Simon opened his eyes in a dark cave, illuminated only by torches embedded in the walls. He sat up and rubbed his forehead, trying to chase the migraine away. He felt awful, without an ounce of energy, queasy and cold. It felt like nothing was right and his whole body was screaming in pain and discomfort. Around him, there were only walls made of stone and dirt, as if he was in a giant rabbit hole.

  “Finally awake ?”

  He turned his head to discover a tall figure leaning against the wall, with a face that seemed either tired or uninterested. It was the new familiar.

  “Staniss ? Where are we ?”

  The man scratched his green hair and shrugged.

  “Sixth artifact, I guess ? The Shaman is inside with Alexei.”

  The familiar gritted his teeth, a sudden hint of anger and jealousy clouding his expressionless face, but it disappeared just as quickly. He combed his hair with his hand and shrugged again.

  “I’ll taste him some day. No need to get impatient.”

  “You’re talking about him as if he was an object.”

  It was another man who had spoken, a thin guy with round gsses and dark blue hair. Simon hadn’t noticed him since he was so discreet, and drowned in the shadows of the cave. He seemed a bit stiff, uncomfortable.

  “He is doing everything he can to save this world, and is progressively losing his mind because of it. I think he deserves more respect.”

  Simon nodded slowly. In his hazy mind, the name of this new familiar appeared clearly, as if he knew him : ‘Léon’. However, he felt that something was strange. He had only just woken up after the fifth artifact, how could he know it ?

  He had a very bad headache so he put his thoughts aside and slowly stood up. His whole body was in pain.

  “You said he’s inside with Alexei ? How is it going ?”

  Staniss scoffed.

  “Bad, from what we can hear. That pretty boy is really dumb.”

  Before the commander could ask, he heard voices coming from deeper in the cave.

  “Isn’t that what lovers are supposed to do ? The oracle told me to kiss you…”

  “We aren’t lovers. If you try that one more time, I’ll rip your head off.”

  Thomas’ voice seemed distant and low, almost like a growl, but the threat was so vivid that Simon felt his hair stand on his arms.

  “Shouldn’t we stop it ?”

  Léon looked anxiously towards the inside of the cave.

  “Are you confident you can stop the Shaman ? I mean, I want to help him, but he’s also really scary…”

  Staniss nodded.

  “He got even worse after the fifth artifact, probably because you weren’t here to control him. I tried to touch him and he ripped his arm off to get rid of any traces of me. There was blood everywhere.”

  Léon started shaking, as if that memory was enough to terrify him. Simon sighed. He had seen that scene at the castle when the king had tried to seduce Thomas, so he knew exactly how horrifying that vision was.

  “Does he still speak to people that don’t exist ?”

  “All the time. But he’s not as calm as before, it’s as if he only sees enemies. He’ll be screaming and arguing one moment, then cry and curl into a ball the next. It’s weird.”

  The dark blue haired man furrowed his brows.

  “He is in great mental distress, calling him ‘weird' is disrespectful.”

  Staniss sighed, he didn’t seem to like Léon very much.

  “Well, Simon is lucky. He likes you so much that he gets literally crazy when you don’t respond. It’s better than us, he outright ignores our presence and refuses to acknowledge our existence unless he needs us because you can’t perform…”

  The thin man bit his lips anxiously.

  “I’m not sure if it’s better… Even when you were unconscious, he would get mad at you and be violent…”

  Simon tilted his head in confusion and looked at his body. He didn’t have any bruises and his skin was clean, as if he had just taken a shower.

  “What do you mean ?”

  Before Léon could expin, they heard footsteps coming from inside the cave. Thomas appeared with a face that could only be described as horrific. It was a mix of his beast form and a human skeleton, with skin so thin it was peeling off like old parchment, and his eyes were glowing pink, maybe as much as a fully repaired artifact. However, it immediately dimmed when his gaze nded on Simon.

  “You awake ?”

  The knight slowly nodded. The person in front of him felt foreign, it wasn’t Thomas anymore. What happened during the few hours he was out ?

  The Shaman slowly walked to Simon, studying his face, and started to examine him by lifting up his shirt and putting his hair aside. The commander let him do as he pleased, not moving a finger, his heart beating faster and faster. He didn’t know if he was happy or terrified, the current Thomas seemed like a ticking time bomb.

  After what seemed like an eternity, the Shaman nodded.

  “Good.”

  And he lifted Simon up, putting him on his shoulder like a potato sack.

  “Wait, Thomas !”

  But they were already gone, leaving the other familiars behind. Outside the cave, the sky was already dark, the st colors of the sunset disappearing on the horizon. The knight desperately tried to stop Thomas.

  “It’s already night time, shouldn’t we stop and rest ?”

  But the Shaman wasn’t hearing him. He was whispering the same words over and over again.

  “Last one… Last one… Last one…”

  His nails, that had become cws, were buried in Simon’s skin to prevent him from moving and the commander was whimpering in pain.

  “Please, stop !”

  But they were already gone, high in the sky, and Simon could only hold onto Thomas with everything he had. It felt like an eternity, his muscles contracted so hard to prevent himself from falling that he couldn’t feel anything anymore. He had no energy, no flow, nothing, just the human instinct to live.

  They reached the st artifact, a half destroyed temple in the middle of a gray wastend that the curse had taken over. The fissured artifact in the middle seemed to have been damaged voluntarily, with traces of cws, teeths, and sword, but none of the two men took any time to investigate. Thomas walked past the group of familiars that had obviously teleported here thanks to the game, not acknowledging their presence, while Simon was pleading with him. The knight lifted his head up, trying to find anything that could help, and that’s when he met Léon’s eyes, which were looking at him with pity. This connection awakened something within Simon, as if a switch had turned on in his brain.

  Pale blue light escaped his body as he kicked with his feet, ripping himself off the Shaman’s shoulder in a spsh of blood. The mark of Thomas’ cws was embedded in his thighs, the wound seemed serious, but it healed itself in no time thanks to the flow. Once on the ground, he rolled to the side and pced himself in the middle of the other familiars, who were looking at him with round eyes, surprised by his actions. Trying to catch his breath, he muttered between his teeth :

  “Not like that. You promised, not like that.”

  Thomas had an empty look, as if nothing mattered.

  “I see…”

  He stayed motionless for a while, then suddenly broke down and started crying, falling to his knees, which made Simon jump in surprise.

  “What the…”

  But Léon and Staniss next to him didn’t seem moved in the least, they only sighed.

  “Here he goes again…

  “The Shaman is about to have an episode, I advise you to stay away.”

  Alexei was looking at the scene with a childish pout.

  “If he had been nice to me, I would have gone to help him, but he was so rough… I’ll let him cry a bit.”

  Simon was looking at each of them with a confused face. Were none of the familiars worried ? He could feel his own heart about to burst because of all the pain he felt coming from Thomas, how could they not react ? He wanted to run to him, to take him in his arms, but he truly had no energy left, he needed to rest properly before entering a critical state.

  “Why aren’t you doing anything ? It’s the st artifact, the one that will save the world, shouldn’t you go help for the circution ?”

  Léon seemed conflicted, but eventually he took a step forward. However, before he could start walking, Staniss jumped to Thomas with a wide smile.

  “Is it finally my turn ? Come here, Shaman, let me show you the best circution of your life…”

  He took Thomas’ arm and pulled him towards the half destroyed temple, while the slim man was still sobbing pitifully. Simon was looking at the scene while biting his lip.

  ‘It doesn’t feel right… Something is wrong…’

  He finally understood when he saw, partially hidden behind the walls, but still mostly visible, Staniss put Thomas on the altar, and slip behind him. The familiar was about to do something terrible.

  “No, wait !”

  Before he could reach them, he saw Staniss kiss Thomas’ neck, and the Shaman’s eyes widened in horror and filled with pink light. It was as if an earthquake shook the world, as if the sky had fallen, there was thunder hitting every centimeter of the earth, and pink light filling every particle in the air. It was the end of the world. The familiars fell, fainted, but Simon was still holding on, he didn’t even know how considering his condition.

  Crawling towards the temple, he saw a silhouette emerging from the pink light. It felt familiar, like there were two Thomas, but the new person didn’t exactly look like the Shaman, even if their essence was simir.

  “I’ve been waiting forever, but now that the flow has taken control of you we can finally become one again. Let me be your st cultivation.”

  With a twisted smile, the figure flew towards Thomas, still contorted in pain and terror on the altar, and leaned over him. But he wasn’t able to touch him, because a blue barrier suddenly engulfed the Shaman. The new person turned around with a face full of anger.

  “What the fuck are you doing ?!”

  The knight, crawling on the ground with ragged breath, was glowing, surrounded in flow.

  “I don’t know what the plot of that fucking game is, but don’t touch him !”