Chapter Six

Entitlement, Delusion, Ruin

Hello again, mortal. Have you made your choice?

…

You have? Excellent.

But you do know that I'm still disappointed in you, do you not?

…

Because, little mortal, I asked you to make a choice. You did nothing. You froze, when you should have been decisive.

If you want to be like the man you idolize most, you're going to have to learn to think and act in an instant. There can be no hesitation.

…

You hide yourself well in that garb, mortal. But you won't stay protected forever.

Sooner or later, your identity will be revealed to those from whom you hide. There is nothing you can do to change that.

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Glare at me all you want. It won't help you.

Now, what is your choice?

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"Power."

I stare at the mortal, trying to hide my expression of shock. What did you say, mortal?

"I said power. I want to hear the Tale of Power."

So, this is the choice. How disappointing.

So, you desire to hear the Tale of Power. Are you perhaps trying to avoid the same mistakes that others have made, using the power I have given them?

…

And now you choose silence once more.

How droll.

Very well, mortal. I will tell you the Tale of Power.

Heed my words. I will not repeat myself.

…

Once upon a time, there lived a woman named Delilah Copperspoon. She was best known for being the leader of a coven of witches. The Brigmore Witches, to be precise. But Delilah wasn't always a witch. No. In fact, she had larger ambitions. Ones she never outgrew.

Did you know that she used to be a playmate to the late Jessamine Kaldwin, long before that girl became Empress? The two of them were best friends…Up until the point that Delilah and Jessamine were caught performing a forbidden act.

There have been many speculations as to what this act entailed. Perhaps it was an act of the occult. Some suggest that it was an act of forbidden love. Others say they committed a crime. Of course, I am the only one left who knows the real answer.

But I won't give it to you.

When they were discovered, Jessamine betrayed her friend, as those with power over the weak are wont to do. Delilah was whipped, her mother fired, and they were cast from Dunwall Tower. Jessamine, however, remained blameless and untroubled by the consequences that befell Delilah and her family.

Delilah chose to abandon a promising career as a baker. Instead, she became an apprentice in painting and sculpting under the tutelage of Anton Sokolov. He took her into his circle, and introduced her to a side of darkness, marked by ritual and magic.

…

You seem surprised to learn this about Sokolov. He is a man who, on the surface, represents intellect, but he is much like the Wrenhaven River. He is relatively calm on the surface, yet his undercurrents are murky and deep.

It is through Sokolov that Delilah gleaned her first taste of black magic. She became quite proficient at creating portraits that could capture one's spirit. Her skill is what convinced me to grant her my Mark. She had such potential, given her past…

Alas, she proved to be yet another disappointment.

Delilah was a woman who thought that the hardships of her childhood meant that she would be deserving of so much more than she was given.

I'll spare you the tawdry details of her relationship with Barrister Arnold Timsh. Needless to say, she gained a fortune that allowed her to create the Coven of Brigmore. As her power grew, so did her purpose.

She would finally have the life that Jessamine took from her. She would wear Lady Emily Drexel Lela Kaldwin's skin like a mummer's mask, so that she could ascend the throne of the Empire of the Isles.

Delilah failed to account for one fatal flaw in her folly. She failed to comprehend the complexity of a man named Daud, the legendary Knife of Dunwall. She allowed him to get inside of her head, thus turning her rationality into emotion.

She thought her schemes to be brilliant. To the inexperienced, perhaps they were. She thought that by turning Daud's own apprentice against him, and sending the Overseers of the Abbey to his hideout, she could destroy him and all that he had created.

Her miscalculation was underestimating Daud's experience, discipline, and tenacity. She failed to grasp that everyone reacts to betrayal differently. She thought this would break him. Instead, she inspired him to cut a bloody swath through her ranks, just as she had indirectly done through his.

It did not take long for Daud to find Delilah, for one path to end, and another to begin.

Daud's elimination of Delilah was truly poetic. He trapped her in her own painting, sparing the life of the young Lady Emily, and consigning Delilah to the fate that was to have been Emily's. Delilah is forever trapped within The Void, weeping and wondering if she'll ever escape its everlasting torments.

In the end, overreaching lust for power led Delilah to her downfall. She now pays a perpetual price for failure. And the irony of it all, mortal? I could free her, if I so desired.

But why reward failure?