Eren staggered through the dark alleys, his clothes asunder and stained crimson. He had stumbled along all night; the night sky reg behind the horizon, revealing the soft hues of golden glow. A neas approag.

  Eren stumbled and caught himself on a wall. 'I have to keep moving.' Eren pushed himself off and tiowards... Something.

  "Meow." A cat sat, upon the wall above him. Its illusionary haze, glimmered iting twilight.

  "Baelor..." The creature cocked its head slightly. Staring ily into Eren's eyes. Like the bird from a week earlier, it beed for him to follow, its ethereal aura a solitary star amongst the eternal darkness.

  "Meow." Pig up the pace, Baelor trotted further ahead; leading the way.

  Eren followed closely, weaving through alleys and streets, avoiding all onlookers. Until finally the feline lead him back to the familiar ed metro station.

  He ehe heavy metal gates, a cacophony of screeches apanied by rusty hinges weled him inside. Desding deeper and deeper into the abyssal depths; the air was chillier than st he visited, not helped by his ck of clothes either.

  A light approached Eren, the homeless man who greeted him st time stood in front of Eren, taking one sniff from his ragged clothes. Grumbling under his beard "Follow me."

  Eren obliged and together they walked past make shift houses, make shift shelters; a small city underground made from nothing but scraps and mencholia.

  All denizens slept save for the few weary of the battle worn reaper. It was like looking at a refle of themselves; ravaged by life's unfiving cruelty, battered by hardships, but surviving heless.

  The elves’ quarters were as pristine as ever, dle light illuminating the living area, hisses and whisks emanated from beyond the threshold where Baelor brewed something.

  "Wele back, Eren." Handing him a cup of Qenya.

  "Take a seat." Nodding his head, Baelestured towards his usual chair across from his own.

  With a groan Eren lowered himself down, finally resting his tired body. Sips of herbal tea caressing his throat with each passing sed, it warmed him from within.

  "Shouldn't you be asleep? It's pretty early." Ereioned curiously between sips of warm liquid.

  "As should you." The Elf shot back calmly, resting his cup delicately onto the table. "Elves need very little rest pared to humans. If oruly wishes for knowledge sleep is but a hindrance."

  The illusionary cat jumped upon Eren's p. Curling and purring in his p. "It's so light... And soft." Eren marvelled while patting the bundle of fluff.

  "Although I'm more of a dog person myself." Eren said to himself.

  "es are indeed loyal and trustworthy panions, that I do agree. However, I find their devotion mispced; whereas cats possess intelligend reasoill choose freely whom they associate themselves with." With that said, the cat morphed into a puppy, tail wagging, eyes pleading for head scratches.

  "What ails you my reaper friend? You certainly had an arduous night?" The elf stared directly into Eren's eyes, searg for answers.

  Eren turo the ring, removing it, casting it oable. "This... Thing. I don't want it anymore. “Baelor held it up to the dle light examining its inner ring.

  "I couldn't trol it. It made me... angry. It wanted me to fight and kill, it filled my head with thoughts...about my sister..."

  The elf sat sileing the boy spill his mind to him.

  "It took trol. Making me kill anyone near me... The worst thing is I wao. After Eric... No, the first kill I realised how good killing someone feel..." His eye twitched recalling the moments.

  "...then I felt sick at the thought I e."

  "And the people you killed... They deserved it?"

  "They did deserve to die.... But I shouldn't have liked it so much..." Eren stroked the puppy faster.

  "They were disgusting, they had dohings no man should be allowed to do." Eren gulped the remaining herbal tea; emptying it in one. Hoping it might ease his rag thoughts.

  "And this ring has power no one should poses." He gred at his discarded jewellery oable.

  "This ring; that you know as the god eater has gone by many names over the ages." The elf took tre stage in Eren's mind.

  "It feeds off of your emotions, the greater the emotion the rger the feast." Baelor expined carefully, pig his words wisely. "Hatred, passion, Despair, Hope, Anger, Joy; all aspects one could use to wield unimagirength." The elf slid it across the table returning it to its host.

  "The world you have e back too; The rot, the fester, the corruption, you see it."

  Eren thought on those words. "I know. I just wish I took the other path, stayed ierlife. Maybe then I'd still be like a human." He sighed heavily, defeated by the choices made.

  "None choose the cruelty of life nor the sweetness of death, we merely live with the hands of fate. However, the hands are uiding lights through the storm. Even when all seems lost; when the sun itself is swallowed by the sea of chaos. There always lies a ce, a moment in time, that allows for the world to ge; the power doesn't define you; you define yourself."

  He sipped from his cup of tea.

  "The choice is yours to make. Nor mine nor anyone else. It gives me great fidehat you chose t bance where it is needed most. You made that decision Ere; the world will be a better pce for it."

  A long peace between the pair; silence filled only with slurps and scratches of fur. Eren shifted his seating.

  "How do I master this thing?"

  "A simple question for an answer plex; One must quer the beast within oneself, harhe energy surging within the soul, bind it into the core of being. This requires discipline and rigorous meditation; fog solely upon the inner ws of the heart."

  Baelor pced his tea ly on his desk, once more walking and opening the hidden passage. The dark tunnel waited for them once more.

  "What horrors are you going to show me this time?" Eren half-jokingly asked.

  Baelave an equally half-hearted ugh, then posed himself once again. Delving deeper into Baelor’s vault. An azure lit room greeted them, flickering orbs lihe walls, h like moons; all orbiting in tandem, casting shimmering light across everythih its gaze.

  To Eren's horror a body y atop a sb of stone; headless, a split down the middle of a fine suit. Although missing its head, Eren would never fet that tall, lean body, nor the head that once rested there.

  "...Malphas." Eren whispered quietly.

  "How... I saw him die?"

  "Yes, Lucifer informed me of this event; your body may never leave the realm of death, only your soul may pass. This is all that remains, a husk of what once was." Eren ied Malphas' corpse. No blood, veins or arteries y exposed, merely a shell of what once lived. Like a spider silk co.

  "Do I want to know why you have this here?" Ereioned Baelor sceptically. The elf walked behind the sb, searg through multiple chests.

  "This, among others was my payment. A reapers body is invaluable, a trove of resources unlike any other. A el of mana and power."

  Finally, Baelor found his goal. "For you, Eren." Baelor handed him a carved-out skull mask, visceroium and frontal neuroium re-anised into a perfect fit for a human. Its bed eyes bore into his own. Skull a pure white uhe azure light

  Eren grabbed it hesitantly.

  "This is...Malphas' head..." His firailed along the smooth bone-like texture. The bone pulsed subtly. His hatred for a reaper ohought a nemesis turo sympathy.

  "His st words... We wao spare me from a life of endless death."

  Baelor pced his hand on Eren's shoulder, giving it a tight squeeze.

  "In my people’s culture we adorn ourselves with our ehey shaped us in life and will protect us ih. Their death brings us life." Eren turhe mask in his hands; taking in its form. Two empty holes peered at him; runes from a fn nguage border the edges.

  "Desigo quell the rings voi moments of emotional iy. This will give you crity, focus."

  "I don't know... What if this doesn't work, what if it makes me worse, or kills me."

  "The choice is yours Eren, I will always be willing to help. We both see the foulness, the rot, that lie beh this world."

  Eren stood, staring into Malphas' hollow eye sockets. His face devoid of emotion.

  "The world has enough heroes, people who have grown pt, fortable with how it is... People need a monster; a remio fear the shadows for where they dwell."

  Eren lifted the mask and put it on. Its silky texture fitting seamlessly over his features, enveloping his vision into plete darkness.

  Erehed in deeply, a out a long breath.

  "From the ashes we rise..."

  The world burst bato existence again. A shade of blue tinge washed over everything, although subtle, noticeable to those paying attention. Baelor smiled warmly at the sight of him wearing such a relic.

  "...A demon in the darkness."

  MaskedManNull