exacerbated silver allergy, et cetera were all just products of his hellish imagination, but he couldn't shake the feeling that the nightmare was an omen.
Before he could rise and compose himself to carry on, the silence was sliced by the hiss of cats and the clang of silver! Nico's enemies emerged from the shadows, their wooden torches casting eerie shadows on the trees.
As Nico glanced up, steeling himself for conflict with the throng, a wave of silver coins and bars came hurtling towards him! Immediately, his silver allergy flared, causing his skin to blister and burn! To add insult to injury, the flames of a dozen or so wooden torches danced closer, threatening to ignite his pomade-slick hair and “donated” finery!
But his powers refused to be silenced! With a suppressed sob, he detonated the torches, sending splinters big and small flying everywhere but his direction! Simultaneously, his nightmare powers surged, causing the attackers to turn on themselves! Much to his delight, the elders violently choked as they tried to eat the silver!
As the cats closed in, Nico's vocalist powers screamed to life, unleashing a heart-wrenching wail that sent the felines fleeing, their tails twitching wildly as they tried to escape the piercing sound. “Wake up, Mother!” he chuckled.
Another plan foundered, the mob faltered and soon retreated, leaving behind their bloodied silver and their busted torches. Il Giovane Incubo remained, his body once again shaking with sobs, his heart heavy with grief. The ambush had interrupted his mourning, but it couldn't silence his pain, nor could it relieve his regret that his reputation as il Cantante di Legno was now tarnished.