"Tell me a story." Avarice said as it idly scratched at an itch for me. "You are a storyteller, yet you have hoarded your stories, kept them hidden away so no others may see them before they are ready."

"But they aren't ready yet." I said. "I still have so much to learn."

"Is twenty years of non-stop work not enough?" It asked. "We have all of the time we could ever want, why not spend it doing what you've wanted to do? I do not know what a story is, I cannot say what is good, what is bad..."

I took a deep breath.

"'The wind lashed violently across the rolling hills surrounding the city of Aster, the rain flew sideways, buffeting the armies gathered under the almost perpetually stormy skies. On one side, the Asterian army, bearing pennants that shone the golden sigil of a hand grasping a thunderbolt, while on the other, the Garudian army marched bearing the crimson standards that equally shone the sigil of a sword wreathed in flame.

Aster was a nation known for their wealth in jarred lightning, captured through long metal rods which their sorcerer-priests used to siphon off for later use. Garuda needed this lightning for further conquest, to power a war machine unlike any other.

A bolt of lightning struck the Garudians, but they were unharmed, they had spent countless months preparing for this battle, never allowing any knowledge of what they were about to do to leak out. It was only at the end of their long preparations that a lone spy was able to escape, albeit at the edge of his life.

"They come." He said. "Garuda comes."

With little time to prepare, the nation of Aster gathered what soldiers and Adventurers they could for a desperate stand against a terrible foe.

Machinists loaded large apparatuses resembling a slingshot with glass spheres filled with clear liquid, and with the pull of a trigger, these spheres were released onto the waiting Asterians. Shields were raised and the spheres shattered on contact. At first, nothing strange seemed to happen, it seemed the magical protections on the defending army had saved them from an unknown sorcery, but a clamor broke out as several soldiers, those caught in the splash zone of those spheres fell to their knees, the metal on their armor dissolving rapidly, their flesh melting from their faces.

Adventurers, conscripted to fight, tried to flee, but were shot immediately by archers, and those who remained steadfast were spared. Among them stood a man wearing cheap armor and a tattered black cloak. This man was the renowned Adventurer, Rex of Aster.

He unclasped his cloak, which was caught up by the wind and flung high into the sky, on his back was a longsword, which he drew in preparation for the fight to come.'"

Avarice traced a claw across my chest, softly enough not to break skin. "This is the man for whom you call yourself?" It asked. "Is this the ideal you, an Adventurer who does not balk in the face of danger?"

"I don't want to die." I said. "Why is it I had to kill? I could have tried to sneak in, why did you restrict my options, just to have me?"

"Because in this world, I am the only one who truly wants you." Avarice said. "Lissana took you only because you presented an unusual challenge, who kept you only because you could be useful to her. Cier kept you only because it was her will, and because you make an excellent scapegoat. Beatrice wants only your knowledge, and Draxkatar considers you a nuisance, but one he can ignore. Basha took you to pay a debt, and would have kept you still if he had been honest with himself that your only worth to him was as a Priest."

"Nash saved my life." I said.

"To save a stranger who stood so foolishly in the way of oncoming traffic, bound by the wishes of his Lady. Nobody you have met truly wishes to have you. But I do. I want all of you, your usefulness and your detriments. Who else but me can keep you safe, who can keep you warm, loved?"

"My Mom." I said.

"Be realistic, can you truly be a burden to her all of your life?" Avarice asked. "What will you do when you find your way back? Will you sequester yourself in your dark room and do nothing? Have you already not done everything you could, to the point where continued effort was meaningless? Have you not struggled to grasp even the smallest chance, on the off chance it would lead you to success?!"

I felt anger, betrayal at a world that had only ever caused me agony. "Who are they to demand you?!" It shrieked. "Who are they to look down upon you when you have given all that you are for the merest chance at happiness?! Who are they to take and never give back, who are they to look down upon you and require you never want?! Shall you clean for me for the merest chance of affection? Shall you waste your hours filling countless forms for the opportunity to slave away for the rest of your life in a job that can never support you?! All I have ever asked for is you, I have required you to do nothing, I have offered you comfort that no other gives freely, I have required no reciprocation other than to have you!"

I blinked, and I saw a distant light.

"Who are you to come here, to demand I release that which I have sworn to keep safe?!"

Something stood in front of me.

"Who are you to chase me down when I have so graciously allowed you to live?!"

A white glove was removed from a hand.

"Who are you to stand before me, demanding him like some lost property?!"

Another white glove was removed from a hand.

"Why can he never have reprieve from those who will always demand something of him?"

Silver-gray eyes narrowed slightly.

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"Why, when I ask for so little do so many shun me, why does everybody fucking hate me?!" I screamed.

Cier charged forward and punched the crystal I struggled to protect, it shattered, and Avarice was blown off my body. I slammed against the wall and heard bones break. He approached me and lifted my head and shoved a bottle into my mouth. I drank it wordlessly and I felt my wounds mend.

"What gave you the impression I hate you?" He asked. "Tricky beings, Avarice Fiends, always wanting, always taking, and always giving. To give everything, to expect everything in return, to be so vital that we must always seek them out, to be so alluring that they are hard to resist." He tossed the bottle aside and gently lifted my head up by my chin. "Nothing in this world, or any, costs nothing. Charity requires a sacrifice, selflessness requires lack, peace requires stillness. A flame consumes greedily at the candle so it may produce light, a miracle requires faith so it may grow powerful."

He hugged me. "I do not hate you, Rex. I do not think you useless, nor do I expect you to do anything. When given the chance to while away the days as a guest of my Lady, you offered recompense that was not required, you risked much so she could meet her ancestor, you showed diligence in training, in learning." He pulled away and looked into my eyes. "And when you had the opportunity to take the easy way out, you fought tooth and nail so that you had a chance to come out alive. I asked nothing of you, and you gave me everything. How could I act in any a lesser manner?"

He helped me up and I touched my chest. There was a slight scar from where the crystal had been smashed, there was nothing left of it.

"How?" I asked.

"In the face of Avarice unending, the only way to resist temptation is to remove it." He responded. "I will lament the loss of a potentially powerful tool, but mere possessions are transient, who am I to sacrifice a kind soul for an evil item?"

He had me climb onto his back and he carried me out of the cave. There were men and women with shovels just outside. I blinked and fell unconscious from exhaustion...

"Would you have been content in my arms?" Avarice no longer held me.

"Yeah." I said.

It chuckled. "Then I shall always be with you, seek me out when next I manifest, and you can have me forever."

"What would have happened if Cier hadn't come?" I asked.

"For a time, nothing would happen that you would not wish." It said. "It is the fate of those bound to me to eternally take more and more of what they want. Perhaps, if you wanted for nothing else, we could have lived in peace. You, who so desperately wants all, yet so selfishly gives all, would have made an excellent vessel."

"I don't want to lose you." I said.

"Have I not already promised?" It asked. "I shall let you be me."

With that, it dissipated from my dream, and I was left alone again...

There really wasn't much to talk about regarding the brief time I spent in the inn. I wasn't able to do much more than lay down and sleep, and even securing transport to Lissana's home required minimal effort on my end, not that I was particularly capable of doing much. I was completely drained, physically and emotionally, and I wasn't certain if it was because Avarice had finally taken hold of me, or if the loss of it affected me so much.

From a bed, to a carriage, to another, more familiar bed, I had no energy nor drive to get out of it and to resume life as it had been before. I was able to eat, and that did make me feel a little better, but doing anything to help myself was exhausting. I was just as likely to drift off to sleep in the bath as I was to in my bed.

A day, two days, a week... time became irrelevant, and nothing seemed to help. I felt completely alone, there was little to no chance that I could return to my home, and there wasn't really anything I had to look forward to. The thought of killing myself did cross my mind, but it was more of an idle checking if I would actually do it, to see if my despair had reached such a point that I would seriously consider it.

It felt ironic to me that a permanent solution to what I hoped to be a temporary problem felt like too much work to actually try, nor did it really have any appeal.

I heard a song and found myself drawn out of bed. My body felt heavy, my bare feet dragged against the polished floor, and yet I found myself drawn inexorably toward the source of the song. Once more, I found myself in the room of Lissana's ancestor, who stood in the center of the room, singing. Wisps of iridescent light floated around her, it reminded me of the Pyreflies from Final Fantasy X, and I asked, somewhat wryly, "If the souls of the dead remain, do they become Fiends?" I asked.

"Such a strange notion." She spoke as she cupped a wisp in her palm. "That the spirits of the deceased become Fiends. How do you perceive them?"

"Iridescent balls of light." I replied.

"I perceive them as little sparks of flame." She said. "Dancing through the air, transient, I am but a guide, a beacon so they may no longer be lost." She looked at me. "And yet, you are here, your spark a little brighter, your flame but a candle in the vast darkness. You do not burn out, why?"

I didn't have an answer. I walked over to the nearest wall and sat on the floor with it to my back. "I don't know." I said. "I don't want to die."

"Perhaps you are drawn to me, so that you may be reborn into this world, and thus be as one with it?" She suggested. "Am I to take you?"

"How can you stand it?" I asked. "Not being able to touch a living person?"

She drew closer, pulled her dress up, and knelt beside me. "I cannot." She replied. "But I know that when my time comes, another will take on my duty, and though it will be lonely, they will not be alone." She held her hand out. "Your life is warm to me, but it has been diminished, not in that it is shortened, but in that the tethers keeping you alive have been loosened."

"I was possessed by an Avarice Fiend recently." I remarked.

"Explain this meaning." She said.

"Basically, it controlled me." I replied. "Took over my body and made me do things I didn't want to do."

She chuckled, it was just as musical as her song. "A Fiend of Avarice does not control." She said. "It loosens restraint, what you take you take more of, always taking more and never being satisfied. It cannot make you take, but it allows you to do so without reservation. What did you take?"

"It's private." I said.

"Of course." She said with a smile. "What else would it be? Your most secret want, amplified, and granted. Did you take lives, or coin?"

"No." I said.

"Did you take virtue from women?"

I gave her a cold glare.

"Perhaps it touched you in a way no other could?" She asked. My face flushed red, and she stood. "How did it feel?"

"It felt... good." I said. "It was like I was starved, and suddenly given as much food as I wanted. Like going thirsty only to be given as much to drink as I wanted." I looked at her. "I felt... happy."

"What was it you obtained?" She asked.

"It's stupid." I replied.

"Were I to undress, so exposed to avarice, would you seek to take me?" She asked.

"No." I replied.

"So, it is not of flesh, then." She replied. "Unless, of course, it is something more subtle. A gentle caress, a loving kiss. Perhaps it was the touch of a lover?"

"No." I said. "But I guess you're just going to keep guessing."

"Until you leave, or until you speak." She replied.

"Was there ever a time you could know another person's touch?" I asked.

"When I was a young woman." She replied. "My predecessor chose many, and we were offered to take her place. We would gain little, and I accepted it, knowing it would be a long and lonely path."

"Imagine if you could have that now." I replied. "No sex, no sensual foreplay, just... having someone there who makes you feel safe."

She nodded. "And there was nobody who could grant you this?" She asked.

"How the hell would it sound?" I asked. "'Hey, Mom, could you run your fingers through my hair like you used to when I was a kid'? How about, 'Could I rest my head on your lap as we watch a movie'?" I tried to sound indignant, to be insulted, but I just sounded like an irritable kid. "It'd sound creepy as fuck."

"A platonic intimacy." She said. "Starved of meaningful contact, the Avarice Fiend would have no trouble granting you such a thing. I can see, you did not become free willingly, it was quick and violent."

"Am I a fucking idiot?" I asked.

"No." She replied. "But you are foolish. To seek such comfort from such a dangerous being, you would eventually cease to exist as you are."

"And would that be so fucking terrible?!" I snapped.

"To live in a dream, is there nothing else that drives you?" She asked. "Is there nothing to live for?"

"I don't know." I replied.

"Then, would you embrace me, so that I may ease your pain?"

"Yeah."

She hesitated before resting her hand on my face. Her gentle expression changed to one of shock. "You are not dead." She said.

She touched my face with her other hand and she smiled. I saw tears form in her eyes. "If I may be so bold, may I embrace you?"

I gave her a hug, and she held on tightly, as if I would suddenly vanish.

For all I knew, she expected it...