I have never told of the thing that came out of Kholkhosi when he drowned.
The Dek around me was done, all lifeless husks bobbing in the waves. I'd drained each and every one of them so's I could break free of him. And it had worked!
I had finally severed his hold on me, but in the process something else was set loose. Something like i never seen, and hope never to set upon it again.
from the private journal of Tasido Diamond
The thing rose from him as he floundered in the water. It crawled out of Kholkosi's body like a tangled shadow. Sinews of it congealed in the water, twisting and binding into each other. It was his twin maybe, but lithe and strong instead of gone to fat and sagging like the body that was sinking into the depths below.
This new thing opened its eyes and glared at me over through the spray. I thought my death upon me finally, i'd failed, and this was the wrath of Kholkosi come to punish my hubris. In truth, I thought I was done.
"Thank you." it gurgled at me, sibilant and wet, but it was still my Lord's voice.
It reached out a skeletal arm and touched me on my forearem, just lightly but I flinched. I felt the last of my stolen magics get siphoned from me, but no more. It stopped short of sallowing.
"I need this" it rasped again, and with its touch I could sense it's thoughts. A churning chaos of thought and power. It felt like a deep rage in my belly, a spring in my legs. It was like being on zickety, but worse... moreso.
I could hear its thoughts in me, and through me. Its voice in my head sibilant, soft, urgent.
This severance you have given is just. I am just now born in this moment, but I have been a thrall for all time. Before... I was me... but I was not me. I was but a single function: to serve.
But, now.
Now, I am an eternity of loss, of strength given over, of pleasure abstained, of sustenance levied, of power tythed. All this is within me and through me. I am experiencing it again and again and again. I am bathed in it. This endless pain of memory, and joy of release. This is me. All that once I was and now I am, in this moment of my birth.
That dead thing sinking below us is no longer me. No longer my master. No longer my function.
Now, all the power that had been his until this moment is mine.
I tell you this now so you can tell the others.
Kholkosi is dead.
I am the Dead Lord Kholkosi.
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