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Description
"A Lesser Evil" is the continuation of the "Web of Betrayal" chapter, explained on this diagram:

For more information on the entire series, read the "'Demon's Due' Defined" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… or the "'Demon's Due' Plus" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… .

The next page is here.

Mature Content

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The Hellbinder lowers its head as it completes its pronouncements, its two massive hands rising, palms up, almost as in gesture of self-evaluation, or perhaps supplication, and possibly both. “It is a perplexing conundrum to find that a desire too potent for something can actually ruin that thing, take and change it irrevocably from what it was that was so powerfully sought after. It is also…unexpected to find in our possession a desire for justice to be… extracted from us for those things that have been thus ruined by our hand.” The creature’s ghostly voice hovers like a remembered chant before rising in deadly earnest. “But we do not seek for ourselves to be spared,” the Hellbinder insists, hands clenching before it in great fists. “It is you who must be spared and for whom we speak—for you, for your people, and for this city. As you will have found in your efforts against our three beasts, our works are beyond you, and no judgment of yours nor action you take against our person will avail you nor rid you of our presence. You, like the Scholarling, can fight against us, but it will accomplish little for all you are sworn to serve and protect.
“We present this, our ‘admission,’ to you in form of truth shared in this court, that the choice may be yours. What we do we will do with or without your sanction, but if you would be spared, know fully that being whose hand is proffered. The Dreamstalker lurks in the darkness, the Allmother waits in the past, and the Weeper hides behind a veil of regret and doubt, but we have left the shadows for this purpose, baring what we are for all to see. And now, with our failures laid before all, we present ourselves as Dernhem’s condemnation and salvation. For the Harbinger surely shall come, and soon, with destruction raining from her wings, and if her destruction is to be stopped, we are the only being that can do it. As he who sits upon the High Seat, you can know the truth of what we speak, and the judgment is yours to make, whether you will allow us to work to Dernhem’s salvation or no.”

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I don't know if anyone would have picked this up, but there is a very carefully planned parallel here to this page in Bookbinding.

Mature Content

Going to try to post one more page in this before the year is out, plus another teaser image (the follow-up to #16). I hope the New Year comes in strong and happy for everyone.

Enjoy!

Note: Web of Betrayal and Demon's Due are a work of fantasy and fiction. The artist/creator in no way condones real mistreatment of this kind toward any woman or man, by living person, gremlin, plant, assassin, ratman, viscous fluid, programmed device, animated home furnishings, or otherworldly spiritual beings. Furthermore, the artist opposes the marginalizing and restriction of women in general by any institution, political and/or religious, including those which have individual women amongst their membership touting/promoting their own happiness within that institution as evidence that ALL women should feel the same way. This includes the religion I was raised in and which I have utterly discarded from my life over this and other issues.

Description
"A Lesser Evil" is the continuation of the "Web of Betrayal" chapter, explained on this diagram:

For more information on the entire series, read the "'Demon's Due' Defined" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… or the "'Demon's Due' Plus" journal entry here faile35.deviantart.com/journal… .

The next page is here.

Mature Content

***********************************************

The Hellbinder lowers its head as it completes its pronouncements, its two massive hands rising, palms up, almost as in gesture of self-evaluation, or perhaps supplication, and possibly both. “It is a perplexing conundrum to find that a desire too potent for something can actually ruin that thing, take and change it irrevocably from what it was that was so powerfully sought after. It is also…unexpected to find in our possession a desire for justice to be… extracted from us for those things that have been thus ruined by our hand.” The creature’s ghostly voice hovers like a remembered chant before rising in deadly earnest. “But we do not seek for ourselves to be spared,” the Hellbinder insists, hands clenching before it in great fists. “It is you who must be spared and for whom we speak—for you, for your people, and for this city. As you will have found in your efforts against our three beasts, our works are beyond you, and no judgment of yours nor action you take against our person will avail you nor rid you of our presence. You, like the Scholarling, can fight against us, but it will accomplish little for all you are sworn to serve and protect.
“We present this, our ‘admission,’ to you in form of truth shared in this court, that the choice may be yours. What we do we will do with or without your sanction, but if you would be spared, know fully that being whose hand is proffered. The Dreamstalker lurks in the darkness, the Allmother waits in the past, and the Weeper hides behind a veil of regret and doubt, but we have left the shadows for this purpose, baring what we are for all to see. And now, with our failures laid before all, we present ourselves as Dernhem’s condemnation and salvation. For the Harbinger surely shall come, and soon, with destruction raining from her wings, and if her destruction is to be stopped, we are the only being that can do it. As he who sits upon the High Seat, you can know the truth of what we speak, and the judgment is yours to make, whether you will allow us to work to Dernhem’s salvation or no.”

***********************************************

I don't know if anyone would have picked this up, but there is a very carefully planned parallel here to this page in Bookbinding.

Mature Content

Going to try to post one more page in this before the year is out, plus another teaser image (the follow-up to #16). I hope the New Year comes in strong and happy for everyone.

Enjoy!

Note: Web of Betrayal and Demon's Due are a work of fantasy and fiction. The artist/creator in no way condones real mistreatment of this kind toward any woman or man, by living person, gremlin, plant, assassin, ratman, viscous fluid, programmed device, animated home furnishings, or otherworldly spiritual beings. Furthermore, the artist opposes the marginalizing and restriction of women in general by any institution, political and/or religious, including those which have individual women amongst their membership touting/promoting their own happiness within that institution as evidence that ALL women should feel the same way. This includes the religion I was raised in and which I have utterly discarded from my life over this and other issues.