Interlude: Gathering Fear 

Splintered Realms|Archipelago of Anguish and Redemption

Elsewhere in a space that held no bearing on time and space...

Dweller-in-Darkness's disembodied head appeared from the void, his alien features resembling that of cult-horror classics of the 50s, his appearance and likeness to the cinema old just so happened to be an old plot set in motion by another entity for his realm, and like the remainder of his kind, seemly preyed upon humankind in one form or another, he held from Everinnye, a universe higher than the Sixth Dimension. 

The ectoplasmic denizens of that dimension can follow the Way of the Shamblu by disembodying their heads and existing physically (while turning their back on their fellow residents). 

At his beckoning, the darkness writhed like a bed of snakes. The surrounding space splintered and shattered and rumbled before a dark, foreboding translucent table emerged. A green substance pulsated like an erupting volcano as stone-backed chairs appeared around the esoteric mirrored table. 

"I declare the Fear Council in session, and none shall stand In our way." Photo hissed, a dark-clad entity that looked like a human shadow, a newly minted Fear Lord spreading its many arms. 

A bird-like creature squawked in displeasure, its voice reverberating in the space like a cadre of avians. 

"Others haven't all arrived." the avian fear lord squawked. Photo shrugged, folding his tentacled arms, and radiated darkness unique to his formidable powers. 

"Your plan is foolhearty and bound to fail." Out of a pastel painting of a dreamy make-believe world, The straw man slid into the seats as mentioned earlier. 

A purple-skinned, insidious-looking woman hummed nonchalantly, agreeing or disagreeing with The Straw Man, unknown to the other arriving demons, entities, and extra-dimensional creatures whose existence was storied, false, fictitious, or lost to time, which was the case for beings that existed since man first slumbered. 

Annoyed as the looks sent her way, Nox took out a goblet, and the irresistible smell of nectar quickly spread around the room. The Dweller glowered at the cup and the red liquid. The lords of Fear all squinting dreadful faces with hundreds to no eyes transfixed on her, their scrutiny obvious. She was, after all, the most mysterious or hidden of them all. 

"Ambrosia, how quaint and alarming that you have the nectar of the Olympians." Unknown said aloud, speaking what others had also noticed. 

She smiled predatorily at the other Lords before slumping into her chair, subduing her presence, and settling into her seat, glaring at the nightmarish table that reflected humanity's dreams, fears, and nightmares. Like each FearLord, Nox was a mystery; few knew her origin (or even her existence). The Dweller-in-Darkness considered Nox the most mysterious of the Fear Lords, as few in the Multiverse had even heard of her.

The Dweller had believed her to be Nyx, the Olympian goddess of the night of the ancient Greek myths. The daughter of Ophion and the sea nymph Eurynome, who later degenerated into a demon, becoming a "demonic fear lord. Others suspect she predates the Olympians and is an extra-dimensional sorceress who had superimposed herself in the halls of Mount Olympus, tricking the powers gods into believing she was one of them.

Another appeared, a giant centipede-spider, Kkallakku, The Hatch Lord, a sinister extra-dimensional being that gains powers from the Fear of other lifeforms. He spawned the Kkallakki, better known as the Fear Eaters.

"Greeting brethren," The Hatch Lord said, his mandibles clacking together sporadically, potent fear toxin dripping into the void.

Rumble. 

The Lurking-Unknown is a mighty Fear Lord that eats the Fear of others and grows in power. He was said to have destroyed countless worlds before coming into contact with Odin himself. A purple foot slammed down the other, soon following as the gargantuan Fear Lord lumbered over; he began to shrink before taking his seat. Two other Fear Lords still needed to be included. 

Countless other lower orders appeared as the storied table stretched endlessly as lords of Fear, dreamscape, terror, apathy, trauma, despair, and nightmare, each member in some form or fashion fed upon humanity's combined conscious and subconscious minds. Millennial old arguments ensued as dream demons hissed and jockeyed toward nightmare demons and apathetic entities, and others flashed sharp fangs and appendages. 

The Dweller-in-Darkness materialized an ectoplasmic hand and slammed against the fabled table, its storied material shattering into nothingness before it reverted rapidly to its original shape. 

The Fear Lords were the only insular group that remained calm as their battles with the other lords were so far in the making that there was no need to sow evident discord as their attacks and sabotage were hidden and constantly happening. 

The Dweller-In-Darkness summoned his great strength and pressured the lower-rung members, some even his children or creations. His head loomed over all as his tentacles swarmed outward around the table, eliciting Fear from the lesser demons and entities. He inhaled, eating their Fear in lungfuls as he stared down, daring them to act up again. 

"Younglings, you forget yourselves. Your place at this table is not guaranteed but tolerated simply because you can do what we elder ones cannot." 

"You feeders, children upon children born of us, can remain on the mortal plane." A voice acknowledges radiating despair. Suddenly, a wraithlike outline of an entity appeared. He had drifted toward his seat at the forefront with the other lords. D'spayre ignored The Dweller, his progenitor. 

The Dweller's looming disembodied head turned dark pools and stared into the deep darkness; yet another figure appeared. He stared at Nightmare, his creation, but the extra-dimensional being only looked at him with apathy and scorn. Like most of his people, his practice of Shamblu was an act that was unforgivable, sacrilegious even, but The Dweller had long not cared for their ways as he was right in leaving, unlike this being who he shaped from the greatest cataclysm to ever occur in the Multiverse which had been made unknown to many,

The meeting ensued, and arguments and suggestions were sat at the table; only a few came together to discuss the unmaking of mortal kind. 

"This Great Fear's plan to saturate humanity in so much fear that we can take over Earth and its many iterations is appalling even by the likes of me. In this attempt, I decline and stake my power to contend against you all. The Straw Man warned them before he cackled madly, a trademark of his and his illusion; the man of crows considered the Earth his home. 

"You will assist the mortals." Nightmare thundered.

"You risk a battle with the Mortals? Foolish. And the other beings, Eternity, Infinity, and The Living Tribunal, would not let this overstep occur." 

Nox chimed in, adding hers to The Strawman, a rare occurrence not missed by the Lords of Fear. "You go too far. This could undo us all." 

Nightmare radiated madness as he glowered at the two. "Calm, let us parlay and find common ground." 

He glowered. "Calm?" He hissed. I'm The Nightmare. It seems you all have forgotten."

The Dweller loomed menacingly, and the other Lord's chairs vanished as they stood, pushing back against the latecomer. The Strawman, D'spayre, and Nox were the only ones that didn't move. However, The Strawman, illusionary, painted the realm he ruled and manifested behind him. Like The Dweller and Nightmare, he was too, if not the most assumed powerful Fear Lords. 

The Dweller is an enigmatic entity that has existed for years and has consumed innumerable dimensions, head enlarged to enormous proportions. "You, dare, a creation of mine, dare bare your teeth against me of all people." He roared in anger. The lower-rung demons fled into the distance, afraid to be undone or absorbed and assimilated. 

Thadump.

Before another sentence could be uttered, a potent pulse thrummed like the heartbeat of a mortal for five seconds; the beating of the heart silenced the lords. Nox eyes enlarged, and emotion appeared across her stony visage. She stood like the remaining lords and demons. 

Thadump.

Silence permeated the meeting as demons stared at each other. The Fear Lords stilled before Photos acted, but The Straw Man had responded in kind and slammed into Photos in the form of a murder of crows. 

The Lurking-Unknown began to grow, but a sudden glacial pressure of sheer apathy slammed into him and all the lords. Enraged, The Dweller had acted first and locked the space down; it would take the strongest here to breach his spatial lock, which was hard to tell who was the strongest as many hidden their powers deeply; it was hard even to determine if the images here were authentic, fiction or avatars.

Photos and The Straw Man broke from their clash. The newest Lord of Fear raged and hissed with his many arms, but all knew he had lost; the Straw Man was a far, far deadlier foe, one not even The Dweller would take lightly. 

It was a calm before the storm as the room quieted down. 'Fragments of Fear itself.' All had thought at once the fragments were pieces of the shattered throne of The Dreamtime, which is the collective unconsciousness of all sentient beings in the universe. From the Dreamtime, it is possible to access anywhere gods live by going to the fringe of a species' collective consciousness and through the Heart of the Dreamtime and linking to the others through the abstract region of pure sentience.

The Dream Dimension was one of the Splinter Realms, as well as an astral realm, and a dimension linked to and shaped by humanity's collective unconscious (it is a manifestation of the collective psyche of humankind), located within the Dreamtime, the collective unconsciousness of all sentient beings in the universe. 

All eyes shifted to a fuming Nightmare. His domain, where man's dreams took on an independent life of their own and were ruled by Nightmare, is considered the dominant lifeform in that dimension. Nightmare was said to have the fragments, and he ruled his lordship and most potent of dimensions because of those fragments. 

"This has never occurred, a mortal descending into a Lord of Fear." The Dweller said in a hollow tone. 

"Wielding two of the fragments already, and he lives? Are we sure of his mortality? If he can gain-

Nightmare raged and thrummed with power, interrupting his supposed sire. "I am the Master of the Subconscious, the Midnight Leviathan, proof positive that even the most precious of dreams can fall prey to Nightmare! Who among us can claim to rule The Lords of Fear better than I?

Nox scoffed. "You have hoarded your fragment for a millennial. And you may claim Nightmare, but Fear Itself isn't yours by birthright." 

"I concur with Nox. And I ask, do You seek to lord over D'spayre dreamling?" The wraithlike being howled. He and Nightmare had fought on occasion, and he hadn't lost out; he was despair itself, and all should flee him. 

The Lords settled; only Nightmare fumed and raged, but the others paid him no mind. Cole had fallen deeper into his subconscious, wielded to slumber by Professor X; neither knew that their battle had caused entities best left from memories untold complication and one entity plan to be irreversibly changed as the fragments were potent tools, a tool he had lost in his hubris, creating the first nightmare.