Demonology

-------------------------------------The Unknown Soul------------------------------

Pain. A searing inferno that lit his veins on fire and coursed through him like the white-hot rage of the sun. A tempestuous inferno that burned him from inside out and filled his eyes with tears that had nowhere to go. Pain. His life was consumed with it. His existence was reduced to nothing more than primal instincts that screamed at him to run and hide or fight to the last breath against the object of his suffering. It took everything he had just to stay sane amidst such blinding pain that chased away all cognition. And yet he had little choice. For if he didn't then he'd truly lose himself as the beast would no sooner tear his soul out of his mortal coil the moment he gave it any ground to stand on. No. He could not give in. He would not give in. And so he barricaded his mind, shielding his thoughts from the beast as it overwhelmed his senses with the blinding pain that was the creature's rage. Rage at being denied a tasty treat so close at hand.

This… He thought, …this is what it means to fight a demon. The simple thought was a mistake, a momentary distraction that threatened to engulf him. It rose up like the last bubble of air escaping from a bottle held underwater. He felt like he was drowning in his own lungs, gasping for air on dry land after swallowing an errant fly. Everything hurt. And he could scarcely remember a time when his life was anything but pain.

The tales that bards sang held no meaning here. Battles fought in the mind for one's soul were not easily conveyed. Sure tales of knights decked in full plate valiantly facing demons head-on with swords in hand made for interesting tales, but they didn't convey the sheer… wrongness that facing a demon would entail. He could feel the thing, the beast tearing and clawing at the fragile shell that housed his soul. Each time it brushed against his soul he could feel it impart something. Some lingering effect that would attach itself to him. This something seemed to taint him in some way, as if by its very nature it corrupted him. He could feel it gnawing away at him, slowly eroding the barrier that shielded his soul. Thinning it to the point where even a nail could pierce it, he shuddered to think it would mean when the beast finally succeeded at taking down the barrier. So he fought back. With every ounce of his strength and willpower, he fought back, pushing the beast back and reforging the cracks on his soul's outer layer as best he could... but he was no mind mage, and eventually he would lose. And the demon knew that.  For each time he did so the beast would erupt in a torrent of rage that sent his mind reeling as it flooded his body with pain. Pain that would in turn overwhelm him, weakening his resolve until the demon could begin his attack anew. And thus the battle waged on... until one day his soul would be so battered, he could no longer do anything to keep the beast at bay. And then... he would lose. 

He could scarcely remember a time when his life hadn't revolved around cycles of pain followed by panic as he worked to reforge his soul. But one scarcely had time to consider such frivolities when one's life's existence worked with such a hairs breath margin of error. He clamped down hard on those errant thoughts lest they take flight, he couldn't afford to be distracted. Not now. Not ever. For today was not the day he'd lose his fight. 

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Okay okay I know this is not exactly fursuit stuff but I wanted to try my hand at sharing some of my ramblings. I like to do some creative writing from time to time, though I've never sat down and written a complete story. Just a bunch of disjointed paragraphs, most of which aren't even from the same world or setting. But it feels like a waste not doing anything with them, I try to let my creative juices free when writing for my DnD campaign, but as we're currently on hiatus I'm not getting my fix. So who'd be interested in getting random story nonsense from me from time to time? 

Image created using midjourney - gods I love this thing. It's such a handy tool for creating artwork for my DnD campaign on the fly.