Feeling horrible, Michael was standing in front of the huge building that dwarfed everything else in the city. Its door wide open for anyone to enter, but not a single soul can be seen within a few hundred meters. He understood why, the very energy leaking out of the Cyclops size door shook his very bones. Looking back to where everyone had stopped to wait for him, where Jax, Bialo, and Agata would pace back and forth in anxiety and fear, he saw the priestess wave him away. Now that he thought about it, he never found out her name. He would have to make sure to get it.

Wiping some of the goop from on top of his eyes, it constantly returned, he let out a breath as he tried to find anything past the opening. But only absolute darkness waited for him. He was afraid to enter, any monster could call this place home. Easily ripping him apart before he even noticed. Gulping, Michael reaffirmed his resolve, taking deep breaths to calm himself down.

Ever since he exited the prison, he had never once felt nervous, maybe a bit of guilt and sadness, but nothing else. Yet, now he felt like a teenager going on his first date. Hands sweaty and voice ready to crack the second he opened his mouth. Balling his hands into fists, he pushed his heavy legs towards the door. Hoping beyond hope to not find his doom waiting for him.

It took a good few minutes to finally get into the frightening darkness, Cyclopses have massive steps. Hands stretch out in front of him, he slowly made his way without his sense of sight. Stretching all his other senses, he tried to get something, anything at all before he felt there was no floor under him, just an endless void. But, as he walked farther in, he heard whispers from the depths of the shadows. Like crowds in a massive stadium, only two groups were talking to each other in perfect unison.

“Petienous, we are better placed to use these valuable moments to kill Senzard the Thief, not waste it babbling with a mortal who will never gain an ounce of our prodigious strength,” the first crowd of whispers said with irritation.

“Agnitum, we have underestimated the snake once, it would be a folly to do so twice,” the second crowd of whispers said.

“Gah! Why must we play this game of attrition? If only we had our sani-” the first crowd, no Agnitum said but was cut off by his counterpart.

“The mortal is here, let us see of what power does he hold,” Petienous said as silence descended into the darkness once more.

Using the voices like a homing beacon, he walked in the fastest pace he could to reach them. But, as he did a growing light came into existence every step he took in the right direction. Glad at the prospect of sight, he rushed himself as he broke out into a jog. Smiling, he waved and was about to speak, only to have his words stop themselves forcefully in his throat. He froze in his spot, body shaking without his consent, eyes widened in terror. In his mind, he heard the evil whispers and even the guiding light itself scream in fear at what beings stood in front of him. It passed a point where he wished a beast of darkness and shadows had eaten him whole before he saw what no mortal should see.

Titans, gods, divinity, what does one call a being so powerful, with nothing but a frown your heart would cease its beating, your mind turn into a goop similar to what he bathed in? Do words exist to describe the dominance and power exuded? Michael did not think so at the moment. In front of him were two beings so tall, so vast, his mind could not conceive their size; hundreds of feet tall and half that wide. On the shoulders were not one, but fifty heads.

One on top of the other, next to another, under even more, fifty heads on each shoulder looked at him with pairs of eyes on every single one. Judging him, reading the very script of his soul. Then there were the hundred limbs each had, flailing in every direction imaginable. Massive ones that could carry mountains, and others smaller in nature.

“One of two dominions, we see,” both said in perfect symmetry, one hundred booming voices shaking him to his core.

“Of Celestial Heights and Infernal Depths. Yes, one worthy, one day worthy, of our task. Worry not mortal, for in return for the impossible a friendship shall be made, one of devotion as kindred hearts. Now, listen well, for only once shall we repeat our words. You must impart on our path, achieving that which we only could achieve. No god or divine has ever accomplished this feat, but in you, we do believe. Leave this forest of the forsaken and travel due west for a years time on land, and a year upon the deep oceans. There, where no man has set foot, are the children of Chut. Serpents of the Sea, longer than we, Monsters of the Deep, more frightening than we. In the depths of the abyss, you must battle the titans of the sea. And with a jar of magical origins, drain the life rivers of thee. From it, you shall bring me their lineage.

“Then rise, mortal, to the lands of forests and soil. Due north does the isles lay in the form of a horn bellowing to the heavens. There you will find those of hardened scales, wings of leather, and breathes of flames. In their fire and destruction, you must challenge, with honor in your name, the strongest of them. And their spirit, you must take, in the form of rock and stone.

“Once again, you must rise above the lands of forest and soil, to those of molten metal and rocks. Farthest south is the high point of any land, a mountain of smoke and red waters do flow from their depths. There you must slay that which never dies, forever cursed to revive from the ashes of its destruction. Grab but a remnant, for more is impossible to achieve.

“Once you have gathered them all, return to us, and our friendship will last for as long as time continues to unwind. For this all, we do receive the sanity we so desire, or at least that which can be derived from its warm grasp,”

Their words echoed into the very recesses of his mind, the voices in his head to afraid to even speak, the guiding light to terrified to show a path of salvation if one ever existed. Yet, through it all, the, the Hecatonchires spoke of things that sounded oddly familiar to him. The first was… The Deep Abyss Lineage? Then the Dragons Spirit Stones, and lastly Phoenix Remnants. Didn't he have them all, gathered by his ancestors and placed into his families treasury, which he currently holds around his finger? Fighting the urge to run away screaming like a girl, he forced himself to speak, though his words came out nothing more than a squeak which the two somehow understood.

“D-do you m-mean you need one of each. A Deep Abyss Lineage, a Dragons Spirit Stone, and a Phoenix Remnants? Only for partial control of your sanity?”

“Oh, so the mortal knows how to hear,” they said in a sneer.

“U-umm, w-what would you need f-for full sanity?” Michael asked.

“What we would need is beyond even our capability, mortal. Two of each would be needed. Our battles were won through great prowess and much luck. To do so again is nothing short of a wish for death,” they said disdain lining their voices.

Laughing a bit, Michael shakily smiled even though he tried to look at nothing but their feet. At least he wouldn't have to spend a few years traveling and fighting nightmares to finish this impromptu decision he made.

“What would you give in return for full sanity?” Michael asked, his voice still cracky.

“Full sanity,” they said in disbelief. “Loyalty, unmatched and unwavering. No matter the goals, or whether death is all but guaranteed. For but a moment of true, full, and glorious sanity we would give all,” they said almost wistfully.

Smiling, Michael dared to look them in the eyes this time. Staring back at him were a hundred pairs of red bloodshot eyes. Waiting for him to get to his point, but he also found a great deal of suffering in each one. His body would shake in phantom pains that were minuted to be sure, but the tiniest of their extent. Pushing his consciousness into his storage ring, he pulled out two of each.

First were the Dragon Spirit Stones, that elicited a great gasp from the two Hecatonchires. After them, he pulled out The Deep Abyss Lineage, that received sounds of wonder and awe on the verge of tears. And lastly, he pulled out the two Phoenix Remnants. The two froze as they stared at the glowing jars of blood, stones filled with spirits, and bowls of ash that laid on the ground. They both extended their largest arms, spitting the resources between the two. Each clutching them to their chest, their eyes closed as tears in enormous droplets began to flow down the many heads. Holding them like they were babies, fragile and worth a lifetime.

They looked back up to Michael, emotion running in their unrestrained stares. Their powers fully unleashed to the surroundings. He felt his body lock up, no matter how hard he tried to move nothing happened. But, instead of the death he expected, the Hecatonchires spoke in voices that shook the building with pure unadulterated power.

“We do swear our most devote loyalty. Mortal from unknown lands, whom we have yet to ask his name, to you shall we rise in battle for. And to you only shall we do so,”

Smiling like he knew this was going to be the final outcome, but internally shaking in his boots, Michael nodded his head. His body moved on its own, just like before. Words jumped out of his mouth without his choice. But, yet again, he and whatever forced his action, were moving in unison. He walked up to them and raised both hands, spread wide.

“My name is Ruthar Michael Ges Lunar Kindreal, the first of my name,”

And they, with the smallest hands they possessed that were still bigger than him, gently placed them under his own.