Third Interlude
The shadow hurt so much. It could not focus, could not find its form or words.
Its manifestation had become corrupted. The woman who touched it, who tore it apart…
she was an abomination. A mind witch. Did she dance with ghosts, like those who kept the entity at bay in times past?
It remembered how they had cursed its name with incantations and prayers.
Vile dorlis… begone.
Yes, it remembered.
Rayo had not warned him that such beings existed in the modern city of monuments. It should feast on his sloppy human, make him suffer. Yet the shadow had made a pledge. It would not revoke that which it had promised.
The pain.
The pain… was driving it mad…
The rage.
It could not think. Better to make itself tiny and hide than bear agony again.
Dispersal was unfamiliar. Manifestation was meant for delight and consumption, not pain. It had materialized after all these years, had communed with its human and partaken of flesh only to be dispersed. An affront. Humiliation.
It tried to focus…
It would not be hurt again. The woman could not be allowed to live.
The entity’s fury left and came back and then left again. Focus was too hard…
The woman had touched its mind, created a thread that it could follow. The thread was luminous, impossible to miss. The shadow would regain its strength and find her. It would strike down the witch and feast again.
Thoughts of vengeance fortified its form. Focus returned. The shadow became large and wispy, solid and sharp. Manifestation was its destiny without pain or debasement.
Oh yes, she would pay.