Death's Door

"Pretty much"

"So every time you are killed, you end up going back in time, forced to repeat the events all over again?"

"That about sums it up"

"Then allow me to ask you, what is the point of all this?" Navek asked.

"Meaning?"

"Chronos is a G.o.ddess of time. Two of us are just mortals, toys in her hands. No matter what you do, she will eventually come for you, and no matter how much effort you had put in, she can undo all the events in an instant. Rewinding time is an easy matter for a G.o.ddess who literally embodies time. We can"t win against her. Why don"t you just accept your fate and give up?"

"Because the alternative is to end up a vegetable gnome in her garden"

"What?"

Runfar went into great detail about the fates of those who were cursed just like them.

After hearing this, Navek"s expression expressed a mix of terror and disgust.

"No wonder… the amount of time is meaningless to her…She must have been waiting for me to be completely broken. And here I thought she just forgot about me…How naïve I was…"

"Who knows, maybe she did forget about you. Tormenting humans is just one of the perks that come with being a Primary G.o.ddess of time, but she must have her own duties to take care of."

"If what you are saying is true, then it is clear that she is just biding her time until I lose my mind...."

"That might take a while."

Looking at Runfar, Navek uttered.

"Young man, how long do you think I have had this curse on me?"

"A couple of years?"

"More like couple of centuries. I was cursed around three hundred and fifty years ago."

"That long? What exactly happened to you? If it is not a secret, do you mind telling me why Chronos cursed you?"

"Well, I did host an orgy in her temple"

"Ok, what!?" Runfar ended up involuntarily exclaiming.

He really hoped he heard it wrong.

The reason Navek gave him was too much for even someone like Runfar to not react.

"I organized a ma.s.s orgy with at least a hundred partic.i.p.ants in the temple of Time. It seemed like a good idea at the time…"

"Right…." Runfar started to regret asking that question.

"But apparently G.o.ddess Chronos did not think so. After I woke up, I witnessed everyone who was there start aging faster and faster, and within minutes, everyone was reduced to dust. Only I was spared that fate."

Navek continued.

"Back then, I thought that G.o.ddess simply had overlooked me or if she did know I was responsible, that she forgave me. Oh, how naïve I was…."

"For years I lived my life not realizing I was cursed. I forgot everything that happened at the temple and lived on a normal life, even started a family of my own. But after a couple of decades, I noticed something strange; my body had not aged a day ever since that fateful day. At first I thought it was a miracle or even a blessing, but as the years went by, I understood the true meaning of my curse."

"Time goes far faster than you realize, young man. Before I even realized it, I have outlived my wife, my children, and after several decades later, my grandchildren. I watched everything I have built crumble down into nothingness. All of my friends and loved ones were long gone. In a sense, I was left all alone in this world."

"Desperate to reunite with my loved ones, I tried to commit suicide, but then, I discovered another aspect of my curse. Whenever I was killed or received fatal damage, my body"s time would be rewinded, keeping me alive. I was trapped, with no escape. I realized then what I truly was, a prisoner of Time."

"I tried practically everything by now, but nothing in this world is above Primary G.o.d"s authority. And from the looks of things, you did not have much luck getting rid of your curse, did you?"

"Well, not quite. I did have the opportunity to get rid of my curse."

"Then why didn"t you?"

"It would have meant giving up on my goal and meeting a true end"

"Huh, what goal?"

"To make Chronos suffer."

"Hhha! What a laugh! A mortal who wants to make a G.o.ddess suffer! Now that"s something you don"t hear every day!"

"Then let me ask you this, Navek. Are you really ok with letting Chronos go scot free after all she has put us through? For all the suffering we have endured?"

"Suffering you say? If what you are saying is true, then with your Curse of Past, you can practically repeat every event indefinitely. A rather convenient power, isn"t it? You can never lose."

"Is that what you think?" Dark Lord"s words were filled with malice and dread.

"Isn"t that the truth? With a curse like that, life should have been heaven for you, no? Nothing can truly end you"

To that Dark Lord started to chuckle uncontrollably.

Heaven?

His life up till now was heaven?

Dark Lord"s face now bore a maniacal smile.

"Indeed, with my curse, my life has no end. I cannot die, but…I have lost plenty of times. More times than I can count."

"By now, I have reached a point that only thing I can think about is dying and finally resting in peace, but because of this stupid curse, I can"t even do that!"

"Everything keeps going, no matter how painful, excruciating, and utterly pointless it is! And then, it starts all over again! Do you really think I wanted this…this nightmare?! For nearly every day a normal person lives, I have lived that day at least a dozen times before I can get things right!"

"It doesn"t matter whether I want it or not, but I still have to repeat it, go back to the past, and live through it again and again and again…Can you possibly imagine how hard it is to sort your memories after doing that?! Let me tell you, it is not easy!"

"And you know what"s the worst part? The one being who ever cared about and showed kindness to me no longer knows who the heck I am, because technically we have never even met! What do you think of that, immortal idiot?!"

It was obvious that Runfar"s stress has been piling up for a while.

Even if he told his circ.u.mstances to his allies, they would never understand. More than anything, he wanted…needed someone to understand…

Navek just happened to be the only person who could ever hope to grasp the sheer magnitude of Dark Lord"s pain.

Due to this, Dark Lord ended up having rather extreme outburst in front of him.

Dark Lord may be a villain, but he was still a human, there was a limit on how much stress he could take before snapping.

Seeing Dark Lord"s psychotic episode, Navek was stunned speechless.

After a moment of silence, Navek uttered.

"Wow. You really got it rough, buddy, don"t you?"

Navek now understood that the person speaking to him did not lead a blessed life. Not even close.

Dark Lord"s life was an endless nightmare.

His curse might sound like something convenient and even overly fortunate power, but in reality, it was nothing more than an endless suffering.

It was a cold blooded torture. That much was clear.

Navek"s curse may have tormented him with endless life, but Runfar"s curse took it to a whole new level.

Having to repeat the events of the past….and so many times….Navek could not imagine just how much pain and stress Runfar has been through.

But for the first time in a while, Navek felt a sense of happiness.

"This guy…He is just like me…"