2.08 He saw it.

Looking down, he found nothing. But nothing ever is fine actually and ignoring those small sensations would be foolish of Maxim.

It was for this reason, that Maxim walked among the tortured bodies of the dead. He can see the pain on their face and the agony they must have suffered before death.

He can even feel the dread of these men, as they were forced to meet an early end to their life. And sad to say, he can even relate to them.

These images, these scenes from the past awakened memories of the past he had forgotten. Memories in which he still had his eyes and was a bright young man still unaware of the horrors he would face in the future.

"No, these are not my memories."

But Maxim was smart enough, he was not stupid to fall into such petty tricks, the memory infusion in his mind failed and he woke up in the same spot he was five minutes before. But now a hand was holding onto his feet.

A hand of a dead young man, who looked at him with tears in his eyes.

"Please… let me live on in you…" Cried the dead soul, its pain gushing into Maxim's body bit by bit.

This dead soul just wished to be remembered. He wished for someone to carry on his will. The thought of possessing never occurred to him.

To this dead soul, all he cared about was the people that waited for him to come back.

"It's already been too long. Just sleep, it will soon be over." And Maxim, unlike others, didn't treat the will of the young man as rubbish. Instead, he gave him some hope and coaxed the dead soul, as he slowly hunched down and pulled the hand of the man off his feet.

A gratifying scene, which just showed how different he was when compared to other visitors of this great creation of mine.

Though, this young man was not alone.

"Please… send money to my child…" Another older voice pleaded to him as it slowly dragged its broken body with organs spilling out toward Maxim.

Followed by other broken men. Most of them weren't even able to irk out a word besides groaning.

With all of their requests being the same.

Every single one of them wished for a better life, not just for themselves but for their own people as well. It was why they fought this nonsensical war.

A war that was caused by the disagreements between a young nation and an older principality. Due to this, these men were punished and forgotten.

Now they live in this dream of my creation, looking for someone that would carry on their will. Ignorant of the fact that those dreams would never be fulfilled. Nor can they ever be fulfilled.

But Maxim was different, in his eyes, the horrific undead seemed pitiful to him. He neither harmed them nor caused them further misery.

"I will help you, I will end this dream," Maxim said, remorse filling his heart. "But for now, sleep O' heroes of the old." With a small incision on his wrist, Maxim extracted the blood from his body and then using it as ink, drew a hex in the air.

Which caused the moving and crying bodies to slowly fall silent, acting as if they were never alive, to begin with. "I will end your suffering soon." He said moving away from the so-called tragic heroes.

The same heroes died out of cowardice and incompetence, causing further damage to the people they were meant to protect and ruining a great war, making it boring.

These were no heroes.

These were bastards that didn't deserve a peaceful end so soon.

Let Maxim promise what he wishes for, but whether he will succeed is another matter. So until then…

"You will suffer for as long as I exist on this plane," I warned, causing these sleeping souls to shake in fear. But this is what they get for their erroneous act toward their own.

*****

With that test pass, Maxim soon found himself in a different place and different time.

Though this time, the place was oddly familiar.

"Durum?" Looking at the familiar streets and the crowd of men that walk past the area, Maxim felt like a phantom out of time.

None of the people here noticed him, nor was Maxim interested in them.

As they were not real people, to begin with. They were nothing more than echoes of memories, images that someone's mind barely remembers.

It was for this reason that none of the people here had any face.

"Where am I?" Maxim asked, confused at the current scenario. At least on the last one, he was sure what he had to do. But not this time.

He couldn't even move from this place.

Though, as the injury on his hand still existed, he used some of the blood once again, intending to cast a hex once again.

But that would be too foolish of him, Maxim was a bit too much in hurry.

"Don't abandon this opportunity." A faceless young child that was walking on the streets said to Maxim, causing him to pause his actions.

But before he can look up, the child has long walked past him. And with his inability to move, he can't even turn around and follow him up.

'What sort of opportunity?' He was curious about the identity of the child, or the being that used the phantom of the child as its mouthpiece. But his work was more important at the moment.

With a body that was losing blood at a fast rate, he maintained his calm and followed up on the suggestion the child gave him before.

At least now he had a direction and understood what to do.

Which made me happy, losing my palm to send this message was not a bad decision.

Because this dream might be made by me, but its existence was far greater than mine, I was just a parasite leeching it off to survive while fertilizing it with the dreams of Durums citizens.

And besides, there was someone far stronger than me residing in this dream.

'Don't abandon this opportunity?… But what sort of opportunity?' Wondered Maxim. In his mind, he wished for this opportunity to come soon. Because the injury in his hand was one thing. The injury to the mind of Adam was way worse. He understood that he can't push the body of this young man too much.

Otherwise, his vessel might just become part of this dream forever.

And when he was considering resuming his act of leaving this dream, something odd happened.

A face that was clear as the day slowly walked out from a corner, a woman with beauty, unlike anything he had ever seen.

And the moment Maxim looked at that face, his body burned.

"Wake up." He shouted, knowing that he had seen something he shouldn't have. Maxim closed his eyes and used his spirit to cover the soul of the young man.

It was also when he was thrown out of the dream and back to the real world, that the burning smell of flesh entered his nose.

His flesh was on fire.

'I shouldn't have waited.' He might not be able to look at his current state, but from the burning pain in his left hand, he knew that he had lost it forever.

But at least sacrificing that hand saved the mind of not only him but the child named Adam as well.

"What… What happened?" Adam woke up a second later, still ignorant of the danger his body just faced before. He rubbed his face and felt something wet on it.

"Blood?" Looking at his hand, he was horrified for a second, closing one eye first and then the other, to confirm if his sight was still working. Which was odd and pretty swift for someone his age. But it went to show that he was not a wallflower that grew up without any experience.

"Adam, help me.' The voice of Maxim woke Adam from his worried stupor. He turned his head and looked at Maxim.

"Fire?"

It was already too late to save the hand, but Adam still dragged his body across the magic circle and asked in worry.

"Are you ok Mister Maxim?" he asked, his orifices were still bleeding heavily, which goes to show that Maxim's protection might not have been as extensive as he had expected.

Or, the entity that he saw was just that strong.

"I am ok, just click that button," he said, requesting the injured boy's help. Then pointing toward the wall where he thought the button might be.

Maxim can be considered lucky, because the boy's adrenaline was at an all-time high, hence becoming incapable of feeling his own weakness or fatigue. Which fooled the boy into thinking he was capable of getting up.

And this started a game of struggling to get up from the magic circle and then falling down like a puppet without strings.

It was fun.

But with this, these two might die today.

And I don't care much about this Adam kid. But I can't have Maxim fall so early. He still needs to live.

"This is the last time." A voice echoed into Maxim's voice, as the button was pressed on its own and the alarm was sent out.