Hey there, reader!

Question: Would you all prefer to see the bad ending before I put up the good ending?

Count down the chapters until the Fall!

I could go about writing the ending in many ways (i.e. 20 reviews gets good ending, 40 reviews gets true ending, etc.). How that'll go, I'm not sure. We still have to explain why all this is happening and how it'll be resolved. Personally, I'm crossing my fingers if I'll hit over fifty reviews by the time this story is over. If you have any ideas where P3:RL should go, shoot a review or PM to me. I'm very receptive to reader feedback, and your reviews are always appreciated.

Enjoy!

A brief thank you to RubyMoonz, DdotChou, MoldyJellyBean, ShadowDragoon32, Shiro No Kishidan, Pokepia's Haunt,kyoto knight, CodyGotKilld, Azure Blade of Chaos, KHforager, Megashade15, and DarkLord98.

Chapter 51

Lost Days

The Sea of Conan's Soul: The Dark Hour

"Perfect," Conan muttered for the fourth time.

He prompted himself to pick up the Book of Nyx and step through the portal to the Velvet Room. Conan realized what he could do with that artifact, and he intended to use it well. He had little time before Nyx would turn him into a complete puppet. He expected to be right before Igor and Elizabeth, but he found an infinite corridor walled by ridiculous amounts of fog.

Beyond the beaten path lies an unseen end. Conan felt that he heard those words before, perhaps more poetic than he recalled. He chanted those words to himself, as well as a few other words in vain, as he walked and walked. In any case, he walked far too long than he would care to think. As Ryoji mentioned before, time was irrelevant in the human mind. It didn't matter how long it actually took Conan to get there. What would matter was if he actually found the Velvet Room.

Conan knew that Ryoji wanted him to do something evil. He had no reason to trust him. Yet the situation called that Conan did what he felt he had to do: confront and/or kill Igor. Conan thought he sounded like a psychopath, but that was the way the world worked. If his problem was someone with no regard for the common good, that person deserved to die. Conan told himself that to justify killing Ikutsuki, and he was telling himself that while finding Igor. Conan would get for his help or take his head. Whichever choice came easier, he would do first.

The Book of Nyx vibrated in his hand. It acted almost as though it could feel its owner's anxiety. Conan was tempted to use one of the many incantations written inside. Each one held untold potential. He just needed to try it. After some time, he wanted to see what would happen if he did recite one spell. Conan opened the book and found an incantation poorly Romanized for him to read.

"Let's try this out," said Conan. "Vi Nyx, Ego præcipio tibi, ut appareat. Yurlungur!"

The text on the page glowed. A bright light emerged and blinded Conan. Hovering in the air before him was a multi-colored snake with box tattoos drawn all about its body. Conan could only stare at it in stupor. The snake hissed and stuck out a long forked tongued.

"Quis me vocat?" it said.

"What?" said Conan. "Uh, no comprendé?"

The snake became irate and hissed once more. "Quis me vocat? Potest te intelligere me? "

Conan held up a hand defensively. "I don't speak, well, whatever you're speaking, so take it easy on—"

He still held the Book of Nyx wide open. The snake stuck its tail out and flipped some of the pages. It then stuck its tail on one set of incantations. Of the displayed texts, he recognized one written in his mother tongue. Conan tapped it and the whole book glowed blue. He looked back at the snake.

"Can you understand me now?" asked the snake. By the tone in its voice, it was mildly irritated.

"Yeah," said Conan. "And you are…?"

"It's Yurlungur," said the snake. "Who summons me?"

The junior pointed to himself. "Conan Walker," he said. "The Appraiser of Nyx."

Yurlungur shuddered slightly, but maintained its composure. "Nyx," he hissed. "I loathe the name. But I am forced to comply. What is your will, Appraiser?"

"Uh, I just wanted to see who you were," said Conan. "So what are you? A Persona or a Shadow?"

The snake hissed in thought. "I exist as neither, yet both," he said. "I and my brethren cannot call each other by human terminology. Perhaps I lean toward one end rather than the other. Just call me a Shadow."

The junior nodded tentatively. "I didn't think the spell would actually let me summon something."

The snake opened its maw widely and bayed loudly. Perhaps that was the reptilian equivalent of a laugh. "You are naïve, Appraiser," he said. "I'll guess you don't know what I can do?" Conan nodded. The snake continued to speak. "I profess in giving you the weapons you need. I'm astonished you summoned me when you are in no danger, but I'll let that slide. Call me when you require my help."

Yurlungur disappeared in a poof of stardust. Conan flipped the pages of the book for more incantations. Sure enough, the meat of the book contained archaic drawings of different Shadows. Each one was unique and menacing. Conan recognized two. One was Lilith, the other was Samyaza. Perhaps the Black Ace had tapped into the same power as the one in here. He had yet to discover how to harness greater power, should the need arise.

Got nothing better to do, Conan thought. He flipped to the next incantation and summoned his next Shadow. "Vi Nyx, Ego præcipio tibi, ut appareat. Abaddon!"


The Glass Sphere: 1:12 APM (Artificial Ante Meridiem)

S.E.E.S. was spent and angry. They endured more accelerated days within their space. Barry was horribly merciless. By the end of the day, each member felt as though they staved off one thousand Shadows. Everyone was tired and impatient. No one saw any real results from the training.

Keira, who didn't have a combat-oriented Persona, was tasked to bear the weight of fifty kilograms while running circles around the other teammates. The others were to evade their trainers' attacks. If she dropped the weight, the challenge was over. She hadn't any real exercise before, so her session was most vicious. The senior panted and wept while keeping the pace up. No one could speak on her behalf for a better exercise, but they had other things to worry about.

Alice socked Ellie in the gut for the fifth time. "Where's Morrigan?" she demanded. "She could come out real easy yesterday! You're getting sloppy!"

Ellie grunted as she struggled to stand back up. "Shut up!" she said. The redheaded girl attempted to punch back, but Alice easily sidestepped and knocked her over.

"Combat isn't about action and reaction," said Barry from the side. He tripped up Slade and Leon simultaneously. "It's about anticipation and staying ahead of your opponents."

"I doubt they have the intellect to counter us," said Slade.

"But the Appraiser does," Barry lectured. "And he is backed by the mother of all Shadows. We're not taking any chances with possible reinforcements."

Now it was Victor's turn. Alice exchanged a few blows before knocking her best friend down. Victor panted heavily as buckets of sweat poured out from his head. "This isn't what we should be doing," he said. "We've been doing just fine kicking demon ass. Why are we doing kung-fu gimmicks?"

"It's a waste of time!" Lucy grunted.

She and Alice clashed, but the latter gained the upper hand without even trying. Lucy was flipped over her shoulder and slammed into the dirt. She felt the breath knocked out of her and struggled to get it back. Charlotte dashed forward. Barry sidestepped and allowed her to crash into Ellie.

Alice slapped the dust from her fingers and sighed. "I think they're giving up," she spat.

Barry glared at Leon. "Where's that spirit now?" he jabbed.

Leon struggled to rise. He spent enough time in the artificial space to partially recover from his spine injury. He walked and ran almost as well as he did before, but needed to slow down frequently. The senior grunted and finally got to his feet. "We'll get there," he said.

The senior raised his fists. Barry found an opening in the stance and drove his boot into Leon's gut. Leon went down again and stayed down. Keira collapsed from exhaustion and dropped the weights. Barry checked the watch strapped to his wrist.

"Ninety nine seconds," said Barry. "You've all added fifteen seconds since last time, but it's still not enough. We'll try again tomorrow. Alice, would you kindly take over?"

Alice folded her arms. "You heard him," she said. "We're going for another 5-K run."

Victor coughed and rose. "We haven't tried actually using our Personas yet!" he said. "All we've done is go on the defense! If we're taking on Conan, we need aggro training!"

His friend glared at him, and then at Barry. The trainer from A.X.E.L. glanced at Victor in thought. He laughed finally and stepped over. Barry pulled up the jokester and brushed off some dust from his torso.

The trainer from A.X.E.L. smirked. "You want a real Persona fight?" said Barry. "You won't last thirty seconds."

"It's hell of a lot better than what we're doing now," said Victor.

His teammates slowly rose. They all shared his impatience for actual fighting. Everyone was edgy, even Charlotte. S.E.E.S. did more than enough endurance training so far, and they were willing to fight their trainer to get that experience.

Barry noticed and chuckled. He drew a nightstick from his side and held it. "Come at me," he said. "If you dare."

Barry conjured a Persona card ready and casually crushed it. Nothing appeared behind him. All members of S.E.E.S. summoned their Personas. Keira sat up from her place and prepared to assist her friends. Seven Personas appeared ready for combat. Barry stood in the center of them without fear. They all charged. Something repelled them, like an invisible barrier. All Personas were pushed back two meters in every direction.

"The hell?" Victor spat. "Where's your Persona?"

"Don't you see it?" asked Barry.

The air above him blurred as if hot vapor was passing through. Something appeared in a split second. Barry's Persona was a horned beast with a frill around the cranium. It had violet skin, lanky limbs, and a spiked body. The others prepared for an attack. Barry stood below it with arms folded. He had an unnerving sense of confidence about him. No one dared charge first.

Oh no, said Keira. It's only weak to insta-kill spells!

"Say what?" said Victor. "But only Charlotte can pull off Hama!"

Charlotte took the hint. She began to chant. "Ha—"

Barry only took five seconds. The winged beast snatched Papillion by the helmet and tossed it up into the air. Barry smirked. "Megido!" he said.

A small ball of light appeared from the sky and hit Papillion. This object punched through the Persona. Immediately after, Charlotte's Persona exploded. The iron maiden suffered a spasm throughout her entire body, and then she fell flat in the ground. Everyone stared in wide-eyed disbelief at her and Barry.

"What was that, Miss Kinsley?" said the A.X.E.L. trainer. "I believe I've won."

Victor sent a ball of lightning. The horned beast caught it like a baseball and chucked it at Gaea, who was forcibly dismissed. Ishtar sent a stream of fire to counterattack, but the horned beast leapt over the flames and landed onto Aggrippa's face. Victor's Persona was forcibly dismissed as well. The horned beast then jumped Lucy's Persona and tossed her in the air. Barry casted another Megido spell and vanquished Ishtar.

Victor, Lucy, Slade, and Charlotte were on the ground. They were strong enough to stay awake after having their Personas forcibly dismissed, but too weak to stand. The others realized the futility of their fight and dismissed their Personas. Barry stood in triumph. Even if their hostility was adrenaline-fueled, they knew when their battle was lost.

"Clever kids, aren't you?" Barry mused. He stuck a thumb over his shoulder. "This is my other self, Koschei, the Immortal. I'm the Persona-user with best chance of fighting the Appraiser, and I alone won't be enough. Given your performance, you all aren't ready."

"So why bother with us?" Ellie retorted. "If you're so great, why not march off yourself?"

"My father was all for your teacher's plan," said Barry. "He wishes for others to follow with me. Soloing this operation is not in his vision for securing humanity's future. I would leave you all out of this fight, but it's not my call. It's his."

Leon realized who their trainer was. "So your dad's Grigori Varkov?" he asked.

Barry dismissed Koschei and stood at attention. "I worked hard to get to where I am. And if you think you have a chance against the Appraiser, you're dead wrong. The training will continue until you all are ready. I won't tolerate future outbursts."

Barry barked another order for everyone to rise for a 5-K run. Alice, although conflicted inside, reinforced his command. The members of S.E.E.S. knew their place and obeyed. If they couldn't defeat a human Persona-user, they still were a long ways from fighting Conan.


The Sea of Conan's Soul: Meanwhile

Conan finally shut the Book of Nyx. For the son of an omnipotent goddess, he thought he hadn't enough energy to meet with over forty sentient Shadows. And he wasn't even halfway through the artifact's contents.

Ryoji wasn't kidding about the Book of Nyx. It was an artificial means for a person to summon multiple Shadows. The sheer power within the artifact put tremendous strain on its user. Any other person would have fainted, but Conan found the task feasible. In fact, he felt a monstrous amount of energy fueling his body. He felt less like a person and more like a Shadow. That couldn't have been good.

"These guys will come in handy," he said. Conan secretly hoped he didn't sign his friends' death warrants by using this artifact.

After some more walking, Conan finally arrived at the end of the path. Another portal stood before him. This one looked just like the last: a blue door with an ominous glow about it. Conan took a deep breath. If Igor was there, he had to be dealt with. Elizabeth was likely to be with him. Conan had to deal with one or both of them. That was the plan. So why did he feel nervous?

He clutched the Book of Nyx tightly and opened the door. Conan stood in the Velvet Room. There was the circular table in the center, one chair, a couch, and a velvet carpet below everything. An unseen light overhead was dimmer than usual. He was alone. Conan glanced around. There was no sign of anyone else.

"Igor!" he said. "Elizabeth! Is anyone there?"

Only silence filled the room. Conan fumed and turned around. The portal disappeared without his notice. Now he was trapped in an enclosed space.

"Dammit, Ryoji," Conan muttered. "Is anybody here?"

No one answered. The junior scowled and flipped the Book of Nyx open for some light. He happened to open an incantation he hadn't tried yet. Conan read the text to himself before saying it out loud.

"Vi Nyx," he said. "Ego præcipio tibi, ut appareat. Lilith!"

As the Shadows before appeared, Lilith did as well. She was a pale woman with a large snake and a python tattooed along her body. The snake she held hissed and Lilith smirked.

"May I help, master?" she said in a seductive voice. "You are troubled."

"Yeah, I am," said Conan. "I'm damn near going crazy here too."

Lilith became intrigued. "Pray tell, why?"

Conan quickly re-capped his reasons for being here. After doing the same for the other forty Shadows, he felt like a broken record. The snake hissed at the end of his explanation. Lilith gently stroked its head to calm it down.

"So I'm nervous as hell right now," Conan concluded.

"You have qualms about meeting your old acquaintances, are you not?" she asked. "Meeting with old friends can be a dreadful experience."

Conan closed the book and tucked it under his arm. "No kidding. I have no idea what to do."

Lilith glanced around the room. "Are you sure this is where you want to be?" she mused. "I don't see anyone else here."

The junior scoffed. "Maybe coming out of my room was a bad idea to begin with."

"Take my advice," said Lilith. "Just do what your gut tells you. It's always worked before, right?"

"What makes you say that?"

Lilith lifted Conan's head by his chin. "You remind me of my old master," she said. "Reserved, unwavering, possibly insane. Perhaps the latter. Knowing her, I see that you are not one to be indecisive. Am I wrong?"

"No," said Conan. There was something mesmerizing about the way she weaved her few words together. "Wait, 'old master?'"

The snake woman stroked her pet's head. "All of us were once Personas," she said. "Upon the deaths of our masters, we were sent into the oblivion called the Sea of One's Soul. This book allows us to re-take our old forms at the price of being at your mercy."

Conan raised his eyebrows. "My mercy?"

Lilith winked and smiled. "I implore you be reasonable."

He blushed and glanced the other way. "God, not what I had in mind. I feel like an idiot now."

The snake woman laughed. "Don't we all? The answer will come. I'm sure you'll know what to do. A great power is waiting within your soul. It will awaken in due time."

Conan knew consorting with a demon woman was a bad idea, but it was better than listening to himself think unsettling thoughts. "Thanks, Lilith," he said.

"I'm happy to help." Lilith smiled and held her hand up to her head like a phone. "Call me." She dismissed herself immediately after.


The Glass Sphere: 10:39 AAM (Artificial Ante Meridiem)

One real-time week passed, and the trainers from A.X.E.L. were hardly impressed. They went through all the ropes in making their Persona-users stronger. Military exercises, as well as a few unofficial tasks, were put before the group. Some improvement was seen in their reflexes, but they weren't progressing in overall Persona mastery. Barry was not impressed. They needed to go harder.

Barry showed no mercy over the next forty-five artificial days. Every member of S.E.E.S was subjected to eight consecutive days of military training, then one day of recuperation with school. Even Charlotte was having difficulty in keeping up. Weekends were especially grueling, with twelve artificial days rather than the usual eight. Alice hardly thought that the schedule was a good idea, but Barry insisted that straining his trainees with two types of institutional stress was part of the project. No one else shared his enthusiasm.

Such a strain dramatically affected S.E.E.S.'s academic studies. Victor lamented the decline of his already poor grades. Slade initially lectured him about enduring these trials. As her performance wasn't faring much better either, she promised to excuse everyone's declining grades until the end of the world. Her students silently wondered how she could still care about grades if they meant nothing in combat.

On December 12th, exactly nine days after they last saw Conan, the members of S.E.E.S. spent a grand total of 1,056 hours within the glass sphere, which was more than a month's worth of time compacted into less than a week. Yet no one felt confident enough to fight Conan. Their ability to use Personas wasn't improving much from what they've seen. On one of the breaks, S.E.E.S. convened to have some water from a freshwater stream nearby.

Alice and Barry held onto a remote that allowed them to return to normal space. "We'll be back in a few," said the former. They left soon after.

Charlotte let a rush of steam escape from her ears. "I estimate that they will return in one hour, artificial time," she said. "Please remember to stretch and drink water, everyone."

"How the hell aren't you tired?" asked Victor.

The iron maiden donned a know-it-all façade. "I am fatigued, for I was tasked to summon Papillion one thousand times per minute for the past three hours."

"Charlotte," said Lucy. "No one cares."

Leon joined his friends last and drank from the stream. He remembered to wash his face of dirt and sweat. For him, getting exercise was a welcome relief from being crippled. He couldn't say the same for the others.

"No cane today," he said. "At least the time here helps with my recovery time."

Keira, who was drenched completely in sweat and grime, gave her friend a discerning glance. "You shouldn't push yourself like that!" she said feebly. "What if your back gets worse?"

"I think that's the least of our worries until the 31st," said Slade.

Ellie dunked her head into the stream. She swept away the red hair stuck to her face. "What's the matter, Keira?" she asked. "Decided to stop worrying about your cramps?"

"I can't feel them anymore, thank you very much!" Keira fumed. "It's the stretch marks that I can't deal with!"

"God, I hate those," Victor groaned while lying down. He subconsciously rubbed his thigh up and down. "You guys feel like your legs are made of lead?"

"We're way past that point," said Lucy. She hid her face behind her palms. "Leon, how the hell did you keep up with this kind of training?"

"I didn't," said Leon. He took another sip of water and doused his face in the stuff. "Young Legionary training's nothing compared to Barry's routines."

"These exercises are quite rigorous," said Charlotte. "On the bright side, I detected a healthy change in our physiologies."

"What kind of changes?" asked Lucy.

Charlotte took a glance at all her teammates sprawled out before her. "A significant increase in muscle mass for each of you," she said. "I also see a loss of fat for most of us. An even greater decrease body fat for every woman here."

"How'd you figure that?" said Victor.

"Initial waist measurements for Lucy, Keira, Ellie, and Slade have shrunken by up to three centimeters, one centimeter for the busts, and two centimeters for the hips and thighs."

Everyone stared in wide-eyed disbelief at the iron maiden. Ellie, Lucy, and Keira defensively hugged themselves and shot daggers at the iron maiden. "Stop looking at us!" they protested in unison.

Victor would have been perked up by that exchange, but he felt too tired to be happy. "Good to know," he said feebly.

The team chatted more about their discomforts. Slade finished drinking her water and addressed the team. "Everyone," she said. "This isn't the time for grievances. We've spent too long here to give up now."

"I did the math, Slade," said Ellie. "It's training 24/7 until New Year's Eve. We'll squeeze in more than five months' of time here. Given the rate we're going at, we'll really need to haul ass to kill Conan."

Lucy glared at Ellie. "You mean defeat Conan," she said.

"No, she's right," said Leon. "If worse comes to worse, we'll need to kill him. I'm sorry, but it has to be done."

Lucy gave a look of defiance, but relented. She knew he was right. Slade saw that expression and readied herself.

"Giving up now isn't an option anymore," said the homeroom teacher. "I know it's been tough, but we have to get stronger."

"Assuming we can get stronger," said Victor. "Barry wiped the floor with us. And he's weaker than Conan."

"Charlotte," said Keira. "Did you find out what that bag was for?"

The iron maiden became downcast. "I am afraid not," she said. "Perhaps if I were more adept with my abilities, I could have found an answer by now."

"You're a robot, not a miracle wizard," said Ellie. "An annoying one at that. And if we're spending half a year in here, we've got to find more ways to beat our enemy before the Fall. That magic bag won't be an option if we don't know how to use it."

Charlotte became pensive. "If only we could," she said.

Leon grunted and rose from his place. "Okay, okay," he said. "Huddle up, everybody. Come on, just do it!"

His teammates were still tired, but they huddled up around him all the same. Victor, Lucy, Keira, Ellie, Slade, and Charlotte were more than willing to hear what their friend had to say. Leon stood in the center of his circle of friends.

"It's not pretty, I won't lie about that," he said. "We got us on one side and an evil demigod on the other. So what if you're scared? Fear holds you back. But fear reminds us how dangerous this whole thing is. If you feel fear, you're still human enough to know what's right."

Leon was blunt with his fiery words, but everything he said was true. His teammates were beginning to perk up. There was energy to Leon's voice that ignited the team spirit. S.E.E.S. gained a second wind. A fire burned in each of their eyes. Pains and aches faded away as Leon weaved more words together to rally the team. They became more and more eager to hear what he had to say next.

"If we're the last line of defense," said Leon, "then we're the world's only hope of survival. We could've bailed if someone else could take over. Since there isn't, there's no other choice but us. That means that every step we take until the Fall will count. We signed on to this team to vanquish some demonic ass before the year was out, and that's what we're gonna do."

"We're going to fight Conan though," said Keira. "You know we barely stand a chance."

"Forget about chances," said Leon. "In fact, screw the probability of success. Numbers suck the life out of you. I don't care how you think this'll go down. Winners don't think about risks. They focus on getting the job done. The only way we can win is if we ignore how bad things might turn out and train like hell. And we will win."

That last statement did the trick. Most of the team hadn't considered how success was determined. With Leon's revelation, they were more inspired to fight the enemy in their near future. The fire rose in each of their eyes. Most of their doubts were cast behind them. Leon saw this and smirked. He stuck his hand in the center of the circle and prompted the others to do the same.

"Who's with me?" he asked.

A wave of agreement came around the group. Victor, Lucy, Keira, Slade, Charlotte, and Ellie all stuck out their fists in the center of the circle. "He's right," said the redheaded girl. "Now's not the time for whining."

Leon glanced around and locked gazes with all his teammates. "Let's hear it!" he shouted. "Who's with me?"

The team of Persona-users shot their hands in the air with vigor. "We are!" shouted S.E.E.S. in unison.


The Sea of Conan's Soul: The Dark Hour

At least twenty hours passed. Conan sat in the chair in the dim space. All he had was the Book of Nyx and his growing frustration. Lilith and the other Shadows were able to provide various forms of insight to the situation. Most were reluctant to aid the current Appraiser, but the few who were helpful all said Conan needed to trust his gut. Whatever that meant, he wasn't sure.

He finished exploring the contents of the book. Conan was now acquainted with each and every Shadow within. He found that he could summon each one simply by chanting an abridged chant. Conan had no idea how each Persona would be applied, but if he was to face Nyx again, he wasn't keen of being caught with his pants down.

The walls of the Velvet Room rumbled slightly. Conan expected Igor to appear right then and there. The rattling stopped. No one came. Conan was left to wonder if he really was in the Velvet Room. Perhaps this was another prison Nyx made to drive him insane. She was awfully eager to persuade Conan to kill everyone on earth. Perhaps this was one of her "educational" tactics. Trapping her Appraiser in a prison like this wasn't entirely out of the question. Conan sighed.

"Nyx," he said. "If you're out there, I know what you're doing. It's not funny."

No one replied. Long minutes passed. An hour, two hours, then three transgressed without a sound. The silence after so long became maddening. Conan became cross and kicked over his seat. "There's someone out there that can hear me! I'm not doing your job until I get something back, you hear me? Rotten, unholy, pagan goddess!"

Conan completely lost his temper. The situation was too frustrating for him to accept soundly. He wildly tossed around furniture at the walls. Holes were punched through the wallpaper and drywall at a frightening rate. Conan let out a string of curses with every four-letter word he had. Halfway through the tantrum, Conan summoned the Black Ace and Samyaza to rip apart the whole room. The dark Persona and its minion punched holes and cut gashes on every square meter of the Velvet Room. No one ceased their attacks until all blue fabric was torn to scrap. Conan dismissed his helpers. He had a savage satisfaction with the finished task, but also a deepening sense of dread. In the silence he created, a horrifying truth occurred to him.

"No one's coming," Conan muttered. "There's no one here."

A still period of silence passed. Seven words were all it took for him to realize the situation. No one was coming for him. He would remain an animal, a tool, and a puppet until everyone he cared about was dead. Despair followed the dread, and then blind hatred stripped him of all his strength. He had nothing left to do.

Conan curled up into a ball and leaned against an exposed wooden plank. Scrapped paper and drywall crunched below him. Most of the wallpaper was gone, so plain old wood colored most of the Velvet Room. Conan screamed into his arms and coiled up deeper into his ball. The hateful despair made him feel like a child in juvenile hall again. He was sad, alone, weak, and pitiful.

No one was coming to help him, and he knew it. Unlike last time, Conan wasn't leaving. He sobbed his heart out until there was nothing left of his spirit.