Nature

Prologue 5

 Codex wandered the dark, illuminated back streets of Old Kerston, staying in the harsh shadows and staying absolutely quiet. Night-wanderers were looked down upon in the ancient city, and were usually tossed in the Inifinitarium, a prison feared in all ten of the Twelve Kingdoms. Even gods like Life avoided contact with Kerston, a massive kingdom known for its undefeatable military force and collective short temper.

He made his way through the alleys and abandoned streets, finally arriving at his destination, a small, decrepit house with barred windows. Codex strolled, silent, up to the door and knocked rhythmically, a habit of his. From inside, the sound of feet shuffling and of locks clicking loose rang out on the quiet night and, after a few moments, the noise silenced and the door opened. Codex stepped into the dark home and heard the door shut behind him.

A guttural voice spoke. "Have the money?"

"I don't have The Money, Fern, but I do have money."

"Why do you have to be stupid like that?" Fern asked, his tone revealing annoyance. Lights clicked on and brought to Codex's eyes the image of a broken down home, full of dirty crates and a few even dirtier men sitting in a circle, playing cards.

"Because I like using correct grammar." Codex answered, annoyed at how the mortal had talked to him. How much Codex wanted to rip out the idiot's eyeballs! ... Alas, his powers were not... as present here as when he was home. "Incidentally, you might want to raise on your turn, your good friend Alex is bluffing." One of the men at the card game, a tall, thin mortal, stood up and pulled back his sleeves, but Fern stepped forward and pushed Alex away. He looked back at Codex and gave a mostly toothy smile.

"Hey, keep acting like that and I don't care if you get as stupid as Joe!" Another man from the table, this one fat and ugly (even for a mortal), scowled and clenched his fists. "Easy there Joe, your blood pressure." Fern guided Codex to a table, one of the only pieces of furniture in the room, and sat him down, sitting on the other side.

"Shall we discuss the terms of our deal?" Codex asked, giving a sly smile.

"Sure." Fern answered, giving a smile of his own.

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Travis was cold. So very cold. He could feel himself shivering inside. On the outside, however, he was burning up.

He had finally escaped, but...

At what cost?

When Travis had broken from his chains, he had felt that one moment of triumph...

... right before he blacked out from the pain.

Life must have put some kind of trap in that room that would prevent Travis from escaping. When Travis had tried to get up, he had thrown up from another spasm of pain that had shot through his veins and his heart. When he felt his forehead, he felt heat pulsating from the skin, as if he had a fever. But the cold...

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Life always knew that Travis would try to escape. He hadn't known, however, how much power Travis truly had. Even Life hadn't been able to remove all of his abilities. No matter, Life reasoned, it wasn't like Travis was really escaping.

Life looked over Travis' mind. He smiled. The safeguards that Life had put up in that room had worked tremendously well. Travis' mind was slowly cracking. Having pain shoot through your body every time you breathed or moved did that to you. Not to mention that Travis was also being hurt mentally in his dreams, he was malnourished, and that he was under the influence of a couple of pain-inducing drugs Life had administered.

Life then focused his attention to the young Madison's mind map. Her mind, too, was cracking. Life saw that her emotions were on the fritz as well, with feelings such as guilt and loneliness coursing through her brain. All signs pointed towards depression in the mortal, though not quite at the point of suicide just yet.

Life would just have to try harder.