It feels like the fabric of reality between the entity and me is ripping at the seams. Like we’re two magnets of the same poles, being forced together against our natural repulsion. It’s foreign and wrong.So very wrong.
This is a mistake; I’m not ready.
Stop.
STOP.
The words, they won’t form on my lips. I can’t even feel my body anymore, let alone force it to listen to me. I’m drowning, overwhelmed, caged by this power.
But… I’m not alone in this cage.
I can feel how close the entity is to my grasp, writhing with a will of its own. For reasons I cannot explain, I feel the strangest urge to protect it, which…cannotbe true. I hate the damn worm. In fact, this is the closest I’ve come to catching it, and I’d be a fool to waste the opportunity. No matter how wrong this entire situation feels, I have to be logical. In the end, it’s kill or be killed.
We cannot continue to exist together.
I must kill it.
With every bit of strength I can muster, I push myself through the metaphysical world, grasping for the parasite. Because howdareanyone else catch it before me?Iwill be the one to clear this stain from my soul.
And, for the first time in a thousand attempts, it doesn’t slip through my grasp.
Almost immediately, I’m flooded with a different kind of raw power, bright and overwhelming in every fiber of my being, in every dimension.
Holy fuck.
It’s—
Holy fuck, that hurts.
Innumerable tiny hooks of blinding, burning pain latch onto my soul. They pierce and pierce, rapidly, relentlessly covering what feels like a spiritual replica of my physical body. I feel myself separating into two halves. I feel every agonizing needle, every stab and gouge and rip and tear. It’s a pain that’s deeper than skin, deeper than flesh. The agony drags me further and further away from my body, so much that I can’t find my way back to it.
I’m pushed so far beyond my limit that I lose all connection to reality.
My mind is awash with pain, nothing but pain. Something inside my remaining lizard brain forces a scream from my flaccid body as it topples over in convulsions, avoiding falling off the ledge by sheer luck.
The hooks suddenly invert, collapsing inward, sucking my soul back into my body.
The pain lifts, but its effects linger.
I’m barely hanging onto awareness, unable to keep my eyes open. It’s as if a violent fever has taken over me, or the world is on fire. My body is covered in sweat, collapsed in a heap on the ground, shaking and shivering.
“You could have killed her, Michael!” Abaddon’s voice is seething with venom, rising above all the sound and commotion around me.
Michael—sothat’swho the stranger’s voice was. I should haveknown. Why didn’t anyone try to pull me out sooner? How long was I under that spell? It could have been seconds or hours.
“The girl nearly had it, but she wouldn’t bridge the gap,” he replies, his voice apathetic enough to almost turn my sweat cold. “I gave her the extra push she needed. You should be thanking me.”
“You can’t fuck around with souls like that, you sick bastard!” Dusk takes over, yelling at the lead archangel.
During his distraction, Abaddon uses the opportunity to scoop my limp body into his arms.
“She’ll be fine,” Michael scoffs.
“She’ll be fine?Yeah, I’m sure she’ll survive, but it’s the fucking principle! You can’t just torture her because you’re impatient!”
The sound of the heated argument becomes dulled as I’m quickly carried away from the scene.
“It’s okay,” Abaddon coos, tugging me closer to his chest. “I have you. You’re safe.”
