Slumbering Dreams [Closed]

The blood. The carnage. Maria was very familiar with it. They came for her each night and each time she closed her eyelids. It was a nightmare that she could never get used to. A monster that clung to her in each slumbering hour and each waking minute. That reeking odor of iron was unforgettable as they same could be said with the scarlet screen she saw leaking all over the walls and the floor. It drove her forward, as if she wanted to flee from it, yet she paradoxically drew sustenance from it.

When Maria opened her eyes, it was a space of black. There was no real darkness here as she could see her hands quite visibly. It was an empty block of space. Something was wrong. The Cadet thought it was just going to be a nightmare as usual, but this was absolutely new. One may believe this to be a reprieve, but it didn't feel like it. Nothing seemed to exist. She was all alone, but she knew better.


Maria turned her around towards the direction of the voice. To her credit, her suspicions were rather on point this time around. There stood was another woman and she knew who it was. This person had the appearance of something otherworldly despite her human-like appearance. Her attire didn't seem to fit in with the times. A relaxed composure seemed to define her more than her clothes, but the Cadet felt there was so much more than that. After all, that smile was unnerving her the most.

"What do you want?" Her question was terse. She was feeling rather vulnerable in this realm, wherever the hell she was. If the eggheads from the research division from the Church were to be trusted, this may actually be within herself. But it didn't make her feel any better. This was a realm where that feeling of vulnerability was deep, as if something in here waited for an opportunity to bare itself to her. And she wasn't interested in seeing what it had to display.

"My, is this how you greet your friends?
I even went so far to take you out of that nightmare."


"Ha ha... That's par of the course when you're stuffed inside a chunk of metal, dear.
It gets lonesome when the only person you can converse with doesn't
even bother to say a single hello."


"How mean."


She heard of the stories and accounts from Jorge that demons liked to toy with humans. While there were some that preyed on them for the sake of destroying them, the most dangerous ones were the kind that bide their time for that moment of weakness. The kind that subtly dug into you to seek out for even the tiniest of cracks in the strong facade to later create a massive fissure before shattering. She remembered reading about the victims of possessions undergoing such an excruciating process. But because of their contract, Maria should be safe. Yet it didn't hurt to be cautious.

"Why didn't you kill that boy?" she finally asked as she nonchalantly toyed with a tress of her hair.


"Until ordered to kill them. I know you really wanted to.
He should've died. Left for dead, gone. Why? It can't be because you're a Cadet.
Down to your very core, you're even more than just an Executor either."


"Meaningless? Nay, it is a dire concern.
Your entry into the Church taught you to keep your desires in check.
You've learned to tether them under false righteousness and altruism.
Your hypocrisy disgusts... and delights me.
You should be more honest to yourself."

The soft smile grew increasingly insidious. Maria only glared at her. She was following what Jorge said about not falling for their traps. But, there was something... discomforting about what the demon said. It took all she had from lashing out at her. She just wanted to leave, but at the same time the Cadet wanted to rend her into pieces.


The demon snorted and stared at her derisively. There was no need for more words. In fact, Maria began to remember several things from this morning. The moment when she was about to pull the trigger on the unconscious boy. That time when she brought in the Psyche-Terrorist Takeru Kagemaru to Julius. She had her disagreements with her superior's choice. But most importantly, she remembered his words.


It continued to ring like a resounding knell, judging her, cursing her, and mocking her. Something was bubbling inside her. Something that was all carnal, primal, and dangerous. In the next second the sound of an angry hornet passed through the space between demon and human. Andraste caught a blade that Maria flung at her face, a Black Key. The demon could feel her very skin of her palm begin to become necrotic as she grasped the holy blade. But she only crushed it in her grip before allowing it to dissipate away. The flesh that came in contact with the metallic anathema began to mend itself as an amused smirk spread across her delicate features.



She woke.

Her eyelids felt crusty, as if they were glued shut. She tiredly rubbed her eyes as if to sweep away the grainy dried rheum. Maria paused to see and to process that she was back in her room with her back on a wall instead of sitting up in bed. There was a syringe lying near her, completely used and empty. It was one of her daily doses, a single one tended to make her drowsy at times, especially when the adrenaline wasn't flowing.


She knew better that she should completely disregard what the demon said. It's what the Church kept teaching her, to never trust the enemies of Man. But... why did she feel like she was telling the truth?