Everything around me is pitch black, and I feel as if I am floating in some kind of void. I can hear, see, smell, and feel around just fine, and I can tell this isn't a dream because when I pinch myself, it hurts. "What's going on..? Where am I..?" There's an odd chill in this strange, dark place, so I hug myself for warmth and comfort. "Was that all some kind of bad dream..?" I mumble to myself, thinking back to the events that just happened at the mansion.
"That was no dream, Sara...~" I hear a voice that sounds just like my own, but distorted in a way, and the suddenness of it makes me jump.
"W-What..?! W-Who said that..?!" I look around with fear.
"Don't be afraid... I've been here this whole time...~ From the moment you were born alllllll the way up until now...~" The voice speaks softly, as if talking to a child.
"W-Who are you..? Show yourself!" I yell, trying to sound brave.
"As you wish...~" An odd black substance swirls around in front of me and forms into the figure of a young woman, who looks scarily similar to me, but at the same time, drastically different. For one, she has the appearance of a rotting corpse. Her right eye socket is empty and her right arm is completely skeletal, not to mention that her skin is entirely grey. Her lips are black, but it's clear that they are that way naturally and not some kind of lipstick. She's also far curvier than myself, the kind of curves you'd only see if a high ranking adventurer altered their body in some way. Her left eye is still intact, but the pupil practically isn't even there, just a slightly darker grey than the light grey color of her iris, and her hair is jet black, so long it reaches past her thighs and stops just at her upper calves. Her outfit is exactly the same as a casual dress outfit I normally wear, but with her curves, the outfit looks rather lewd.
"W-Who..?" It's impossible for me to hide my fear at this point. I'm so scared that I'm shaking to my very core.
"Do not be afraid. I am not going to hurt you...Sara...~" She walks on the space in between us like it's the most casual thing on the planet, moving toward me.
So many things are going through my mind right now that I start to back away in fear. I don't know how I can see her amidst the blackness surrounding us, but as I back away, I feel like I'm actually standing on something and not just floating anymore. "W-What..?!" I trip and fall on my butt, shocked at suddenly feeling something cold and hard under my feet. The woman across from me giggles, continuing on her path toward me. "S-Stay away from me!" I yell out in fear and suddenly feel the same cold and hard sensation against my back as I scoot away. "H-Huh..?!" I look around, utterly confused and terrified.
"Oh, don't be scared little Sara~" She snaps her skeletal fingers, and suddenly everything turns blindingly white, making me yelp and cover my eyes. "There there...~ Let your eyes adjust...~"
I slowly look around to see we're in an odd, white room of sorts. The space is rather large and the floor and walls can clearly be seen, but when I look up, I can tell how close or far the ceiling is. "W-What is this place..?! What do you want from me..?! Who are you?!" I fire question after question, my fear starting to take hold.
"This place is inside your mind...~ As for who I am...I'm everything you desire mixed with your deepest and darkest emotions...~" The woman holds her hands up and cups her own cheeks, smiling in a longing manner.
"W-What..?" I stare at her, suspicion and confusion riddled all over my face.
"Wasn't it you that always said...'I wish I could've been born as someone else', 'I wish I could be an amazing adventurer', 'I wish people would see me as beautiful without being motivated by money', yata yata yata..?~ I am those desires given form...mixed with the sadness, anger, and despair you've always felt...~ As I've stated before, I've been here since you were born...the more your desires and depression grew, the more I grew...~ And at long last, recent events have finally given me the chance to speak to you face to face..!~"
I narrow my eyes with suspicion and my nerves continue to grow. "O-Okay...b-but what do you want with me..?"
"To grant your wish of course!~" She shouts suddenly, making me jump. "All I want to do is grant you your deepest desires...~ That is what I exist for after all...~"
I quickly gather up my courage and shout my response with confidence. "B-But I don't have those desires anymore..! I'm happy with who I am, and the people around me are happy with who I am too!"
"Really..?~ You're happy with being too weak to defend yourself or the people you care for..?~ You're happy with being a trembling coward who can't do much of anything for herself..?~ You're happy with not knowing how he feels towards you..?~" She says that last line slowly, and I instantly know who she's speaking of.
My eyes widen and I shake my head, covering my ears and closing my eyes. "S-Shut up! They're fine, I know they are! I can do plenty for myself! And I know Jeshan is happy with me around!"
"Are you sure about that?~" I hear her voice directly in my mind and my eyes shoot open, quickly widening with fear as I see her directly in front of me, smiling widely and her eyes too widened to be considered humanly possible. In a fit of fear, I yelp and quickly start to run, but trip over something. Despite the fact that I fall, I feel no pain, and that's because whatever that black substance that conjured up this girl is is currently wrapped around my arms, legs, and torso, yanking me upright and I can't help but scream.
"Please do not run from me Sara...~ I promise you that I mean no harm...~ All I want is to grant your desires...~ And all you have to do in order to do that is give in to me...~" She begins walking over to me once more, smiling sweetly, but it still terrifies me to my core.
"S-Stay away..! P-Please don't hurt me..." I tremble and I almost want to cry. Why is this happening to me..?!
"Don't worry...~ I can't hurt you in here, or else it'll hurt me too...~ After all, we are a part of the same body...~ All you have to do...is give in~" She says in a sing-song voice.
"N-No..! I don't want to change who I am! I just want my life back..! I just...I just..!" Even my voice trembles at this point from how scared I am.
"Don't worry...~ It'll all be over real soon..!~" She reaches out to me.
A couple tears spill from my eyes, and only one person comes to my mind at this moment. "Jeshan..." The second I internally say his name, the dagger strapped in the invisible holster around my back glows brilliantly, destroying the black substance and making the woman screech and back away.
Just as I'm about to fall to my knees, I fall into an all too familiar set of arms, and as I look up to see who they belong to, more tears spill down my cheeks. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting..." Jeshan says with his usual blank expression, holding not only my dagger, but the other one he showed me before.
"J-Jeshan...I-I..." I can't even get the words out.
"I know... This is very confusing and scary...isn't it..?" He helps me stand up straight and turns his back toward me. "But we don't really have time to talk right now..."
I look up and see the woman with a terrifying glare on her face, both of her eyes now gone and the black substance dripping out of every open hole in her body. "How dare you...interfere and ruin my chances!"
"You disgusting creature..." Jeshan mutters, and both the daggers in his hands suddenly turn completely black. With one swing of a dagger, Jeshan fires off some kind of black wave and it slams into the woman, making her yell out in pain, her voice becoming more distorted the longer the wave slams against her, and eventually, all that's left of the woman is the black substance in the disfigured shape of a human body, its arms, legs, and torso super thin, and its eyes are pure white dots.
I slowly back away in fear, shaking my head repeatedly. "This thing...is...i-inside of...m-me..?"
"There's no need to be afraid...Sara..." The black energy Jeshan just fired off slowly begins to surround him, and so too does the same black substance the creature seems to be made of, changing him. His appearance doesn't change much, but it's enough to tell me that everything I've known about Jeshan has been a lie. "I'm going to protect you...so don't be afraid..." He looks back at me, his jet black hair and eyes looking darker than ever before, and the two daggers that were in his hands have now combined into a double sided scythe. The black substance that surrounded him has formed into a cloak of sorts around his torso, and a constant array of shadows surrounds him. There can be no other explanation, for his appearance and the magic I've just seen fit the description perfectly. Jeshan doesn't just look like a black fiend, he is one.