The Devil on the Other Shoulder

[Mongrel]

The rain fell steadily upon the rippling surface of Silver Lake. Drops slapped at the trees with a hiss, as if the forest was incessantly trying to shush the storm. Lightning flashed and thunder cracked. And despite it all, Thadius Dhrin slept--fitful at times, perhaps, but slept nonetheless.

He had had visitors: an inquisitive fawn, a few birds, and a Dreamwalker.

But Thadius was about to have another. A Chimaental.

The cloaked figure entered the glade, moving slowly toward the huddling mass of Thadius Dhrin. The figure paused, regarding the injured form that Death refused to claim.

The previous Dreamwalker's efforts had been overt and punishing. The Dreamwalker had tested Thadius's beliefs, trying to spread doubt within the man. It was clear that the Dreamwalker would continue that torture for as long as Thadius's mind could bare.

The Chimaental had other ideas.

"Brother Prime." The cloaked figure's deep, erudite voice reverberated in the back of his throat like a slow-opening hinge.

"Brother Prime." The Chimaental waited for the man to stir.

The name repeated until Thadius's eyes slowly opened to regard the Chimaental. Only then did the cloaked figure move again. An aged hand appeared from the depths of the cloak's sleeve. It reached to the clasp and unfastened that which held the garment closed. Slowly, the shapeless cloak poured from the shoulders of the Chimaental until it fell to the earth, wreathing weathered, fur-lined boots.

The man that was revealed was large. Far too large than could have been hidden within the cloak at his feet. He was taller and thicker of frame. His hands were strong and more youthful than the one than had unfastened the cloak. Had the man been so large when he was cloaked? Had his hand really been so frail and decrepit?

"Brother Prime," the Chimaental's voice had lost its rough timbre as well. His tone was now rich and smooth. "Your faith is being tested. You must not forget who you are. You must not forget your calling. You must...not...forget what you believe!

"You MAY NOT forget...ME!" In an instant the large man straightened and his face becomes a mask of rage.

He would teach Thadius a lesson for entertaining even the slightest moment of doubt. He would have no more sympathy for Thadius than Thadius himself did when he carved the eyes from people's skulls as an offering.

The Chimaental's shirt tore to shreds as black, hairy appendages grew from his back. In a flash, he leapt toward Thadius, each talon-tipped, spider-like leg reaching to tear the man apart...

_____________________________

...and with a start...Thadius Dhrin woke from the world of dreams.

The rain continued to fall, but he was alone beneath the oak tree.

[Thadius Dhrin]

In the days following the dreams, Thadius Dhrin had been through many forms of waking hell as well.

Ariane had come to the Oak, because Thadius had called her there using a cruel ruse of Altias Bromn being injured there. It was the only way he could know she would come. It had worked, and she had been angry, as he knew she would be. There had been a long moment when he was fairly certain she would finish the job she had started in the lair. However, her heart was far more forgiving than she would allow anyone to know, and she had not only spared him, but helped him back to town.

Deep in the night he had fled. How was he to know what her heart would tell her in the morning? Perhaps she would take his head as he slept. He could not run that risk.

Taking a cloak and some coin from Ariane's purse, he made his way in to town, finding a little slum of an inn. Renting a room there, he had slept now, for two days.

The dreams had been horrible, most of them of his own making based on the dreams which had plagued him until now.

He would drift off to sleep thinking of the cloaked man, the promise of power. The words of being forsaken by his God. These things placed him into a fitful slumber. Each morning waking to the memory of the man becoming a thing...~You MAY NOT Forget ME!~

While the cloaked man brought him great curiosity, and a good deal of doubt, the other...made him fearful, and reminded him so much of Him.

"I will not forget You."