Talia quivered violently enough that she was almost certain it translated over to her body rather than her nightmares. To be certain what she was experiencing was a nightmare. She knew she wasn't awake, she couldn't be. But the scene that lie before her was too twisted for words, even for a hardened killer like her.
She held up her hands, looking at the red staining them. She knew the color of blood, it was the color of her hair after all. She had it coating her hands time and time again and yet this time was different, far different. She took a shaky breath willing herself to wake up, willing the images that affronted her away. Yet no matter how hard she tried she couldn't escape the smell, the feel, the horror.
"W... Why?" The whisper was so feeble it was almost pathetic. Yet Talia's heart wrenched in pain at the sound of it. She looked down into the eyes of her sister Midnight. They may not have been related by blood but they grew up together as the two most powerful assassins under Hephatus's guidance.
Midnight was a beautiful woman to be sure, midnight black hair, dark black eyes, pale ghostly skin, and the face of a demi-goddess. Talia was certain at times that Midnight was a demi-goddess, but it couldn't be proven. Midnights beauty was matched by her skill in espionage, combat, and assassination. Talia had always regarded her as an equal.
"I... Can't..." It was all she managed as she pulled her sword from its sheath. She watched in horror as her body moved forward, her left hand grabbing Midnight by her hair and her right drawing her sword up to the woman's throat. Part of her delighted in the sound of metal against flesh, the feel of an artery playing closely to the edge of her blade. There was paper between the edge of her sword and the thick swollen artery pumping beautiful crimson, skin was nothing to her. A distraction.
"You betray the fami..!" Talia cut her head off before she could even utter the next sentence. It took only a split second, and then another shower of blood ensued. Who was left? She had killed them all at that point. Half of her was twisted in disgusting glee, the other half was so horrified it couldn't function. Why would she ever betray her family? Why would she kill them? Why would she like it?
"Because ite flame... Because deep down you belong to the darkness." This voice was new, slimy, oily, disgusting. She writhed away from it, desperate to escape. Yet the feeling followed her. The feeling of utter sickness. There was no face to the voice, she was certain it was in her head. But if it was just in her head, did that mean it was her? And if so, how could she have such thoughts?
"I am a part of the darkness, I do not belong to it." She hissed, turning away from the scene of violence beneath her. She tried to run away, desperate to get anywhere but there.
"Vekkar owns your soul, giantess." The voice answered seductively. She threw her sword away, it clanged on the stone walls of the tunnels she had grown up in. She slammed her hands over her ears, screaming to drown out the voice. But no matter how far she ran the tunnels never ended. The voice never got any farther away.
"Just wake up!" She screamed, punching herself in the chest. The only good that did was to cause a blossom of pain all over her body. She seized momentarily, groaning and gritting her teeth as a savage mountain of pain began to crush her. For a moment she thought she'd die, but then a gentle coolness filled her and drove away the heat. Had she been burning? Was she suddenly no longer immune to flame? Had the dragon burned her alive and she imagined victory in the moments before death? And what of her meeting with Hephatus? Was she condemned to damnation?
She stopped suddenly with that thought, choking on tears at the notion. She had served faithfully, she loved the goddess for helping her escape her bleak life as a slave. She'd done everything perfectly, walked the fine line and dedicated her life to serving Hephatus and her family. What could she have done to deserve punishment?
"You think this is the damnation your weak goddess serves to her disobedient dogs? You haven't even tasted hell..." The voice chimed again bringing with it the intense heat that surrounded her and infested her. She started to run again as the cave walls started to bleed. The wind whistling past her sounded like the voices of her fallen family, their voices riddled with betrayal.
"I'd never betray you!" She cried, guilt ridden at the images of their dead bodies that still haunted her. She had never had such dreams, such thoughts, so why was she now? What had changed in her to drive such a dream to occur? Was she truly corrupted?
"Don't forget who you serve... Don't forget my love for you." The goddess spoke softly, Talia's tears slowed, but the pain and the burning didn't slow.
"Please... Make it stop." She shuddered, falling to her knees again in sheer exhaustion. The tunnels were leading nowhere, they wouldn't. She'd never escape. Not only that her body felt strange, heavy and hot and brittle. She wasn't used to feeling so weak, so helpless. She wanted to burn it all away, to crush it with her inhuman strength, but no matter how hard she tried her magic failed her and she hit like a weak little human.
As she rested she tried to collect her thoughts. Her home caves weren't home, they changed and lead her in circles. She was not in control of her reality, someone or something else was. She couldn't be certain if it was truly just fever dreams or if there were more nefarious hands at play. She had known Nico and Midnight to pull such pranks once, using their magic to weave strange worlds, but they had a tell. Nico's always involved dead things come to life, and Midnight's always involved spiders among other things.
She stood after what felt like hours of 'pulling herself together' which mostly just consisted of her trying very hard not to cry in frustration and work out a way to wake back up. She hated dreaming, especially when she couldn't force herself to wake up.
"You belong to me now." The sickly voice whispered again. She screamed, slamming her right hand into the wall next to her.
"I belong to no man!" She screamed, but the darkness didn't answer back. It seemed content to watch her writhe in agony, fear, and whatever other emotions it could elicit from her as she continued. So she walked on, there was nothing for her where she had been but the mangled corpses left by her insanity. She only hoped that as she pushed forward she wouldn't find more people to senselessly murder.
"If you were paid to do it, you would enjoy it." The voice piped up again. Her stomach churned in violent anger and discomfort. She felt that if she had anything in her stomach she would have surely thrown up. She didn't answer this time. It certainly wasn't true, she had a lot more standard than wantonly killing people even if money was involved.
"Your heart is that of a killer... Why does it bother you so much when you do it?" The voice sounded smug which only served to infuriate her more. She tried again to summon some flame and yet again nothing happened. The only source of light was the occasional torch set into the stone walls. Not that light would have changed anything, she was growing quite certain that the voice had no body.
"Of course I do. It's yours. I'm you." She shuddered at the thought of that statement being true. She may have had crazy moments in her life, but she had never had voices in her head.
"You don't exist. You're not real. Nothing I did was real." She chanted over and over as she walked, her dismay growing as the tunnel never ended or curved away. It was more a straight corridor now, but where was it leading?
"It will be, that I can promise you." The voice cackled and the torches around her flickered. She pulled her weapons free from their various sheaths before tossing them onto the ground. She couldn't kill if she didn't have her tools or her strength. It could make her kill in her dreams, but that was all it could do. She gritted her teeth as she committed to that though.
"We'll break their necks, their arms, their legs... I wonder how your friend Nico's screams would sound if we snapped his little legs? And while he crawls away we can watch him slowly bleed to death. As he dies his little minions will eat him alive... Rip him apart!" The voice was filled with glee as it continued to describe the scene.
"That will never happen. Nico is as great a warrior as I am. To kill him you'd have to carve your way through is armies of undead. And I would never help with such things." She sneered.
"What is this you? You mean we? Remember Talia, I'm a part of you now."
"I don't even know what you are!" She punched the wall, but nothing happened. It didn't even hurt.
"I'm the darkness eating at your soul ite flame. I'll turn that light into darkness until the fire you burn with is as dark as your heart. Then we can truly burn the world until it is perfect for Vekkar's creatures. Your ability to generate death is astounding, and perfect. We'll make good use of you." The smile in the void's voice was palpable. Talia stopped as she tried to absorb what it had said. Vekkar? Darkness? Was she tainted?
"I may be an assassin but I serve Hephatus, filth. The dark is my domain, not my master." She smiled with that thought. The void may have been controlling things, but she still had skills. She still had Hephatus. So she reached out and started to snuff the light out of every torch she came across.
A step in the Dark to claim your soul
A breath apart as you're welcomed home
Release your heart to chill thy bones
And kill for her in silence.
The night awaits as daylight dies
So clutch thy blade and close thy eyes
She guides our hands and knows the way
The darkness is our home again.
Blind and yet I know the way
Deaf and yet I hear her name
Cold but she keeps me safe
Born again in Darkness.
Asha guides my hidden blade
Umwell shows me where souls lay
Glowing eyes in darkness take
Guide my soul through shadow
Hephatus waits across the void
Hands held out in welcome tide
Walk the path in darkness take
Forget not the path is safe
For even should you falter
Her hands will catch your fall
The end is set in blackened waves
She welcomes home us all.
As long as Talia sang the lullaby that was sung to the children of Hephatus during training the voice stayed silent. The growing darkness behind her was a welcome thing, even if she were afraid of the monsters that would come through it. Powerlessness was a difficult thing for her to struggle with but so long as she held her faith in her goddess the journey became easier. To hell with fate and the future, she was content to just be able to survive the present. So on she sang while the hallway lead her to an unknown place. She only hoped that when the light did come she could see Nico again, she hated it when he worried.