Torment - right before the end
I gotta get to lectures. BLAH!!!


This morning she had fried eggs, yokes runny, and fried potato. The room was clean, and her meagre possessions had been placed in bags with names. Her diary had been wrapped in brown paper and left with an attached note at the temple for her son.

Her son… Those words still sent a thrill of joy through her. She had never thought she would be able to think them, not since she had been declared sterile as a child. She had never given birth, but the temple boy had become her son in her far too brief time in this city. And so she would leave him her diary, to help him through what was coming. She should have killed him. A year ago, she would have. He violated her purpose – a human, channelling the power of a demon. Such melding of the human and demon realms was her enemy - her ultimate nemesis. But it seemed less important now, with the roars of the brothers sounding in the distance.

Today was the day she would die.

It wasn’t that she knew it without a doubt – there was always the chance she could survive the coming battle. But she knew the odds of this occurring – more then that, she knew that the chance of her surviving AND killing both of the creatures heading this way was so unfathomably small, it would take a miracle. And she was already relying on a miracle to take both brothers out before the temple. She had planned out the best she could, looked at every opportunity, and gathered herself and all the pain, darkness, confusion she had ever felt together until it was a hot black ball within her, sealed away to be thrown against her latest challenge. She had fought stronger, but never two like these. And she was old. Her spirit was that of the singers, filled with the power of the song demon that was her mother. But her body was only human. And although her spirit would continue, as per her agreement, her body would not be able to survive its profession much longer.

She felt another presence enter the room behind her. Strong, cold…

“Master” She greeted him in a whisper, turning to face him. He watched her impassively, but something about him seemed off. It took her a moment to pinpoint what it was.

“Master, you are… concerned?” She waited a moment, in case he chose to add anything to that, before continuing. “Don’t concern yourself. They will be destroyed, just as all the others have been.”

“And you?” He asked. His voice was sharp with distaste, the way it always was. But there was that ever-so-subtle not of worry that crept into his voice then and again.

“Dying is never the end, master. My contract cannot be terminated just yet.”

“And what if it is no longer my will to aid you?”

“I have not fulfilled my part in our deal yet.” She bit back the urge to raise her voice. Triggering her pain now would no no-one any good. “Until the day I can, I am yours to do with as you wish. It is your choice, if you wish to leave me. But I cannot fill any of my agreements if you do that.” There was something he wasn’t saying. This wasn’t simply about wanting to get rid of her. Despite his animosity towards her, he had never wanted her to leave. So what exactly was he getting at? Was it possible… that he might miss her when she was gone?

“I… don’t want things to change so drastically at this point.” He said carefully. And she couldn’t help but smile at his awkwardness.

“All things must change, Master. But I will not be far. As we have agreed, you will keep me with you, and I will pay my penance. Until my tasks are completed, I will continue as I am now.”

“Why?!” The Master finally exploded. “Why can’t you just die?!”

“Because… I don’t know how. Because you won’t let me. Because there is more to exist for. Because… No, it’s because I’m not done yet. I can not leave until I am done. That was my vow, and even now, wether I wanted it to or not, it will hold.”

“You will never be done!” He grabbed her shoulder and shook her, trying to get some sense into her half-demon brain. Throughout this whole conversation, she had never spoken above a whisper. “It won’t end! And I won’t be here for it all. I won’t be here knowing… that…” He couldn’t finish.

“That I will be torn apart.” She finished. “That I will become one of the Tormented ones, in my own hell set aside for me. You worry for me.” It was something of a revelation to her. When she died, she knew that her spirit would be dragged into a pocket afterlife – her own private hell, to be torn apart and tortured until her tasks were done. But that state would advantage her master.

He was sad… for her. She had almost thought him incapable of such for a half-demon.

“Do not worry for me. I have long known my fate. At least… I will be able to continue singing.” She smiled at him, ignoring his grip on her arm.

“It is better to exist, no matter the circumstances, as long as I can sing.”

- posted by Washi @ 3:00 pm