Heresy: The Book of Mammon

Chapter 19

Chapter 19



The dark haze began to clear from Valimaar’s eyes. His head ached, and his muscles burned. He felt a heat in his shoulder that shot sharp stabs of pain through his arm. He remembered Atramedes. He remembered the pain from being shot.

He stared up at the ceiling above. It was grotesque; a canopy of flesh. It’s sinewy fibers pulsed with blood, and eyes stared back at him. The walls were alive.

The smell of blood lingered in his nose as he struggled to breath the cold, dark air. Where was this place? It looked like the hell that he’d stepped through before the gateway led him here, but the icy chill that blanketed him told him different. This wasn’t hell.

“Pleasant isn’t it?” His voice burned in his ears.

Atramedes stood over him and smiled. His hands desired the man’s neck, but he couldn’t move. Something held him back. He did not feel steel upon his wrists or ankles, but something held him nonetheless. His muscles tightened as he felt rage pour through his blood.

“Welcome to the Fleshworks.” He rose his arms to the walls and ceiling. “You’re new home.”

“Go to hell.” His voice barely escaped his lips. Blood pooled in the back of his throat and choked the air from his speech. He tried hard to swallow, but he couldn’t.

“Oh we all will in due time,” he said, as he placed his hand on his shoulders. “But before we do, we have things to discuss.” His eyes averted away.

He heard footsteps. They were light but filled with purpose. The air around him shivered and blew as the thing moved close. Gooseflesh covered his skin.

“This is Nyx. She has many things she wishes to know.” He held his hand out to her. Valimaars eyes rested upon the cold blue voids of hers. Long blonde hair cascaded down her shoulders and over her bosom. Her face was pristine and elegant, and her red lips smiled at him as she looked upon him.

Nyx!

“Take your time with him.” Atramedes squeezed his shoulder, and sharp pain coursed through his arm. He felt the warmth of his blood trickle from the bullet wound, and then he was gone.

It cannot be…

Who was Nyx? The air that froze around her as she walked was all he needed to know. Her beautiful body forced the very surroundings to cower in fear. Whatever she was, it was dangerous.

She walked around the stone slab in which he lay. Her smile never faded, and her eyes never left his. She swished her golden hair from her shoulder and her eyes closed for a moment. “You’re quite an attractive human.” Her voice was soft and pleasant, but an icy chill dwelled behind its grace.

Her soft skin touched his cheek and his body went stiff. Eyes darted about as waves of cold, sharp pain stabbed at him like daggers of ice.

“I’ve missed you Ithaca.” She bit her lip and her hand caressed his chest and down to his abdomen.

It felt as though his insides were being torn apart. He felt sharp nails tearing at his skin, though she barely touched him. What was she?

“That is right Valimaar.” She removed her hand, and his muscles relaxed. “I hold power of the darkness within you.”

The pain lingered. Its sharp points ripped through his insides.

She can’t!

The Daemon wouldn’t stop whispering. He felt its presence within him. It feared her.

“This will be so much easier,” she said as she ran her hand up his leg. “If you cooperate.”

It felt as though his bones were shattering. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t speak. She held power over the Daemon, and him, and it hurt.
Her hand raised from his flesh, and he breathed the pain out of his lungs. The world came back to him as he stared at her. Whatever she was, he hated her. He would fight her. He pulled as much moisture as he could from the dried blood in the back of his throat, and spit at her face.

She jerked away from his attack and her blue eyes closed. Her finger ran down the saliva that slid down her cheek and she put it to her lips. She stared at him as she licked her finger. Her back arched and a gentle sigh escaped her lips. Her eyes opened and they glowed blue flames.

“I knew you would be difficult.” She slid her finger across his neck, and he felt a deep scratch swell in his skin. “I love difficult.” She knelt low and her lips touched his. He braced for agony, but found none. She breathed heavy and her tongue touched his. Her eyes glowed once more and her teeth sank into his lip. She pulled away and wiped crimson from her mouth.

Blood trickled down to the back of his throat and stuck in his mouth. He forced the gag away but he couldn’t bring himself to swallow. She looked down at him as the blood continued to run to the back of his throat. She smiled as it filled his mouth. He felt his nostrils close and his lungs burned for air. Visions of her faded to black as his limbs went numb. The world spun before his darkened vision. He heard her sigh and finally, he swallowed. He pulled the cold air into his lungs, and he again returned to the nightmare.

“Don’t tease me Valimaar.”

Listen to her… She holds our life in her hands.

He couldn’t… he wouldn’t allow her the pleasure of his pain. He stared at her in silence as she walked around the slab once more. Her eyes scanned him up and down. She bent over, and he felt her fingers working at the things that bound his feet. His legs were free, but he did not move. Nyx slithered around to his hands and removed the bindings. He was free.

He shot from the slab and his hands closed around her neck. She fought to pull breaths of air, but she did not struggle. Her eyes closed and her hand touched his brow. Agony filled his thoughts as he fell to the floor. Hungering worms tore through his memories and black veils loomed in his eyes. He felt darkness swell within him. Anger surged in his blood, and malice burned beneath his skin. Ithaca was angered.

Fire burned in his fingertips as his vision returned. He lay upon the bloodstained floor and looked up at the woman that stood over him. He felt the Daemon within him. Its whispers screamed in his ears as the air weighed upon his body. Shards of ice gathered around her as the cold that hung in the air formed to frozen daggers. They shot at her like bullets and stabbed into her flesh. She showed no pain.

He felt their points dig into his flesh. No shards came to him, but still, he felt them stab. His muscles ripped apart from the pain, and shivers ran down his back as he lay in agony upon the living flesh of the floor. The eyes of the ceiling looked down upon him, and Ithaca groaned in agony in his mind.
Nyx sighed and knelt down to the floor. “If he dies, Ithaca, so do you.”

She had bested him. She had bested the Daemon within him. He was unfamiliar with such power and control. Whatever she was, he now belonged to her. He was her slave, and he knew the last of his days would slow to a crawl in her presence. Nyx was now his god, and her wrath had barely been displayed. He was helpless. There was no chance in escaping, and no point in fighting. She held power of him and his Daemon. Whatever he did, she returned it ten-fold.

Darkness swelled within him, and he knew, it was Nyx that controlled. Whatever Atramedes willed her to do to him, he knew that eventually the darkness would take him. The Daemon would claim his spirit. He could feel its presence beyond the reaches of his sanity. It clawed at the frayed ends like a hungering beast. He would resist it like he always had, but he knew, eventually his strength would wane.

This was to be his fate. The prophecy that spoke of his victory over the darkness that shadowed his soul, was wrong. He was little more than a broken man – a shattered spirit. There was no pain worse than what he faced.

Whatever pain attacked him, would linger. It would remain as he lost himself to the darkness.

Visions of Lady Elaine filled his mind. Her blue eyes stared at him through the dark, and he knew that whatever happened, he did it for her. He knew that his life was forfeit when he stepped through the gateway, but he’d destroyed it. His sacrifice would ensure precious moments of life. Perhaps they were little more than seconds, but she would at least live for that much longer. Whatever happened to him was superficial, for she was the only thing he cared for. He would die to protect her, but he would not let this thing take his life willingly. He would fight until he could fight no longer.

Never stop fighting.

He told her that before he left her behind. How could she listen if he were not willing to do the same? He would resist. He had to resist. If not for anything else, he would do it to see her again. She spoke to him in the darkness of his mind.

I love you. Come back to us.

The world faded to black as the pain took him once more. He saw Nyx smiling at him through the haze. His eyes burned and his mouth dried. Tremors rumbled through his limbs and rattled his bones. Ithica whispered in his ears, but he could not make out the words.

The world was ripped apart before him as he lay in agony on the cold floor. Echoes of those he killed called to him through the voids of his sanity. All those who he’d slain in the name of the Divinity waited for him on the other side, and he was nearing their embrace. He dwelled within the realms which dying souls lingered through eternity. Soon, that world would fade, and death would take him but he would not go easily. He told her to fight, and he would too.

Somehow, he would come back to her. Whether in this world or the next, he would see her again. He would fight on through the pain. Forever. He held her vision within his mind, and the dark took him.

Come back to me Valimaar.