“So how does this work,” Len asked.
“It’s a simple enough process to begin,” said Pitch, tone implying that this was all more effort than it was worth. “You set your will to the task of synchronizing with them and then you break them.”
“Break them?”
“You test your willpower against theirs. If it is greater, you will subjugate them, gain their servitude up to a point and, at the very least, their reluctant obedience. Fail, and they do what they wish to us both. Given that they’ve made those wishes quite plain, it will not end well.”
“That was all simultaneously vague and terrifying. You’re suggesting that I’ll be making slaves out of them?”
“Not precisely. Never fear, I wouldn’t want to taint your delicate sensibilities with such foul deeds. It will assuredly be equatable to imprisonment, but it’s not like you’re completely robbing them of their autonomy… just most of it.”
“That doesn’t make it sound any better.”
“It’s not,” Pitch seemed to shrug. “But it’s your only option besides letting me devour them. I suppose you could just let them go, but do you really believe that to be a good option?”
Len glanced down at the leashed figure. The headless knight remained motionless, but the forked weapon it held lashed out with a manic energy that came at her in waves. The roiling contempt and hate that it spewed forth was more than enough to make it clear to her that they would come after her again, would come after anyone close to her, and they would exact a heavy price for any mercy she showed. It left a bad taste in her mouth to do this to them but weighed against the other choices, she supposed she’d have to find a way to live with it.
“Show me.”
She expected more protestations from Pitch, the thing had been aggressively clear in how much it didn’t like this option. To her surprise, though, she felt only acknowledgment of the command. As with most times she dealt with the creature, the exact nature of how it passed knowledge to her felt strange. It was never exactly a conversation, so much as a sort of sharing of feelings. So it was here.
Moving on impulse rather than any real understanding of what she was doing, Len knelt in front of the fork. The three tines hummed angrily at her, struggling against her every move. She ignored them. Pressing her thumb against the tip of the middle tine, she winced slightly and felt her flesh give way, sending a drop of blood down the tine.
And then she was somewhere else. No longer in the field of frozen time with the others present, she was alone. Wait, no, not alone. She was standing in a void somewhat like when she’d first met Pitch. Everything around her shifted with an oily blackness that felt somehow alive and not at the same time. But none of that was what gave her the sense of another’s presence. No, that was coming from… there?
She followed the sensation without really knowing what any of it meant, operating on the same instinct that had gotten her into this mess. She had no idea how long she walked, time having little meaning in an endless abyss of nothingness, but eventually she found herself in front of some sort of cocoon. A frail-looking human was encased beneath the thin webbing that made up the cocoon, he looked close to death.
“Erm… hello?” she said carefully. The man’s eyes snapped open.
“Who are you?”
“Lenore,” she said blandly. “Who are you?”
“No one important,” the man said. “Just someone who bit off more than he could chew and failed.”
“Oh hell no,” Len snapped. “None of that! Explain yourself properly.”
The figure started at her tone, confused.
“Fine. I made a pact that I couldn’t support.”
“Again with the pact stuff. I take it you’re the guy that made the deal with those crazy kids?”
“Oh, they’re no children,” said the man. “I can feel the touch of one of their kin on you, so you know perfectly well that they’re beyond such descriptions. Maybe they took that form because they saw some weakness in me to exploit, maybe they did it because it amused them, but whatever they are, they’re monsters.”
“Trust me, mate, I’m used to that. Or did my stunning dark elf physique not clue you in?”
“What are you talking about? You’re a human like me?”
Len balked for a moment.
“Come again? I look human to you?” her hands snapped up to her ears, the most obvious feature she’d had to get used to. Round, familiar. More than that, her hair was no longer the almost silky texture she’d gotten used to, but a firmer, more temperamental mane that required more dedicated care. It felt amazing.
“What is this?” she asked in confusion.
“You expect me to have an answer to that? I’ve been trapped here for I don’t even know how long. I barely remember anything from before I made my pact.”
“Right, about that… I guess I’m here to take that off your hands? I’ll be honest, I’ve got no idea how this is all supposed to work, I just know that I need to beat those two to get on with my day. Something about a battle of wills or some such.”
“Well, it’s not my place to try and stop you, I failed long ago, but I’d advise against it. You can’t imagine the lengths those two will go through to drive you mad. I fought as long as I could but gave in eventually and hid here with what little was left of myself. Even if you win, you’ll lose to them eventually.”
“Yeah, well that’s Future Len’s problem. Right Now Len has the problem of catching them. Any idea where they’d be? I’m pretty sure that they’re still trapped by my pactmate out in meatspace, but I don’t want to rely on that for longer than I have to.”
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“I don’t really have a way of knowing that, either,” he said. “I’ve been here the entire time, I can feel flashes of what they’re up to, but not where they are. It was the tradeoff I made to keep even this little bit of myself.”
“Don’t suppose I could convince you to hop out of there and give me a hand with this? Seems like, given the fact that you stand to benefit the most from this little action of mine, you should at least have a hand in earning your own freedom.”
“I can’t,” he yelled, all composure vanishing in an instant. “You don’t understand what they’ll do to me if they catch me. It’ll be bad for you, but for me? Everything that I am will be destroyed. I won’t risk that for anyone, least of all someone who may be a figment of my imagination. Or a trap! You could be a trap! Did they send you?! Did they think they could lure me out? You can’t, do you hear me you bastards?! I won’t let you!!!”
Len backed away slowly at that. Whatever was going on in that man’s head, best to leave him to it rather than be sucked in. Maybe subduing the two would help bring him back, maybe it wouldn’t, but whatever happened, he wouldn’t be any use to her just yet, so it was time to move on. She awkwardly bowed slightly at the now thoroughly raving man then turned her back to him and wandered off in a new direction, chosen pretty much at random.
She wasn’t following any particular sense of direction, didn’t have any strong reason to feel that this was the way to go but somehow she just felt like it was the best option. As she walked she started to hear a strange humming that felt like it was just behind her but every time she turned to look for it it would vanish. Bit by bit, the sensation became stronger and took the form of a lullaby, hummed in just such a way that she couldn’t make out the words but felt it nagging at her more with each passing second. Any time she tried to shift to follow the sound, it would vanish, so she eventually resolved to just keep walking and do her best to ignore it. Before long, she found herself in a white clearing amidst the void, the girl sat there humming the pleasant tune without a care in the world.
“I’ll admit,” said Len wryly. “This isn’t quite what I was expecting.”
“About time you got here,” the girl said, mock-petulantly. “I’ve been waiting for hours.”
“Oh please, like time matters to whatever you are. So, what’s the deal? No brother waiting to back you up? Do we just fight to the death here, or what? I wouldn’t mind a pointer or two.”
“Oh, never mind about my dear brother. I’m afraid you won’t be getting to see him. Your journey will end here and now, since you’re such a foolish little thing.”
“No no, by all means, go on about how foolish I am for not killing you outright. It won’t at all make you sound like a boring failure of a c-rank anime villain.”
That got a blink of confusion out of the girl, but she quickly shook it off.
“And why shouldn’t I? It’s completely true. You had us at your mercy and instead of striking the final blow with your servant, you came here. All just to acquire some more servants. Greed has undone you.”
“You think it’s greed making me do this? Kid, I’ve got enough servants. And minions on top of that. Only reason at all that I’m bothering with any of this is that I don’t love the idea of taking lives I don't need to. Also, Pitch didn’t want to do it, so it seemed like all the more reason TO do it.”
“Again with the Naming. I’m surprised it let you do that. It is beneath us.”
“Having a name is beneath you?”
“We are beyond such mortal desires. To be named is to be limited, to be given shape. To be less than.”
“Sure thing, Cammie,” said Len with a wicked smile.
“What?!” the girl, now named Cammie, sputtered.
“Your name. It’s Cammie now. Congrats.”
“You think that just because you choose to call me a thing, that you’ve Named me?! Think again… wait, weren’t you a dark elf? The skin’s right, but what happened to your ears and hair?”
“Sorry, that’s a detail I only share with my friends, Cammie. If you want to know more, you’ll have to sign up with me.”
“I don’t care THAT much,” the girl snapped, then launched a wave of rippling nothingness at her.
Len didn’t really get the rules of this place, but she felt like she might be starting to. She could try to dodge it, might even succeed, but that wouldn’t solve the problem. If this was to be a test of wills, she needed to prove that her will really was the stronger. Gritting her teeth and setting her stance, she placed both arms in front of her and let the attack hit her head-on.
It was a searing pain, to be sure, but it was hardly the worst she’d faced. It coursed through her nerves, sending each one to cry out in alarm that she was under assault but in the grand scheme of things, it was barely more than a second of the pain she endured any time she relied on Pitch to boost her allies. The wave passed, and she was left standing there blinking in surprise.
“I’ll be honest, Cammie, I was expecting a bit more for how hyped you were coming into this. Hell, Pitch made it sound like it would be the greatest trial imaginable and not at all worth the risk. Are you telling me that a little pain is all you have going for you? Babe, I’ve been dealing with pain longer than you could imagine.”
“You think you can handle pain,” Cammie shot back. “Let me show you pain.”