The fell presence overtook my mind, severing all connection I had with my earthly form. And yet despite the interference, my will remained my own. At least as far as I could tell. It didn’t do much good given that I had no body to exercise said will, but it was a curious state of affairs.

In my disembodied state, I was largely unbothered by the calamity that had befallen me. The worst I could muster was a vague sense of failure. What was it I’d been trying to achieve again? Oh right, to remain free of the very influence that had stolen away my corporeal shell. That hadn’t gone so well.

With no real options remaining to me, I reached out within my mind to my unwanted companion. “Hello?”

There was no reply or the slightest indication that my message had been received, which was about what I’d expected. Whatever was behind all this was too inhuman to hold a conversation, even if it wanted to.

I was about to give up when I recalled the shadowy figure that had spoken when we were trying to rescue Elmidath’s father. Was that the same entity that had stolen my body? I didn’t get that impression, but even if that had merely been a servant, surely that was proof that it was capable of communicating.

I recalled fragments of the scene that had been forcibly inserted into my mind upon losing the mental battle to the entity. Had that been an attempt at communication? Rather than resorting to words, I tried the same methods it had used. I focused on my desire to be understood and tried to impart that to my unwanted visitor.

I sensed a faint stirring in response and kept trying, reiterating my desire until something woke. Its consciousness eclipsed mine, overwhelming me such that my mind froze. Unable to act, I bore silent witness to the being’s reply. Much of what it imparted to me was lost, but I managed to discern some portion of its intent.

From what I could gather, it needed me and the others it gathered to fix something. Something which caused it great suffering. While that was all well and good, I detected not the slightest hint of any remotely human emotion. It was doing terrible things to people in service to itself, while seemingly having no idea that was in any way wrong.

Knowing some part of its motivation helped a little in understanding the entity, but it offered no comfort. If anything, knowing that there was real intelligence behind it only made it all the more concerning. Mindless destruction was one thing, but intentional malice was somehow worse even if the end result was the same.

The message concluded and the entity retreated, freeing my mind but not my body. I drifted in mental limbo for a time, contemplating what the rest of my life would be like here. Though it wasn’t so bad now, it seemed only a matter of time before I went mad if I remained trapped like this.

I was shaken from my contemplation by a voice within my mind. At first, I thought it merely an early sign of insanity; an unuttered wish brought to life by my imagination. It was only when the gentle, almost too quiet to be heard voice changed to shouting that I recognized Elmidath and realized it was real after all.

“Can you hear me, you idiot?”

The sound was somewhat garbled, but it was definitely her.

“I can.” Normally I might have been willing to challenge her assertion about my intelligence, but after what I’d done to get myself into this situation, I had to admit she had a point. “How are we speaking right now? And what’s happening? I’m not in my body anymore.”

“Trust me, I noticed. It took a little figuring out, but we’re still connected even without your body.”

Did that mean we’d still be connected even after we were both dead? It was a rather strange idea, but I had more pressing issues to deal with right now. “Is my body okay? Is it moving or anything?”

“I’m not sure, I can’t see it anymore. I think the same thing happened to both of us.”

“What? How did you end up like me?”

There was a pause, and when Elmidath spoke she sounded ashamed. “I tried to pull you out when the darkness took you, but all it did was get us both trapped.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, this is more my fault than yours.”

“Of course it is, that was never in question.”

Well at least being imprisoned in her own mind hadn’t broken Elmidath’s spirit. “So, any idea how we can free ourselves?”

“Not so far. What about you?”

“Nope. I tried talking to it, but that didn’t get me very far. Whatever it is, it’s not much for conversation.”

“But you still got some kind of response? What happened?”

“Nothing useful. It mostly just convinced me that even if it can understand us, then we have no hope of reasoning with it.”

“Why not? It seems like our best option right now.” “Because it doesn’t care about us or anyone else, all it wants to do is change something about the world. I’m not sure what exactly, but I’m sure it wants to do something terrible.”

From what I’d seen of it so far, I couldn’t believe for a second that it had even slightly benign intentions.

“Still, if it wants something then we might negotiate with it. “

“Fine, if that’s what you want to do then go ahead.”

There was probably no point in even trying and I had no desire to commune with the void once more.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Elmidath’s presence faded, leaving me alone. If she could actually achieve anything useful that would be great, it just seemed incredibly unlikely. The best outcome would probably be something like what happened to her father; with us ending up as little more than slaves.

Thinking back, it wasn’t all that different to what Elmidath did to me when she pulled me from my own world against my will and forced me to help her. However, my circumstances had improved a great deal since then, a shift which seemed incredibly unlikely if we remained in the grip of this fell being.

Even if Elmidath somehow made a deal with it, the best we could hope for was some illusion of control. It would still own us, body and mind. Our current situation, hopeless as it was, might be preferable in comparison. At least this way our minds were free to dwell on whatever terrible deeds our bodies were committing. On second thought, I wasn’t sure which option I preferred; they were both awful.

There had to a third option; the others were just unacceptable. I wracked my brain, or whatever it was that was actually sustaining my mind right now, and willed myself to come up with a way to free us.

We’d been taken by an overwhelmingly powerful force, but it still must have its limits. Even if we couldn’t hope to best it directly, there might be some way to free ourselves without having to. It didn’t seem willing or capable of devoting much of its attention to us, which had to offer some kind of opportunity.

There was very little I could accomplish without my body, so getting it back was of the utmost importance. But how the hell was I supposed to do that? My body might not even exist anymore for all I knew. Though Elmidath found me when we were just disembodied minds. Maybe there was a way to connect with my body.

My first thought was to simply will it to happen, but no amount of wishing made the slightest impression on the universe. Perhaps I needed something more tangible to connect with it. Rather than focusing on my intent, I tried to picture myself.

The broad strokes were easy enough; above average height, dark hair, and the beginnings of an unkept beard. It was the fine details of my own face that I struggled to recall. I formed my features as best I could within my imagination and hoped it would be enough.

Doing my best to maintain that image, I willed myself to connect with it. This time I did detect a faint, familiar presence, but nothing I tried had any effect on it. I was close to giving up when a thought occurred to me. Using the tenuous link I’d created, I reached out to Shotensho.

At first it was as deaf to my pleas as my own body had been, but eventually the sword’s spirit stirred.

A cold, distorted voice sounded within my mind. “Why do you call?”

“I need your help. My body has been stolen away by the darkness you saved me from before. Can you do it again?”

“I am too weak to free you from its clutches this time.”

“Okay, well, is there anything at all you can do to help?”

“There is perhaps one thing. While I cannot release your body, I could bring your mind out of that abyss. It would at least allow you to retain what little free will you have left.”

It was a long way from what I’d hoped for, but it was still better than nothing. “Alright, let’s do that then. Where would I go instead?”

“You would be forced to join me in my prison.”

“Um, for how long? Would I end up stuck like you?” Being trapped in a sword didn’t sound much better than my current predicament.

“No, you would merely inhabit this vessel for a time. While it pales in comparison to your own, it would allow you some degree of freedom.”

“What about Elmidath? She’s trapped just like I am, is there anything you can do to help her?”

“Her rescue is beyond my means. It is only through our bond that I can assist you in this manner.”

That was that then. There was no point waiting around for the darkness to take notice of me once more, I might not survive the next encounter with my mind intact. “Alright, do it. Get me out of here.”