"Here you go, Pope Agustian." A couple of sisters and a couple of Cardinals put me to bed, I am so old that my bones are actually shaking and making the noises of an old door, It has been a while since I saw my own face, even washing myself was impossible, thank god for the sisters, they washed me. 

First the Cardinals, It is their time to leave, there are five cardinals and all of them are quite young because of the new rules I put in place, I lowered the age limit and increased the education limit now only people with a high mastery was able to become bishops, these five are my successors, all of them have their own story to tell but this one is about me, and I plan on keep telling this story until I die.

The sisters start to feed me, I don't really have pride at this point, It would only lower my life comfort and make me look like a sinful person, that is one thing I want to avoid, after having a delicious steak they leave the room, the last one bows down and closes my doors, this bed was older than me, It served four generation of popes and like me It was having his last days.

I can see the sunset from here because my room is on the highest floor and It has the best view in The Holy City of Velrian, I want to check my vitals but I am afraid that my mana will run out and I will be defenseless against bad people like the one who is waiting for me at the dark corner of my room, a dark smile with red eyes and a woman's shadow, I know what that is. I know I am scared of that. I know I have to get rid of that. I know that I am on that thing's people to kill list. I know only one thing scares that thing and It is the blue flame.

There is a candle, sitting right beside me,  right next to the steak I just ate, I reach for the candle but my arms give up, I try again and fail again, the sun is going down, the shadows start to come closer and closer, I start to panic and reach for the candle but my arms aren't letting me, they are too heavy for me to carry, I hear a clock's sound. "Tic Toc." It is getting louder and louder and the shadow is coming closer, It is right next to my bed, I see an arm reaching to me, this is my last chance to escape I reach the candle and cast the spell. "Flame!" I yell.

The room lits up in a blue light, there are people outside they are the sisters who are gossipping about me, it is the same as always, an old man going senile, I look at the shadow, shadow's smile is gone but the shadow opens her mouth and says the cursed words like always. "See you in your sleep…" And then vanishes but like the shadow said, the real thing starts at my sleep.

It has been like this since the plague struck, the great plague they called it but that was one of that shadow's tricks the conquer the world, during my youth they were lots of people who were able to see this shadow but now, I was the only one. like always I hold the candle to sleep, It's' melting parts burns my hand like always but that one hell of a little price to pay, I gently close my eyes and sleep.

I open my eyes, I am in a darkness, a pitch black darkness with the only light being the candle I am holding, I start to walk around in the darkness, I can hear a clock's sound, a sound that makes me go crazy. "Tic Toc." I walk around to find other people with blue flames but the plague killed many magicians with blue flames, I was the only one who avoided it because The Holy City was in a lockdown, nothing was able to get through it and we lasted with the supplies we held like a castle in a siege.

Back then when I was a young man, this place was still a pitch black place but after walking for two minutes you were able to meet a person, now since that plague, the people who had the blue flame got lower and lower until a point I was the only one left.

And my blue flame used to be a torch cart, I even used to sell some of my blue flame torches here because blue flame reflected how much magic power you had I had so much that I had to sell them but I used all of the money for good, I helped the poor, I built hospitals and I was able to gain the cardinal title which I used for goodness of humanity and other races.

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Now, my magic power was running out every night my powers were getting weaker and weaker, and the blue flame becoming smaller and smaller but getting old wasn't the only factor, the other factor was that thing like right now one of her hands were reaching to my shadow, I stepped on it to make it go away, damn I wished I had that torch cart.

That shadow also possessed a beautiful voice and a beautiful figure of a woman, that was to tempt man I knew that but her voice sounded like a melody to my ears but I had to close off my ears to stop that melody, so I slowed the music world down because I restricted music. "Agustian…..Agustian….Where…Are…You?" She said this like a melody.

I had to respond to her, It was like playing a game with a child, I knew what happened when I didn't respond to her, she increased the difficulty of the darkness. "Here…I…Am…Where…Are…You?" I was tired from walking and I stopped to take a rest, there wasn't any response, this was weird I looked around in the pitch black darkness hoping to see something, I saw it, I really saw it! Another, blue flame holder!

I stood up and started to run to the blue flame, the owner of the flame had a much stronger flame than I did, a torch level, I had to meet up with the owner and her beautiful voice started to talk again. "Here…I…Am…Where…Are…You?" I didn't care about her games, the only thing mattered was that blue flame. "Here…I…Am…Where...Are you?" Her beautiful voice was turning into a bad one, she was getting angry but I was already counting my time with my fingers, I ran more with this old body and then I felt like I was getting choked by something.

I knew this body wasn't able to handle this much running but I ran more and more. "Here…I…Am..Where are you?" I still ran to the blue flame until I was stopped by a pain in my chest, It felt like I was getting stabbed and I probably was because when I touched my body I saw blood in my hands and my blue flame was getting weaker. "Here I am, where are you?" She said this but there were no fragments of her beautiful voice was left, I was so close to the blue flame. "You! Stop!" I yelled with all of my might.

The blue flame stopped and started to run to me, but now I wasn't able to run, my wounds were getting worse and worse, I was probably getting stabbed by somebody in the real world, well that was to be expected, I fell on the ground and saw the other blue flame getting closer until I saw the owner's face.

A child wearing villager like clothing and holding a blue flame torch, he looked like he was crying and It looked like it was his first time here, I only wished to wake up and announce this child as my successor, the child was scared by my blood. "It's okay my child, what's your name?" The child was still scared but he responded. "Agustian, sir. I was named after the pope." I laughed blood came out of my mouth. "Such a great name isn't it." I felt really sleepy and slowly let go of the candle that was in my hand, I took a glimpse at the child for the last time, this child was the world's last hope but then I saw the shadow behind him. "Here I am." The child reacted to the voice and turned around, the shadow opened her mouth so big that It was the exact size of the child and my worst fears came true, she swallowed the child in one go. "No!" I yelled in despair.

The blue flame torch the child was holding fell on the ground right next to my almost extinguished candle, the torch's flame lit up my candle so much that the candle itself became a torch, I wanted to kill this thing so with my last strength, I picked up my torch and got on my knees to get up but then I wasn't able to, I just fell on the ground and died while hearing her beautiful melody. "Tic Toc," She said. "At least, I heard your beautiful melody." Those were my last words in my pope body.

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I woke up from that darkness, I couldn't believe the fact I was somehow alive, maybe God saved me from that place, but a part of me was happy and another part of me was sad, now I was able to save more people but I was going to suffer at the same, I still opened my eyes but something was wrong, my ceiling didn't look like a dirty bed's bottom part, I looked to my surroundings and saw many two floored beds and closets, It looked like I was in a camp. I couldn't believe my eyes but I was going to believe my hands, they were like a child's hands. I had a theory at that moment and to confirm it I had to do one thing.

"Holy Screen Open!" I yelled.

[Name: Agustian, No Lastname] [Age:7] [Status: Child Slave]

[Strength:7]

[Intelligence:153]

[Charisma:5]

[Dexterity:3]

[Wisdom:521]

[Agility:9]

[Constitution:6]

"I knew it…and funny enough my intelligence and my wisdom stayed the same, I am in that child's body."