Sleepwalker
"... day... out... you hate so..."
Fragments of a sentence penetrated the silence. All was dark. Daniella had no eyes with which to see, and no ears with which to hear, but the words reached her all the same. It was a man's voice, one she knew, and it was slowly growing louder.
"... don't need to worry anymore... enough... to prepare. It is time."
Footsteps approached, and a hand waved away the darkness in front of her, as if it were a thick cloud of smoke. Daniella saw the silhouette of a man, dressed in finery. Though she had never seen this man before, the sight of him struck fear into her heart... but she realized that deep inside, she knew why. She felt the presence of her ancestor, and it was as if a great curtain in her mind had been lifted. She could recall the memories all so clearly now, her entire life suddenly rushing back to her. The beauty and innocence of her youth, her life as an alchemist's wife, the castle and the house in the lake, Aureolus' terrifying transformation and the bitter sense of loss and regret that followed, and finally her devolution into obsession and hysteria... everything Daniella had ever sought to know about herself, it was all there. Her head spun as she tried to comprehend all of the revelations, all at once. But there was no time... he was approaching... she wanted to run, but she had no legs, no body. The shadow drew closer, and as it did, the black smog drifted off of him.
"It is out of my hands, Leana. Things have been set in motion today that will change the world. You and I are a part of that change. Today, we realize our destiny."
The face, aged and pale, was familiar to Daniella. In it, she saw a brother and a husband. But she didn't want him to be here. Not now. Not ever. Get away from me. She thought it, but could not say it. He reached out and grabbed her arm, which materialized out of the black fog as though it had been there all along. He pushed her forward, and physical form manifested from darkness. Daniella's body appeared beneath her, and though she had been one with the void a moment ago, she was now human, and she could move, feel, and breathe. As soon as she was aware of herself, she acted on her base instinct and struggled to free herself from the man's grasp. He grabbed her around her waist, pinning her arms to her sides and marching her onward into the darkness.
"This is why you stayed in the garden. Never obedient, as a wife should be, always fighting me. It's the only way to deal with someone like you. You've had a long time to regret your defiance, haven't you? Tell me, do you still think it was worth it, trying to escape? Hm? How about sleeping with that slave behind my back?"
Daniella fought to free herself, but he was exceptionally strong for such an old man, and her feet dragged uselessly against the ground as he forced her toward their destination. She saw faint hints of stone walls in the swirling shadows around her, and an eerie green glow had begun to penetrate the darkness in front of her. She heard an unearthly moaning coming from somewhere far away. A sense of impending doom grew in her chest as the green light became brighter, and her struggles grew more desperate.
"You're the devil!" she yelled, powerless and afraid. "You can't do this to me!"
He stopped, wrenching her around roughly, twisting her arms and eliciting a cry of pain. She saw a depravity in his eyes shaped by years of total isolation and perverse science.
"You couldn't possibly understand the importance of the rite. You don't even deserve to be a part of it, nothing you've ever done has made you worthy of the great honor I bestow upon you now. You were never anything but a harlot and a fool... which is why tonight is so liberating for me."
He leaned in close to her ear. Daniella felt his warm breath pass through her hair as he whispered the next words.
"For once, you're right to fear me. Tonight you die, Leana Belli."
She heard the conviction in his voice, the sick pleasure. He wasn't making an idle threat. Turning her back around, strong arms pushed her forward once more. She was frantic now, summoning all the strength she had to try and escape the terrible fate he envisioned for her.
"No... NO!"
Daniella kicked his leg and hit him with the back of her head. Pulling free of his grasp, there was a moment when she thought she might escape, and her heart leapt... but as she turned to look at him, she saw him swinging, his fist exploding in a blinding, unnatural blue fire. He hit her in the stomach, and she fell to the ground, the intense, burning pain completely incapacitating her. Her insides felt like they were melting. He stood above her, his eyes laughing.
"What did you think was going to happen, my dear?"
She wailed in agony as he dragged her upright once again, continuing to advance toward the green light.
"You know what I'm capable of. You know resistance only causes you pain."
Daniella opened her eyes, the source of the light breaching through the parting mists. A large tank, a horrific fusion of iron and glass. It was closed and glowing brightly with an unearthly light, the bubbled glass revealing the vibrant green fluid inside. The tank was connected to various funnels and receptacles via tubes and pipes snaking across the floor and up the wall. It reminded her of a feeding system she'd seen for livestock... and suddenly, it dawned on her. Looking closer at the tank, she saw the occupant inside. The shape was that of a human, not fully grown, somewhere between the stages of infancy and childhood. A tangled mass of dark tubes was visible inside, conjoined with the child's body.
"You recognize her, don't you?"
Daniella looked upon the small, frail form with horror. Yes, she knew. She remembered the experiments, the blood and animal cages... lying on the table, staring at the ceiling... blood infused with mandragora extract, then extracted, flesh torn from her bones. The promise of a clone. She began shaking her head, mouth agape, and heard him exhale in satisfaction.
"Yes. She is your exact biological copy, but for one difference. When she awakens, she will be... the perfect woman. My panacea, my magnum opus." He drew in a deep breath with an excited unsteadiness. "The perfect woman." He let the breath out, tightening his grip on her arms. "She will be everything you never were."
No, Daniella wanted to say, she's a victim, just like me. The body, her body, floated in the tank, unaware of its own profane existence, helpless to change its dark and heretical purpose. Her life would be ruined, all over again.
"The Azoth you impart to her now will, over hundreds of years, compound itself and grow stronger. One day, when she is pure and the life within her burns bright as the four flames, she will finally awaken. And on that glorious day, so too shall I awaken, and together we will realize the Great Truth. We will transcend the prison of our preconceived world, and the binds of genetics and even death will be lifted...we will be as gods."
None of it made any sense to her. The language he used was cryptic and foreboding. His delusions of grandeur had consumed any moral fibre or reverence he may have once had, and his warped perception of such high concepts was alarming to her. If what he said was true... such blatant disregard for the natural order... to even speak that kind of blasphemy was cause for death in this country. To put man on the level of god was to provoke the wrath of heaven. She knew. The bible had been all that filled the gaping hole in her life after he'd locked her up. She spat on the ground in contempt.
"You'll regret all of this madness when you feel the swift judgment of the Lord. You'll burn in hell, Aureolus."
"And you'll be taking that dogmatic idealism of yours to the grave," he said, scoffing. "I hope, if you see your god tonight, he's everything you imagined."
He shoved her roughly forward again, but did not steer her in the direction of the tank. Instead, he forced her to the side, and another object arose from the darkness. Daniella saw a large, round hole cut into the floor, smooth and bowl-shaped, with four rivets cut equally spaced around the perimeter, leading to a depression at the bottom. Above this hung two ropes, disappearing into the darkness above, and below two more lay slack on the ground, tied to anchors on either side of the bowl. Daniella's mind was paralyzed with fear, trying to figure out what this was used for, what he would do to her. He forced her to the edge of the bowl, then grabbed her arm, his nails digging into her skin as she felt the rough texture of one of the hanging ropes rubbing against her skin.
Though she tried to stay defiant, Daniella couldn't quell the growing panic inside her. This was the end. She would die in here. She started shaking, and when she felt the knot tighten around her arm, she broke down. Making one last half-hearted struggle, she pleaded with her husband, feeling hot tears stream down her face.
"No! No, brother, I don't want to die! Please, don't make me do this! Please!"
It was then that she saw the most sickening smile spread across his aged face. No remorse, no pity. Only spiteful triumph. He threw her over the edge, and she screamed as she hung painfully by her arm, watching him cross to the other side. He reached out and grabbed her other arm, easily overpowering her feeble attempts to fight him off, and he tied the other hanging rope around her wrist. Her fate was sealed. It couldn't end like this. Not like this...
She kicked her legs, resisting the tourniquet that she knew she couldn't escape. Aureolus had no trouble catching her seizing legs and securing the last two ropes, and she felt a terrifying finality in the last knot constricting around her ankle. Daniella found herself spread four ways over the vessel, her stomach churning as she felt she'd been in this position before, in a different life. She looked on as he circled around to one side of her, all the while watching her with that horrific smile on his face. He approached a hand crank with a large spool of rope attached, the end of which rose high into the mist above her, and he swiftly and suddenly turned it one full rotation. The ropes on Daniella's arms pulled in opposite directions.
She cried out, gritting her teeth as she felt the tension increase. He paused, delighting in her distress, then cranked it again, and again, until her arms and legs were fully extended, stretched to the point of acute pain in her sockets. She howled in agony, knowing that any more force would dislocate her limbs. His hands lingered on the handle for a long time as he listened to her tortured whimpers, taking them in as one would a pleasing piece of music.
"Don't cry, my beauty." She heard the sardonic, mocking voice over her suffering cries. "It's almost over."
She watched in helpless dread as she saw him release the crank, reaching into his robes and producing an elongated, cloth-covered object. He unwrapped it with the utmost care, finally revealing a sharp, decorative knife, made of a striking green jade. His eyes went from the knife to Daniella, slowly climbing her body and locking his gaze with hers. She saw only murder there. Though she was terrified beyond words, she did not struggle. She knew there was nothing more she could do. It was time for her to leave this world. She began to recite a verse under her breath, one she knew by heart.
"Never again will I hunger; never again will I thirst. The sun will not beat upon me, nor any scorching heat."
Though her eyes were closed, she heard his footsteps approaching her. She squeezed them shut more tightly, continuing the rote passage, speaking it louder.
"For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be my shepherd; he will lead me to springs of living water." The footsteps stopped just in front of her. She heard him breathing deeply, refused to look, prepared at any moment for the intense pain that would take her into oblivion. Feeling the edge of the blade press against her neck, she took her last breath, held it in. Aureolus spoke into her ear in a heavy undertone, the sarcasm gone from his voice.
"Know that your essence lives on in immortality, and that your blood fuels the greatest cause in our history. Goodbye, Leana."
She expelled the breath, whispering the last of her prayer.
"And God will wipe away every tear from my eyes."
The sharp edge pressed deeply into her skin, but did not puncture her flesh. There it remained for several excruciating seconds, hesitating, stalling. Even now, in her last moments, he made a mockery of her. Daniella could take it no longer. She thrashed violently, wanting nothing more than for this horrible suspense to be over. She yelled, furious and ashamed, urging a conclusion.
"No! No, no!"
As she lashed out with her arms and legs, Daniella realized, in utter disbelief, that they were free. She felt a hard surface underneath her back, and her eyes flicked open. She gazed deep into familiar dead eyes as she felt her soul come to rest in her own body once more. She felt as though she had just awoken from a deep sleep, and she was lost in confusion as she settled back into reality, trying to understand where she was.
The bloody phantom that had once been Leana Belli held a long, jagged shard of glass to Daniella's throat, in the same spot that the knife had been, and she pressed down on her chest with the other hand. Daniella stared up at the elaborate canopy above her, pale blue light kissing the edges. She was back in the chapel, lying on the altar. The dead woman pressed harder on her ribcage, ready to draw the crystalline blade across her neck. Even in death, she was beautiful. Daniella looked upon her pale skin and faded eyes, no longer scared, feeling nothing but guilt. She pleaded in repentance, deeply moved by what she'd just experienced, knowing herself to be the girl in the tank, the cause of the other's ruin and loss.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry... everything that happened to you, I never knew... I never wanted this. I never wanted any of it!"
She saw the corners of the woman's blue lips twitch into a smile. Daniella didn't know if she was even being heard, and had long ago abandoned the question of whether the ghoul before her was real or an illusion of her mind. It didn't particularly matter to her. This wasn't just a physical encounter with a ghost... it was an inner struggle as well, and one she desperately needed to see to its end. She whispered a final plea, feeling that even if she were killed here on this altar, it would still be too good for her.
"Please forgive me."
She heard Leana expelling sharp, fast breaths, almost as though she were trying to laugh. She felt the blade against her neck begin to twitch and flutter across her skin. Leana's breaths began to catch in her throat, becoming guttural clucking sounds, almost like she was choking. Daniella gripped the cloth on the altar beneath her, unsure what was happening to her. Leana's whole body began to convulse, and finally her hand released the blade, going instead to her own throat where blood was suddenly pouring copiously from her sliced neck. Daniella heard the shard of glass clatter harmlessly to the floor beneath her, but barely noticed, watching the woman standing over her with a kind of horrible fascination. Spasms racked Leana's entire body, and those noises she was making were terrible to hear. And the blood... so much blood. Daniella urged herself to action, preparing to roll off of the altar and leave this atrocious scene for she could take no more of it, when she saw Leana's blue tongue protrude from her mouth and her vacant eyes roll back into her head. With one last strangled choke, her head slid from her shoulders.
With an unconscious detachment, her mind still trying to interpret what she was seeing, Daniella caught the severed head in her hands. She looked down upon it with bewildered repugnance, hearing the body fall to the floor beside her. Blood trickled freely from the hole in the neck like water from a sponge. The brittle hair and stretched skin underneath her fingers felt so wrong, so long divorced from life... Daniella trembled, wanting to drop it, to throw it from her but finding herself unable to. It was all so wrong. A moment passed, and abruptly, the eyelids snapped open once more, revealing the whites of the eyes and the red veins that spread across them like clutching hands.
Daniella screamed, dropping the head and leaping from the altar, landing on her knees on the dusty rug below. The head landed upright on the altar, the white, rolled-back eyes staring toward her, and Daniella hastened to her feet, backing away from it. Is she still alive? Did I do that to her? Somebody... somebody tell me what's going on! Daniella reached up with her right hand, touching the spot where the knife, then the glass, had rested against her neck. The skin was smooth and untouched. She would have sighed with relief if she weren't so terrified. She'd been so certain she was going to die... Suddenly, she froze, her hand still touching her neck as she saw the lucid lips on the disembodied head begin to move.
"You need not fear me. I cannot spill your blood."
The voice was a hissing, otherworldly echo, as though many voices were speaking in unison. Daniella's heart skipped a beat. She was being addressed by the undead. She didn't know what to think, what to do, so she stood silently, unmoving, unbreathing.
"I am but a shade. When you bleed, it is my blood that pours from your wounds. When you cease to exist, so too shall I."
Daniella recalled Fendari's words. You are one in the same. It fell into place. The voice speaking now was as much a part of Daniella as her own. It came from deep within her, from a place once locked behind an impenetrable barrier. But the way was open now, the door standing wide. She finally knew herself, and the woman she had once been. Her fear evaporated. Though the dead visage was chilling, she knew then that Leana Belli could not harm her. The apparition on the altar before her was merely an extension of herself.
Daniella stood straighter, apprehension replaced by awe. She stared around the moonlit chapel, beginning to understand why the hallucinations were the strongest here, why she'd felt that sense of familiarity with this area.
"You were kept here for a very long time," she said finally, looking back toward the altar.
Leana did not respond. The scrawls on the walls and windows, the great, terrifying effigy, the unsettling paintings... they were all outlets for the pain and suffering of long years, confined in this place by her tyrant of a husband. Her mind had slowly fallen apart in here, and eventually she had only one thing left to cling to. God. Her last refuge against the encroaching insanity. But those crucified bodies, and the bones in the closet...
"The failures." The ethereal voice spoke again. "Those not deemed worthy of Aureolus' legacy."
Daniella drew on the new memory, placing herself in Leana's body. Yes, she remembered clearly... they were her only company in this place, the only company he'd ever allowed her. She cared for them so, coming to know them as her children... but most died within days of arriving. She recalled piling the tiny bodies in the closet, each death taking a piece of her soul until there was barely anything left. The crosses were constructed for the four that had stayed with her the longest, but even they hadn't lasted more than a year, their incomplete bodies unable to support themselves. She'd crucified them after they died, to bring them closer to God, to signify their struggle and unite them with his love. Daniella felt tears well up in her eyes. The memory held such bitter sadness for her. Her whole life in the garden, nothing but bitter sadness.
"And death was your only escape."
Daniella whispered this, finally knowing the fate of Leana Belli. She had only to look upon the mangled corpse in front of her to know what Aureolus had done to her in that dark place. He had drained her lifeblood, and it had manifested itself inside Daniella. For the first time, she could feel the Azoth in her veins, and she knew herself to be more than just a clone. A brilliant life pulsed through her, one carefully cultivated and perfected. And it was a life she would have given up in an instant, for it had brought her nothing but suffering. The voice of the dead broke into her thoughts once more.
"Time is running out."
The ambiguous comment caught Daniella off guard, and she stared back toward the head still sitting on the altar, its white eyes and expressionless lips giving no hints as to the statement's meaning.
"What?" Daniella asked, an uneasy feeling materializing in her stomach. "Time until what?"
The mouth opened once more, as if to speak, but a low, strangled wail was all that emerged. The mouth opened and closed reflexively, but no further sound came out. In disbelief, Daniella saw the skin around the cross in her forehead beginning to peel away, slowly revealing the red-stained skull underneath. She watched the phantasm unraveling, suddenly spurred to action. It couldn't end yet. She needed to know more.
"No, wait!" Daniella cried in desperation as the flesh stripped itself away, hanging off Leana's face. "What am I supposed to do? Tell me!"
The woman's forehead was now a blood-smeared plate of dark bone, the speed of her decomposition increasing. She was attempting to speak, her voice seemingly breaking apart, the many echoes now fighting each other and barely coherent.
"Your awakening... the Great Truth... you have seen..."
The disjointed expressions were all Daniella could make out. Though her instincts told her to stay away from the horrifying spectacle, she moved closer, trying to understand. Suddenly, Leana cried out, the single word plainly audible and full of enmity.
"Aureolus!"
She was going fast. The skin around her eyes slid from her skull, revealing the blackened bone beneath. The headless body, beside the altar, was falling apart in much the same way. Everything about it was sickeningly real, and Daniella unconsciously covered her mouth with her hand. Leana's eyes rolled in their sockets as she tried to say more, gagging on her own blood.
"Light... sacred flames... Go to the well... find Mercury... my legacy..."
Daniella heard a haunting moan escape her lips as the skin fell away completely, leaving her a blood-soaked skeleton. Her eyes seemed to boil in their sockets, white humour bubbling up from inside as they deflated in an awful display. Daniella felt her insides heaving. It was all absolutely appalling, and she felt it tearing away at her sanity. The abhorrent zombie opened its mouth one last time, the jawbone moving on its own as its muscle rotted away. The disordered voice was now terrifyingly baleful, and it spoke in words Daniella did not understand.
"Quid dereliquisti me? Est non pastor hic..."
The vertebrae beneath it crumbled away, and the black skull rolled onto its side, hissing a last breath somehow, as it broke apart. Daniella watched Leana's remains disintegrate into dust in a matter of seconds, the ashes swept away by the wind of another world. Soon, there was nothing left. The body was gone as well, leaving no trace of its existence. Daniella let out a shivering breath, shaking her head. She knew that Leana Belli's physical body had decayed long ago. Everything Daniella had seen and experienced in this deserted wing of the mansion... she knew now that it all came from within, the essence of her past self finally reaching across the great divide and touching her, showing her the life she had inherited. The terror she'd felt was the same terror that Leana had endured ages ago, the blood and decay a metaphor for her unending suffering. But it was over now, she could feel it in her soul. All had been revealed to her, and the walking corpse had fulfilled its purpose. Daniella knew herself to be completely and profoundly changed from the girl who had walked through those padlocked doors. She felt a lifetime of pain weighing on her shoulders.
Shaken, Daniella closed her eyes, focused on recovering from her spiritual journey. She knew... she knew everything. Decades of new memories flooded her mind, shedding light on all her questions. She knew why Leana Belli had looked so cold and lifeless in the portraits and sculptures. She knew why Fendari had such strong feelings for her. She knew why Riccardo and Leonardo had seemed so familiar to her, not only in their looks but in their manner. The only thing she didn't know was why she had been created. To realize the "Great Truth", Aureolus had said. She'd seen that phrase before in the courtyard, heard Fendari spit it with the utmost contempt. Aureolus spoke of transcending genetics, escaping preconception... What it meant, she did not know. And she didn't plan to stay and find out. She finally opened her eyes, having a better grasp of herself and her situation. She had to get back to the mansion outside the black doors of her prison. Knowing what had happened to her in these halls made every moment she spent in here a trial of remembered torment.
Daniella approached the altar once more, prepared to carry out Leana's final wish.