My eyes perceive an impossible darkness. There is nothing around me but blackness, and yet I can see my own body as perfectly as at noontime. There is no sun or window anywhere, simply absolute nothingness. I yell for father over and over again. I yell for Anu. I even yell for Maultrich. My voice doesn't even echo. That's when I realize that I'm floating. There's no up or down. I'm drifting forward to an unknown for days it seems.
Tears never stop falling over my cheeks. How could I have been so stupid? Am I to spend 3 years in this state with darkness as my only companion as I go insane from boredom? I sleep. But then something awakens me: a burning sensation. My eyes open, and I can see it.
About the size of a coin, an orange brightness shines in front of me. It enlarges with every minute. I hear something inhuman moaning, like the howl of a specter. I thrash about trying to deter my direction, but it seems like I'm flying faster than a galloping horse or even a rolling Goron. And as I approach, the heat intensifies. My skin feels dry and the hair on my arms become brittle and brushes away. I plummet closer the light and comprehend its true shape. It's a gigantic heart, wreathed in flame.
The moaning has changed, too. It was never wailing, but laughing; and, the laugh is so deep and tumultuous it could quake the ground or topple Stone Tower itself. Then, it speaks.
"Come. Come. Come," it says. "Come and be one. Be one with me, O devout vessel."
"No," I shriek, my throat so parched from the weeks without water. I continue, "Not even if it's three years, I cannot stand to be here. Release me, for I've traded one prison for another."
"Three years? Did you believe that you'll ever leave this place without me?"
The question shakes my body and mind. I would leave this place and resume my life one day. Multrich had – father had promised me. I tell the heart, "The spell only lasts three years! After that, this potion of your heart will dissipate. And I will no longer be possessed by a wight such as you."
"Foolish child," the flames responded. "Whatever is under my dominion lasts an eternity. We shall intertwine until neither ax nor magic could tear us asunder. We will be as one heart, one mind, and one flesh, my naïve bride."
"No, you lie! That's not how it's supposed to work." My body convulses and teeth grind together savagely. If what the heart says is true, Maultrich will pay for this. I swear it.
"You accepted the Dark Magic, now: Open yourself to me. Those who I possess become my possessions."
"I won't be your possession. I will not be owned, not by you or father or Eoni!"
"OPEN YOURSELF!"
"Law, order, wisdom," I shout with as much ferocity I can muster. "Protect me!" A purple crystal fades into the air, and it surrounds my body like a butterfly cocoon. I don't stop my incantations. "Strength, purity, power, burn my enemies!" A silver flame encircles my barrier and leaps towards the fiery heart. The silver dances tenaciously upon the heart and almost engulfs the colossal inferno. I feel my power weakening but I remain steadfast. The blaze continues, but an explosion of fire rips the silver into space and my flames extinguish instantly.
Before I can think of a counter, an invisible force bombards my shield. At first it's small and calculated bursts of nothingness. Then, a massive gravity blasts the crystal and it splinters like an ocean shell against a tidal wave. Another force shatters it entirely.
"Open or be broken – it makes little difference to me in the end."
"Don't do this, please stop," I cry.
"I will not be turned by the talk of a maiden. The hour to awake is far overdue. Give way for my heart!"
I am pulled to the heart's surface and my clothing and jewelry burn from my body. I plunge into the swelling firestorm and am racked by an intense heat; and my eyes are crisped by wave after wave of heat as I fail to breathe (for each breath incinerates my lungs) while I am utterly persecuted by fire. Within the fire is a poison that enters my body and slowly ravages my skin, bowls, and brain; and it never stops seeping deeper and deeper into myself, until the venom scorches my bones – the very sinews become charred and septic from days upon days of agonizing torture.
The pain is unyielding, and I soon forget my own name and life before the fire. It feels like I've lived ten lifetimes in this malevolent kiln. And then, after decades of pain, the oddest sensation so far spreads from my legs upward.
It's slightly warm and soothing, feelings I didn't know were possible. I remember something like this sensation before. People would submerge themselves in it…they called it water. I manage to open my eyes which I haven't done in ages. I see my body, but the liquid isn't like any water I remember. It's red and thick. A new terror grips me. Rushing blood washes over me: over my skin, into my eyes, throughout my hair, soaking between my toes, and flowing between my legs. I'm immersed in it. At first it cools and then begins to freeze.
I break free of the icy sludge to be greeted by an arctic breeze that rips through my body. I imagine the cold defies worldly possibility, more frigid than that peak from the place I once lived a world ago. The frost freezes my soul for nearly a century as my mind gradually turns to pulp, floating through infinity. Until everything ended. In one nameless second, the darkness splits in half and I fall onto the ramp of the Hexing Pedestal.
I manage to raise my eyelids, but see nothing. My hearing manages to interpret screaming and shouting. I hear talking. I haven't heard speech since…since some forgotten existence.
"Amazing," I hear, "The dark cloud vanished! He breathes! My Lord Demise, can you hear me? What's this, her body's changed – her skin is grey like ash. And her hair flows like a living rainbow. These must be signs that the possession is complete. Men, take Lord Demise to his chambers to recover."
I wonder who Demise is.