"I still don't get how this could be considered an exam! If you ask me, this is already bordering on being a fully fledged mission!", Mira exclaimed, still confused about the details of Eleonora's exam. The four had met up an hour before the exam would officially start to walk to the designated area in which it would be held, as it was scheduled for 9 a.m., unlike the others. The exam for healers was held elsewhere, as they were required to perform first-aid on animals, a task they needed to do in a secluded area as to not frighten the wounded creatures anymore than they already were.

  "Yeah, stealing intel from a fake military base in a group of 3? That seems hardly fair to me, seeing as you can't choose your partners.", Sean added, and Corvo nodded in agreement.

  Eleonora, however, did not seem to mind.

  "It hardly matters. Last year the task was to climb up a wall without being seen and without tools and steal the purse of one of the guards, which was considered one of the easier exams of that year. Sometimes you just get bad luck while drawing your lots, nothing one can do about it.", she replied with a shrug.

  "Alright, I hope you all read the assignment! Just to make sure, I will go through the rules of today's game one more time!", Michael Riddar called out to his subordinates, 15 members of Caelum's city-guards which agreed to participate in the exam for rouges together with him. The last 4 hours were spent setting up tents and preparing everything in advance at the border of the Brouillard Woods, an artificially grown forest which was placed in the northernmost parts of Rouclier's training-grounds, which was used by the academy to simulate missions in similar environments.

  "Captain, I think we got it.", one of his men replied with a yawn, which he quickly stifled upon receiving the glare of his superior.

  "This might be a game for us, but to the cadets this will be as close to a mission as they will get for the next two years, so we got to play the part! Anyway, back to what I was saying:

  There's going to be 4 units, 3 people each, trying to infiltrate this camp and steal information, which we are tasked to prevent. They each get half an hour to do so, and we will be notified once time's up. They're allowed to damage the tents, so we got some spare ones on standby.

  Now here's the deal:

  We are going to split into 4 groups! One group of 2 will guard the ammo-tent, 2 will guard the barracks in which 3 will "rest" until the next round, 5 will patrol around the base, and 2 will guard the commander-tent with me in it. If you get poked by one of their training weapons near one of your vitals, you are out, same goes for them. If you got taken out, you are to remain silent, since a dead man can hardly alert others, right? Also, no combat-skills or offensive magic, since this is not a combat-exercise. By the way, as an incentive for catching our spies-in-training, for each one you manage to catch, you'll get an additional day off this year. The other rewards are the same as during our first briefing. Any questions?", Riddar asked into the round.

  "Yeah, who of us is gonna be the one taking the time?", one of the guards asked.

  "That will be me.", a female voice answered from behind him, causing chaos among the surrounding guardsmen, as none but their captain had noticed the presence of the woman standing among them until now. The woman in question looked to be in her late 30s of average height with a purple side-cut. Disappointed about them having failed to notice her, Riddar facepalmed before deciding to introduce the newcomer, who giggled at the antics of the guards, who struggled to raise back to their feet and get back into line.

  "Men, this is Instructor Rebecca Dutertre, formerly part of our army's intel division, and now in charge of training rouges in Rouclier!"

  "We greet the instructor! ", the guards shouted and saluted in unison with perfect form as if nothing had happened.

  "At ease, guards. Captain Riddar, I hope your men are a bit more attentive during the exam. We don't want to make it to easy for my students now, do we?", she chastised him in a sickly sweet voice, causing him to cringe. He did not know what it was, but something about Dutertre rubbed him the wrong way. At first he thought it was because her class was that of an assassin, the natural enemy of any guardsman, though he came to realise that her entire personality just seemed to annoy him.

  "There will be no problem there. So you are going to hide nearby and watch their performance?", he asked her.

  "Yep. Just pretend I'm not here...though I doubt you would be able to notice me even if I told you where I was.", she answered with a laugh while walking towards the shadow of one of the tents, where she disappeared from sight.

  Eleonora and her two teammates, Shane and Eliza, were waiting inside of the forest one the signal of their instructor, as they were going to be the first team to attempt the exam. They all wore dark green clothes perfect for blending in with the shadows of the forrest, and had their faces hidden behind masks.

  "So, got an idea how to best get through this?" Shane asked Eleonora, who had been chosen as the captain of the team through straw-lottery, with her having drawn the shorter of the three straws.

  "Since we are outnumbered, we should avoid direct confrontation. First we'll look at where they are stationed and how they move. I doubt that we will be able to easily slip past the guards, so we need to observe them and wait for an opportunity to take out those outside of the tents. If we fail to catch the right moment or we are caught, two of us are going to distract the guards, while the remaining one will go straight for the intel."

  "Hm...yeah, I can work with that.", Eliza commented, and Shane nodded in agreement.

  "I guess when we switch to plan B, the one furthest away from the guards is going for the commander's tent?", Shane asked, and Eleonora nodded.

  "Indeed. However, we should see to it that we don't have to go for plan B, seeing as it is the most dangerous one. If all things fail, plan C will have to suffice."

  Just as Eleonora finished talking, they three heard a loud bell-sound reverberate throughout the area, the signal that the exam had begun.

  "Alright, from now on, we'll communicate via . Remember, the first 10 minutes are going to be observation only! If you notice something, or are noticed somehow, immediately relay it to the others!", Eleonora reminded her teammates, and, after affirming that they understood, the three each climbed one of the trees and vanished within their crowns.

  "Oi, get yourself together!", one of the guards patrolling the base chastised his partner, who stifled another yawn.

  "Not even 10 minutes in and you already losing focus on me, Laurence! You've been yawning all morning, didn't get any sleep last night?"

  "Gimme a break, Walther. Had to sleep in the dog house for weeks now. Wife's found out 'bout Lucy. Guess I can be glad she didn't file for divorce yet.", Laurence answered solemnly.

  "Damn, but I told ya that wench is only gonna get ya in trouble. Didn't ya almost lose your job because someone threatened ta tattle on ya? Shoulda ended it then and there I tell ya.", his colleague mentioned, and he nodded.

  "Yeah, I know. And I did... for a while. But can you really blame me?", Laurence inquired as he tried to look for sympathy from his colleague, who only met him with a stone-cold glare of contempt.

  "...Yes, yes I can. 15 years of marriage, 2 kids, never looked after any woman but my own."

  "Oh fuck right off you dirty-", Laurence started, but was quickly cut off by the noise of rustling grass to his right.

  "...ya hear that?", he asked, and the other guardsman affirmed his suspicions.

  "Let's go and get them! Can't wait to use those free days on the next evaluation!", he commanded, but before the two could make it any further, they both felt cold steel poke them in their necks from their left.

  "Damn."

  "Shit.", the two whispered, before dropping to the floor.

  "Ya know, this might be karma for-", Walther quietly mocked Laurence, but he was interrupted with a hiss.

  "Shut it!"

  'Two more, about to meet the two on the floor! ', Eleonora relayed to the others through the spell, who quickly got into position and knocked them out, before dragging them out of sight.

  'Last one, talking to the two in front of one of the three possible targets, will be in an advantageous position in half a minute! '

  'I'll take that one, did you manage to find out which one we need to get into? ', Eliza asked.

  'Heard them mention the blue ribbon being ammo, the yellow one barracks, the red one command. Those without ribbons are decoys. Every 5 minutes, patrols are to meet at command. 2 minutes left until the next meet is scheduled.', Shane explained.

  'Alright, I will go inside, and you will start the distraction as we planned. If something happens, remember our signal! ', Eleonora declared.

  'Understood! ', the other two replied in unison, as she left her position atop the trees and dived into the shadows of the tents with the help of the skill, which minimized her presence in dark places.

  Moments later, Eleonora saw herself on the backside of the command-tent. As quietly as possible, she lifted the cloth of the tent and let herself in. She only had a second to take in her surroundings, before she dived into another shadow, which was cast by a large bookcase. In front of her was a desk, on which the commander of the guards, which she recognized as being Sean's father, was currently writing down things, before stopping and holding his head in his hands in frustration.

  "I know she wanted this to be as distracting of a task as possible, but solving math problems? Seriously? Ever since my promotion last year I could barely do the bookkeeping when it came to our salary, but that's where my knowledge ends! How should I know what three quarters of half a dozen watermelons would cost if each was one and two thirds of a kilo and they were two copper lumen a kilo? Maybe I should have listened to Paul when he told us about what he learned at the Trade Union...", he lamented, before a loud explosion ripped him away from his papers.

  "Oi, what are you guys doing out there!", Michael Riddar stood up from his place and yelled outside, as Eleonora slowly approached the desk he had been sitting at, intending to snatch the papers away as he tried to find out what was going on.

  "Sir, the ammo tent caught fire, and the others are now trying to extinguish the flames!", one of the guards outside stepped in and briefed him about the situation.

  "Damn, protecting that was part of our bonus! Got the flames under control?", Michael Riddar asked, and the guardsman nodded.

  "Of course. We got Emmerich on it!"

  "I knew a former fire-fighter would come in handy. Get back out there and make a head-count! If I can solve these papers before the end of the exams we'll get another bonus, so I'll get back to it!", Riddar commanded, which was answered with a quick salute before the guardsman left the tent.

  'This was easier than I anticipated! ', Eleonora thought, however, just as Michael arrived back at his seat, he decided against sitting back down and went right past it, now approaching Eleonora as he drew his sword.

  "Didn't think I'd fall for the oldest trick in the books, eh? Also, I'm pretty good at seeing past stealth skills!", he called out to her before bringing his sword down upon her, which she managed to block with her short-sword. This caused her skill to become undone, thus making it possible for Michael Riddar to see who he was currently facing off against.

  "Eleonora? Didn't think you'd be in the first group! Anyway, I hope you got a plan B, because I'm not planning on letting you walk off with those papers just because you're Sean's friend!", Riddar exclaimed before pushing her back and attacking once more.

  Eleonora quickly side-stepped the sword and brought her free hand towards her mouth for a loud whistle, which was the signal she and her team had agreed upon if one of them was caught.

  '5 seconds.'

  'In position, to your right! ', were the answers, and Michael decided to alarm his team as well, which he did with [Battlecry], a skill which amplified one's voice manifold, intimidating one's opponents and stunning them for a brief moment while decreasing their reaction time, thus creating an opening.

  "[THEY ARE HERE!]", he shouted, causing the tent to shake and Eleonora to freeze up in fear.

  However, as he tried to exploit the opportunity his stun had created, his sword was intercepted by a dagger appearing from his left, with the other now being aimed at his kidney.

  "Not bad, but I already saw you approach me!", he commented as he used his left hand to change the trajectory of the knife to pass his body by a hair's breadth, before following up with a kick towards Eliza, which, despite her blocking the kick, knocked her outside of the tent.

  Eleonora used this brief distraction to slip past Riddar, and made her way towards the exit.

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  "Oh no you won't!", Riddar declared as he ran after her.

  'Dealt with the guards near command, but there are more coming! ', Shane called out to her via .

  'They were waiting behind the tent, I'm out! ', Eliza solemnly informed the two.

  'Shit, we gotta get out! Shane, Plan C! ', Eleonora proclaimed as she ran outside, where 5 guards were already waiting for her.

  'Roger that.', Shane responded, and before any of the guards could make a move, a smoke bomb exploded and shrouded the area in dark, irritating fog.

  "Go grab em!", Riddar shouted between coughs, but none of the guards was able to do anything, and as soon as the fog had dispersed, a loud bell sound rung throughout the camp, signalling the end of the first exam.

  After a few minutes, all of the guardsmen, as well as the three examinees gathered in the middle of the camp to receive feedback from instructor Dutertre. After they all arrived, Dutertre revealed herself to have been standing in their midst all along, though this time without any shocked reactions, which seemed to cause her some disappointment.

  "Ahem. Let us commence with the grading of the exam. First of all, I hope you are aware that, seeing as this is the first exam of the day, you will be graded stricter than those who will follow you, as the same tactics used once are less likely to work a second time. Putting this into consideration, as well as the behaviour of the guards, I will now grade each of you out of a hundred points, with each of you needing at least 50 to pass the exam.", she explained.

  "Cadet Lugn, you managed to execute the tasks given to you by your leader and save them from a precarious situation, though it came at the cost of your own life, which, though commendable, is less than ideal. If you had used a smoke bomb like Cadet Viento, you would have surpassed him in points, as you managed to remain unseen up to the last moment. 77 points.", Dutertre announced, causing Eliza to silently pump her fist in triumph.

  "Cadet Viento, not only did you manage to follow through with the orders given to you, you even provided the means to escape in the end, thus making the mission a success. However, your presence was noticed twice, which almost resulted in the other guards being alerted. 85 points.", Dutertre continued, causing Shane to salute.

  "And last but not least, Cadet Boreas. The role of the leader of a team is the hardest, but also the most crucial, which means stricter evaluation. Though your plan seemed flawless at first, the variable which was the commander being adept at seeing through stealth skills almost resulted in failure. In addition, one of your teammates was neutralized, which, despite being partially her fault, reflects badly on your leadership. Nonetheless, you managed to prepare a backup plan which led to the success of the mission. 75 points. Congratulations, you all managed to pass.", she announced, and the three saluted to her in unison, before leaving.

  Seeing as Dutertre had finished her evaluation of her students, Michael Riddar was about to give orders to his guardsmen, but he was quickly interrupted.

  "I have yet to finish giving feedback, Captain Riddar. To keep things fair, I will have to talk to you about some changes for the next exam. Please meet me in the command-tent.", she beckoned him as she went ahead, causing a shiver to run down his spine.

  "She gives me the creeps.", he whispered under his breath, and the others threw him sympathetic looks as he followed her.

  Further away, at their usual spot, Eleonora was greeted by her friends, who were passing time by playing a card-game, as nobody was allowed near the area in which the exam was held so no one could interfere with it.

  "So, how was it?", Sean asked Eleonora.

  "I managed to pass with 75 points, but it made me realise that I still have a long way to go.", she responded.

  This information caused a smug smile to appear on Mira's face.

  "Hah, I managed to pass with full points! Guess it's my win this time!", she exclaimed triumphantly, but her sore muscles protested her sudden movement, causing her to flinch, and Eleonora to giggle.

  "I guess you did. Too bad we didn't have a bet going on this time, right?", Eleonora replied in similar smugness, her arms crossed behind her back as she began to strut towards the entrance gates of Rouclier, with the others following closely behind.

  "Oh...right.", Mira said, deflating a bit as she had forgot about there being no wager this time.

  "Don't worry, I can still buy you a round of ice-cream. We have to celebrate that we all made it, don't we?", Eleonora continued.

  "Sure, but no take-backs!", Mira answered.

  "Yeah, we all heard it! You're gonna buy the first round!", Sean added in jest, causing Eleonora to stop in her tracks, with Sean and Mira walking past her.

  "Erm, I meant I would only buy one round for Mira!", she tried to correct him, but was completely ignored.

  "Oh come on now! Corvo, tell him what I meant!", Eleonora attempted to get at least one of them to help her, but he just shrugged.

  "Shouldn't have said you'd buy the first round!", he replied jokingly as he joined up with Sean and Mira.

  "Come on guys! I don't have that kinda money!", she called out to them as she ran after her laughing friends.

  Meanwhile, André Tenning had arrived at a small village near the border of Domitor, Gredo, which was closest to where he was headed in the Grattiel mountain-range. After the seer had told him to come here, he gathered information along the way and figured out that there was supposedly a mining-town somewhere within the mountains. However, as he asked around the village for someone to guide him there, his request was rejected. The reason for this were frequent sightings of Draugr, undead guardians of ancient graves, and other undead creatures in the mountains, and now that Domitor was at war with its neighbours, most of the guards who used to protect caravans heading up the mountains with supplies for the mining-town were needed at the front-lines, thus reducing the amount of times merchants travelled there from once a week to once a month, with the next trip being scheduled to happen in 3 weeks time.

  Not wanting to wait for that long, André decided to stock up on as much food and drink as he could, which had cost him all he had prepared in advance for his guide, and headed up the mountains on his own. Seeing as he was proficient in fire-magic, he thought himself well equipped against any undead creature who would cross his path. However, half a day after having set foot on the mountains, just as the sun had sunken beneath the horizon, he was swarmed with undead. He expected to encounter 3, 5, maybe even 7 undead in one day, an annoying but still manageable amount, but not even an hour had passed since the first attack and he had already dealt with 12 of these monsters, with more already on his trail.

  After killing 5 more undead, André managed to find and climb a rather large boulder, giving him a vantage point from which he could determine what was going on. Beneath him was the grass-covered trail leading further up the mountains. However, due to the 5 still burning bodies, he was able to make out what looked to be at least 30 walking corpses heading his way from all directions.

  "By the gods, what is going on? These aren't the movements of normal undead! They look like someone sent them my way!", he cursed, and ghoulish moans and grunts from behind him made him spin around, where 10 more zombies tried to climb up his boulder.

  "Shit, I have to get out of here!", he thought out loud, and scanned the area. Though it was already getting pretty dark, the light of the moon was enough to cast a dim light on his surroundings, making him able to make out a massive ravine at the end of the trail, where a rather large and sturdy looking wooden bridge was built to link the trail with the path on the other side.

  "Alright, let's hope for the best!", André exclaimed, before channeling another spell.

  Not a second too late, as one of the zombies had managed to climb the boulder and now stretched their limbs out to him, he released the spell, causing him to disappear with a loud popping sound where he stood and reappear at a location within his view, which he chose to be the edge of the cliff he had noticed earlier.

  The undead, which noticed his disappearance, quickly went after the mage, who looked down the cliff to see if his hypothesis was right. With the undead in quick pursuit, he took one more look behind him to make sure that they were still following him, before sitting down on the edge of the cliff, then jumping off. As the undead creatures pursuing the mage lacked intelligence, they followed him blindly, of the edge, falling to their end.

  André, who stood crouched on a small ledge which had formed beneath the edge of the cliff, silently watched as they all dropped off the edge and hurtled down the ravine, having to cover his mouth with the sleeve of his robe as to not burst into laughter over the silliness of the situation. After a while, the bodies stopped dropping, but André decided to remain where he was a bit longer, just in case. This turned out to be the right choice, as he soon heard foot-steps approach, which, unlike those of the undead which had chased him, sounded like those of heavy metal boots.

  "This be the place?", a ghastly, whispery voice, cold like steel, asked out loud.

  "Aye, sire! This humble servant saw it with my own two eyes, I did!", a male, raspy voice croaked in response, which seemed almost comical in contrast to the other voice.

  "And didst thou notice there to be a cliff?", the ghastly voice asked, seemingly growing irate.

  "Me lord?", the voice of the grovelling being answered, not sure what its master implied.

  "SILENCE!", the master hissed, its voice as if a dagger piercing André's ears. In response, he could hear a loud thud, as if someone having thrown themselves on the floor, like a servant grovelling to ask for forgiveness.

  "40 heads were lost due to thy insolence, imbecile! The one coveted by the supreme one be a spellcaster! Easily he would cross such gaps with magic, deceiving those looking upon him in having jumped to his death! So why, worm, didst thou not halt the troops before they met their end?"

  "Master, this unworthy one has committed a grave sin! Please allow it to be repaid with this lowliest of souls!", the servant cried out, and André could hear a blade being unsheathed. The next thing he heard was a metallic whistling sound before a the noise of a body hitting the snow signaled the death of the servant of the being.

  "The gall to have called yourself Unborn for so long, besmirching the name given to us by our lord with your incompetence.", the master proclaimed in disgust, before a loud popping sound told André that he had left with the use of teleportation magic. However, he dared not move a muscle.

  About an hour later, he decided to risk a look and peered above the cliff, and, to his relief, found there to be nothing waiting for him. He climbed back up and laid down on the floor, looking at the stars while thinking about what had just happened.

  'So they were looking for me? What is going on here? ', he thought, but no matter how hard he contemplated about it, he could not come to a conclusion. Finally, after resting for a while, he decided to rise back to his feet and retrieve the card the seer had given to him.

  'Thinking in circles doesn't help, and I've already started to walk this path, so why not continue? And to be honest, I'm getting kinda curious about just who this supreme one is they were talking about.', he thought as he looked at the card once more, before quickly putting it back into his pocket and crossing the wooden bridge at the end of the trail.

  The next few days were spent by André resting as soon as the sun rose, and continuing up the mountains at sundown, evading the undead on his way as he kept following the trail, which he believed to lead him towards the mining-town he was looking for. However, unbeknownst to him, he had missed a fork in the trail, thus following the path to the mountain's peak instead of the one which led to the village. Thus, after a week of evading monsters and burning through most of his supplies, he ultimately reached a large staircase which had been carved into the stone of the mountain leading all the way to the top, which he decided to climb.

  The staircase ended in front of a gate, similar to the entrance of a dungeon, which seemingly led inside of the mountain. However, as André stepped through the gate, he noticed that there was no ceiling, thus making the "room" in which he now found himself appear like the top of an inactive volcano. The path in front of him was fenced in by large pillars, at the top of which rested human skulls carved from stone with gaping jaws as if screaming, the eye-holes of which were filled with purple flames, basking the entire area in a dim light. Due to the flames, André was able to see that at about half-way through the room, the pillars started to open up a circular space, at the end of which lied a large, obsidian throne.

  As André slowly walked closer to the throne, he could notice a humanoid figure standing in front of it, a tall being clad in black, spiky metal armour, resting its hands on a Zweih?nder, the tip of which was stabbed into the floor. Though already intimidating looking to him, the dark knight paled in comparison to the being sitting on the throne.

  It was a creature vaguely resembling a human being, though reduced to skin and bones, devoid of all flesh and covered in decay, though its head was still covered in greenish-white hair. It had no lips, thus its sharp, shark-like teeth were always at display, and its nose was scarred and festering. There were no eyes in its sockets, only the disgusting, purple glow of undeath, and its entire body was clad in what appeared to once have been magnificent robes of the finest cloth, an attire fit for a king, but now looked more like the tattered rags of a beggar.

  Merely gazing upon the being sitting on the throne made André want to scream in fear and abandon the room as fast as he could, as he believed it to be an Ankou, the strongest and oldest variant of a Lich, an undead being born from a necromancer's desire to become immortal. However, before André could as much as move, the being on the throne started to talk.

  "You are wrong, child. Before you sits no mere lich, but an Unborn, one who has rejected the life given to them by the vile deities of creation and accepted the blessings of the Archon of Undeath himself.", it said with a calm yet otherworldly, nightmarish voice, which caused a shiver to run down André's spine. He could see the creature slowly rise from its throne, its servant kneeling before it as it did so, and calmly walk towards André, who, despite his best efforts, was incapable of moving.

  "Be not afraid, child. Nothing shall harm you in these halls, I shall pledge so upon my name as Melchior, most loyal servant of our Lord! Now tell, what was it that brought you before me?", he asked of him, and, though still struck with fear, he managed to answer.

  "I-I was told by a s-seer that I would find what was looking for if I w-were to climb the mountains!", André stammered out, which caused the being to halt, seemingly surprised about what he said.

  "A seer? Say, and dare not lie, was he clad in yellow fabric of sorts?", the undead asked him, and he nodded.

  "Most peculiar...though I shant believe the words of someone who believes themselves in grave danger. Say, has this seer given you a token of sorts? A charm, anything that would back your words with trust?"

  "T-this card is all I got!", André replied as he hastily retrieved the card depicting the devil.

  The sight of the card itself caused the undead being in front of him to take a step back, the purple glow in its eye-sockets dimming as if afraid of what it saw.

  "This picture... OUR MASTER! IT TRULY IS A TOKEN OF THE YELLOW SEER! ", the undead exclaimed in shock as the purple glow in his eyes grew brighter than before.

  "Were you too looking for guidance? A way to undo the failings of your past?", the being asked him, and André nodded.

  "A personal recommendation of the Unspeakable One! This alone warrants an audience with our Lord himself! Say, child! Now that you have arrived before me, are you willing to see this through to the end? As before, be without fear, no matter your answer, you shall leave unharmed in exchange for the token given to you by the Seer!", the undead declared.

  Countless questions came to mind, as André tried to come up with what to do. Was he truly able to get out of this alive if he rejected the offer? However...did he want to reject it? He had lived the last two years no different from a ghost, wandering the lands in search of a purpose that would keep him going after having lost it all, a husk of a human, only alive as he was too afraid of death. What if the offer of the undead being truly was what he was looking for? Could he live on with the thought of having wasted this one opportunity?

  "...I accept your offer.", André responded, and the undead being offered him one of his skeletal hands.

  "Then may your tormented soul be given solace through the guidance of our Lord."

  André looked at the hand for a moment, then clasped it with his own.

  The space around him suddenly started to warp and distort, and his surroundings were replaced with absolute darkness. The undead creature in front of him was no longer there, replaced by the all consuming nothingness he had now found himself in. However, it was not long before something seemed to emerge from the darkness.

  Two massive, leathery wings opened up, revealing a creature, tall as a mountain, behind them. A monster among monsters, a being which should not exist, something which could only be described as undeath incarnate. An infernal creature made only of skin and bones with stag-like horns on it's head and 7 pitch-black eyes with yellow irises, all of which now focused on André, whose mind exploded into unbearable pain as soon as he looked into its eyes.

  It was as if thousands of searing hot needles punctured his skull repeatedly all at once, causing him to try and claw at his head to make it stop, but he saw himself unable to move, much less avert his gaze. Each passing second to him felt like an eternity, as the being slowly raised one of his countless fingers towards him. He begged the gods, the Titans, the three Primordial Forces themselves to make the pain stop, even pledged eternal servitude to whomever would grant him the sweet release of death, but there were no gods to listen to his prayers, no forces able to alleviate his suffering, only the being in front of him, which after what felt like countless eons of agonizing torment, had finally reached his forehead with its finger.

  As soon as the finger made contact with him, he sunk lifeless to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut, the pain finally having stopped and the light that was his soul extinguished, replaced with eternal nothingness.