Overtaken

[17:57] Lemuria produced a sheet of paper from her sleeve, jotting down a black pentagram on it. She took her ceremonial dagger as well, creating a small incision on her thumb for the blood to drip in.

"I will need you to jot your name down on a piece of paper, and then give a sample of your blood, then, I will perform a ritual."

"Once the ritual is finished, you will have a vision wherein you see the Dark Lord, and will have one final chance to back down. But if you accept his terms, you will become a witch, and the black pentagram will form itself on your body, anywhere of your choosing."

"Do note that you are selling your spirit by doing this, no two ways about it. Your spirit will join with the Dark Lord for all eternity upon your death, and there is nothing you or anyone else can do to free yourself from his grasp. Although, if you ask me, dancing a dance of carnage and bloodshed for all eternity does not sound like a bad deal... but, I digress."

"Do you still wish to do this, with that in mind? Do you desire to trade your freedom in the next life for freedom within this one?"
(Lemuria Augustus)
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[18:11] Heidi did not juggle. She did not complain. She did not flinch, nor hesitate, as Lemuria told her that she would be giving up her freedom in the next life for true freedom in this one.

She knew the path she had to take. She was here. Now. Currently. This was the world she lived in. This was who she was. She was not a spirit, she was not dead. She did not know much about the other realms, and she did not care. Heidi was generally one who lived in the present, doing what she did best. Being free. And for this life? She desired freedom. She required freedom.

Even the choice to not follow to the 'normal' afterlife was a sign of freedom. Human souls passed onto the various realms of the immaterium, but now she had a chance to do something else. In those realms, she would still not be truly free; she would be bound to the laws of the spirit realm and governed by colossal beasts against her will. If she chose this, she would not only be making her own choice about her fate, something that humans did not generally get to do, but she would be choosing to bind herself to the whims of a calamitous creature that she shared a lot more in common with than the guardians of the other realms.

If she died in any way, shape or form, she would lose her freedom anyway. This way? At least she'd get to choose it on her terms. At least she'd get to dance in the beyond as she did in this realm; creating chaos and mischief for eternity.

Heidi held out her hands and opened her palms.

"I'm choosing my terms. I have a choice. A choice means freedom. I'm just going to be locked away in the next life anyway. I'm going on my terms." she deadpanned. Her right eye shimmered with an auburn hue, the vaporous blood mixing with it and occasionally revealing the whites behind the corruption. Her left eyesocket shone with a vivid cyan, brighter than it ever had before. It was plainly visible through her new eyepatch. It was the sign of determination. Of steadfastness. Of conviction.

This was the moment that would not just alter her life permanently, but also what happened after.

And she would make that choice on the night before her eighteenth birthday. She would decide how she lived as an adult.
(Heidi Augustus)
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[18:41] Hesitance...

To do this to her own daughter, someone she had come to love... even Lemuria could not help but hesitate at that. Blake caused her to hesitate, too, and it led her to wonder whether or not the fate she had consigned herself to was bad. Why would she hesitate so much if she felt this was a good thing...?

But those thoughts were fleeting. The black mist that had been enveloping her heart ever since she truly allowed herself to process the death of Blake had caused any light existing within her spirit to dim with time, and with that, her grasp on any sense of morality that did not exist solely from within herself began to weaken.

And so, she cast aside that last, fleeing bit of hesitation. She would curse Heidi to an eternity with the Dark Lord, damning her to an eternity of suffering and pleasure. The extremes of life would be experienced in death, and the influence of the Dark Lord would strip away anysemblance of gray that she had.

Clapping her hands together, the black pentagram within the vessel projecting in front of them, functioning as the door to Helheim. As she began chanting, the pentagram began shining with a sickening black light, casting a shadow upon any semblance of natural light that existed within this household.

The world was to become just a little bit darker today, as the lord of carnage and bloodshed found himself with one more Apostate; one more person to spread the suffering that existed within Helheim across the land, to give the living a preview of what their death would be like.

And Lemuria... wouldn't have it any other way.

"Under blackened sky and blood red moon, the lord of war, the lord of doom. Ride high tonight, ride high! Lord! Master of war! Scion! Harbinger of bloodshed, I greet your ride tonight!"

She rose up her ceremonial dagger, and...

"With the raised blade I greet you, spreader of carnage, taker of lives, death dealer from the forbidden wastes, I welcome you into this sanctum this eve, may you share your tactics and strategy with me, your cunning is our bond."

...stabbed it into the black pentagram and twisted it to the side, hereby unlocking the door. The black pentagram lit aflame, pouring a truly tremendous amount of occult mana into the brass vessel.

"May your brutality and strength be at my side, and may your bloodlust fuel my veins!"

The black pentagram grew in size, transferring itself to the floor and surrounding the two of them, creating a powerful barrier from which no mana could escape.

"Lord of war, reaper of humans, I invoke thee!"

Occult mana flooded from the vessel, its power darker and more vile than ever before. It completely filled the barrier, flooding both Heidi's and Lemuria's mana circuits with a tremendous amount of power the likes of which they had never before.The hand of the Dark Lord was grasping them- suffocating them- and whether or not this experience was joyful or excruciating depended entirely on how much pleasure they took in spreading his work. His message.

"With your prowess I eviscerate when right!"

Emotions, both good and bad, flooded the minds, bodies, and spirits of the two occultists. Anger, resentment, bloodlust, wrath, lust, desire. Euphoria. Joy. Love. Every emotion that had led the two of them to this point overwhelmed their senses, and any memories associated with these emotions would flash before their eyes. It was a warning, one last chance to back out, through showing Heidi just what she was about to leave behind.

Her past, present, and future, through death and any potential undeath, would now belong to the Dark Lord. And through that belonging, she would be granted the powers of a witch; the power to steal the essence of others, commune with dark spirits, and eventually, bend the minds of men and women alike to her whims.

The world was to become hers.

The potential for true freedom was upon her.

"Lord of blood, master of pain, I welcome you into my sacred space!"

And now...

"Show me your visage, and share with me your knowledge of war, for I will spread your legend, I will spread your tale..."

...came Heidi's chance to attain that freedom.

And so...

"In Nomine Draconis, In Nomine Helheim!"

...Lemuria spoke in a voice that was not her own.

"A'ARAB ZARAQ HELHEIM MARAG REGINON!"

A voice that would echo through Heidi's mind, body, and spirit.

The voice of her new master.
(Lemuria Augustus)
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[19:34] Heidi did not feel the same hesitance as Lemuria. Hesitance was the complete opposite of impulse. Impulse was doing something without worrying for the future consequence. Impulse was freedom. If hesitance was Orderly, Impulse was Chaotic. And Chaotic was what defined Heidi as a person. She jumped into things without thinking too hard of the ramifications. Sure, her prior lesson had taught her about causality, but after mulling it over in her mind, she found it more fun to watch the dominoes fall into place rather than to try and predict them.

Her heartbeat was rapid, her brain burnt as it kicked into action. It was pure, unadulterated excitement. The instant she'd mentioned going on her terms, she knew she'd sealed her fate. That was the time for thinking. Now was the time for acting. Her dulled teeth bit into her lip as her eye widened. Once more, the flames from within her empty socket expanded and charred away the eyepatch, leaving the rather menacing visage of the less-than-sane clown on full display.

Heidi watched Lemuria with fervent anticipation as the clown cut her finger on her blade and signed her name in blood on the sheet, passing it back to her mother with her finger outstretched. Blood flowed from it, hovering in the air around Lemuria for her to capture. Being a blood mage was useful for this kind of thing.

She was prepared for the consequences of this venture. She knew of them, but they paled in comparison to the benefits. She would gain both freedom and strength, and in turn, she would lose her chance at a 'normal' afterlife. But since when did Heidi ever care about normal?

The clownette watched closely as Lemuria clapped her hands together. The pentagram within the vessel expanded outwards and painted itself in the middle of the room as the Witch began her chant.

Cold.

Cold was the best way to describe this feeling. It was as if all light and heat had been sucked into the incoming portal, shrouding the room in a lack of anything. Heat, light, positivity. All drained as the presence of Helheim began to seep into the Materium, passing through the barriers between dimensions to infect a place it should never touch.

Lemurias speech chilled her, only reinforcing the mad grin that made its presence known upon her face. Darkness, a lord of War, a harbinger of bloodshed. All the things that granted people freedom in a way. Darkness obscuring sight, freeing them from falsehoods people presented. War, inciting chaos. Bloodshed, freeing the sheep from their bindings to the corrupt world of Eternia itself. It was majestic. It was beautiful. She revelled in it.

As Lemuria rose her dagger and continued her chant, the depraved things within her words resonated with Heidi. Carnage, taking lives, dealing death and inviting the Dark Lord himself into their abode. All of those things and the thoughts associated dragged her occultic energies up out of her, blanketing the room regardless of whether Heidi wanted to or not. The blunettes mana itself reeked of excitement and giddiness, an inability to restrain itself. She was thriving in an environment like this.

The black pentagram ignited, burning through the barriers of reality that Kraus himself had constructed using his own divine energies. Power never before felt by the short woman flooded into the room, washing around before pouring itself into the vessel Lemuria had brought with her. Without her spirit sight, she would not be able to see much. . but with it?

The black mass was writhing, screaming, cursing everything that had ever been considered 'good' in the world. It felt like tiny black hands were reaching out of the darkness, grasping at the air. Trying to escape. Trying to flood into the world as a whole, corrupting it and driving it into madness. Helheim itself attempting to break through and infest their plane of reality, twisting and turning and warping it into a place that was simply an extension of the unholy realm. Depravity, corruption. . the stench. It was magnificent. Majestic! Like nothing Heidi had ever comprehended! Such abhorrence!

The pentagram expanded and bubbled into the ground, summoning up an ethereal barrier that sealed them in with it. Nothing could escape; this pocket of land may as well have belonged to Helheim itself now.
(Heidi Augustus)
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[19:34] The mana within the vessel exploded outwards, washing over Heidi like a tidal wave of corruption. Burning, agonising pain. And yet, it didn't feel all too painful. It felt. . good. It was maddening for certain, but what was the essence of insanity to one that had already thrown away reason? Heidi allowed it to flow through her, becoming a beacon for the energy of their Lord. Their 'master.' The one whose message she had deigned to spread of her own volition. She was not signing away her freedom, she was doing it because SHE wanted to. SHE had to. She NEEDED to.

Spreading chaos and freedom to those who deserved it was something she chose to do of her own volition. Poor little Betadiel. The boy who looked up to her like a sister. Like a guardian. His mind was weak. Easy to twist. Easy to break and reform and mould in whichever way the adopted Augustus wanted. She had already begun, teaching him to accept his negativity and use it to fuel him. Teaching him to understand it and use it for his own benefit. Teaching him to revel in it and jump into his misery and draw from it.

At the next part of her chant, everything came back again. Every experience. From her parents passing, to begging in Theria, to meeting Abaddon and Lemuria. Beginning her training. Forming bonds. Finding targets. Losing her vision and becoming permanently scarred. Basking in the occult and feeling the power that it gave. Listening to the spirits, regaining her confidence and learning about what happened in the ruins.

All the emotions that came with each of these experiences flooded into her at once. A cacophony of positivity and negativity. Euphoria and despair. Ecstasy and misery. Love and hate. Wrath and peace. All of these things were a part of being human. Just human. A blank slate between order and chaos, with the greys between. She was more. She did not need greys. She did not need people. Everyone she had connected to benefitted her in various ways. She could already break them down into pros and cons rather than people. Even if she threw these things away, Heidi could keep on going. She would keep on trucking. She was not backing out now.

The potential for true freedom was upon her.

As Lemuria finished her chanting, her voice warped and changed. Unearthly, unintelligible. Dark. This was, most definitely, not her mother. It did not sound like her mother, it did not feel like her mother. .

And it did not stay entirely WITHIN her mother.

Heidi felt the dark lords essence spew into her, emanating from His current vessel upon the Eternian lands; Lemuria. His voice. His commanding nature. His darkness and his unholy evil. His desire to spread chaos across the lands. His desire to be known and feared by the populace.

And Heidis laughter began as that essence of his set into her very soul.

"Hahah. . Ahahah. . Kyahaha. . KYAHAHAHAHA!"

She felt it within her body and mind. The power He had bestowed upon her as a Prophet of the Damned. The power to drain the life essence of the sheep and twist it for her own purposes. The knowledge to spread His word across the lands and make Him known. The unerring drive to do what she wanted. To be Chaos Manifest.

"I shall spread chaos across the lands with the tools you have granted to me, My Lord! I will see to it that your gifts will not be in vain! I will rise and grow and I shall show others why You are you be feared!"
(Heidi Augustus)
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[20:09]

On this day, the dark lord found another apostate. On this day, the world became a darker place. The last modicum of hesitation left her mind. The last traces of the idea that maybe, just maybe, the fate of an occultist wasn't a desirable one... all gone.

All of it.

This was... this was amazing.

"Hah... hahahaha..."

As the tremendous amount of occult mana that flooded the area flooded Lemuria's circuits, the blackened mist surrounded her heart was completely and utterly blown away. Her heart, which no longer had the structural integrity needed to resist the corrupting effects of occultism, was now bore down upon by one of the most powerful occult forces in all of Eternia. And while it wasn't the true extent of its power, she could feel the depths of it regardless. She could feel how far she had left to reach, and how far she could take this.

"Haha... hahahahahaha..."

And all it took was the death of the person she loved the most.

She had never felt anything like this before. Nothing close. Now she understood, truly, just what was so enthralling about ritualistic sacrifice, dancing in the blood of her enemies, tearing their hearts out, and leaving them to die alone, feeling the cold embrace of death as their blood drains from her body.

To destroy. To inspire fear and terror. To strike them with nightmares the likes of which they never felt before. She spoke a big game before, and she played along. And, to some extent, she did in fact enjoy it. But she didn't truly understand.

Spectral blue eyes shone red once more, as she, for the first time, truly gave in. With her broken heart, this one ritual that allowed her direct communication with the Dark Lord gave her the answer she was looking for.

"KYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Hah... hahahaha... KYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

She laughed. And she laughed. And she kept laughing, well past the point of running out of breath. But eventually, that laughing came to a close, and her gaze shot over towards Heidi, her previously-blue eyes now shining red, if only for a few moments.

"Heidi... hahaha... my dear Heidi... hehehehe..."

"Everything in this wretched world is ours for the taking! Let nothing get in the way between us and our desires ever again!"

"Let us tear asunder all who dare try to stop us from making our stories our own!"

"This world belongs to us! Everything in it is ours! SO LET US TAKE WHAT IS OURS AND SHOW EVERYONE WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN MISSING!"

"KYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
(Lemuria Augustus)

[20:34] The energies rushing through her small form. The darkness and corruption washing from the pair mixing with that all encompassing raw depravity emitted from the beast that had intruded into this world using her mother as a vessel. The imagery of what she was to do with this strength rushing through her mind.

It was intoxicating. She felt stronger than she'd ever felt in her life. Stable. Given purpose. Motivation. Drive. She had the tools to do what she wanted to do now. She could weaponize this to manipulate the sheep and bring the masses under her OWN chains. Those who deserved freedom would get it. Those who did not. . those who lived under the shackles of Osrona and society itself. . they would be brought under a new master. One that would give them purpose and drive. One that would fuel them. Guide them. Send them to perish gloriously for a cause that their new master believed in.

Freedom.

Ironic, given what Heidi had just done.

She would use these tools to tear Osrona down, brick by brick. Noble by noble. Knight by Knight. Chaos would rule the city. Paranoia. Fear. Destruction. The sheep that lived within the walls would find themselves instilled with the very essence of what made life worth living.

Her grin stayed wide as she locked herself within her headscape, running over the hundreds of possibilities that had just been opened to her. Opportunities. Potentials. The fires within her eyes shone brighter than ever; her spectral flame threatened to burst out of its socket and spread over her body whilst the corruption evident in her physical eye spread further outwards, staining it further with the perverse darkness that had filled the orb after her injury had been healed.

Her attention was snapped back to reality by her mothers increasing laughter. The wheezing brought concern, but it was no bother to her. She knew Lemuria wouldn't go too far. Her own laughter began to break outin turn though, brought on by the maddened cackles of her mother.

"Kyeheh. .Ahahah. . KYAHAHAHAHAHAH. . !!!"

It rang out like a plague, emanating outwards from her body just as her chaotic magic did. It wracked the walls of the house as the barrier set by the pentagram began to fall now that the ritual had been completed. She'd never felt this GOOD before! Not once in her life! It was euphoria that mortal means simply could not grant!

"The sheep will fall beneath our feet! Dragged out by force, moulded into the perfect footsoldiers for a war of our own making!"

"Most are placed on this world to simply live, but not us, mother! We were born to take! We are a cut above the livestock. The shepherds of a new age!"

"OUR AGE!"

She fully understood now. She knew exactly why people followed this path. The freedom, the power, the potential, the tools granted for them to rise to the thrones that were reserved for them as the rightful Kings and Queens of the world!

She understood.
(Heidi Augustus)
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[20:44] Eventually, the high wore off. The last of the occult energy faded, and with that, her eyes returned to normal. And yet... something still lingered. Something unknown. Something... vile. With the death of Blake, something about her changed. And with this one ritual, that change had been solidified.

"You really are an excellent student, Heidi. One of the best I have ever had."

Her words were darker, her tone more sinister. It was hard to pinpoint just what exactly was different about her, however, but were her company here not the kind of people they were, it'd be something very much unsettling.

"You make me so very proud."
(Lemuria Augustus)
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[20:49] Heidi stared directly at her mother, grinning intently as the majority of her high wore off also. Some of it was still there though; the girl seemed quite woozy. Perhaps that was what Essence did to a witch. Or perhaps it was the fading of the all-encompassing, all-powerful visceral darkness that had infested them during the ritual.

Whatever it was, it didn't matter. She heard the change in her mothers tone; less caring, less human. Dripping with. . something that wasn't there before. It didn't put Heidi off though. She knew who her mother was.

She hoped.

Slowly, she stepped over to the woman and moved to pull her into a soft hug, whispering something in her ear.

"Thanks, mum. And as Osrona burns, I hope that pride swells even greater."
(Heidi Augustus)