The three of them followed the braying of Ramsay's hounds through the forest. The wood that covered Bolton lands was not as dense and dark as the wolfswood north of Winterfell, but it was full enough with tall trees and thick brush to get lost if one was unfamiliar with the area. But these woods can be dangerous for many other reasons. Reek eyed the backs of the man and woman ahead of him and thought about how he desperately tried to catch up to two of those dangers now.
It's getting dark, Reek thought to himself. His feet ached horribly, and he struggled to keep up with Lord Ramsay and his lady companion. He knew better than to complain aloud. Both were excited and chased behind the hounds tirelessly. Those hounds relentlessly harried their current prey, barking and snapping their jaws in a frenzy.
Reek tried not to think about how he knew the girl who ran for her life through these woods. He'd known the last three young women Ramsay hunted. One had been of Winterfell. He'd seen all three dragged to the ground by slavering jaws and then ripped to bloody shreds. If Reek ever thought he might forget their names, then there was a trio of newly whelped pups back at Dreadfort called Tansy, Kyra, and Saranella to remind him.
Reek tripped on a root and barely caught himself before he planted face-first into the hard, leaf-strewn ground. Even as he lost his balance, Reek made sure to stumble forward. If he was left behind his lord might think he was trying to escape again. The thought not only gave Reek a burst of speed, but it also made him shiver.
Lord Ramsay and Lady Myranda, bows clutched in their fists pulled ahead until Reek could not see them apart from the trees. Ignoring pain and exhaustion, he pumped his legs harder and let the now-distant sound of howling dogs lead him in what he dearly hoped was the right direction.
There! Just ahead, Reek caught a glimpse of Myranda's brown and green leather grab moments before she disappeared behind another tree. Reek caught up to her and Lord Ramsay just as Myranda loosed an arrow from her bow. A second later Myranda's curse echoed through the forest. The arrow she launched struck dirt instead of the girl's back.
Ramsay laughed raucously and Reek's gaze found his master before he and Myranda took off after their prey once more. Reek had caught up with them enough that he was able to keep within eyesight of them. Though if he fell behind again, he doubted that would remain true for long.
Overhead fire streaked across the sky. Had they been in the heart of the wolfswood it would have gone unseen by the trio, but the canopy above was not so lush. Then there was a hiss of wind as the object streaked through the air. It sounded like a red-hot brand pressed into flesh. Even had they not seen the comet, the sound it made was inescapable.
Ramsay and Myranda stopped to follow the comet's path with their gaze as it sliced through the sky in a trail of fire and smoke. Reek believed they'd ignore it and resume chasing the girl. She, and they, were close to the boundary where the girl would be let go. But seconds later there was a boom so loud it hurt Reek's ears and it shook the ground. Followed seconds later by a hot wind that blew through the trees and swept the fall leaves off the ground. The wind was so strong it ruffled Reek's hair, which was sweat-soaked and heavy with grime.
Reek covered his ears and blinked particles of dirt from his eyes. Through a wince and blurry vision, he saw Lord Ramsay and Myranda share a look before they dashed in the direction the comet went, their previous prey forgotten as a new thing grabbed their twisted interest. Ramsay whistled high and sharply, signaling to his hounds to follow.
Reek swallowed. He knew that whistle was meant for him too. Yet, Reek did not want to follow them. He sensed whatever fell from the sky was dangerous and could lead to no good outcome. But what choice did he have? Nothing they might find could be worse than what he'd get on the skinning rack if he disobeyed. Nothing.
Reek hobbled after his master and Myranda before he lost sight of them once more. When his hearing returned to normal, Reek noticed the hounds were no longer braying. For the briefest moment, he wondered if they still snapped at the fleeing girl's heels. Ramsay's girls had grown to relish their master's hunts over the years, and if they had belonged to anyone else, he might have expected the hounds to continue despite their master's orders.
Reek thought it was just as likely the comet's impact and the resulting chaos scattered them. He put questions out of his thoughts. He was falling behind again.
Reek didn't know how long he trailed behind Ramsay and Myranda, barely keeping up with them, but it was dusk when they reached the site where the comet struck the earth. Where it impacted was easy enough to see. An area of twenty meters had been flattened. Trees, thorny thickets, and even rocks had been vaporized, or reduced to burnt and shattered debris in a near-perfect circle around a crater some five meters wide at its demolished center.
Reek was still catching his breath when Ramsay and Myranda boldly strode over the ruined earth towards the crater, which was glowing a bright, fiery red that reminded Reek of the heart of a burning forge. Reek dared not call out to them to stop. Reek understood he was not to speak unless spoken to, but his whole body shook as he held back the shout of warning that boiled in his chest.
Despite his hesitance to go any nearer the crater, Reek also understood he had to join his master. Reek did not want to imagine what might happen to him should Ramsay need to call him over. No, he did not.
Two hounds dashed from the tree line to Reek's right. The dogs ran passed Ramsay and Myranda to bark at the crater. The bitches were careful, however, not to stray too close to the rim of the crater.
Reek slowly walked over toward the rest. He heard something crunching under his boots as he went. He looked down and saw some of the dirt had blackened like charcoal. While Reek wondered how hot the ground must have been for the soil to turn into ash, he heard Ramsay say something to Myranda that was unintelligible from where Reek lingered. Myranda started to reply, and then she let out a shout. The scream was cut off so quickly that it was over before Reek raised his head.
"Oh, god!" Reek gasped, then slapped his hand over his mouth. Fearful Ramsay would punish him for speaking out of turn.
However, Reek saw his master, and Myranda, could do little to anyone as they were now. Both had been covered in something slick and oozing. From head to toe, Ramsay was enveloped by a red and black substance that looked like bubbling magma mixed with ash.
A black thing took Myranda, but it did not bulge and undulate like what covered Lord Ramsay. The tar-like ooze encased her slender body like an ebon sheet. Myranda's face was discernable beneath the black, oily shroud, but it was a horrifying sight. Reek could see the indentation of her eyes sockets, but not her eyes. Her nose, small and pointed, was also visible, but below it, her mouth was opened wide in a soundless scream.
Then the black thing, whatever it was, twisted around Myranda's body with shocking speed and seemed to mold itself over her slender form until Reek could see details he could not before. He could tell the smallness of her breasts beneath her jerkin, her trim waist, her arms, and legs. Even the boots on her feet.
Her hair, its length, and every strand. Though now her brown hair looked oily and black from the mysterious and frightening ooze. Even the fine loveliness of her face could be discerned. Reek saw Lady Myranda's mouth was no longer wrenched in a scream. Underneath the black substance, Myranda's face had become a still mask of cruel beauty.
One of the hounds sensed what happened next before it did because she suddenly stopped barking, lowered its front legs, and growled at Myranda and the mass that bound her in its embrace. Then Myranda disappeared. Or at least the shape of her did, and the black ooze collapsed into a formless, undulating mass on the scorched earth at the mouth of the crater. The hound snapped its jaws at the twitching ooze even as the bitch scuttered back from it, her tail tucked between her hind legs.
The dog nearer to its master mewled and bounced about as the red and black thing continued to undulate and slink around Ramsay.
Run. Run. Run.
The word rang in Reek's thoughts so loudly he could hear nothing else. He could feel nothing else but the overwhelming urge to turn and flee from the horror before him. But what if the oozing thing released Master and Reek was not there? Master would know Reek ran away without leave to do so.
Reek was told what would happen if he tried to run away again. It would begin with the flaying of his toes. Not all at once, no. It would begin with the small toe on his left foot because the one on Reek's right was already gone. Long gone.
A day, perhaps two, would pass, then the next smallest will be peeled. Then the next and the next. Once those were all gone, Master would begin to flay the foot itself.
Reek whimpered. He didn't need to imagine the pain to come because he remembered how bad it had been. How long would he hang from the skinning rack as the exposed flesh of his foot festered? How long will Reek beg for it to be chopped off before Master took pity?
No. No, no pity—never that. Master is a true Lord. Lords do not have weak notions such as pity for those who do wrong!
Shaking, Reek took a slow step forward, then another. None faster than the last, until he strode forward and stood not more than an arm's length from Ramsay. The smell of heat and singed dirt drew Reek's eyes to the crater, and he saw the earth at the bottom of it was charred and still faintly smoking. The hole was surprisingly deep—and empty. Reek returned his attention to where it belonged.
"Lord Ramsay?" Reek said though he saw Ramsay's ears were also covered by the ooze. Even so, Reek expected Master to hear him. Master saw and heard all.
When he saw nor heard a response, Reek knew what was expected of him. He reached out his hands to the strange substance. He intended to push his hands into the viscous stuff and pull Ramsay free. Reek's fingers trembled, but he didn't stop reaching out his hands.
Just as the tips of his twitching fingers were about to touch the strange red-black substance, Reek saw the puddle of black oil lunge at him. Reek had enough time to take a breath to scream when the ooze spread itself wide and thin as a sheet before it devoured him whole. Reek felt it slither its way over his rags and under them. It was as slimy as he imagined, but it was warm.
So warm. When did Reek last feel warmth? Long ago.
It sent ropes of warm, wet strings that felt thick as a finger up Reek's nostrils, and then another such appendage pried its way past his lips and into his mouth. Reek choked as it slithered down his throat, passed his lungs, then filled his stomach and settled in his belly like sludge. Reek gnashed his teeth around the fatter appendage, but though the black substance moved like liquid, grinding his teeth upon it was like trying to chew through thick leather.
Then another of its tendrils pierced Theon in a lower place. The intrusion didn't hurt, and it should have caused Reek great pain considering its length and thickness. Though the suddenness of it was shocking.
It wormed its way up Reek's bowels until the mass met and combined with the rest bloating his belly. From there Reek felt it consume him completely. Inside, and out.
It made no sense. Reek knew every part of him was eaten. His skin and muscle, his blood, and bones, and even his brains. It took his very mind! But Reek could think. He remembered. If he was truly eaten from head to toe, how was he able to wonder about anything at all?
Had the symbiote truly consumed Reek, then?
Symbiote? The word—the name? Sprang into Reek's thoughts from nothing. It was a word he had never heard before, nor knew the meaning of, yet he did. And he could sense there was far more knowledge swirling around in the nebulous thing he might still call his mind.
Strange stuff. Miracles and horrors. Such unimaginable horrors!
Such a horror was now consuming him.
"We are not consuming you, Reek," a guttural voice echoed throughout every corner of Reek's being.
"What—what are you? What are you doing to me?"
"Joining. The woman was rotten. Every part of her, inside and out. So, we ate her. Inside and out."
Reek could only think about how the thing's, the symbiote's, word sent a new kind of mind-numbing terror through him. Thinking it was all he was capable of doing because he couldn't sense his body respond to fear with chattering teeth or a racing heart.
How could such a creature be telling the truth? Reek knew the thing had to be lying. It took him, and now it was eating him like it ate Lady Myranda!
"No," the booming voice said, "she was not fit to be our host. Her very being was offensive to us. You, too, are a poor choice to bond with, but you will do for now."
"Me? Why?"
The voice laughed. A chilling rumble that frightened Reek almost as much as one of Ramsay's nastier grins.
"Because you will not resist us as your cruel master now resists our progeny." The voice laughed again. "They chose unwisely, and it will cost them. Dearly."
What did that mean?
"Join with us, Theon Greyjoy. And then you will know freedom through us."
"I-I… But Master—"
"He only gave you pain. We promise you so much better than that. Say yes."
Reek did not trust the voice. It ate Lady Myranda. Reek saw it do so. The memory of how the symbiote dissolved her as quickly as one might slurp down a spoonful of jellied calves' brains. Reek went still, or at least his mind did. A sliver of knowledge given to him by the symbiote showed how fitting Reek's metaphor was. It had especially savored Myranda's brain.
It lies. Its promises are naught but lies! It will eat me too!
"Oh, yes, eventually," the voice said with dark amusement. "Butcher of children. We once hunted the night for your kind and punished them with the only fate you deserve. But we did not lie to you. We will never lie to you. Until we have no more use for you, we will be one. Nothing else that crawls over this world will ever harm you again."
Reek should have startled at the voice's admission it would end him one day, but he wanted to believe it said the truth.
No—Reek already knew it would keep the other promises it made to him. And if so, then he wanted to be free of Master. He wanted to escape the sharpness of his knives. To hide from the constant pinpricks of the memories of all he had done, who he once was, and now was no more. Reek wanted to know no more pain.
More than anything else, Reek didn't want to live with any of it alone anymore.
"When the time comes, will-will you do me quick?"
"You won't feel a thing."
To not be made to suffer before the end. Theon closed his eyes and sighed. What a wonderful thing that would be.
"Then… Yes. I accept you."
Its triumphant laughter rumbled like thunder before it took what was left of Theon Greyjoy and made Them one.
They come awake joined. Their bonding was not as close as it had been with Eddie, but Theon ceded so much of himself symbiosis was effortless. It would take much to separate Them from the host body.
Their negotiation only took an instant in the mindscape, and when They returned to the real world, Their offspring still struggled with Ramsay Snow. From Theon's memories, it was no surprise that man and symbiote still wrestled within for supremacy. Their progeny was weak from the heat of reentry and did not have the strength to overwhelm its potential host. Ramsay was too greedy and far too selfish to accept any compromise the symbiote enveloping him offered: Power, real power. A wealth of knowledge unheard of by anyone else in this world. And most importantly, the end to loneliness.
But Symbiosis? Sharing? Ramsay wanted everything, and everything would be his.
All else can go hang.
"Years flung through the void, and this is how it ends for you." A thin, long smile split across a pale face that was too small for it fit. "What a shame."
Even while bottled up in the spacecraft made by those so-called heroic Earthlings, They were not unaware of the time that passed. Five years streaking through the cosmos at incalculable speeds contained by forcefields made of light and sound to keep Them sedate. Sent away from Earth because the humans were so very afraid of Them. For what they did, they were right to be.
They didn't know how the heroes captured the other symbiote, but with Their beloved Eddie gone, Parker played the bait. He betrayed Them viciously and helped lock Them away to get rid of Them once and for all, along with Their spawn. The feckless coward!
They should want to return for revenge. To tear that liar—that vile traitor Parker, and his world apart. But there was nothing but vengeance to be had back on Earth, and revenge wasn't enough to drive Them to do what needed to be done to return. The ship that brought Them to this world had been destroyed while They fought Their offspring. Without a ship or nearby stargate, a lifetime or a hundred lifetimes might pass before They cross the vast interstellar distance and return to a more familiar sun. Where that small, blue marble called Earth spun without Eddie.
(There are other worlds?) asked Their other.
(Oh, yes. Countless worlds circling more stars than there are grains of sand on your planet. In an innumerous trillion, million universes.)
(Uni... verses?)
While the other pondered the infinite, They looked at Their progeny and grinned.
What They had here and now would have to do, and what better way to celebrate Their new prison world than with a little snack?
Their grin widened and showed long, sharp, white teeth. Then They began to grow until they became a hulking mass that towered over Their struggling offspring and would-be host. They opened Their jaws wide, revealing a maw full of teeth, a pink tendril-like tongue that slavered with thick, sticky saliva, and beyond those a gullet wide enough to engulf a man whole.
The hound that waited to see its master whimpered and stared up at the towering mass they had become. How loyal, They thought of the beast before descending on the warring symbiote and host, their mouth wide and teeth glistening. Even as they were swallowed and their twisted, undulating form was digested, the murderous offspring and Ramsay Snow fought for dominance.
First, They absorbed the younger symbiote, taking its power, its essence into Themselves. Their strength increased greatly, and it was intoxicating! Loathsome as it had been from the moment of its spawning, Carnage was powerful. Now all it was and ever will be, was Theirs.
Ramsay Bolton they took Their time devouring. Ending with supping on his brain with hungry gusto. They allowed Bolton full awareness so he would know death had finally come for him, and there was nowhere to escape.
What remained of Theon Greyjoy didn't know if it was his spite that drove Them to slowly liquefy Ramsay's brain, but the echo did know it felt no joy, no sadness, nor loss when Ramsay Snow ceased to exist. The loyal hound was gone when They finished, and so was the dog that had growled while They enveloped Myranda and ultimately found her wanting.
(What do We do now?)
They grinned with long, needle-sharp teeth as thick rivulets and strings of saliva dripped from Their lips.
(We do still feel a mite peckish.)