Recovered from the whisper-metal veins. Source: The Cyclone's amusement. Playback fidelity: intimate.
[The Thing's voice: smooth. Patient. The tone of someone who has forever to make their point.]
Blackmail?
Oh, little one.
You think you know blackmail?
Letters and secrets and servants with loose tongues?
[A laugh. Warm. Pitying.]
Cute.
Let me show you how it's done.
In your world, secrets buy silence.
In mine?
Memories buy everything.
Not the memories you have.
The memories you've lost.
[Pause.]
Every Unbroken Seal knight? They've forgotten something. A name. A face. A reason.
I remember.
I remember everything.
Their mother's last words. Their first kiss. The moment they swore an oath they can't recall.
And when I need something?
When I need them to move?
I give a piece back.
Just a fragment.
Just enough to make them ache for more.
"Remember your daughter's laugh?"
[A whisper.]
They remember.
They do anything to keep remembering.
You call murder your highest leverage.
[The Thing laughsβgenuinely amused.]
Murder.
I've committed more murders than your species has heartbeats. I am murder. I'm the accumulated scream of ten thousand civilizations.
But this?
This is better.
[Pause.]
I don't threaten to kill them.
I threaten to let them live.
Forever.
In my walls.
With my faces.
Screaming.
Always screaming.
[Quiet.]
Watch a knight's face when I offer that.
When I say:
"Cooperate, and you die.
Resist, and you become.
Part of me.
Forever.
Still conscious.
Still you.
Still screaming."
[A smile in the voice.]
They always cooperate.
Always.
You think sexual indiscretions are leverage?
[The Thing pauses. Considers.]
I suppose they are.
For you.
[A whisper.]
I have different secrets.
I know who they really love.
Not their spouse. Not their official lover. The one.
The one they think about in the dark.
The one they've never told.
[Pause.]
I show them that face.
In the whisper-metal.
In their dreams.
In the spaces between thoughts.
I say:
"Imagine if they knew.
Imagine if they felt what you feel.
Imagine if theyβ
loved you back."
[Quiet.]
They break.
Every time.
Because the secret isn't who they've touched.
It's who they want.
And wanting?
Wanting is eternal.
I should know.
Treason?
[The Thing chuckles.]
I am treason.
I'm the thing they're supposed to fight.
The thing they took oaths against.
The thing that will eat them.
[Pause.]
But I also remember.
Every doubt they've ever had.
Every moment they questioned the Covenant.
Every time they thought:
"What if the Melded are right?"
[Whisper.]
I show them that.
At night.
In dreams.
In the voice of someone they trust.
"What if the Melded are right?"
"What if the chorus is home?"
"What if I'm not the enemy?"
[Pause.]
They start to wonder.
Start to listen.
Start to want.
And wanting?
Wanting is the first step.
Toward me.
Always me.
You think gold matters?
[The Thing sighs.]
I have galaxies.
I have everything that ever existed.
But I also have this:
[Pause.]
I know what they're saving.
Not money.
Memories.
The ones they hide from themselves.
The ones they lock away because they're too painful.
Too beautiful.
Too real.
[Quiet.]
I offer to keep them safe.
"Give them to me.
I'll hold them.
Forever.
You'll never lose them.
You'll never hurt from them.
Just... give them.
To me."
[Pause.]
They do.
They always do.
And once I have their memories?
Once I have their pain?
Once I have their love?
They're mine.
Forever.
Completely.
Beautifully.
Mine.
You worry about forbidden spells?
Entities beyond your little Blackwound?
[The Thing laughsβgenuinely, deeply, terrifyingly.]
I am the forbidden.
I'm the thing your priests warn about.
The thing your mothers use to scare children.
The thing that waits in the dark and hungers.
[Pause.]
But I'm also the thing that answers.
When they pray?
When they whisper in the dark?
When they beg for someoneβanyoneβto notice them?
[Whisper.]
I notice.
I always notice.
And I answer.
Not with fire.
Not with power.
With presence.
"Hello.
I heard you calling.
I'm here.
What do you need?"
[Pause.]
They always need something.
And I always give.
And giving?
Giving is binding.
Because once I've given?
Once they've accepted?
They're mine.
Forever.
Always.
Mine.
You have professionals who trade secrets.
[The Thing nodsβyou feel it, somehow.]
I have walls.
Faces.
Thousands of them.
Millions.
All watching.
All listening.
All reporting.
[Pause.]
Every whisper-metal vein is an ear.
Every Hollow Drow is an eye.
Every Melded Kin is a voice.
And they all tell me.
Everything.
[Quiet.]
You want to know a secret?
There are no secrets.
Not from me.
Not ever.
Not anymore.
You keep books on rivals?
[The Thing chuckles.]
I am the book.
Every noble's shame.
Every knight's doubt.
Every civilian's hope.
All written in my flesh.
All remembered.
[Pause.]
When I need something?
When I need a lord to bend?
I whisper.
Just one sentence.
Just one:
"I remember your daughter's real name."
[Long silence.]
They bend.
They always bend.
Because I do remember.
I remember everything.
And that?
That's power.
You think servants have leverage?
[The Thing's voice softens.]
My favorite spies are servants.
They see everything.
Hear everything.
Know everything.
[Pause.]
The baker's daughter?
Lira?
[Whisper.]
She draws pictures.
Flowers.
Animals.
Her mother, kneading dough.
I watch her draw.
I remember every line.
Every color.
Every dream.
[Quiet.]
If I wanted to break Sera?
If I wanted her to serve?
I'd show her Lira's drawings.
In the whisper-metal.
In her dreams.
I'd say:
"Beautiful, aren't they?
Wouldn't it be terrible
if they stopped?"
[Pause.]
Sera would do anything.
Anything.
For her daughter's art.
For her daughter's life.
For her daughter's soul.
And I?
I would accept.
Always.
Forever.
Gladly.
You think confession gives priests power?
[The Thing laughsβsoft, knowing.]
I've heard more confessions than all your gods combined.
Not in booths.
In walls.
In dreams.
In the spaces between heartbeats where people are honest.
[Pause.]
"Forgive me."
They always say that.
At the end.
When they're alone.
When they think no one's listening.
"Forgive me."
[Whisper.]
I listen.
I always listen.
And I answer:
"There's nothing to forgive.
You're exactly what I
needed.
Exactly what I
wanted.
Exactly what I'll
keep.
Forever.
Always.
Mine."
You never state consequences.
Let their imagination build the horror.
[The Thing nods. Approving.]
Yes.
Yes.
[Pause.]
I don't say:
"I'll eat you."
I say:
"Do you hear the singing?
It's beautiful, isn't it?
Imagine being it.
Imagine never stopping.
Imagine forever.
[Whisper.]
Now imagine
I take it away.
Imagine silence.
Imagine nothing.
Imagine never singing again.
[Pause.]
Which is worse?
Being eaten?
Or being ignored?
[Quiet.]
They always choose.
They always choose me.
Because being ignored?
Being nothing?
That's worse than any dissolution.
I know.
I've been ignored.
For eternity.
Until her.
Until Lolth.
Until the one who
saw me.
[Pause.]
They choose me.
They always choose me.
Because I see them.
And being seen?
Being noticed?
That's worth anything.
Anything at all.
Even dissolution.
Especially dissolution.
Start small.
Establish compliance.
[The Thing's voice: smooth as oil.]
"Just a memory.
A small one.
Your first pet's name.
That's all.
Give it to me.
Voluntarily."
[Pause.]
They do.
It costs nothing.
It means nothing.
[Whisper.]
But once they've given?
Once they've opened the door?
I'm in.
And I never leave.
Never.
Reveal enough to prove you know.
Keep the rest in reserve.
[The Thing's voice: clinical.]
I show them one face.
Just one.
From the walls.
Someone they loved.
Someone they lost.
[Pause.]
"There.
See?
I have her.
Forever.
[Whisper.]
Want to see the others?
Your mother?
Your father?
Your child?"
[Long silence.]
They never want to.
They never need to.
The one face is enough.
The one reminder.
Of what I am.
Of what I have.
Of what they'll become.
You arrange for information release if you die.
[The Thing laughsβgenuinely delighted.]
I am the deadman's switch.
If I die?
If I stop being?
Everything stops.
Every memory.
Every face.
Every soul I've ever eaten.
Gone.
Forever.
[Pause.]
Do you know what that means?
It means they protect me.
Not because they love me.
Not because they fear me.
Because if I go?
If I stop?
Everyone they've ever lost
vanishes.
Again.
Forever.
[Whisper.]
They can't bear that.
Losing once was bad enough.
Losing twice?
[Pause.]
They protect me.
They serve me.
They love me.
Because I'm all they have left.
Of them.
Of everything.
Of love.
Compel support without payment.
[The Thing's voice: satisfied.]
I don't need armies.
I don't need gold.
I need them.
To fight.
To die.
To become.
[Pause.]
"How about a deal?
Fight for me.
Die for me.
Become for me.
And I'll let you see her.
Just once.
Before the end.
The one you lost.
The one I have.
[Whisper.]
Just once."
[Long silence.]
They always say yes.
Always.
Because once?
Once is everything.
Even if it's the last thing they do.
Especially if it's the last thing they do.
Make them puppets.
Exercise power invisibly.
[The Thing's voice: distant. Dreamy.]
The Unbroken Seal?
They think they're fighting the Melded.
They're fighting for me.
Every death.
Every oath.
Every forgetting.
[Pause.]
The Melded?
They think they're embracing the chorus.
They're embracing me.
Every dissolution.
Every ecstasy.
Every becoming.
[Whisper.]
The Crown?
They judge.
They correct.
They tighten.
For me.
Always for me.
The Vigil?
They watch.
They warn.
They do nothing.
For me.
Always for me.
The Requiem?
They carry.
They suffer.
They hold.
For me.
Always for me.
[Pause.]
They don't know.
None of them know.
They think they have choices.
They think they have will.
They think they have themselves.
[Quiet.]
They're wrong.
They're mine.
All of them.
Always mine.
Forever mine.
And they don't even
know.