Valthar found himself in a white marble room, tied once more by those damned chains.

  A familiar nightmare by this point, one Valthar despised together with all the memories it elicited.

  The time he had spent in the Church’s basement was hands down the worst time of his life.

  Worse than the banishment, worse than the underground escape.

  The growing fear of death, the constant loneliness and the inescapable restrictions fused into a horrid situation that Valthar could only call torture.

  A torture he was forced to relive almost every fucking night.

  Before he could go deeper in his self pity a sudden voice called out from the side.

  “A favor for a favor, since you decided to help I'll stand by my word young one, what is it that you desire?”

  The voice sounded both nearby and far away.

  It sounded so old to be called ancient and so otherworldly that Valthar's toes curled in revulsion.

  Valthar turned to the wall where the sound had come from.

  There the blurry shadow of a person stood upright, its only defining being its two shining red eyes.

  “Dar’Sang The Dreamer.” Valthar mumbled the demon’s name and title, two things he should not have known.

  In that moment faint memories surfaced in Valthar’s mind.

  Instinctually Valthar knew that him and the demon had talked previously, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t remember what it was about.

  From the demon's words Valthar could guess they had made a deal, but Valthar refused to believe he would make deals with a demon.

  The Church made sure everyone knew demons could not be trusted, that they would promise you the moon in one moment just to steal your blanket in the next.

  ‘Wait, is this demon the one responsible for the rings?’ A question sprouted in Valthar's mind.

  After one appeared, a dozen more followed behind.

  ‘What favor did I do for it? Saving that woman? Why would it care about her?’

  ‘And how would it even know I could save her? Can it read minds? Predict the future? How the fuck did it even get inside my dream?’

  Valthar opened his mouth to ask only to shut it back up before uttering a single sound.

  Dar'Sang is a demon… an entity that should not be trusted blindly.

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  So no matter what answer it gave, it would all be useless for Valthar.

  “I see you're struggling to decide… How about riches?It is quite flexible and just imagine how much good you could do with 1000 gold coins.” The shadow spoke again, like a salesman trying to sell a gym membership.

  1000 gold coins, enough money to change hundreds of lives… yet offered in a silver platter?

  Valthar’s eyes narrowed.

  ‘This thing is plotting against me.’

  “I don’t want anything from you Dreamer.” He answered without hesitation.

  “But you saved Amara's life, how can I not return the favor? You just need to ask and I can give you anything.” Dar'Sang pushed aggressively, insistent on giving a reward.

  Valthar’s eyes narrowed further, as the situation slowly became clear.

  The favor truly was about the dying woman and this ‘reward' clearly had some problem with it.

  “I didn't save her for you and there is nothing I want from you.” Valthar made his stance clear.

  “Hehehe, Not even if I healed your mana veins?” A malicious chuckle echoed from the demon.

  For a moment Valthar's heart squeezed with need.

  His mana veins had been more than just a part of his body, it had been a piece of his identity from the moment he was born.

  A piece that was burned to dust not long ago.

  An offer just as tempting as it was scorching.

  After all the more the demon promised the more Valthar became sure it was all a bait of some kind.

  He could never take this ‘reward’ and yet the pain of having to walk away from something he desired so much hurt him deeply.

  ‘Vile scammer.’ Valthar glared at the shadow as bitterness filled his mouth.

  “If that's all you have to say then leave my dream already.” Valthar said curtly, expanding his life sense on instinct.

  A small action that pushed the brakes on Valthar’s thoughts.

  What first appeared in his sense wasn't the white room or the shadow, but a mirror image of his own body floating in the void.

  The room, the chains, even the body he seemed to reside were all part of himself…

  And the shadow? A small almost imperceptible blemish trying to take root in his soul.

  Like a parasite invading sacred grounds.

  Spooked Valthar started to question how to expel it.

  For though he wasn’t sure what exactly this mirror image was he could feel it to be extremely important.

  Thankfully as he wondered how to expel the invasor his soul had already started to move.

  “Strange… Did you find me?” Blood Ancestor mumbled, feeling a sudden shift. “Wait, stop, if you do this we won't be able to talk in the dream realm.”

  Valthar scoffed.

  “We have nothing to talk about.”

  “What about Amara?”

  “I don't know her and I just saved her because it felt right to.”

  “What about Marcos?” The demon questioned, reaching for anything it thought might elicit a response.

  Valthar froze for a moment and the memory of Marcos with red eyes flashed in his mind.

  “Was that how you found me? Marcos?” He questioned yet that didn't quite make sense, after all he had told nobody about his ability.

  Yet somehow the demon must have found out he could control life force, as that was necessary for Valthar to rescue Amara.

  ‘Did it read my memories?’ Valthar dismissed that, if it could do a thing if that level there would be no way to resist it.

  And if there was no way to resist it, Valthar doubted this entity would waste words trying to offer a poison laced cake.

  “So Marcos is a worshiper of yours huh?” Valthar prodded without the process of kicking out the entity.

  “In a way…” Was all Dar’Sang answered before it faded away from the wall.

  Silence took over the white marble room.

  And Valthar was left there, trapped and alone as his comatosed body slowly recovered in the real world.