The memory starts with Salo being almost knocked off his feet by the aftermath of a spell, hearing a man and a woman's screams vanish with their bodies. He knows they're not dead, but they're in deep trouble, dumped into the empty metadimension that is the Void. He's terrified for them, but he has bigger problems: a swarm of flies coalesces across the clearing he's standing in and becomes a woman, naked, her skin covered in black tattoos. The sight of her stokes fury and hate; she's the mystic who attacked his village and killed the boy he thought of as a little brother, the Maidservant.
Speaking her language, Salo tells her that her quarrel is with him, and to leave his friends out of it. She starts to circle towards him, recognizing him from the attack and that he's newly awakened. Salo circles with her, defiant, but she wants information from him about his Axiom, the Elusive Cube. Salo is determined to tell her nothing, but she claims that she doesn't want to hurt him and is even willing to let him go if he tells her how he knew to derive it.
Salo tells her he'll die before he tells her anything, and she retorts that she doesn't need his consent. She ignites her shards and throws a spear of warped space at him, but he counters with a shield of Storm and Void craft; he's nowhere near as capable as he'll one day be with Ziyo helping, much less when he's an atmech himself, but his mind is accelerated by his link to his talisman and he places the ward perfectly. The Maidservant is impressed, and unleashes a hail of Void arrows, which Salo disperses with a tesselated half-dome of the same hexagonal shields.
The Maidservant claims that she's always respected Salo's people, the Yerezi, for their talent and depth of knowledge; she's giving him one more chance to give her what she wants, and if he does she'll even give his friends back. Salo is tempted, but reminds himself that expecting this witch to keep her word is folly. He won't bargain with a mass murderer, he tells her, and she responds that she now has no choice.
Salo can feel her power opening a portal to the devil's domain, drawing forth an evil spirit that manifests as a black slime. The spirit leaps for his face before he can react, crawling into his eyes, nose and ears. He tries to summon power but is blocked, and he falls to his knees, clawing at the slime seeping into his body and mind; he can feel it infiltrating his thoughts, and he can feel that there's an unseen tendril of the creature stretching out through the Maidservant and into the portal in her mind.
The Maidservant monologues for a bit about how she once thought the Yerezi's magical supremacy came from their unity, but she knows now that they're just like any other people, if not worse since they hide their differences under a pretense of amity. As he desperately tries to fight off the spirit, its corrupted ciphers multiplying faster than thought, a part of him notices that she's straining to keep it under control. He desperately tries to draw power from his shards, hoping to tip the balance against her, but the profane slime tightens around his throat, cutting off his breathing. Desperate, he redoubles his efforts, and finally something breaks: his shards flare to life, and the witch loses control of the spirit, falling backward with a cry. The spirit, free of control, tangles their minds together and pulls.
Salo and the Maidservant experience the totality of each other's lives. (Salo's life is blurred out except for the things he's already remembered, and he won't retain much more than impressions of the Maidservant's.) She sees his worst moments, the spiritual agonies that drove him to take up magic...and she sees her attack from his perspective. She realizes then that she long ago became what she once was determined to pay any price to destroy; that she is no different than the men who killed her adoptive daughter long ago; that, in fact, she is even worse. The revelation is inescapable, and it breaks her like glass.
But Salo is with her in that moment, and he, too, sees the totality of her life. He sees all her crimes, her atrocities, and the events that drove her down that path. He sees her thinking that she is evil, lost, irredemable, unworthy of her daughter's love, and he says, you don't have to be.
Still linked to her mind, Salo can feel it as she focuses every scrap of will she has left and forces the portal closed, banishing the tikoloshe back to the devil's domain. He wrenches his mind free of the meld and finds himself lying on the ground, not far from the Maidservant. All his rage and hate are gone, replaced with confusion, pity and mercy.
The Maidservant crawls away, taking the form of a swarm of flies and rushing away from the clearing. Moments later, a flock of ravens bursts from thin air and two bodies fall to the ground. It takes Salo a moment to recognize his friends, but when he does, the wave of relief he feels almost makes him pass out.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
"But you don't have to be."
Date: 2025-01-26 03:35 am (UTC)Speaking her language, Salo tells her that her quarrel is with him, and to leave his friends out of it. She starts to circle towards him, recognizing him from the attack and that he's newly awakened. Salo circles with her, defiant, but she wants information from him about his Axiom, the Elusive Cube. Salo is determined to tell her nothing, but she claims that she doesn't want to hurt him and is even willing to let him go if he tells her how he knew to derive it.
Salo tells her he'll die before he tells her anything, and she retorts that she doesn't need his consent. She ignites her shards and throws a spear of warped space at him, but he counters with a shield of Storm and Void craft; he's nowhere near as capable as he'll one day be with Ziyo helping, much less when he's an atmech himself, but his mind is accelerated by his link to his talisman and he places the ward perfectly. The Maidservant is impressed, and unleashes a hail of Void arrows, which Salo disperses with a tesselated half-dome of the same hexagonal shields.
The Maidservant claims that she's always respected Salo's people, the Yerezi, for their talent and depth of knowledge; she's giving him one more chance to give her what she wants, and if he does she'll even give his friends back. Salo is tempted, but reminds himself that expecting this witch to keep her word is folly. He won't bargain with a mass murderer, he tells her, and she responds that she now has no choice.
Salo can feel her power opening a portal to the devil's domain, drawing forth an evil spirit that manifests as a black slime. The spirit leaps for his face before he can react, crawling into his eyes, nose and ears. He tries to summon power but is blocked, and he falls to his knees, clawing at the slime seeping into his body and mind; he can feel it infiltrating his thoughts, and he can feel that there's an unseen tendril of the creature stretching out through the Maidservant and into the portal in her mind.
The Maidservant monologues for a bit about how she once thought the Yerezi's magical supremacy came from their unity, but she knows now that they're just like any other people, if not worse since they hide their differences under a pretense of amity. As he desperately tries to fight off the spirit, its corrupted ciphers multiplying faster than thought, a part of him notices that she's straining to keep it under control. He desperately tries to draw power from his shards, hoping to tip the balance against her, but the profane slime tightens around his throat, cutting off his breathing. Desperate, he redoubles his efforts, and finally something breaks: his shards flare to life, and the witch loses control of the spirit, falling backward with a cry. The spirit, free of control, tangles their minds together and pulls.
Salo and the Maidservant experience the totality of each other's lives. (Salo's life is blurred out except for the things he's already remembered, and he won't retain much more than impressions of the Maidservant's.) She sees his worst moments, the spiritual agonies that drove him to take up magic...and she sees her attack from his perspective. She realizes then that she long ago became what she once was determined to pay any price to destroy; that she is no different than the men who killed her adoptive daughter long ago; that, in fact, she is even worse. The revelation is inescapable, and it breaks her like glass.
But Salo is with her in that moment, and he, too, sees the totality of her life. He sees all her crimes, her atrocities, and the events that drove her down that path. He sees her thinking that she is evil, lost, irredemable, unworthy of her daughter's love, and he says, you don't have to be.
Still linked to her mind, Salo can feel it as she focuses every scrap of will she has left and forces the portal closed, banishing the tikoloshe back to the devil's domain. He wrenches his mind free of the meld and finds himself lying on the ground, not far from the Maidservant. All his rage and hate are gone, replaced with confusion, pity and mercy.
The Maidservant crawls away, taking the form of a swarm of flies and rushing away from the clearing. Moments later, a flock of ravens bursts from thin air and two bodies fall to the ground. It takes Salo a moment to recognize his friends, but when he does, the wave of relief he feels almost makes him pass out.