Don't Forgive Me

Chapter 28 (updated with artwork)

The demon lifted the hoodie he had borrowed from the boy, drawing it up over his head. He swatted the little hat away that had been floating nearby. He turned to face himself in the mirror, staring tiredly at his own reflection. The beast shifted like a leaf fluttering in the wind moving to inspect the sigils on his back. The patterns reminded him of his past transgressions.

"So...this is how you've been keeping me in line...", he said, as his eyes narrowed into slits. Something in his stomach stirred when observing the faded marks. Sparks of different emotions battled inside of him, and he hated it. He broke his own anger, the roots of his hair reverting back to their normal state.

He sighed, in a way he was beginning to realize that this was much better. It took him losing all of that power to see what it had been doing to him. How it made his mental condition worse. It may be an annoyance, but who knows if he would have ever learned his lesson otherwise. In retrospect, he probably wouldn't have changed at all unless something forced him to.

It was unbearable to think that way, but it was the truth. The demon would have continued on in his twisted ways until everything reached a bitter end where it would be too late. He's reminded of his first home, the way it burned... the embers still glow hot inside his chest. His mind drifts to a hazy memory...

"So? How long have you been working on this", the man said inspecting the incomplete sigil diagram.

"Ohh, a couple of hundred years or so. I have been wanting to finish it.", the triangle sighs lowering himself in the air to get on Ford's level. "Whaddya think?". The one-eyed creature slowly floats around the man as he furrows his brow in concentration.

"Well, it seems like you're missing some key components. You got the rest by jumping through dimensions, correct?", he pushes his glasses up on his face moving some things around on his workspace.

"Yes, mostly from experience. It.. is to help me interact with other planes of existence. It is kind of a pain when I can only talk to you when you're asleep.", the demon shrugs. This garners some empathy from the man.

"Yeah, it is pretty tough. Not to mention, we would need to have an immense power source to even get a spell of this complexity up and running.", he scratches the scruff of his chin.

The whispers come to the beast just then. They switch back and forth between vague expressions of "Tell Him" and "don't mess this up". The more sinister of the thoughts began to consume his consciousness then. The one good part of himself left came through for only a moment.

"I wanna change some parts though," he said, hovering down to the sigils. His hand erased some of them, replacing them with others.

"What does that do?", the man cocked a brow at the beast.

"It just makes sure that if we mess anything up, there will be a way out of it. Just a safety measure bud." He says taking the old marks and lighting them aflame, never to be seen again.

"That's a good idea Bill.", he says looking up at his friend with a genuine smile. He put so much faith in this creature, the only one who had acknowledged him over the years. The man's face was so youthful then.

"Hey Sixer, thanks...you really didn't have to do this...", Bill said, the good part of himself that was losing almost hoping that Ford wouldn't.

"It's not a problem, anything for a friend.", he said getting to work on his side of the spell.

The constant hunger absorbed any good in Bill after that, causing him to fall right along with it. Soon, he would have everything he'd ever wanted, and more.

"I let you down...so bad.", the beast muttered. Even now the voices sometimes spoke louder than he ever did. To think he was so weak as to collapse under their pressure sickened him. Breaking things was easy, it could happen in seconds. It could take a lifetime to rebuild it; or in Bill's case, many.