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Jackson just growled to the empty room around him. The pain was beginning to abate, but that might have been a result of his irritation more than anything else.

The voice in his head was not like that of a reaper. It was not distinct from himself. It was an inseparable part of him. And he knew it. He liked to pretend otherwise, to act as though these thoughts were not already his own, but deep down, he knew the truth. It was really just a matter of time until he finally gave in.

Or died.

In vain, most likely. Which would be a real shame, wouldn’t it? When he absolutely had the power to make this problem go away.

To make all his problems go away.

Jackson clutched his forehead and tried to steady his breath, as if doing so would help steady his mind, too.

“Please,” he said, more weary than angry now. “Please, just give me peace...”

He already had peace, of course, so this made no sense. He was just being his own worst enemy, as often seemed to be the case.

Nonetheless, the part of him that knew better decided to relent. To let him return to his comfortable denial.

For a while longer, anyway.

When Jackson opened his eyes again, he saw that he had sunken all the way down to the floor without realizing it.

Agh.

How much time had he just lost? Hopefully not much. He checked his phone and was relieved to see that it had indeed only been a few minutes.

He took another deep breath and stood up.

Dull aches still lingered across his body, but at least his head felt clear again.

He found the papers that had fallen to the floor and took small comfort in the fact that he had not accidentally incinerated any of them, this time. That was something, at least. A bit of hope that perhaps he truly was regaining more and more control over himself as time went on.

It was hard to have too much confidence in that theory, though. Especially when those intrusive thoughts sometimes felt like they were growing stronger, too.

The intrusive thoughts of Avar, the so-called God of Fire.

Jackson had come to learn quite a lot about this new passenger of his. That was one of the reasons why he’d decided to come to Intar. The work of the archivers here rivaled even that of those in Luugh.

That, and he was on better terms with these ones.