Waking up I felt weird, water was surronding my body. The water was strangely warm, just as warm as the hand which were holding me afloat. I felt calm, free of pain. As I opened my eyes I realized where I was, I was again in the realm in between. Wil was holding me afloat with his arm, he looked happy but also sad. "Wil, why am I back here" I asked, he paused for a second before answering "I pulled you back to my realm because I couldn't stand you beeing treated like that." I smiled happy that I had found a person who cared for me, Wil and I had our differences last time but I felt like we had moved past those, becoming friends in the end. "Um ... can you maybe stand on your own. My arms are starting to give in." he said with a facial expression that said forgive me. I guess he was overly concerned over our friendship, since I guessed he hasn't hat much contact with other people in a while. "Sure" I answered as he released me, I now stood in the middle of the lake "Wow, I didn't realize that this lake was so shallow" I stated, to which he responed with a laugh replying "Normaly the depth is endless, but if I grant someone permission they can easily stand everywhere in the lake." I wondered "Endless depth, is this some kind of magical lake?", he responded "You could say that, but don't let its name freak you out. It is called the Lake of Dead Souls, as it is filled with the souls of the dead, waiting to cross over into the other realm. Basically, if anyone or anything wants to cross realms they need to stop here and ask for my permission." my eyes widened. I wasn't sure if I should feel weird, scared or just happy to be safe and see him again "Do you want to leave the lake and step out of the water?" he asked concerned about me, to which I replied "Yeah, do you have some kind of house or place to stay at?". He shook his head "No sadly not, I mean ... there isn't anything else here other then this lake so ... I guess not.", we walked through the water to the shore, as we left the water I was once again reminded of Wils imprisonment when his chains rattled as he was leaving the water. We sat next to eachother on the shore looking at the lake, there truly wasn't anything else in this realm except the lake. This made me feel sad and sorry for Wil who was trapped here for god knows how long. 

After a few minutes of silence I started asking Wil questions, I wanted to know more about him. "How long have you lived here?" I asked curiosity taking the better of me, "Since the existence of time, I have remained here guiding the souls of the dead to the other side. But that wasn't always the way. A very very long time ago I myself freely roamed Terra, feeling the nature and enjoying my creation. But I did some mistakes and ended up here, by my own free will might I add." I felt saddness hearing about his tragic story, he continued "Back then I believed that my feelings and emotions towards what I had done would remain the same. That is why I chained myself up here unable to leave, unable to escape my own punishment. Except I was wrong, over the centuries my understanding changed, I can't come to peace with what I had done. However I still yearn for something I can't achieve, freedom." he paused for a minute, then resumed by adding "I wish I could walk the grounds of Terra again but I can't, nobody is at fault but myself and I don't blame anyone. In spite of that I still felt disgustet and angry when I first met you here, the reason I punished myself were humans. I did something to them back then, which caused my self inflicted punishment. I am truly sorry about how I reacted the first time. Please ... please don't leave me alone after everything I have told you." he started crying and sobbing loudly. I embraced him, trying to soothe his pain, just as he had done the same for me. Wil finally calmed down, and was back to his usual indifferent self, only this time he kept smiling. We stayed like that for a while.

"I will help you." he said, "With what?" I asked. Wil replied "Simply said. Everything." He stood up and I quickly did the same. It was then, when we were standing next to eachother, I again realized how small he was in comparision to me. I could probably easily lift him with how small he was, despite his small size he had the appearance of a 20 year old. "I can't enter the realm of the living, but that doesn't mean that I can't interact with it." he said, to which I replied "What are you going to do?". He didn't answer, instead he turned around and walked back towards the water, there he sat down and grabbed one of the two golden chains attached to his feet. Which started glowing brightly, I could see the whole chain glowing, revealing just how exremly long it was since the whole lake was glowing golden. The chain started to rustle and the lakes calmness was gone, replaced by a storm. "Wait! Tell me what you are going to do." I told him, but he didn't answer. Instead he fell on his back, immediately I touched him to help him, he was burning hot. Suddenly golden blood was dripping out of his mouth as he was whimpering in pain. I embraced him and held him with a firm grasp. We remained like that for atleast an hour before his fever died down and he was no longer in pain.

"I am sorry to frighten you, but I have my reasons. You can now return back to the realm of the living without fearing your captor." he said clearly exhausted from what he had done. Shocked to see what he went through I asked "Why did you do that? You could have died and what do you mean?".

"You will see soon enough." he replied as he leaned in for a kiss, I could suddenly feel my tiredness getting the better of me as I closed my eyes in the warm arms of Wil. Everything faded and darkness consumed me once again, but this time it was warm and I felt calm.