A Different Kind of Despair (10 page)

It was incredible how quickly my joy plummeted
through the floor. Koronos had a point. Marvin was kind; it was one
of the qualities I liked most about him. And... I did see pity in
the way he looked at me. Not last night, but before. Doubt mocked
my happiness, and the demon reveled in its loss.

"It's simply a little chat, my Shaman. No
bargains to be made here," he said, holding out his empty hands as
a gesture of good faith.

I narrowed my eyes at him, still suspicious,
but his offer appealed to my need for answers.

"Just a conversation," I said, taking his
outstretched hand. "This is for closure, and then I'm
done."

"Of course, of course," he repeated, escorting
me out the door.

I looked to either side of the empty hallway.
A low laugh rumbled out of his throat.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"You, my dear. You needn't worry about being
caught. Only the spiritually inclined can spot you in the
Grey."

"The Grey?"

"The Grey is the dimension that
resonates with earth-bound spirits. Shamans, and a few
exceptionally talented individuals, can slip into the Grey as they
please. There are even certain pockets in this world, and those
beyond, called Greyzones. The Grey bleeds out into the physical
realm. Most call these places sacred... or cursed."

"I'm invisible in the Grey?"

Koronos made a musing sound at that question,
turning round a bend.

"Invisible is much too simple. Think of it as
slipping between layers of space. You no longer exist in the
physical world, Miraj. Call it a talent unique to
Shamans."

"Explain yourself."

"Most people would need some help entering the
Grey. Usually with certain herbs, to fall into a trance. We call
that astral projection. Shamans, on the other hand, access the Grey
with little to no effort at all -and their physical body comes
along for the ride."

I thought about how Jiki had transformed us
into water in order to traverse Purilo's caverns. She also said
that the reason she could do such a thing was because I was Shaman.
Was this what she meant by it?

"Is it possible to borrow the abilities of
spirits while I'm in the Grey?"

The devil's face lit up with a great smile.
"Precisely." He clasped his hands behind his back. I watched as
several skeletal servants made their way in the opposite direction.
Tiny black orbs trailed the space behind them, connected as though
by an imperceptible thread.

"They're criminals," I noted, nodding my head
at the human bones. "Or at least they were, once. Why weren't their
spirits bigger? I can't speak with those."

"Not all spirits are powerful enough to
obtain, or retain, intelligence. The few that manage to last over
the course of many years become stronger, however. Some predate
even devils, like myself." Koronos pursed his lips at the thought.
"Ancient and unfathomable -you'd be wise to avoid them."

The tunnels changed again, going from misty
quartz to dark, dark ebony. The walls were rife with effigies of
cowled skeletons and robed figures. Many carried lanterns, guiding
the dead in an eerie procession through the halls.

"Where are we?"

"In the section of Nethermountain belonging to
House Thanos."

"This place is huge -why is it so
empty?"

"Because, little Shaman," said the devil,
lifting two fingers. "Marvin and his mother are its two sole
surviving members."

My eyes widened at him, silently demanding
answers.

The devil sighed.

"Thanos is unique among the
Six Houses. Unlike most necromancers, who are simple scholars,
members of House Thanos are highly trained combatants... once upon
a time," he amended, thinking of Marvin with a wry smirk. "When
certain experiments went awry, they were called in to
rectify
the
situation."

"You mean there's such a thing as a
necromancer trained to kill undead?"

"It sounds strange at first," he confessed.
"But I'm sure you saw Lichtenstein below. Certain beasts need to be
taken down, or else who knows how much damage they'll
inflict?"

Wooden beams and paneling became prevalent in
the oldest section of the halls. Koronos paused before a door. It
was left ajar, with just enough space for me to pass without
touching its surface. I shimmied my way in and walked up the stairs
beyond.

I found myself in an attic space, with beams
of moonlight filtering onto the floor. A heavy pall of dust looked
like a blanket of snow from the Grey. I wandered towards the back
until I finally saw a figure -an old woman, all skin and bones,
with two startlingly pink eyes.

"Miraj," Koronos started, "it's my pleasure to
introduce you to Lady Diana Galatea."

I furrowed my brow.
"You?
You
were
the one Marvin was in love with?"

Diana's spirit frowned
deeply. "Koronos said
much
about you."

The devil disappeared once I turned around,
searching for answers. He was just gone, with no trace of him ever
being there in the first place.

Diana clutched my arms with a strength that
belied her shriveled state.

"You need to leave Nethermountain."

"What?"

She peered at me strangely, narrowing her
eyes. "You're a Shaman. You should be able to sense, through touch,
how old I am."

"Four-hundred-thirty-two
years old," the answer tumbled out of my mouth. My brain caught up
with it seconds later. "Four
hundred-
? How is that even
possible?!"

Diana's smile was a grim one.

"I," she said in her tight voice,
"was turned into a living Doll, and I stayed that way for centuries
until Marvin finally broke the curse."

"Is that how he lost his legs?"

"Yes, Miraj. That was how Marvin lost his
legs." She closed her eyes at the memory. "My spirit should have
passed over at that time, but it was bound here, to the coffin in
Nethermountain. At first I thought it was Koronos who was
responsible," Diana admitted. "But that couldn't be. Now that he's
under Marvin's control he shouldn't have any claim to mortal lives
from before."

I walked over to the coffin in question. It
was a simple wooden box, but there was a musty smell I found
vaguely familiar, like rotten eggs. No.

"Brimstone." I turned around. "This coffin was
made by a demon."

"And I know who." Diana looked on me in
earnest. "You have to get Marvin out of Nethermountain, Miraj. He
isn't safe here, especially not now that Mahlah has the
Eyes."

"Wait!" I hissed, waving my hands for her to
slow down. "Mahlah? Eyes?"

"The Eyes of the Leviathan," Diana murmured.
"An artifact of tremendous power. Mahlah is the Crone of Astheneia
-she was the one who made that coffin, Miraj. Mahlah is a
demon."

"Why would a demon want to harm
Marvin?"

"Because that's what devils do!" Diana fumed.
"Marvin is also the Inheritor, the reincarnation of the First
Necromancer, Inval. I don't know what Inval did that stoked the
fires of Hell this badly, but I do know that because of it Marvin
will never be safe."

My heart sank. Diana could see it through my
expression.

"Miraj..." she said warily. "Where is
Marvin?"

"In House Soma. When Koronos led me here
Marvin was alone." I swore under my breath, charging back down the
stairs. How could I have been so foolish?

I was never the devil's aim.

But it was thanks to me that Marvin was now in
very real danger.

10: Possess Me

Diana ran after me. Her feet sounded like
someone splashing through the rain.

"Which way do I go?" I called.

"Left!"

I followed her directions, navigating back to
my room.

"Diana," I huffed, "are you any good at
fighting?"

"In my youth, yes!"

I closed my eyes and prayed I knew what I was
doing. This all seemed so far above my head. Souls and spirits,
dimensions and devils -these were stories, weren't they? Cultural
treasures, odes to the glorious imagination of my
people!

And founded upon truth, apparently.

We rounded the final corner, picking up the
din of clashing metal in the hall.

Marvin narrowly dodged an incoming skeletal
swing, tearing off his attackers arm and speaking his strange words
to it. I watched as the bone transformed into a short sword, but it
wasn't enough to fend off four more attackers.

I could take out two, maybe three, but we
would still come up short.

"Diana, possess me."

"What?"

"Just take my hand, dammit!" I
shouted.

The old spirit did as I told her to do, and I
felt her, deeply, completely -years of quiet longing and love gone
unrequited. Everything she was melded into my mind, body, and soul.
I felt myself changing, and her growing presence in my
thoughts.

"Help me, Diana," I ordered.

There was a short pause.

Lend me complete control, Miraj. I
need you to let go.

I exhaled, instinctively loosing the tension
in my muscles. Diana's existence flowed through my limbs like a
warm breeze, and I watched through the eyes of a bystander in my
own head. My body dashed towards the first opponent, but I, Miraj,
reclined as it all happened, trusting Diana to play her role to
perfection.

Every motion was smoothly executed, the
product of decades of practice put to use. She went for the weapons
in their hands first, elbowing one skeleton in the jaw, tearing an
axe from a bony hand, and then spinning the heel of my foot into
the ribs of another.

Bones were dashed against the quartz walls,
making it so the parts were too far from the source body to
reform.

"...Miraj?"

Diana turned my head in Marvin's direction. I
caught a glimpse of my reflection in the quartz from the corner of
my eye, prompting me to wrest control of my body from the neck
up.

Binding myself to Jiki had led me
to become a being of water; fusing my body with Diana's spirit had
turned my eyes petal pink. The kauna had gone from black to ivory.
I brushed my fingers across the designs, stunned to discover that
my skin had turned to porcelain.

"Marvin, it's me, Diana."
Diana borrowed my lips and tongue, speaking in a voice that wasn't
my own. Through my eyes, I saw Marvin gaping. His mouth was an
expression of disbelief, but his eyes knew the truth. "Miraj let me
possess her body in order to help you. You
must
leave
Nethermountain."

"How are you even here?"

"It's the Crone, Marvin. She tied my spirit to
the coffin." Diana grabbed him by the shoulders. "She's a demon,
just like Koronos. And now that she has the Eyes there's no telling
what she's trying to accomplish."

"
What
?"

Diana whipped my head to the side. We picked
up the sound of running, with too many sets of feet to gauge the
numbers.

She grabbed Marvin by the arm.

"We need to get to a more defensible position!
Hurry!"

A map of Nethermountain unfolded before my
eyes. My head felt as though it would split open any minute,
pulsing violently with every flash of knowledge.

A body was never meant to take more than one
soul, but the nature of my kuana forced a crude fusion between us.
More and more I understood Jiki's reservations; the greater the
ability, the worse the drawbacks.