“Why would she fear you?”

I was lying in bed, in shackles. Raiya was standing over me. She gave me her brightest smile although I could sense she was worried. She didn’t blame me for what happened yesterday. But she told me that her cat demon, Sisha, didn’t like me anymore.

I didn’t only slap her hand away, but I almost damaged her Essence Conduits. Sisha didn’t like that. He took it as direct provocation. I didn’t like the situation either. I wasn’t in command of my own body.

“She fears me because I can get her out of you,” Raiya explained. “I can draw her out, get the answers we need.”

“You want to make sure she’s the doom knight, don’t you?” I also wanted to know. I was in danger. The ghost intended to possess my body then use it to summon the Eternal Moon. If Raiya didn’t show up, I don’t know what would become of me.

“There’s also the matter of the possession. An exorcism is in order.” Upon hearing that, the rage inside of me exploded once more. I fought to break the shackles that bound me to bed. I felt my body convulsing. I was jumping up and down, muttering all sorts of swears and threats. My voice was hoarse, as was my throat when I awoke several hours later.

“What should I do?”

It was dark. Raiya had cast a sleeping spell on me again. I’d slept for over seven hours! I felt weak, exhausted although I didn’t make any effort.

“She’s draining your life force Myles.” Raiya could no longer conceal her worry. “I had Sisha take a look at you while you slept.”

“What does he say?”

“Drink this,” she said as she handed me a phial. My nostrils flared as I brought the thing closer to my lips. My eyes stung. Whatever it was, it was strong enough to cause such a reaction. Raiya wasn’t as patient as I was. I was sniffing the phial and attempting to summon the courage to drink it. She shoved the phial down my throat and forced me to swallow.

“There, you should feel a slight tingling by your spine.”

I felt it alright. It was rather invigorating. My eyes widened and I felt my body get warmer. Raiya smiled again. There was no concealed worry behind it.

“What was that?” I asked. My muscles weren’t sore anymore. I started feeling my legs, and my head felt lighter.

“I temporarily suspended the link between you and the ghost,” Raiya answered. “If it weren’t for Sisha, you’d be gone now.”

“I’ll remember to thank him when I see him,” I said. That cat demon had his uses after all. “But how did she manage to possess me?”

“She entrusted her life to you and you accepted, out of chivalry I guess. That’s a bond no witch, warlock or sorcerer can break.” Raiya sighed. “Where are the Priests when you need them?”

“Isn’t there something I can do?” I asked. We couldn’t ask the Priests for help of course. They were the next big threat to my life, after the ghost.

Raiya’s worry showed on her face again. She bit on her lower lip. The twinkling lights in her eyes had disappeared. She looked outright downcast. “You’ll have to hand her to me, willingly.”

“How am I supposed to achieve that?” I asked. “Just say the word?” That was wishful thinking and I knew it.

“If only it were that simple,” Raiya said. “You’ll have to say the word, yes, but you’ll have to do it while the link between your two souls isn’t suspended.”

“This means that I’ll have to fight her for it,” I said.

“At this point, both your souls are struggling to keep hold of the body. Hers is strong, fueled by anger. She must have something she wants. She couldn’t have survived this long without a body otherwise.

“She’s good at what she’s doing as well. If I didn’t realize something was amiss, you would be completely assimilated.”

“I feel fine.”

“That’s thanks to the potion I gave you. Once the effect wears off, you’ll be on your own against her.” Something about the way she said those last words didn’t bode well with me. I didn’t see her frown this way before. Not even when she wrenched me out of Utar’s grip. “She’s stronger than you, and there’s little I can do to help Myles.”

That doesn’t sound good, not good at all. It’s as if bad decided to get worse. And along the way, bad made a mistake which made worse mutate into a form of catastrophe… I don’t even know how I’m supposed to fight. I voiced my concern.

“What do you remember of me now?” Raiya asked.

How will that help?

“I think I remember everything,” I answered. “From the day I took you to that island to the day you helped my mother get on her feet. Then I…” more memories came flooding in.

“Darya!” I suddenly yelled then tried to get up. The shackles kept me pinned to bed though. I was still a danger to myself and everyone else then…

“What about Darya?” the warlock urged me to keep talking.

“I killed the man who…” I remembered it now as if it were yesterday. My older sister worked in a tavern. She was a beautiful young girl of eighteen at the time. The tavern, up in the Commercial District, was always full. Sam (that bastard!) always teased that the tavern was full thanks to Darya’s presence. She was cornered in the slums one night and taken advantage of. It was the same night Sam and I sailed with Raiya to that island.

When I came back, I couldn’t contain my rage upon hearing the news. I killed the man who cornered her. As it turned out, he was a noble. I was sent to the mines, to work until my body couldn’t take it any longer. That was why I never learned magic. Raiya had to leave Kozag after that and I never saw her again.

Raiya looked at me approvingly. “Use that memory,” she said. “Remember your sisters, and your sick mother. Don’t let go of that thought. Burn it in your brain, engrave it in your bones. That’s the only way for you to get rid of the parasite that is taking over.”

I nodded.

“Now then,” Raiya caressed my forehead. Was that pity I saw on her face? She carefully avoided the scars on the left side of my face. “I’ll put you asleep again. When you get up, you’ll be in my private quarters downstairs. I prepared a ritual for the exorcism. I’ll explain everything then.”

“You know something about me,” I said before she cast that sleeping spell. “You know something and you chose to hide it from me.”

“Do you trust me?”

I didn’t know how to answer that. “More than I trust the others in this house,” I finally said.

“Then do as I say, and fight! Sopor!” I felt drowsy again then fell asleep.

***

The lower level was dark. Only small crystals hung on the walls of the long, arched corridors. The faint light emitted by the crystals didn’t help illuminate the windowless halls. That level was the complete opposite of the ones above it.

I tried to move and only heard metallic clings. I looked around and found out that I was tied to a stretcher. I was floating in the air, my body completely covered in chains tightened around me.

“You’re awake,” I heard Raiya speak. She was walking. I could tell from the sound of her heels hitting the wooden floor. “Don’t struggle, speak or think of anything. You’ll wake her. We’re not there yet.”

Easy for you to say!

The moment you asked me not to do any of those, the only thing I could think of is doing them. Now I have an itch I can’t scratch. Now I have the urge to stand up and relieve myself. Now I’m thinking about my ordeal and how to deal with it. How am I supposed to not think of all this? I started to panic. My breathing got ragged and my eye darted in all directions.

Raiya noticed this and asked me to focus on the surroundings. What was there to focus on but dim lights and dark corridors? I felt as though I was led to a dark prison cell in a forgotten dungeon.

Raiya led me through yet another dark corridor then into a room, filled with a panoply of taxidermy, animals and demonic creatures. There was even a baby unicorn and a winged snake!

So that was the submerged part of the iceberg!

Just what kind of experiments did the warlock conduct in these lower levels?

I waved the question away. Now wasn’t the time to think about this. Raiya stopped before a creature that looked like an oversized rhinoceros. Since they were large creatures to begin with, imagine what this one looked like! She pulled on something and I heard a click. The wall behind the animal rumbled, revealing a secret door. We took some stairs that led us even further down.

As we descended the stairs, my ears picked up another noise, some faint breathing and muffled footsteps.

We were now standing in a brightly lit room. The sudden change in lighting almost blinded me. Sisha was already waiting for us, walking around the room in all fours. So that was the source of the additional noise…

How did he get in there? There must be some other entrance to allow him, unless he could teleport as well…

I had something else to worry about though. The bones in the trunk (it was floating beside me, I’d only realized that) had finally found a way to jump out and scatter on the floor. Spine discs rolled off the ground, trying to leave the room. But the door slammed shut and I heard, somewhere inside my head, a bone-chilling hiss. Raiya explained later that it was Sisha’s laughter.

The cat-dog hybrid jumped at the bones and started playing with them, kicking them around. He looked like a cat playing with cotton balls, biting, scratching and kicking.

“Leave it to him, he’ll get them to obey,” Raiya called for me from the other end of the room.

The place resembled a prison cell. I saw metallic bars at the ceiling and followed them with my eye. They surrounded the place. I suddenly felt claustrophobic.

I hated prisons!

The room was big enough to accommodate the cat demon though, who was a ten foot tall monster. Sisha had to walk on fours, but that didn’t seem to bother him. He was still rolling on the ground, playing with the bones that tried to escape. In the middle of the room, Raiya drew a pentagram then placed some leaves on every point of the star.

Sisha was done playing with the bones and was kicking them to the center of the pentagram. As soon as all of them were gathered, Raiya willed a fire and ignited the leaves at once. A bright blue flame ensued while the bright crystals that illuminated the room suddenly extinguished.

A shrill scream filled the room. Sisha curled in front of the pentagram and observed the bones with his oblong eyes. “She’s coming out,” he announced to us. I don’t think I can ever get used to this type of communication. It doesn’t feel the same as speaking actual words. It feels like you get the gist of an idea, that your own brain translates into words.

I felt her coming back, trying to gain control. Raiya pushed me inside the pentagram as well. She released the chains that bound me and I stood up. The stretcher floated back besides the warlock. I was standing there, feeling my arms and legs with my hands, massaging them. The chains had squeezed the juice out of my bones…

“Good luck,” Raiya said. “Push her to her bones. Take control of your body and banish her. Sisha and I will take care of the rest.”

“MURDERER!” I suddenly yelled. My voice was again hoarse and distorted.

“Oooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!” I was screaming at the top of my lungs. I was trying to say something but the words didn’t come out. My brain felt disoriented. Too many words, in languages I knew and others I didn’t, tried to come out at once. I felt dizzy, didn’t know what to say. So the only thing that came out was another “AAAAAAAAAARGH!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARHG!!”

I was pulling on my hair. Somewhere in the distance, I heard Raiya call out to me. She was telling me something I couldn’t hear. I tried to focus on her, but my mind was in shambles.

What I experienced next was difficult to explain in words. It’s like experiencing an emotion. We give it words to describe the intensity, but we never come close to describing how it really feels. So here goes, me trying to tell you how it felt to battle a ghost who was close to completely possessing my body.

Firstly, I wasn’t in control. It felt like observing my body from above. Only, I wasn’t above. I was still inside actually, but I had the feeling that I was detached from my own body. I saw, or rather felt, my arms and legs twitch. But I didn’t order them to do so. I felt thoughts, obscure and morbid, invade my mind. All I could think of was to kill.

I wanted to kill everyone on sight. I needed to kill them, to quell this rage inside. They’ve all wronged me, those puny, stupid, simple-minded humans! They deserve to die. They deserve to be exterminated. I tried standing up. It was time for me to start killing. I couldn’t wait until the end of the year.

I’ve waited long enough! I heard myself say. Or was it me? What was happening?

I tried to move but couldn’t. Damn this weak body! Who’d choose to possess a body of a loser, if they weren’t desperate? It didn’t matter. As soon as I complete the possession, I’ll change it to fit my desires. After all, I could shape-shift.

That warlock seems like a good target. But her cat demon is strong. I need to assimilate more. I’ll devour those ladies too, consume their life force.

Yeeeeeees, that’s good. Oh yes! Then I’ll go on a rampage. Devour everything! KILL THEM ALL!

I had to go south, beyond the desert. Hmmm… maybe I’ll stop by Yanoku, pay them a visit. Wait, why would I do that? I want to kill, not visit. And what’s with this sudden sadness?

Why am I feeling this?

Where’s my rage?

Who am I?

Shit, this is getting trickier!

Be gone!

Your foul stench is poisoning this new body of mine. I’ll kill everyone in that city of yours. I’ll find your family, this Darya and Lyanna you keep thinking of. I’ll cut off their heads and hang them on a banner. Their heads will fly behind me, a warning to any who dares challenging me!

That should do it! How about it huh?!

NO!

I was fighting back. I was in control again.

I won’t let you lay a finger on them! Not under my watch!

“I won’t let you control me! Get out! GET OUT!”

“You’re just thinking that boy! You have to say the word, remember?”

“I’ll say the word. Just you watch!”

“Go ahead, say it. SAY IT! Show me what you’ve got boy!”

I tried speaking. My mouth felt as though it didn’t want to obey. My muscles weren’t mine anymore. I tried. I willed my jaws to move. I willed my lips to come together. I willed my tongue to roll and help me articulate… but nothing. All I could hear were screams of agony.

“You’re almost there boy.” That was Sisha. I could feel him invade my mind. I tried pushing him out. “Don’t struggle or you’ll lose your mind. I’m trying to help here.”

“BEGONE DEMON!”

“Myles!” It was Raiya this time. “Fight her! You’re almost there. We’ll provide you with some-“

A bone chilling scream pierced my dull ears. I opened my eyes for a split second to see, to my horror, what caused the scream. Zoey stood behind Raiya. The warlock was bleeding. Zoey had stabbed her with a dagger. Her large front teeth showed as she gave me her version of a triumphant smile. How did she get here? Was she following us?

Shit! That was the noise I heard before. Demons, especially the feline kind, muffle their footsteps. I couldn’t have heard him walk or breathe…

What does she think she’s doing?

“No!” I heard Raiya shout to Sisha before I started screaming as well. I lost control again. I felt her take over. Was it my imagination? Or was she getting stronger?

“Don’t let your mind wander off boy! You’re mine now!”