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… .

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Mature Content

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A light parts the darkness, the glowing tip of a weapon that illuminates the floor at her feet. There lies a small scattering of blasted dust, all that remains of what once was a living, feeling, speaking thing. The voice, now worn like a marker-less grave, resumes. "I could have exercised Magistrara Summaritor and pronounced the fiend worthy of execution on the spot for a litany of horrific deeds, but such would have required the level of awareness, rational objectivity, and harmony of conscience a Magistrate should aspire to, as you know, High Lady." The voice breaks off into a shaking sigh, a near silent weep of regret, before continuing on. "But by your will, your dreams, all those hard-sought qualities were drained from me in an effort to stave off what would undoubtedly be an even greater calamity to befall our city. And, having spent all that I aspired to be to avoid such horror, I was driven to darker things housed deeply within myself. This primal savagery boiled forth, took hold of the weapons that were mine to command, and acted."

Maladyne stares at the dust between her feet, tears spilling down her cheeks. She knows what the voice's coming words will be, but the vision holds her there, waiting for them. By your will, your hope, I was driven to kill another in rage and hate. And now, my mind will ever be scarred by the knowledge that I, Drea Alais Montamera Aliandis, am a murderess. Know me."

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This is the seventh of six intended images, added to distinguish the particular tragedy of Drea's situation. Long-term viewers may recognize that Drea's ordeal in the story is not necessarily worse than Avora's, who was faced with a similar situation in the flashback detailed in the revision of Twisted Plot. Nor is it really worse than what set young Annalae on the course that ultimately turned her into a Cat Witch capable of committing murder on multiple occasions. For that matter, Deirdre gave Albert a pretty good "send-off" in Fair Harvest which is perhaps a much stronger echo of how Valerin lets the innkeeper have it in Rats in the Cellar. In this grouping of female characters, killing someone who carries out evil against them is not unusual, but Drea's whole outlook on life was to rise above that and rule Dernhem with care, caution, and fairness, only to be brought low and forced into a situation where she'd blast someone into oblivion. The issue here is not as much what was done, but what was felt about the doing of it. Also, note that the capture sequences that the female characters endured were not necessarily the worst part of their individual ordeals, even though they may be the part that some of us ( ) would most like to see featured...

Maladyne was again drawn using the awesome, pained reference material provided to me by minokura Thanks!

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.