Within the confines of his cell, Ren continued studying the magic circles all around him. Slowly, his attention faded, repeating the same task had begun to drive him mad. Moving, he looked through the various books across his shelves, again, nothing seemed to interest him, and he paced the room.

Light footsteps moved down the stone hallways towards his cell. In the absence of most noise and stimuli they sounded like pounding drums. He imagined massive warriors coming to slay him. The paladin returning to smite him, or even a great bear slipping in through old forgotten passages leading deep into the mountains.

In truth, beyond his door and half hidden in darkness came Tayin. Her hood drawn tight and her golden braid coming down across one shoulder.

“Ren?”

“Tayin… why are you here? I mean, I’m glad to see someone but, why did they let you?”

Her face came up to the bars and peered into this cell. “At least you’re not being treated like a sickly animal. Good to see you’re not being mistreated.”

“Yes, yes. I mean, it’s good to have a big space, but I hate it down here in the dark. I couldn’t see anything worse than being stuck down deep in a cold place surrounded by stone. At least I have things to keep me occupied.”

“Well, it could be a lot worse considering… well, what you are. It’s not your fault, they recognize that. You still need to be kept from hurting yourself, or others though.”

“I would never hurt anyone, Tayin, the short time we spent together, it’s been the only time I remember being around people. For those days, it was like my entire life. I don’t remember anything or anyone else from before…”

“We know, the master cleric has spoken to us both. I don’t think you’re some evil creature from another world, yet I know what danger you could be. There’s a reason I’m down here of course. They will try and set a seal over your corrupting powers, seal away the influence it has over you. The men of the west have little knowledge of such things, it could be long before they contact an agent of my people or a higher set member of the Goddess’ legion. I’m here to ask you to do your best, I like you. I am afraid of what is dwelling within you though. Having the power to overcome one’s own nature is not easy, but I believe in you.” Her face did not change as she had spoken, unmoving and nearly robotic.

“I- Just… thanks. I appreciate it.” Ren looked away from her and into the faint light cascading from the painted glass.

“We’ll talk more later, just do this for yourself, and for us. For the world even.” She turned, a small smile appearing before she left, nearly forgotten. As her back fully turned to him, and she had begun walking away, the small smile turned into a flat line. Her tight lips went white as she lowered her head and quickened her pace.

Ren looked into empty space around him. He was alone. When the time came that they would come for him, only then, would he see the face of another again.

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Bored of his repetition, he began again anyway. Slowly he hurt himself, the corruption of his power began to spread throughout him. The vital energies of his body being destroyed in a chaotic maelstrom, it was only made worse by his constant use.

The ritual circle that drained him was only slightly diminishing.

When the time came again that footsteps sounded down the hallway, he stopped. Breathing deeply, he felt the phantom pains across his body in zaps.

It was a feeling he had experienced before. Not one he remembered, a slight inclination that he had this feeling inside his head before, similar but different. Yet now it jolted through him, from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. Small buzzes and zaps left him feeling unstable and incapable of controlling himself.

Two clerics appeared before the iron bars of the door. One was bald and looked to be well into his late years. The second, far younger and with an emotionless face, had short brown stubble atop his head. Their robes were plain gray, a single holy symbol of the Silver Goddess hung at their necks.

The elder of the two clerics spoke, no emotion touched his voice. “You will follow us into the master’s chambers where he will perform a sealing on you.”

Ren felt his body ready to explode, energy tearing through him. In the darker recesses of the room, sitting on the edge of his cot he found himself unable to move. The power of eldritch touch permeating his body felt ready to kill him.

Seeing Ren unmoving and unresponsive the younger of the two touched his holy symbol of the bisected triangle onto the door. It opened, the magic circle creating a barrier around the room faded.

Within his mind Ren felt intense energy bearing down on him. Am I going to die? Will this power truly destroy and scar my soul beyond recognition? Will my very soul be devoured by this power as he said?

The power only continued to magnify as the ritual began to stop eating away at his energies.

Shit, just make it stop. Shit, shit, shit… Ah God, please, it’s killing me.

The destructive force continued eating away at him, his hands and feet began to lose feeling as the corruption gained on him.

It has to stop, oh fuck, please… I’d rather die, it has to stop-

The men stepped into the room. “Young man, if you make this difficult, it will only hurt you.” The young man looked slightly pleased. He raised a hand and grabbed Ren’s shoulder with a cruel grip.

Is this what they feared? Is this the power of an eldritch God? Or…

Pulling harshly on Ren’s shoulder, his rigid body fell forwards, the second priest grabbing at him.

Ren spoke; “... is this mine?”

The energy left him, a wave of eldritch touch exploded out from him. The room began to crack as both ritual circles disintegrated. Corruption flooded the room as everything began to be destroyed. There was no light, no flash or bang, no sound came, for this was the absence of all things.

The wave that overcame the two clerics grabbing at Ren made them stop from a brief moment. They grabbed at themselves as black veins appeared across their bodies. Slowly they began to sink towards the ground as their bodies became small and shrunken. The two appeared as emaciated corpses long starved of food and kept unnaturally alive for far too long. Like undead arisen from the grave, with moments left the men looked at themselves, unable to speak or move but small glances and twitches.

The two bodies went still within moments. Dust fell to the earth as stone began to seemingly evaporate from the walls. Like radiation causing the slow near invisible death of a man, the force left small traces as its power ravished everything around it.

Ren stood, his stats nearly depleted. Looking at himself he appeared normal, shaking and dizzied, yet alive.

They were right…