Jack turned toward the tunnel exit, his boots ringing against the stone. The taste of demon heart still lingered in his mouth. Every time he tasted it, it became sweeter and sweeter.

[DING]

[Quest: Choose Your Allegiance]

[Objective: Side with either the Aurion (Light) or Thal'Gorin (Dark) clan]

[Reward: +50% Reputation with chosen clan]

[The Aurion City now respects and fears you!]

[Quest: Peacemaker]

[Objective: Help the Aurion and Thal'Gorin clans reach a peaceful resolution]

[Reward: 100 Stat Points, 100 Skill Points]

[FAILED]

"Tck.." Jack clicked his tongue at the notifications before him. He just lost out on a lot of Stat Points and Skill Points.

Kyren fell into step beside him, silent as always, while S continued peeling another tangerine with infuriating casualness.

'Time to plan my attack on Pho,' Jack thought, his mind already calculating the next moves.

A voice slithered into his mind.

It wasn't the system. It wasn't S's or even the demonic whispers he'd grown accustomed to hearing in the tower.

This was something else entirely, it was so deep that his brain struggled to process it as language at all.

'Sarin…'

The word crashed through Jack's skull like a warhammer.

His vision swam, the cavern tilting violently as every muscle in his body seized. The Infernal Spear clattered from his grip, clanging against stone as Jack stumbled forward.

Pain exploded through his chest.

Not physical pain, something deeper. Something that felt like his very soul was being crushed in an invisible fist.

His heart hammered against his ribs with such violence he thought it would burst through his armor, through flesh and bone, and splatter across the cavern floor.

"I'm not…" Jack gasped, trying to force the words out even as his knees buckled. "I'm not Sarin!"

'You reek, just like him.'

The titan's voice was speaking directly into Jack's consciousness, each word carrying the weight of millennia.

The pressure built with every syllable, crushing down on his mind like a mountain slowly collapsing.

"Gah!" Jack's hands flew to his helmet, clawing at it uselessly as the pain intensified. His fingers scrabbled against the crimson-black metal as if he could tear it off and somehow escape the agony.

Kyren moved instantly, his hand catching Jack's arm before he could collapse completely. The reanimated demon's hollow voice carried its usual emotionless tone. "Master?"

Jack couldn't answer. His jaw was clenched so tight he thought his teeth would crack.

The titan's presence pressed down on his consciousness like the weight of an entire ocean.

It was suffocating and inescapable.

'I'm not Sarin!' Jack screamed internally, desperately trying to make the titan understand. 'I don't know who that is! I just saw a memory… I lived through a dream! That's not me!'

'A dream?' The titan's voice sounded amused, if such a vast being could feel something so small.

'No, small thing. That was no dream. You were there. I would not forget that smell. You and Draven that battle hungry beast. I wouldn't forget that smell.'

The response was catastrophic.

Jack's blood ignited.

That was the only way to describe it.

Every vein, every artery, every capillary in Jack's body suddenly felt like it had been filled with molten metal.

Fire raced through his system, cooking him from the inside out.

"ARGH!!" Jack screamed relentlessly.

The sound tore from his throat, echoing through the cavern with enough force to send small rocks tumbling from the ceiling.

His body convulsed, back arching as every nerve ending lit up with agony beyond anything he'd experienced.

S's amused expression vanished. His red eyes widened as he spun toward the cavern, toward the massive form of the dying titan lying fifty meters below.

His perfect features shifted into something Jack had never seen before, genuine alarm. If Jack could see his face now.

"What in the…" S began, but Jack's screaming drowned out whatever else he was going to say.

Kyren held Jack upright, his grip firm but not crushing, his expressionless face tilted down toward his master. "Master, what is happening?"

Jack couldn't answer. His vision had gone white, shot through with veins of crimson.

His hands clawed at his helmet, trying to tear it off, trying to do anything to stop the pressure building in his skull. It felt like his brain was expanding, pressing against the inside of his cranium, threatening to crack it open like an egg.

'How did you do it?' The titan's voice rumbled through Jack's consciousness, curious now, almost gentle despite the agony it was causing.

'How are you here now? I know who killed you. You shouldn't be here.'

"I don't know!" Jack managed to choke out, the words torn from his throat between screams. "I don't know what I am! Please…. Stop…."

Blood began to drip from beneath his helmet. Not much at first, just a few drops that leaked from the T-shaped opening, running down the crimson-black armor in thin rivulets.

But then more came. From his nose, from his eyes, from his ears. His body was literally weeping blood as the titan's presence bore down on him.

'Fascinating,' the titan mused, and the pressure intensified. 'You are mortal. I can feel your fragility. Yet you reek of the Gods. Why is that?'

"I don't know!" Jack's voice was breaking, cracking with pain and desperation. 'Memory Orb…'

The pressure eased slightly. Not gone, but lessened enough that Jack could actually breathe without feeling like his lungs were being crushed.

Blood still poured from his helmet, but the intensity of the pain had dropped from completely unbearable to merely agonizing.

'A memory orb,' the titan said slowly. 'Draven's memory orb. Of course. The lightning god always did enjoy preserving his favorite moments. Battle hungry junkie never ceases to disappoint me.'

There was a pause, and Jack could almost feel the titan thinking, processing. 'So you experienced the moment I was wounded. You lived it as if you were Sarin himself. And now...'

The presence shifted, became less crushing and more... examining. Like the titan was studying Jack with senses far beyond human comprehension.

'You carry fragments of their power, the titan observed. Dark. Lightning. Not much, barely embers compared to the inferno that once existed. But it is there, woven into your very essence. How curious.'

Jack tried to respond, but his throat wouldn't work. His body was shutting down, overwhelmed by trauma. His knees gave out completely, and only Kyren's grip kept him from collapsing to the stone floor.

S stood at the ledge overlooking the titan.

"Release him, Typhon's pet," S's voice boomed through the cavern, echoing off stone walls with unnatural resonance. "Release him. Now. He is under my protection."

'A Contract Demon.' The titan's voice was laced with amusement. 'And one who speaks with authority, no less. Very well. I have learned what I wished to know.'

The presence in Jack's mind began to recede like a retreating tide, leaving devastation in its wake. The pressure lifted, the crushing weight on his consciousness fading to nothing. But the damage had been done.

Jack's eyes rolled back in his head. The white and crimson vision that had consumed his sight faded to black.

The pain, that all-consuming, reality-breaking agony, began to recede, not because it was actually lessening, but because his consciousness couldn't sustain itself under that assault any longer.

His last thought before darkness claimed him was a fragment, barely coherent: 'Sarin... the titan thinks I'm Sarin.'

Jack's body went limp in Kyren's arm. Blood continued to seep from beneath his helmet, pooling on the stone floor. His heart still beat, barely, each weak flutter was a minor miracle given what his body had just endured.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.