Alex closed his eyes, bracing himself for the end. It might not be an actual "death," but that didn't take away from or diminish the amount of pain he felt.
In the end, no one had come for him. He couldn't really blame them, they were busy fending off the raiders. His only wish was that he had been stronger. He only had himself to blame.
"Ish krar nor talvik?"
The raspy voice rattled in Alex's head, forcing him to open his eyes. What was supposed to be a swift end at the edge of a blade had turned into a moment frozen in time.
No, not frozen. The blade was still moving, just extremely slowly. Much like the sword though, Alex found himself unable to move.
"Ish krar nor talvik?"
Now that he wasn't dying, the voice was less raspy in his head. It actually sounded nearly exactly the same as the stranger who was about to kill him, but it was… Ancient. As if the words spoken held a weight to them. As if they held power in each syllable.
"Forgive me, I forgot you humans use a much simpler language that my kind does not deign to speak." Alex couldn't contain the shock that filled him as the harsh sounding words that he didn't understand before turned into perfect English.
"Do you wish to live?"
What kind of a question was that? Of course he wanted to live! Who would ever not wish to live? "Powerful as I am, I can not stop time completely. I would say you have roughly a minute before the flow of time resumes and your lifeblood is spilled."
Alex's mind was racing. As far as he knew, no one else had come with him to the treasure vault, so who exactly was this? The answer came not even a second later as his train of thought led him to realize the truth. The reason this voice felt ancient. The reason the words felt heavy. It was the same feeling he got when he had held the crystal.
Fear, deep and true, ran its way through Alex. This being, this thing speaking to him now was on par with a god, but it most definitely wasn't one. The aura he felt was similar, but wholly different from the way he had felt when he was in the presence of Varos. Varos' aura was heavy, but withstandable and tolerable. What Alex felt now was suffocating.
"Come now boy, it is a simple question. Do you wish to live?"
Alex couldn't find it in himself to answer. That same ominous feeling he had gotten when he held the crystal before returned, and it was even worse now. He knew the second he acknowledged this voice that only bad things would come of it.
He had had enough of voices in his head. First it was Virgol, then it was the system, and now it was this entity. Two was two voices too many, adding a third would only make things worse. Too many cooks in the kitchen and all that.
Besides, every fiber of his being told him that this voice was inherently wrong.
Still though, he didn't want to die again. "Dying" twice before had been enough for him. It didn't matter that his real life wasn't on the line anymore, the hollow feeling he felt after coming back was something he didn't want to experience once more.
This voice terrified the absolute shit out of him, but it was the only option available. "Who… What are you?"
"And so he speaks. I take it that means you do wish to live. Good." It was everything but good, and Alex couldn't stop the shiver that ran down his spine at the tone in the voice.
"I was once a Greater Daemon, and I have gone by many names throughout the millennia. The Scorned One. The Prince of Nightmares. The Slayer of a Thousand Gods. The Breaker of Reality. But you can call me Arburnok."
A chord of primal dread ran through Alex when he heard that name, and he knew he had screwed up. Arburnok sounded like he was a big deal, and suddenly it was all making sense why he had been locked inside a treasure vault. Greater Daemon? Breaker of Reality? This was far above Alex's pay grade, but he just had to accept the hand he had been dealt.
"Alright. Arburnok." Just saying the name in his head felt wrong, it was like he was unleashing darkness itself. "What do you want?" He forced himself to keep going now that he had acknowledged the voice. He would do whatever it took to stay alive.
"Such a loaded question from the little human." Arburnok chuckled and the echo of his laugh resonated through Alex's body. "But the answer is simple really. I want what all living things want." From the way the Daemon spoke Alex knew the answer wasn't as simple as he was making it sound. "I yearn for freedom. And you are the perfect vessel."
Warning alarms, blaring and red as can be, were going off in the back of Alex's mind, but he was already in too deep to stop now. Being a vessel for a greater Daemon? Why the fuck not. It wasn't like gods or Fate were already using him for their own gain already. What was one more all powerful being?
"I have been trapped in this crystal for far too long, and this idiot here will likely destroy himself and me by trying to break the seals placed on my prison." It was clear the idiot Arburnok spoke of was the same one who had stabbed Alex.
"There is only one way for me to escape this confinement without completely obliterating and incinerating everything, including this realm."
Alex could read between the lines, Arburnok didn't need to speak it aloud. The only way out of his prison was if someone willingly became his vessel, whatever that entailed. "How can I trust you? How can I trust that you'll save me instead of just letting me die?" Even entertaining the idea was maddening, but Alex didn't have any better options.
"Trust me?" Arburnok's laughter roared in his mind. "You can not trust a Daemon. We are backstabbing traitorous bastards by nature. But we are bound by vows. A Daemon can never break a vow he has made or the fires of the Hells will come and draw him back to the Depths to be unmade and tortured for all of eternity. As you can imagine, we don't make vows for that very reason."
Tortured for eternity definitely didn't sound fun to Alex, but a plan was starting to form. If he could just get Arburnok to make a vow then there was a way for this to turn out not as shitty as it seemed to be. "Then make a vow. With me. Promise that you'll save me." He was aware that what he was doing was stupid and brazen, but that didn't stop him from making the request.
"A vow? With a human? HAHAHA, never in my thousands of years of existence did I think this would happen." Alex's entire being was taught with nervousness. If Arburnok refused to make a vow then he would have no choice but to accept death. There was no way in hell he would ever let Arburnok use him as a vessel without one.
"Alright human. I, Arburnok the Greater Daemon, vow that I will save you from certain death. I will even throw in a little bonus just because you have intrigued me, there are not many that would dare ask me for a vow." Alex let out the biggest internal sigh of relief imaginable. He still felt like he was getting the shit end of the deal, because he was, but at least there was a silver lining.
"Relax boy, being a vessel is not as bad as you might think it is." Hearing a Daemon tell him to relax had the exact opposite effect, but that didn't stop Arburnok from carrying on. "I am simply going to be hitching a ride, think of it like I am just swapping prisons. Instead of being sealed inside of a crystal, I will be sealed inside of your body."
The whole 'everything will be okay' attitude that Arburnok was now talking to Alex in only scared him more. If a Daemon was ever trying to sugarcoat something as horrible sounding as being a vessel, you know you're in deep shit. Having a Daemon sealed in him didn't exactly instill him with confidence.
"If anything, you are getting the better end of the deal out of all of this. You remain in complete control of your body and soul. You do not die a horrible and painful death to a Hellfire blade. And you get the company of one of the greatest Daemons to ever exist." Now Alex knew there was something Arburnok wasn't telling him, and his fears were confirmed a moment later. "Just do not go dying again, otherwise I will be set free. And that would be very very bad for the universe."
Everything suddenly clicked. Trapped in a crystal, Arburnok would be doomed to stay there for eternity with no hope for freedom. But if Alex agreed to be his vessel then there was the very real chance that the Daemon could one day be free. Even if he didn't ever risk things by fighting again, time would take its course and eventually he would die of old age. Arburnok would be free, it would just be a matter of time.
But could he really afford to die here? Could he really accept death just to make sure this Daemon never went free? Would it be worth it? Alex weighed the options available to him and neither were great.
He either died here and had to wait twenty-four hours to respawn, letting down Amanda once again, and possibly suffering who knows what else because he "died."
Sure he had [Realm Walking] but that was a skill he wanted to avoid using as much as possible. Putting his real life on the line wasn't something he was in a rush to do again.
Or, he let a Greater Daemon who apparently killed a shit ton of gods, and would most definitely be a calamity if he was ever freed, use him as a backback until he died.
Ultimately, the decision didn't come down to whether one was worse than the other, or which one might be the greater good to choose. It came down to one simple thing. Alex wanted to survive.
If damning the universe eighty years from now was the price he had to pay in order to survive, he would pay it without a second thought. Him and his sister's survival was the only thing that mattered.
And to survive he had to get stronger. He couldn't get stronger if he kept on dying. He couldn't get stronger if he caved in to the needs and wants of others. If there was one thing he knew for certain, it was that he had to be selfish.
A prickling sensation brought Alex back to the moment. The sword had just barely nicked his neck and blood started to trickle from it. Even as slow as time was moving, the small cut burned like hell. "Looks like time is up boy. What will it be?" Arburnok's voice was nonchalant, like he had encounters like this every other day and Alex just so happened to be the unfortunate soul this time around.
Despite his earlier thought, Alex hesitated. Was becoming Arburnok's new prison really the best choice to make? The answer was as clear as day. If he wanted to keep Amanda safe and protected, it wasn't just the best choice, it was the only choice. "I accept. I will be your new vessel, and for as long as I live, I will keep you imprisoned."
"Good." Though Arburnok was formless, Alex felt like the Daemon had the smile of a cheshire cat as he spoke in his mind. "A vow has been struck. A bond has been made. I thank you for giving me what I have yearned for." Arburnok's presence immediately dissipated and the suffocating feeling that Alex had felt disappeared.
Time started to flow at a normal rate as he contemplated everything that just occurred. The sword cut nothing but empty air as Alex's body was no longer there, vanishing from the vault floor before his neck could be slit. Making a deal with a Daemon known for breaking reality… What had he done?