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...
A familiar sense has struck me, like the morning dawn. I know this feeling, but cannot name it?
It was about an inch long, like a necrotic wrinkle on their forehead. It burned their flesh, but left no mark as it wormed its way about their temples. It was like a snake writing about blindly, looking for a hole in the dirt, or in this case some way deeper into their head. They grumbled a barely audible groan as their neck craned back under the strain of the burn. Quiet strained breathing was all they could manage as the process continued.
Am I back? Did I ever leave? The sky is beautiful...
Resisting the brand wouldn't help, wouldn't slow it down, but there wasn't much else to do in the chamber, so resist they did. They couldn't nurse the pain, their arms were bound above them, but they shook their head vigorously, distracting their nerves as they focused, intently, on the brand. It was blind, unable to grasp its situation and totally oblivious to their presence, but that wouldn't last long. They blocked it in their mind, imagining wall after wall before the flaming serpent, but the snake ignored the walls, phasing through some, and tunneling above or below others. The snake was angry, and it wouldn't stop till it found its eggs. A worm had burrowed into them, breaking and ruining them, but it could fix them, it could fix things. Or did it want to kill the worm? The chained being didn't like that much. Did it want to end him, retribution for its wayward children? After all, that was why the chained being was here, the snake had ruined the worms creation, and he was lashing out even now. Two creatures, much alike, both in a proxy war of innocents, fighting over ruined toys.
Ah, this land loops upon itself. I see.
The snake coiled upon their temple, seeming to pause, doing nothing but burn upon their scalp. Like molten iron upon a plank of wood...