"Screw this!" Mine cursed under his breath as he ran.

He ran and ran and ran more and more. Not paying attention to the drops of an exquisite liquid he left behind that stained the ground wherever he went.

"Why are you running from me?" Agarath's distorted voice came from a puppet.

Mine didn't scream, the fear consuming and crossing his wide eyes. His mask had fallen to the ground some time ago and a few meters back. Tearing a piece of his then little torn cloth, he imbued it with a spell and made a mana mask to cover his face. Hiding? Shame? In fact, Mine resorted to that kind of trick once a few puppets started releasing poison from their mouths!

There were two types: the ones who launched gas from their mouths, while others lit a mana flame. A perfect set of self-destructing bombs!

Before the first duo could explode, Mine numbed their bodies with mana spheres. The first hit the "lighter" puppet, who fell limp on the floor, splattering a viscous liquid from their stitched limbs. The second and third mana spheres hit two main puppets that expelled gas.

Sick! It's just sick! Mine screamed to himself in his mind.

Mine dodged the other five puppets by stepping on their heads and kicking them backward. As soon as he landed, he slipped on a liquid, but his semitransparent cloak suddenly turned hard, and he quickly stood back up. The phenomenon was the same as what occurred in the mysterious hallway he had been in after escaping from Agarath's private garden.

Mine gained some space between him and the puppets. He arrived at a pompous hall of genuine richness. It wasn't like the other rooms he had been in. The golden drops flowing from his bruises matched the gold of the decorations, and the gold inlaid on the staircase. Still, even though he had run that much, the wolves and pigs surrounded it. After all, he was just a sacrificial lamb, so, at one time or another, he would be sacrificed for the better good... of the wolves.

Drip.

Drip.

What had fallen was no longer gold but simply a few drops of salty water staining the flooring.

"Stay away from me!" Mine shouted, imbuing his hands with the Chronos' energy. "I-I'm not scared of you!" he growled, but his trembling hands told otherwise.

"Very well," one of the puppets voiced Agarath's voice and smirked.

Despite being a sacrificial lamb, he did not give up. Mine kicked the puppets, dirtying the marble floor with the crimson of their falling drops of liquid jewels. Some of them groaned while others cried like zombies, and there were some others whose eyes watered like the humans they were once.

Mine dodged to the side, letting the puppets slam against the flooring. He prepared for another attack wave, but someone's heels' sound echoed in the hall… all the puppets stopped.

"Hm… your species are really… formidable…," a tall man approached the crowd, which opened the way for him to come closer to the shivering lamb.

"Agarath…" Mine breathed, his knees feeling weak.

"If you were obedient… none of this would have happened…" Agarath grinned, and a sharp, vicious blade appeared behind him. "Now... be obedient and go back to your chambers."

Agarath used the sword to tear the air and open the portal to that same lush garden that Mine once stood in. The only difference was that it looked much more vivid and flowery, but Mine knew it was just makeup to hide his true purpose behind the flowers and colors.

The puppets - once with tense ankles and hands ready for combat - became solemn statues around Mine and Agarath as if they were walls. They closed their eyes and placed their right hand on their chest, bowing slightly. Such a gesture made Agarath smile in satisfaction, and, extending his hand, he looked at Mine with a calm and gentle look.

"Come on, I'll take care of you," Agarath smiled, and Mine flinched. "Ah... is it about the puppets bringing you back alive or not? I exaggerated a little but, my beautiful Chronos... I would never hurt you," he said with some regret. "My proposal still stands. Aiden won't bother you anymore, and I will protect you... and help you control that power you have inside of you," he smiled - a sideways smile.

However, Mine wasn't convinced of Agarath's "regret," and looked at him, still uncertain. Nothing came out of his mouth except his tight breathing and chewed words until he bitterly swallowed half of the dread in the dense air. "How are you going to do that?"

"Ohoho! I have spent years studying your kind... yes, yes... and I know enough that your uncle barely has time to teach you these things," Agarath posed proudly. "It's ironic that he doesn't have time, since he controls time and stuff, Hahahahaha! E-erm, anyway... I can help you, Mine," he offered his hand again.

Mine blinked a few times and looked around. "Are you… going to keep my family safe?" it echoed from his lips.

Agarath smiled solemnly. "If we have a deal, yes."

Mine stared at the ground and then looked at Agarath. "What are you going to do with me?" His chin trembled.

Agarath's smile twisted, but his pose remained the same. "Transparency, huh, my little Chronos?" he chuckled softly. "Okay, I'll tell you what I'll do: I'll collect materials from you, but I can't tell you why."

That sentence seemed to have the power to make Mine's skin itch, but, hiding his trembling hands, he looked at Agarath with fervor and kicked his chest. The sword from Agarath's hand fell to the ground. Mine caught it quickly and-

SLASH.

"NO!!!!!!" Agarath exclaimed.

The sword fell to the ground, inert. Next to it, strands of grayish-green hair fell. Mine's breathing was rapid and short, feeling the euphoria make his muscles alert again. His eyes turned to the ground, at the same place where the sword fell along the strands of hair. Golden drops fell to the ground, staining the strands of hair and the sword, but Mine wasn't worried about the numbing sensation on his throat.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??!!!!" Agarath shouted angrily.

"If you want materials, take them," Mine flexed his legs, bringing a hand to his throat. "I'll deal with Chronos and... I know you won't keep the deal anyway."

Agarath's facial and body expressions completely changed. Before, his serene face had a certain elegance and composure, but now his eyebrows transformed the shape of his eyes, and the exposed fangs left his smile far from gentle.

The environment began to vibrate, and the walls distorted along with the previously target floor. The windows seemed to scream with the tremor, and the tall statues fell to the ground, shattering into pieces. All the puppets fell to the floor, becoming a puddle of fluids and an indescribable, spongy mass.

Agarath picked up his sword from the ground and stared at the strands of hair with the pool of golden liquid on top of them. "You... how dare you ruin... HOW DARE YOU RUIN YOURSELF LIKE THIS?!!!"

The entire room vibrated again. Illusions also filled Mine's vision, which oscillated between reality and lies. His hand was still pressed against his neck, where the golden liquid fell to the floor, but in a less intense flow than before.

"YOU WERE SO BEAUTIFUL!!! SO IMMACULATE!!! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!!! ARE YOU MAD?!!" Agarath swayed his sword, cutting the mushy matter on the flooring from the puppets.

In the windows that vibrated with Agarath's tantrum and the resonance of his essence in that environment, some shadows eventually approached the glass and tried to enter as if trying hard to break what separated them from that place. One of the shadows was larger, and a pair of crimson eyes reflected on the transparent glass. A bang caught Mine's attention, who quickly turned his gaze to the window and the large shadow trying to break the glass.

Mine grinned and finished healing his throat. "Nah, I'm a coward," he looked at the window, then at Agarath, "… and very smart too."

Mine threw a smoke bomb right on Agarath's face, and the figure's shadow he saw crashed inside. He barely had time to cover his face, and the individual crashed the window, sending shards everywhere.

A man. He was standing right in front of Mine. Maybe he hadn't paid enough attention to the curled boy with glass shards on his arm. Mine gasped when he saw sharp claws on the man's hand and miasma around him.

While Mine was astonished, Agarath was weirdly happy.

"Oh!" Agarath chuckled. "Here's our most illustrious unwelcome guest! Behold-!!" he was fast enough to avoid a few of the foreign person's killing attempts.

"YOU SOLD ME!! HOW DARE YOU SELL ME TO HER?!" The foreign man shouted, after breaking a few puppets as if they were made of plastic.

Mine attempted to run away, but the illusions made him go back to the room anyway. He was running in circles! Meanwhile, the fight between the mysterious man and Agarath was fierce and horrifying.

Shiit! I need to get out of here, but how?! Mine fretted internally, avoiding the duo's spells.

Clink.

Clink.

Clink.

That sound made Mine look at the fighting duo. The mysterious man was covering half of his face with his hand. Agarath was joyfully laughing, throwing the mask to Mine's feet.

"Look, my dear Chronos!! Do you know him?" Agarath grabbed the man's hair, forcing him to look at Mine in the darkness. His once crimson rubies turned into heterochromatic jewels that glowed in the darkness.

"!!" Mine gasped and widened his eyes.

The man's eyes met Mine's, whose face was as pale as the man's. Both stared at each other for a round two seconds. Both mouths slightly opened in gape.

"Addai?!" Mine cried, but Addai's mouth couldn't emit a sound once Agarath started choking him.

Agarath oddly smirked and whistled. A puppet appeared beneath the man and embraced him in a suffocating hug, trapping him. Another puppet did the same with Mine, who wriggled as much as he could, but only bruised his body. The demon took his sword and leisurely aimed it at the Addai's vital point. Addai's eyes widened, and a tall shadow violently came from his body, growling and surrounding the mad Agarath, who laughed out loud.

"Wait- STOP!!!" Mine shouted when Agarath's sword was held high, in attack position.

SLASH.

Agarath gasped and continued to force the sword into Addai's neck, but Mine held the blade with such strength. He didn't care about the golden drops falling to the ground or the sharp pain in his cut hands.

"I... I want to at least protect one person today!" Mine clenched his jaw, glaring at Agarath.

Agarath scoffed. "Poor girl... it's a pity you couldn't save her..." he chuckled and put more force on the blade. "Now you think you'll make up for a mistake with a shallow act of bravery?!" the blade cut Mine's palms.

"I don't want to make up for anything!!" Mine screamed, feeling his body tingle. "But I don't want to do the same thing again!"

The landscape was covered by an orange filter that changed to a strong, yellow like the twilight sun. Mine had his hand outstretched, slowly pulling the blade away from him and Addai, who had his mouth covered with the inert puppet's hand. Perhaps it was from the loss of blood or the condensation of conflicting energies but Mine, as he held Agarath's sword with his hands, his uncle's voice resounded in his head. It wasn't harsh, nor gentle, sounding more like a piece of advice.

Mine, pay attention. Use this mask when you need to use your full potential but keep in mind that if you use it... once you don't know how to control the alter, you'll go back to Chronos dimension, and your physical body will perish as a countermeasure to seal the creature again after you use your powers. Rito's voice echoed around Mine.

I won't commit the same mistake twice! Mine said to himself, groaning as the blade hurt his hand.

Emotions for us are difficult to handle. We feel too much, and it can be dangerous to our control. Rito "said", solemnly.

I know, uncle! But I won't commit the same mistake again! Mine repeated, holding the blade tightly and slowly backing it away.

From the toes to hair, Mine felt his entire body vibrate. He pushed the blade farther and felt another thin layer of fabric covering his arms and legs, but nothing appeared other than his costume in tatters. On his back, what once burned like an open wound, it now felt nothing but the sensation that something was attached to his back. A golden, adorned mask covered his face.

"You'll die in seconds, and I'll have you anyway!! HAHAHAH!" Agarath laughed out loud at Mine, who took a step forward, and all Agarath's illusions faded. "What?!"

The mask had vanished, and the clouds of dust of gold incorporated into him. When the gold dust was completely incorporated into Mine, his skin glowed, and there were drawings all over his face, but a single diamond on his forehead remained while the others turned lighter.

CRACK!

The blade broke completely!

Agarath gritted his teeth and snapped his fingers. Many puppets formed from the flooring of mushy matter, and they stood firmly and boldly looking at the eerie being standing before Agarath and the man.

"Weaken him!" Agarath snapped his fingers again, and the puppets shivered, soon turning into action.

Mine raised his hand, and a glowing dome formed in the room. Soon, the puppets slowed their pace, as well as Agarath, whose scream slowly faded and stopped running towards him. Everything was still like a picture.

Mine exhaled and looked at the palm of his hand. There was an hourglass shape where the diamond shape used to be, and the "sand" was falling on the bottom part of the figure.

Addai blinked, letting the drops of blood and sweat run through his face and landing on the flooring. He stared at the odd being right in front of him that was and wasn't the friend he knew.

"... Mine...?"

Mine flinched and looked at Addai, his eyes wide. "I... I did it..." he muttered. "I..." he looked at his own trembling hands, "I am still alive!"