The Keeper of Secrets before me slunk into being with the grace of a cat, its pale features perfectly sculpted into an expression of amused disdain. It walked fluidly on slender hooves to where I stood. A golden crown of sharp horns emerged from its head like a halo, shining vividly in the pale light of this dreamscape. Here, it was only about my size, but the daemon remained intimidating. Its ivory skin and pale gauzy robe glittered with internal radiance. Its pair of black chitinous crab claws were at rest, and its human arms were open in an expression of mock welcome toward me.
"Ah, here you are; I've found you. I see you, my perfect little morsel," Amnaich said in a musical voice, stopping right in front of me. The voice did not have the overwhelmingly alien quality that it had when it had manifested back at the suicidal settlement, but the more casual cadence it used was still threatening in its own way. It smiled widely, displaying sharp teeth behind perfect lips. "I see the rest of my tasty meal. Too bad dinner was canceled earlier. Are you planning on running away from me, my pretty?"
I didn't answer it immediately, and finding some inner strength, I glared at the daemon. I realized that I now no longer felt terror against this creature, and that it almost felt familiar now. I felt a new strength within me, and it was welcome. I spat the floor next to its hooves. "Fuck off, Amnaich," I said, straightening my back and standing my ground.
It laughed. There was something familiar about the laugh. "Sense of humor, yes. Tzeentchian corrupters have humor, just like how the Changer has made your entire life a joke by bringing you here. Their little plans and pranks and jests and schemes are their meat. Silly, foolish, ultimately pointless. We of the Prince of Pleasure have hunger for sensation, for perfection. Limitless hunger, every desire slaked. I realize now that after our meeting that I have a very specific craving. Of course, the Key is a beautiful bauble, one that I desire greatly, but I yearn to finish the rest of my meal. Your essence was so divine and filled with new sensation. Why, I simply want more! So, my little adorable dish, I have a proposal for you: Come to my embrace. Give me the Key willingly, and I can fill every crevice of your existence with a darkness brighter than any star! Pleasure and pain beyond anything any mortal could experience!" The words came out with a husky growl as its eyes glowed crimson in the darkness, and a line of molten silver drool spilled out of its mouth. For a second, I could actually feel the Keeper's otherworldly evil desire, the sense bleeding out of it like a wounded animal.
Despite the daemon's absolutely harrowing words, I again found the courage to stand my ground. "Nope, absolutely not. I'm not for eating, and I'm not giving you the Key. Too bad you didn't choke on what you got earlier," I growled back. I was very surprised by my own courage here. I was getting braver!
Amnaich laughed. "No matter. A little fire in the heart of my prey makes the meal even sweeter. I do so enjoy the thrill of the hunt, the chase. The rarest essences in existence always taste better with the perfume of a struggle. Mundane souls, they are good for an appetizer, but you, lost little Traveler, are a main course! And to think I was anticipating the consumption of that boring little Wicked Witch of the East!" It lashed a black, forked tongue across its lips. Despite sensing its voracious hunger, I saw that it was not advancing further, and that I still remained stoic. I felt none of the weird compulsion or fear that I had felt before at the base of the statue. Some sort of golden aura was emanating from the Key on my chest, and had enveloped my body; it seemed to be protecting me.
"Eating parts of your wild Traveler's soul was a pleasure I had not experienced; it was so new and unique that it has changed me. You should be thankful for that. My very manifestation has shifted in response, and I have decided to take a new name in the court of the Perfect Prince. You are me and I am you! You could even say that I am the keeper all of your secrets!"
I stood in the darkness, still protected by the glow of the Key. Amnaich's face began to shift into something terribly familiar.
It was my own old face in my own old body! My mirror image stood laughing at me, her eyes cruel and unnatural.
"Oh please, buy my artwork, I'm pitiful! Boo hoo hoo, I am a failed artist! I am trash! I am a stupid lazy bitch! I am getting evicted! My whole family is garbage, just like me, and I don't deserve any money or help! Wahh wahh wahh! If God had loved me, he would've made me rich! I'm a stupid whore who deserves to be homeless! Trash belongs in the garbage, which is what I am and what I deserve!" Amnaich viciously mocked. "That's what the others in your home reality think of you! That's what they say about you! That's what you are to them, the people in the world you came from! Why even bother with the desire to go back there, my pretty? Come to me instead."
While I was sure the Key was protecting me, this was a whole new level of horror, and I took a step back. It was probably trying to get a rise out me, despite being wreathed in the glow of the artifact around my neck. I knew that daemons would lie and manipulate to feed off human fear, and I resolved myself to not give this monster an inch this time.
"What, you don't like it, Erika?" Its face momentarily transfigured into a grotesque daemon's before shifting again into the placid Statue of Liberty form that I had seen before. "I saw all of this when I looked into your soul. Your world, your people, your country..." It paused after mentioning my country, and a wicked knowing sneer cut across its face. "I have seen everything. Your experiences are now mine, and your agonies are delicious! I know that others want you dead, Traveler. They call you names, and pray for your death as you lay dying in your home. They laugh and laugh and laugh at your plight. I even know who tried to murder you at the gallery, and I know why! What is even more beautiful is that other powerful mortals know of your plight in your home reality, but they don't even care! Their lives are far more important than inconveniencing themselves with helping you, you insignificant little worm, you stupid little nobody! One even calls your misery a marvelous tale as he sits on his pile of money and fame, dreaming of the glorious stories he will tell from your tragic adventures, compulsively praised and rewarded by everyone around him for his genius, which was stolen from you! But will he lift a finger to directly help? Will anyone?" Amnaich shook its crowned head in mock pity.
It laughed musically again. "A shame. It seems your fate back home is to be stolen from, over and over again. You are to be tormented for their entertainment and to die in poverty, alone, forgotten, and poisoned in your apartment as others grow fat and rich off of your work! Why bother? If there is only pain with no pleasure, existence is unbalanced. Here, you could experience both, and have the honor of being devoured by the most favored of the Prince of Pleasure's most beautiful childer. You should be thankful that a portion of you is me already! Some great religious leaders would kill for the opportunity to live forever within the heart of Amnaich the Golden!"
"For now, I will celebrate this gift of delightfully fresh sensations and the glimpses into a new reality as I savor the chase of you. I am so very grateful! I will change my name as a token of my gratitude to you. Feel blessed for this, mortal, for you have changed me, the greatest neverborn to grace the holy court of blessed Slaanesh!"
I did not respond as the daemon smiled widely and spread its four arms. "I will get you and the Key eventually, my pretty. It is only a matter of time. Either you go willingly, or I hunt you down and lovingly consume you forever. The games of the Great Conspirator do not compare to the everlasting hunger of the Dark Prince. No matter where you go, I will find you."
The dream began to break away, and I felt the sensation of falling. The image of the greater daemon began to blur as if viewed through deep water.
As it faded, Amnaich began shouting loudly into the featureless black around us, its words echoing through the void. "May all through the Great Ocean hear my proclamation! The name I shall be known as is no longer Amnaich the Golden, but in honor of the delicious Traveler Erika and her delightful home reality, I will now be known as Am'Erika the Beautiful! God shed His grace on me!"
The last thing I saw before I woke up again was Am'Erika's madly smiling daemonic Statue of Liberty face as she faded completely.
Amnaich was now Am'Erika! My Wicked Witch of the West was now even more terrifying!
