The metal was dull and dark in the shadow filled room. They rubbed against Kaius’s skin and scratched at his wrists. He pulled at the chains, hoping something would pop or maybe he could do anything to free himself.

As he did so, an unnatural cold spread from his chest. Reminiscent of what he felt when he touched the statue. It only made his shivering wet body feel even worse. Yet, it called to him. The black liquid called to him in ways he could not understand.

He closed his eyes again--a bit afraid he would find the monstrous being in his dreamscape--then reached out without wait. The constant rippling waters froze. The being itself was there, shadow-filled, and with so much rage, Kaius felt wetness rolling out of his ears.

Touching his ears, he found the tips of his fingers coated in red. He gritted his teeth and delved again with more force than before. The same response happened again, the waters froze, and the creature cried in wrath. Trying its best to prevent him from reaching the statue. But this was his dreamscape, his world and no one else’s.

He screamed as he touched the statue. The fog that covered that world burst. Pushed away by an invisible and unfelt wind that originated from the statue.

He felt an energy rip through his body, surging forward from his chest to every part of him. His eyes glowed an eerie dark purple and lines of the same color coated his entire body.

For a moment, he could hear every movement the creature from horrors made. Every panicked flailing, swiveling eyes, and countless mouths screaming at once. At that moment, he felt what it experienced. The fear. The pain in losing its only source of power. It was an aged thing, living far beyond its time through unholy means.

This was a power it had no sway over, yet it leached from it. Stole power that did not belong. And for that, the heavens did not take its soul kindly.

Kaius felt its soul ripped slowly from each ligament. Torn away without concern for the pain and suffering--if anything whatever was doing this looked to cause it. He felt hooks sink and pull on its body as it lost its final hold onto the world of the living. Countless barbed weapons tearing at it.

Just for that moment, he got a flash of what it tried to escape. The horrors that waited for eons to grab hold and never let go. To throw its soul into a burning eternal suffering for what it had done. The destruction, chaos, and tearing of the flimsy strings that held all of reality together.

Kaius closed his eyes before he could see any more. Just a second of the shadowed glimpse he had seen was enough to shake him. He was in luck to not truly witness what had been there.

Coming out of his dreamscape, he took shaky breaths as he struggled to get used to the dark purple light that highlighted everything around him. Even the darkest parts of the room, with no light capable of reaching it was left in the open for him, exposed.

He looked down at his hands, found the chains and metal wrapped around him glowing lightly in blue. Inscribed in runes, he did not understand, in a language forgotten. They were filled with sharp corners, in half squares with swirls in them or three triangles within each other. Those were the simplest of them all.

The purple light throbbed louder and louder, the longer he stared at the runes. It stretched and molded to reach them, begging for him to set it free. He did just that.

He let go of the hold he kept on the power, allowing it to flow through him. It was not a careful rushing, but one of a raging river. Out of his hands came the same dark purple fog he remembered coated the flower that fateful day. It swarmed and wriggled in the air before finding its target.

The metal chains and the collar were covered completely. Kaius saw the glowing runes flicker then begin to dim as the fog orbited around them. The magic was being forcefully stopped, delayed for a few seconds to break the circulation of power within. Making them useless.

With a click and a loud clatter, they fell to the ground--for a moment as nothing more than ordinary metal. He struggled to get up as joy bubbled within him. He smiled, then chuckled, then broke out into a peal of stomach-churning laughter. He was free, finally free.

He raised a hand as he pulled from his well of orange power. Groggily it coated his hand, the familiar orange glow a comfort he needed. His knuckles popped as he clamped his hands into a shaky fist.

His first steps almost had him sprawling to the ground. But his ecstatic feeling kept him standing, unwilling to fall. They became less shaky and filled with a firm resolve. One after another he walked towards the last obstacle in his way--or so he believed--the door.

Just as he reached it laying a heavy hand on the knob--it was large, fitting the ancient thing that dwarfed any other he had seen--he felt the white being that followed him appear. The power from the statue made him acutely aware of anything that felt like magic. Like a beacon that told him where it was exactly.

“Don’t go out,” its whispering voice was as harsh as ever.

Kaius turned back to the creature. He had a frown on his face. “Why not?”

“There is a reason the other humans choose to hide behind closed windows and doors. Take wisdom in their actions,”

“This is my only chance at freedom. I would be an idiot to not take it.”

“And an even bigger fool if you attempt to leave now,” flashes of lightning and thunder following soon after aided his point. The storm was getting worse.

“You can’t change my mind now. I am going to be free. There is no way in hell I will be a battle-slave for some random noble god-knows-where,”

“There will be chances aplenty. Do. Not. Go. Out,” It said vehemently.

Kaius just turned around and pulled at the door in response. It was a heavy thing, but with a little use of his orange well, opened without issue.