The Final Hope: Awakening

Chapter Eleven

"What..." stuttered Ben. He was as puzzled as I was. "What are you saying?"

"It is simple," she explained patiently. "In order to infiltrate and gather information on the draiths, I fabricated for myself the persona of a human Mia by killing one of the summoned humans and taking her place. I implanted into myself false memories, emotions and even removed my demonic consciousness and powers. In other words, the Mia you knew never existed, she was a fake. I am the true Mia. And I," she said smiling. "am a demon."

Speechless, we stared at her. And she stared back, unblinking, full of confidence. She was either telling the truth or was very good at lying. It had to be the latter, I thought. She was a demon after all, lying was supposed to be in their nature. Even though she had killed Mia, she was denying it. She had to be. False memories? Fake identity? A false consciousness? That couldn't be possible, not to mention it would have been too much of a risk since she could have easily died.

Sighing, she continued, "if you still don't believe me, you will see for yourself soon enough. Once we are finished with our conversation, I will once again remove my demonic presence, so that the Mia you knew will return- even if only temporarily."

"LIAR!" yelled Ben. "What've you done with Mia, tell us the truth!"

"I am not lying," she replied. Even now she didn't look the least bit annoyed which I found surprising. She was nothing like I had expected a demon to be. She was calm and cunning. "Also, I would advise you to refrain from screaming like that. I have used a spell to temporarily teleport this cell into an astral plane so that we may converse freely."

Immediately, I looked towards the window and the cell and realized that we were no longer in the same place. The outside looked the same except for a strange, transparent, vibrating bubble that covered our cell. It was also brighter than usual, with the single ray of light from before overshadowed by a new, mysterious source of light that came from all around us. She was right. We were in a parallel dimension.

"However, the draiths are strong and, if you yell loud enough, not even the dimensional gap could stop them from listening in on us. Not to mention the fact that I can't keep up the spell for long. Although I am strong, even I am not that strong. Whatever you wish to ask of me, ask it now. Time is of the essence."

Something about the last word knocked me out of my trance. It was amazing to be in a parallel dimension, despite looking the exact same, it felt different. Regardless, she was right, we had to speak fast.

"Can you help us escape from the ritual?" I asked. I realized now that she was the only one of us with enough power to do that. She had to.

"Not exactly," she replied smiling. "And also not directly."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" asked Ben. He didn't like her.

"Well, you see, it is essential for my plans that Alvan here goes through with the ritual. But do not fear, I will not allow him to die," she responded. Her reply threw me off, what did she mean by plans? What did she want with me? Why me?

"What do you intend to do with me?" I asked alarmed.

"All in good time," she replied smiling again. "What matters now is that you listen to me carefully. I can help you to avoid death by possession but only if you agree to cooperate. Agree to help me with my plans and I will save you."

"And what may those be," Ben retorted. "You gonna take his soul?" She laughed.

"Don't be silly," she replied. "Nobody can do such a thing. Even if I could, I still wouldn't because I need Alvan alive." Then, looking at me, she asked: "so what is your response? Will you help me or not?"