Challenge #01501-D040: Dis-possessed
"There is no room for demons, when you're already self-possessed" - Carrie Fisher -- RecklessPrudence
The demon Az'bar'bijol, once summoned, launched itself at the luckless human who was foolish enough to read its incantation out loud. And almost got the spiritual equivalent of a concussion when it was repelled by a possessing force already in residence, so to speak.
"Nice try," said the human. "But you can't do that with me. And... soon as I whip up a binding spell, you won't be free to do mischief in the mortal realm either."
"What?" said the demon Az'bar'bijol. "How?" It looked around. The human had made a perfect summoning circle and made certain that it could not exit through any crack. And it was ringed about with sea salt. "Why?"
"Well, that's all the questions bar 'where' and 'when'," chirped the human. She took down a tome that was dripping with bookmarks as if she had done this many times before. "I'm a preventative witch, and I'm removing evil from the mortal plane, one demon at a time. Which means summoning them or exorcising them into a containment area and binding them against any further evil deeds. That answers 'what' and 'how'. As for why..." the witch turned on the TV to the news.
War. Famine. Pestilence. Death. No the horsemen, but the abstract concepts they were named for. Ceacelessly. All over the world. Destruction in all its many forms.
"I didn't do that," objected the demon Az'bar'bijol.
"Not directly, no. You whispered in a few ears. You tipped a couple of scales. You slid a rock a few important millimeters, knowing the waves it would cause. And this is the result. So... to try and turn this down a notch, I'm binding you and any others like you that I can catch. Without absolute evil, maybe absolute good could have a chance at running this mess of a world."
Az'bar'bijol settled on a solid form. Bland and uninteresting. Nondescript, because true evil slips by all those who are watching for it. "All right. Fine. You can spend the rest of your life trying to cleanse evil that way. But I really want to know... how did you repel my possession? I must have taken thousands of witches like you in my time."
The witch grinned. "You want the long story or the short story?"
"I'm not going anywhere...."
"I was in a coma. At least, that was what the doctors were saying. I knew I was dead, because I was watching myself from outside of myself. Technically, I was a ghost. I couldn't go to heaven. I wouldn't go to hell... so I thought about possessing my empty body. All I had to do was wait until my previous protections wore off. And learn how to use my body again. No biggie. And now I happen to be demon-proof."
"No," whispered the demon Az'bar'bijol.
"Yes. I'm self-possessed. You and your kind can't get me."
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / prometeus]
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Another well written piece. Your attention to detail is astounding. These concise flash fiction you write continue to be enjoyable. Perhaps you would consider writing longer stories, even those that qualify as short stories, maybe as a result of a combination of different prompts.
Funny you should mention that, because this book is the direct result of multiple prompts.
There's also the Hevun's Child Trilogy - first one's free, and a bunch of other stuff over on my Smashwords Profile
I do have other novels in the works, but I'm trying to get them out on the dead tree circuit. Further news about that whenever it happens :D
Oh, nice! Good to know it's all covered :D