The dim light from red lanterns reflected off Clarissa's longsword as she swung herself round. Upon her entrance into the Fade, she found herself standing in an empty hall. Her initial cries for Bethany had reverberated endlessly down the ornate hallway, mocking her efforts with dwindling echoes that eroded her confidence and aggravated her anxiety.
Every moment I waste in this labyrinth of a world is a moment that could tear Bethany away from me.She gritted her teeth, trying to shake away the voice that spoke of her worst fears, the visions that plagued her with her most unthinkable nightmares. She took off at a dead run, choosing a random direction. Maker be damned, why did every lantern look the same?
Her steel-toed boots hammered the ground as she ran, eyes scanning intently for a slight change in scenery around her. There were none. The Fade was toying with her, toying with the mortal and her ill-fated pursuit. The hallways were straight and narrow as Clarissa sped past them, all of them uniform in appearance and mocking in demeanor. Clarissa began to wonder if she was running in circles.
Her anxiety gave way to anger, a red-hot fire that burned along with her unyielding desire to find Bethany. Her hands clenched of their own accord as she growled in frustration.
Clack.
The sound of heels impacting the marble floor reverberated through the hallway, making Clarissa swirl around and her unnoticed torches cast dancing lights on the walls.
Clack.
The exaggerated footsteps carried a hollow echo to them, growing louder and louder as a silhouette of a figure emerged at the far end of the passage. It was hard to tell, but Clarissa could tell that it, or rather she,had a feminine profile. The shadow moved with languid grace, with a hint of seductiveness that affected Clarissa even though she was still some ways away.
"My greetings to you, mortal." A voice rang out and the lanterns flanking Clarissa, as if on cue, flared to life and illuminated the entire hallway. Holding back a gasp, Clarissa gazed upon the origin of the voice.
A woman stood before her, a fiery purple flame masking her hair. Horns protruded out of the sides of her head, curving and tantalizing. Sculpted features had the woman's face twisted in a brazen smile, one that oozed sensuality and passion. Dark, purple eyes flashed knowingly in the brightly-lit corridor, reflecting the crimson light of the lanterns in its infinite depths. As Clarissa gazed upon the creature before her, she found her limbs weakening, her mind wavering and her focus slipping.
The creature did little to disguise her seductive charms, wearing only a golden necklace with a line of chains just about covering its nipples, leaving little to the imagination. The gleam of gold complemented the soft, wavy curves the creature possessed, bringing contour to the otherwise silken violet skin. A simple cloth draped over the folds of its legs, ends flowing in the wind, as if tempting Clarissa to tug them free. Unwillingly, Clarissa steeled herself against the alluring sight, even as her eyes began drowning themselves in those bottomless purple flames.
"Where is my... sister...?" Clarissa asked feebly, the stern and adamant tone she had hoped to employ fading away before it reached her lips. Her heart fluttered in unbridled desire as the demon laughed softly, weaving a haunting melody with her amusement. Clarissa felt her mind go blank as the demon gazed directly into her, as if wrenching her deepest wants and desires and stoking them. Thoughts of Bethany began to ebb away, replaced by an overpowering flame Clarissa only felt when Bethany was close to her. No other being had been able to provoke such passion within her, and she craved more.
More.
"It is what you want, no?" The demon said, chuckling when words refused to leave Clarissa's mouth. Clarissa felt her defenses melting under the demon's piercing gaze, folding to a lance of red-hot fire. Her grip on her sword loosened, and the glistening steel hung limply by her side as if forgotten.
Her thoughts screamed for her to snap out of it, to strike down the foul temptress that was befuddling her mind, yet her limbs, her strength were no longer her own. "It is... Bethany that I want. Not... not you..." She managed. A flash of incomprehensible emotion crossed the demon's eyes, vanishing as quickly as it appeared. Smiling lasciviously, it began to walk forward, freezing Clarissa in place, enthralling her with her movement alone. "Oh, but I can give you that. I can give you her, and so much more." The demon cooed, closing the distance slowly, but surely. "I can make her love you more than she ever did or will. I can allow the both of you to be together until the end of time." The demon smiled again, desire oozing from its unfathomable eyes, dark promises flowing like honey from its lips.
"It is what you want, no?"
Clarissa almost lurched forward as the demon stopped in front of her, face inches away from her. A rush of air, hot and smooth, caressed Clarissa's face in a delicate way, setting fire to her senses. "Yes..." She murmured as her eyes glazed over in an unexpected wave of pleasure.
The demon's smile widened, its expression taking on wicked triumph. Its hand reached out slowly, like a tendril snaking its way forward, like a claw waiting to clamp on its target. After centuries of waiting, its chance to experience the mortal realm has finally come.
Or so it had thought.
Clarissa's bracer, long forgotten at her side, flared to life at the proximity of the demon's touch. A blast of pain filled Clarissa's senses, making her concentration on the demon waver.
I'll do anything it takes to save you.
Clarissa's mind exploded with memories, swatting away the demon's influence like leaves before a thunderstorm. There, in the dark and confused confines of her mind, she spotted a woman standing in the darkness. A strange sensation embraced her as she gazed upon the woman, a feeling that told her she was somehow important.
Remember this seal, and know that I will always be there, and I will never,ever, leave you.
As her mind's eye shook itself clear of the lingering taint from the demon's antics, Clarissa noticed that despite the dim light, the woman's eyes were clear, soft and outstandingly brown. Clarissa gritted her teeth as she tried to remember who she was.
I love you...
Maker, who is she?
Then it came to her, lighting up her eyes like fire.
I love you, Bethany.
Bethany.
Bethany.
Clarissa blinked, regaining control and taking steps back to distance herself with the demon in front of her. As her senses came back to her, she saw her surroundings as they really were, actually barren and flat like an abandoned patch of land, untended and forgotten.
It was all a trick.
Clarissa looked at the demon with newfound understanding. She saw her, it,as it truly were – A being of desire, governed by desire and wielding it at the same time. It had played upon her desires, and had nearly won.
Never again, demon.
Clarissa's hand tightened on her sword, and her bracer rose from its abandoned position to her front, its seal gleaming brightly with unnatural light.
"Wretched mortal! You could've had everything you hoped for, everything you desired; and yet you spurn my offers, resist my temptations at every turn." The demon spat, its own unsated desire driving her anger.
"You offer deceit only, demon. Release my sister, or I lay you open." Clarissa said, menace colouring her words. Unnatural strength running through her veins, aided by her gleaming right arm that shone with the fury of the sun itself.
The demon laughed scornfully, throwing her head back in a mocking fashion. "You, mortal? Lay me open? I think not." It said, pulsating balls of pitch black coalescing in her rising hands. "This is my realm, mortal.My power reigns supreme in this accursed world, and with it, I shall take your body as mine own. The mortal world shall be mine, whether you desire it,"
Men and women of varying appearances rose from the dry dirt, some still retaining their flesh, others completely rotten and decomposed. They shambled mindlessly, utterly subservient to their desire, even in death.
"Or not." The demon finished.
Anything it takes.
Clarissa charged, sword up, into the ranks of the horde now massed in front of its mistress. The razor-sharp talons of her bracer carved bloody lines across dozens of bodies, eliciting keens of pain from the corpses. Nails dragged their way across her breastplate, screeching in high pitches and leaving deep gouges that bespoke their force. Snarling, Clarissa steeled herself against the distracting gashes and scratches from the undead, knowing that they were only trying to block her way. Focusing her strength on her sword arm, she swung her sword clear of the grasping hands and brought it around her in an arc, decapitating several corpses in one fell stroke. As if influenced by her unerring resolve and her unshakable anger, translucent blue flames began to run along the length of the blade, mirroring similar globes of fire that burned brightly in her violet eyes. She allowed herself a brief moment of satisfaction as the horde around her backed away from the ferocity of the attack, falling like wheat before a scythe.
The demon vanished with a puff of smoke, only to re-emerge on top of a slight elevation in the Fade's barren landscape. "Such power. My, but it will make my time in your realm all the more... desirable." It laughed, crossing her arms as if daring Clarissa to come forward.
Clarissa brandished her sword at the demon's statement. Power ran through her veins, anger coursed through her mind, and her heart burned with singular intensity. From where she stood, it was a good twenty feet between her and the demon. Even in her impatience to sheath her blade in the demon's body, she knew that charging up that knoll would be suicide.
The demon smiled at its quarry's apparent conundrum. Pleased to find itself with the upper hand, it called forth more of its minions to aid it, to form another wall of decaying flesh between it and its opponent. If all else fails, the magic inherent in its veins can still obliterate the unworthy mortal in one strike, but it would prefer to preserve her soul for more... devious ideas it had in its head. Yes, this one would make a fine thrall, indeed...
Clarissa moved. And vanished.
"What..." The demon's eyes furrowed in confusion and sudden incomprehension. How could she disappear before its very eyes?
"Crafty... little-" Its next word was cut off by a choked cry as a shadow appeared beside it, and plunged her blade straight through its chest.
"Mortal?" Clarissa suggested, twisting her blade to elicit another strangled scream from the dying creature. "It's a trick we mortals learned, to move without being seen. I'll bet you haven't seen anything of the sort, being trapped in this dull realm." Clarissa breathed softly down the creature's neck, smiling as the demon struggled to form words out of its clogged throat. Purple ichor dripped along the blade's length, turned into a fine mist in the flickering blue flames as the demon's eyes slowly lost its gleam, and its own flames flickering in kind and dying. The golden chains on her body faded to dust, blown away like sand before a strong wind.
A wet squelch was heard as Clarissa unsheathed her blade from the demon's chest, followed by a dull thump as the demon sank to its knees, desperately clinging on the what life it had left. Clarissa would have none of it, though. Balling her bracer's razor-sharp talons into a tight fist, she looked down on the dying creature, at the dying creature once known as desire.
"Back to hell, demon."
Clarissa lashed out with a powerful backhand swipe, striking the demon sideways on its horns and pounding it into the ground. A blast of energy followed her blow, echoing through the Fade as one of its denizens fell to an outsider. As the dust settled and left Clarissa's eyes, she saw that the scenery had changed again.
Her boots were embraced by soft blades of green grass as she walked, waving in the cool night wind that permeated the clearing. The hypnotic movement of the grass reminded Clarissa of a long-forgotten dream, of a place she had once known, but was forced to leave.
A lone tree stood in the middle of the clearing, the rustling of its leaves like music to Clarissa's ears. Stars above her head twinkled in blissful regularity, complementing the moon in its full, round form. If it weren't for the Black City floating in the distance, Clarissa could've sworn she was sent back in time, to the place she had longed for for almost two years.
"Consider this my gift to you, Hawke." A voice echoed in her head, a familiar, young voice whose owner she had met not too long ago. Since their acquaintance, all of Clarissa's dreams were contently happy, and not a single nightmare plagued her. Even the memories of Carver coalesced into blissful reminders of their time together, and Clarissa knew that it was him to thank for.
Feynriel? Clarissa thought.
"Indeed. That particular demon has badgered me for months now, and thanks to you, her annoying voice is finally gone." Feynriel said, and Clarissa could almost picture his relief at the tone of his words. "But enough of me, what do you think of the scene? It's something I've been working on for some time." He asked, referring to the lush meadows, the twinkling stars, and the lone tree she had described to him once.
It's everything I hoped it would be. Thank you, Feynriel. Clarissa answered, grateful for the little things he did and at the same time anxious to see Bethany again.
Feynriel chuckled at her compliment. "Is that all? Ah, well, don't let me keep you. She's right over there."
A smooth breeze, like the point of a finger, drew Clarissa towards the tree, where a figure could be seen with her knees up to her chest, head buried between them. Even from afar, Clarissa could not miss the softly wavy black hair, and the red silk scarf that could barely be seen around her neck.
Bethany.
Clarissa started forward.
/This does not qualify as a cliffhanger! Nonononono it does not. A quick shoutout to the people who read my pieces on anonymous accounts! Although I can't reply to your reviews, I most certainly appreciate them! And the ones with registered accounts too! Thank you soooooo much! Oh and badluck777 you're lucky I didn't throw almond-shaped into that last part right there loljk/