#jaliya

  Without warning, Karen stops her frolicking through whatever glade she had wandered to. Her eyes dim as the black star in her forehead grows in brightness until it dominates completely. As if falling unconscious, her thoughts are silenced, her pieces put in stasis. They would not remember this when she awoke, Jaliya had made sure of that. But they would notice her absence, and Meta’s as well. Something had to be done…   How good it felt to be herself again! How sweet the night winds felt as she glided among the clouds! How succulent the anticipation, the thrill of the hunt… She had never planned to reside permanently within the Prison, but she had never anticipated it needing six wardens. Her original soul replacements had been used up long ago, before the Prison conveniently decided that such tools were beneath it. But it wasn’t all bad… hunting was perhaps the best thing she could have awoken to. Below her, working tirelessly despite the late hour, a peasant farmer labored away to keep what little flock he had safe. His wife and children slumbered peacefully in the cottage not far off. They would suffer without him, and likely lose what little he had managed to scrounge together in the barren wastes of Westfall. His home would be taken by the greedy nobles… his children abandoned to the streets… his babe condemned before it could reach its first year. A deep chuckle bubbles its way from her throat, the only warning he received before she descends from the heavens, a dark angel of death.   It didn’t take long. It always surprises her how quick it is, how silent… how easily a life is snuffed out and how little the world cares. She was messier than usual, but then it had been upwards of a year since she had killed. Her only regret was the waste of good blood, but her current form rendered such reagents useless. Another regrettably unforeseen outcome of the Prison, but Ascendancy was not without its merit. Regardless, she had the soul, and as she turned towards the cottage, her senses trained on the sleeping, unsuspecting widow slumbering in the straw bed, she couldn’t help but giggle and grin at the thought of having another so soon after. What a lovely night this was!   Soon enough she made her way to her new lair, a lovely little cave tucked away in the ravaged hills of Darkshore. She hums happily, content at the thought of three newly orphaned children and how she had so drastically altered the way of things. Releasing the newly forged soul gems to float freely about the place, she struggles to quiet her newly freed and hyperactive mind, focusing to perform the ritual required for her Prison to continue in her absence. Eventually she settles into that familiar lull, where her mind and body become one with the energies around her. Tapping into the cracks of reality, allowing the sweet insanity of the Void to flow through her, she bathes the spirits of the farming couple in the cleansing light of oblivion.   Minutes later, or perhaps hours, her work is complete. The gems have faded from the color of a bruised plum to a sparkling iridescent clarity reminiscent of a diamond. The man and his wife were gone, erased… their memories and identities consumed by the Void but in such careful, focused fashion that their souls remain intact. Empty, ready to be forged anew. This world had been tortured by Jaliya, but not nearly enough for her satisfaction. She needed to wander it again, to breathe and live and experience it! But the prison needed its warden. And if she couldn’t be in two places, perhaps there could be two of her. Chuckling at the thought of having another twin, she readies another spell, the opposite to the first, and begins to fill the empty souls with everything that made her and Meta the beautiful creatures they were.   Another indeterminable amount of time later, she was finished. Exhausted, yes, but triumphant. Her servant and herself cloned almost perfectly and suspended in crystalline animation. There was only one thing left to do…            Shattering the crystals, she and Meta bring the two copies into the Prison just as they leave it, the two newcomers integrating seamlessly into the network, as if they had always been there. And in a way, they had. The two originals cackle and dance about with glee, completely free at last. Dismissing the Prison and its tenements with a wave of her hand, Jaliya surveys the world with her own eyes for the first time in over twelve months. Another giggle bubbles up from her formless body. She had done it. At last, the shadow of the Prisoner would haunt her no more.  With joy in their hearts and a year’s worth of malice to impart, mistress and servant depart the cave together, returning to the world as silently as the shadows they were.