“The Light is with me and will…” Lera pressed out. The black crystal around her neck answered by sending deep darkness and biting pain through her mind and body once more.

  Nia’s face twisted. Flickering rage surfaced on her features, her glowing eyes widened, her red skin turned paler, and her lips trembled. She finally lifted Lera by the outstretched arm and took some deep breaths, then smiled coldly again. Nia tilted her head, scanning Lera, pondering. After what felt like forever, she nodded.

  To Lera's horror, black mist flowed from Nia’s dark hair and transformed into thin, black tendrils that began tearing her uniform apart. She desperately tried to brace herself, to fortify her body and clothing, yet she moved only slowly and clumsily. Before long, she was hanging helpless and naked from Nia’s outstretched hand, her uniform, belt, and boots falling down in shredded pieces. Her arm guards were forced away as well, reduced to useless, shiny plates of metal on the ground. Cold wind tore at her skin, and bottomless shame, hatred, and despair flushed her cheeks warm. Then she crashed into the hard ground.

  For a moment, she felt herself receding into her blackened Inner World, until pain around her neck dragged her back.

  Nia sat down beside her and ran her hands through the earth, casually, as if they were sitting near one of the beaches by the Bloodied Sea, skipping stones.

  “You know, trash, when I accepted your hospitality, you taught me a lot. About your depravity. You thought you’d have me forever in your iron grip, didn’t you? Why didn’t you simply wake me up?” Nia asked, sounding genuinely interested.

  “It is not allowed to wake the Possessed. It’s too rare to catch one of you… It’s up to the Exorcists in Gilt to interrogate them and learn everything about them… No. You won’t get anything more out of me…” Lera whispered, trying to cover herself somehow, though her arms barely moved.

  Nia ignored her and sent another wave of pain through the needles in Lera’s neck, making her whimper.

  “Why did you torture me? Try to break me?” Nia continued, her index finger resting against her mouth, rubbing her lips in thought. Her posture was relaxed, her eyes shining, a twinkle of something vast flickering among the crimson.

  “Because… because I wanted to interrogate you… You are a Possessed,” Lera squealed.

  The spark in Nia’s eyes grew, light sapphire blue flaring within them. She raised a hand toward her own face, inspecting her skin.

  “I am, yes. I understand that now. Though… I think I am also more. The gorge whispers in my heart, the abyss you cried about like a little scared...” She shook her head and turned her attention fully to Lera again. “You are lying, though. You did not want to interrogate me. You never truly asked questions. I understand you now: You wanted revenge on us for something others did. You mistreated me horribly, like a piece of shit, trying to break me. And you almost… almost succeeded. Yet you never wanted to know anything from me. Nothing substantial. Not even from Uda, I believe. Why? Why did you do all this…?”

  “Because I HATE YOU! I HATE POSSESSED BITCHES LIKE YOU!” Lera screamed, rising up. The black crystal collar threw her back down, and the burning needles in her neck made her claw at it desperately, to no avail.

  She felt herself hit the smooth floor again and tasted dirt as Nia pressed her face into the ground with her bare foot, no anger but coldness behind the pressure. Rancid earth forced its way into Lera's mouth and she gagged.

  Shall I swallow it, suffocate myself? Wake myself up, save myself from… her? But perhaps I deserve this. I let them down… Ai, Cal…

  For one terrible moment, she opened her mouth to let it all in, to cut off all air and wake. Yet she had not earned it. She had earned nothing but pain.

  Then Lera was ripped up by her hair once more, wet with snot and tears, facing Nia’s terribly gentle smile again, red and corrupted. Desperate, she clawed at the collar once more, uselessly.

  “You’ve been rude too many times now. We are having a conversation here, you inhuman trash. I think you need to be put into your rightful place more clearly. Even though your mind begins to realize who you are, and despite the guilt you carry for all those innocent people you let run into their waking, your arrogance remains. Though, you know what? You did teach me a valuable lesson when I was your slave.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Nia stood, looking toward the Seed in the distance, nodding to herself. Then she turned back, her face hard, her eyes flaring again.

  “Temporary consequences taught me nothing. After all, I endured till now. Pulled through. Helped by my friends. Helped by Uda and the abyss. Permanence, however, is the language I would have fallen prey to. I will not make your mistake when breaking you. So, all punishments will be permanent. To make you understand what consequences truly are…” she whispered, lost in thought.

  Before Lera could process the words, biting pain shot into her fingertips that still tried to scratch off the crystals around her throat. She let go, and when she looked at her hands, she screamed. A web of black crystal crawled over her palms, wrapped around her wrists, and continued growing over her exposed forearms, soon reaching her elbows. She desperately tried to claw it off, to tear it away, yet only broke her fingernails. A web-like structure grew down her neck, over her shoulders, breasts, belly, lower abdomen, and finally her legs and feet. Then the burning crystal coalesced, covering all her skin from the neck down in jagged, tormenting black crystal. Only a few spots at her joints remained free, allowing movement. The black, reflective armor tightened painfully against her body.

  “I take it you didn’t want to be naked. I get that. So this will be your new outfit. You gave me a dress, so I give you one as well. Well, not exactly a dress, though. More useful.”

  Tiny needles sprouted from every inch of the black crystal, piercing the covered skin. Lera screamed and screamed and screamed until her throat was dry and sore.

  “Who… are… you?” Nia asked, closing her eyes, waiting for the answer.

  “I… am a worthless… piece of trash. Trash…” Lera finally gasped.

  The pain lessened slightly, though it remained strong enough to draw tears from her eyes.

  She recognized the sensation in the needles with horror and defeat. That filthy Lucidity. The same Lucidity she had seen turn others inward was now turning her. Guilt forced its way in, violating her.

  “Well done, trash. I hope you like your new outfit. I think it suits you. If you don’t love it yet, you will after the next Thousands.” Nia opened her eyes again, smirking as she strolled toward the wall still surrounding them.

  Her hands traced her own dress, white and fused with Lera’s Lucidity and the Light. Soon the colors faded and darkness ate its way in. Twisting and restitching, the dress changed shape, becoming elegant, black, and covered in red patterns. Elegant boots formed on Nia’s feet. She moved across the plain to test them, almost like a dancer at one of the balls sometimes thrown after a Tide was stopped or a new victory, however small, was achieved against the Nightmares. By Sisona, how Lera hated those balls...

  Perhaps I already knew I did not belong to those elegant people... so free of sin... my fault...

  “Much better. Suits me, does it not?” Nia looked at her as if expecting a compliment.

  Lera gargled blood and unintelligible sounds. Her thoughts were laced with Guilt and confusion. She no longer knew whether to feel grateful that her skin was covered again or to hate Nia for driving the needles into her.

  “Mmmh, good. Good girl. That is what you would have said, at least. I am not you, though. Still, I think you need punishment. Because you deserve it and you know that. Because you betrayed your own. And, of course, because you made me eat dirt and that filthy cheese, tortured me, forced Uda and me to say those terrible things…”

  That other one… I should have woken her as well… my fault…

  “Oh, if you only knew, trash…” Nia said softly. “Uda still managed to comfort me. You thought you were clever, yet she was far cleverer than you. And you know what? She was not a Possessed. Not her. She was just a friend I met. Someone who loved me even though I am faulty. Even though we knew each other for half a day. And you TORTURED HER FOR HER KINDNESS! YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHITTY FUCK!”

  Nia screamed, burning rage breaking through her voice for the first time. The ground shook beneath their feet, black sparks cracking through the air, spraying hissing droplets of dark liquid everywhere. Some hit the parts of crystal that covered Lera, others her skin at her joints. The droplets hissed as they ate away her flesh, melting it, fusing the idea of pain right into her skin.

  What did she say?

  Lera’s eyes widened. Shock and tears struck her like kicks to the stomach and she spat blood. Perhaps she would wake from the wounds Nia's droplets had inflicted. Her hope was shattered as the crystal stuck to her skin with the needles, pressing into her and forcefully mended the wounds.

  She is lying. LYING!

  “You possessed filth! You shitty lying fucking—”

  Nia slapped her. It barely hurt compared to everything else, yet the blue tears in Nia’s eyes and the contempt on her face tore into Lera’s core, shredding what little sanity she had left.

  “No… she is a Possessed…!” Lera heard herself screech, as if someone else were speaking through a veil of agony.

  Nia raised her hand again, trembling. Then she smiled and even began giggling. Madness returned to her voice for a moment.

  “You disgusting trash! Of course she is not Possessed. She is attuned to the dark, I think. Though Uda... Her heart is golden. She is the kindest person I have ever met. She only wanted to protect the people she loved. And you FUCKING HELD HER LIKE A SLAVE!”

  The earth around them rose and twisted. The stench of garlic and aster filled the air.

  Is she right? Or is this her Guilt breaking into my mind again? No… it is not moving… Was I… did I… no… Please, no… I did not… Uda… you were a… no… I did not… I couldn’t have… Forgive me… anyone… it is my fault...

  Shattered fragments of Lera’s mind welled up within her. Guilt and shame consumed nearly everything she felt and breathed. The worst part was knowing the Deepest, Nia’s Guilt, was something she had helped create.

  It was not even acting.

  No Lucidity.

  No invasion of thought.

  It merely let her own guilt devour her.