#Also this is barely edited bc I'm done w/it I guess

[idk-what-im-doing-ever]

I wrote something for this back in August and haven't been able to add to it since so I'm calling it done

The one unable to leave consecrated ground without getting possessed is on a team with the prior mindflayer victim (MF) who succumbs to their urges sometimes (consecrated girl was on the other side of the mindflayer deal).

Their friend Magical Parasite was fucked up while returning to their safe area (consecrated grounds) and then gets stopped. They're wearing a necklace, and it actively suppresses the parasite so the second it's gone, the parasite is growing again.

Parasite person starts to scream, their other cursed friend can't be in the sunlight which is rising (cursed by a vampire and they're already covered in burns because the gang was late getting back). Their consecrated ground healer friend is watching from the fenced edge of where they're safe but they're trapped, and their Parasite friend is dying without their necklace

MF friend is clearly trying to fight off their urges, but at best it's a stalemate where their body standing there, laughing and crying in this hideous, inhumane, discordant cacophony.

CG girl knows stepping out guarantees repossession, and it was so hard on her body last time, her second time, that she's likely to die when going through another inevitable exorcism.

But that's her best friend. The necklace doesn't have a backup; the 'cure' is literally the heart of the full grown parasite once it's busted out of its host - they got it from a freshly dead man. The parasite is rare.

If she can't her to her friend, she's better off shooting them from where she stands so they don't go through the agony of being torn apart from the inside.

She tries. She raises the gun. Can't even try to convey what she's thinking because Parasite Friend is already screaming, writhing.

So if they're to be saved, it has to be now.

Fuck.

She sprints, wants to punch and hurt and scream at the mindflayer who caused this, but they're dead and gone, and it's only echoes stuck in their friend. The injury would fall only on their friend.

So she yanks the corded thread from their white knuckled hand and bites back her words.

An as she kneels down to tie it around her friend's neck, she feels it.

At the centre of her spine, like the brush of a cold cats' tail on bare skin.

Don't think about that, she has to press the charm into her friend's chest, and she does. Their screaming eases to a hoarse yell, and their daily pain will be infinitely worse; their body still needs to move around, to move with the now larger foreign body spread out within it.

They can starve it out, but the larger it gets, the harder it is to do so since it's stronger, able to live longer between expansion opportunities.

MF friend collapses, begging and crying. Their vampire friend is yelling and crying, and going by the smoke on them they clearly tried to force themselves from the shadows to help before being cowed by the growing harshness of the morning light.

They can see it, she realises. Can see the dark figure that seems to be fixing itself to her back and bones. Seeping into her blood and carving a space for itself beside her soul.

The cold, feather -light touch at her spine grows to feel sharper now, and she's sure she'll be bleeding from thin, scratched lines down the middle of her back. Like the creature has to really claw its way in despite not being tangible.

She can't leave her friend to be carried by MF in case they succumb to urges again, though it's unlikely to happen so soon. So, for now, she leaves MF on the ground, hooks her arms under her friend's shoulders, and drags them to the consecrated grounds that will do nothing for her anymore.

They met mindflayer friend when the three of them killed the mind flayer. It purposely helped try to get people possessed so the town was focused on that instead of the growing cult in the gutters and alleys of society.

The healer was caught up in it, and it was their second possession; they were possessed as a child.

As a child, they were possessed by a child spirit. It was mischievous and playful, but dangerous. The exorcism was hard on her, but comparatively easy to most.

The second time was harder. It was a new spirit, smuggled into the town by the MF cult, in a vase that the healer broke when in battle. The scratch they didn't really notice at the time (they brushed away the scratchy-cold feeling thoughtlessly) didn't heal after the fight, and they started seeing something else in their reflections. Started hearing a voice and seeing a gnarled, ghastly thing in their dreams. Started acting on things they watched themselves do while fighting against it.

So she knows.

She knows she knows she knows that the MF who sometimes echoed through their friend was to blame for their dark urges. Knows they watch what their hands are doing when injuring, listen to what tongue and teeth say when biting out harsh, terrible words, and can barely stop it from being worse at best.

But that doesn't mean she can look at them when they get back to base.

The voice of the mindflayer is neutralised, after a big burst of energy like today's attack. And it's getting weaker the longer after death it is. It needs more recovery time before taking actions, and it's able to puppet their friend less and less.

But how long will they be a danger?

How long until she's a danger again?

She peels back the layers of clothing on her back and grimaces as the fabric sticks to hot, wet, tattered skin.

This might be worse than last time. This might be her last time.

What are some chronic illnesses that can only occur in a fantasy setting?

[gentlethorns]

btw 40k words today!!!! i originally estimated this work to be roughly 60k at the end of the first draft but now i think it will be longer. bc most of the juiciest parts of the story are still ahead of me so there's no way i have 2/3 of my total words already written