Chapter 9.

It was not so bad, being held by the hand.

It was not so bad, as long as you were unable to recognise the circumstances of the strange embrace, and as of now they had no place in her clouded mind. In the dimly lit chamber the giant appendage stood upright on its wrist, the bare-bodied woman resting in its palm with its long, slender digits wrapped around her hips, waist and shoulders. It was quite comfortable, drifting in and out of consciousness, oblivious to the passing of time, no need of ever eating or relieving herself. No fear, no doubts, no thoughts about events past nor the ones of the future.

Only the silent, eternal present.

For an unknown period of time, she did no more than simply existed. It was not until the figure of a person stood in front of her, their arms casually crossed, that she ever so faintly reacted to her surroundings. In her subconscious mind, she doubtlessly acknowledged them, that unmistakable silhouette, and yet she spoke the name of another.

'…Linnae…?'

The person in front of her did not shift, inspecting her with keen interest through an eyeless countenance.

'She is not here.'

'Where is she?'

'I cannot tell, at this point. She is far more cautious than you are.'

Silence. She sluggishly perceived her own body; heavy, weak, not warm nor cold, yet it had an odd sense of ease to it. The man spoke again.

'You must be of proper training, maiden', he proclaimed, 'to have withstood my influence so particularly well. At that point, I nearly thought I would have to rethink my choice of successor. How unfortunate for you that you let such an asset turn into greed.'

'I am not a maiden', she answered lowly, thoughts still heavily obscured but somehow pierced with the strong notion of talking to someone who was supposed to know her. 'Never was. Ever.' 'Who are you, then?' 'I'm a doctor', she replied. Her visitor had brought her some vigor; mayhaps solely by his mercy, as he and the hand were one. However, this question seemed thoroughly needless. 'I'm just a doctor and I was sent on this mission because I don't have any supernatural abilities and because I am disposable. Yet there seems to be something about me that you fail to understand, or that threatens you enough to bring me here.' 'You are right', the demon stated plainly, 'But nothing that cannot be corrected, other than the manner in which Linnae regards you… Which is also to my advantage, as you should have already realised by yourself. Furthermore, I will not so easily believe that you would not be in the position of maiden, or something of the like… But in reality, it matters little.'

The mentioning of her awoke another layer of intense, vivid emotion in the restrained woman.

She'd had her. She had truly had her, and in a heartbeat she had been forcefully ripped from her. Now it might be all over as soon as it had begun.

'When she comes here… You… Will kill me, is it not so? Break her and finally get what you want?' She wanted to curse him, but found it pointless. Insults would not perturb him.

'It's a narrow path', the man said factually, beginning to leisurely walk tho and fro with his hands behind his back, as if carefully analysing her suggestion. 'What I need is someone who has nothing left but to succumb. Someone who wants to live on but has no means of their own left. A person who has given up… Would doubtlessly die, and be of no use to me. But this can hardly be news to you, can it?' He stopped his pacing, head slightly lifted, as if resting his gaze at something beyond the creature that held her. 'I wonder', he continued dawdingly, musing to himself rather than following his original discourse, 'if I should have told Linnae… Seeing how I carelessly let her get away at that point, maybe it would have been the final little push she needed… It seemed like she was desperately clinging to life someho-' 'Told her about her mother, you mean?' Disa hissed through clenched teeth. For the first time, and even though she had not once been able to see his face, she could sense a sudden perplexion in his confident demeanor. 'You have me baffled, maiden', he said with unmistakable honesty. 'I can't see how you, or anyone, would know about that. It was not more than a hunch from my side, a potential inaccuracy that I was going to play on, but it seems that their resemblance was explicable. 'Did you not bewitch her because of it?' His pretension to seem oblivious to their kinship was utterly vexing. He simply scoffed, turning to look what she assumed to be mockingly at her through the gaps in the eastern kasa headpiece. 'Why, you silly girl, would I care about the fact that I for a brief period of time used Linnae's mother as my vessel? Do you think such affiliations mean anything to me? It was just something that happened, and the only reason why I should care would be if it could be used to drive Linnae in the direction I desire. She came to me upon her own free will, and presented with such a perfect vessel at just the right time, I will not give her up so easily… Even if the situation has turned out to be a little more inconvenient for me than I initially thought. The intrigue partially makes up for it, I must say', he chuckled.

'Her mother was… Less than ideal. Decently able-bodied, albeit… Stubborn. Too headstrong, and would give me far too little control for my liking. Her father was more like his daughter, a flawless warrior, but troubled. At the time, I simply did what I had to do at the time to prevent becoming bodiless and took her instead of him.' He was speaking as if the details of this story were all known to the woman in front of him, and he did not seem particularly bothered as to why it would be so. Obviously knowing nothing, the physician kept quiet, hoping that her forcibly collected appearance would be enough to fool him. 'Her will and intentions incessantly clashing with my own it was hard to work uninterrupted, and even more so as I realised that my vessel was expecting. Sometimes I ran the show, sometimes she kicked me out… And her husband loyally stuck to her side, no matter who made the calls. She as well as I had power over him, but they believed that they would eventually be able to get rid of me. Can you imagine, that I was there as Linnae was conceived into this world? An utterly traumatic experience for her it was, tormenting her for days and days after until she could bear it no longer, and I lost her.' It must all have ended with the massacre descripted in the letter. 'I became without vessel, incapacitating me for quite a while. This body I am in now is at its very limit, and I am not planning on ending up in that situation again.'

'Then take me, and spare Linnae.' She did not think twice before voicing her proposal, yet she did not at all regret it once it was spoken. 'Please', he answered shortly, 'someone like you would be useless to me. Weak body, rebellious mind. Useless.'

'My power would surpass those of yours.' The thought flashed through her head like a gale through a dark forest; abrupt and unyielding. She pressed her lips together, frantically ransacking her mind for the source of this absurd thought. Strangely, what soon brought her internal searching to a halt was the conviction of her statement not being faulty.

The demon chose to ignore it.

'Linnae, on the other hand', he carried on in full disregard of her outburst, 'is the best I could possibly ask for.' His voice was yet again perfectly even. 'Because if she has no choice but to accept you out of sheer desperation you can… Control her, like a mindless fucking puppet? That is what you're saying, right?' 'Naturally. There is no reason in pretending not to understand this, Disa. We can be completely honest with each other, or attempt to play tricks on each other's minds. It simply does not matter. Linnae will, in a futile last attempt to save you, accept me rather than give up her life to stop me. We both know this with absolute certainty, as such is her nature. When I have my new vessel this slight holdup will be forgotten, and this Land will finally know chaos. That is all that matters.' 'Take someone else', Disa asserted coldly. Taking a few steps forward the demon was now only a few feet from her, looking up where she hung as he unhurriedly crossed his arms anew. 'Please do enlighten me… As to why your goals are superior to mine own, oh good maiden? What use will you and Linnae have of each other? Will you burn so that she can become Lord? Will you try to bear her burdens for her? Or is it that you desire the very same thing as I? Pray tell, maiden, what makes you so virtuous and me so vile?

To this, Disa said nothing.

'I must admit that I do find your own ambitions quite interesting, Disa. Your behaviour is impulsive, unpredictable… Quite chaotic in itself, would you not agree? I wonder, were you always like that, or have you been so easily… Turned? 'I just want her to be free of you. I want to take her home.' Shabriri scoffed again. 'Your pathetic attempt of lying is bordering on offensive. You are insulting both of us.' He held out his arms, laying out his thoughts before her in a manner that left no room for interpretation.

'Your devotion to her and your defiance to me had the potential of truly saving her, if that is what you claim to desire. But instead you lead yourself straight to me, and you left Linnae on her own. Have you given any thought to what predicaments your actions might have put her in?'

Suddenly, the hooded man strode ever closer, the metal brim of his headwear just inches from the physician's nose. So close, and still she could see nothing through those metal gaps… 'Do you think she feels what you feel?' The sudden change of tone in his voice froze her, and his words which had previously just peeved her now began to ruthlessly creep under her skin. 'It is you who impetuously indulged in madness and savoured the ecstasy, not her. You were taken away, nothing you say or think can change that it was by your own calling and she, who had already lost everything, was left behind. Do you think she will find only me guilty of this situation? Do you think she will assume the same woman she thought she knew to be the one waiting for her in this place? Do you think she will even be able to take another loss?' He articulated every word like if were they daggers viciously sunk into her chest, the fog of his breath rolling against her petrified visage. 'How will you save her, Disa? You are not rivalling me. By choosing ignorance over fear, you are becoming the very thing you seek to conquer. By your own. Free. Will.'

'I…' Finally, she was at a loss for words.

'I would not mind you gaining power, Disa. I have no allies nor enemies, I simply let chaos do its own work. The sole problem with you, as I said,is that you have an effect on Linnae that obstructs my cause.'

'I don't want power. I just want her.'

'That is not true.'

'You are just trying to get into my head. You are trying to weaken me.'

'And you severely lack insight', he added, stepping back without ceasing his inquisition. 'Nothing has been hidden from you. Nothing about the position you are in should be hard for you to grasp. Whatever your plan was, as Finger Knight and maiden, you failed when you let greed get to your head. You failed your duty as maiden, you failed your knight, and that might have cost us both what we wanted. Now all you, and I for that matter, can do is to wait for her attempt to save you, and at that point, I will use you exactly as much as I need to in order to obtain my vessel and then I will dispose of you. Effortlessly. Her hands will be the ones which will end your life.'

Alas, his words were no longer reaching her. Where she rested in the embrace of the demonical entity, she had realised that his conclusions were not faulty. Her mind was poisoned, mayhaps it had all begun that night not long ago, there in the woods… Her judgement, her intentions, her very sense of morality was not as it should be, she had grown strange, unrecognisable to even herself…

And yet…

While she in her state of negligence could not reminisce of her old life, she could with burning, unfaltering detail see before her the sole thing that held any significance. What, no, who, she had to have. It was pure obsession, she knew that indubitably, but it mattered not. Such virtues had lost their meaning to her. May it be devotion, carnal desire or something far more twisted, she needed Linnae. She needed Linnae. She needed Linnae.

She…

Needed…

'You are at the end of your rope, maiden.'

Head drooping from her shoulders where she hung, yet again detached from reality and engrossed in the reveries of her beloved, the demon alone observed the plenteous, incessant liquid pouring from her eyes, like bright yellow tar from the depths of her molten soul. 'It seems like I cannot prolong your transformation any further. I wanted her to witness it, but I can't let you lose yourself now. You will not last what is happening to you unless your state allows it. You'd better endure, else we both might be caught in quite the precarious situation. Yours, however, fatal.'

Hand raised, he slowly furled his fist, and so the monstrous entity did too until it held the woman firmly, suffocating her from both its increasing heat and its pressure. It did not have to hurt so very badly, but her arrogance had turned her against the very manifestation of discord, and as she sought to have his strength while denouncing him there was nothing that protected her save for her own stubbornness. Groaning and writhing in agony the discharge from her eyes flowed ceaselessly, the smell of burnt flesh filling the room.

'Imagine, Disa, that had you not lost yourself to madness that night, you could truly have saved her. Instead of her blessing, you turned out to be her greatest curse.'

His remark reeked of malice. The grip tightened.

'Maybe you are just a doctor, after all.'