Kaius extended his hand again, against the screeches and echoing screams of the ancient voice--it had become many, uncountable to his mind. He felt the cold brush against his skin, pricking every part of his hand. Time slowed in his sights. As though the moment would carry on forever.

The longer the moment lasted, the stronger the soft voice became.

He touched the statues face, making sure to not let the dark liquid touch his skin. It was then that he felt the cold invade his hand. It ran down his arm and into his body. Reaching every part of his body. He shivered as the cold ran down his spine and chest. Then to his legs almost erasing the heavy feeling he carried.

A few seconds, nothing happened. The voices continued to scream, but the soft voice was quiet. Fog billowed from the statue, blowing past him and covering the entire surroundings. It spun around his body, coating him like a blanket. The only thing he could see was the slow pulse of the dark purple light.

Then it flickered oddly. It lost its rhythm, flashing erratically. Sometimes it was a quick beat and others it would be gone for a few seconds.

Pulling back his hand, he hoped for the invasive cold to disappear, but that did not happen. It stayed bolted into his body.

As his hand left the statue, a sphere of surrounded him and it. The clearing pushed the fog away. Now he could clearly see the figure before him, the light no longer pulsing but a constant one.

He felt a breeze run against his skin from behind. Turning around, he found her, a ghost. She was just as beautiful, just as strong as the images he witnessed for a time he did stay in track of. For long moments, he could not break himself out of gazing into her purple eyes, her beautiful smile.

“Thank you,” she said suddenly. Her soft voice fitting.

It startled Kaius, breaking him out of his mindless stare. He cleared his throat and looked away, his cheeks burning.

“N-no problem at all,”

“But it was a hurdle not many would have succeeded.” Her ghost floated over the waters towards him. She held his hands with her own--physical, warm, soft. “You’ve taken away the cold, given me peace in my death. It was something I had given up on. A fate impossible to escape,”

She had an enormous smile on her face as her eyes glimmered with held in tears. Unable to keep them in any longer, they streamed down her cheeks pausing at her chin for a second before falling.

“Thank you for saving my soul.” Letting go of his hand, she drifted away into the shadows that covered his dreamscape. Disappearing forever.

He knew it to be the truth, he would never get this moment back. Yet, he was not sad. Rather content at unknowingly saving her from her prison.

The ancient voice screeched again.

Kaius jumped in his spot. Spinning around, he gasped as he saw an abomination with an untold amount of eyes and mouths and arms. They stretch to reach him but faced an invisible barrier they could not cross.

“Mortal! She had yet to pay the full price of the power we had gifted her! Bring her back!” they followed that with incoherent screams in another language.

They froze, slowly turning every eye towards him. Its uncountable mouths smiled in an evil grin and hands stopped flailing wildly. The arms all rose at once beckoning him towards it.

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“Mortal,” it said softly this time with the same mind-altering effect from before. “Do you seek power? We have noticed your...predicament. We can offer you limitless power for a small price.”

It hid some of its hands behind it. But, Kaius got a glimpse of its fading body as he fought the mental barrage. He knew it had little time, all he had to do was out last it.

“A price?” he said, trying to waste as much time as possible.

“Yes,” the sickly sweet voice returned in full force. “A minuscule price you won’t even notice gone.”

“And what might that be?”

“An ideal, nothing more. So cheap for so...so much power,”

“You want me to part with my morality?” he said disbelievingly.

Its many mouths frowned, then it began to try to laugh it off. “Too much? How about I make the deal better,” It waved him to come closer, but Kaius wouldn’t budge. “I will give you riches beyond your imagination with power. You’ll be a king...no! A god if you want it to be, just for a minuscule ideal,”

For a while, Kaius stood there, thinking. Why would it want him to make such a deal? Doesn’t the devil ask for the soul? But then it clicked for him.

“You need someone,” his voice was quiet, barely a whisper.

“What did you say?!” It roared.

“Nothing, nothing at all. Tell me more about this deal.”

“Hmph, I will give you a final chance,” it said arrogantly. “You have scant minutes to decide. For something so cheap, I will give you your greatest dreams, mortal. Just come closer,”

Its voice became that much harder to deny. He felt his body shake as he fought against it. Yet, it was incredibly difficult. He took an unwilling step forward. But followed it with a few backward.

“Come closer, I won’t hurt you.”

“No-”

A slap shook the world and everything in between. The sharp pain on his cheek lingered as he found himself back in reality. The room he was chained in was dark. A cold draft and occasional splatters of water made it in--some hitting him. His body shook, and teeth chattered, his clothes were soaked, and so was he.

“You’re finally awake,” said a familiar voice he couldn’t place.

He found the old man sitting on a stool in front of him with a smirk. He wore ragged brown clothes and a cloak even worse. With unkempt white hair and uneven stubble, he looked the part of a madman.

The old man had to raise his voice above the cacophony the hanging chains caused in what appeared to be an enormous storm outside. “You know, it’s quite rude to ignore your elders.”

Rubbing his neck, Kaius caught a glimpse of solid metal wrapped around the man. Just like him.

“Y-you’re like me...a slave,”

The man frowned, “Not a slave, we haven’t fallen that far yet. We are Neifalite, the greatest force any force could have to do battle.”

“A battle-slave. You take pride in being a slave meant to die in some unknown field?”

“Yes, I take pride!” he screamed as his face burned red and frown turned into a snarl. “I, no, we, me and you...how else are we meant to survive? How else do we truly live?”

Kaius felt his words catch within his throat. He had not expected the outburst. But, before he could say another word, the old man almost fell from his seat because of the swaying ship they were in--the storm must be horrible.

“Forget that now and listen good. For the next week, no one will provide you with water or food. And since you can’t be set free, well, take these,” Kaius held out his hand, in it were six cylindrical pills that were a mix of red and blue. They seemed to be holding in fog.

“Why?” Kaius asked.

The old man froze, his hands began to shake. Then he came back as though nothing happened “Better for you not to know. Better for us all to never know.” He got up and walked away, muttering to himself the entire time. He even crashed into the opened door. Cursing, he closed it behind him.

Kaius only watched the door confused. What had just happened? The man must be crazy, that was the only answer he could have come up with. Another splash of freezing water hit him, making him wet and cold.

The old man’s antics didn’t matter, the six days with no one else did. It was a perfect time to escape. He just had to get rid of the chains.

He stared at his wrists, the cold metal felt heavier than usual.