Fallen's eyes widened as Vulgar's voice suddenly boomed from the dark silence. 

'V-Vulgar?!' 

“Ark!” The Horseman tightened its rough grip before Vulgar's voice rang out again. 

“No matter which path you had chosen… You were always going to end up in the same place.” 

The walls of the Horsemen's chamber began to distort and shimmer, as if reality itself was warping. Slowly, they started to melt, the once-solid stone now flowing like molten wax. The air was filled with the sound of stone dripping and hissing as it hit the ground. The walls dissolved away, revealing other chambers beyond. 

These chambers were dark and filled with twisted creatures of darkness. Their forms were grotesque, with elongated limbs and distorted features. Some had multiple eyes that gleamed with a slight crimson glow, while others had gaping maws filled with rows of sharp, jagged teeth. Their skin was a sickly, mottled grey, and their movements were jerky and unnatural, as if they were puppets being controlled by unseen strings.

The creatures emitted low growls and hisses, menacing sounds that echoed through the chamber. Above, the ceiling slowly began to crumble and disintegrate, revealing the shrine with the ruby eye. 

Fallen felt his blood run ice cold as the ruby eye stood at the centre, fully healed and glowing with that familiar, ominous crimson light. The ruby eye cracked and crackled with dark energy, the sound echoing through the chamber like the crack of a whip. 

The dark, hollow space around the ruby eye pulsed with an eerie crimson energy, the air seemingly vibrating with its sheer power. The twisted creatures in the surrounding chambers loomed underneath the ruby eye as more appeared, snapping their unblinking gazes on Fallen. The whole space became engulfed in their crimson glow as the Horseman held him aloft. All the twisted creatures and Horsemen mingling like an army of shadows. 

“Arr!!” Fallen let out a hardened cry as he felt the skin of his left palm slowly peeling off, the tattooed number fading into his skin as if it never existed. 

“I… thought… we had… a deal!!” Fallen barely managed to utter the words. 

He felt confused, hurt, angry, in pain—and, most of all, dumb. Why did he think Vulgar would keep his word? What did he think was going to happen? Did he think he was going to be some kind of hero? Him? A mere dweller, a creature of ruin and darkness… why did he think… why did he think he was something? 

Why? 

“Oh, Seeker of the Light, I broke no rules. Time in the Hollow Temple and time in the Ruined City work differently… and yours is faster. In Hollow Temple, three days; in Ruined City, three months. You should be grateful, after all, in your world’s logistics, I gave you extra time,” Vulgar responded, his tone deep and mocking. 

Fallen just lay there, his body stiffly swaying as he felt his heart drop. 

‘What…’ 

Pain, anger, sadness—his body couldn’t register anything as it swayed weakly in the Horseman’s grip. 

‘What… no…’ 

“A chance—fifty days to save your people—more even… and you still failed,” Vulgar’s voice, laced with venom and mockery, rang in his head as he looked ahead, eyes dreary and body limp. 

“Hmm,” Vulgar exclaimed, as if issuing an order, before the ruby stone behind Fallen began to crack. Though he registered nothing, his heart felt heavy. The sound of splintering crystal echoed through the chamber. The slender man inside, previously frozen in time, started to stir. His long, silky silver hair shimmered as he moved, and his pale, elegant fingers slowly reached out through the widening fissures in the ruby. 

The air was thick, the creatures of the dark ominously silent, as if anticipating something. The eerie silence was broken only by the sound of cracking stone. The slender man’s hand emerged, delicate and ethereal. His fingers brushed against Fallen’s back, the touch both gentle and cold, sending a shiver down Fallen’s spine. 

A subtle glow began to emanate from beneath the slender man’s finger, the longer they lingered on Fallen’s twitching, scarred, and bruised back. The light seemed to be drawn from within Fallen’s body, a soft, ethereal luminescence that pulsed gently in response to the touch. 

The glow slowly intensified, illuminating the slender man’s hand and casting a faint halo around the point of contact. It spread, like tendrils of light weaving through the air, connecting Fallen and the slender man. The light danced across Fallen’s bruised and battered body, its azure glow mixing with the crimson glow from above. 

The ruby stone, now cracked and fractured, reflected the glow in a display of shimmering facets. The twisted creatures and Horsemen seemed momentarily subdued; their darkness overshadowed by the light as Vulgar's bitter-filled huff echoed. 

It was as if Fallen’s being was absorbed by the slender man; he felt his body grow numb, his expression—one of dreary fear, anger, and confusion—frozen in place. The Horseman continued to hold him in the same position, unmoving like a statue. 

The slender man slowly pulled his arm back into the cracked ruby and faded into its hue as if he were never there, leaving only the fractured crystal behind. 

‘….’

“A Deadman with a heart of light,” Vulgar’s voice boomed in the eerie silence, “…How distasteful,” he continued, his tone laced with bitterness. 

“A…ar,” Fallen could barely think, let alone open his mouth to speak. 

“Do you deserve to live? Even as a dead man?” It sounded as though Vulgar were talking to himself before he continued, “Well, it doesn’t matter. A ruin you are no more, a creature of shadow you are forever. Even if you still retain that heart of light, I will turn you into my flesh. I will take you back to those very hollows you so desperately fought to escape… I will turn you back into a creature of darkness…. If that’s what it takes… to finally cease that damned light within you.”