Nightmare's tentacles twitched angrily as he paced back and forth. Eragon was feverish, flinching constantly in his semi-conscious state. There was some sort of awful magic in Durza's blade that made the angry scar refuse to heal. In fact, it had reacted much like Error to any healing magic. It rejected it.

Sinead was sitting quietly in a chair, watching as Eragon whimpered from the bed. Nightmare paused briefly to glare at her.
"His mind is in pain." She said simply.
"You think I don't know that?" He snapped. She scowled. "Then do something, Alalëa."
"He is blocking all from his mind."
"Then force your way in; don't let him stew until madness. He is in undue agony. You can change that."
Eragon twitched violently on the mattress.

Nightmare stared at the flame woman, wishing he could comprehend her. "Well? Will you protect your Rider?" She questioned, eyeing him. The King of Negativity growled, roughly shoving aside Angela as she tried to administer medicine to Eragon's wound. "Hey! That's rude!" She complained hotly.

He grumbled, giving her a look before laying a tentacle across the Rider's burning forehead. He touched the scattered and raving mind and winced. Sinead was right; he should keep this from the boy. He forced himself deeper into the muddy consciousness, brushing aside the reflexive defenses as he witnessed what ailed Eragon.

Memories.
So many memories.
Manin.

Eragon was weakly fighting back against the glimpses of the Shade's life and madness. Nightmare took hold of the small, weak mind and pushed it away, feeling oddly protective. Eragon's consciousness reeled away from his in fear before dimly recognizing it.
I am here, human.
... N-Night.. Nightmare?
Yes.

He paused, sifting through the memories as he began sorting out what was Eragon's and what was Durza's. He felt a pang of regret as he realized he had done much of the same things in his own past, in his initial days of insanity.

He almost flicked over the unfamiliar strand of consciousness, assuming it was Saphira, until he realized it did not feel like her. Nightmare turned his attention to the foreign mind. It felt much like Arya, though older.
Who are you? He pulled it to Eragon's awareness, remaining calm as it radiated benevolence.

𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑.
He paused, sensing no deceit. Then he spoke without holding back his own power.
𝔄𝔫𝔡 𝔥𝔬𝔴 𝔡𝔬 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔭𝔩𝔞𝔫 𝔱𝔬 𝔥𝔢𝔩𝔭, Ä𝔩𝔣?
𝑻𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝑬𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒐𝒏'𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏. 𝑰 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒌.
𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔫 𝔴𝔢 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔢. 𝔅𝔲𝔱 𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔰𝔱, 𝔴𝔢 𝔪𝔲𝔰𝔱 𝔨𝔫𝔬𝔴 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔫𝔞𝔪𝔢, Ä𝔩𝔣.
There was a sigh from the other being. Nightmare promised his own name in return, and it was thankful.
𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝑶𝒔𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒐 𝑪𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒐𝒘ä, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑺𝒂𝒈𝒆. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑻𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒂 𝑰𝒌𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒌𝒂, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒊𝒔 𝑾𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑰 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆.
𝔙𝔢𝔯𝔶 𝔴𝔢𝔩𝔩. ℑ 𝔞𝔪 Ä𝔣𝔡𝔯𝔞𝔲𝔪𝔯, 𝔑𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔪𝔞𝔯𝔢, 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔞𝔯𝔤𝔢𝔱 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔡𝔴𝔢𝔯𝔳𝔞 𝔱𝔬 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔟𝔞𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔢. ℑ 𝔞𝔪 𝔬𝔫𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔪𝔞𝔫𝔶 𝔨𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔪𝔶 𝔭𝔢𝔬𝔭𝔩𝔢, 𝔟𝔲𝔱 ℑ 𝔴𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔰𝔭𝔢𝔞𝔨 𝔞𝔰 𝔢𝔮𝔲𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔶 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔪 𝔞𝔰 ℑ 𝔠𝔞𝔫. ℑ 𝔞𝔪 𝔏𝔬𝔯𝔡 𝔬𝔣 𝔇𝔞𝔯𝔨𝔫𝔢𝔰𝔰, 𝔊𝔲𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔦𝔞𝔫 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔎𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔬𝔣 𝔑𝔢𝔤𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔳𝔦𝔱𝔶. ℑ 𝔞𝔪 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔥𝔞𝔩𝔡𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫 𝔥𝔧𝔞𝔯𝔱𝔞, 𝔞𝔫𝔡 ℑ 𝔞𝔪 𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔰𝔢𝔱 𝔄𝔩𝔞𝔤𝔞ë𝔰𝔦𝔞 𝔟𝔞𝔠𝔨 𝔱𝔬 𝔢𝔮𝔲𝔦𝔩𝔦𝔟𝔯𝔦𝔲𝔪. 𝔗𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔤𝔥 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔭𝔢𝔬𝔭𝔩𝔢 𝔪𝔞𝔶 𝔠𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔪𝔢 𝔄𝔩𝔞𝔩ë𝔞.
Sadness danced through the amber chords in the other's mind.
𝑰 𝒔𝒆𝒆. 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆, 𝑶 𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒍ë𝒂. 𝑽𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒄 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘. 𝑰 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏 𝑬𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒎é𝒓𝒂. 𝑫𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆.
But.. Eragon interrupted their conversation. How can we find you if we don't know where you are?

Both Lord of Darkness and Osthato Chetowä addressed his despairing mind with kindness and benevolence.
𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝑨𝒓𝒚𝒂 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝑬𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒎é𝒓𝒂 -𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆.
𝔇𝔬 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔰𝔢𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔥𝔞𝔳𝔢 𝔡𝔬𝔫𝔢 𝔰𝔬𝔪𝔢𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔫𝔬 𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔞𝔩𝔦𝔳𝔢 𝔱𝔬𝔡𝔞𝔶 𝔥𝔞𝔰 𝔞𝔠𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔭𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔥𝔢𝔡? 𝔜𝔬𝔲 𝔥𝔞𝔳𝔢 𝔠𝔩𝔢𝔞𝔫𝔰𝔢𝔡 𝔄𝔩𝔞𝔤𝔞ë𝔰𝔦𝔞 𝔬𝔣 𝔞 𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔯𝔦𝔟𝔩𝔢 𝔢𝔳𝔦𝔩. 𝔒𝔫𝔢 𝔱𝔬𝔬 𝔪𝔞𝔡 𝔱𝔬 𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔯 𝔯𝔢𝔭𝔢𝔫𝔱. 𝔐𝔞𝔫𝔶 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔫𝔬𝔴 𝔦𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔟𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔱𝔬 𝔶𝔬𝔲.
𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝑬𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒐𝒏.

They both regarded each other as Eragon thought to himself, forgetting that they heard every thought. The human finally concluded that he had become what Ajihad wished for him; authority not controlled by any leader or king. The two observers approved, the mysterious elf coming closer. An image bloomed in Eragon's mind, seen by Nightmare as well.
A gentle figure standing upon a cliff, wearing white with a face hidden under silver.

𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕. 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒆, 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆. 𝑹𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔.
Nightmare tried not to smile, feeling he rather enjoyed seeing Eragon accomplish something so grand. 𝔑𝔬𝔴 𝔰𝔩𝔢𝔢𝔭, 𝔩𝔦𝔱𝔱𝔩𝔢 𝔬𝔫𝔢. ℑ 𝔴𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔟𝔢 𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔢 𝔴𝔥𝔢𝔫 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔴𝔞𝔨𝔢. He spoke kindly, luring the human unconscious with his power. The last conscious thought Eragon had was Brom would have been proud of him.

Nightmare felt happy for his Rider.

.......

The King of Negativity smirked as he watched Angela struggling to wake Eragon. The human was unwilling to cooperate. Then he stood up from the chair and reached over her head with a tentacle, tapping Eragon's face. The Rider blinked awake, confused. Angela sat in the chair next to the bed, running her hands through her wild hair. "How do you feel?"
"I ... don't know." He rasped in response.
"Then don't move. You should conserve your strength."

Eragon burst into a dry coughing fit, Angela holding up a gilt horn and offering it to him. "Here, drink." Eragon took it gratefully, then he seemed to think for a minute. Then he jolted upright. "Saphira!" And went slightly limp. Nightmare hummed, not appreciative of the other's pain.
"What about Saphira? Is she alright? Blue? The Urgals were winning... she was falling. And the other skeleton dragon? And Arya!"

At this point Nightmare chuckled. "They are all fine. They were waiting. Do you want to see them?" Eragon nodded weakly. The King of Negativity reached over to the door with a tentacle and opened it. Blueberry was the first one to rush in, dragging GB after him in his humanoid form, stumbling over his own clothes. Then the rest filed in excitedly.

Saphira stuck her head inside, humming as Eragon greeted her first. Then he faced the others.
"Human! Human human Eragon!! Look who you helped save! GB is so happy! He was caged by Durza as an animal, it was terrible!!" Said dragon-headed skeleton waved, eyelights sparkling. Eragon looked baffled. "He didn't look like that before..."
"Oh, silly me! GB has two forms, like Nightmare! This is his normal self!"
GB trilled joyously, nodding.

He glanced at Blue for permission, the energetic skeleton confused at first. Then he chuckled. "GB cannot speak like we do; he can manage some Wingdings but he mostly communicates like Saphira. He wants to talk to you!" He explained.
Eragon nodded. "Okay. What is it you wish to tell me?" He addressed the dragonic skeleton.

GB spoke so everyone could hear.
Thank you for killing that bastard Shade. He saw me as just a tool that he could abuse when he was angry, and one time he even went so far as to break nearly every bone of mine just to make sure I wouldn't oppose him. I don't know how I arrived here in Alagaësia, but I didn't even get a week before he found me. I don't know much, but I owe you my life. So thank you, Eragon.
He wiped his face, ducking his head to hide his tears.

Eragon shook his head. "It was nothing. From what I understand of it, Blue did most of the work in freeing you. And I had help from Saphira and Arya in distracting Durza. Speaking of which, how come you didn't crash? You were falling..." He faced Arya. She went grave.
"When you warned Saphira of Durza, I was still trying to remove her damaged armor. By the time it was off, it was too late to slide down the Vol Turin - you and Blue would have been captured before I reached the bottom. Besides, Durza would have killed you before letting me rescue you." Her words became tainted with regret. "So I did the one thing I could to distract him: I broke the star sapphire."
And I carried her down. Saphira finished.

Eragon rubbed his head confusedly. "But why didn't any of the pieces hit us?"
Blue answered. "Because me and GB caught them with our magic before they landed, they would have killed you otherwise."
The Rider thought to himself. "Well, what happened with the Urgals? They were winning."

Murtaugh cheered. "We won! It was incredible! When the Shade's spirits- if that's what they were- flew across Farthen Dûr, the Urgals ceased fighting and watched them go. It was as though they were released from a spell then, because their clans suddenly turned and attacked each other. Their entire army disintegrated within minutes. We routed them after that!"
"And the enemy skeletons all just teleported elsewhere, hopefully not to bother us anytime soon." Geno finished a little coldly. Chaos nodded her head, having changed out of her armour and back into her sweater and her scarf. "Or to report back to him."
She frowned, messing with the sleeves of her sweater, pulling them up a bit. "I don't want to know how he reacts to the fact that he lost this battle."

"So they're all dead?" Eragon asked. Nightmare shook his skull as Error snorted. "Many escaped back into the tunnels." The Dark King explained. Murtaugh took the chance to speak. "The Varden and the dwarves are busy ferreting them out right now, but it's going to take a while. I was helping until an Urgal banged me on the head and I was sent up here."
"They aren't going to lock you up again?" Eragon said semi-hopefully. Murtaugh's face fell.
"No one really cares about that right now."
"Many good people were killed." Blue added soberly.
"Survivors are just busy recovering from that hell." Dust added, just as somber.

Though Murtaugh perked up. "At least you have cause to be happy. You're a hero! Everyone's talking about how you killed Durza. If it hadn't been for you, we would have lost."
"Where were the Twins?" Eragon suddenly questioned. "They weren't where they were supposed to be- I couldn't contact them. I needed their help."
"I heard they were fighting off Urgals breaking into Tronjhiem elsewhere, like me and Fresh. They could have been too busy." Geno offered.

There was a pause; everyone seemed to understand that this wasn't the case. It felt wrong.
Eragon swung his legs over the edge of the bed, then grimaced, reaching for his neck. Angela grabbed his hand. "Eragon, my power is not like yours, Arya's, or the skeletons. None of theirs would work on you. There are limits to my own capabilities." Eragon inhaled sharply.
"How long have I been here?"
"A day and a half." Error answered simply.
"Yes, and you're lucky I was around when their magic failed, otherwise it would have taken you weeks to heal- if you had even lived."

Now afraid, Eragon ripped his hand out of Angela's hold and felt around his back. When he found it, his eyes went sort of blank before the look of horror set into his face.
"You have paid a terrible price for your deed, Eragon Shadeslayer." Arya said quietly, sorrowful.
"Indeed." Nightmare spoke with finality.
"It is rather fitting, isn't it?" Horror added, a hint of silver in his eyelight.
"It is. It really is." Error responded sadly.

There was a moment of silence before Eragon spoke.
"Arya, I think it's time we went to the elves."

"So, who's going with you?" Chaos asked, smiling, even as the Wyrda of Älagaësia changed forever.