"…Child of the sea," the voice had said, "you have earned my respect. I am Koven, king of the giants. My true name is Guardian of Disaster. You have rekindled a passion I thought long dead… such bravery. From a mortal as well!" Koven laughed "You remind me of our goddess. I wish you luck."
At the sound of his name as well as his true name, something inside her had stirred, a quiet recognition she could not explain, it was like getting compliment from an important figure, some form of pride surged in her chest yet she could not explain why she felt that way. A moment ago she had come here intending to put a blade through his heart.
"Thank you," she said not sure what to respond. "Can you lead me out?"
Two golden handles had appeared before her in the dark as if they had always been there.
'Did i even take a step towards the heart at all?'
She sighed and stared at the handle. Let's go kill a god....Tessie is never going to believe what happen in my nightmare.
She gripped her sword and walked toward the door.
That was when she heard music. A melody she was quite familiar with.
"Huh… do you hear that? that sound....that faint melody...." she had asked slightly dazed.
"…I hear nothing," Koven had answered, bewildered.
'What? How can he not. wait. It is in my head!'
Her eyes had widened.
"Child of the sea…" a familiar sweet voice had whispered.
it was not Koven. She knew this voice.
"Why must you make everything so complicated?" Rethen sighed. "You have forced my hand."
The melody swelled, heavy with dread. Something raked across her mind, like claws of raw sound digging in her brain. A stabbing pain split her skull and she had screamed.
"…Child of the sea? Are you well?" Koven had asked.
"My… head… hurts," she had gasped. "Rethen… found out…"
Koven voice was quite for a bit.
"The abomination?" he had said. "How did it enter my soul?"
As if answering, her sword flared, brighter than ever, almost illuminating the darkness around her.
"Is that…? Child of the sea, what have you done?" Koven's voice was filled with despair why did you bring a fragment of the abomination here? THROW THAT ARTIFACT AWAY!"
But it had already been too late.
Something had crawled into her thoughts and coiled there. She could no longer feel her own body. A deep terror spread through her mind that was slowly not becoming hers.
'No… not like this. I cannot die like this.'
She had underestimated Rethen. No, that was not the right word. She had been careless.
One by one, her senses begun to fade.
"…Child… free…you from...his will" she heard, a distant scrape of sound, before deafness swallowed everything.
Koven's voice drifted away. Suddenly she heard a faint heartbeat, echoing through the void, and for a single instant, the fog that had been devoring her mind lifted. The music still pressed against her skull, like a relentless tide but it sounded faint.
'I… refuse to die!'
In desperation and with her renewed will to live she tried something wild. Rethen's music was consuming one of her minds but she had two. She had always found it strange that she could pilot both at once. She suspected there had to be some sort of bridge between them, a place where her true consciousness sat.
So she had made a desperate choice.
She had let the corrupted mind go. She had tried to tear its connection to her body, to isolate it, to throw it into the dark and shelter her true self away from it.
It had not worked and Rethen's corruption swallowed her.
"Thump."
The heartbeat had rung out again and Her thoughts cleared for a moment. with renewed hope she tried again. She failed.
"Thump."
Again.
"Thump."
And again.
Each time she failed, the heartbeat had sounded, Koven was forcing clarity into her with the last shreds of his soul and will fighting to free her. She had not known of course. She had thought she was simply drifting in and out consciousness, still herself.
Not until her body, now no longer under her control, started walking deeper into the darkness did she finally manage, after thousands of attempts, to break free and separate her mind.
But by then, Koven had nothing left to protect his soul, he had used all his power to fight Rethens will. He could not pull her back one more time to truely free her.
And in the end, he had died, by her hand before she could fully reconnect with her own body.
'Urg… I was so stupid. I was so stupid. How could I have trusted him? Rethen. I will kill you.'