It was just strange. The feeling of it. The vague, uncanny halls that twisted and turned, mindlessly reaching places yet unknown. Should he be questioning more of what was happening, or should he just follow. Follow through and get it over with. He wanted to know, he wanted to know so much, who he was, how he got here, and now…whatever stuff is going to happen to him now.

Right before this, Kade has asked him a question, "Hey, you know Yharim…right?"

Yharim. That name felt so familiar, yet barely out of reach. Not even emotions were left of that name, he couldn't remember anything of it. Though only one thing surged through him when he heard that, and it was a feeling. A slight discomfort…though he simply brushed it off.

"We have a private meeting with him right now. C'mon."

So he followed Kade through the winding halls of the castle, still aching from head to toe. He couldn't help but feel that something was wrong…the strange embrace he was dealt with. Kade seemed like a friendly and outgoing person, though nobody would've done this with a stranger they just met. And he wasn't explaining anything either, like this was just normal to anybody. He craved desperately for questions, but something within him told him to just follow through.

They stopped at a large wooden door, with carved dragons on each panel and oiled until it glistened in the light. Kade pressed down on the brass knob and pushed open the door, making a slight creak as they entered.

Lavish fabrics draping the marble-plated walls swayed against their entrance, their shoes planting firm onto the velvet adorned carpet. A large, golden chandelier was suspended over a long mahogany table that spanned all the way across the room, with several chairs on each side of the room. And at the very end stood the silhouette of a large embroidered chair turned back, with a single auric gauntlet peering out.

"Yharim, I've brought him." Kade said in a less-outgoing tone.

The golden morning light flustered and beamed through the window, reflecting across the gauntlet as Yharim turned his chair to face the two. The man's heart palpated in shock, he was gigantic. Covered head to toe in mechanical auric armor, massive ringed pauldrons, a horned helm with a bright blue visor emblazoned across the middle, and a scarlet plume that hung over the chair in a massive, bushy stream. As he shifted his head near his gauntlet, the man could hear small robotic clicks and snaps through each joint repositioned.

"Indeed you have," Yharim spoke in a deep, dragging voice, slightly muffled by his helm yet so clear and possessive, "And what have you documented of your time with this subject?"

So this was all set up. The man thought, huh…he did all that for this?

"Aside from his humanoid body, he seems to have a firm grasp of his sentience and mental state…though not his memory. He can no longer recount who he was."

Was Kade only nice to me because it was his job? No…really?

Yharim shifted his pose again, turning to his other gauntlet while a still silence filled the room. His demeanor was cold and unnerving, he dragged his sentences between long gaps and only shifted slowly and carefully. Every action he took, and every action they took they felt were calculated inside him, besides his armor he felt like he was entirely a machine.

"Yes…I do believe those mutations would've heavily affected you in such ways," Yharim responded, "Are there any clues to the humanoid appearance…Kade Mason?"

"Not yet, all signs show his body is stable, though that's only a guess."

"Very well then…We will examine his behavior as time passes…Mason, you have the task of sheltering him and providing him sustenance. All activity is to be reported to me."

"Wait what? But I-"

"Is that clear?"

"...Yes."

"And for now," Continued Yharim, "He will be participating in the Stronghold activities that I assign him to. Now, there is a resistance surveillance base around the western side of The Citadel, currently surrounded and defended by my troops. To introduce him to his affiliation for now on, you two go clean the base out. You are excused."

The two exited the office room, quietly shiting the door closed. The man stared at Kade, who quickly fell silent and looked disturbed and unamused. Even if it was quick, the more he had stared at Yharim, the more was abruptly unnerved. Sure, everything about his situation was unnerving, but to Yharim, he felt like pin needles were surrounding him and pricking at his skin, waiting for a single slip-up to stab him furiously.

He felt like his body was caving in and crushing by his own weight. Massive shivers ran through his spine as his body felt colder and colder. And he stared down at his disfigured hands: his veins were glowing purple.

"Is…this the place…?" The man asked Kade,

"Yeah, seems like it."

The two approached the circle of soldiers around a fairly small wooden shack, and Kade pointed to his badge, saying, "Yes, we're here to clean it out. By Yharims command." The soldier allowed them in as they stepped across the jungle grass, over an already dead body, and to the front door of the base.

Kade slowly pulled open the degraded door and the two creeped in. The walls inside were made of the same grayish wood planks, with barely anything but a table with documents on the first floor. The ground was strewn in dirty stained cloth and small pieces of paper that trailed up the narrow staircase. Kade and the man silently climbed up and opened the second floor door.

"DON'T GET ANY CLOSER. DO SO AND I'LL KILL YOU!"

A man was backed into the corner, legs trembling as he pointed a gun at the two. His face was ridden in an expression of fear and anger, his clothes were tattered and torn. Kade pushed the man toward him, though he stood awkwardly silent in front of the trembling man.

"What are you waiting for?" Kade said. "Kill him."

"Wait…what?" The man said, looking down on the hatchet Kade has given him. He stared at the trembling man again, how he could see his grip on the gun tighten. And how his fingers on the window frame were shaking violently.

"...But I…I don't thin-"

"Eh whatever," Kade interrupted, "I'll do it, then."

Kade stepped forward, as his hand began to seemingly melt and reshape itself into a crystalline blade. The trembling man shot the gun but Kade instantly blocked it with his edge, stepping closer to him. He arched his arm back, then striked down his blade-hand across the trembling man's elbow down to his stomach, then across again.

The man gasped for breath as he stumbled back in fear, hitting his horns against the wall. The trembling man spewed a streak of blood across his body, before tumbling into three neatly cut pieces. And Kade did it so effortlessly, so heartlessly, it was like he was painting strokes across a canvas. And more blood began to well onto the ridges of the wooden planks and trickle down.

"What-...Did you ju-...Huh?" The man could barely make out a sentence, still gasping for breath.

Kade sighed and approached him steadily, wiping away the blood splattered onto his cheek and blindfold, and stared at him with a smirk.

"I know you probably don't know much about this place but…Here's my first lesson. Even if there's happiness to be fought for, this world is completely unforgiving. It ain't gonna give you any second chances…so it's either him or you. Your survival is based on your choices."

He paced to the window and stared at the soldiers down below, "All those soldiers down there are still alive because they made the right choices. If they choke, they'll end up like him" He pointed to the pieces of the trembling man, "That goes for everybody, including you. There's no 'saving anybody' in this world, remember that."

Kade steadily strolled out the door, and waited for the man to follow. He took one last glance at what was left of the trembling man, and departed.