Killian spent about half an hour flying toward what he thought was a road. Using the time to test his flight a bit more, he found that he could make up to 45-degree turns before his flight speed dropped. He learned this when his momentum was the only force carrying him forward, and he nearly bounced off the top of one of the trees. Pretending it never happened, his guess was proven true when he began to make out details of the road ahead.

It was a dirt road that looked as if it might let two carts pass by if the drivers were careful. The only reason Killian had spotted it was because of the lack of trees on either side of it. From the sky, it looked like a scar breaking the blanket of green. Stopping above his target, Killian lowered himself to rest his feet in the middle of the road. Turning his head to the side, he saw no sign of people or direction to civilization. Preempting the question she clearly knew was coming, Amy's mental voice spoke to Killian.

"Right is the direction to the closest populated place." While Killian grumbled to himself about being too predictable, the goddess asked a question of her own. "If you wish to head to a populated area, why not continue by air? It is faster and less troublesome."

"It is faster true, but I'd like to take the time to travel by ground for a bit. I also want to see how the Jeep functions on an example of the local roads. This one looks to be more of a side road, if I'm not mistaken, or it leads to a smaller town. Anyway, I want to drive for a while."

Sending back a feeling of understanding laced with humor, Killian could swear he heard a comment about playing with toys. He reached into the pocket space he called his garage with his mind and shifted out one of his many copies of what he decided would be his main vehicle. It was a heavily modified version of one of those city jeeps to be made to function like its off-road cousins. The base model had a comfortable interior with a back row of seats that could fold down to expand the "trunk space." Killian knew he would need something to not only handle the sup par roads in a world like this but something to drive through open natural terrain as well. Not wanting to lose out on comfort, he had found his current vehicle. Standard tires replaced with off-road monsters, a roof rack, a front wench, and a series of lights mean that Killian shouldn’t have too many problems handling anything he could see in the local area.

Climbing inside Killian turned the key, bringing the engine to life. Smiling, he rolled the windows down to enjoy the breeze while shifting his cellphone from atop the desk in his base. Attaching it to a pre-prepared mount, he connected it to the speakers and tried to decide what music to listen to on his journey. He settled on a metal playlist simply because he liked the idea of passing by some poor bastard on the road in a foreign object blasting harsh guitar riffs. Buckling the seatbelt by habit, he put the Jeep in drive and began singing along at the top of his lungs.

The next couple of hours passed by just like that. The playlist ended changing to lo-fi and other chill music, which suited Killian just fine. The road was on relatively flat terrain and didn’t have many large turns. Just like it did for people from his home world, it gave time for Killian to think and enjoy the scenery. He wasn’t going at top speed, but he was keeping up a good pace. He hadn't yet seen a single soul on the road, nor did the forest change too much visually. During his flight, he had gone quite high in the air and never saw the end of the forest in any direction he looked. Without any reference, Killian didn’t know if the surrounding forest was quite expansive or if he had simply picked the wrong direction to fly in and would have seen its edge had he gone elsewhere. Killian decided not to ask Amy about it. It wasn’t something that really bothered him, and he wanted to find out for himself.

Killian was moving to load up another playlist when the forest broke into a large clearing on the left side of the road. There was nothing unique about the rolling field of grass. That is, except for the three people standing in it. And the creature they must be battling.

From his distance, he couldn’t make out much, but Killian already hated what he could see. The damn thing was as tall as a bus and round, with many tentacles waving in seemingly every direction. As Killian pulled to a stop on the road, he thought he made out a few details about the people themselves. One seemed to be standing in front using a shield, while another was standing behind and slightly to the side. The flash of obvious magic intrigued Killian. He almost missed the third fire, an arrow past the shield bearer in front into the monster with what seemed to be little effect. Killian began wondering if it was a bird he saw darting in clawing at it as well when he thought to himself if he should help them. A tentacle crashed down into the frontline, only to be saved by a magic dome that flickered into existence right before impact. "Shit!" Killian said aloud as he shifted the jeep back into his garage and flew full speed toward the strangers.

--------

Arden clenched his teeth as a blow crashed against his shield again. He was already playing out the "conversation" Shan would beat into him if they managed to survive the encounter with this horrid creature. "Maybe she won't be too mad?" he thought to himself. As the arrow whizzed past his head, shaving his already short, cropped hair a little bit closer to strike the abomination ahead of him, he abandoned the futile hope. How could he know one of the Malevolent Nightmares made its den in that blasted cave?! It was supposed to be a quick scout, in and out. Arden had heard plenty of stories of lost treasure or rare creatures in tucked-away places like that cave. He knew Shan would only yell at him as well; he could see the red in the tip of her elven ears now. That wasn't even fair; Imari agreed to it too. Though he knew his girlfriend would agree to anything if he asked hard enough, He glanced over to Imari to gauge how she was doing. The pale skin surrounding the wine-colored marbling pattern he was so familiar with was looking even paler than normal. "Damn," he thought, "she's already worn out from earlier today." Arden carried the proof of their hard work on his back. Twenty-five tunnel fang horns. Imari worked hard but had to be nearing her limit using magic by now. Nahlen, screeching to his left, swiped at one of the creature's newest eyes with his talons, quickly followed by another arrow from his partnered Ranger.

"Ok!" Arden shouted. "We wait for an opening, and we strike it hard! Then we run as it tries to protect itself; if we do that, we-"

A new tentacle slid from the creature's horrid form and sped down toward Arden and Imari's location. A moment before it struck, a familiar blue dome appeared, along with a shout from his lover. Cracks formed all across the surface of the barrier, and Imari gave a final shout as her magic shattered. Arden watched in slow motion, and the creature pulled back for another hammer blow. Imari was stumbling and couldn’t see the incoming death blow.

"IMARI NO!" Arden screamed, preparing to jump in front of the blow.

A man in strange clothes appeared next to Imari, wrapped an arm around her, and vanished. For a moment, Arden was struck dumb, the tentacle crashing in the space the two were in, going unnoticed. When he saw they had appeared next to Shan, the elf's eyes were wide in surprise but relief; their childhood friend was safe for the moment. Making sure Imari could stand on her own, the man drew something from inside his jacket and vanished once again, appearing to his right.

"No idea if I'm overstepping, but it looked like you guys could use the help." he said.

Arden shook his head hard, bringing himself back to the current danger. If they survived this, he would have time to figure out why a dusk elf appeared from nowhere.

--------

Killian had arrived just in time. The pretty woman with the strange skin pattern looked like she was barely holding onto consciousness. He had almost laughed when the equally pretty elf with the bow nearly dropped her weapon when he blinked next to her. Whoever the guy in armor at the front was, he was one lucky bastard. Now holding his pistol, he prepared himself to kill his first monster. Turning to face his foe, he regretted the action immediately.

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The thing was covered in pale, wet skin. Killian could see the various veins and pathways through which blood traveled throughout its wrinkled form. Tentacles seem to push their way out from nearly invisible folds surrounding its body. As he looked on in disgust, eyes appeared along its front, and a mouth the size of his Jeep's hood pealed open with the sound of tearing flesh. The scene was so horrid that as it pulled back to attack the pair at the front, Killian activated cognition acceleration by reflex.

It was the single worst mistake he had ever made in his life. Though it wasn’t the fastest his mind could go, it was enough to watch as more eyes began pushing their way to the surface. The eyes didn’t simply appear, the disgusting thing was making them where it wanted them. The bits of hanging flesh that remained on its lips drew his attention into the slowly opening maw. There were hands. Dozens of hands were moving in a waving motion, almost as if beckoning him inside. Killian tried to look away, but his mind moved at a speed that made his body feel like it was moving through sand. His mind couldn’t form the words, so he simply blasted his connection with Amy to get her attention.

"You know," she responded. "I do have other things to take care of; you don’t need to ask me everything that pops into your-"

The pause that filled the space her vacated voice left was heavy. He could feel her take a deep breath; however, that worked. Killian was about to start screaming when she spoke in a flat and halting voice.

"I have seen more worlds than any mortal can comprehend. I have been witness to the birth and death of universes. I have been privy to scenes of such evil that legends have been spoken in other universes for eons. I have seen more lifeforms than I could count in the lifetime I have lived. Through all of that, this has got to be the UGLIEST thing that I have had the misfortune to gaze upon. Why, under the lasting light, would you speed your mind up to look at this? Did you want to examine this crime against nature in more detail?"

Killian was still trying to turn his head away. When one of the eyes began to open, showing a mouth with fingernails instead of teeth, he shouted his reply.

"What?! No, you silly bitch! I did it by accident, and now I think I'm going to never sleep again! What the hell is this thing, and what advice can you give me to kill it?"

"I hate you for asking me what this thing is because now I have to know more about it." Her mental voice seemed to cringe in on itself. She continued, "This abomination against my eyeballs is known as a Malevolent Nightmare. They were spawned by the dreams of sleeping gods of this world. Bad dreams, I would imagine. As for advice on how to kill it, use a bigger gun."

Killian released the ability and blinked ten feet into the air, dodging a newly formed tentacle at the same time. Floating there for a moment, he shifted his pistol in place of a pump-action shotgun he had loaded with deer slugs previously. As he returned to the ground, he pointed the gun and fired. A tentacle that was heading toward the armored man exploded into pieces before it could crush him. Blinking next to him, Killian put forth a question.

"Is it too much to hope you have a method of killing this thing? Or at least cleanse my brain of it so I can close my eyes without seeing it?"

"It can't be killed," said the man. "At least not by us. Normally, to kill one of these things, powerful mages use everything they have to sear it from existence, hopefully leaving nothing behind to regenerate. For the rest of us, the plan is normally to chase it away or haul ass."

"Well, that's wonderful." Killian grabbed the shoulder of the man, blinking them to the other side of the creature as two more tentacles swept the space they were in. "I didn’t know I could blink someone with me until I did with your friend, and this seems like a bad time to test if I can do it with all of you." He blinked them back to their previous space when the horror opened a mouth in its back to try and grab them with a tongue made of hair. Killian did his best to pretend he didn’t see it.

"If you give me time, I think I have enough in me for one more spell that might make it go somewhere else!" Shouted the woman with the marbled skin.

"If Imari says she can do it, I believe her." Said the man.

"I guess we keep it busy then. Whatever you got in you, you'd better let it all out now; it looks like it's already trying to go after them because it can't catch up to us."

They both turned to see the nightmare rolling around to the side to position itself to strike at the women behind them.

"Shan, guard Imari while we buy her time!" The man shouted.

Killian watched as he felt something build around the shield bearer, a pressure that broke as he shouted, "COME OOOON!"

A red haze surrounded the man as he flicked his longsword to the side as if it were weightless. An aura emerged from the blade, adding two inches of width to both sides and three to its point. With a powerful stomp, he slashed the air horizontally, throwing a crescent moon shaped blade of energy into the monster. Three tentacles flew from its body, and a six-foot gash appeared in its side. A howling, grinding noise let loose from the monster as it turned its massive eye to face the armored man. Only to find Killing blinking in front of it, racking the slide of his shotgun, and firing into its pupil.

The men fully had the nightmares attention now. The woman named Imari began to mutter words of power as the staff she carried glowed a bright blue from within. Giving it no time to recover, the man roared, charging the creature with his shield and slamming into its side. The red power surrounding him pulsed the moment he hit the monster and sent it reeling backwards away from the women. Killian blinked, sending slugs into every eye as it appeared. As it righted itself from the ground, he took to the air, his graceful and precise movements allowing him to dodge as more and more tentacles slid from the skin on the nightmare.

This went on for a few minutes until the men saw, at the same time, as every tentacle withdrew into its flesh and seemed to be preparing for something. Killian blinked next to the man and asked,

"You got one more of those slashes in you?"

"Yeah," the man panted. "I think I can do one more. Why?

"You think you could do more damage with some height?"

"What? How could…oh" The man frowned in realization.

"Whatever That thing is about to do could hit the girls, and if whatever spell she's weaving gets interrupted, do you think we could hold on long enough for her to try it again? If we live, that is."

The man closed his eyes but nodded. Taking a solid stance, he roared again, bursting with crimson light. Killian shifted shells into his hand as he loaded them into his shotgun.

"Aim for where I'm standing. I'll try to get it to open something to put your slash into."

Killian blinked into the sky with the man as the aura around his blade reappeared before blinking on top of the monster. He racked the slide of his shotgun before firing point blank into the slick hide beneath his feet. Shot after shot, he pumped as fast as he could to get the next round off. When the gun was empty, he shifted it away to be replaced by an AR-15. Killian pulled the trigger as fast as he could. As the open wound started to turn to soup, a mouth formed under him and opened instantly.

For one breath, Killian hung in the air, gazing down into a grinder of fangs, hands, and tongues, each with its own eye glaring up at him with malicious glee. Killian smiled back as his spatial sense, activated as he began raining bullets into the nightmare, showed him a blade coursing with power. The nightmare watched as before Killian could fall into its waiting mouth, he blinked away, showing only Arden falling down to deliver a blow right into its exposed mouth.

The whoomp of displaced air as crimson power exploded from the man, sending him spinning into the sky, nearly caused Imari to mess up her spell. Killian blinked to the man, catching him, and blinked next to the women, removing both of their momentum so the men didn’t shatter their bodies.

The nightmare rolled and squealed in obvious pain and rage. When a new eye tore open to glare them down, Killian started to reach out and grab the strangers to see if he could blink them all away. Then, the woman named Imari thrust her staff into the air and roared,

"Reign down my power to rid us of this eternal horror, ELEMENTAL SMITE!"

From a cloudless sky, white streaks of power struck the nightmare dead center. The thunder was so loud. Killian thought he was going to go deaf, but he guessed there was some protection around the caster, as it was just painful and nothing more. When his vision focused enough to see the monster once more, it was burnt across its entire body. The man stood to grab the falling mage, threw her over his shoulder, and shouted,

"RUN."

Killian watched as the other two took off towards the road. They looked back but didn’t stop when he didn’t follow. Killian stood in place, watching the monster. Burnt skin flaked off as new, pale, wet skin replaced it. The regeneration of this thing was incredible. Killian prepared to engage with it to hopefully draw it away, he knew he could escape when the others were far enough away. But when a new eye broke the charred skin above it, the nightmare glared hate at him before dragging itself in the other direction. He watched it pull its rapidly healing body until it reached the tree line, and giving him one last look of malice, it left his sight.

Sighing deeply, Killian turned to see the others standing near the road now. He was happily surprised; they seemed to be waiting for him. Focusing on a point next to them, he blinked, appearing in place and causing the trio to jump in place, the elf letting out a squeak before cutting it off quickly.

"Well, that was awful. Glad you guys are okay. The names Killian. Who might you be?"