Damn Demons, Why Won't You Just die?
The same process continued for a further three days in the veil. Every time Achmed became weaker and weaker until there came a point where not even the agony of the procedures was able to fully wake him. He was now in a coma and nothing seemed to reach him. He had been undergoing this torture three times a day for the past three days and now had very little left in him. Rhapsody was beside herself with fear that he may never wake again, even if they were able to remove the demon completely without killing him.
It was now the second time on the third day where something changed. Achmed had not so much as opened his eyes for the last two days. He was still experiencing pain, but it was unable to wake him.
The Lady Rowan was nearly halfway through this treatment when suddenly Achmed's eyes flew open. Rhapsody gasped, not out of surprise he had waken, but because for the first time she saw a red rim around his eyes.
"Stop!" He commanded, though it was Achmed's voice, there was a tone behind it that was not Achmed. The F'dor had finally taken control over him.
"Stop or I will kill us both!" the demon screamed.
Rhapsody looked fearfully up to the Lady, pleading with her eyes for her to stop. The Lady quickly removed the needle and stepped back.
After a few shuttering breaths, Achmed, now the F'dor, continued, "You'll stop trying to remove me or I will kill him."
"And what is it that we are to do?" the Lady asked quietly. "One way or another it is our goal to destroy you."
"And if you do that I will kill this one."
"You can't survive in him anyway. So it won't matter if we leave you to die or continue to remove you and you kill yourself in the process," The Lady answered coolly.
"But if you were to grant me a new host after you have removed me, I will no longer fight against your efforts," the F'dor responded just as coolly.
Firmly the Lady Rowan shook her head. "You can't expect us to allow you destroy any more lives."
Rhapsody, who had been completely quiet since the F'dor first spoke, had been rapidly thinking. There had to be a way around this. She just knew that there had to be a way to work against this F'dor.
"Lady Rowan," she said as she rose to her feet. I will find it a willing host if you will take it from Achmed," she said with all of the authority that she had as Namer, Lady Cymrian and Queen of the Lirin. There was no doubt to anyone in the room that she meant what she was saying.
"You swear as a Namer that this is so?" The F'dor replied.
"No Rhapsody; I cannot allow you to do this," the Lady said.
"I don't believe that this is your choice Lady. I came to you for help. You can chose to help or not, but I will not let this demon take my husband from me."
As the Lady Rowan looked into Rhapsody's eyes, she saw exactly what it was that she planned. Shaking her head sadly she said quietly, "You never learn, do you child?" Then louder she said, "It is your choice Rhapsody. If you choose to take this oath, I will do what I can to complete it."
Nodding Rhapsody turned to the F'dor and said to it, "I swear that if you leave Achmed, I will find and give you to a willing host."
Satisfied, the demon nodded once and suddenly it was Achmed again who fell directly into a coma again.
Staring hard at Rhapsody the Lady said, "What a foolish thing to do girl. I have no way of knowing if you will succeed in your plan and I hardly wish to help you in such a foolish errant."
"But you have promised, as I have." Rhapsody reminded her.
Shaking her head, the Lady returned to her work. It now only took a few more minutes to remove the rest of the demon now that it was not fighting against it.
As the lady took the essence of the F'dor and contained it in a hermitite phial, Rhapsody took a long look at her husband. It was hardly the Achmed that she had known for so long. Never before had she seen him so completely helpless and drawn. There was hardly even a hint of life in him. It felt as if she was staring at his corpse. But as she bent down to kiss his for possibly the last time, she felt the barest flicker of a heartbeat still within him. He still drew breath and, though cool and clammy, his skin still held a warmth.
She was leaving him still alive in the very capable healing hands of the Lady Rowan; he would survive this yet.
But now, as the Lady handed her the phial, the question if she would survive this weighed heavily.
"You take too great a risk child," the Lady said. "I will not have you in my land when you do this."
Rhapsody nodded. "I understand." Then, looking back to Achmed one last time, "Please Lady, take care of him."
As her face softened a bit, the Lady answered, "fear not for him, the worst is now over." Then with a touch more harshness she finished, "Though you may have doomed us all to achieve this."
Sighing, Rhapsody turned and left the house of healing, whispering, "I know, but I had to."
It was moments later that she found herself alone, once again in the desolate mountains where she and Achmed had entered the Veil. She took a long look around at the beautiful sunrise that was just fully cresting over the mountain peaks in the east.
Taking a breath, she sang her morning Aubade for possibly the last time. The sun rose gloriously bright into the sky with her melody. If this was her last morning, it seemed like a perfect one.
As the sun became a bright ball over the horizon, Rhapsody sighed and turned from it. With it's warmth on her back, she suddenly felt chilled to the core as she look to the phial in her hand.
The F'dor asked for a Host, and she would give it one.
Taking a breath, she pulled the stopper from the phial and brought it to her lips. As she sent out a silent prayer to whatever deity might hear she, she closed her eyes and threw back her head, allowing the caustic essence of the demon to flow down the back of her throat.
At first, she didn't notice anything. Then, quietly in the back of her mind, she heard what she thought was demonic chanting. Suddenly, she could feel herself doubling over and hitting the ground. It was as if she no longer had control over her own muscles. But she was not going to give over that easily.
Using all of her will, she sought out the part of her that now belonged to the demon and dragged both her and it into rapport.
"You foolish girl!" the Demon snarled. Rhapsody found herself in a field of black with nothing but herself and a black fire flickering in front of her.
"You certainly are not the first to call me foolish, and I'm sure you won't be the last," she replied with more boldness than she really felt.
The demon sounded a spine tingling laugh that was reminiscent of the demonic chanting that she had heard shortly ago. "I have good news for you girl, you won't have to worry anymore about being called foolish for you have made your last foolish move."
"And how do you expect to achieve that?" She asked it.
"By using your own powers against you. Have you realized that you, whos great elemental tie is fire, have invited a being that is fire into you?"
As the demon spoke, the fire that was innately tied to her soul began to bloom between them.
"I realize that I have invited a perverse and twisted version of the pure fire that I carry in my soul. I would like to see you try and control it. My fire is in the purest form. It does not seek to destroy and warp all that it touched, only purify and make anew as fire in its truest form is meant to."
As she spoke, she called to the fire and caused it to grow and gain in intensity and heat. The form of the demon across the flames seemed to flicker in a moment of panic before her fire began to die down. The same demonic laugher sounded all around her as, against her will, the pure fire was quieted.
"You see, all fire is fire. All fire destroys and burns. You shouldn't invite it in else you get burned."
Suddenly, a furry that she had never realized she carried flared in her. Without even thinking the pure fire flared once again and this time continued to grow.
The demonic flame back further and further away from the center, no longer able to gain control over it.
"What are you doing? What's happening?" Rhapsody could here it muttering.
"Cleansing you. You should thank me. I am going to purify you to what you were meant to be… Pure fire, no consciousness, just pure flame."
And with that, she allowed her entire being, physical, mental, and spiritual, to be completely consumed by the raging flames that she carried with her from the depths of the Earth. Had anyone been there to witness it, they would have only seen a pillar of pure white flame where a moment before a woman had stood.
As the fire consumed both her and the F'dor, oblivion came and took her. She was sure that she had finally been immolated by the flames that had so long ago remade her and allowed her to pass through their center. As she lay in the blackness, slowly a sensation began to enter her awareness.
Someone was touching her where her shoulder had so recently been. As she realized that her shoulder was still there, the rest of her body once again regained feeling. She could feel herself lying upon a very warm yet hard Earth as she breathed in an ash filled air.
Slowly, she opened her eyes. At first, all she could see was more black, but then she realized that she was staring at blacken, charred, and in some places, melted earth. As she figured out which direction she was looking, she turned her head to see what it was that still griped her shoulder.
Her breath caught in her throat as she realized whose eyes she was looking into. It suddenly struck her as strange to think that there had been a time where awaking to that face had been nightmarish, now it was nothing short of pure joy to see him.
"You're alright," she said to Achmed as she looked him over. He was still pale and had a drawn appearance to him, but he look much more in this world than the next as he did the last time she beheld him.
He simply stared at her for a few moments, caught in between relief that she was not hurt and still herself and furry at what she did. Finally he broke the tense silence with the only thing that had been going through his head since he had heard of what she had done. "What the hell were you thinking, Rhapsody?"
Taken aback by his furry and barely contained fear that echoed in his voice, Rhapsody pull away from his touch and sat up glaring at him. Only to be overcome with exhaustion and nearly fell over again. Achmed's quick reflexes are all that saved her from hitting the Earth again.
"You know very well what I was thinking," she snapped as he helped her to sit back against a blacked rock behind her. "It was the only way that I could think of to save you and destroy the demon as I promised."
"You know perfectly well that I never would have wanted you to take such a stupid risk. There was no guarantee that you were going to destroy that demon. It could have very well won you over and what then? There would be the most powerful demon that this land has ever seen. Not only would it have control over the Cymrians, but the Lirin as well. Not to mention the powers of a Namer and free access to literally the key to the F'dor's destruction of the world!"
As he ranted, Rhapsody slowly relaxed. She had heard these rantings from him before and now she realized where their roots really were. Of course he was concerned about the risks that she had taken, but really he was just venting his frustrations and fears that he had for her.
She listened to him for a few more moments before grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him to her. She surprised him just enough to give him a swift kiss before letting go and saying, "I love you too."