Demon Lord Shapeshifting System



"What does Malum do?"  Roland asked Henry. "Like what it truly does. And please don't be cryptic."

The sailor from the 18th century thought about it for a while, before saying: 

"The Malum seemed to give Edmund the knowledge to create and to change. To bring matter into existence. But his physical body had already died when he achieved it, so it was no use to him. He could only change Eden, since that is where his soul resides. At least, that is what I believe from what I observed."

Roland thought about what Victoria said about there being 2 more 'Malums', and that Harker/Hanker was aware of it. He asked Henry about this.

Henry replied. "I don't know about that. I may have, I am not certain, for I am simply a fragment, you see. I have never truly felt whole all my life."

"Whole in what way?" Roland asked.

"In... In a way that is similar to him. To the one who had brought me up and took me to your body to be our shelter. I do feel quite terrible that it was without permission, but you must understand us fragments. We always seek to be part of something, because in that way, even if we were not part of that originally….. We just wanted to belong somewhere. Anywhere."

Roland shook his head. "I have nothing against you. That's in the past. The only thing that matters to me now is getting me and my people out of this chaos as soon as possible."

Henry suddenly smiled using Roland's lips. "You are much more like him than you think."

"Like who?" Roland frowned.

"Him. Hank was his name, right? You are indeed like him."

Roland could feel his fury rising again just from the mention of that man's name. 

It all started slowly upon receiving the gift. But the moment when "Hank" truly entered his body was that night. 

Roland remembered that he was dreaming about sheeps. But that's not the full truth.

The black sheep had stayed pinning him down, but Roland soon realized that it wasn't a sheep. It was a goat. And the goat then turned into a satyr, a half-man half-goat creature. This creature made purely of black and darkness stayed on top of him for the whole night, just watching him from below.

Roland pretended to sleep in fear, but he knew. This…. devil. He knew that Roland was just pretending, and yet didn't acknowledge it. 

Instead, he leaned close and spoke until Roland could feel his breath to his face. 

"It had always been just you, wasn't it? Only you."

Roland didn't say anything, but shivered by how familiar that voice was. The pitch, the cadence, everything.

Even the touch was familiar. He felt some heaviness as the devil laid directly on top of him, burying his head on the crevice of his neck. He wrapped Roland tightly into a suffocating embrace.

"Ehye asher Ehye, Kochav. Let us become one again."

Then…

That's when he entered. 

He entered through Roland's mouth, his eyes, his ears, his nose, the pores of his skin….. It was even more terrible than the first time. He inserted himself even into every fiber of his being, and filled up every space. He had desecrated Roland, and from now on, he will never truly feel clean. 

That man, even in his death, will stay with him.

And that's even worse, because he had no way to take revenge or even vent his anger out. ραпdα `nᴏνɐ| сom

Not when his image was the same as his friend, the one he cared for the most. This way, he had desecrated Harker's image too. 

Roland remained frozen like this, stuck in a loop of the memory of that night. Henry's voice coming out of his mouth snapped him out of it. 

"Edmund had defeated the Giantess." He muttered softly in awe at first. 

"Edmund had defeated the Giantess! Behold!" He repeated, this time jumping for joy like a little child.

Roland finally cleared his vision and took over to see for himself. But there was nothing to see. And that was the point.

The Ice Giantess was no longer there, nor any other black worms. On the broken tent, a figure burst out, shouting a battle cry as he did. 

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

The shout felt more like a scream of pain to Roland's ears. It was primal, like the cry of an animal that had just been attacked in its habitat and lost its family. Harker went to fly at incredible speed, turning into a black tornado…..

ραпdα nᴏνa| сom And that tornado headed for the direction of the 13 pillars. 

"Let them go!!!!"

He screamed and the tornado went to destroy everything. It had no sense of direction, it went with pure rage. There was no aim, only the call for slaughter, the call for vengeance, and the call for destruction.

Roland's eyes become wide and full of terror. He can see him. 

It was him.

But he was dead, wasn't he?

Henry watched the carnage with nothing but an amused expression. "He is like him too. All of us, really. We become enraptured as soon as we become ignited by the deepest passions, whether it is love or hate, joy or sorrow….. Until we go beyond reason and rationality. Reason and rationality often felt false because they were. That is not our true selves."

"No. The beast within us, that one that devours and burns and explodes….. That is the true 'us'. It exists within everyone. We just bury them down."

Roland shook his head. "No, I…. I refuse to accept that. That makes no sense at all—"

But Henry kept going. "The truth is, I am him as well. He devoured my remains to achieve my memories, and thus I 'came into being'. But isn't that how we all come into being as well? Matter consuming itself, giving birth to itself. No beginning, no end."

Roland froze at this, collapsing as he hugged himself. "No, no….. You're saying that he is... That I am…."

Henry shook his head. " You are what you are. I am what I am. But there is no point where he ends and I begin. Where I end and you begin. We are all one. We all just wanted to forget that and stay divided…. We refuse to eat the fruit even when we already have it, when it has already been within us since the day we were born."

Roland closed his eyes. "I refuse. I won't eat it."

Henry didn't say anything. "It's only you, in the end. But believe what you must."

And he vanished. Or if we're being honest….

He was buried. But he was never gone. He was buried deep, just as the parts of ourselves we do not want the world to see. That we do not want to see.

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