Grim Views

"Discard the barrier. Release me!"

It wasn't the first time Syreena had heard the echoing whispers from within her own mind, but the frequency, along with the side effects, was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

"Go away," the little rogue hissed in the Rogue Quarter of the Undercity. "Your queen is slain, and will be slain again each time she rises, until she rises no more. You shouldn't be here anymore. Chavie said--"

"Chavie said, Chavie said," the voice called back mockingly.

Syreena moved to the shadows near the back wall where there was less traffic, and she waited. She pressed her hand against her side, over a wound that had never fully healed in more than eight months. Her other hand rose to the amulet on her neck, wrapping her fingers around it tightly.

"Go away, go away, go away," she whispered. But it didn't go away, and she clenched her teeth as she felt it begin.

Searing pain flared from the wound, and the affected flesh surrounding it burned worse than any fire spell she'd ever endured from a mage or warlock. For several moments, Syreena writhed in pain on the cool stone of the Undercity floor. When it ended, she let out a shaking breath and leaned back against the wall.

"Release me, little one, and suffer no more," it said in a soothing voice.

The power of the amulet was fading, or the creature was getting stronger. Syreena wondered what would happen if she did obey its wishes. She tugged gently at the amulet, tempted to tear it from her neck and throw it into the canal.

"Go away," she answered miserably.

"Wake up," the familiar voice whispered in her mind. "Remove the amulet. It only delays the inevitable."

Syreena sat up in her small bed of tattered blankets. She looked around her little cave in the Undercity sewers. In the dim green light that filtered in from the main passageway, she could see her family of pets still sleeping.

"Go away," she said irritably as she laid back down. "It's time for rest."

The wound on her side suddenly felt hot, and the heat spread slowly to the rest of her body.

"What do you want from me?" the little rogue asked in frustration.

"Remove the amulet. Only then will you find the answers. Only then will this pain end."

Syreena curled into a tight ball and sobbed helplessly as the heat intensified and burned her whole body.

* * * * *

Thus far, the experiment was a failure as far as its original intent. But the goals of the experiment were never his goals at all, and the failure only worked to his advantage.

Although his work was slowed by the magical barrier contained within the amulet, his host's will was steadily breaking. He could feel her frustration and uncertainty, and her surprise when she snapped at people or otherwise showed a boldness she previously did not possess. It would only be a matter of time before he would be able to use her as a tool to further his own goals.