“So he’s here… that’s kind of weird though…” Medusa noted, and Typhon agreed with the observation.

Area 4 of Tartarus was their location. Each of the twelve Areas of Tartarus corresponded to a different crime, with the exception of Area 12, which was where Chained like the members of the Key were released into Tartarus, regardless of their crimes.

The Areas all had their own crimes, but Area 4 was most clearly the one that everyone, even the terrorists of Area 5 disliked.

Area 4 was the Rape Area, Sexual Assault and all variations of that, up to and including slavery and human trafficking, which was still a problem even in this day and age.

There would always be people who couldn’t get legal medical care, and thus turns to unsavoury resources… some of those resources include the kidney of some missing person.

The other parts could be used elsewhere.

A gritty truth that Medusa only knew due to her ability, Memory Share is what she called it.

Medusa, upon looking into the eyes of someone, could run a deep scan of their memories and then shift through them as if the memories were her own.

She had used this ability on Aaron during their first meeting, and it was what resulted in her changing sides to join Aaron… considering he was tied to the chair by a group of assassins, she was certain he appreciated her gesture.

…Her past was a bad one, okay?

Anyway, Aaron had known about these types of things, and now by extension, Medusa knew these things… she didn’t bother explaining that to Typhon and the others though… better if they didn’t know that the rapists and slave traders didn’t also butcher actual humans for parts.

…Actually, did it matter if they were hated more after that point?

While Medusa was feeling confused over this, Typhon glanced at the building, frowning even as he stared at it.

“Hospitals… I hate hospitals.” He stated with venom in his voice even as Empusa rolled her eyes at his distaste.

“You’ve never even been in one.” She explained as Typhon turned to her with a frown, not looking at the building even as he pointed to it.

“I’ve heard of them. They heal you but keep you inside for longer than necessary… and it’s all white. It’s like the Cradle except temporary and for healing.” Okay, now Echidna didn’t like hospitals either, and Empusa just gave up realizing that Typhon would not be swayed on his opinion at this point, much to her disappointment.

“I think that’s a misconception on your part Typhon… hospitals are necessary, and depending on how you looked at them, they could either be horrible or very necessary.” Medusa stated, making Empusa poke Medusa for an explanation to her sudden need to defend hospitals.

“Hospitals work with surgeons and doctors who heal people. It’s their jobs to keep people alive and healthy, or at least ease their pain as much as possible.” Medusa stated, going suspiciously quiet towards the end as Typhon reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“…You got that from his memories huh? Are they sad?” Typhon asked, and Echidna finally got the hint, that Medusa had access to Aaron’s memories of all people… no wonder she knew Aaron so well.

“Not quite… there was a period of time where Aaron considered settling down… he figured that if he did that, he could work as a surgeon or a doctor.” Typhon rolled his eyes at the acknowledgement of another of Aaron’s abnormal skills…

Add that to the legendary one hundred and eight skills of Aaron.

“But he didn’t, he was a criminal who trespassed and broke into places.” Typhon stated, and Medusa looked away, thinking of all the other crimes Aaron had done.

“Yes… but he could have done it, he could have lived a relatively peaceful life in his opinion… the only reason he couldn’t was because his past caught up to him.” Medusa hinted at the past of Aaron, and that was that.

No one was willing to betray Aaron’s trust like that. If they were to know his past, it would be with his permission or he himself telling them.

“Still, it seems somehow fitting then that he’d be hiding in a hospital… then again, this was Toy Maker’s base before.” Typhon made certain to not point out the evidence that Toy Maker was now dead…

The pile of bodies near the building was disgusting, and no one wanted to draw attention to it after seeing it. They were a hardy group, and no one flinched or felt sick upon seeing the discoloured bodies with replaced parts, but that didn’t mean they were fine with it.

“Yeah, Toy Maker would need medical supplies for his… skills, which is why he stayed here.” Empusa explained as they entered the building through the main entrance.

And as they entered, the speakers blared to life, a crackling sound as they heard a rhythmic tapping… to be honest, it sounded like a heartbeat.

“Hello, this is an automated message, so don’t bother replying. Anyway, welcome to my home! Well, it was my home for the past week or so, but semantics.” They all froze at the voice, even Echidna… they all knew the voice after all.

“My name is Odysseus! I think… I can’t remember my real name, like most Ascended I guess… anyway, this is my home while I’m waiting for some friends. If you aren’t my friends, you’ll die. If you are my friends, I wouldn’t be able to kill you even if I wanted to.” Typhon shook his heads at the words coming from the intercom system.

“Weird, Aaron’s not normally one to threaten people with murder… it’s usually his last resort actually…” Typhon noted, but the system didn’t stop to let him continue talking.

“Anyway, I hope you have fun if you’re my friends, and if you are my enemies… well… like I said, you’ll die. Visit soon.” The voice took a sinister tone towards the end, and the speakers shut off, leaving their group in silence for a moment as Typhon growled.

“That asshole isn’t thinking right I believe… let’s go sort him out.” Typhon stated as he began twitching his arms causing his weapons to form.

Nano-bots were a common fixture in military and medical grade equipment, but only for certain uses in the current year 2076. For Typhon, he had Nano-bots not even released to either of the groups yet, and they were bonded to his bloodstream and brain waves.

His Nano-bots had four focal points where they gathered, namely his wrists, and his ankles, where they bunched together to form bracelets and anklets, but when in use they’d form whatever shapes and weaponry he needed.

In this case, his arms and legs were covered in the Nano-bots, claws appearing on his hands and his feet; he was unwilling to move the Nano-bots anywhere else just yet due to still getting used to their application.

The rest of their group followed his example and prepared themselves for a fight, with Medusa’s fingers splitting to reveal blades for her fingers, poison drenching them at her will, and Echidna allowing for foldable blades to appear from her back and hover around her…

As for Empusa, she took off her jacket and her pants, leaving her in shorts and a tank-top, due to her abilities her clothes would be destroyed if she used full coverings.

Empusa was quite shy around Typhon when it came to things like this, but during dangerous situations she could put it aside, obviously embarrassment wasn’t as important as their lives, so of course she’d ignore it in those situations.

In the next room, the speakers once more went on, and ‘Odysseus’ spoke from them.

“Hello again! This is another automated message… but anyway, I’m going to explain how to find me! First, I’ll say a statement. If it’s true, go to the right, if it’s false, go to the left.” Typhon’s group instantly got annoyed… because even when he forgot his name and began acting a bit more murderous, Aaron still managed to annoy them.

“I once poked my best friend in the shoulder with a hard-” Typhon immediately swung his arm, the Nano-bots extending and stretching to mimic a chain, Typhon’s most used weapon form of the Nano-bots, and the speaker was blown into pieces.

“It’s true.” Was all Typhon was willing to say as Empusa giggled a bit awkwardly while Medusa laughed at his blank expression… this left Echidna a bit lost, but judging from Typhon’s reaction, it was an embarrassing situation.

They opened the right door, finding a corridor, and the speakers spoke up once more.

“Well, I’m sure the speaker in the previous room is broken by now if you entered this room… anyway, for the next question, if true; use the stairs across from you. If false, go down the corridor to the left.” Typhon growled and Medusa and Empusa considered that Aaron was possibly making up for lost time by annoying Typhon in bulk now.

“Minotaur’s pants were hand sewn for him by a woman.” The statement was met with Empusa palming her face as she pointed to the corridor.

“No, it was sewn by a surprisingly muscled guy… he was pretty good too, surprisingly.” Empusa explained as they walked down the corridor, opening the door and revealing another corridor.

“Well, only three people knew that answer, so I have no doubt you’re my friends by now… but just in case, let’s ask three more questions. True, continue walking. False, take the stairs to your left.” Typhon sighed at the words, knowing that if it were Aaron, he’d really know by now whether or not it was them.

“I beat Cyclops in a race.” Even Echidna knew this one, as they moved to the stairs. Aaron had technically won, but due to letting Cyclops win, he wouldn’t count that as a victory.

The next two statements were simple with the next one being ‘The Hunter is named Jaeger.’ Which was true, and the final statement being- ‘Dawn was a good cook when I met her’ which no one but Medusa knew the answer to…

It was false by the way, but Typhon, Echidna and Empusa figured this ‘Dawn’ person was from Aaron’s past… so he figured that Medusa would at least be one of the people to be there.

“Well you answered all the true or false things correctly… unfortunately; your princess is in another castle.” Every member of their group had their face fall, even Medusa who actually got the really old reference to a moustachioed plumber.

“That was a joke… in reality…” the voice suddenly cut off as Typhon looked to the wall of the room they were in, only for the wall to be blown away, light shining from the hole in the wall.

“I am here!” The light created a silhouette as the man walked out the hole in the wall, revealing… well, it was Aaron. He was currently known as Odysseus though…

His outfit was different from what they were used to as well. Aaron usually wore biker jackets, jeans and boots, but now he wore a near military outfit with a knife on his right thigh.

The key differences though, were his eyes. Aaron had plain brown eyes, common, but now they shined with an electric blue light as he grinned, widening his arms, even as Typhon and his group clenched their fists.

“The great, the magnificent, the oh so irresistible, insert my real name here!” his words only served to aggravate the group even more as Typhon’s claw like arm stretched out, the claw grabbing onto the skull of ‘Odysseus’.

“You’re an idiot… we always knew, but we had hoped you weren’t… you are ready to die, right?” Typhon growled out even as ‘Odysseus’ was lifted off the floor, dragged by the skull to Typhon who was glaring at ‘Odysseus’…

The moment he was close, ‘Odysseus’ had his eyes narrow in a stare as he flicked his right arm at the Nano-bot claw, severing the claw, much to the surprise of everyone there as he dropped to the floor in a roll.

Echidna shot out a blade, not to kill but to capture, only to have ‘Odysseus’ turn so his left arm raised to block the wire of the blade…

And then a pitch black shield, an Aspis or Hoplon depending on who you asked, appeared blocking the wire as ‘Odysseus’ jumped, dodging Empusa’s attempt at grabbing him…

This placed him in front of Medusa, who he looked at in the eyes… which lead to him being slapped, to the shock of everyone there.

“Stop it! You know who we are, stop fighting!” Medusa growled out as ‘Odysseus’ looked to her, his eyes widening slightly in recognition as he dropped to the floor, finally allowing them to actually see what he had used…

Typhon recognized it instantly, knowing that he himself used those as weapons… Nano-bots. ‘Odysseus’ had used his knife from his right thigh as a handle, covering it with Nano-bots and extending the blade to make a sword, and from his left arm, a shield of Nano-bots had appeared.

“I… I’m sorry… I’m not… I’m sorry…” Suddenly ‘Odysseus’ seemed confused, clutching his skull as he looked to their group, then around the room, as if incapable of deciding where to look.

“They are friends, they are kind, they will help, they are criminals, they left me, they are enemies, they left because I asked, they didn’t try, I need to think, thinking hurts, I, I, I…” His words immediately brought to mind why Echidna and Typhon were necessary as they watched ‘Odysseus’ attempt to claw at his hair, his fingers twitching as he shivered and looked around in fear.

“…Aaron.” Typhon stated, making ‘Odysseus’ pause in his mumbling, even as Typhon walked over, making ‘Odysseus’ look at Typhon in fear.

“Aaron Hassan… it’s your name. You are not Odysseus.” Typhon stated, looking at the pitiful figure that was once their leader… maybe he was still their leader, but right now, he wasn’t.

“A-a-Aaron… Hassan… You… you are Typhon… King of Monsters… friend…” ‘Odysseus’ seemed to calm down a bit as Typhon kneeled in front of his hurt friend.

“Yes. I am. Let me and my sister help you.” He stated, even as ‘Odysseus’ looked to him then shivered.

“Sister and I, you spoke incorrectly, its sister and I, and you must learn, you must do well, you must, you must, you must help…” ‘Odysseus’ stated even as Typhon reached out, placing a hand on the twitching shoulder of ‘Odysseus’…

Then he pulled him a bit closer, enough for Typhon to call it something close to a hug… and his words calmed down the twitching.

“Aaron, please stop interrupting me.” Typhon felt it. The urge to fix the wrongness he felt as he grabbed ‘Odysseus’, Echidna approached as well, recognizing his words as signs of a damaged connection, something Cybernetic Chained had.

He screamed, oh how he screamed, as Typhon and Echidna used their abilities on ‘Odysseus’ to try and fix what was wrong with him…

Lu Bu and Solomon most certainly didn’t act like this, but they weren’t the same. They had time to get used to their new feelings, time to hide them most likely… that, and ‘Odysseus’ might not have finished being made into a Lord.

The only reason Typhon and Echidna weren’t shaken off by ‘Odysseus’ and his surprising new strength was that Medusa was holding him down with assistance from Empusa, keeping him from thrashing.

Once it was over, ‘Odysseus’ went still, with his eyes closed… and upon opening said eyes, he looked around, much, much calmer all of a sudden.

“Ah… seems the plan did work.” Was the first thing he said as they moved off him, allowing him to stand up so as to greet them.

“Uh… if I did anything weird or embarrassing… well, you’re used to me already so it should be fine, but sorry… and…” ‘Odysseus’ looked to their group, stopping at Typhon who looked at him with worry in his eyes.

“I’m sorry I left you all… I’m back… Aaron is back.” Aaron, without a doubt it was Aaron, even if he was a bit more subdued in his words, he was back. And that opened the floodgates for Medusa to hug him, Typhon joining in, albeit only slightly due to his dislike for ‘affection’…

He already looked childish, so he didn’t want to act like one either.

Empusa rolled her eyes, dragging Echidna along as the two of them joined in…

The hug was over quickly after that, but it didn’t excuse the fact that Aaron had been missing for around ten months… so of course, he began to ask questions about what had happened in his absence.

The other four began to explain, Aaron made sure to ask Echidna quite a few questions so as to get used to her presence, and likewise, even if she wasn’t aware of that last bit.

“Okay… okay let me get this straight…” Aaron said, and they were all seated on some chairs that were left inside Toy Maker’s base… the chairs were suspiciously clean, compared to the blood splatter all over the hospital, meaning Aaron had cleaned them before.

It had to be another of Aaron’s one hundred and eight skills, cleaning blood splatter.

“You all split up, like I requested, and also, like I requested, you all began training in your own ways to get stronger… then you got bored and decided our group needed a name, and we are now called the Key?” Aaron asked, and Typhon shrugged, showing that it wasn’t exactly what happened, but it might as well have been really.

“Okay, that’s a really stupid name but I’ll accept it. Anyway, following the naming of the group, you all began to once in a while suffer attacks from one of three groups.” He stated, raising a finger.

“First, would be the Assassin’s Guild, who aren’t really trying so much as they are just annoying… sending normal assassins, they’re like that girl a year below you in school who always goes ‘notice me senpai!’” The last bit was stated in such a fake cutesy voice that everyone chuckled at it.

“Second, would be Jaeger, who, like the Assassin’s Guild, seems to not really be trying… why is that anyway?” Aaron asked as Typhon gestured to his arm, which was still covered in Nano-bots.

“I’ve gotten much better at controlling my Nano-bots, and until he figures out a way to break through them, he’s pretty much just launching probe attacks at the others.” Typhon said…

What he hadn’t expected was that after his statement Aaron would stare at Typhon’s arm with undisguised interest… the fact that Aaron’s eyes were now a suspicious electric blue did not calm anyone.

“I can see you got better, can you hold that indefinitely or is there a time limit like your Black Cat form?” Typhon twitched, knowing that Aaron would have named it at some point… just wishing that Aaron could have named it something different.

“Why, why name it Black Cat? It’s modelled after a panther.” Typhon stated as Aaron turned to look in some direction away from them.

“Because if I named it Panther, it would have been copyright infringement, and that’s scary.” Typhon didn’t get the reference, as usual, but figured that it was just Aaron’s way of saying that he wanted ‘originality’.

“Okay… anyway, there isn’t a time-limit for the sleeves… the arms and legs are easier to boost than my chest and head area.” Typhon’s words made sense to Aaron, who got into his thinking pose…

Seeing that pose automatically caused Empusa to stand up and walk to the door, not willing to kill her ears, while Echidna sat confused and Medusa smiled at what was about to happen.

“Well, what you say makes sense, within the arms and legs you’d only need to reinforce the skin, muscles, bones, and veins, but when it comes to the torso, one has to consider the individual organs like the liver, kidneys, stomach, intestines, lungs, heart, and then for the skull one needs to consider the eyes, brain, and ear canals, those are a bit more sensitive than the arms and legs… the brain especially, you are lucky that you can somehow regenerate brain tissue, otherwise you’d have been a vegetable after trying to use it even once.” Typhon ran the massive sentence through his imaginary ‘Aaron scientific talk translator’ and came up with this instead:

“Makes sense, arms and legs are easier because they don’t have organs… you’re lucky your brain regenerates or you’d have died trying it.” See… Empusa hadn’t learnt how to translate the conversations between Aaron and Medusa yet, which is why she was stuck listening to everything.

Echidna was new to this, and so she looked to be narrowing her eyes in concentration, trying to catch up to what Aaron had just stated, only for Medusa to pipe in and ruin her chances.

“Yes but that’s also why only Typhon would be capable of such an act, as his ‘base’ abilities as a Biological Chained are much higher than other Biological Chained, such as having better senses, regeneration, and strength to muscle mass ratios. In addition his Black Cat form also involves artificially controlling his body via the Nano-bots, increasing his blood flow and adrenaline output, as well as his generation of endorphins to keep him from feeling the pain during its use, and by speeding up the electric signals being sent all over his brain his perception of time would speed up which resulted in his extreme reaction speeds when using that form.”

Once more, with clarity of the translator:

“Only Typhon can use Nano-bots like that because he has stronger basics compared to others. His Black Cat form lets him move his body like a puppet, and slows down how he feels time.”

See, wasn’t that much less clutter and confusion? You too can buy this translator at a price of five dollars, just sign on the dotted line!

Typhon blinked and shook his head, realizing once more that he was going insane due to his (lack of a) choice in friends, and that by now it was too late to leave them behind and instead become a motorcycle stuntman in area six.

…Again, he was going insane because of his friends. He had to be.

“Both of you, stop with the science, Empusa looks sick.” Typhon pointed out, trying to ignore the fact that his own reaction to ‘the science’ as he called it, was to somehow become an advertisement for an imaginary translation device.

“Oh, sorry… anyway, so Jaeger is basically just testing the others while getting something right to kill you, or at least defeat you… Jaeger isn’t that bad of a guy, is he?” Aaron asked, and Typhon thought to his own interaction with Jaeger…

They hadn’t fought since he had revealed the Black Cat form… that was going to be a thing, wasn’t it? Anyway, after Typhon revealed that form, they had not fought again, but their tag team fight against the Leviathan had proved that they could work together, and that Jaeger wasn’t that bad…

The problem was that he was the Hunter; he hunted and killed Chained just like his father, and his father before him. A normal human who somehow fought people like them and succeeded… and while Jaeger had admitted that he was questioning the need to kill every Chained, he wouldn’t stop fighting them.

“He might not kill us. We haven’t done much when it comes to actively harming and lording control over others, with the exception of Sphinx and his rule of Area ten…” Aaron just chuckled awkwardly at recalling that place… it looked so nice and peaceful, but almost everyone there were liars who’d smile as they shook your hand, and have the same smile as they stabbed you in the back.

The place was nice, Sydney was nice… but the people, they were not.

Hey, Aaron had always wanted to visit the Opera House, and he was lucky enough to do so… even if there was an attempted assassination attempt on him during his time there, it all went alright.

The assassin’s ended up working with him, as Sphinx and Cerberus can attest to.

At this point, Typhon and the others just assumed that no assassin’s would ever go near Aaron again because they would be compromised and work for him soon afterwards whether they wanted to or not.

“Okay, that was bad, but Jaeger is actually a nice guy… besides, he hasn’t tried to kill any member of the Key and the only Chained we know he killed would be Pegasus and that he wants to kill Leviathan…” Aaron paused in his sentence for a moment.

“Uh… did Leviathan not try and attack our group? I would have thought he’d want to pay back Typhon for his loss…” Aaron stated and Typhon looked confused himself.

“I’m not sure honestly… Leviathan wanted me to use Stabilization on him to turn him from a sea monster into a human being, which is why he attacked me specifically… I did do it, though I did it as a method of defeating him.” Typhon recalled the details of his fight with Leviathan which had, unbelievably, went over an entire day…

Really, Typhon had to sleep with one eye open in case Leviathan found him and Jaeger, and also in case Jaeger would betray their momentary truce while they fought the three stories tall, almost one hundred metres long monster that was Leviathan.

“Yes, so he got what he wanted, but he was weakened slightly because of it… maybe he didn’t try to attack again because he is getting used to being human again, at least in appearance?” Empusa offered as she returned to her seat, feeling safe from the threat of science speak.

“That does make sense, but that isn’t all of it… Stabilization actually causes an increase in ability, regardless of what physical losses occur during it, so Leviathan’s ability to control blood would have increased somehow, so he’s also training that most likely.” Aaron added in as they agreed, this was why Leviathan wasn’t a threat just yet, but he would be, likely soon.

“As for the third group, the Lords, Solomon, Lu Bu… oh, and John, forgot that guy for a moment.” It was a sad day when one of the people who caused your ten month torture was that forgettable…

It was actually a good trait for a Warden though… consider, most would even forget they hated him with how boring the guy was… heck, he had been there for a long period of time during Aaron being tortured into Odysseus, yet Aaron still occasionally forgot he was there.

He was probably one of those people who were really suited to being assassin’s, rare that they were… or maybe he could play basketball as a phantom sixth man?

Again, references were everywhere when it came to Aaron, whether anyone got them or not.

“Yeah… Sphinx injured Lu Bu when they tried to corner him last time, but in return Cerberus is still out of commission while his spine heals… Solomon is surprisingly dangerous for a ‘non-combatant’ as she calls herself.” Typhon complained and Aaron understood the complaint, considering he now knew how the two Lord’s fought… not only that, he had an explanation to give about what a Lord was.

“Of course she is… she is a Lord, and all Lords are dangerous… even I am at this point.” Aaron clenched his fist, feeling the adjustments that were made to him, all against his consent, as he continued, knowing he had the attention of the group.

“Each Lord has, unlike normal Chained, two abilities. Our second Ability is always the same, but the first is what sets us apart from each other.” The inclusion of Aaron into this group was again, even more proof that Aaron was different from when he was taken… especially considering he could actually fight now.

By the way, he claimed his fighting style was that of the greatest three hundred soldiers in history, who were ruined by a hunch back.

Surprisingly, when this was mentioned at a later point, Minotaur would admit to recognizing that reference. He claimed all men needed to.

“For Solomon, her ability is Wisdom. With designs and plans, she can build anything. As it is, she can build practically any basic weapon, most vehicles, and even prosthetics, but occasionally she does do basic traps and such.” Her ability was why she labelled herself a non-combatant…

That was stupid, because really, anyone who was a real life MacGyver was not a ‘non-combatant’.

“As for Lu Bu, his ability is Evolving Combat. Basically, when it comes to combat, he judges people really accurately and automatically knows how to fight them to an extent. Occasionally it doesn’t work, but after an error, that error will never happen again… so don’t trust Sphinx to hurt him again.” That was a sobering thought that one had to take him out, or risk him coming back with defences against what beat him.

“…My ability… it’s how I escaped, why I came here instead of looking for all of you… and why I believe now, more than ever, that we can escape this prison.” Aaron built up the suspense, and whether or not it was on purpose, the other four listened.

“My Ability is Odyssey of Victory. Now let me explain that.” Aaron considered for a moment how to explain this, and then took a whiteboard marker, and moved over to a piece of nearby glass.

“Okay, think of life as a series of choices. We make choices in pursuit of goals, the most common one being ‘to live’ or ‘to be happy’. These goals determine our choices, and depending on how correct these choices are, we’ll eventually achieve our goal, or come as close as possible.” Aaron drew a basic graph on the glass to explain as he pointed at it.

“Observe. There are two people, given the same choice, but their goals are different. Their options are to take a supercar, or to take the equivalent of the car in cash.” The options were there, and Aaron pointed to the first person.

“Person one wishes to live a life of luxury, and already possesses quite a bit of money and a home, so he takes the car. Person two, on the other hand, is comfortable with his life, but considers that he needs money for his loved ones, so he takes the money instead.” The example was more complex than necessary, but the message was sent, as Aaron tapped the side of his own head.

“To make a very, very complicated process sound simpler… Odyssey of Victory lets me designate a goal, and some conditions for the goal, such as having the least injuries or deaths during the achieving of the goal, and it will give me a list of must be made choices.” Aaron’s words confused everyone bar Echidna, who caught on quickly.

“Oh, so if making choices without knowledge of the consequences is like travelling without a map, Odyssey of Victory hands you the map and directions to your goal?” Echidna’s way of explaining worked for everyone, as Aaron nodded, pointing back to the glass.

“Exactly, using this ability, I found out when to escape, what to do after escaping, and more… but I do have bad news…” Aaron looked a bit annoyed, and it was confusing for everyone.

“I set my goal to be ‘escaping Tartarus’ and it was deemed impossible. But when I set it to ‘destroying Tartarus’ it finally worked.” Aaron explained and Typhon got the idea very quickly… it was basically saying that simply getting out was impossible, but destroying the prison… possible.

“Well, I actually knew that would happen, but it was a good test as to what happens when I set my goal to an impossibility.” Aaron shrugged, disliking the limitation, but knowing it was there for a reason.

“No, the biggest problem was when I set ‘destroy Tartarus’ as my goal, I was given very few ways of doing so… and none of them can be completed without death.” Aaron’s statement making Typhon and the three girls widen their eyes as Aaron clenched his fist.

“If we continue with our escape… members of our group… at the very least one of us will die, no matter how I work it out… worse… one of us will die within the next half year… and two within this year, from what I can estimate.” His words cut deep, and hurt more than they expected…

There were twelve members of the Key, thirteen with Aaron included… by the end of this year, there would be eleven.

Two would fall, at the least… it sounded like a bad premonition, a self-fulfilling prophesy…

So why did it feel as if it was already written in stone?