Death
For a brief moment, Laemno's crippling pain lessened.
He opened his eyes, realizing that his surroundings had changed at some point. The verdure had been engulfed by pure darkness, the stars glittered no more, and the ground was void of any feature or color.
It was like swimming in a pool of shadows.
The sole anomaly in this empty space was an ashen throne, on which sat a blurred entity covered by fog. It wore a crown with the sigil of a silvery eye, eerily similar to the one Laemno had traded to the Veiled Matriarch.
"You will die," the entity said matter-of-factly, its voice neither male nor female. "The foe before you is not one you can triumph against."
"Who are you? And what is this place?" Laemno asked.
"I am a mere fragment, and this is our cradle," it paused, looking intently at Laemno. "Our shared psyche, if you will."