The first thing I notice is the cold. My limbs start to shake and it feels like I am frozen again under the mercy of the Ice Golem.

It is as ice-cold as a winter’s evening inside the walls of Dagaonlith. Flurries of snowdrops from small metal silts on the ceiling. The snow layers on the stone floors.

I feel my legs shake and go weak. I lean on the wall. The cold seeps into the open wounds on my back. Bara turns around and sees that I am struggling. She quickly finds the wounds and sighs.

"It seems that you are always having to help me, my dear Bara."

"So, you are to be my saviour, sorcerer from Icarious. I had hoped for someone greater…but you are lucky and your tenacity is admirable. It will have to be enough."

What? Who?

Bara draws out strange equipment and some cloth from a pouch. They take their time but soon the pain eases. They use thread and needles and the wounds are closed.

Where is Gareth when I need him? I miss you, friend. I hope we get the chance to meet again. I hope it is soon.

We rest and eat a little. Bara stays close. We share our warmth, leaning on one another.

Who is this person? A kind stranger with the might of ten. The medical skill that can only be beaten by the power of magic. I suppose drawing energy from a dead dimension has its advantages. Though all the magic from Dullen means not compared to the strength of a friend.

Glowing pale blue eyes shine out of the gloom.

It was a nice rest, but more and perhaps greater dangers await within.

It flies on small bat-like wings. Their mouths open wide and as big as plates, their chin reaches down to their belly button and they hunch over their backs above their heads.

A spike of ice shoots out from its gaping maw with the speed of an arrow.

Bara grabs it, with reflexes quick as a flash, and crushes it into a fine dust.

Another spike launches forth, and Bara slaps it into the wall where it shatters with a puff spraying a shower over the warrior.

Bara screams out words that make no sense to me.

"She is making a battle cry, it translates roughly to ‘Courage to Live’. Your language has no way to capture the essence of its meaning. It is good you have won her valour to your side."

Bara charges and chokeslams the creature to the ground and pummels it to death.

"She is a strong ally, a veteran of the Arillin wars. She would have watched more people die in a single skirmish than have ever been born on your backwater planet. Can you conceive it? A war where an entire civilization has the strategic value relative to that of a single soldier in the wars from your memories. The scale of the horror exceeded only by the terror of the Shepards of Tilled."

Who are you? Am I going mad?

"I am your deliverance, it is I who the Draconian seeks. I am desperate enough to let myself be taken. Free me, for only together can the other survive."

You’re the Fark?

Bara’s hand touches my shoulder and I snap into focus with my surroundings.

We walk further into Dagonlith.

Soft light beams down from circle glass objects fixed to the ceiling illuminating our path. We travel through grey rectangular corridors. I watch as a section of the corridor falls and a new one moves into its place. We are now turning right and walking in a different direction.

A building that moves. Shifts and changes.

"It is partly random but sometimes the Overseers wish people to follow certain paths."

Which is it now? Doubt I will get an answer.

"I don’t know."

Bara decimates more of the creatures.

I am lucky to have met her.

"Truth. You are weak, and she is strong. She has a great sense of morality. Use it, make her feel even greater sympathy for you. This way, she would die for our survival."

No, I will not use a friend for my gain.

"But her only chance of escape is through you, though she does not know it. Ease your righteous fury, if she lives then the reward will be her freedom if she dies then let her go for she dies a warrior."

Once again, fortune decides and I am useless without my spear.

"Surrounded by enemies and you wound yourself? Believe in your strength, and see victory in your mind’s eye for the chance to realise it."

Have you ever gotten to the point, where you look back and see a monument to your failures? Then look forward and are paralysed by the dangers that lurk around every corner?

"I see your pain but you are right you cannot avoid it. Fear and sadness grip every corner of your body and mind. I care about your pain, partner. You should too, it is only sensible. You eat when you are hungry, wash when you are dirty, heal a cut when injured and you should give yourself kindness when in emotional pain."

"Thanks."

"Too long have you been cold to yourself. It is the rational approach to be kind to yourself for nothing more than to take care of your health. Be cautious that the weight of your suffering doesn’t cause more suffering in turn."

You know a lot, don’t you?

"The extent of my knowledge is greater than most but a mere drop in a vast ocean that is the sum of all knowledge."

You are wise, why is one with such a wide vision in prison?

"Because I won. I performed a grand trick: I made a friendship out of nothing. I did it with a lie. Trillions of lives were saved but someone had to bear the responsibility for the revolution and the change across societies. I had led it and if I had ruled after I would have doomed our dream."

Huh. If you speak true, then I am sorry I am sure your people are grateful.

It worked and one understood my intentions, that is enough for me.

More of the flying creatures come in from our front and rear.

An ice spike shoots out, I dive under it and fire a mana bolt in a counter-attack. It hits square between the eyes and the creature falls.

Another creature behind it lunges but I grab it by the throat and stun it with a punch to its temple. I then shove one of its little claws through one of its eyes.

I turn around and Bara has cleared all her threats.

What are they? I don’t recognise them.

"They monitor the grounds and slow down any intruders that may help a prisoner escape."

"Slow? Not kill?"

"They are designed to maim and entomb. Killing a prisoner or intruder is the last priority, you are struggling so much because they were designed to deal with being carrying guns and explosives."

"Guns? Explosives?”

"Weapons far superior to spears. Imagine giving the destructive abilities of a magi to any person with at least one hand and a moon cycle’s training."

"Really?"

"That is the least of it, any child working in the factories beneath the earth can get a pistol and kill as well as you. They are weak, nothing compared to weapons capable of killing stars or even the Tin, a tool that can theoretically cause a chain reaction that would wipe out a galaxy."

I like to think of myself as at least more deadly than a child even if they wield a great weapon such as a pistol. But I give you this, these Monitors certainly are annoying.

"What makes them special is their eyes, the overseers of this prison can look through them at any time. You never know if you are getting watched by a beast or by a person."

“That’s terrifying. I can’t imagine what it would be like to live with the idea that I am always being watched. Still, does that mean we are being led away from you?”

"Our connection is secret, I am the only one able to communicate in this way. I developed it as a result of my current condition. A mixture of ancient knowledge with the latest techniques I can perform telepathic communication on a limited basis."

I am close then?

"You are being led into a trap, I suspect. You cannot avoid it, let us hope they continue to underestimate us."

I fire a mana arrow that pierces through a line of three of the Dagonlith’s monitors.

"You’re right you are more deadly than a child."

Thanks, I guess?

"If your memories are true, you are far more deadly. You are neither barren nor blessed. But you have the resolve to act with the ability and luck to prevail. The danger is great and your abilities alone may prove insufficient. What nature has denied you, perhaps I can give. We are to be partners."

The corridors shift again and we are forced to walk towards a new entrance.

We walk through an open door.