Oliver Hallworth, I looked at him once more. His soul was… odd. Activating my Spirit Vision showed a soul that continued to blink, alternating between a blinding radiance and a dim flicker. Since I had never seen a soul as indecisive and strange as his, I had trouble placing it.

Alexandra had recounted me with a story of how he ended up trapped in the “Drachen Arch.”

Alexandra and Oliver met, or– were drawn together by their dragon-related gifts which are still rare to this day. While Oliver could control his dragon-aspect, Alexandra’s gift was much less steady and thus she sought out the Drachen Arch.

The artifact provided a sort of spiritual enlightenment that could trap the user in it if they weren’t careful. She was a little foggy on some details, but I got the essence of it. While feeling a stagnation in his personal growth, Oliver sought to use the Drachen Arch and was stuck ever since.

‘Somewhere between five and seven years, then?’ I guessed inwardly.

Alexandra hadn’t really told me anything about her children and I felt it was weird to ask, but I vaguely recall her telling me her youngest wanted to be a superhero. That sounded like something in that age range, I think.

“Casper,” her voice disrupted my thinking. “This thing is like a curse. The further you go, the harder it is to resist… I knew my limits and stopped there, but Olly’s different. I think his pride got the best of him.”

“Will I…” I was hesitant to ask but followed through anyway. “Will I see him in there?”

“It is impossible to enter more than once or I would’ve already went in and brought him back,” she spoke bitterly.

I could tell she must’ve tried to wake him up for weeks or months, maybe even more. Throughout all of that, her eyes shone with a ray of hope.

“Is there anything else I should know before I go in?” I said, ready to enter.

“I can’t speak for Alexandra, but know that your body will be protected by me. I’ve seen the articles and I know that New Era is very keen to remove your head but they won’t get past me!” Andreas beat his chest enthusiastically.

“Are you sure you want to enter? There could be other options, even contacting Morgan Pharmaceuticals is better than just walking in.”

“I’ve learned that cutting deals when your life's on the line can be a bit troublesome,” I said, even chuckling as I recalled my own experiences.

“Then all I can say is to avoid ascending too high or it’ll draw you in and trap you.”

I nodded solemnly and stepped toward the arch and stretched out my hand. The bronze structure seemed to faintly vibrate with power, giving off an almost electric, hair-raising, feeling. I looked back to Alexandra who looked grim and Andreas who revealed an admirable stoicism.

“Viel Glück,” he whispered.

Whatever that means, I took it to be positive and stepped through the arch without waiting another moment.

The moment I stepped from underneath the arch, I felt as if something was switched off and a weightless feeling overtook my body. My vision grew so white that I couldn’t close my eyes to protect myself from the bright sensation. I moved with my arms outstretched, fumbling around in the light before I fell forward.

I closed my eyes instinctively, but this time things went dark. When I cautiously opened my eyelids, I found that I was standing in the center of a dreary world.

Boulders, stone, sand, and the turbulent grey storm clouds dancing above me painted a picture of lifelessness. Dead ahead was a set of wide steps, stone statues of men, too lifelike to be stone-carvings, lay on either side.

I had to tilt my head all the way back to see the summit of the path in front of me. At the very peak, the clouds were the darkest and stirred with a violent force. Small flashes of amber flame within the clouds illuminated a vague outline of a massive creature.

“Are you curious as to what lies above, friend?” I heard a voice from my side.

I turned to look and there he was, Oliver Hallworth, his long black hair and amber eyes were extremely lively. Wearing nothing but a simple waistcloth, his gaunt body was crouched right beside me without me being any the wiser.

“Tiamat, Ladon, Nidhogg, Jormungand… I wonder, is there a name for it? Is it all of them? Is it none of them?”

“Are you Oliver Hallworth?” I ignored his musings and sought to confirm it was him.

“The passage of time obscures history, it erodes truth, so I ask you, is there a need for names at this moment? Now, tell me, do you think that entity above is real?”

I looked above once more, seeing a singular serpentine shadow appear, much clearer than before.

“Ah,” Oliver grinned at me, standing up as he did. “May I ask what form it appeared in for you?”

“A snake?” I spoke with certainty.

“A wyrm, friend." He corrected with eagerness. "It isn’t bad, but...” His amber eyes flashed with a strange light.

“You aren’t suited for the aspect of a dragon. There’s a strange power in you, something that even my eyes cannot discern and you should know... there is very little which can be hidden from the eyes of a dragon. At the very least, you carry something very old with you.”

“You lost me.”

I’m not sure exactly how long he was in here, but Oliver seemed less than together where the sanity department was concerned. Unless his original personality was full of riddles and eccentricities, there was something very wrong with him.

“You shouldn’t worry, what you see above is only meant to guide you toward a certain destination. Do you want to know what I see?” Oliver leaned in, his eyes narrowing while producing a wild light. “A dragon with one hundred heads, it's spewing fire and hatred so visceral that it burns the air and scorches my skin with each breath. It’s raging, even now, its endless roars thrum in my head.”

My body rang in alarm for a moment, urging me to immediately take distance, but Oliver returned to his previous self in that same second and my sense of danger vanished.

“It doesn’t matter what form it appears in because it isn’t real, friend. It is a manifestation brought on by the will of a fallen lord, perhaps the progenitor of dragons or maybe some dead draconic deity. Whatever it is, an incredibly small piece of its will has manifested in the form of this place.”

“Right.” I nodded along, finally understanding him a little. “Uh… If you were curious about the outside world, your wife, Alexandra is waiting for you.”

“Alexandra?” Oliver’s eyes grew cloudy as his body stiffened. His face revealed his struggles with recollection and confusion. “I don’t…”

He looked to the summit and stared for a few minutes before shaking his head.

“What is it that you are here for?” He asked.

“I…” I held off on bringing up Alexandra and instead answered honestly. “My body is going to breakdown in four days, apparently.”

“And you came here looking for a miracle then?”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“Then, unfortunately, you’ve come to the wrong place. This place harbors no miracles and will not bestow you with any special power. It only brings wisdom meant to guide you to realization. Anything you gain from your time here, no matter how long, is a result of what you already know. If there is a problem with your body, then perhaps your mind is the solution.”

“My mind?”

“We often restrain ourselves, whether it be consciously or subconsciously, correct? You gain an idea of what you can and can’t accomplish and ingrain within your mind so strongly that it becomes a reality. You form an unchanging conclusion before an event even occurs, tethering yourself to a single outcome that previously decided on. Perhaps this applies to you even more so, maybe you are comfortable in believing that your body can only function in a singular way... In the end, the only true solution is control.”

“But I can control my power better than I ever have,” I objected.

“If that were true, then would you be here, looking to save your own life?” Oliver asked as he began ascending the stairs. “Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. If we meet again it will be near the top, friend.”

With that, he slowly vanished from my sight with as grey clouds filled the stairs.

“Control,” I muttered.

‘I can control my power well enough. Even in the proving grounds, I…’

I thoughtlessly climbed the stairs while pondering my own abilities. Seconds later, while grey clouds surrounded me, I noticed that the further I went up, the more removed from my own body I began to feel. At first, my sense of touch grew dull, numb, I couldn’t even tell if I was still walking, I could only hear my footsteps. And then I lost all sense of sound, an overwhelming silence replaced everything else. Next, my sight waned, with the scenery melding into a grey blur.

I couldn’t tell what was happening anymore as I fell into darkness.

…

Upon entering the lightless hollow that my mind guided me into, I discovered there was sound, a rhythmic beating. Then came light, emitting a dim red glow, there was a heart. My heart, beating, louder and louder.

I observed it without acting, I restrained myself and refused to be unnerved. I watched as my heartbeat filled my ears like a drum being beaten. The dim red light emitted by heart spread, a wave of light expanded in front of me, pathways of veins and arteries stretched on endlessly. I could see through them, like transparent tunnels that held my blood.

I had been here before, this wasn’t anything new, but I recalled what Oliver said and didn’t disregard the scene before me.

The dark violet color of the miasma appeared next and entangled itself with the many pathways connected to my heart. And then finally, the Phantom Heart made its appearance. A half-deformed organ that intersected all pathways rather intrusively.

I could see the instability within myself and sought to correct it. I focused on each strand of red and willed it to change. It was a begrudging process that occured frustratingly slow, with only several thousand moving at first, but I remained earnest.

It could’ve been minutes or hours, but at some point, the process became faster. Like untangling a mess of wires, I had instilled some order into the pathways. At the very least, they were no longer being touched by the miasma or the Phantom Heart. However, my work was far from done.

I needed to bind all three of them together in some form. When I focused on the miasma, its vague shape of mist-like consistency began to congeal, turning solid, I molded it into the same form as the many glowing veins filling my vision. I pushed for it to connect to my heart and the rest of the pathways and I got a reaction in turn.

The miasma sunk into my blood, turning it darker, a tinge of violet occasionally surfaced within it, but it seemed to be completely assimilated as far as I could tell.

‘Whew.’ I brushed off the mental exhaustion and turned my attention to the transparent heart that had a membranous surface in addition to the ethereal blue glow. When I urged it to react it, a series of translucent veins spread out like a web, protruding into the red pathway I had just finished sorting.

‘Damn it,’ with a bit of annoyance, I dove back into arranging the veins set before me.

…

Sometime later, I blinked as my eyes creaked open. A sense of clarity and freedom filled my body, but I was still within the Drachen Arch. I had made it past the first level and I assumed that I was safe from any potential harm caused by my unstable powers.

“So you’ve exerted your control and brought your body back to a stable state, I assume? Then again, if you hadn’t you wouldn’t even be here.”

“Is that it?” I asked, feeling like there was no danger to the Drachen Arch, but there had to be for Alexandra to be so down about it.

“How long do you think you’ve spent doing that?”

“A day or two, maybe? It’s hard to say really.” I looked toward the clouds above which had yet to change.

“The moments you experienced could have taken you a week or even a month to process. Time isn’t something you’re meant to grasp here.”

“Wait... Can I leave then? More importantly, can you leave?”

“If you descend those stairs now, you’ll awaken to whatever world awaits you. As for your second question, I can depart when I wish to.”

“Then why the hell are you still here?” I asked. “Alexandra wants you to come back, so why…?”

I stopped speaking when I noticed his eyes had gone unfocused once again. It was apparent that mentioning her would daze him, but he never seemed to realize the significance of the name. Since he mentioned control and overcoming preconditioned ideas, I wonder if he had instilled some sort of a mental block to forget her. At least, temporarily.

It made sense, if he was searching for some greater power within himself, thinking of his family may cause reservations and make him fearful. I did have to wonder if the temptation he felt was strong enough to warrant censoring the thought of his family from his own mind to avoid distractions. To put it plainly, he was selfish. There was no extreme danger that required such actions, so Oliver's endeavors seemed self-serving. I never claimed to be morally upright, but I didn't have a family or else my decisions might've erred toward more cautious choice.

“You can leave if you want–” he finally spoke, pointing to where I came from, “However if you do, you will never get to return. If that is your choice, then only you alone can make it just as I can make my own.”

He headed for the steps once more.

“You say that, but I wonder just what you plan to do now?”

“To see you at the next level, of course,” he said with a knowing grin.

I looked back, seeing the stairs leading down were clear of any fog, but I wasn’t ready to return after just sorting myself out. If there was more I could learn about my own capabilities, I couldn’t just ignore it.

I just needed to gain enough and before I went back... I just needed to understand a little more, that’s all.

I moved my feet forward and began climbing the next set of stairs.