Nightmare Creatures

Their minds were perverted, bizarre, and alien.^[4]. They were known to fight amongst themselves on occasion, but only in the Dream Realm.^[5][6]

Nightmare Creatures were often portrayed as mad by humans. They are indeed insane but did not mean that they lack sanity. Their sanity was rather perverted, sinister, and ineffable, contrasting with what humans considered sane.^[7]

The Nightmare Creatures had no strong sense of self.^[8]

Just like humans ascend toward divinity, Nightmare Creatures descend toward profanity. Their corrupted Soul Cores also have Seven Ranks of Power:^[9]

• Dormant (Lowest Rank)
• Awakened
• Fallen
• Corrupted
• Great
• Cursed
• Unholy (Highest Rank)

It was not a coincidence that the names of the Ranks the Spell used to describe Nightmare Creatures were "descent into profanity":^[10]

• A creature of the third Rank was called Fallen because this step had to do with the opposite of ascension.^[10]
• A creature of the fourth Rank was called Corrupted because this step had to do with transformation.^[10]
• A creature of the fifth Rank was called Great because this step had to do with authority and reign.^[10]
• Cursed Nightmare Creatures were terrifying and equal to what a Sacred being would have been. Since a sacred being was already a lesser deity, a Cursed Nightmare Creatures could be considered a profane deity of abyssal corruption.^[11] They were so powerful that their mere existence exerted pressure on the world.^[12] Creatures of higher Ranks, such as the Cursed Tyrant, Condemnation, had a way of bending the world to their will.^[13]

A measure of power that is based on the quantity of one's Soul Cores. Unlike humans, who can only ever possess one Soul Core, Nightmare Creatures can possess many. This is another measurement of their power called a Class. There are seven Classes of Nightmare Creatures, ranging from having one Soul Core to having seven:^[9]

Each class gives the creature unique qualities:

• Beasts are dangerous and strong, but mindless.^[14]
• Monsters are much more devastating and possessed some rudimentary, warped form of intelligence.^[14]
• Demons have a semblance of intelligence and can acquire ability/abilities.^[15][16][17]
• Devils possessed unnatural powers. Unlike Nightmare Creatures of lower ranks, devils had access to bizarre and harrowing powers that were akin to the Aspect Abilities of the Awakened.^[18] Devils are sentient, intelligent, and cunning.^[19]
• Tyrant can create and control armies of lesser minions.^[20][10]
  • Tyrants were known for their ability to rule lesser creatures and control territories, commanding swarms of abominable minions.^[21]
• Terror can influence its surroundings like the crimson coral in Forgotten Shore.^[22]
  • Terrors were unique beings that shared the trait of influencing the world and spreading their presence, making them more like dreadful phenomena than singular creatures. This escalating nature of their influence made them particularly dangerous.^[21]
• Titans are mythical creatures also known as Calamities.^[20] They are colossal living creatures and their scale was so boundless that they seemed like forces of nature.^[23]
  • Most Titans, however, did not possess a spreading influence or the desire to rule; while some were followed by Nightmare Creatures, these followers were merely drawn to them rather than ruled by them. Titans were aloof, solitary beings existing in a world of their own, and although they lacked the vast influence of Terrors or the armies of Tyrants, they were by no means weaker.^[21]
  • The process by which a Terror evolved into a Titan was mysterious and represented the final and most difficult step of evolution. Titans were also called Calamities and were exceedingly rare.^[21]

There is a recognizable pattern to how Nightmare Creatures evolve. A Demon must first develop unnatural powers to ascend into a Devil. A Devil then evolves into a Tyrant by gaining authority over lesser creatures and claiming a territory. Unlike Tyrants, abominations of higher Ranks no longer need to project authority outward; instead, they internalize it, becoming self-contained and self-sufficient forces. To ascend further, Tyrants usually consume their own minions to fuel their evolution into Terrors, which is why Terrors and Titans rarely have servants. Finally, Terrors evolve into Titans by spreading and growing until they reach critical mass, at which point they must consolidate themselves and complete their transformation. This final stage of evolution requires an enormous amount of soul essence, often resulting in a massacre of harrowing proportions.^[25]

Beneath the creature's tough hides, instead of spheres of radiant light, the creatures had hideous masses of swirling darkness at the center of their beings, veins of it spreading throughout their souls like cancerous growths. In the depths of that darkness, something unclear seemed to be moving, as if trying to break free. The sight of it was both frightening and repulsive.^[26]

• The word Corrupted meant something that was tainted, infected, changed, and perverted, a being cursed with some form of corruption.^[3]
• The current technology is less reliable against Nightmare Creatures of higher Ranks. Fallen abominations could more or less withstand the most devastating of bombardments, whereas Corrupted ones could survive nuclear blasts. These results were gathered during the early days of the Nightmare Spell.^[27]
• Nightmare Creatures of higher Ranks were more or less immune to mundane armaments but susceptible to Memories and even unarmed attacks of Awakened.^[28]
• Nightmare Creatures capable of speech were extremely rare and all of them were extremely terrifying.^[29] (See also: Tiny Scavenger)
• The explosion from Rampart Protocol cannot to harm a Corrupted Devil.^[30]
• Awakened was used to collect soul shards from Nightmare Creatures, but the remnant fragments of corrupted souls were pure and untainted. It was because death was a weapon to destroy Corruption.^[31]
• According to Jest, back when the Nightmare Spell first appeared, nobody knew what Nightmare Creatures were. Despite their presence, they were called "the infected" out of habit.^[1]

• List of Nightmare Creatures by Region
• List of Named Nightmare Creatures
• Nightmare Events
• Gate Opening Events