The Long Wait

"It's an ace, I win," speaks a gruff male voice. One of the prisoners of Floor B33 is sitting on the ground with a magelight over his head to illuminate the card game he's playing.

All around him, there's a circle of his friends – all of which have been eliminated from their game long ago.

As for the cards, Das left it to them so they wouldn't get bored. After getting to know them more, the old man had kindly offered to take orders and bring them gifts whenever he stops by.

…And this is exactly why Floor B33 has been decorated from end to end with furnishings. There are installed magelights, and the former prison cells are now dedicated to large game collections. Some are even converted to libraries.

Even though they have something to do all the time, most of the inmates struggle with serious bouts of depression. Over the years, about half of them have committed suicide. Most of the time, the other prisoners find the bodies hidden in one of the less occupied former cells.

The dearly departed men and women likely didn't want to make a mess for the others and bleed all over the floor, so most of the deaths were from hanging themselves or taking poison of their own making.

More still, 7 of the prisoners have succumbed to old age by now, including Orland. Orland was Haalfrin's only real friend among their group of companions, so his death was especially hard on the "demon".

Every time Haalfrin walks the halls of Floor B33, he sees the lived in, homey feel this place has slowly acclimated to. Yet… seeing it look like a home, yet be less and less occupied, he gets an empty, depressed feeling.

The other Floor companions feel the same way. That's why most of them desperately stay together in one or two rooms and focus on socializing.

They have no idea when or IF they're going to see the sun again, and this is the only way for them to stay sane.

After hundreds of years pass, most of the prisoners who didn't commit suicide have come to accept that they're going to live the rest of their lives down here, on Floor B33. They begin to make merry, have parties, celebrate birthdays, and pretend like they have a normal society, despite having only 6 other people in their lives.

Eventually, Haalfrin realizes that he's the only one trying to escape nowadays. None of them even show up for the Will's daily reports anymore.

Haalfrin still wants to escape… yet he no longer feels like he's being supported by his people, like he used to be.

In the end, Haalfrin goes to sleep every day in a cell far away from the others. He hardly sees them anymore, and this leaves a giant hole in his heart.

After he distances himself from the others (or they distanced themselves from him), the only person he really sees face to face are the death gods. Jenri doesn't talk much, Das and he are still at odds, and Freyya… Yes. She's the only one who sticks around and chats regularly with the man.

They eat together, share stories together, and play boardgames together. She even gets him to read some of her fictional books.

Haalfrin knows using time so frivolously is a waste, but he also doesn't get to see Freyya so often. It's worth taking a break whenever she's here.

"So," Haalfrin tells himself every day, "I have to keep working hard. No way am I dying down here. I want to live together with Freyya forever in the afterlife."

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Hard, calloused feet pitter patter down a hallway consumed in darkness. The floor is so dirty that the bottom of these feet are stained black.

Carefully, the figure cloaked in shadow edges against the wall and peeks from around the corner. Despite there being no light down here, this one's glowing blue eyes can see floating silver lights and wisps of a strange blackness deeper than the lightless halls.

Suddenly, the person hears feels a presence close by, and she bolts down the hallway.

The moment this person dives out from around the corner, a sinister black hand slams onto the wall they were leaning against just a second before.

With the powerful body-reinforcement spells at this mage's disposal, they're somehow able to outrun the black hand as it chases them down the hall. However, the chase is cut short when another black hand unexpectedly shoots out of the floor and grabs the child by the ankle.

"GAAAH!" Frey shrieks in laughter. "You caught me! Let me go now!"

"Stop sneaking away from your lessons," comes a gruff, male voice in her mind. "I was in the middle of teaching you about the relationship between temperature and pressure."

"That's boring, Sir Demon," Frey laughs out. "Besides. It's more fun when you chase me. Think of it as a practical application of my learning."

"Back to important stuff," Haalfrin huffs. "Tell me. How goes your training with your Names? Have you advanced any yet?"

"Yes!" Frey beams. "I've advanced my Reh Name the other day! My first one too."

"Oh!" Haalfrin congratulates her, "What does it do?"

"…It's a secret," she fumbles out.

"Haha. Fair enough," he concedes.

"What about you?" Frey asks. "Did you Advance any of YOUR names?

"I've got just my May and Yiir Names, same as usual," Haalfrin answers.

"Oh, so nothing new then," Frey mumbles out disappointed.

(Haalfrin's May Name gave his Wills intelligence. When it advanced, the wills gained the ability to share their experience and memories with each other. They can share skills too, though that takes some time.)

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Despite being about 500 years old now, Frey still acts like a child – at least in Haalfrin's mind. Maybe it's because she's been stuck underground without any faces to see and no responsibilities to make her grow up.

…More literally, Haalfrin can't help but see Frey as a child because of her ridiculous ability to gain more Names.

For Haalfrin, his soul Gates only open up when he gains some sort of Enlightenment – a thing chanced upon by luck. Frey, on the other hand, is a black soul. Black souls learn Names through performing a certain action – not developing their character.

… And the only condition Frey has for learning Names is to be immersed in Death Aura. She can't store the Aura in her soul and carry it with her like Haalfrin can… but with him around, she doesn't need to.

Because of this, Frey became a 3rd gate mage only 50 years after she awakened as a mage. 100 years after that, she became a 4th gate mage. 300 years after that, she opened her 5th gate – all because of her constant contact with Haalfrin's Aura as it goes out to collect more energy from up above.

And so, being a 500 year old 5th gate mage, she has the appearance of a 13 year old…

…Despite Haalfrin's own young appearance, he can't help but judge Frey by her childish sounding voice and immature, unconcerned behavior.

Still, even though she acts willful sometimes, Haalfrin knows she has a strong mind and heart at least.

"Geez," Haalfrin sometimes wonders. "I spent only 100 years without seeing anybody, and I went crazy. How did this girl last 500 years and still feel perfectly sane?"

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Haalfrin would sometimes voice his concerns to Frey, but she'd always get defensive and say something like, "Being alone is relaxing. I get to snuggle up in a corner and not have to worry about seeing people."

"What about me?" the demon asks.

"You're fun, so you don't count," Frey tells Haalfrin. "Plus, I only feel your spirit when we talk, so I don't have to look at you. You feel more like an interactive idea in my head than a person."

"…Thanks?" He doesn't know how to feel about that. Instead, he starts to say, "…Say, Frey?"

"What is it, Sir Demon?"

"…Do you really not care about escaping this place?" Haalfrin asks.

"…Sir demon," the girl responds, "Everywhere is a prison. Here? Outside? It doesn't matter. The only difference between a 'prisoner' and a 'free man' is that a free man gets to choose his cage."

She then reaches up towards the ceiling. "Here? I get to do whatever I want in this place. I don't have to worry about being caught and sold again. I can learn all the magic I want. I can play with you… or I can play with your army of spirits when you're busy. What else is there to life? If I had a choice, I would never leave!"

"But," Haalfrin interjects, "how is a free man caged?"

"Easy," Frey supplies a quick answer, "The moment there is something you MUST do, or something you MUST NOT do, you are in a cage."

Haalfrin sighs hearing this. "But I miss the sun. I haven't seen it in so long. I want to choose my own cage too, and this place isn't the cage I want."

"What kind of cage do you want, then?" Frey asks hesitantly.

"I…," Haalfrin struggles to answer. "I want to be bound by a higher cause – by something more than myself. When I was young, I was loyal to my clan family. I served them and fulfilled my duty. After that, I was caged in service to my teacher. There were things I weren't allowed to do, and duties I had to fulfill."

"That sounds terrible," Frey shudders.

"No… It felt satisfying," Haalfrin says softly. "Being without a 'cage' robs you of purpose. Without purpose, your blood still flows, yet you are already dead."

"So…," Haalfrin says, "what will you do once I escape this cage? Will you be content here?"

"… I'll think about it," Frey answers.