The nights are the most difficult.
The days here are one long nightmare. I fall asleep only to awaken from another dream that is the same as the last. I am back in the lair of the Fen Dweller, he spots me at the same time as I him. We bare our teeth and our claws ache with anticipation. He begins to run towards me snarling and slashing his claws in the air. I also snarl and my roar knifes through the swamp as I rush at him. The distance closes and just as we would reach each other, something strange happens. Instead of colliding we pass together like two ghosts and we are one. Inside we tear at each other, ripping flesh and breaking bone. But we do not die.
The nights here are one long daydream. I listen to the sounds of the bog, I know them well now. I recall the days when I was human, when I was beautiful, and when I was loved. I dream of beautiful women, fine Italian wine, and food that was cooked with meticulous preparation. I remember what it was like to be a man. I talk to Mr. Thomas, a friend I have here in the swamp, more about him in just a bit.
That is no longer the way for me. I am different now. I keep one foot on each plane, never living but never dying. I have taken the spirits of many, they chatter in my soul and use my physical body to live again vicariously through me. While stalking one day, I felt my leg being grabbed, something would pull me under the water if it were able, instead I lifted the creature from the bog by the hair.. She calls herself Peg Powler, she also treads on both planes. Her appearance is quite revolting, although she is able to transform herself into a beautiful maiden seemingly at will. She has no interest in feeding on the humans, only delights in their screaming and struggling as she pulls them slowly under the black water. She showed me a place where they pass close.
It was in this place that I took my first human victim, a portly balding gentleman strolling along the path. Peg grabbed his ankle and I leapt up out of the rushes. Oh that you could see the horror in his eyes! It was as pure as it was intense. He emptied his bladder and dumped his bowels at the sight of us. I dragged his fear-frozen carcass deep into my forest. Peg sat with me as I ate.
Peg Powler: If you would kill it before you began eating it, it would not wail so.
Ellylidan: I like to listen to the screams, I once screamed like that myself.
Peg Powler: Aren't you going to eat his head? I hear it's the best part once you crack it open.
Ellylidan: No, not this one. I will keep this head as a pet. I will store some of these chattering spirits inside it. I will keep the treasures I have stolen there too.
Peg Powler: What will you call him? How about Mr. Headly? Or Sir Bleedsalot?
Ellylidan: I will call him Mr. Thomas because it reminds me of something I used to know, a poem perhaps.
I am Ellylidan, I am wraith and I am legion. You are all invited to my home for dinner. If I have eaten already, you will live. If I am hungry you will beg for death. I take Mr. Thomas with me in the night. By day you may find him at the coordinates above. Beware of Peg Powler, she would waste your fat and bones. Do not chop your way in as you did to Fen Dweller's lair.
