As the tool sank into Lirran, his awareness sank away. He found himself in a complete darkness, a pressure around him that was absolute, pushing his mind to stay together somehow, as his body dissolved into pure burning pain like paper thrown into a fire, the frayed pieces rising with the hot air as they turned to ash. He could not look around, turn his mind somewhere else or even conjure up a single thought, only perceive what was around him. Then, he saw a faint light. Like a bed, a mass of seafoam was ahead and he sank into it.

He was at peace, he knew even in his death, he was in good hands, Kaza’s hands. He realized that he loved her for this, in a way. He thanked her. He felt his evil being gone, all his horrid selfishness, impulsivity, rage, lust, all of it was being burned away as a tiny ember of light remained within, like a lone seashell in the sands of an entire beach. But at least there had been a little one of good within him.

And still it was worth it.

Had that been his thought? He did not know, he just lied there, caressed by seafoam, at peace. Then, again, he heard a thought, in her voice like a chiming bell reverberating off the sheer rock walls of a valley.

I am infinitely sorry. I wish my kind could shed tears like you. I wish I could have avoided this, but there was no path in the grand design where it was avoidable.

He responded not, he had not the strength to think. The seafoam bed moved like the waves, washed him somewhere.

I had to do this. I had to.

The movement of the waves felt invigorating, as if something grew within him. I think I am fine, my light. I am fine with you doing it. I told you, didn’t I? That you should just kill me to save everyone else.

But I didn’t. I told you, you are everyone else. I saved you. Or at least a tiny part of you.

I do not understand.

I know it felt like death. That was the point. I could never have done all of that after revealing this to you: you passed. You did splendid work. I needed you to experience it in full fear and certainty of death. And it worked. Your body is convinced your mind is dead, your mind is convinced your body is dead.

You tricked me?

I led you into darkness. Is that not what you agreed to?

It is.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

This is the fear I had to impart on you, the darkness that I had to flow out of me and into you.

And now? Will I heal?

I am healing you, yes, your mind as I am doing with your body. Now that I have taken the two apart by tricking each, I shall reunite them and show them, there is betterment on the horizon, even if it is distant. Now that you have faced the fear of death, you can face it with ease and care, not be taken over by it in a panic.

Lirran relaxed his mind, strained from the little thinking he had done, and instead felt the waves of seafoam upon him. He felt more and more the concreteness of the waves and the world around him took more and more of a shape. The two worlds seemed to come closer together and he saw the sky above him, dark and with stars. Some of the stars moved in an odd pattern, stretching into lines like rivers before fading and reappearing. As he felt the waves massage his body, he felt it more concrete, as if each wave was a call of his body to his mind Here I am! Come back to me! Take possession once again and let us both start life anew! and finally he realized that the stars he saw moving where the moonlight reflecting off Kaza’s wet body. Her mantle was still wrapped around him, her muscles undulating across his slimy skin.

He began moving his head and realized in shock that in her ritual, Kaza had pushed away all of his clothes. He was buck-naked, and the tzappatt who never wore clothes was on top of him!

He wanted to make an alarmed exclamation and rise up, but the moment he tried, his entire body strained in protest, as if every inch of his flesh had been pounded by a meat tenderizer, disobeying his command in a protest of exhaustion. He had to watch and feel as his chosen female master, a mistress so to say, was using her entire body to caress his.

His face must have contorted somewhat, because Kaza saw him and moved her head to him and spoke to his mind not yet fully merged with his corporeal self.

Are you distressed by this? Do not be. I know enough of your kind's anatomy to avoid any unwanted sensations, this is a purely medicinal act. Relax your mind and steer it away from such thoughts as I bring your body and mind back to life. Let this be a lesson in self-control, young man.

She began to hum a tune that could have very well been a lullaby. He tried to think of something else and then remembered what the first thing was she had offered him as food. He imagined her eating all parts of a human corpse, of sailors, most of them men. He steered his thoughts elsewhere with all the mental force he had. He thought of the food he was missing so much, cooked and spiced. He never would have thought he would miss vegetables, but a nice carrot and some cabbage would certainly make him rejoice now. He missed solid ground that didn’t move. He missed a warm, dry handshake. The coldness was most of what kept him under control of him this time.

Eventually, he drifted into a dream of rolling waves rocking him into a world of smells, tastes and sounds that seemed foreign and unknown yet soothing. He heard the entire ocean as if it was a single room, the waves crashing from shore to shore, cracks in the ground forming and boiling rock pouring out, the blowing of wind, the grinding of ice, and in the background of it all, a constant churning of torrents so vast they would fill the rivers of all the world many times over.

As he drifted on, he heard a voice whisper to him. When you wake up, you will see land and a town by a river. Buy provisions for a long journey of ours together across the seas and along the coasts, don’t worry about the money. Then I can tell you about our route.