“Oria!” Beren shouted. “Purify! Now!”

A golden glow appeared in Oria’s eyes. Her hair turned golden, and streams of sunlight floated from her fingers, forming a ball between her hands. She raised the ball of light, and a beam fired toward Meelara.

At the last second, Meelara’s body shot away, as if something was pulling her. The beam of light struck the ground and started to follow. Beren dashed forward, trying to intercept Meelara, but she darted away, toward Selene who was just getting to her feet.

Meelara’s form appeared to melt, turning into a grey liquid before launching itself onto Selene. It wrapped around her head, and torso, restricting her breathing and movement.

“Can’t breathe!” thoughts flashed through Selene’s mind. She tried to move her hands, but they were locked tight. “Drain Life!”

She activated her skill, but nothing happened. Her hands weren’t covered, and she couldn’t reach the creature that was binding her. She faintly heard movement and voices, but she couldn’t make them out.

Someone touched her and tried to pry the creature off, but it didn’t budge. Having no other option, Selene activated Draugr Resilience, hoping to gain some time, but it seemed that whatever the creature was doing, wasn’t affected.

She felt a strange cold sensation spread through her body, and her thoughts grew sluggish.

“Must… Find something…,” she struggled, but couldn’t move. “Must… Move!”

She activated Domain of Ice and Shadow. A dense, dark fog spread from her body, causing everyone to be affected by a biting cold, and she willed herself to move. Her form blurred, and she dashed ahead.

When she reappeared, the fog dissipated, and she crumbled to the ground, breathing heavily. There was no sign of the liquidized creature.

Beren looked at the spot Selene had been, then to Selene herself.

“Where did it go?” he asked.

“Guhh!” Selene groaned. “I don’t know.”

“Fuck!” Beren shouted. “Everyone keep your eyes peeled. Use any skills you have that could locate it.”

“Store,” Selene gasped as she managed to catch her breath. “The store?”

“Right!” Cheela exclaimed. “I’ll check.”

Cheela started looking through the Store, while Beren paced, muttering curses. Selene closed her eyes and focused on her breathing.

A few seconds later, her muscles spasmed.

“What?” Selene’s eyes widened. She felt her body move on its own. “What’s going on? Something’s wrong.”

She kept spasming, but she quickly realized something, and dove into her Inner Space.

She passed through the fog and landed on the bridge. The bridge was no longer dark grey but tinted with a silvery hue. A figure stood before her. It was indistinct and kept changing, but it felt familiar.

“Meelara!” Selene shouted as she dashed forward.

The figure turned around and dodged to the side. Silvery threads spread from the figure, onto the bridge.

Selene formed Shadow Strike into several thin blades and launched them at the threads, cutting them.

New ones formed quickly, so Selene kept it up. She kept launching Strikes, cutting threads, and chasing the figure. The figure never fought back, and Selene had a theory of why.

“If I die, this place collapses,” she realized. “It needs me alive, or it won’t get what it wants.”

She kept going, hoping to find some way to stop it, but the figure moved with unnerving fluidity. It could flow, and twist itself, easily dodging her attacks.

This kept up for a while before the figure suddenly froze. Selene’s Strikes struck true. She kept firing them as she approached, and when she got within reach, she activated Drain Life.

For a brief second, after she touched the creature, her hand started to turn silver, but then the purple glow appeared. It pushed the silver back and started draining the creature.

“Fuck!” Selene groaned as she felt her form bloat. “It’s too much!”

She frantically tried to find a solution, and with wide eyes, she looked down. She strained herself, trying to recall her training in manually sensing magical energies.

“If I can reform a skill like Spirit Echoes, and see the vitality,” she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore the pain while trying to shape the flooding vitality. “I might be able to push it out, to do something about it.”

Long seconds passed, as Selene gritted her teeth and grunted.

After what felt like hours, something clicked, and a wave of golden energy flashed from Selene, streaming into the bridge. It pushed the silver away, eradicating all traces of it.

All around the bridge, the fog kept pushing back, displaced by the wave of golden energy. It seeped into the surroundings, into the bridge, and the gates, into the corridor and the window. Even the empty spaces gained a slight, golden tint.

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The figure remained frozen in place, while Selene drew the vitality from it.

“What’s happening now?” Selene wondered. “Did they find something in the Store? Did they figure it out?”

She breathed a sigh of relief as the bloated feeling disappeared. She no longer felt like she was going to explode.

Slowly, but surely the dark grey bricks of the bridge, gates, and corridor gained bits of golden energy.

After a long time, the figure started to tremble, with slight movements, as if it was about to escape, but it was too late. The last drops of vitality were drained. The vitality passed through Selene, who was in peak condition, and into the bridge.

As the figure dissipated, the silvery grey colour faded into nothing.

Selene looked around, as she breathed heavily, and saw the state of her Inner Space. The fog had been pushed far back, and every brick had changed. Previously, they were slightly old, cracked bricks, but they now had gold in those cracks, as if someone had poured liquid gold into them. The windows had golden frames, looking more like elaborate painting frames. The gates looked like they were made by a master mason.

Just as she was about to leave her Inner Space, she saw the silvery liquid condense in the air before her. It turned into a silver mask.

The mask was pure, silvery white. There were two holes for the eyes, and the lips had a small hole as a mouth.

Selene felt a shiver as she watched it, but before she could do anything, it faded into nothing.

She took a few moments, looking around before she left the Inner Space.

As she opened her eyes, she saw Beren standing above her. Cheela stood to the side while everyone else looked around, muttering amongst each other, and wandering. She also had a notification from the System, but she chose to ignore it.

Beren held a strange object. It was a doll, a very basic doll with two arms and two legs. The only special thing about it was the silver mask. It was plain, without any identifying marks. It was very similar to the mask Selene had seen in her Inner Space.

She moved her arms, pushing herself up on her elbows, causing the people around her to shift slightly. Beren clutched the doll, and frowned, while Cheela and the others readied their weapons.

Selene sat up, and put a hand on her head.

“Ugh,” she groaned. Beren put his hand in a pocket, took out a crystal, and threw it at Selene. It landed in her lap.

“Pick it up, and answer my questions,” he said in a low voice.

“What’s going on?” Selene asked.

“I’m asking the questions here,” Beren said. “Now do as I say, or we’ll have no choice.”

“Fine,” Selene grumbled and picked up the crystal. It felt smooth, and cold in her hand.

“Who are you?” Beren asked.

“Selene,” she responded, frowning. “Wh-”

“Were you ever called Meelara?” Beren interjected.

“What? No!” Selene glared at Beren and stood up. “What ar-”

“So, you are Selene, who grew up a native of Earth?” Beren continued. “You were never known as Meelara? You never orchestrated Selene’s ascension?”

“No! What the hell!?” Selene shouted. “I’m Selene! Meelara tricked me, used me! What the hell is going on?!”

Her hands shook as she clutched the crystal. Tears formed in her eyes.

Beren, and the others, remained silent for a few seconds before they breath a collective sigh of relief.

“Thank fuck!” Cheela exclaimed. “You had us worried, Selene!”

“Is anybody going to tell me what’s going on?” Selene asked weakly. “I’m tired and confused.”

“Yeah,” Beren said as he tossed the doll away. Someone cast a spell and set it on fire. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. We just had to make sure.”

“Make sure?” Selene asked, frowning. She reached up a hand and wiped the tears away. “That Meelara was dead, and I was myself?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Beren nodded and pulled up two chairs. He sat down and gestured for Selene to sit. “Meelara was not herself. She’d been taken over by a parasite. We don’t know much about the creature. They started appearing a few decades ago, and seek to steal the fate of others. They take their place, their identities, and their potential. Certain measures have been found to identify them and deal with them, but they’re not fool-proof.”

Beren sighed, rubbed his face with his hands, and leaned back in the chair. Cheela pulled over another chair and sat down.

“When she liquified and attacked you, she was trying to forcibly take control. If they can, they’d simply put their mask on you, but it’s not easy. It only works if you’re immobile, and restrained. You also have to be awake for some reason,” Beren explained in a tired voice. “Once you used that skill to travel, it seems like Meelara got the chance to invade your Inner Space. At that point, it was all in your hands. Cheela found an item, the doll I used, in the Store. After you started convulsing, your skin turned silvery, and we figured out what was happening. Cheela bought the doll, and we used it to restrain the parasite within your Inner Space, but it was still up to you to handle it. Thankfully, you managed to do it in time. I was just about to lose control over it when you woke up.”

“Yeah,” Selene sighed. Her head hung low as she focused on her breathing. “Yeah, it was close… It started moving again near the end.”

“How did you manage to defeat it?” Cheela asked.

“At first, I could only fight off its influence on my Inner Space, or rather, keep it from further influencing it,” Selene explained. “Once it froze, I drained it using Drain Life.”

“What?” Beren frowned. “You shouldn’t have survived that… Meelara possessed an immense amount of vitality.”

“Yeah,” Selene grimaced. “I felt like I was about to explode, but I managed to push the excess vitality out. It suffused into my Inner Space.”

“Oh,” Beren’s eyes widened. He leaned away from Selene. “Did anything change?”

“Yeah,” Selene nodded and hesitated. She looked at the people around her before she shook her head. “Everything gained a golden feature, like a golden trim, detail, or something like that. I also think my cap has increased drastically.”

“Huh,” Beren frowned as his hands clenched. “Any other changes?”

“None that I can think of,” Selene said. “I don’t feel any different. The only other strange thing was the mask.”

“What mask?” Cheela asked.

“Just after the parasite died, the silvery liquid seemed to evaporate, then condense again,” Selene said. “It then turned into a silver mask that looked a lot like the one on that doll.”

Nobody spoke for a few seconds before Beren turned to Cheela.

“Check through the Store,” he said. “See if you can find any information on the parasite that we don’t know. Look into the doll as well. We need to figure out if that’s from the doll, or if it’s some remnant of the parasite that lingers in Selene’s Inner Space.”

“Yes, right away,” Cheela nodded, and her eyes glazed over as if she were reading something invisible.

“I’m sorry, Selene,” Beren smiled crookedly. “But, I can’t risk more of my people. We need to keep an eye on you until we find the answer.”

“Right,” Selene’s expression fell and she slumped in the chair. “Yeah… OK.”

“Of course,” She grumbled internally. “Fucking hell! Is this it? Am I going to be a prisoner now? Why did this happen to me?”