Kalos awoke to the screams of a million people.

He opened his eyes to find himself hanging by chains above what looked like an ocean filled to the brim with the dead.

Only they weren’t dead.

Yes, their mutilated bodies were grossly mixed with their blood and other fluids, but they moved in the muck. They desperately tried crawling up to Kalos, but their slimy limbs slid over each other in their futile attempts.

Kalos looked in front of him. His face twisted as he saw a woman he thought he’d never see again.

“Hello, Kalos.” Saya greeted with a smile.

Kalosýni’s eyes widened, but he forced himself to remain calm.

“Hello,” Kalos said as he looked around.

“What is this place?” Kalos asked as his naked body hung.

“This place isn't somewhere out there. It is within you.” Saya said as she floated in front of him.

The dark place that was supposedly within Kalos was a sick and dark place, illuminated only by a faint light from above.

“You really got me, Kalos. So much so that I now understand what you and my idiot son were talking about.” Saya said.

“Oh? And what would that be?” Kalos asked.

“All life is precious,” Saya said with a smile, but this only made Kalos want to vomit.

“Now, I may have directly killed a few beings in my time, but you… you are just as guilty as I. According to you and Anton, murder is the worst crime one could commit. So, I have come to punish you just as you did me.” Saya said.

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Kalos asked while maintaining a calm demeanour when in truth he was about as scared as he was curious.

“Don’t you remember? I am the stenographer. I know every single life you took. Directly or indirectly.” Saya said as she lowered Kalosýni’s body into the murky waters beneath.

“Prepare yourself, Kalos. For your sins mark you oh so terribly.” Saya said as Kalosýni’s skin touch the water's surface.

Nothing happened until one of the bodies within the water touched Kalos.

Kalosýni’s mind was then dragged into the minds of the damned.

He then saw the series of events that led to the deaths of several thousands of people.

One was a knight who died an honourable death protecting the innocents in Tolman. But unfortunately, he was not strong enough to continue in the fight against his enemies and so he died on the battlefield.

Kalos felt his mind return to him.

His body slowly ascended from the water and he came once again, face to face with Saya.

“Well? How did it feel knowing that your father’s foolish actions and your arrogant judgment led to the death of innocents.” Saya asked.

“Thier deaths all served a greater purpose.” Kalos said before dunking Kalos back into the dark waters.

Kalosýni’s mind was then forced into that of a child who hid among a group of women and other children.

The child wept as he was seemingly separated from his mother.

Several knights ran in and out of the house, some were injured to the point that their guts only stayed put because their armour stopped them from spilling out.

A tremor shook the house the people were in and the child's wails grew louder.

Something was coming.

The knights all panicked as they raised their fosblades.

Fear marked their faces, but none of them lowered their guards.

A humanoid creature then walked into the house.

It was a velzen.

It raised its blood-drenched claws before barring its needle-like teeth.

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The knights all rushed towards the velzen only to be turned into mince.

The boy watched as heaps of flesh and metal fell to the floor.

The velzen then turned its attention toward the women and children.

It slowly walked up to them before gleefully smiling.

One of the women grabbed a nearby dagger before running to attack the creature, but the dagger didn't even pierce the velzen's skin.

The velzen's eyes remained on the group, but his arms wrapped around the panic-stricken woman before squeezing her chest with so much force that he tore through her rib cage and split her in two.

At this point, the boy's heart had enough.

His vision faded and he fell to the cold ground as tears continued to fall from his eyes which accidentally locked with those of the velzen.

The last thing he saw was pure blackness.

Saya raised Kalos out of the water again.

“If all you’re going to do is show me a few thousand of these, then you’re wasting your time,” Kalos said, even as his eyebrows furrowed. He coughed up some of the dark oceans water.

He was angry and regretful, but Saya smiled in response.

“Don’t worry. There’s only a few hundred thousand other humans to go.” Saya said making Kalos sigh.

“Wait a minute- humans?” Kalos asked.

“Yes. Or have you forgotten that your actions also resulted in the deaths of other beings as well? The elafriá were affected the worst, I suppose. They’d known nothing but peace for eternity and so they didn’t know what to do when you robbed them of their shield against beings like you.” Saya said before dropping Kalos into the water again.

This time, he was placed into the mind of an elafrián woman.

She nervously stood amongst the ranks of other equally fearful elafriá.

Their mission was a suicidal one for in their eyes, there was absolutely no point in waiting for their inevitable deaths and so they chose to confront death on their own terms.

The elafrián woman was there when a hail of spears fell on the mortal realm, but she was eventually killed by human knights.

Kalos expected Saya to raise him from the water, but he seemingly sank deeper as hundreds, if not thousands of creatures tried clawing at him.

Kalos was taken into several dead minds and he witnessed several deaths as he continued to sink even further into the dark waters.

At some point, Kalos decided to just go with the flow and even though experiencing the deaths of others never got easier, he quickly developed a morbid familiarity with the process.

Kalos felt a hundred thousand deaths and witnessed the snuffing of a hundred thousand lives.

His mind was stretched to its thinnest as he became fully aware of the damage he had caused.

Saya eventually pulled Kalos out of the dark waters to see him blankly staring at nothing.

“Oh? You can’t be broken yet. We’re just getting started. You see, I used most of my existence to create a certain individual. Poor thing thinks he's a real autarch, but he is only a fragment.” Saya said as a certain vision appeared before Kalos and Saya.

It looked as though they were seeing the world from Katharos’ perspective.

“No, mother. I won’t do anything you say anymore!” Katharos yelled.

He then slowly started walking north.

“No! Please mother! Not her!” Katharos yelled as he broke into a violent sprint.

Kalosýni’s hollow eyes widened.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“Ah-ha! I knew you weren’t completely broken yet. Now please, do enjoy the show.” Saya said as Katharos zapped towards a certain little forest just east of Ianndor.

He came across a barrier, but he easily entered it to find Estella and Keema sitting by a fire.

“Wait! Stop!” Kalos yelled while trying to break free from his astral bonds.

Estella then noticed Katharos.

She charged up her body in an attempt to grab Keema and run, but Katharos grabbed her hair and pulled her back.

Time seemingly slowed to a crawl for the world, but Katharos and Estella continued to move at a normal pace.

Estella tried shooting multiple beams of death at Katharos, but Katharos was unaffected by them. She kicked and clawed at him, but even as he took all that damage, he quickly regenerated.

Estella then created her dark sword before charging it to its limit. She then swung it across his neck, but it broke as soon as it touched his skin.

Katharos then forced Estella’s hands to the ground before head butting her, cracking her skull, but not killing her. He then punched her several times in the face, breaking what was left of her head as he was coated in her blood.

“No!” Katharos and Kalos screamed simultaneously as Katharos continued to best away at once was Estella’s head.

“Wait! Stop! Saya, please! I’m sorry!” Kalos screamed at the top of his lungs, but nothing he said removed the sick smile she had on her face as Katharos pulverized Estella’s chest.

Kalos screamed and screamed as tears fell from his face.

Katharos howled into the night like an animal as he continuously minced Estella’s body.

With each punch, drool and tears ran down his face as he sobered like a mad animal.

Kalos begged Saya over and over again to put an end to all of it, but nothing changed.

Katharos’ body was overcome by pure madness and pain.

“Uhk! Uh- ghu!” Kalosýni’s throat tightened up as he writhed.

“Hehe. There it is.” Saya said with a satisfied smile.

“Hehe. Hahaha!”

“HAHAHAHA!” Saya laughed.

“Phew. Anyway, act two is concluded. Time for the big final." Saya said as Katharos turned his deranged gaze towards Keema who was frozen in space.

“Oh.” Kalos let out a whimper as Katharos walked towards Keema.

A massive crack then appeared in the reality Kalos and Saya were in.

“What’s this? Ah, you've cracked, haven't you? Ah well. It was worth it. Seeing that look on your face was complete bliss.” Saya said as what was essentially Kalosýni’s soul broke.

She then disappeared as a wave of consciousness overcame Kalos.

.

..

Reu broke as a massive shockwave shook the earth.

Kalos opened his eyes, got up, grabbed what was left of Reu and ran north.

His chest ached and his hands trembled, but he ran regardless.

He ran and ran and ran. Avoiding what dangers he could.

He made sure to take the shortest route to that forest.

He eventually made it to the useless barrier he’d erected and entered it to find a weeping Keema.

She was crying over Estella’s body, but that’s not what Kalos was worried about.

He looked a little to the left and found a large red body.

He walked over to it and found that it had been completely drained of life.

Kalos then walked over to Keema before lifting her as she wept.

“Shh.” Kalos shushed, but the noise he made was more an attempt to calm himself.

“Shh,” Kalos said as tears fell from his eyes.

He then collapsed to his knees as both he and Keema wept.

He gently squeezed Keema.

“Please… please don’t leave me.”