Ludo fumbles down the concrete halls, letting himself be meekly pushed by the guards. He felt chills along his spine and tears reconstituting his face. Sliding beyond the deep silver bars, he slumps down on his bed, head in still restrained hands. Across from him, his roommate peered curiously up from his book at the groveling man.

Ludo’s roommate was, compared to him, a twig. Even for a kelkeon- the species he was- he was lacking in muscle, with his pencil neck supporting no more than what looked like a beachball atop of a doll made of loose, dry sticks. His ears made up for that however, as they have lobes that extend like buckets on the sides of his head. They droop down into cups that scoop the sounds out of the air like water and directly into the inner ear. His prison garb was loose fitting, at least three sizes too large, as he attempted to tuck the shirt into his constantly sagging sweatpants whose cuffs hung to where only the tips of his toes were visible. They were a necessity though, as without them all other shirts would likely only stretch to his belly button, revealing his slim, green frame. His nose was concave, like it had been kicked in harshly, though this was simply a part of kelkish DNA. His eyes were big and full of curiosity, sparking new lights as he peered at Ludo.

They sat for a while in abject silence, Ludo’s mumbled gulps and gasps growing an unease in his roommate that he couldn’t quite shake. When the stream finally stopped and Ludo leaned back against the wall, he finally noticed his viewer. They catch glances and he shakes slightly before directing his eyes back into his book. 

Ludo couldn’t quite shake those chills. They stuck to his spine like glue, sending ripples of cold all around his body. The more his teeth chattered, the more he began to press his quivering hands together. Eventually the chatter became so loud that a prisoner in the next cell banged on the paper thin walls,

“Cut that noise, will ya?”

“S-s-so-s-s-sor-s-s-orry,” he apologizes, still trembling, eyes now opening slowly and brows turning upwards.

“Are… you alright?” his cellmate asks.

Ludo shakes his head. He could feel his nervous system going numb with the cold, the tingling rippling through his legs and arms. He slowly attempts to hold onto his necklace, but it slips through his slick vibrating fingers.

“C-c-all a d-doctor.”

Ludo’s vision blurs and darkens, eyes still wide open. The cellmate looks on with wide eyes as he sees what appears to be ice crawl out from Ludo’s eye sockets, stopping his chattering jaw but spawning icicles that now hang from the lids.

The cellmate shakily leaves the confines of his sheets and approaches Ludo, who had now ceased all movement, mouth and eyes agape, ice creeping up from his feet from a small puddle that had condensed at the side of his bed from his tears. Tapping on his shoulder, he felt just as he looked. His slab had become slippery, a sheet of ice covering him over as if he had been dunked in a freezing river. Recoiling from the cold, Rezuc scrambles to his feet and begins to bang mercilessly on the cell bars.

“Doctor! Somebody, please! Call a doctor!”

“Whuddya shut it?” the same prisoner growls.

The entire block had begun speaking in a low murmur as the cellmate banged on, trying to get the attention of the guards. Looking back at the still figure, the necklace had begun to glow dimly, light pulsing from its gemstone eyes.

Guards rushed to the cell and called the doctor upon seeing Ludo’s frozen body. Ludo fought his senses but failed to stay conscious. The lack of oxygen hardly mattered to a borman, but the cold managed to breach his heart, his lifestone- the only organ in his body. The energy stored within began to slowly deplete as he drifted off into a deep, stiff sleep.

.

.

.

Moments later he awakes, surrounded by an infinite blackness that could only be described as nothing and everything all at once. His mind was numb, steadily relaying the same patterns of blinks and twitches that were necessary, but nothing more. Slowly, his eyes began to adjust to the blackness and in the distance he could see the dim light of a candle burning, its warm glow inviting Ludo to approach carelessly. The closer he approached, the more around he could see. The blackness around him slowly began to fade, leaving him in a blank room with no windows or decorations to adorn the walls. The candle sat on a table which was in the middle of the room, but that’s not what caught his attention.

Sitting at the table was a tall, looming figure, cloaked in shadow and tightly tied cotton robes that turned the floor around it into a carpet. Its hands were the only things visible, as they sat together upon the table next to a long stretch of parchment and a quill pen and inkwell. They were pure white, even under the flickering warm colors of the candle. Their boneyness stretched whatever skin had laid on top of them.

“Ah, hello there Ludo,” it murmurs. 

“Where am I? And how do you know my name?”

It chuckles slightly, with a deathly sharp popping extenuating the highs of its noises.

“You may have many questions, but I cannot answer them all. Please, have a seat.” It raises its hand up and snaps. In front of the table a chair pops into existence, its wooden legs crunching out of thin air first before the rest shoots up like a freshly aired balloon. Ludo taps the chair with his foot. It stares back at him stationary.

“Don’t worry, it wont bite.” It chuckles. Ludo complies carefully. 

“Where am I?” Ludo insists.

It sighs this time, but Ludo can see the sheen of its flat smile through the shadow in its hood. 

“We are in your mind.” It snaps again. The walls around them creak and groan, losing their shade as they slowly crumble apart, sending their debris to the floor and sending dust into the air. After the clouds settle and he coughs the dust out of his mouth, Ludo’s eyes widen as he peers at his new surroundings. 

The room stretched tall into the heavens, with deep colored oaken bookshelves lining the walls, which themselves were lined with red wallpaper with the shape of roses and fancy pentacles. Books flew off of the shelves, controlled by what seemed like nothing but the air itself. The ones that stayed on were much thicker than others, but all had the same thing in common- their constantly expanding number of pages. Every second in each book pages upon pages of unknown words and dialects filled the books’ bindings to bursting, and with each increasingly full shelf a new one would be in its stead, rising from the croaking floorboards and being filled with their own books themselves. The chairs they sat in also changed, each one growing exponentially with arms and seats and backs turning into a fine velvet which softly brushed against Ludo’s skin. 

When Ludo finally took it all in, the figure lowered its hood and quickly untied its robes. Its face was as pale as the winter snow, its eyes the size of pinholes with no eyebrows or nose to speak of. They stared deep into Ludo’s consciousness, as if they were examining his body for a nice chunk of meat to slice off. Its mouth smiled widely, the pale white teeth melding with its skin mixed with the lack of lips made Ludo shiver down to his lifestone. It wore a glossy tailored red suit with a similarly glossy red bow tie and matte white undershirt. It all contrasted fancily with its pure black slacks and shiny black dress shoes. Reaching behind itself, it pulls out a large red disk and punches it. With a loud popping noise akin to that of opening an umbrella, it places the disk- now a shiny red top hat with its own stretched white smile and a small green eyeball that peered into your thoughts- on top of its head.

“Shall we get to business, my host?” It’s smile widens across its entire head.

“Host?” Ludo asks, but is quickly ignored.

“I’ve been eyeing you for a long while,” it explains, “You have some excellently devilish desires that I am happy to fulfill.” It smiles and quickly scribbles black ink on the paper in front of it. The lines of gibberish slowly rearrange into readable words- paragraphs upon paragraphs of words. Twirling it around, the figure lays the scroll in front of Ludo for him to examine.

“I don’t want you to be in the dark, so read up my host.”

Ludo squints at it as it peers at him from across the table, its gummy smile gleaming in the candlelight. Ludo barely reads a letter before picking up the paper and tearing it in half. The figure retracts its smile and sticks out its lower lip for a moment before its poppling laugh brings its teeth back and it snaps. The paper Ludo held had dissolved into a fine ash and in its place on the table spawned an identical copy of it.

“Don’t worry,” it sneers, “I make copies.”

Ludo slams down on the table and shoots to his feet.

“What even are you?!” He yells. 

It’s smile twitches slightly. Slowly, it appears to collapse in on itself, folding and twisting its skin into a singularity in space. Within a second it’s gone from the chair, and within another Ludo hears a high pop and is forced back into his chair, the figure now standing at his feet and staring deeply into his eyes. 

“You have too many questions my host,” it insists, “There are rules to my visits y’know.”

Ludo glares at it.

It sighs, “Fine. I will answer your first three questions since you let me in so kindly.” 

It morphs and folds once again before popping in the chair.

“One, I go by many names.” It crosses its legs and places a small, intricately carved hourglass with sand as blue as the sky on the table. “But currently I go by Crafty Red. Two, we are in your dreaming subconscious. You were kind enough to let me in- and it’s about time! I’ve been trying for years. You’re a real tough cookie, y’know?”

Ludo scowls.

“Three, since we’re in your mind I can read all your thoughts. You’re a very interesting specimen.” It stretches its hand- really stretches it- and pulls a book off the shelf. “Only 30 years old and already taking your first life? Oh how they grow!”

“Quit mocking me you… you… creature!”

Crafty Red disfigures its jaw and leans back, letting out a loud gargling laugh.

“A creature? That’s the best you could come up with?”

It teleports around Ludo multiple times, prodding him with elongated fingers.

“I am no mere creature my host,” it mocks, “I am a Being, greater than you can comprehend. A god of your mortal world, the controller to your game, the computer to your simulation. To call me a creature is to admit you’re no more living than a dead pile of leaves!”

“Then why have you appeared to me?”

It pauses above Ludo’s head and floats back over to its chair with an oomph as it lands.

“Well, that last question was a gimmie, so I’ll give you this one. Four, you’re strong. Really strong. Your will to live is stronger than any other lowlife I’ve helped.”

Ludo scoffs and looks to the floor at his side.

“I’m not strong, I’m just hard headed.”

“Oh what’s the difference?” it laughs, “You are the strongest host I’ve ever had, bar none. That’s why I chose you.”

“Chose me for what?”

“To receive a special deal.” It takes the paper from the table and begins to read. “If signed, Crafty Red will grant the signer power beyond what is physically possible. You will become the strongest living thing in the universe. In exchange, Crafty Red gets to live in your subconscious, rent free.”

It holds the paper back to Ludo, who quickly scans it himself.

“With your signature, you will become stronger than anything else.”

Ludo looks up at him with his scrunched brow. “But… if I’m already the strongest you’ve met, then why would I need your power?”

It chuckles, “Because I’ve seen into your desires.” It reaches back to its chair and flips through the book it took from the shelf, slamming it on the table face up. Ludo cautiously looks between Crafty Red and the book before picking it up. The book had a brilliantly cut ruby binding- the same as his lifestone- with a collection of water stained and dry pages. On the page Crafty Red has selected, the entire page was stained with blood, say for a single paragraph which stood as pristine as if it was newly printed. As he read the clean words, his eyes sunk into his head and his lips began to dry. He shakily closed the book and placed it back on the table.

Still smiling, Crafty Red placed the pen and inkwell in front of Ludo.

“So what will it be?”

Ludo slowly reaches out his hand for the pen, grasping it lightly in his trembling palm. But as he stares at the scroll laid before him, his trembling stops and his fist clenches, snapping the quill in two. 

“Oh now, be careful.” Crafty Red snaps his fingers and another quill appears in front of him. “Sign clearly and carefully please.”

“No.”

Red’s pinholes enlarge slightly and his smile twitches. “No?”

“I won’t fall for your scheme, whatever it may be.”

“Hey now, there’s no scheming going on here!” it smiles and raises his hands.

“You literally call yourself “Crafty Red”. Ain’t no way I’m trusting someone like you.”

It exhales, “Suit yourself.” It snaps and everything in front of him distorts away in the same way he did. “I can’t force you to sign, it comes with the job.”

“Job?” Ludo grunts.

“But please keep me in mind. Oh, and your little friend won’t know anything about this.”

Ludo stares at it. “Who?”

“Your little green friend that's sitting across from you. As long as you’re in here, pages won’t be added to your story.” It begins to morph away, along with everything in its surrounding. The bookshelves, the table, the chairs, everything began to be sucked through the mouth on its hat like a vacuum lifting debris off a carpet.

“Wait, what do you mean "my story"?” 

“Too little time my host,” it giggles, “Ta ta!”

And like that, all color around Ludo pops out of existence, leaving only the shine of his own body to light his path.