Dreamt there were two brothers who were determined to become immortal. The elder had devised a scheme to transform himself into a demon, and then begin conquering the spirit realm to make himself even more powerful. The younger had tried to talk his brother out of it, but wound up going along in hopes that when the elder realized how much shit he was getting into, the younger could lead the way back to safety.
When I entered the dream, the elder had already completed his transformation. There was nothing left of his body but ash. The newly created demon spirit looked at me and mocked my inability to physically harm him.
I told him that I wasn’t sent here to stop him. It wasn’t my business to stop him or his brother. I was here to wait for a thing, and that thing had nothing to do with him.
The elder brother spat at me and turned to fully enter the spiritual realm. He never saw the flaming spittle pass through my body without any effect.
“Is he gone?” A feared voice came from the coffin on the other altar beside me.
“Yes.”
The unlocked lid lifted. “He really did it. I tried to stop him. He wants me to join him and rule with him.”
“I know.”
The younger brother can’t have been older than twenty-two. His eyes look so tired from all his crying. And mourning. “I’m going to do it.”
I pulled a chair beside the altar and sat down. “I can’t stop you. But I highly advise against it. Once you go, there’s no coming back the same as you left. Your body will die, and even if you take steps to preserve it, once you transform your spirit, you won’t fit in it anymore.”
“That’s what my research found… but not in such nice words.”
“You could stay. Remain human. Find a way to comfort and care for your brother after he gets his ass beat. Perhaps you can summon him and bind him to one of his favorite things while he was human. Keep him close. After all, there are worse things than death that can befall any spirit, demonic or not.”
The younger brother considered my words and saw a glimmer of hope. “No… I… I made a blood pact with him. He will torment me if I stay human. I have to follow.”
I nodded and took a small clear quartz shard from my satchel and held it in both hands as I settled down for what appeared to be a long wait. The younger brother watched me until I took up my sentinel position. He sighed, knowing he had to make his choice now.
He completed the last parts of the preparation, then laid down in the coffin. This time, locking the lid to seal his body within and keep interlopers like me out.
At this point, the perspective of the dream changed. I was now observing from the younger brother’s point of view, but was unable to influence his actions in any way.
This is boring. Brother’s transformation made a lot of noise and a lot of stink. When will it happen? Did I miss my chance? He shifted in the coffin and thought how silly it was to lay here, quite awake and quite alive, with his arms folded over his chest like in the movies.
He sat up, forgetting the coffin was closed. He did not notice he sat up through the lead-lined lid made from planks stolen from other coffins. He did not notice that his legs seemed not to function so he was dragging himself along the floor with his hands. He did not notice the colors had changed so that everything he saw was in shades of fluorescent greens and oranges.
He did not notice he was dead.
Still watching through his eyes, discombobulated they may be, I observed him using his arms less and less as he adjusted to a new method of transportation. The look on his face when he realized he had changed was perhaps the penultimate moment of humanity he had.
He turned to look at his lower body and found he no longer had legs. Instead, from the waist down was a large snake body, extending at least three times his original human height. “I’ve changed. Then… I’m…”
He looked down the ritual room to see me still sitting beside the altar. The coffin, however, has been utterly destroyed by some great heat. All the wood has been consumed, and the lead strips were fused together to create a sealed lead chamber that held whatever ashes of him remained. There was no going back.
As he pondered the scaling over of the skin of the humanoid portion of his body, a great spirit manifested before him. Appearing as a continually bursting sphere of vapor, it addressed him with contempt.
“Are you the younger brother of whom I should tremble in fear! Are you the lesser fool seeking to triumph over me! Come forward, morsel! I will suck the remaining dregs of humanity off your soul and chew you into a vessel worthy of bearing my power!”
The younger demon brother had to shield his face from the stinging waves of power coming from the demon lord. “Is my brother beyond hope, then? Has he been destroyed by his hubris?”
“You show deference to power and the knowledge of when to yield. I shall not crush you as I crushed your brother. He has become immortal as he desired, but he now lies in pieces on my table. I shall remake him into something far better than his childish desires ever conceived! But you, I have no claim on you as you have yielded in peace and another has already taken you.”
“Another?” He looked back again at my still and patient figure.
“Aye. She has been sent to collect you, young demon. If you refuse her, she may take you by force. If she refuses to take you, then I have claim! Choose, then, your master, for truly you shall serve.”
He looked at me again, then looked at the continually unfolding form of the demon lord. “There is no hope for my brother, then?”
“He has achieved his desires. How will you achieve yours?”
I always wanted to be with my brother. He’s the only family that called me kin. Different fathers meant different love but he never cared about that. As long as I did what he told me to… do…
Watching the younger brother realize what he really meant to his sibling was heartbreaking. So many memories of the elder brother bullying him into doing something he didn’t want to do. So many memories of his elder brother’s family blaming the younger when things went wrong. He understood then what role his elder brother expected him to play in this failed assault. He would follow his brother no longer.
“I thank you, Lord, for giving me this second chance. I will not squander it. My brother has received his desires and now he must pay the cost for them. My desire is to be free, but I understand now that I will always serve something, one way or another. She tried to stop me. I’ll take my chances with whoever she takes me to.”
“You may become great after all, Worm.” The manifestation stopped unfolding itself and the vapor collapsed into the point of entry. Through Worm’s eyes, I watched him approach me. He placed a hand on my knee with his silent request.
I extended the quartz shard. His spirit was pulled into it at once. As I placed the now discolored shard into my satchel, he heard me say, “This is the beginning of your redemption.”
The satchel closed over him, and with it, the dream.