Cassius gazed up at the eclipse and panicked for the Mind sigil had vanished.

  ”And so it begins…” Silas muttered.

  ”And so what begins!?” Cassius snapped.

  ”Finality. You just opened up my sister’s cage, moron!” Silas cackled.

  Cassius felt his blood run cold as his eyes stayed fixed on the eclipse which dangled above him.

  Silas gazed out at the eclipse which had just begun to set beyond the horizon. Before him lay an endless abyss, of which he had no hope of crossing.

  ”If this is some kind of loop, then just what kind of loop is this?” Silas asked himself.

  He smiled and gazed into the chasm before throwing himself down into its depths. Silas could only feel the air rush past him for but a moment as he returned to solid ground.

  ”So, this is a causal loop. Well then, perhaps I can escape this place after all.” Silas chuckled.

  Silas drew his sword and used it to create two portals. One of them was in front of him and the other behind him. The one in front of him would send him backwards 2 hours. While the one behind him would send him forward 3 hours. Entering the first portal would exit him at the second, advancing time by 1 hour. Once he had stepped through both portals, the distance between the two would start to decrease at an exponential rate. Using this method he could escape his prison, or at least that was what he hoped for.

  James smiled and walked through the first portal and the eclipse dipped further below the horizon. Yet again he stepped through the portal as the eclipse vanished beneath the horizon. Silas stepped through the portal a third time as the stars began to appear in the sky. He stepped through the portal a fourth, and final time, and found himself staring back at the eclipse once more.

  Silas fell to his knees as tears poured down his cheeks, he had won. Slowly he rose to his feet and walked towards the chasm again. Only this time his feet found purchase on the thin air which hung over the abyss. He smiled and strode towards the horizon. The closer he was to the horizon, the less it seemed like the horizon. For the eclipse which hung in front of him almost seemed to wave in the wind. Silas shrugged and put his left hand against it and when he did, he felt warm cloth. So, he smiled and happily tore away the curtain in front of him. Upon tearing away the veil he was met with a pale white void.

  So Silas stepped through and into the void. Benedict could just barely be seen from his current position, so James calmly strode towards him. He drew his pistol as he approached Benedict, who’s pupils shrunk upon seeing him

  ”You! Get away from me, get away, you bastard.” Benedict shrieked.

  “Oh, don’t be dramatic Benny, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to kill you.” Silas hissed.

  ”What’s the difference?” Benedict chided.

  “The difference is that there’s now one less maggot for me to worry about.” Silas smirked.

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  Benedict nodded, and James glanced up at Cassius for a moment. Silas whistled, followed by a bow. before pressing his pistol against Benedict’s forehead. Above them, Cassius continued to gaze at the eclipse whose sigils were starting to fade. He fell from his trance once he heard Silas whistling.

  Cassius quickly looked around him yet saw no one, then he focused his attention downward. He cracked a halfhearted smile upon noticing James who stared back up at him. Cassius’s eyes darted from Silas to Benedict and back to Silas again. Cassius hastily drew his revolver and, in an instant, aimed it at James.

  James looked up at him disapprovingly, but Cassius didn’t take his thumb off of the trigger.

  “Stay here, I’ve got some unfinished business to deal with.” Silas hissed, looking at Benedict.

  ”Spare the boy! Take me instead!” Benedict pleaded.

  Yet James did not look at him and opened a portal back to the Abyss before stepping through to the other side. Dragging Benedict along with him, not before binding him in chains. Once he was back on true ground again, Silas tossed his sword at Cassius who quickly shot it out of the air before dodging out of the way. Silas gazed up at the eclipse and saw that the last sigil had just finished from its face. He smiled, looked at Cassius, and nodded before readying his revolver.

  “So, this is how it ends, a meager duel?” Silas howled.

  ”Release Benedict.” Cassius spat.

  ”Release him? And make this an unfair match? I don’t think so.” Silas answered.

  Cassius groaned and pulled the trigger, but his aim wasn’t up to par. Silas smiled and flourished his sword as the bullet missed him entirely.

  ”Is that really the best you’ve got?” Silas chuckled.

  Cassius didn’t answer as he fired another round, this time hitting Benedict’s bindings, causing them to shatter to the floor. Silas growled as Benedict rose and quickly disappeared, leaving the two alone.

  ”We’ll call it a draw… for now.” Silas groaned.

  Cassius solemnly nodded before holstering his revolver. Silas smiled and opened a portal to Bethyinine’s domain. Cassius hastily ran over to him and grabbed him by the shoulder.

  ”What’s wrong with you!?” Silas growled.

  ”I was going to say the same about you.” Cassius answered.

  ”What, you want me to stay here with you and fend off whatever emerges from there!?” Silas hissed before pointing at the eclipse.

  ”Well that was what I thought you were going to do. But no, you’re just going to run off like the coward you are!” Cassius chided.

  “I’d prefer to be alive for the time being, thank you very much!” Silas insisted.

  ”Why? Too afraid to say hello to your sister?” Cassius chided.

  Cassius groaned and watched as James walked through the portal leaving him all alone. Alone to face down whatever Silas’s sister had to offer. Franky, he shuddered just thinking about what could happen if a proper Ouroboros was unleashed. He stared at it one last time and noticed that it was perfectly intact. Cassius breathed a sigh of relief before sitting down on the ground. He smiled and started to whistle Chopin’s Funeral March. After a while Cassius changed the tune and began to whistle a loose version of Lacrimosa. He sat there and pondered what would happen once this was all over. Perhaps James would let him be his own person, perhaps not.

  Either way Cassius would still be content so long as he was still alive. The longer he sat, the more the sense of lingering dread started to build up inside him. Cassius tried to keep it at bay for as long as he possibly could. Yet he was swiftly overwhelmed as the dread burrowed deep into him. It burrowed far down into both his mind and his very soul. Cassius in this moment was completely paralyzed with fear. His mind and soul had just been raptured before him. The only thing he had some control over was his body. Even then the amount of control which he had over it was very little.

  Little by little the dread began to infect his body. First his legs succumbed to the overwhelming fear. Then his chest followed suit. Next were his arms which fell to the floor like limp noodles. Finally, the paranoia wrestled control of his mind from him. Fear quickly gripped his heart whose beating only increased as the fear spread through him. The last thought on his mind before the paranoia took over was, oddly enough, an overwhelming urge to scream. So, Cassius raised his head to the heavens and opened his mouth.

  Yet no sound came from him, for the world was barren and void…