Drool dripped patiently from Maze's mouth to the bloodied floor beneath him. It had been seven days since he began the Prandium and his will grew weaker at each moment.

Endless days of emotions that weren't his own being pushed into his mind, had left Maze unstable and confused. Pathos, the understanding of that had been cruelly carved into his soul. Heavy sorrows, blinding rage, and drowning guilt had become the rhythm of his life within the Prandium. He could no longer feel his own emotions, only remembering the torrent of swelling pathos that invaded his every moment. Today would be the same, Maze would suffer and with the day's end would come a sleep that provided no rest.

As the prisoners and Maze sat in complete silence, the guards began to move differently than the days prior. Gradually lifting his head Maze watched them surround the viper-like girl.

'Perhaps today the pain will not be shared among us.' Maze's muted thoughts hid his feelings deep within himself to avoid affecting the rhythm.

Soon, he could feel a myriad of emotions conveyed through erratic rhythms pulsing throughout the room. The pathomancer guards poured countless conflicting emotions onto the viper-like girl.

Maze watched as emotions of extreme rage distorted parts of her face, cutting wrinkles deep into her youth. Laughing joyously, blood red tears crawled down the convulsed avenues of her cheeks. Letting out a clawing scream, the girl's head jerked up to the stone ceiling above. Her eyes flashed with glowing lights, projecting a sea of colors that matched the emotions carved into her expression. In that moment, Maze watched as those viper-like eyes grew dim, and a glossed sheen covered their once piercing glare.

"Take her to a cell in the next ward. She will proceed to the next menu item." The larger built guard commanded the others sternly, watching as his colleagues carried her from the chair to the darkness of the corridors outside.

It was a quiet departure that left a cold stillness lingering throughout the room. Maze made no move to follow her exit with his eyes, instead, he focused on where she had been seated. He knew that each of them would get their turn, today it would be success or death.

With a simple gesture the large guard ordered the smiling boy to sit in the girl's chair. Raising his stocky body the boy rose gingerly from his seat, his smile tainted only by the crookedness of his teeth. Standing in front of the chair, the boy sat happily looking to the returning guards, seemingly unfazed by the coming torture. Upon sitting in the chair the boy's smile rode viciously towards his ears. His eyes tore downwards into a deep frown and a muffled roar let loose from his clenched teeth. Veins bulged along his arms and face threatening to tear spider webbed cuts through his skin.

The surrounding guards held looks of shock as they watched the event unfold.

"He's awakening his altered pathomancy, it appears to be overtaking his reason." The leader of the guards yelled to his men, while lowering his body in a defensive posture.

Maze watched in silence as the boy's smile remained curled along his face in a vicious grin. The pupils of his eyes narrowed into the viper-like eyes of the young girl as he pounced towards the leader of the guards. His fury overwhelmed the rhythm of the room, but the guard leader held his gaze steady. A painful squeal burned through the fury's rhythm as the leader's hand tightly gripped the boy's throat. In the briefest of moments the smiling boy's rage had subsided and the narrowing of his pupils dulled into a large abyss. The smile was gone, the boy's face was stone and no rhythm of emotion emanated from his soul. For all his rage and anger the boy was helpless before the guard leader, a single movement and he was pacified.

Maze ignored the guards removing the boy from the room, he remained consumed by his own thoughts. 'Each of them...changed. The viper-like girl's eyes glossed over as though she had gone blind. The smiling boy seemed to go insane and in the end that cheerful smile faded away leaving only a stoic stone face. What will become of me? Perhaps, I can control the change to benefit me.'

A crackling tear resonated throughout the room pulling Maze from his thoughts. His eyes sharpened into points as he looked toward the golden haired boy surrounded by guards. The room tremored with a heavy weight that creeped along the edge consciousness. Hovering in the air the boy's head drooped at his shoulders, his golden hair became infected with streaks of darkness and his body shuddered violently amongst the rhythm. Black sludge-like worms appeared beneath his feet, scraping the stone floor as it crawled towards the guards around him.

The leader of the guards yelled to his men, his strong voice cracking from the strain of the moment.

"His fear is overwhelming the pathos, we must restrain him and contact Envoy Vera, tell her we may have discovered the Maxis."

Acknowledging his orders one of the guards dashed towards the door before coming to a bracing halt. The sludge worms swarmed at his feet, slithering up his legs melting through the thick leather of his armor. Like deadly parasites the worms dug slowly into his skin leaving behind a slush of flesh and decay. The guard screamed and cried out in fear, his eyes burning with tears as he tumbled to the floor. His withered body lay flat upon the stone floor spreading a putrid stench throughout the room.

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The remaining guards backed away, afraid to make any sudden movements. They watched fearfully as darkness continued to converge around the boy. In the eternity of the moment, silence engulfed the entirety of the room and only the scraping of the worms against the stone floor moved time forward.

Maze's eyes grinned in pleasure at the death of the guard. 'If this continues, perhaps I can escape'. Thinking to himself Maze began to plan how to use the situation to escape his captivity. Mapping out the most suitable path around the worms, Maze leaned forward in his chair, prepared to dash towards the exit.

Before he could enact his plan, a smoldering heat enveloped the room. From the shadows of the corridor outside footsteps hammered a ferocious tempering of the surrounding rhythm. A dim amber glow illuminated the halls as a figure steadily approached, burning through the black worms that drew near. Envoy Vera stood amongst the fear of the room, unfazed by the danger, strong even in her small stature. With amber eyes she stared intently at the gold haired boy hovering and shaking in the air. "The maxis, finally after centuries the menu has succeeded."

In the melody of her voice Maze felt overcome with admiration, 'She doesn't fear the worms, with her power she doesn't have to fear anything'. In that moment Maze understood escaping could not give him his freedom. Only power like this envoy could give him the freedom to live as he pleased.

Smiling Envoy Vera stepped towards the boy, her small hand reaching out to grasp his shoulder. The black worms grew erratic lunging themselves towards her body. A terrifying scowl took shape on Envoy Vera's face and a deep endless rage poured all around her repelling the worms. With a swift motion she took hold of the boys shoulder shattering the fear emanating from his body. Staring intently at the unconscious boy laying at her feet, she spoke softly to the guard leader. "Take him and leave. This last subject I will handle myself."

As the guards departed the room Envoy Vera turned to Maze sitting in the chair solemnly awaiting his fate.

"M4-Z3, you have lost your value. We pathomancers do not keep things that have no value and so you must choose your end. I will give you two choices. The first is your freedom, we can release you back into the slums where we found you. Your life will be a pathetic one, however, if you can survive until you come of age you'll awaken natural pathomancer abilities. You were chosen for this program because you have that potential".

Maze's furrowed his brow, as he looked up to the small woman and spoke, "Freedom?". It seemed she refused to acknowledge his question and Maze wasn't sure that it was directed at her or at himself. Freedom, it was what he longed for, but was it the freedom that he imagined. For an orphan like Maze the streets of Malum was his home and his cage.

"The second choice will threaten your life, you will have to endure being under my pathos. I will finish the Prandium for you, I will engulf your mind in the flames of my rage. Only our King's pathomancy is stronger than mine, and so the likely outcome is you will die a wretched death of insanity." Envoy Vera let the final words linger among the air as she watched Maze closely measuring his reaction.

Maze sat still, looking to the blood and fluids that littered the floor of the room. The guards body laying there with a look of fear plastered on its decayed face, and the broken chair from the rampage of the smiling boy's outburst. 'The others sacrificed a part of themselves and obtained power. But they did not have a choice, they could only follow the whims of the strong. All of us are subjects to their will, slaves to those we cannot reach.' Maze's thoughts became more clear as he relived the days events and soon an unbridled determination took hold in his mind. Looking up intently at Envoy Vera he asked her the the only question that held him from his choice. "Are you free? Does your power give you freedom?"

A look of pleasant surprise emerged on Envoy Vera's face as she lifted her head with pride. "They are the same thing. Power and freedom, one cannot have either separately, they exist together. If you see me as someone powerful then I have freedom, and if I have freedom then I must have the power to maintain it."

With that all doubts within Maze were washed away, he would risk it all for his freedom, true freedom.

"Make your choice." The envoys patience waned as she looked to Maze for his decision.

Lifting himself from his chair, Maze stood in front of the envoy, his frail body heavy under its own weight. Meeting her eyes with his own he growled his answer, "I will endure, I can suffer if it means obtaining power".

Envoy Vera's lips rose in an alluring grin, "Then let us begin".