Wolf’s Mental Aspect opened his eyes. Just like always, he sat on the bone throne, but there was a different feeling to the room.

The nature of the chamber as well as the door at its far end had changed. Only now did he realize that the door that was here for years actually didn’t look like it was real.

It appeared to be an extremely lifelike relief of a door someone had carved or painted at the far wall. Before the door was simply an object with which Wolf couldn’t interact. Now it was truly there, just waiting for Wolf to push it open.

Wolf walked down the path flanked by columns. He was burning with curiosity, yet childishly tried not to show it. Even though Silver was his only witness, Wolf wanted to learn how to conceal his thoughts, and he thought that this was a good chance to practice it.

Which was a ridiculous notion. You can’t hide your thoughts from yourself. You can’t mask the way your Mental Aspect looks when the only observer is yourself. Other than curiosity, Wolf felt eagerness. He was excited about this new chapter of his life, and yet, for some reason, he was deeply troubled and afraid.

“It’s just because I’m nervous about reading Mom’s and Dad’s letters,” Wolf tried to convince himself while laying a trembling hand onto the door.

Now that he was about to push it open, Wolf found that this door seemed as big as a mountain. After taking a deep breath Wolf fought back his nervousness and pressed all his weight against the door.

The heavy portal moved bit by bit, and, as it did, Wolf’s Mental Aspect felt Soul Force drain rapidly from his body.

By the time Wolf cracked open the door enough for his Mental Aspect to squeeze through, the young man felt that he’d already expended more than half his Soul Force.

The Mental Aspect took a step back, panting. Catching his breath, Wolf gazed at the thick impenetrable mist. The grayish-white wall of fog was a couple of steps away from Wolf, completely cutting off his sight.

The scene was almost exactly the same as when the mist swirled in his Mind Hall years ago, however, Wolf noticed a minor difference. The half circular bit of the hallway’s floor which was visible had a different look.

It wasn’t the stone-bone which tiled the first Mind Hall, but rather looked like a regular and natural rock formation.

As soon as he’d laid his eyes on this floor, Wolf had an idea for an experiment.

A chisel manifested in his Mental Aspect’s hand and he tried to smoothen the floor outside. He struck the rock several times, but no matter how much effort he put in nothing happened, other than Wolf making a din.

It was the same phenomenon as the throne, or when he tried to carve a column out of turn.

“As I thought, I probably have to finish carving the Mind Hall before I can carve outside of it. Do I have to finish just one or all of them?” Wolf wondered, but there was no way for him to know in which order he should do things.

Unfortunately, the noise Wolf had made while striking the indestructible floor had caught the attention of the Mind Palace’s other occupant.

“I managed to open the way out in a mere dozen years. As expected of me,” the voice came from somewhere further ahead, deeper within the fog. It was a cold, proud tenor, yet it showed a hint of excitement at the same time.

“Tell me how many memory fragments have you managed to gather?” the voice asked. “I don’t remember what I stored in the first Mind Hall, I didn’t have enough time to handle things properly. You had to work with random resources which must have been quite lacking.

“But, just as expected of my clone, your performance was excellent. You may come back to me and then we will become whole once more.” What remained of Lonely Eagle’s will was certain that the fragments he’d left behind in the first Mind Hall had taken control of Wolf’s body years ago.

“Come, hurry! Once we are whole we can continue where we’ve left off. We will even have more than a thousand years of extra longevity. Come, hurry! I have been locked up in this mindspace for over a decade. I want to get out!” the voice screamed urgently, with a slightly deranged note to it.

Wolf could hear the sound of running footsteps in the obscuring mist. Lonely Eagle had apparently been running around blindly through the fog for years, picking up his broken pieces while growing more and more whole. The only thing that stood between Wolf and the deranged remnant was the closed door. The closed gate, which was now wide open.

As the footsteps grew louder and louder, a Mental Aspect of a beautiful elven man in his prime dashed out of the fog.

The elf was running wildly in one moment, but then completely stopped the next. All the force and energy behind him dispersed in one sure step. Then what was left of the Sword-Saint gazed at this unknown little manling who observed him with confusion.

“Huh? Who are you? You’re not a part of this king, are you? How did you get here then?” the man asked with a bit of uncertainty. Hints of rage and madness clearly visible in his eyes. Even though Lonely Eagle tried to act calm, there was no acting in this world of thought.

“You’re Lonely Eagle, aren’t you?” Wolf asked, his voice and face cold and filled with enmity.

The youth’s memory of his first meeting with the elven legend was hazy at best. He was way too young and the only reason he had any memory of that incident was because it was an extremely traumatic experience.

“Who are you little one?” Lonely Eagle asked, ignoring Wolf’s question. “How did you find your way here? Pray tell. If you got in, then that must mean that this king has a way out. Come on, this king is not the kind of person who forgets to pay back his debts. One way or the other,” the elf uttered his veiled threat with a menacing glare, but Wolf ignored him and remained silent.

Seeing that Wolf was just staring daggers at him, Lonely Eagle spoke once more.

“Tell Me Now Mongrel!” he squeezed each word through his sharpened teeth letting his baleful aura rage out of control.

For the first time in his life Wolf was completely overwhelmed by nothing more than a person’s presence. His Mental Aspect staggered back into the Mind Hall.

“Millions,” he said with a quivering voice. “He had slaughtered tens of millions to get a baleful aura of such a level.”

The murderous air Wolf projected on occasion helped him by freezing or staggering his enemies. Yet it was nothing compared with this aura. If this man were to unleash his baleful presence in the Silver City, almost everyone living in the city would immediately die from terror.

“I am here because this is my Mind Palace!” Wolf tried to shout, but ended up whimpering pathetically. He panted, doing his best to resist the murderous intent locked onto him.

“Your Mind Palace?” The elf was confused for an instant before he confirmed that the scenario he had feared had actually happened.

His pupils narrowed as he stared at Wolf with hatred. “You’re that lump of flesh this king was trapped in?”

Lonely Eagle scanned Wolf for a moment before clenching his teeth.

“Not a trace,” he squeezed out in a hiss. “You completely refined the soul fragments which this king left in the first Mind Hall! And not just that, you are walking the path of a Druid! Even though you’re a mongrel, you have such talent, and yet you’re wasting it by following a fundamentally flawed path!”

Even though the elf raved like a madman, making grimaces and clenching his teeth, his eyes remained cold, calculating.

The man did his best to put on a show and unhinge his opponent, but Wolf didn’t fall for it. For one, he didn’t have the luxury to do so. He was giving it his all just to resist Lonely Eagle’s presence as the elf slowly walked to the entrance of the chamber.

“Wielding magic is not a flawed profession!” Wolf somehow managed to squeeze out pathetically in defense of the path his father once walked proudly.

“There’s no point in trading words with you, nor will I blame you,” Lonely Eagle said while looking down at Wolf. “The powerful take and the weak suffer, such is the way of the world. This king will now refine you the way you’ve refined the pieces this king had scattered throughout this sacred chamber. Then I will claim your body and use it as an instrument of revenge against that human and whoever else it was that had aided him sneakily!”

Once he’d finished talking a sword manifested itself in the elegant elf’s hand. It was the same weapon he’d used back when he was alive. The weapon whose destruction signified the end of Lonely Eagle’s life. The sword whose replica Wolf now used as his own.

“Aaaaah!” With a baleful shout Lonely Eagle’s Mental Aspect charged straight towards Wolf’s.

The explosion of movement and violence was so abrupt that Wolf barely managed to summon a mental projection of his longsword into his hand.

*Crack!*

Wolf’s movement was rushed and sloppy, but he somehow managed to block the lethal strike. The youth’s blade shattered on contact, his sword as fragile as if it were made of glass.

As soon as his weapon was destroyed Wolf felt intense pain explode inside his head. He was thrown backwards, flying through the air of his Mind Hall.

Up until now it was always Wolf ruthlessly pummeling his enemies. Being on the receiving end of a beating hurt a lot.

As Wolf flew through the air back first, Lonely Eagle followed closely after him. The elf ran as fast as the boy flew.

“Haha! Here it is! And there! There’s the exit!” Lonely Eagle exclaimed while staring at the bone throne on its platform.

*Crash* Wolf landed heavily on the ground and tumbled away. He wanted to use this moment when Lonely Eagle’s attention had slipped to run away and open some distance.

The youth just stood up, but the elf was already standing behind him, swinging his sword once more.

Unlike a moment ago, Wolf had no illusions that he could fight back. So he did the only thing he could. Wolf ran with all his might towards the first column. Towards the trap. However, his body couldn’t match the speed at which a Sword-Sage swung his blade.

Lonely Eagle slashed Wolf diagonally across his back, opening up a grievous wound.

Just like a body would bleed blood in the real world, inside the Mind Palace Wolf’s Mental Aspect bled Soul Force and he bled profusely.

The silvery-purple mist gushed out of the spiritual body only to be siphoned towards the throne at the back of the room. To be more precise, all of Wolf’s Soul Force was sucked in by a certain silver colored egg which lay motionless two steps below the throne.

Wolf and Lonely Eagle paid attention to each other, unaware of this barely visible vortex of Soul Force.

Staggering, Wolf managed to reach the first column, hoping to use it against the aggressor, just like he did last time.

As Lonely Eagle advanced through the Mind Hall he noticed a number of odd things. Some of Wolf’s columns were carved with random reliefs, a decent chunk of the floor was carved smooth and everything he saw was exceptionally clear and well defined.

This greatly differed from what he remembered of his Mind Palace back when he had his own Mind Palace.

Lonely Eagle was an ancient monster. It took him only an instant to notice all of the different and most likely unique aspects of Wolf’s Mind Palace.

“Huh. I never knew you could do something like this,” he admitted. As far as he was concerned this battle was already over and the body was his. “No wonder you were able to come this far in such a short amount of time, despite using magic. You truly were a genius, but I guess you’re just dead now.”

With a mere glance the man was surprised by the novelty of what Wolf had done. The elf analyzed it, realized the benefits and even praised this child for his ingenuity in the amount of time it took to make a couple of steps.

Refining his Mind Hall in such a way had obviously greatly boosted the rate at which this boy gathered Soul Force. Thinking this, Lonely Eagle passed the first column, behind which Wolf hid.

The elf didn’t spare it a second glance, taking it as nothing but another curio. However, as he moved past the column, the myriad creatures which climbed towards the heavens suddenly came to life and tried to grasp him.

“Hmph, parlor tricks,” Lonely Eagle snorted disdainfully as he slashed his sword towards the creatures.

The man barely paid attention to the creatures as he swung his weapon leisurely. That simple move cracked the column, leaving a huge slash which had ruined the carving, destroying countless lifeforms which had attacked him.

“Aaaaaa!” Wolf screamed, grasping his head in agony. He felt as if his eyes had just exploded.

The pain was so horrible that what he had experienced from his Mental Aspect being slashed felt like a light prick.

Lonely Eagle swung his sword once more to completely shatter the column, but at the last moment decided against it. After all, once he took possession of the boy’s body this would become his Mind Hall. There was no point destroying your own house.

The column was in a bad shape. Thick purplish-silver mist gushed out of the gaping canyon left behind by the slash. Luckily, it didn’t seem like the column would crumble on its own.

Feeling relieved he hadn’t caused too much damage, Lonely Eagle lifted his blade.

“If that was all you had, then this king will send you to meet your maker,” the elf said and swung his sword at Wolf.

Wolf Mental Aspect panted on the floor, completely paralyzed by the pain from having his first column nearly shattered. He dazedly watched as Soul Force fountained out of the ruined column and as the executioner’s blade rapidly swung down to cleave him in half.

The sword became Wolf’s entire world. In the Hall of Death that blade was Death.

However, when the sword was halfway down, a blurry shade of a bearded man appeared behind Lonely Eagle. The sight of this shadow filled Wolf with a warm, familiar feeling of safety, suppressing his pain. The shade shone with the love it felt for Wolf, as well as the readiness to be completely annihilated if it could protect its child one last time.

Archibald’s remnant will bodily pushed Lonely Eagle with everything it had. The elf, who never expected that yet another party could appear in this Mind Hall, was caught by surprise. Archibald lacked strength here and his push couldn’t have been strong, but the old man wisely used his enemy’s forward momentum against him. His shove sent the elf flying above Wolf’s small, cowering form.

*Crack!*

“Aaaaargh!”

Unable to stop himself, nor the slash he’d begun, Lonely Eagle struck the throne with his sword. The blade exploded into motes of dust, causing the elf to shriek in pain.

An unbelievably powerful force bounced him away from the throne as if he was a rag doll.

The man’s scream was cut short as he landed atop a silver egg. Lonely Eagle felt as if he was repeatedly thrown and slammed against immovable walls. The way he’d landed on Silver would’ve broken a normal man’s spine. Even though Lonely Eagle’s Mental Aspect was powerful, he still had his wind knocked out of him.

The elf grasped his head in pain, his eyes firmly closed, but to his horror he felt a new threat. Lonely Eagle clenched his teeth and his eyes shot open, but before he could gather his bearings, a powerful suction force started draining Soul Force from his body.

Only now did the man notice the whirlpool of Soul Force at the center of which he was unexpectedly stuck. All the loose Soul Force in the room was sucked in by Silver and as soon as Lonely Eagle came into contact with her-his shell she-he focused on siphoning the energy of his spiritual body.

Unlike with Wolf, the little fellow was merciless. The rate at which Silver drained Soul Force out of Lonely Eagle’s Mental Aspect was hundreds of times greater compared to when Wolf willingly fed her-him.

Lonely Eagle sensed the rage and hostility of the object which sucked away his power. It took him a moment to realize that this wasn’t an object. It was a creature which lived in Wolf’s Mind Hall, and it was defending its home from an invader.

Lonely Eagle struggled to disengage, pressing his foot against the shell in an attempt to jump away. However, as soon as he’d made his move, the part of the eggshell he’d stepped on broke.

A silver six-fingered paw, the size of a toddler’s hand, burst out of the shell. Razor sharp claws dug themselves into Lonely Eagle’s flesh, wrapping themselves around the bones of his foot and locking him in place. Not just that, the newly opened wound increased the speed at which Silver devoured Lonely Eagle’s Soul Force.

“What is this?” the elf shrieked madly. “Mind Hall is a sacred place of retreat and meditation! Not a gathering site for a party!”

Silver ignored the terrified wails.

*Crack!*

The egg’s shell shattered in one more place. A second clawed paw shot out of the egg and dug into Lonely Eagle’s flesh, securing the man even more firmly.

The elf screamed and thrashed around like mad, but then a third paw broke through the impossibly hard shell and buried itself in the calf of his other leg.

With three of her-his claws out, Silver started ripping off chunks of Lonely Eagle’s flesh and pulling them into the eggshell. As pieces of Lonely Eagle disappeared into the egg, hair-raising chewing noises were heard from inside.

Lonely Eagle’s spiritual body struggled for less than a minute before finally breaking down.

Part of its Soul Force was siphoned into the egg, part of it was drawn in by Wolf's Mental Aspect and the smallest bit of it dissipated into the room, fixing the damaged first column and further expanding the space beyond the door which Wolf had just opened.