He was sitting there, silent, eyes closed. They had tried to remove the mask, but nothing had worked, burning, cutting, it stayed on his face like it had been stitched on.

Lalna peered through the glass of the isolation chamber, it had been designed specifically for the most dangerous of prisoners, but it had never been used till now, at least it was working.

Rythian never stirred, never opened his eyes, some of the testificates had decided he must have died, his Klein star was non-functional in the chamber, and that he starved. Xephos had proposed they take him out, but Lalna convinced him to keep it shut, he had taken a risk with Rythian before, the risk of letting him continue to live, in his basalt castle, with her. Lalna would never stop regretting that risk he took.

The ME port hummed quietly, the mere process of rendering the chamber put strain on it. But it had to be rendered, three times a day, just to make sure that he hadn't found a way, against all odds, against the unbreakable chains that held him to the chair, against the motion activated trip wires that would instantly expel tranquiliser gas into the empty room, against Lalna being there, ready to initiate one of the 50 different fall back plans they had put in place, they still had to check.

Lalna turned as the door to the observation deck slid open, Xephos walked in, not even acknowledging Lalna as he stepped up to the glass, his face cold and unfeeling. Even though he was standing there, alive as anyone else, Lalna knew his friend was long dead.

"So, you really think it's worth keeping him here?" Xephos asked as he checked the port "For all we know he's dead and we're wasting the facility's power keeping it locked".

Lalna simply nodded "It's just not worth the risk". Xephos grunted, before unplugging the drive, the chamber instantly faded, the empty chasse of the chamber being almost exactly the same as the chamber itself, apart from the missing chair. "Well, visiting time's over, you can leave now."

Xephos placed the drive in the terminal, activating the 80 different safe guards to keep it shut, then left the room, switching the lights off as he went.

Lalna stood there in the darkness, staying perfectly still, his hands in the pockets of his lab coat. After a few seconds, he went over to the terminal, after about 5 minutes of bypassing security measures, he took the drive out and placed it back in the port.

The chair flickered back into existence, except Rythians eyes were open, and the walls were covered in purple scribbles, on every wall read the word "Lalna". Lalna heard someone whispering in his ear, he turned, but there was nothing there.

He quickly removed the drive, and shoved it back into the terminal, barely finishing the security measures, before turning and briskly walking out the door, the whispers followed him all the way up the stairs.

He practically sprinted to the yoglabs exit, he burst through the doors and…found himself in the chamber. He looked around, quickly becoming panicked, Rythian was sitting there, his head drooped, and the scribbles were still there, staining the walls and floor.

His eyes opened, he raised his head, staring straight into Lalna's eyes, he heard a laugh, a deep shrill, cold laugh, but Rythians mouth didn't even twitch.

"Let me tell you a story, about a boy, a girl, and a land of magic and monsters…oh and also a lot of death, did I mention the death?"