Madness

After many more years, Haalfrin's hair has grown long enough to reach the ground, and he casually estimates that another 20 years passed… though his guess is almost guaranteed to be far off.

Even still, the fruits of his Name training are starting to show.

Before, Haalfrin was only able to use his advanced Yiir name when he was feeling furious, or his killing intent was roaring for blood. Now, he was able to use it with a casual thought… much like the Death Reapers can.

Now that he can keep his concentration up long enough, he quickly begins to manipulate the clouds of Death Aura into more condensed balls of black death.

Having their training ground intensified, the 14 "heroic" Wills shake in happiness and dive inside. Before, their growth had been stagnated somewhat, but with a more condensed aura, they can force more energy down their gullets.

(If you know what "Osmosis" is, then that is a good analogy to how the Wills soak up Death Aura. You see, osmosis is what happens when your body absorbs water. However, this can only happen when the water density INSIDE your body is lower than the water density OUTSIDE your body.

(Just the same way, if the Aura density inside a Will is the same as the Aura around it, the Will will no longer be able to absorb any Aura - thus stagnating their growth. Now that Haalfrin can make the ambient Aura in his Soul denser by squeezing it together with his advanced Yiir Name, his Wills can finally get back to growing stronger.)

Haalfrin then turns to the thousands of Wills below, and he has an idea. 'There's no such thing as a soul with absolutely no bravery,' he thinks, 'which means that so many Wills refuse to enter my Death aura only because I have too much for their little hearts to bear.'

So, Haalfrin gets half of his Aura and thins it out to where it's barely there. The rest of the thousands of Wills see this, and they finally agree to enter the clouds and start training.

You teach people to swim in shallow water first, after all.

Thinning out his Death Aura like this is actually extremely difficult (more difficult than condensing it, anyway), and Haalfrin has to expend all his concentration keeping this maneuver up; if he slips up at all, then his aura will snap back together, and scare off the Wills again.

Every now and then, when Haalfrin grows tired and loses his concentration, one or 2 Wills are crushed by the sudden pressure, then they flicker out of existence… Fortunately, most of them have grown enough to survive some minor recoil like this.

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After so long spent training, Haalfrin has long stopped caring about how much time is passing, for memories of the outside world seem to fade away into the background as training becomes his new reality.

It's around this time that all of Haalfrin's Wills have become 1st gate mages that the prisoner receives an unexpected guest in his cell.

Das pops in like a ghost by drifting through the ceiling and landing in front of him. Haalfrin cranes his neck up and rasps out weakly, "How did you get here?"

Das, with his usual fake polite voice, just smiles and says, "You may not have known, but you had a neighbor in a cell in the cell to your right. He just passed away."

The old death god looks down at Haalfrin with an amused look in his eyes. "Oh, and your training with your Death Aura is growing stronger. It could actually reach far into the other cell - even seeping through a crack in the Spirit Stone tiles. According to that poor soul, he spent the last few years of his life being gripped in terror every time you were practicing. He was only middle-aged, but the excess stress must have aged him prematurely."

Das then taps his nose and laughs, "Oh... the good side of that is it gave me enough room to ride the aura over here to come visit you."

Haalfrin looks away rebelliously, then reluctantly asks, "Old man, do you know why they spared me? With all that happened, I should've been killed, not locked up."

Das thinks for a moment, then replies slowly, "Oh… Well, given that Freyya's death cult thrives strongly in the Otherworld, I didn't want you being sent to the Threshold, where her fanatics can easily find you and kill you."

Haalfrin looks up angrily and finishes for him, "So you offered a few divine favors to King Kanus in exchange for his cooperation… This was all your idea, huh?"

Das scratches his head. "Guilty as charged."

Haalfrin starts trying to twist in anger. "Das!" he growls through gritted teeth, "You've gone too far!".

Das smiles apologetically and says, "Oh, I'm not trying to hurt you... but you and Freyya have proven far too stubborn. For us immortals, a few hundred years is nothing. Just sit quietly and die peacefully. I'll see you soon."

The god then leans down and pats Haalfrin's head. He ignores the little human thrashing about angrily, as he calmly declares, "I'm afraid you're going to spend the rest of your life here. I'm sorry, I really am, but this is for the best."

"Best for what!?" Haalfrin screams out.

"Best for the universe," Das sternly inputs. "I can't be a Death god for much longer. Everyone needs you! Don't you remember?"

"You think I care?!" the prisoner lashes out even more energetically.

"Huh...," Das lets out a disappointed sigh. "I hope this long prison sentence will give you plenty of time to rethink that. Goodbye, Haalfrin."

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After Das leaves Haalfrin alone again, the young man actually comes a little close to breaking down and crying out of frustration… He sits there in his earthen tomb, and he cries out in his heart, 'It's hopeless! No matter what I do, I'm just an insignificant mortal! Das is a god, so I guess he can do whatever he wants with me!'

The feeling of having no control over his own fate is just too much for Haalfrin to bear. He... just wants it all to be over already!

What's even more frustrating is that Das is sticking to the moral high ground - claiming that his actions are selfless by locking Haalfrin up.

…The problem is that Haalfrin doesn't actually care if the Death Realm is short a Death Reaper. He may be a person who likes to feel useful to others… but after being pushed around and bullied by the Alastan Kingdom, then thrown away… he's had enough of these unwilling employment contracts.

…Just the fact that Das is willing to put Haalfrin through hell in order to MAKE him take up a job just drives Haalfrin to not want to do it.

It's this fierce independence that wells up in him that makes him so angry, for an independent man will never accept peace at the cost of his own freedom.

Just thinking about how the gods' have been toying with his life this whole time, Haalfrin wiggles his toes uselessly and screams out, "Is my 'luck' so bad that I'll always survive just long enough for someone to heal me, or for my enemies to show mercy whenever I'm about to lose?"

He calms down and finishes the rest of this thought in his head. "What about the strange coincidences where friends always show up to save me in time? What's this stupid plot armor? Does the universe have something against me?"

'No... what's the point in crying about it!' Haalfrin turns up to the ceiling and screams up at the covered sky, "I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE A GOD, YOU HEAR ME!? EVEN IF I'M JUST A BUG TO YOU, THIS BUG WILL FLY IN YOUR FACE AND ANNOY YOU TO DEATH…!"

Out of pure rage, Haalfrin spends a few moments struggling with all his might against the boulder above him.

After the pent-up aggression runs its course, Haalfrin is left feeling calmer.

Breathing more slowly now, Haalfrin bows his head and thinks serenely, 'Why bother worrying? I can't do anything about it anyway. Those gods can do whatever they want with my life...'

Suddenly, something in Haalfrin's mind just breaks. His will to try at anything seems to have vanished. After that, he just stares blankly at the floor, staring with empty thoughts behind his eyes.

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For an untold amount of time, Haalfrin's mind is like a wintry forest - cold, empty, seemingly, still, and above all else, lonely.

'Why did I want to escape again?' He sometimes wonders.

'Why did I care so much about escaping?'

'Why do i need to care about anything?'

As Haalfrin feels himself losing interest in everything, he feels his Spirit's Threads slowly fraying away. The connections with people he's built up over the years are snapping one by one, and each lost connection only leaves a painful sting in his heart, before that too is forgotten.

'That's right. I don't need to care about anything. What's the point in trying to get killed? Wasn't it to be with my Kareen friends?'

Yet, when he tries thinking of them, he only remembers darkness. No matter how hard he tries, he can't remember why he cared so much about them.

With nothing to live or die for, Haalfrin rots listlessly for a long time - neglecting to even train his Names.

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During his long stay in the abyss, he starts to feel something else change inside him. 'That's right... What's there to lose? The only thing I have is myself. Logically... I don't have much worth, and there's not much point in escaping but...'

'...but it hurts, being pinned underneath this rock. I'm tired of eating the same soup every day. I'm tired of being unable to move about or live my life. I'm tired of the gods always trying to meddle with my fate. I'm too tired to live. I'm too tired to die.'

'What else is there to consider? I'll just do whatever I want! And I want to get out of here!'

'Sure, I know that god called "Das" will get mad at me, but so what! Screw him! I'll get out here and put my knife in his gut! I don't care if he beats me! If he's going to claim my soul, then I'll make the process as annoying as possible! I'll be a headache that keeps him up at night!'

Trying to escape is the only form of revenge Haalfrin can think of to get back at Das. He knows he'll probably fail, but who cares?

'That's right. There's nothing to do but struggle. Be it kings or gods, they all think they can control me. So what? I'm a fighter at heart! I never give up! Even if I lose, that's OK! Fighters don't always win! That's it... I'll train. I'll train until I can win! …And it doesn't matter if my training is a waste of time. Life is supposed to be a struggle, right?'

Haalfrin looks up and smiles as he thinks of a quote from a long-dead warrior he's heard about in stories: 'There is no shame in defeat, so long as the spirit is unconquered!'

After he finishes thinking this, he immediately feels a pressure larger than anything he's ever felt in his soul, and a familiar burning sensation spreads in his chest; it's a feeling he's felt 3 times before. 'I'm getting another Name,' Haalfrin grins. 'I can't let this opportunity pass!'

His mind travels back into his soul realm, where he expects to see one of his Name Runes lighting up in the sky.

Well, that's certainly what's happening… though Haalfrin still widens his eyes in shock.

"I already know I'm getting a Name right now...," Haalfrin mumbles, "but why are TWO Names lighting up? I've never heard of someone learning 2 Names at the same time. Am I about to leap from a 3rd Gate mage to a 5th?"

Haalfrin watches in excitement and awe as his Fel (Change) and Dra (Body) Names light up. 'This should prove interesting.'