‘MAKE YOUR CHOICE.’

The voice echoed in Ves’s head. Demanding… demanding something of her, but all she wanted to do was rest. Let the world simply fade away.

No more commands. 

No more beatings.

No more fear.

She just wanted to die in peace.

Even that seemed to be too much to ask.

‘NOW, BEFORE YOUR FRAIL BODY FAILS YOU AND OUR LAST HOPE IS LOST.’

The voice hammered in her mind again. Each time, the darkness at the edges of her dying mind was pushed back, if only temporarily. 

‘ACCEPT, ACCEPT, AND YOU MAY LIVE.’

Live? 

Was there even a point? Her life sucked… branded from birth. Never knowing a day of freedom. Just a life moving from one command to the next. Keeping her head down, hoping she wouldn’t draw her master’s ire.

‘Please,’

Please? It just had to say the magic word. None of her masters had ever used the word. It implied a choice, where she had none. 

The only people she cared for. The only people in her life to ever show her kindness…

They were the ones who said please.

So, in a ragged whisper, “fuck it… Why not?”

‘THANK YOU, HUMAN, NOW DON’T RESIST, OR YOU BOTH WILL PERISH.’

The voice trailed off, sounding not weaker but less intense. Still powerful but no longer shouting.

‘I had hoped to find a better host for my monarch’s final progeny, but you will have to do. May you serve them well.’

Host? Ves asked herself right before something grasped her head. It felt like a claw. Only to be followed by something else, something warm and slimy plopping onto her ear. It was crawling… 

As whatever being Ves assumed the voice belonged to continued to hold her still; she could feel the new presence make its way inside. Pressure building as it squirmed and forced itself into her ear. For a moment, nothing happened. She knew something was inside her, but she could no longer feel it. The respite was short-lived. She felt as if a thousand burning needles were being driven into every part of her body. 

With the surging pain, the darkness she so desperately wanted to embrace was pushed back in an instant. As the feeling of the burning needles subsided, sensations from the rest of her body returned. She felt horrific injuries from head to toe. Could hear her broken bones grinding with every movement. As she screamed in agony, she tried to thrash about, only to feel her shattered limbs flopping against the creature still forcibly holding her head still. That wasn’t even the worst part. In her head, a relentless, pulsating torment that defied comprehension. Like someone hammering a blunt stake into her skull. Even that sounded more pleasant than what she felt.

As the agony reached its peak, dwarfing anything she could have ever imagined or had the creativity to describe. She felt a knock, not physically, but in her mind. Like something was trying to reach out.

She wanted to die peacefully, slowly drift off, and embrace the darkness. 

Not like this, not engulfed in this suffering. 

Desperate for release, she latched onto the only thing she could.

Reaching out to the knock in her mind, she opened the door.