Maha Azim. “Again!” Maha Azim. “Again!” Maha Aziiiiiiiiiim.
Her name would disappear before the tears running down her cheeks could touch her forearm. Covered in ripped pyjamas, she had woken up next to a green dumpster with her hair wet and sticky. Her consciousness would come and go. The perception of time was broken, less than mere illusion. There were always these brief moments where she’d find herself in a different location from last time, sometimes doing unspeakable actions, before losing control again.
Insanity was either around the corner or it had arrived and was simply toying with her. Sometimes she’d find herself asking what the simplest objects were, almost unable to recognise the world around her. Her body no longer functioned the way it’s supposed to. When hunger hit her, she found herself nibbling on a piece of rock, actually able to bite and chew on it without harm due to the power she had amassed. After swallowing it, she unnecessarily thought of what benefits and vitamins a rock might have.
Maha feared many things at this point. She feared of what possesses her, what she does when she is unconscious but most of all her identity. Asking herself what a common inanimate object was called was already intellectually frightening. She dreaded the day she’d have to ask who she was. The thought of losing her past and her memories. The thought of losing the picture of the girl she loves in her mind.
And so, she began one more time, pushing her nail deep into her forearm. Maha Azim, she carved her name into her skin. Her body barely had enough time to bleed before it healed itself. Her name faded faster than her memory but the sight of it vanishing without a trace in front of her caused tremendous pain. One last thing to try, she thought to herself. One last thing to prove that I am still me. Maha began to sing a song, one that only she and Keyla knew. A song they had made together with Keyla playing the piano.
“Hey you, this is me I stand by your side I won’t go anywhere I will stand and fight”
“The stars may not shine tonight But you and I can light up the way Hear the birds chirping away? They know happiness is to stay”
“Told you not to cry But who am I to say Come here in to my arms You are my universe”
“Come close, don’t be far away I need a sun to keep my alive…
Told you not to cry It’s not the time to shed a tear…”
For the first time in what felt like forever, Maha smiled. She remembered all of the lyrics and somewhere, somehow, she knew Keyla smiled too. “I have to explain myself to Arcadeus.” She tried to stand up using the dumpster as support. “Hey evil bitch.” She addressed whatever kept controlling her. “You try using me again for whatever purpose, I will fuck you up.” The exhausted Maha looked up, planning to fly up to gather intel on her location, but just before she managed to take flight her heart felt stabbed from the inside. The pain disorientated her and she took flight the wrong direction, crashing into the apartment building next to her. The sheer strength she possessed crumbled the structural integrity of the building like paper.
Maha grabbed her own throat, her vision coming and going, while she tried to maintain control of her own body. She struggled with herself in an abandoned flat’s living room. “GET OUT!” she shouted. “GET OUT OF ME!” “Sing me a song.” Whispered a voice. Maha almost missed it, with her vocal straining and constant moving around, wrestling with a ghost within her. She screamed at the top of her lungs, now clawing on the floorboard with her nails. “Sing me a song.” “I don’t want to.” She cried. “I don’t want to do anything for you.” “My love.” This time the voice was familiar. Too familiar. Maha turned around to the direction in which it came from. There she stood, as if she had never left, her face as beautiful as ever, her one true love. “Keyla?” The pain and clawing on her body had stopped. She suddenly felt bliss. “Hey you… this is me.” She smiled, her eyes glistening with tears. “How… how are you here?” “With some help.” Maha crawled back to her feet and went to greet her girlfriend. “I missed you.” The two hugged. Maha dug her side of her face into Keyla’s chest, trying to feel the reality of the moment at its most. “I missed you so… much.” Her voice almost broke. “Maha.” Keyla tried to make eye-contact by leaning her head back. “Babe, look at me.” Her eyes had become bloodshot from tears. “I love youuuuu.” Maha whispered. “I feel so alone. Defeated.” “Look at me.” Keyla had to physically grab her head with her hands to look into her eyes. “You have to let it in.” “Let what it?” Maha asked, confused. “You know what.” She tried to move her head back from the shock of being asked to do such a thing but Keyla’s grip on her was immense. “You have to let them control you.” “NO!” “You have to! If you want to be with me!” “What!?” “When I died…” Both of them suddenly had flashbacks to the night with the Necromancer and the torture. “My soul wasn’t released properly.” “What’s that mean?” “It means… if you die without doing what they want you to do…” Her face expressed a million colours of sadness. Maha could almost see that the body that stood in front of her was soulless. Although the way Keyla was holding her was hurting her, gently rested her hands on top of hers and continued to look her in the eye. “What happens?” “I’m gone forever.” “What does that mean?” “That… you don’t get to see me in the afterlife… ever.” Maha’s heart felt yet another sharp blade of emotions. “Keyla… who’s controlling me?” “I can’t…” “KEYLA! I need to know! “Just trust me? Do you love me?” “Of course I love you!” “Then do as they say. Please?” “Keyla… I don’t…” Maha sobbed. “MOLITUR LUCIFER VENIRE!”
Keyla increased the pressure on Maha’s head, almost to the point of making her vomit, but she ceased once the expected reaction took place. Maha’s eyes glowed red and she instantly began to hover above ground. She looked down at Keyla with wide open eyes. “You’re expected in France. Do not be late.” Keyla reminded her. Maha hovered towards the nearest window. “Demon, wait. Take care of that body and the soul that resides inside. She isn't..." “Sssssshhhhhhh. You neither sound… nor look… like him. Do not think you can command me.”
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