TO DAZZLING DARKNESS, scraps

01 | Human-Clad Monster (1)

Author's Note:
I am going to do my best to explain everything I need to before I present this entry.

1) this is AU work for fire emblem echoes. Specifically, an AU where Duma possesses Fernand's corpse. Everything about it is a draft at this point, but I like writing this concept.

2) I do not write everything from start to finish. I may post pieces that are connected, but they rarely happen one after the other. I will fill in with parts that add to the previous pieces when I write them.

3) I don't think this one needs any warnings. I will give warnings for each subsequent entry.

4) this one is actually separated into a few smaller segments that work together.

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01.1 | A bored god entertains the thought of reincarnation

Perhaps if the Mad God weren't so persistent, his existence would have been forgotten by now. But persistence is what divides man and god. Man persists in order to live. Their innate desire for happiness is what drives them. Gods persist in pursuit of a greater goal driven by mankind's wishes. Duma, however, was driven by his own wishes. Perfect justification for violating a corpse in his own temple.

Actually finding a body was the easiest part. The previous ordeal left many candidates for a new vessel. But out of all of the bodies that lay in his wake, one stood out. Despite its state, he could sense potential in this one, the emotions of its final living moments - the wrath, the anguish, the remorse, everything the vessel had felt was available to him.

Hell, one could say that Duma had gotten lucky. It was rare for anyone to return to the temple to retrieve a corpse. It was just as rare for a corpse to be saved with the water of revival. This was perfect. Too perfect, even. A circumstance this rare just had to come with a drawback. Of course it did. The effects of the water of revival were potent at the price of slow activation. Even with what remained of Duma's power, it would take seasons before a vessel could move again. It didn't help that he had found the vessel in such a terrible state. The burns and lacerations were an issue, yes, but only surface level. They would heal in time. Decay, which had set quickly in the damp, dimly-lit halls of the temple, would not. While the water of revival restored the vessel, there was no guarantee the rot that already set in would disappear. Fortunately though, the corpse seemed to be relatively healthy and now lay comatose in a makeshift infirmary.

But the Mad God's problems didn't stop there. He wasn't infiltrating an empty husk. This was a human being with its own conscience. Even worse, his new vessel had harbored feelings against him well before its death. Cooperation would be a challenge. To force the vessel into submission would break it. There would be no use for a mindless puppet just yet. But being too soft wouldn't allow him to mold it to his needs. The best choice was to settle on a middle ground between both ideologies like the Saint-King preached, an option he didn't want to consider.

After all, if the Mad God weren't so persistent, he wouldn't have gotten this far, so what would be the point in stopping now? What did he have to lose aside from the sanity of a potential enemy?

Besides his own life, of course.

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01.2| A sinner finds salvation in the depths of his own hell

"You're awake. Took you long enough."

A dull pain throbbed in Fernand's chest, the first he had felt in years. Not just pain, but a clamor in his head that refused to die out. It felt so natural to him, yet so foreign. But that wasn't the worst part of it. Someone else was here, which raised more questions. Why was he here, returning to a world he didn't deserve? How was he here, even? More importantly, who was this voice, just as unwarranted as his revival?

"How ungrateful of you to not acknowledge your god." Fernand recognized the voice, and his blood ran cold. No. This couldn't be real. This wasn't real, right? This was just damnation, a vision of the hell he was subject to until the end of time. He'd soon wake up from this terror and it would be over with.

"You do not need to fear the truth. You do not need to fear me." Duma's almost abrupt change in tone made Fernand unnerved, yet simultaneously at ease. He didn't want to admit it, but the Mad God was right. There was no point in being afraid of nothing more than a voice in his head. That was the last thing on his mind right now.

Taking a quick look at his surroundings, Fernand let out a sigh of relief. At least one of his questions had an answer. "Wait. I've been here before. That means..."

"Did you say something?" Duma asked, only to be ignored. "Listen to me. Do you not respect your god?"

"I don't have time for you." Fernand dragged himself to the edge of the bed. "What I need now is to-"

"I will not allow you to dismiss me any longer. You need to learn your place... What are you doing?" Fernand stopped moving as a numb feeling coursed through his legs. "Look at yourself. Do you not recognize your own limits? Your legs are paralyzed. Nothing more than dead weight you are forced to carry. But... I can soothe that burden. I will heal you-"

"In exchange for what?"

"Why do you assume I want something in return?" With every word, Duma tried to suppress his anger. "Do you not trust me?"

"Do I have any reason to?" Fernand knew it was a dumb question to ask, but he felt the need to anyway. "I've seen what you are capable of. I have witnessed what happens to those who trust you."

"And yet that did not deter you from siding with the empire until your dying breath."

Those words alone made Fernand's blood boil. Who was Duma to assume he chose to stay with Rigel despite everything? That bastard knew nothing about the circumstances he was subject to. "I didn't have a damn choice!" He almost shouted. "You wouldn't understand. I have nothing to return to. No one to rely on anymore-"

A deranged laugh drowned out the rest of what Fernand had to say. "I would not jump to that conclusion so quickly if I were you. Obviously, someone cared enough to bring you here."

Once again, Fernand wished for Duma to be wrong. "Please, just stop."

"Your lack of respect for me is wearing my patience thin," Fernand could feel the bitterness in Duma's voice, but no longer found the energy to care. "But I will humor you just this once. I will stop for now. As for my offer, come back to me when you are ready."