Decision Point, Part III

"I've heard that name before!" I exclaimed without thinking. "In the-"

"-in the email you received, yes," Eris said impatiently. "I would know. I am the one who sent it to you."

My mouth said, "What?" but my mind didn't doubt this - it was as if something I'd always known subconsciously had surfaced to the front of my mind, and I couldn't do anything but acknowledge it.

"I didn't write it - it was a chain letter originally created by my husband. I simply passed it on to you. I had told him what would happen in the future and he inscribed it on the slab he was chained to.

"You see, Misery, we are all bound by chains - some are just more physical than most. The past has a tendency to reach out into the future and strangle us. Events repeat in our minds, memories that never quite die... Many of us are captives of grief. However... not you.

"Misery, I admit you have always been a mystery to me - you don't grieve your mother's death, don't regret what could have been... you are truly free.

"But how? How could you do that? I have pondered this over and over again, searching for an answer. Many people would have broken by this point, and yet you haven't.

"Oh, don't look so surprised. I haven't been fooled by your act - you're about as breakable as a diamond. That's not a compliment. That's just the truth.

"I foresaw this day, far in the past, before you were born. I saw that you would be perfect to place me back into power.

"And so, I created a plan. I met with you long ago, on that day when the sun's rays shone... The moment I first told you my name I wrapped a mental chain around you, a small one - you wouldn't believe how much of my strength it took to do that. This chain ensured that when I sent you the email in the future you'd know what it meant, at the back of your mind. This, combined with your... ah, defiant nature, made it so you would ignore the warning, though you knew what it meant. That, plus something else...

"Then, I went to your father and made him propose to me. Afterwards I caused you to get yourself fired from your last job. I hear your erstwhile boss is trying to get the police to go after you. Fortunately for you they don't believe that you were able to cause that amount of damage.

"This wasn't a random act of cruelty on my part - I did it so that you wouldn't have to be weighed down by your job in later days.

"Before you got fired, I made your father invite you over to his house. I wanted to meet you again, take you to the Caves of Luminescence. There, as I'm sure you remember, I explained everything to you.

"Misery, you might hide it from everyone, but I know you like power. You adore it, you get giddy whenever you have the upper hand. Of course you would - poor little Misery, bullied for her name, her odd way of thinking, her rough voice and accent... Never in control, always pushed around by others... Now desperate to be powerful, for once...

"On the day you got fired for the final time, I didn't make you throw that desk through the window. I just gave you anger and the strength to act on it, and you did the rest. I knew that you'd be tempted, at least subconsciously. I sowed the seeds, as it were.

"Now we're here, on this roof, the streets beginning to burn below us...

"But perhaps you're about to decline me. Perhaps you don't feel the reward will be great enough... Or perhaps you think you can win this battle.

"Let me put this into perspective. I see your cause has no fire... Well, why don't you take a look at mine?"

Eris's dress burst into flames.