Page 26 of Demonic Affliction

“An infinite number,” I say. “They’re more like pockets in the vast chasm of the Abyss. The Welwigs create them as a way to feed.”

“The Welwigs… you mean the trees?”

“The trees…” A low chuckle spills past my lips. “No, they are not trees. They are ancient, sentient, parasitic beings. And they created The Far Place and all of the creatures that reside inside it.” I take a deep breath before continuing.

“Welwigs feed on souls. When the vessel holding the soul dies, the soul travels through the Abyss on its way to the After—a long, confusing web with many opportunities for error. The Welwigs take advantage of this, pulling the traveling souls into their pocket world. There, the Welwigs feast on them to power and grow their worlds. The energy from the soul is harnessed to create demons, icepips, antethorpes, and more Welwigs… the possibility is endless.”

“What does this have to do with me destroying The Far Place, then?”

“This world is sick. Dying. It started when Slaine—the gray king—died along with his forces. It offset the balance of this world. Without Slaine and his horde, the Welwigs could not sustain the size of the world they had created. It became… hungry.”

I close my eyes, recalling the memories living in my head that don’t belong to me. “In desperation, it tried to resurrect Slaine. Only… it was not successful.” I briefly gesture to the mask covering my face—my horrible, ruined face. “My brothers and I were born in his place. Unwhole. Wrong. And we refused to do the thing the Welwigs created us to do—we refused to feed on human souls.”

“And it unbalanced it further.” She brings her hand to her mouth.

“It did.” I nod solemnly. “The world started to die. And where there is infection, there is a knife to cut it out.”

Her eyes widen as she slowly begins to understand.

“You are the knife, Willow. You and the entity inside you.”

“So I’m… I’m really supposed to destroy the world… that wasn’t an exaggeration…”

“I’m afraid so,” I say. “The being inside you—the serafyn—was created to restore the balance of the greater universe. If it lets this world continue to fester, the rest of the worlds might die, too.”

“And there’s no way to reverse it? To heal the world?”

I shake my head. “There is no way. Soon, we will all perish. It is fated.”

I lower back into the water and try to relax into the same numbness I'd been chasing before she walked in. Unfortunately, it’s no better than before she arrived.

Minutes pass in silence. I've almost convinced myself she's given up and left when a wave of water hits me square in the face.

I sit up, sputtering, and find her standing at the edge of the pool, arms still dripping from the splash, her jaw set.

“You can’t just say some shit like that and go back to relaxing!”

I run a hand over my face, wiping away some of the water. “What would you rather I do?”

“I don’t know, anything else?”

“There is nothing else.”

She sputters, her face coloring with anger. “Well, I refuse to just sit back and let the world end! There has to be something we can do! What if there’s a way to… make the serafyn go back to sleep? I was alone in my head for twenty-six years. There has to be a way to get back to that.”

“You cannot reverse an awakening.” I enunciate every word carefully. “Even if you could, once the entity awakens in the vessel, it is already too late.” I blow out a breath. “If we do nothing, the serafyn will end the world, and we all perish. If we find a way to stop the serafyn, the world will infect the entire universe, causing it to die—which means we all will still perish.”

She purses her lips, her hand landing squarely on her hips. “That’s a bunch of bullshit. There’s a solution. You just haven’t thought of it.”

I let out a chuckle. “I assure you, sweet serafyn, I have thought of everything.”

“Well, you are still a man. Maybe you overlooked something.”

I look at her then, taking in her proud stance and her fiery eyes. She is no mere human—my serafyn is a warrior. Brave, powerful, and willing to do anything to protect those that she loves.

I only wish there was a way for her to do so.

“What are you thinking?” she demands.