What Lies In Me

Chapter 23

"You seem distressed, Namtillaku. What's the problem?"

My eyes open. I see a never-ending plane before me, with patches of earth and darkness intermixed. Above me is a similar plane, and I am between them. I look at my hands. Thin, red flesh covers my body, pulsating with the blood running through my veins. These are the same hands that grasped for the light so long ago, the hands that longed for its warmth. These are the hands that sealed demons away, hands that indiscriminately wiped their presence from the earth.

These hands are Namtillaku's hands. My hands. I must be dreaming. I look up. Sitting on a translucent mass of swirling gray energy is another being. He is small, the size of a human child, and his eyes are alight with the mischievous nature of youth.

"Of all of the things that could happen when I threw you into that human body, I never expected amnesia to be one of them."

"Nebiru," I growl, walking forwards to face him. 'What did you do to me!?'

Nebiru giggles. "Now, or three days ago?"

My thin, red hands reach forwards and grab Nebiru by the neck, lifting him into the air. His childlike smile never leaves his face.

"What is going on!? Tell me!" I yell. Nebiru never flinches.

"It is as I just said. As you slept, I mingled your dream with a human's, and switched your souls. Do you still not remember?!"

Nothing. I feel an empty void within myself. I cannot remember anything right now, and even my memories of Brian and his friends are fading.

"Let me show you." Nebiru reaches forwards and touches my forehead, and scenes flash before me.

Thousands of years of darkness surround me, following our defeat in the uprising. My own failures have caused my death, my exile. The light appears, marking hope, love, light, warmth. I escape from the abyss, thanks to that man. I will be Namtillaku, and I will maintain life. The war follows, caused by Kingu. I have to send many demons back to the abyss, including Kingu. Asarualim employs me, and I follow him after the war's end, as his executioner. I spar against Aranunna to stay sharp, and my tenacity and constitution overwhelm him.

Kingu returns. I send him back to the abyss, but not before his servant Gibil pierces and opens my mind to the world. I become an outcast, unable to keep myself from affecting men. A millennium passes, and then another. I hone my skills, and meet with other demons in the wild. The world changes, and time obscures the mysteries of our kind. I live on, alone and broken.

I remember everything. And then...

I dream. I am in a dungeon of sorts, I don't know where. The figments of another mind swirl around me, transforming the area from stone to brick and mortar. The twists and turns of another's thoughts are too much for my mind to bear. I collapse to my knees, and feel a sharp pain in my back. Looking behind me, I see Nebiru, holding a glowing orb and a translucent knife. He slips away, and I topple to the floor, staring at the ceiling. I cannot feel my own body.

A door opens, and then closes. A human boy walks over to me, and seeing me lying on the ground, dead, tries to scream. I feel as if I am screaming with him. Screaming for him. His body begins to fall apart, and my vision halts completely.

I open my eyes. I am lying on a bench. I remember everything since. Zahrim attacks me, and I flee. I learn to reuse my powers. I fight Aranunna, and reenlist with Asarualim. I go to capture Irkingu, now for the third time. I remember it all. I am the same. I am demon and human, inseparably.

I fall back, dropping Nebiru, who drops back into a sitting position.

"Do you remember now? Who you are?"

"Why?" I groan, clutching my head. Thought and memories fill my mind, and I feel as if it will burst. "Why did you do this to me? What have you done to me!?"

"Well, if you want details, it's quite simple. Your demonic soul is now in that boy's body. Your essence, your life, it is all human now. You have all of his memories, and now you also have all of yours. His experiences and your experiences shape you, and you are now reborn!"

"But why!? Why did you do this to me!"' I shout.

"I wanted to see what would happen." Nebiru giggles, in spite of my fury. "That's why I sent Irkingu back. That's why you are in human form! That's why I sent you dreams of your former life. That is why you are here! I simply was curious as to what would happen."

"But why him? What happened to him?"

"I had no real reason for picking Brian over the other seven billion humans. Perhaps his dreams were interesting, or convenient. Doesn't matter. As for where he is now... he is in a sort of stasis, back in the abyss. He isn't feeling any pain, nor is he aging. He just is."

"You can't do that! It interferes with everything the master stands for!"

"The master is omniscient. He is allowing this, because he knows that Brian will not stay in the abyss forever. Isn't that right?"

My very soul feels torn apart. The harm that this demon has done since he was born into this world eclipses the damage of any other demon alive.

"I will kill you." I walk towards Nebiru. "I will destroy you so that you cannot destroy anyone else!"

Nebiru chuckles. "If you kill me, the link between these two realms, every demon alive will die."

"Maybe that'd be worth it." I snarl. Nebiru's expression changes. For the first time, he looks frightened.

"You... you can't! You'd die!"

"I might. This would be for Brian. It's for his friends. It's for humanity." I reach out and grab Nebiru by the hair, lifting him up again. "It would all be better if you would just DIE!"

"If you kill me, Brian will be stuck in limbo forever!"

I stop. He's right. I don't know why the master allowed this to happen, but he's right. Cursing, I toss Nebiru by the hair, and he tumbles away.

"I will eventually find Brian, and I will give him life again. Then I will come here and kill you."

"I will wait for you." Nebiru's smile has returned. "This may be a war I cannot win or lose. There is no human I cannot hold against you. And look, you are human yourself! There is only one way this will end."

"The master will eventually take care of you."

"Yes, he will. In the meantime, go your way. You have people waiting for you."

"Waiting for Brian, you mean. You've destroyed his life! He can't just come back to it!"

"No, waiting for you. Goodbye!"

Everything around me returns to black.