A Vow Rekindled

Thankfully, Endyr blacked out and didn't remember much from there. The old man had been hacking away rather callously at her left arm last she checked, and she was pretty sure he had removed her ulna before the pain overtook her. She was slightly miffed about that, ye know? Endyr had faced far worse pain and torture as a Denizen of Infinity but she passed out at a little arm surgery? Her siblings would laugh her out of the house if they found out! Well, they didn't actually live in a house...and neither were they actual siblings...but you get the point!

While Endyr was ignorant as to what exactly the "good doctor" did to her body after she blacked out, the aches and pains when she awoke quickly filled her in. Oh yes, and the blood-soaked bandages too. Where Bartholomeus had dug out her arm was a bandage that had probably been clean before but was now closer to a dirty rag. Four more rags were also present: one on each limb and then another around her chest. Touching that last one caused her to yelp in pain, so she quickly withdrew her hand an inspected the rest of her body.

She spotted multiple needle marks that, coupled with her wooziness, caused her to presume the doctor had taken a fair amount her blood. Thankfully he had avoided tampering with her head, though her heart seemed to have been fair game. She was also missing two fingers and a toe now...just great. Well, it wasn't like they would save her from being burnt alive in the next few hours. Or would the throat slitting kill her first? Knowing how everything else had gone, Endyr wasn't willing to put money on it. 

'At least I'm in a better mood now' she though to herself. Indeed, she had been feeling quite refresh for someone that had just been tortured and experimented on by a quack doctor. Maybe they had given her a shot after the operation! Or maybe she had finally come to a conclusion to her problem. 

'Even if I can't respawn after dying here, that doesn't matter. I am a Denizen of Infinity, conquering of realities and destroyer of Planes. I never should have allowed the fear of death to gain a hold over me. Dying is for mortals, for the weak and feeble. And besides, I've already died for real once. Perhaps I'll just be reincarnated on a different world. Sorry Sister, sorry Mom, but it is what it is.'

Resolute in her decision, Endyr closed her eyes and allowed her consciousness to slip away once again. As she began floating in the now-familiar inky blackness that was her inner mind, she felt like all her worries were floating away from her. It almost made her laugh. 'Have I reached some sort of Nirvana before death?' she scoffed, but didn't bother resisting the effect. It wasn't entirely unpleasant after all.

As Endyr sunk ever deeper into the recesses of her own core, a spark flickered between the folds of the black void. Once, twice, three times it burst into existence before being swallowed up. Endyr sensed it but simply turned away, unable to be bothered in her new zen state. Yet the flickering light refused to give up, and began to draw ever closer to her. Soon enough it was right in front of her, and Endyr annoyingly opened her eyes to glare at it. "What the fuck do you want-"

[Danger! Danger! Host's soul is being assimilated by their current vessel! Host must snap out of it or they will fail the Quest and perish. Danger, danger!]

"I already told you I don't care if I die" Endyr murmured weakly, pushing the light away with a feeble hand. She was struggling to remember what it had just said. She was struggling to remember a lot of things now...

[Host must stay awake! Host must resist the consumption!]

Despite the pleas of the strange and annoying light, Endyr slipped further down the path of no return. Seeing this, the colour of the light took on a darker hue, turning a bloody red. Its words rearranged themselves into new shapes, and despite the incorporeality of the light it emitted a colder aura. 

[Do yout truly intend to perish before Makyr?]

Endyr's drowsy eyes flickered as a spot of clarity returned to them. She momentarily broke through the haze to read the words presented before her, as the heart that had been slowly crawling to a stop let out a thump. 

[If you give in now, you won't be able to complete your wish. Your ultimate desire will forever elude your grasp. You were so close remember? You had been right there, before you lost it all. But there is a way back for you, and it's right in front of you. Don't you want to return to Infinity? Don't you want to see your journey through to the end?]

Is the Embodiment of Destruction truly content with such a meagre ending?

Like a dam that had just burst, waves or emotion surged through Endyr. Memories she had forgotten or had been taken from her, tales of the past that shaped who she was her countless Avatars and the endings they wrought across the Universe...for the first time since her reincarnation, Endyr was free.

Free of human sentimentality, free of System manipulations, free of anything that wasn't pure, unbridled desire. One singular desire, which had kept her going for as long as she could remember. To witness and write all manners of endings, to catalogue the lives and deaths of all of existence. As the Denizen of Destruction, to return the entire Universe to desolate silence. And most importantly of all...

To kill Makyr.

The feeling of Nirvana, the sickly sweet honey trap that she had been ensnared in, buckled under the weight of a Denizens' vow against all creation. The poisoned bliss drained for her body and desperately tried to escape, but Endyr grabbed it tight in one fist and brought it closer to her face. "You aren't the first being to try and manipulate my mind. The System has been doing it all long as I remember, and it honestly isn't that big a deal as long as it doesn't go past a certain point. But you did."

The entity in her grasp writhed as fog before settling on a form she recognised. A humanoid creature with wings, a tail, black scales and horns. It was a miniature version of her vessel. "I was wondering where the original soul of this vessel had gone. Turns out you were hiding inside me all along...as far as parasites go, you are probably one of the best I have ever seen. That's a compliment, by the way. But now you see...you've been caught."

The creature let out a mute shriek as Endyr began clenching her fist. Cracks began forming on its body like it was made of porcelain as the creature slowly but surely shrunk. Despite its evident struggles, Endyr watched it impassively die. Once it had been ground to dust, the void around her let out one last groan before falling apart. 

Endyr's eyes snapped open as she slowly sat up, her face betraying no emotion. She ran a finger over a knuckle silently for several seconds before speaking. "This isn't over yet System. While you might have helped save my life just there, you also edited my memories without my consent. Once I get out of here, you have some explaining to do."

[If Host completes the Quests assigned to them, then a talk can be arranged.]

Endyr snorted at the response but didn't breach the topic again. Instead, she clasped her hands and leaned forward. "Well, we can have a talk about something else right now instead."

[...]

"Why the hell did that creature possess a fragment of my own energy signature?"