Deprived of sleep, I stumble awake within Ma's resting chamber. The sounds of her agony fill my ears once again like I had never stopped hearing them. The room is dark now and most of the running around has calmed to only a single nurse keeping watch on Mama as she restlessly lays in the bed. I slowly raise my heavy head up to where the room focuses into view and I slowly look around but find nothing.

I wonder where Papa and Lance went. They must be sleeping down the hall.

I feel like I haven't slept in days and everything about being awake right now hurts. My body wants me to rest, my eyes cannot focus, and my mind cannot properly comprehend what is happening around me.

I force myself up and I wander over to Mama's bedside. My eyes fight forever to finally focus on her face, but when I finally see her, my head throbs suddenly and my vision suddenly blurs over once again. The pain forces my eyes closed and I have to wait for the pain to pass before I can open them to try again.

That face... was not Mama's face.

I ignore the pain and force my eyes to open and focus on Mama once again just to find it is her. I study her for a moment before figuring that my sleep deprived mind must be struggling to make sense of reality, playing tricks on me.

Why has sleep been evading me if I am so exhausted? Why?

Why can't I sleep?

"M—Mer..."

At the sound of my mother's voice, my thoughts immediately stop as I place my attention back onto her, swiftly moving my gaze down to hers. I hope with everything I have that she is coming back to me. Has she finally realized I am beside her? Has she fought back enough to defeat this illness?

Her eyes do not open, and she goes silent once again for a few moments and my hopes sink back down into the dark abyss that my heart is becoming.

"Mama?"

Nothing.

Another agonizing migraine hits me suddenly once again as the room slowly becomes filled with purple haze like it is becoming more and more encompassed by dark magic. I feel dizziness wash over me as I start to struggle to keep my footing beneath me. I clutch the side of the bed as I feel myself heavily lean against it, keeping me from tumbling over.

"Mer—Merric..."

Mama's blurry face slowly turns to me but the pain on her face is still heavily showing. I feel a small wave of relief within me but quickly disappears when I hear her next words. I can hardly hear her weak voice. It sounds as though it is almost gone, and her face shows that speaking pains her just as much as the illness itself does.

"R—Run... Merric... Run far away from h—here... please..."

I cannot believe what she is saying to me. Why would I ever leave her?

"But, Mama I—"

"Go!"

She stops me from speaking and the force behind her voice is apparent even though it is very weak. Somehow, I felt how much she wants me to run. But I fight the urge and I do not move.

Her eyes fall away from mine and they close as her face scrunches up like sudden pain has erupted from out of nowhere. Only a few short moments pass before the worst set of screams escape from Mama's mouth suddenly. I have never heard Mama sound anything like this before and she squirms around violently next to me.

Scream after scream attack my ears and each one forces me to feel the pain she is feeling through my entire body. The room around me begins to spiral and Mama's screams do not let up. Purple mist spins around me and I see the Demon Lord morph into view on the other side of Mama's bed.

It's red eyes glow brightly until those are the only things I can see. I freeze in place and I can no longer move. I want to stay and protect my mother, but an unseen force is pushing me away from her. Wind is violently spinning around blowing everything around. I can barely see Mama's red hair flowing in the wind from between the bed sheets that are now constantly blocking my view of her. The wind howls get louder and louder until a strong ringing in my ears drown everything else out where I can no longer decipher between the ringing and Mama's screaming.

Now you will watch your mother's demise, Merric.

The demon's voice pounds through my ears forcing my migraine to throw me to the ground. I cannot help but allow whimpering to escape my lips at the pain gets too excruciating for me to handle any further. I feel warm tears sliding down my face as I can no longer see anything in the room but those red eyes glaring at me and the ringing in my ears that now sounds exactly like Mama's screaming.

Then... while you are helpless... I will come after the rest of your family.

A scream tries to escape from my throat, but nothing comes out. Anger bubbles up from between the waves of fear swirling around within me and when I try to send it at the demon, my magic does not listen to me. My eyes widen as tears stream from them as those red eyes envelope me.

My magic... It's gone!

I cannot feel my magic anywhere inside of me. Only these horrible emotions haunting me remain. Something forces me from the room and the castle around me is swirling in the same purple mist that Mama's room is filled with. I push myself up and my feet now run down the hall towards a slightly open bedroom.

I slam through the door and find Papa staring back at me with horror in his eyes. Just as I think he believes this is my fault, the demon surrounds him with his evil magic and then more loud and horrifying screams escape Papa's throat. The force from the demon entering the room pushes me to the floor once again as I helplessly watch the demon torture Papa the way he was just torturing Mama.

My feet... did not bring me here. That demon did.

Whenever I try to move, I can't.

Whenever I try to speak, I can't.

Whenever I try to attack, I can't.

I can no longer see Papa as my vision completely blurred to where the demon's res eyes are the only thing visible in the room once again.

"Merric!"

I try to move to who said my name. But I can't.

I try to speak to call out to him. But I can't.

My eyes clear from all the tears that are running down my face as I watch my horrified brother try to run towards me from another part of the room. I want to scream at him to run away from here, but nothing comes out of my mouth.

My brother looks the most scared he has ever been. The last time I saw him this scared was when he was afraid of me. Tears are also streaming down his face as he tries to reach me. Something stops him from nearing me and I cannot do anything but watch the demon swoop down and snatch him up.

Internally I scream his name. I try my hardest to get up from the floor but something that is unseen and stronger than me is holding me down. Lance's screams fill the room and if I could feel anything around me I am sure the castle would be shivering. He calls out for me and Papa constantly between his screams, but no one answers him. I don't even hear or see Papa anymore in this room.

I promise, Lance. This is not my doing. If I could save you...

"Merric! Save me!"

Lance continues to cry out and call for me over and over again. His screams become worse and worse. The demon reaches for my brother with his claw-like hands made of sharp purple dark magic that shine from within the darkness. I try my hardest to force out his name, a scream or something but it's no use. Tears stream down my face continuously as I helplessly watch his claws clamp down around my brother's limp body.

Silence.

Darkness.

Peace.

Peace surrounds me as I find myself opening my eyes. The calmness wraps itself around me as I begin to feel the soft blankets that are wrapped around me. As I slowly look around, I notice I am in a slightly dark bedroom lying in a bed. My brother is resting right next to me, snuggling up to me. I feel my heart still pounding one million times a second and I feel wetness now underneath me from the sweat that is pouring from my skin.

The coolness of the room touches my skin and calms me slowly little by little until my heart slows to its normal pace.

Another nightmare.

I slowly look around the room as I sit up slightly, not wanting to go back to sleep. I ignore my sore body from lack of sleep. I ignore my wet eyes from tears falling out of them. I ignore my eyes screaming at me while I look around the room as the try to close.

I let out a soft sigh as I look over my brother sleeping next to me, calmly and peacefully.

"You're having them too, Merric?"

I spin around and find Papa softly looking down at me with his calm blue eyes. They look like they have been crying recently.

"Too? You are having nightmares too, Papa?"

I look away from him down to the blankets on my lap, "Nothing but nightmares... every time," I whisper.

I feel him sit next to me and pull me into an embrace, "They are horrible, Papa,"

We sit in silence for a moment as Lance sleeps soundly near us.

I wonder if he has them too.

"They feel so real,"

Papa grunts softly in agreement, "They do. But that how nightmares are. They are only nightmares. Try not to let them bother you too much,"

I nod slowly. I want to tell him I don't believe they are just nightmares. I believe it is a form of torture the demon is causing. He is showing me what he plans to do so he can force me to experience it more than once.

But I can't.

I can't tell Papa anything. I must endure everything that happens and never leave Mama's side. But Papa is right about one thing. During a nightmare, I cannot fight back. But outside, I can fight.

And I will.

Sorry about the break~

Here comes more parts~!