The Shadows from Beyond

18 ~ Sleeping

~ Wren ~

I gasp as my eyes fly open.

The echoes of the icy claws holding me down to the silken dirt, as the fog churns and suffocates me trace down my skin. Like phantoms playing, the claws rake down my arms and shoulders, and a shiver slithers down my spine, making my whole body shudder.

I am thirsty, and cold, and I'm hurting. I rub my bare arms and look around myself, only to realize I am not in the mausoleum. I'm in darkness, but my eyes have seemingly already adjusted. So now, I am looking out into the room around me, but I still don't know where exactly I am.

Am I in my apartment? No. I don't know where I am, but it's not the apartment, nor is it the mausoleum. I try to stand up but my legs shake. I wobble, and then fall on my hands and knees on the ground. I lift my head up as I hear a scuffing step from somewhere in front of me.

"Hello?" I ask, my head swimming like a fish in a tsunami.

A female figure kneels down in front of me, her eyes glowing silver in the dim light in here. She smiles, showing me her sharp, needle-like fangs. She grabs me by the chin and tilts my head back so our eyes meet.

"Hello, Wren," she says, her voice warped and echoing. She giggles.  "You are fused to me, now, girl. And we are not going to be in symbiosis until you accept that we are fused. So, little Wren, what do you say? Are you going accept me? Or are you going to make this .... more difficult than it needs to be?"

"Why ... what are you?" I ask.

"Hmm. I am a demon, my name is Mara, and I was fused to your soul when Torin Fade, the wraith you call a friend, pulled you from Lymbo."

"We're out?" I ask, looking around.

She sighs. "Yes, we're out. But you are asleep right now, trying to heal from being dead for a night."

"Magnus killed me," I mumble, shaking my head.  "And now, you and I are fused. So, that means.... am I not fully human anymore?"

Mara shakes her head.  "No, you're not human at all anymore, Wren."

"I'm a demon now? Like you?"

"No, I am a demon, you're a wraith. A lot like Torin, but you still have a physical form," she says. "And at first, I was a bit pissed. At first, I wanted you dead so I could live. But now.... well, now I think it's in everyone's best interest that you and I are friends. Until we figure out how to tear my soul from your body without killing one or both of us, we have to be allies."

"Okay. But if you leave me, wouldn't that kill me again?"

She nods. "For now, yes. But if I can be safely removed, then you and I should definitely do so."

I sigh.  "Annika should be able to help. Or literally any of my friends. Can I wake up now? Talk to them?"

"Only you can decide that, Wren," she says. "But for now, I need you to stay calm and just .... let us figure this whole thing out, okay?"

"Yeah," I reply.  "But Mara? Do you know if Torin is okay?"

She shrugs.  "I suppose we will both find out. When you wake up."