“Am I seeing things? A strange looking man with a half mask and red eye…What is next? An octopus in a human suit juggling knives?”

Navek could not care less about what was going around him, by now, his mind had almost completely detached from his body.

What was left was a rather twisted sense of apathy.

“A fellow with a sense of humor, huh? I like that. But let me prove it to you….” Runfar brandished his crystal dagger.

“I am very much real”

He proceeded to cut the bars of Navek’s cell.

“What do you think you are doing?”

“Liberating you, of course” Runfar responded with a smirk.

“You do realize I am a prisoner by choice, right?”

“Oh, yes, fascinating”

Runfar’s tone was sarcastic to the extreme.

“Navek, it is highly likely that I understand your pain better than anyone else in this world”

“What do you know about me? We have never met”

“That is true. This is truly the first time our paths have crossed, so…. Let me confirm something…”

With a single slash, without a word of warning, Runfar beheaded Navek. Navek’s head rolled away, spilling blood everywhere. His headless body fell on the ground.

“Let’s just hope I had the right hunch”

Not a minute passed by before Runfar noticed a strange phenomenon.

Navek’s head and body were piecing themselves together, but unlike regeneration, it looked more like someone was rewinding his personal time independent of the flow of time around him.

“Just as I suspected. A time based phenomenon. All the damage taken is negated as his body’s time is rewinded, but his body is still in here, in the present… ”

Within less than half a minute, Navek looked just like he did before, with his head resting firmly upon his shoulders.

“It appears my suspicions were correct. One of the two Mrakus had mentioned…. And from the looks of it, the Curse of Present is it not?”

“You do not seem surprised, seeing a man die and come back to life right before your eyes”

Navek was surprised by the fact that Runfar’s gaze did not show any hint of fear or alarm. It was almost like Runfar had gotten used to seeing things like this.

“What is wrong? Aren’t you going to try to kill me again? A word of advice, I have already tried everything, as you can see for yourself, unsuccessfully. But you are welcome to try”

“Navek, like I have stated before, I understand what you went through and are still going through”

“Like hell you do”

In response, Runfar leaned in close to Navek’s ear and whispered.

“It is a curse by Chronos, the primary goddess of time, is it not?”

Only now did Navek’s bored expression show a hint of shock.

“It is…But how do you…”

“Because you and me, buddy, are practically in the same boat”

“You have captured my interest, young man, do go on…”