It could be a pig.


    They’ve got human appearing hearts. Don’t they?


    Nostrils flaring at the coppery scent that now clung to her awareness. Julia moved to place the pot with care beside Wajet and knelt with it between them. Yet that gentle care didn’t extend to him as she caused the tendril around his head and neck to yank him brutally upright. As his pain-filled eyes speared towards her, empty hands curled into fists. Being so close to him was enough to make her skin crawl, yet the truth was the only thing that mattered presently. Growing tentacles to support him, she turned him to face towards the pot as even as Telepathy went on.


    {{Kill him}}


    “Looks like I hit you a little hard. Where did this come from?”


    Even as he squirmed against the tentacles, she reached into his mind; thoughts and images filtering through his bile.


    ##Gah this hurts so much, need to make her argh. Will spit in this smug whore’s face. I’ll make her pay. Stupid bitch, when she leaves, I’ll find out her ‘True Name’ and teach her a lesson. Tras’laqì will pay! Grandfather’s bowl holds his ‘True Name’. I ordered him to help me summon a Succubus. He’ll pay for his betrayal. Why did the circle not hold? He said it would summon a young Succubus with ease.


    Argh hurts so much. Bitch, I’ll teach her for disrespecting me, she wouldn’t dare to kill me. I’ll make her pay. This Pain. Like blades. I’m going to cut out her heart, like the sacrifice. Will make her regret this, make her do the most filthy things.##


    Shaking her head, Julia pulled her focus from him; knuckles already aching from the tension in her fists.


    Tras’laqì’s ‘True name’ binds him to the call of the bowl. No wonder he wants this book. He answered with the truth, but not all the truth. This guy was too dumb to see his games. Wonder what I missed in our discussion? The idiot thought questions answered gave him the whole truth. No doubt he was told just enough to summon; not control.


    “You’re already filthy enough. Coming here to answer your call, was the most filthy thing I’d done yet. Maggot.”


    {{yet}}


    As his rant and images continued, she shut off Telepathy, rage burning through all attempts at calm. Yet his most horrific visualisation didn’t come close to what she’d already seen or feared for herself. Julia had seen enough; she’d seen more than enough. That girl should be alive!


    I want {{out}} of this nightmare.


    “So you thought the bowl made you his ruler. He likely told you facts worded to suit your stupidity. Dung brains, you got played! Even I was already sure I got played.”


    Need {{out}}


    She died for him to summon me? Fuck, fuck, fuck he killed her. Didn’t look big enough even to be a high schooler. Yet now she’s dead. Cause this arse wanted to get one over some noble. Dead because he summoned me.


    Why!


    “Why did she die?”


    The confusion in his eyes made Julia''s fists tighten. The ligaments in knuckles creaking under the pressure, as if she was trying to drive her own nails into her palms.


    ((His choice, not your own. Death does not equal damnation. Have hope for all of us.))


    We both died. They held a funeral for me. Do you even have a family to miss you little one?


    The room swayed and rocked, its dimensions shifting, flexing in her awareness. Back and forth. Back. Again.


    I didn’t want someone to die.


    Only wanted to be {{free}}.


    How could he kill her? She was a child. Can I only leave if someone innocent dies?


    I want to stay free, no more innocents dying.


    As pain cracked its way through Julia''s controls, she felt all her contained sorrow and pain shaking through her body. A chance to mourn, for the girl, herself. A chance to scream and rave. The Abyss was never a place to show pain, yet that wasn''t where she was now. Pain and Sorrow didn’t spear her or torment her, they just gathered, swelling, pulling everything in like a black tidal wave bearing down on the shore.


    I’m {{out}}.


    I’m {{out}}, and that girl died to get me out. I feel so filthy? I didn’t know!


    I want {{OUT}}. Let me {{Free, of this Curse.}}


    {{Let me out!!}}


    Muscles tightening, she closed her eyes at the torrent of emotions rolling through her. The Ki felt distant unheeding even as the tide of emotion hit her. She heard muffled noises coming from somewhere close at hand. As she splashed water on her face, it ended, but the water was so refreshing. So Rich in flavour, warm, so sweet.


    Blackness.


    {{Free}}


    Warm broth. Drinking it in. Savouring it. Guzzling it down. Rich treats popping on her tongue.


    Cool wind on her skin, soaring, diving, chasing, screaming.


    {{Out.}}


    ((Kill)) {{those}}


    Damp earth underfoot. Fast movements, the sounds of silk tearing, steel bells chiming near.


    Playing games, flickering fun, tag.


    Cool wind on her skin, moisture tickling her nose, clean sweet water slid on her tongue.


    Sensations flickering across her mind.


    {{Out}}


    Warmth filling, seated lips bared at the darkness glittering above. Darkness.


    The water’s scent cried out like soft crystals chiming to her sense.


    Such a hard choice, lie by the pool or get in for a soak. Feel so full. Hmm, did I put on sunscreen after lunch?


    Yet a soak that sounded good. The sun''s in my eyes. When did I put sunscreen on last? How long have I been asleep? Wait, what, asleep? Yuck, the wind’s blowing wrong.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "{{Out}}."


    Out? The word echoed in her ears from somewhere so close, too close for comfort. It startled her, made her skin jump.


    Sitting bolt upright, the scene around snapped into focus as eyes took in the details in flickering stabs. Every detail presented seized by her mind while trying to reconcile the gap in memories. The last thing remembered had been in that drab chamber, and now she was, well, not even in a building. The view from the rise made it seem as if well above a riverbank. Yet nothing like the Nile she remembered seeing. So if this was in Egypt, it wasn’t even an ancient form of the one Julia knew.


    Wooded green lands ran in both directions away from the river bank. Dew speckling the ground spoke of early morning, so if the dawn was eastwards, the river’s slow meandering flow was heading southwards, not north. Shadows flickered across her from the murder gathered in the trees and circling overhead; while others were feasting on meat, laying beyond an invisible line. Not a single crow seemed to want to get close to her, not even in a tree.


    Bodies.


    Torn and dismembered flesh and scattered organs alike sat leaking fluids into the grass.


    I’m noticing stuff about the landscape, and it takes crows to make me see the bodies.


    Deeper into the woods towards the dawn, she could hear the tap-tapping of beaks endeavouring to strip flesh from bone. The cawing crows filled the air with sound, as they sought the feast she’d laid out for them. Blood welling out of sundered flesh, slowly falling to feed the earth, possessions and meat alike scattered about as if in a frenzy. Staggering upright, her feet pushed against a metal helm, the contact causing her to look down. The bloody hollows in the mauled face looked back before it tipped and thumped away. Her emotions didn’t even twinge except satisfaction.


    As her eyes lingered on the fleeing head, memories swam to greet her conscious mind. Pre-dawn darkness still grasping sky, tentacles seizing the last and pulling them close. The hunt had been so much fun, so many dead, yet it was time to consume the last. Screams of terror, her teeth rendering flesh, the warm, rich broth, the struggling prey. The sweet pop as her claws pierced its eyes. Fingers clinging in the sockets to better hold while feeding on it, flesh and energies spiralling inwards.


    What did I do?


    Faces of the dead rose, floating up from memory’s darkened waters, yet no remorse followed their ascent. The sorrow and pain she’s suppressed within the Abyss seemed drowned in those same waters. However, Julia had no way to tell if it had scoured them from her, or if they were just chained in the depths.


    “The demon isn’t just a shell. I can’t use that excuse. It’s me. When I lost control, people died. I remember the killings.”


    How many people did I kill? Not demons, people. While I was drowning in my rage, I ate people. Explain that, Miss!


    Memories rocked her, tents, wagons, campfires, groups of armed men, the joyful surge of combat: sweat and heated flesh filling the air, screams, leggings soiled in fear and death alike. Rage and fear-filled faces as she clawed at them in deadly play while their attacks did nothing in return. Some fighting, others fleeing. The ones who stood died in droves. The chase of those that fled.


    Did I leave anyone alive?


    Where is Wajet''s chamber? Memphis, maybe, but where is Memphis. This isn’t anything like Egypt. I need to get clean. Will I ever be clean?


    Her reflection shimmering on the river''s surface gave a view of her Queen Bitch form. The weird black wings, assorted spikes, ridges, and mat chitin encased her flesh. Blood spotted and slicked her from wingtips to serrated feet. Trying to find it within her to shudder, she sighed at the emptiness she felt inside. Shifting back to her base form left her lily-white, naked, and grimacing at the blood now caking her skin.


    Okay, so seems I''m more concerned about my blood-soaked skin than the dead back there.


    It’s the amazing scrubbing machine you too can have twelve tendrils with scrubbing brushes at your disposal.


    Just call our Abyss hotline and ask for your amazing curse kit today


    Smart arse, you need to clean up your act. How many dead and you''re trying to crack bad jokes, J?


    When at last, physically at least, she seemed as clean as possible, Julia forced herself into motion. Lifted by Flight, the water dropped away till feet were well clear. Once clear, a mental image of what might pass as local formed in her imagination. Knee-high boots, along with a cuirass, armoured pants, greaves and kit, and willed herself to Shapeshift. A tendril’s eye allowed Julia to check all the details, even while gliding towards the feasting.


    Looking over the churned mix of corpses, armour and weapons littering the ground again; Julia wondered what she should be feeling. They were dead, and she couldn’t muster the energy to care about any of them. Yet studying the remains, her anger surged towards the slain, feeling more regard for the feasting birds than the people that died. These dead needed to suffer more. Should have suffered more! They had let her down, as they''d died too fast. The murders circling deeper over the woods to the east showed these fallen weren’t the only dead. They may have run far fleeing; they just hadn’t run far enough.


    “Why did I do this?”


    {{Too easy to kill}}


    Mana Sense


    Running her eyes over the remains, only two sources of Mana beckoned. A severed hand still held a dagger in its grasp and a mass within a pouch. The number of weapons versus the number of empty scabbards spoke of weapons lost or scattered.


    “No wonder they were running if they only had a magic dagger between them.”


    Moving to check the pouch, she didn’t even register the sounds from the ground underfoot as earth and blood oozed around each step. A finger flick split the pouch and revealed a steel vial within. The mana inside the vial coiled quietly, as if trying to hide from sight.


    Analysis


    [Potion: Heavy Slumber


    Details: This potion activates when poured into a water source. Anyone drinking from that source will not awaken for twelve hours when they sleep next. Potion remains in effect for eighteen hours after being applied or till next dawn. ]


    “What sort of weird arse potion is this?”


    The dagger seemed nothing exceptional, a rough steel blade, dark leather grip, and a murky looking crystal serving as a pommel stone.


    Analysis


    [Pained Caresses


    Weapon Type: Dagger


    Details: This Blade possesses no additional enchantment to increase its accuracy or edge. Any injury inflicted with it will cause a surge of crippling pain. Keeping the blade in contact with the victim even against yet undamaged skin will cause them to experience ongoing surges of pain.]


    “Hell’s bells. What sort of sick arse would keep this? ”


    ((The worst of mortals can be more villainous than demons.))


    [Mana Sense (11-> 12)


    Analysis ([Ap] (5 -> 6)


    That’s higher than I remember. How much time did I lose?


    Tracing swirling Mana patterns within the blade, she weighed her options.


    Should I even have this on me? Don’t want to think about how much fun Naz’rilca would have with it clipping my wings. But for now, I’ll hold on to it. Maybe something to use for testing Mana Manipulation.


    ((The camp.))


    Quickly finding the dagger’s sheath, she secured it. Then blade and Potion tucked into inventory Julia was more than ready to move on. For some unknown reason, driven to find the dead’s source. Part of her mind seemed to think, to insist even their death was good. But why? Was there even a semblance of a reason for this slaughter? Who’d have these sorts of things on hand? Then again, she was hardly one to talk. They were in Julia''s possession now, and she was a Demoness.


    The ground squelched underfoot as she took a step forward towards the wood.


    You were standing in a puddle of blood, J. What the fuck? When did I stop noticing that?


    Rising into the air, with a shake of her head, a scan of the treetops showed her the further gathering of crows. A murder No, this was a slaughter. The crows were just attending the banquet laid out in their honour. Using the murder to plot a course sent her skimming over treetops, towards the start of the butchery in these woods. Crows scattered from the chosen path, but food drew them quickly back to their feasting.


    As she drew close to that furthest murder, Julia could hear the ringing of metal underlying the sounds of the cawing. Landing before the source of the noise came into view; she waited and listened. With no movements coming closer, she moved carefully ahead, flittering from cover to cover, peering around trees as the sounds grew louder. As the sounds'' origin came into view, Julia stopped to remove clues of her new nature, taking care before she pressed ahead. Claws and teeth changed to something more like what she had once been, human.


    Broken tents, horse lines, and bodies covered patches of ground where the woods thinned, and crows circled. The dead weren''t a concern though, but rage sparked and hastened her speed. Yet the alarm of the living brought sense and all her motion ceased. Stopping fully, she slowly moved to hold arms out wide, and nodded respectfully, before moving forward with slow steps. Julia’s eyes roamed over young and old, men, women, and child alike, that toiled amid the fallen. To break their chains and gather what they could. Exposed flesh displayed their map of scars, welts, cuts, beatings, new and raw, or old and mute. Their maps of pain made Rage, Heat and Focus all echo within her in harmony.


    {{They suffer their torments in life.}}


    ((Free them, child))


    An older man stepped forward, a broken leg chain dragging at his heels. He moved clear of the others, yet stopped a careful distance apart before he spoke. Turning on Telepathy, she sought to feel his mind, trying to gain a featherlight touch, with a hope to remain unsensed.


    While he spoke, she could feel Translate provide but scattered words and meaning, though Telepathy conveyed it in full. Holding back from his mind except for a projected intent, trying to give her gestures depth. Pointing to a broken chain, herself, the man and a finally an open hand tilted to the others. After a quick imaged Shift, she opened her mouth to show a tongueless state within.


    I come in peace. I mean, no harm to you. Let get folks free and safe.


    [Acting (10 -> 11)


    Telepathy (3 -> 4)]


    See, I clearly can’t speak, don’t expect any answer.


    Pity flashed in the man''s eyes, seeing only the stub left in her mouth, and he nodded in acceptance.


    She moved forward, slowly splitting the distance to the old man before kneeling, to point at his manacle. Suspicion warred in his eyes and face as he moved forward and stopped when at last within reach. Touching her fingers to the seam of the manacle, she directed the Ki to push beyond fingertips and watched the iron break cleanly. Even as surprise shone on his weary face; Julia gestured towards his severed chain, and then the others. He nodded thanks, holding out a now trembling arm as if to offer her a hand up.


    [Ki Strike [B] (15 - > 16)]


    Julia looked up at him, patting his arm with a smile, and standing without support.


    Let’s get them all free.


    {{Free}}


    ((Free))