Free Moonshadow by J.D. Gregory Page B

so why did the dreamscape suddenly change so dramatically? Diana should have been alarmed by it, but wasn’t. It was strange; the mountains and hills surrounding her did not feel ominous and terrifying. Instead, they felt as warm and inviting as the embrace of a lover—a bizarre feeling to receive from hills of stone.
    When the shifting finally stopped and the ground was calm, Diana stood in a valley surrounded by rocky hills on all sides. In the sky above, cracked and broken remains of a moon looked down upon her, red with a portentous glow. As comforting as the hills were, she found the broken moon very unsettling.
    Diana tore her gaze away from the sky to find a building—also a rarity when fully immersed in her dreams—situated in the middle of the valley. With its broken pillars and marble edifices, it looked like the ruins of an ancient temple.
    This nightmare is getting stranger by the second. With caution, Diana made her way towards the building. Perhaps, after all these years, she may finally find some hidden meaning to these nightmares.
    After ascending the steps and passing slowly through the entryway, Diana found the building eerily empty save for seven ruined pillars around an altar of stone in the middle.
    Fear grabbed ahold of Diana and she hid behind the nearest pillar of stone. Someone was there—and not a regular Terrorfiend. Was it one of them ? Could it be a Dark Master?
    The memory of Diana’s last encounter with a Dark Master made her slump to the ground behind her shield of rock. Unlike the other nightmare creatures, he had spoken to her, and his taunting had been agonizing. When he opened his wickedly grinning mouth, it had felt like all that was good and happy in her soul was being eaten. Most terrifying of all, he hadn’t been a demonic beast, but rather, a humanoid being that felt more evil than anything Diana had ever encountered in her realm of terrors. She’d thought him the Devil himself, come to take her soul to Hell, but the Dark Master had assured her that he was not the Devil, Satan, Lucifer, or any other demented human personification of evil.
    Diana’s sleep therapist had been much more enthusiastic about the experience than she had been—diagnosing the Dark Masters as personality shadows she’d created in her subconscious. Whatever they were, she never left the initial dreamscape again after that night.
    Diana slowly and cautiously stretched her neck to peer around the side of the pillar and inspect the being sitting cross-legged before the altar. It was a man, his eyes closed and appearing deep in meditation.
    He reminded her of the last Dark Master—looking human in shape but seeming otherworldly at the same time—however, this one did not give off an aura of evil as the previous one had.  His medium-length hair was black as pitch, and with his pale skin, he looked chilling but handsome. There was a preternatural feeling about him—an almost ethereal quality—that Diana knew marked him as not being human.
    What tortures would be in store for her if this nightmare being noticed her? What was she supposed to do; sit here and wait to find out? I’m not some scared thirteen-year-old anymore; it’s just a stupid dream. With a deep breath, and a fair amount of forced courage, Diana stood up and then slowly walked towards the Dark Master.
    Standing before him, Diana was struck by how peaceful he looked—like a blissful dreamer in an elaborate nighttime world all of his own. At any moment, though, he could open his eyes and turn into some horrifying creature that would probably eat her over and over again until she woke up. If it was going to happen, she’d rather it happen soon. Diana sat cross-legged, mirroring the Dark Master’s position, and waited for a reaction.
    Each agonizing moment of anticipation that ticked by drove her further into insanity. Just see me already. I can’t take it anymore—I have to end this now.
    Diana stood up from the ground and smacked the