Though reveling in his new territory was fun, Phobetor quickly grew bored. Laying down upon his shadow-soaked sheets, the God of Nightmares relaxed, allowing himself to slide into sleep. As the darkness closed in, he could feel his powers waxing. This time, he did not enter the dream of another, for nobody was nearby -that he knew about, at least- to torment. Instead, Phobetor delved into his own psyche, with a specific activity in mind.

His avatar appeared in the dream world. Unlike the dreams of the others he infested, his was blank. No images graced his sleep unless he willed it. Stretching out his inky-black arms, Phobetor conjured an arena. Dreary blue stone appeared in chunks, floating through the void and smashing together to form a floor. Wall literally rose, huge tentacles erected side by side, creating a colosseum. He alighted in the center, an removed Aliter from around his neck.

For a few moments he fiddled with the hidden side of the device, cycling through various images. After finding one that suited him, he held the locket outward, and a whiff of magic projected from it to spatter against the floor. As Phobetor put Aliter back on, swirling purple smoke spiraled up from the ground, taking the size of a pickup truck with a flatbed in tow. Phobetor pulled Relief from his belt and assumed a fencing stance, waiting for his opponent to be revealed.

The smoke cleared, and a huge, five-headed serpent stood in his way. Like all the creatures whose souls were absorbed into Aliter, this hydra's skin was a murky yellow-brown interspersed with black, and its eyes radiated magenta. Phobetor eyed the beast, barely flinching at its shrill cry. “Let's see if I can't get you better this time, eh?”

In response, the creature lunged. Phobetor leaped up, springing off shadows emanating from his feet, and surveyed the creature a moment as he hung in the air. While the urge to slice off the hydra's ugly, bladed heads was only compounded by the weak scales around there necks offering a weak point, he knew better. As he fell, Phobetor thrusted at the nearest head, trying to impale it through the eye. The head shifted as the thin blade approached, avoiding the weapon and biting at its wielder instead. Phobetor screamed as its teeth took a chunk out of his arm, but immediately the wound faded as he subconsciously suppressed the pain with his powers.

Phobetor pushed off the beast's hide and sailed into the air again. The hydra intelligently changed course and attacked upward with all five of its heads. The God of Nightmares created a two-dimensional surface beneath his feet for a split second to allow him to jump again and avoid the brutal jaws. A flurry of dark blurs shot from his open hand, and each one smacked into a hydra head with a wet [i]squelch[/i]. Covered in sticky, smothering ink, the heads could only struggle as Phobetor fell past and landed with all his weight on Relief, driving the weapon through its heart.

Instantly the beast exploded into purple mist and sucked back into Aliter. Phobetor flung Relief to the ground with force, snapping the blade's tip off. He felt nothing but disgust. How could he terrify mortals if he couldn't even kill a beast he'd already slain? For once, he had almost gotten it without magic, too.

The dream world dissolved, and Phobetor's eyes closed, then opened again in the real world. In his mind's absence, the room had pretty much returned to normal, other than a few lingering shadows and patches of supernatural darkness. He huffed and turned over, debating what to do next.