Page 63 of Within the Flames
"Who are you?" Luc repeated, a little softer this time. "What's your name?"
"I don't have a name. I'm no one."
Macey looked at Luc, feeling helpless. What were they supposed to do with this man?
"That's fine," she finally said, slowly approaching the cell. "We don't need to know your name. We can help you get away from this place though. Would you like that?"
The man shook his head in what looked like a painful gesture. "No. I'm no one. I belong here. I deserve to be here."
"Why do you deserve it?" Luc asked, frowning.
"I unleashed some terrible evil upon the world," the man whispered. "I gave up my name as penance and let the evil take me as his prisoner. It's not enough. I must stay here. I must suffer more."
Macey's eyes widened as she realised what he might be talking about.
"What evil did you unleash?" she asked quietly. "Was it the Mahoun?"
"He doesn't have a name, just like me. People call him things, but he's nameless. He only exists in your mind and that's what gives him power. He lives in all of our minds, until one of us is strong enough to repel him."
"Wait, he's not real?" Macey was confused.
"I didn't say that," the man said with a cough. "Just because he doesn't have a physical form doesn't mean he's not real. He's a parasite, clinging to all who fear, all who have ever had dark thoughts."
"Well, that would be the entire population," Luc muttered, then raised his voice. "How do we defeat him?"
The man suddenly laughed. "Youcan't. I created him, I'm the only one who can. But then, I can't."
Macey put her hands on her hips, starting to get annoyed. "You just said you can. What's stopping you? Why are you here, hiding, while he's unleashing his evil upon the world?"
The man hid his face with his hands. "I'm too weak. I need more power than I have, more power than I ever had before. Creating him was easy. Killing him is more than I can do."
"What if someone was to give you the power you need?" Macey asked slowly. "Would you be able to do it then?"
"Nobody has that power," the man laughed, madness shining in his eyes. "I can only take power from one person, and that person would need to carry several weapons inside of him. The evil entity is too strong to be defeated by only one magic, or even two. It would take a lot of different kinds of power to banish him."
"Wait, you said banish," Luc suddenly said. "Does that mean you can't kill him?"
The man shook his head. "Evil cannot be killed, it will always exist. What can be done is to stop it from acting on its own accord. It will still be able to influence people, but not have its own mind and power."
"I guess that's as good as it can get," Macey decided with a shrug. "As long as he can no longer put his plans into practice. As long as the magic of this world can be free again."
"But I don't have the power," the prisoner reminded them. "I'm weak."
"Don't you worry about that," Macey said and went to his cell door. She wasn't surprised when it opened at her touch. The man was here by his own free will. His cell didn't need to be locked.
"Are you sure about this?" Luc asked. "This could be a trap."
Macey had already considered that. "It's the best chance we have. Alternatively, we can roam the castle, look for the Mahoun, then be deceived by him again and again. Who knows if our allies are still alive. Let's try this, it might be the only way to defeat him."
Luc stepped in front of her, crouching until he could look straight into the prisoner's eyes.
"Why isn't the Mahoun stopping us?" he asked. "Why are you still alive if you can banish him?"
The man didn't avert his eyes. A good sign, Macey thought. He wasn't lying.
"He doesn't know. He's too confident, he doesn't think he can be defeated. I don't matter to him, so he ignores me. I'm not sure he even knows I'm still here. I am no one. I don't exist."
Luc nodded, as if he was satisfied with that answer, but then gripped the man's shoulders, lifting him from his pile of straw.
