I have this character trying really hard not to let his mind run wildly through a number of painful scenarios that he has no control over-- basically, the opposite of fantasize over these possibilities. I'm inclinced to use nightmare as a verb here, but when I checked around for usage, I just found this thread (https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/nightmare-verb.1721500/where people complained about how grating that was to them. Would the use of nightmare not faze you, or should I keep trying and twisting for a better way of saying this? Also, a noun that means running over possiblities and sounds more ominous than speculation would be great to find.
Context:
A hero’s battle is fought first within himself, Kelten repeated silently: First within himself, first within himself, first within himself… His father’s maxim had always anchored him before. But now the familiar words did little to curb the stampede of terrified speculation assailing his mind.
.......(he tries some different things to distract himself)...
Weary of evading the mental struggle, Kelten faced it head on enunciating the two potentialities as succinctly as possible: either the coup had succeeded and Kíradel was free, or the Varmenens would destroy the conspirators and a good number of people who hadn’t been involved. Nightmaring about the destroying part was what he must guard against.
Context:
A hero’s battle is fought first within himself, Kelten repeated silently: First within himself, first within himself, first within himself… His father’s maxim had always anchored him before. But now the familiar words did little to curb the stampede of terrified speculation assailing his mind.
.......(he tries some different things to distract himself)...
Weary of evading the mental struggle, Kelten faced it head on enunciating the two potentialities as succinctly as possible: either the coup had succeeded and Kíradel was free, or the Varmenens would destroy the conspirators and a good number of people who hadn’t been involved. Nightmaring about the destroying part was what he must guard against.
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