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Description
The next page is here: faile35.deviantart.com/art/Boo… . For more information on the entire series, read the "'Demon's Due' Defined" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… or the "'Demon's Due' Plus" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… .

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The account describes the struggle of mind and memory required to navigate the holding power of the receptacle runes in the Undercellar and touch the mind of the last gremlin. Even still, the psychic fragment that called itself "Jervil" was not immediately able to wrest control of the vessel from the fragment already possessing it. Instead, "Jervil" remained as an extra passenger, much like a farmer's young child may ride with the crops carried in the cart on its way to market. The greater sentience would ultimately win out, given time, but in the hours after reaching the new host, Jervil was limited to watching the world through the flighty, mischievous eyes of a Wormloat gremlin rather than a being who had learned to master self and the disciplines of speech, writing, runing, painting, and sorcery.

And what it watched was the final dismantling of its work, as the gremlin vessel was drawn from watching and pestering the caged Scholar to the nearby Mirror Chamber, where Callista, now dressed in the remnants of her Night Guard armor, had just finished dragging two bound figures into position before the great device. Though the rune was no longer visible on her body, Annalae's soul and womb were still affected by it, and Jervil could detect the soul energy being steadily drawn from her toward a hungering force no longer able to consume it. The other bound figure was the Magistrate Drea, now mostly mummified in glistening threads that seemed to be an unforeseen result of the constrictor rug Jervil had placed to guard his Boudoir.

Ravenously curious, Jervil was forced to sit and watch from the shadows as the blond thief oriented the two women to face the mirror in their bonds. The Magistrate was unconscious, but Annalae fixed haunted and hating eyes on her former companion and ally until Callista paused, task complete, and regarded her. "I'm sorry, Anna," she said quietly, the words not comprehended by the gremlin but understood completely by Jervil within its mind. "I don't want it to be this way, but... what's going on here is huge, much larger than you and me. Much larger than... what we shared. I have to be free of it. My f-... Fiskerne made me swear to him that if I could find a way to be free of it, I would take it and leave." At this, the blond thief turned and moved behind the mirror, taking hold of its dark covering cloth. "He also said that his deal, and mine, was really with the High Lady Maladyne, not Jervil, no matter what the rat-bastard said." Jervil's essence would have called out in protest, but the gremlin host continued to watch, fascinated from the shadows at the chamber's fringe as Callista pulled the cloth away.

"And my deal called for two more."

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Drea was drawn using the references provided by an anonymous stock model, and Annalae was drawn using references given me by Lindsey. Working with their contributions has been a lot of fun, and they were really good sports in putting together bizarre requests from me. Thanks!

Enjoy!

Note: Bookbinding and Demon's Due are a work of fantasy and fiction. The artist/creator in no way condones real mistreatment of this kind toward any woman or man, by living person, gremlin, plant, assassin, ratman, viscous fluid, programmed device, animated home furnishings, or otherworldly spiritual beings. Furthermore, the artist opposes the marginalizing and restriction of women in general by any institution, political and/or religious, including those which have individual women amongst their membership touting/promoting their own happiness within that institution as evidence that ALL women should feel the same way. This includes the religion I was raised in and which I have utterly discarded from my life over this and other issues.

Description
The next page is here: faile35.deviantart.com/art/Boo… . For more information on the entire series, read the "'Demon's Due' Defined" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… or the "'Demon's Due' Plus" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… .

***********************************************

The account describes the struggle of mind and memory required to navigate the holding power of the receptacle runes in the Undercellar and touch the mind of the last gremlin. Even still, the psychic fragment that called itself "Jervil" was not immediately able to wrest control of the vessel from the fragment already possessing it. Instead, "Jervil" remained as an extra passenger, much like a farmer's young child may ride with the crops carried in the cart on its way to market. The greater sentience would ultimately win out, given time, but in the hours after reaching the new host, Jervil was limited to watching the world through the flighty, mischievous eyes of a Wormloat gremlin rather than a being who had learned to master self and the disciplines of speech, writing, runing, painting, and sorcery.

And what it watched was the final dismantling of its work, as the gremlin vessel was drawn from watching and pestering the caged Scholar to the nearby Mirror Chamber, where Callista, now dressed in the remnants of her Night Guard armor, had just finished dragging two bound figures into position before the great device. Though the rune was no longer visible on her body, Annalae's soul and womb were still affected by it, and Jervil could detect the soul energy being steadily drawn from her toward a hungering force no longer able to consume it. The other bound figure was the Magistrate Drea, now mostly mummified in glistening threads that seemed to be an unforeseen result of the constrictor rug Jervil had placed to guard his Boudoir.

Ravenously curious, Jervil was forced to sit and watch from the shadows as the blond thief oriented the two women to face the mirror in their bonds. The Magistrate was unconscious, but Annalae fixed haunted and hating eyes on her former companion and ally until Callista paused, task complete, and regarded her. "I'm sorry, Anna," she said quietly, the words not comprehended by the gremlin but understood completely by Jervil within its mind. "I don't want it to be this way, but... what's going on here is huge, much larger than you and me. Much larger than... what we shared. I have to be free of it. My f-... Fiskerne made me swear to him that if I could find a way to be free of it, I would take it and leave." At this, the blond thief turned and moved behind the mirror, taking hold of its dark covering cloth. "He also said that his deal, and mine, was really with the High Lady Maladyne, not Jervil, no matter what the rat-bastard said." Jervil's essence would have called out in protest, but the gremlin host continued to watch, fascinated from the shadows at the chamber's fringe as Callista pulled the cloth away.

"And my deal called for two more."

***********************************************

Drea was drawn using the references provided by an anonymous stock model, and Annalae was drawn using references given me by Lindsey. Working with their contributions has been a lot of fun, and they were really good sports in putting together bizarre requests from me. Thanks!

Enjoy!

Note: Bookbinding and Demon's Due are a work of fantasy and fiction. The artist/creator in no way condones real mistreatment of this kind toward any woman or man, by living person, gremlin, plant, assassin, ratman, viscous fluid, programmed device, animated home furnishings, or otherworldly spiritual beings. Furthermore, the artist opposes the marginalizing and restriction of women in general by any institution, political and/or religious, including those which have individual women amongst their membership touting/promoting their own happiness within that institution as evidence that ALL women should feel the same way. This includes the religion I was raised in and which I have utterly discarded from my life over this and other issues.