Free A Different Kind of Despair by Nicole Martinsen

devils do!" Diana fumed.
"Marvin is also the Inheritor, the reincarnation of the First
Necromancer, Inval. I don't know what Inval did that stoked the
fires of Hell this badly, but I do know that because of it Marvin
will never be safe."
    My heart sank. Diana could see it through my
expression.
    "Miraj..." she said warily. "Where is
Marvin?"
    "In House Soma. When Koronos led me here
Marvin was alone." I swore under my breath, charging back down the
stairs. How could I have been so foolish?
    I was never the devil's aim.
    But it was thanks to me that Marvin was now in
very real danger.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
10: Possess Me
    Diana ran after me. Her feet sounded like
someone splashing through the rain.
    "Which way do I go?" I called.
    "Left!"
    I followed her directions, navigating back to
my room.
    "Diana," I huffed, "are you any good at
fighting?"
    "In my youth, yes!"
    I closed my eyes and prayed I knew what I was
doing. This all seemed so far above my head. Souls and spirits,
dimensions and devils -these were stories, weren't they? Cultural
treasures, odes to the glorious imagination of my
people!
    And founded upon truth, apparently.
    We rounded the final corner, picking up the
din of clashing metal in the hall.
    Marvin narrowly dodged an incoming skeletal
swing, tearing off his attackers arm and speaking his strange words
to it. I watched as the bone transformed into a short sword, but it
wasn't enough to fend off four more attackers.
    I could take out two, maybe three, but we
would still come up short.
    "Diana, possess me."
    "What?"
    "Just take my hand, dammit!" I
shouted.
    The old spirit did as I told her to do, and I
felt her, deeply, completely -years of quiet longing and love gone
unrequited. Everything she was melded into my mind, body, and soul.
I felt myself changing, and her growing presence in my
thoughts.
    "Help me, Diana," I ordered.
    There was a short pause.
    Lend me complete control, Miraj. I
need you to let go.
    I exhaled, instinctively loosing the tension
in my muscles. Diana's existence flowed through my limbs like a
warm breeze, and I watched through the eyes of a bystander in my
own head. My body dashed towards the first opponent, but I, Miraj,
reclined as it all happened, trusting Diana to play her role to
perfection.
    Every motion was smoothly executed, the
product of decades of practice put to use. She went for the weapons
in their hands first, elbowing one skeleton in the jaw, tearing an
axe from a bony hand, and then spinning the heel of my foot into
the ribs of another.
    Bones were dashed against the quartz walls,
making it so the parts were too far from the source body to
reform.
    "...Miraj?"
    Diana turned my head in Marvin's direction. I
caught a glimpse of my reflection in the quartz from the corner of
my eye, prompting me to wrest control of my body from the neck
up.
    Binding myself to Jiki had led me
to become a being of water; fusing my body with Diana's spirit had
turned my eyes petal pink. The kauna had gone from black to ivory.
I brushed my fingers across the designs, stunned to discover that
my skin had turned to porcelain.
    "Marvin, it's me, Diana."
Diana borrowed my lips and tongue, speaking in a voice that wasn't
my own. Through my eyes, I saw Marvin gaping. His mouth was an
expression of disbelief, but his eyes knew the truth. "Miraj let me
possess her body in order to help you. You must leave
Nethermountain."
    "How are you even here?"
    "It's the Crone, Marvin. She tied my spirit to
the coffin." Diana grabbed him by the shoulders. "She's a demon,
just like Koronos. And now that she has the Eyes there's no telling
what she's trying to accomplish."
    " What ?"
    Diana whipped my head to the side. We picked
up the sound of running, with too many sets of feet to gauge the
numbers.
    She grabbed Marvin by the arm.
    "We need to get to a more defensible position!
Hurry!"
    A map of Nethermountain unfolded before my
eyes. My head