New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Inside Astaroth's forced dream trance, he had already lost track of how many times he had died and come back. Everything had become a blur.

He relived every near-death experience in his life, all of them turning to the worst right before his eyes. And god only knew this wasn't just a few occasions in the last year.

His feelings had already dulled, and he was just going through the motions.

By now he was back to when he was a teen, that one time he fell from a tree he was climbing. He wasn't sure how the true event had gone by, and right now, he was falling head-first to the ground.

But right before he hit the exposed roots below him, the ground shattered like glass, and he kept falling. Everything around him turned to white, and gravity slowly disappeared until he felt himself floating in nothingness.

His mind slowly went back to normal, and he realized what had happened.

"What the fuck is it now? Killing me a hundred times wasn't enough? Now you want me to die of boredom?" he complained into the surrounding nothing.

Silence was the answer he received.

After a few moments of erring, weightlessly, Astaroth wondered how long it would take before his body finally succumbed.

Then a prickling feeling on his nape caught his attention, as his body spun around on its own.

And right behind him, or under him, he wasn't sure, a massive pair of eyes were staring at him. Their golden irises were shining like the rays of the morning sun, and Astaroth had to squint to look at them.

A voice echoed all around him.

"Have you given up? Is this all your mind can bear before breaking?"

The voice was neither masculine nor feminine, but it was soft. There wasn't mocking or disdain in the words.

Yet they pierced into Astaroth's chest like a knife.

"What else do you want me to do?! I can't break out. I've been completely overpowered. What can I do aside from wait to die?!"

The eyes didn't blink.

But when they shrunk fast and rushed toward Astaroth, his heart skipped a beat.

A copy of himself now stood before him, but with slightly unique traits.

The face was androgynous but square enough to be recognized as a man.

The hair was silver coloured, with speckled light blue in it, like dust.

And the eyes. The golden eyes, which looked so soft on this emotionless face, but reflected a strength Astaroth couldn't start to fathom.

But what clashed the most with his appearance were the two huge, white wings, folded on its back.

"Are you ready to give up? Are you not ready to face hardship?"

Yet again, his voice contained no judgement or disdain, but they hurt Astaroth.

The questions sounded more like a child was asking them than an adult. He didn't know what to answer.

"It's not that I give up. But there is nothing I can do. Titania has me dancing in the palm of her hands, and I can't muster the power to fight back…"

The doppelgänger before him tilted his head a bit.

"Power? Do you need power to not give up? Do you need power to fight back?"

Astaroth sighed loudly.

"It's not that I want to give up. I want to fight back. But I'm too weak as it is. And power is not something I can just pray for and obtain. It takes time…"

Astaroth's head drooped as he said those words. And when he lifted it back up, the doppelgänger was standing mere inches away from him, his face almost in his.

"Do you want power to not give up? Do you need power to fight back?"

His words were more stern this time. The question didn't sound like one, and Astaroth felt his heart jump in his chest.

But the intense stare of the doppelgänger told him he wanted an answer.

Steeling his resolve, Astaroth's mouth opened up.

"I want to fight back. I want to be strong enough that no one can make me or my friends and family feel this powerless ever again."

The doppelgänger's traits softened a little as a smile found its way across its lips.

"Then I give you power."

Astaroth was about to ask him how, but the doppelgänger moved so fast, grabbing the top of his head with one hand, and putting his other over his face, that he couldn't even react.

Then a piercing pain entered his brain, as another flood of information, runes, knowledge of concepts of magic entered his head. This one was much bigger than the one Solomon had given him, with the Legacy Skill, and Astaroth felt like his mind was melting.

It lasted only a few seconds before the doppelgänger let go of him and disappeared, leaving Astaroth gasping for air and screaming in pain while clutching the sides of his head.

That was the moment Titania felt the connection break outside the domain.

And when she tried to peer into Astaroth's mind, to see what was happening, he felt the intrusion and his eyes burst open, glowing golden and showing power and fury.

That was the moment she realized she needed to end this before it was too late.

Astaroth's pain was gone, and replacing it was a feeling of hope. He now had something to fight back with.

From inside this white space, he could see outside, where Titania was now charging at him, weapons raised.

His mouth opened there, and outside, saying the words that had been seared into his memory, along with the runes of magic that went with them.

"Divine Domain; Soul's Judgement."

The surrounding white broke like glass, and fell into nothing, as a backdrop of eternal black replaced it. In the distance, he could see stars as a garden appeared under his feet.

Astaroth recognized this garden. He had been here before.

But now, he was looking over the vast starry expanse, and he saw a figure float towards him. A Fey, whose weapons and armour had vanished.

Titania.