| What is wrong with me? Why do I feel this way? I have my slave, I have my servant and I have Xun’riia. I should be content, but I am not. Why despite all that do I feel empty?
My slave, Holly, was easily broken and now attends to me faithfully without complaint. She will do anything I ask. In her eyes I see nothing but devotion to me. There is nothing she will not do for me. She has even killed her own kind because I told her to. Now I am teaching her skills which will be for my benefit, not hers. I should be content.
My servant, Irinia, a surface born Drow who knew nothing of our ways, she is keen to learn and embrace our values. I tell her of Lloth the Divine Mother. She is so fascinated by her greatness and power and what she can give her, that she also will do anything for me. I have taken Irinia from a life so miserable she looks to me in awe. She is like a blank canvas and on that canvas I will create a masterpiece. She is not only my servant but she will become a servant to Lloth. In many ways she reminds me of Xun’riia. But unlike Xun’riia she will never be a priestess but she will be my faithful bodyguard. I should be content.
My soulmate Xun’riia. She will risk everything for me. All this despite the terrible time I have given her recently. I treated her badly, questioned her loyalty, yet she refuses to leave my side. What more can I ask? All my selfish wants are being satisfied. I should be very content, yet I am not. Even Shi’nithra came to me and told me she wants to give up the ways of the warrior and take the vows of priestesshood. Why am I not content?
I am surrounding myself with a wall of loyalty, one that will protect me from my bitch sister and her guard dogs and the poisonous Jyslin. But I am not content. Lloth has deserted me, of that I feel certain. I feel my power draining, slowly but surely. I faced and killed a succubus but not without cost, for I am left with a wound on my thigh that has still not healed. That is not right. That tells me my power is diminishing. Now I cannot sleep and there are times when I remember nothing. I feel drawn towards the Abyss. Lloth is summoning me. I am to be punished!
[Faeryl is talking to Xun’riia seeking comfort and discussing plans to regain Lloth’s favour. Without warning she slips into a period of darkness of which she remembers nothing. When she later emerges from that state, Xun’riia is lying in her arms, unconscious, weak and looking drained of all energy. Faeryl knows nothing of what happened.] |