I'M THE NECRONOMICON, BABY!

‘Tee-hee!!!’ a mischievous voice cackles.

It does it again.

‘Tee-hee!!!!’

Morrigan snaps her eyelids open… and looks up.

A black ghost, with no apparent shape other than the tiny horns on top of its large head, two wide white optics and two little wings popping out from its back, floats over Morrigan’s face.

‘BABE! I had no idea when you were going to wake up! Look at your pretty eyes!’

The ghost proceeds to kiss Morrigan’s eyes. She opens her mouth to scream, but nothing comes out but a dry and raspy gasp.

‘Hey, no need for you to be afraid of me! It’s your best buddy, Nanthi!!! Remember opening the Necro- HAAH! You thought I was going to say the name of the book!’

Morrigan somehow finds herself nodding.

‘You freed me, precious!! And now… I’M FREEEE!!!!!’

The ghost does a series of violent whirls around the room, flapping around so fast that a mini tornado forms and begins to destroy things.

In the corner, Morrigan can spot Cato lying unconscious on the floor. His hood was down, but she could not see a face in the darkness…. Black smoke was drifting into the air from his body, as if he was on fire. She hurries up to approach him, but a book from the mini-storm whacks into her face and she plummets to the floor.

The ghost stops its little dance and looks upon Morrigan’s crumbled self on the floor.

‘OH NOO! How could I do that?!’ it wails. It floats over to her, and quickly removes the book from her face with its stubby arms.

Morrigan still can’t say anything. She can’t BELIEVE anything. She opens her mouth to scream again, but her tongue is stuck to the roof of her mouth.

‘You still look GORGEOUS, though!’ the ghost hums. ‘Mind if I give you another kiss?’’

Morrigan tries to defend her face, but it kisses her nose. Her bruises heal. Now waking up from a daze, Morrigan clenches her teeth and points at the ghost.

‘Who—?’ she stammers, blinking rapidly.

‘Who am I, you want to ask? Who am I?! AHAHAHAHA!! I’m the Necronomicon, BABY! But you can call me Nanthi!’

‘Nancy…!?’

‘Hey-hey! Don’t say my name wrong! N-A-N-T-H-I! Nanthi!! If you say my name three times, you can summon me! Try it right now! Go on!’

Morrigan swallows. ‘Nanthi…. Nanthi… Nanthi?’

‘…. A little faster….’

‘Nanthi, Nanthi, Nanthi?’

A smack of thunder and lightning crackles. The Necronomicon poofs up right on her hands, in a flash of white and red smoke. The ghost cackles in joy.

‘WHOOHAHAHA!! I’m back!!’ Nanthi proceeds to laugh to themselves irrepressibly and heartedly for some time, really enjoying the freedom of their lungs (should they have any). Morrigan can’t seem to grasp what’s happening in front of her, and she pokes Nanthi, trying to see if it is real.

‘I’m REAL!’ it giggles, in an upsurge of mutant folly.

IT IS REAL. An ectoplasmic goo secretes on her finger, and it glows a bright and unnerving neon green. Morrigan tries to hold in an involuntary gasp, but it comes out as a scream. It finally arrived.

Nanthi only cackles some more.

‘WHEEHOHOHOHO!!’

‘What is—?’ she bumbles—

‘What is going ON, you ask?! You freed me from hundreds of years of incarceration, baby! You have NO idea how long I’d been in that big BLACK box for!!’

‘Big black box….?’ Her eyes dart towards the black box that Cato kept in the stockroom. She was to never look in there ever, as it was kept guarded by a lock and chain.

‘I’ve been locked up in this damn book prison for…. 500 years!’

‘500 years?!’

‘It feels great to stretch my wings! Finally, Datohma didn’t have strong enough dark shields up. I had enough Kayrean Energy stored up to switch myself with another book, and wow, look at me! I was out here for weeks!! He didn’t even notice, the old fool!’

Morrigan couldn’t comprehend the enormity of its words. ‘Big black box…. Datohma? Dark shields….? Kayrean WHAT!?’

Nanthi somehow seemed to know what was wrong with Morrigan, as if it could hear all her thoughts.

‘I can hear all your thoughts, baby!’

Well, it looks like it can.

‘You don’t believe what I’m saying? Everything’s true, true, TRUE!’

‘I’m sorry, but… I can’t believe what you’re saying. How can you escape?! You’re only a book!’

‘A BOOK? A BOOK?!’ Nanthi snaps angrily.

‘A book.’ Morrigan announces calmly.

‘Not just ANY book. The book that possesses the power any tyrant needs to become a GOD!’

Morrigan, who has gotten used to Nanthi’s screaming and boasting, nods quietly. Nanthi can already tell that she doesn’t believe a word out of its cracked mouth. It makes it… slightly irritated.

‘Huh! So you don’t believe me, but you trust your ‘pal’ Cato?’ Nanthi chortles. ‘You don’t know anything about that loser.’

Nanthi floats over to the unconscious Cato, and giggles at him.

‘Keep away from him!’ Morrigan cries. She gets up.

‘Me and him have had a GREAT relationship for hundreds of years. You could say WE’RE best buddies.’

‘Huh? H-hundreds of years? How can he be around for hundreds of years….? He’s—’

‘Not human?’

A flood of sweat breaks into Morrigan’s face. She freezes in place. Heat begins to rise from her feet, right up to her head. She could start steaming up and turn into a human kettle at any minute.

‘Not…. human?’ she repeats emptily. Nanthi’s expression looks pleasant, as if it just told her something absolutely amazing.

‘He’s something called a Kyssani. These creatures hate sun, hate rain, hate weather because DUH- they’re made out of black magic. Monsters like him shouldn’t be roaming this Earth.’

Morrigan can’t project what Nanthi is saying into comprehensible words. Her body shakes. ‘Kyssani? Black magic? Should I be believing this demon that came out of a book?’

‘Psst!! You want to know his REAL name?! Cato’s a fake name he’s been using on Earth. His real name is Datohma.’

Morrigan, incapable of standing, hurls down to the floor in all fours. The room is spinning. She can’t control her breathing. A cold sensation strikes her spine.

How… how did she not notice all along?!! That's why nobody could tolerate him. His otherworldly presence overwhelmed them… how come, then… it made her feel comfortable?

Nanthi cackles. ‘You’re just unlucky to have met such a creature like him. Poor you, Morrigan. POOR YOU.’

Nanthi floats towards Morrigan, expelling a great glowing GRIN from its mouth.

‘.... But lucky for you, you’ve found your NEW bestie… ME!!!’

‘No!!! Cato is more to me than a friend!!’ 

Morrigan stands rigid before Nanthi, determined. ‘And nothing you say will stop me from feeling this way! He's the only reason... I'm able to survive in this terrible world!’

‘HEY. You want NOTHING to do with him! Look at ME.’

Nanthi’s icy white eyes get wider, as it glares deeply into her eyes. Morrigan can feel her body getting lighter, as if something is lifting her from the ground. Her ears go numb. The muscles in her body begin to cramp… her breathing gets jittery and feverish.

‘I’m the Necronomicon. And I AM NOT going to let a suitable vessel of my power get absorbed by the magic of a damn Kyssani of all things!’

A pure white light from Nanthi’s eyes strikes Morrigan, and completely surrounds her. She feels cold and tingly.

‘W-what are you doing?’

‘I’ve got no choice but to give you my powers, kid! I’m hoping once you gain them, you’ll use whatever strength to get rid of Datohma before he does something awful— not only to this planet, but to you!’

‘I… I don’t want it…. You’re… going to kill me….’ Morrigan gurgles. Nanthi doesn’t care, as it emits a dry laugh.

‘Trust me. What I’m doing is for your own good. Use this power to get back at all your enemies!!! Your Mom, your Dad.... and that bitch, Beatrix.’

Morrigan gasps- but her mouth is covered by Nanthi’s tail. It wraps its entire body around her like a snake and squeezes her tightly. Morrigan utters a quiet moan, as her breath is crushed out of her body. She finds that she can’t struggle. The room goes dark. Her eyes slowly close. Perhaps…

Nanthi is finishing the job she couldn’t.

‘I can create and destroy. I can do and undo! I’m the power of the living and the dead!! I’m unstoppable. I’m the—WAAAAGH!!!!!’

Suddenly, demonic shadows from Cato’s unconscious body grab hold of Nanthi and yank it down to the floor. Morrigan is freed from the tussle, and her head hollowly slams on the firm wooden floor.

Nanthi shrieks, struggling. ‘Datohma!! It’s you, I know it!!’

‘Morrigan….!!’ the shadows weakly discharge at once. Morrigan can recall the voice...

‘C-Cato?’ she quietly calls out.

‘Run,’ he begs. ‘Go home!! GO! GO— AAAAAUGHH!!!’

A bright light from Nanthi’s mouth strikes Cato, and the blinding source pierces through his body like a sharp knife.

‘SHUT UP!’ Nanthi cries out. ‘And die already, you damn Kyssani!!’

Smoke, thick like tar, emanates uncontrollably from Cato's body. Little squeals come out from the kyssani, as they turn into crunchy pieces of ash. The dreadfulness is too much for Morrigan. She runs over to Cato, but Nanthi angrily blocks her path, frowning at her.

‘Nanthi, stop! Please!!! You’re hurting my only friend!!!’ she sobs bitterly.

‘I’m your only friend, damsel!!’ cries out Nanthi. ‘Datohma ISN’T your friend. He won’t ever be what you want him to be! Now just wait patiently until he’s nothing but crispy remains of magic on the floor, then I’ll make you OVERLORD OF THE WORLD!’

Cato, too weak to move, anticipates his fate.

‘M-Morrigan….’ He moans. ‘Run. Let my death be a chance for you to escape….!’

Entrapped with fear and bewilderment, Morrigan picks up the impure tome of darkness and emits a loud cry, louder than she’s ever heard fly out of her mouth before.

‘NANTHI, NANTHI, NANTHI!’

Thunder and lightning clap. Nanthi loses its smile. A wallop of white and red smoke starts to overwhelm and suffocate it. A bloodcurdling screech soars out of its now tiny mouth, as it is sucked right back into the hideous black tome.

‘No, Morrigan, baby!!! You’ll regret this!! You’ll—!’

The book slams SHUT.

Silence.

Cato shakily sits up. ‘Morrigan…. Are you okay?’ he asks her calmly.

She doesn’t answer.

Her eyes are looking up at something else.

‘Morrigan….?!’

His eyes dart upwards. He discovers that it’s too late.

A dark veil falls upon them, swallowing them up like fish food.