Maximus was standing next to a wall of inky darkness, the dungeon's edge. Where the dark sky curled down to stand against him, in stark contrast to his bright armor outlined with magenta.
"Damn it." Maximus cursed, staring forward at this immovable object.
He raised his fist.
"You sure touching it is a good idea?" Spencer shouted, peeking from behind a tree.
She knew that it could not protect her.
"No." Maximus snapped, his fist was still raised, but it hesitated. This thing, whatever it was, might be dangerous. If he touches it and something happens to him, it might delay his return even more.
With a frustrated grunt, he walked away, barely restraining the urge to let his restraint slip.
Spencer chuckled, and jokingly jabbed the tree in front of her.
"Imagine you just threw a tree-?"
The tree in front of her was gone.
The air screamed as Maximus hurled the massive plant at the wall with all his strength.
The wood shredded, thousands of splinters shattering across kilometers. Spencer barely covered her ears in time, yet her head still screamed.
The only reason the splinters didn't kill her was Maximus, standing between her and the point of contact.
"...Didn't work." He sighed, "Good idea though-"
"What the fuck man?!" Spencer hissed, jabbing his stomach with her finger.
"Are you insane?! I could have died! Fuck you, you psychopath. Christ…" She ran a hand through her hair, tail low and ears down as she tried to soothe her flared anger.
"…Sorry, I was reckless."
"Yeah no shit bro. I know you got that Charice person or whatever, but you're gonna kill someone at this rate. Just existing around you is as stressful as a fucking hazard!"
It was quiet for a bit, and Maximus looked at the soil between them as Spencer paced.
"I wish I had cig to deal with this shit." She chuckled sarcastically, "What is the plan anyway, when the clock runs out? Are you gonna brute force everything that stands in your way? Do you even know which way to go?"
Maximus didn't respond, instead, he seemed to deeply ponder. Spencer felt a brief pang of guilt seeing his contemplative expression, but she was far too upset to voice it.
"…Just… Come on."
Her ears flicked and tail swished, cold air bitting against her her skin as Maximus looked at the carnage around him, all from one simple throw.
"Yeah… You're right, sorry about that. I got…"
"Desperate? Yeah. I saw that much." Spencer chuckled, a bit more sincerely this time, though her tone and eyes were still sharp with irritation.
Maximus could only smirk under his helmet, "Heh, yeah."
Spencer nodded, thinking, before talking again with a smack of her lips. "I had someone like you do with this Charice guy, and… It didn't go well. Think about who you even are without them first."
She shrugged, "I mean, you have plenty of time here, right?"
He nodded in silence. Quietly looking inward, searching the vast palace of his mind with a single question in mind.
'Think about who... I am?'
Spencer said something about resting, and Maximus casually agreed, blatantly uninterested. She started a fire, and he reached for a tree, before stopping himself.
He sat down on the colorful grass instead, quietly, with crossed feet and a deep sigh.
He pulled away his helmet, letting his skin breathe, and watched the flickering flame, it's warmth spreading through his skin. He wasn't sure where to begin, so he imagined a library, picked a book, and opened a random page.
A hazy feeling came to mind, from which emerged a memory.
He was still a boy that was barely attending school for a year or two in his small rural community, it was at this point in his life that he can remember, with vivid pride, his parent's praise.
"You're a strong boy Maximus, just like our forefathers were!"
God was on their side, they happily announced to the world behind closed doors. Mean people would come and call them bad for being proud, for having a spirit in them they did not possess.
"They are lesser men Maximus, okay? They aren't like us."
His grandfather, a respected, disciplined elder of their community told him. He patted him on the head as he bought him an ice cream from one of his many aunties.
"88." She said as they left her store.
The adults really liked that number, Maximus didn't know why they did, but he said it back. It made them happy.
Grandpa's gruff hand ruffling his hair felt good, his grin made Maximus puff out his chest with pride.
"Our very own Spartan! Haha, boy. Have you been told where we all come from?"
"Well our teacher said that-"
"Him?! Boy!" He smacked Maximus over the back of the head, and his ice cream dropped to the asphalt. "You should know better than to listen to them! Listen to me."
It melted in the heat, and Maximus felt tears sting the corners of his eyes.
He grabbed him by the shoulder, clicking his tongue at Maximus' teary eyed look.
"You aren't in trouble kid, but you gotta know what you are. And that is better. You are better. Come with me, let me show you something."
His grandfather led him uphill, watching with an appraising eye how Maximus handled the tiresome journey. Even at a young age, he was a true German, an image of projected perfection.
Maximus' mind returned to reality, to Spencer leaning back and staring up at the sky before looking into his eyes contemplatively. Clearly, she didn't expect her words to hit him so hard.
The campfire crackled in front of Maximus' eyes, his red pupil growing brighter as the sound snapped him out of it for a brief moment. Spencer was quiet, watching him think.
'I was just a child. You sick fucks.'
His fists were clenched with anger, but the justified rage was a brittle thing.
Maximus imagined himself opening the book in his mind again. This time, he and his grandfather were already at the top, Maximus sat on his lap on a bench.
In front of them was a beautiful sight. A vast valley of beautiful forests and farms, the sun casting down its golden light over distant peaking mountains.
It was a cold wind that bit at his cheek, but the warmth and steady grip of his grandfather held him firm, even as reality tried to lull him to sleep, or perhaps shake him awake.
"You see all of that Maximus? It is ours."
"All of it?" Maximus asked, in wonder.
"Well… Not anymore. But it was. They took it from us, those cretins, like that teacher of yours, they robbed us. Tried to kill my pa. But he raised me and the family lived on. That's why we need to stick together boy."
His chuckle, rough, raspy, filled the air. Maximus was swinging his feet as he smiled, feeling so blessed to have his family at his side.
"Why don't I invite you to the next RAB? You know, have some fun, listen to music, and show everyone how grown up you are."
"Okay grandpa!" Maximus was happy, ecstatic even, to be a part of the family. A part of this loving community.
Maximus' skull throbbed with disgust, his thumping heart loud and mighty enough for the earth to feel its conflict. He felt so many things, and not nearly enough of it was anger.
His fist clenched tight enough for his knuckles to turn white underneath his armor. His chest rose and fell with a shuddering sigh as tears threatened to gather in his eyes.
They were pitiful tears. He didn't let them fall.
He shut the book closed in his mind and threw it on the floor of his mind palace, but it would stay there whether he liked it or not.
He was Maximus after all, and Maximus is great. Maximus is strong…
And all those affirming words only made Maximus hate his past all the more. Because he couldn't tell where the lies began, and where he ended.
Or if he ever began at all.
The fire did not flare or roar in time with his emotion, it simply cracked and flickered. Much like the grand walls of Maximus' mind.
He glanced around, at the inky abyss above him that curved down to impede his way, and wondered.
"What is this stuff anyway…?" It was less rage and more so a genuine question, one founded in confusion and need.
Spencer, quietly judging Maximus' state, shrugged. "Not sure, if the game lore is to be believed, then…" She trailed off, clenching her hand with a worried frown.
Maximus didn't want to pressure her, but he leaned forward reflexively.
She gathered her resolve and finished her thought. "…The Gods, the in-game ones, made these."
Silence reigned. A bone-rattling shudder ran up and down his spine as a deep breath came from his lips, feeding the flame.
"…Okay."
He nodded.
"Okay."
He assured himself, or rather, he tried to. It explained why he couldn't just break out, but it raised another question.
'If the Gods are real, how is Charice gonna deal with them? …How will they handle him as a Priest?'
His soft, sensitive, easily wounded or deceived lover came to his mind. The visual of that being ruined and defaced came next.
Fear. Anxiety. The rapid thumping of his heart and his expanding veins.
That is what Maximus felt, because no matter how powerful he was, he could never hope to defeat the infinity of divinity. Because he was told, from a young age, that the Gods are real and on his side.
And everything they told him was a lie.
"God damn it."
He cursed, before chuckling at the irony. It was a bitter chuckle, far from genuinely amused.
Spencer smirked too, "Amen huh?"
"A-fucking-men." Maximus laughed with disbelief, gesturing up at the abyss around them. "A real divine miracle…! Man…"
"It sucks yeah… But hey! Only a… Well I don't know how long, but probably not much longer left until it drops."
Maximus nodded with a smirk on his face, glancing up before his eyes settled on the earth at his feet.
Why did it feel like Spencer was wrong? That little voice at the core of his mind, something older than sapience, it fed him a concerning feeling.
The feeling of being watched, and of being caged.
Maximus shook it off with a roll of his shoulders.
He looked up at the darkness before looking into Spencer's eyes again, who paused with a flicker of her tail.
"We should sleep."
Spencer nodded, "You go ahead, I'll stay up for a bit longer."
Maximus nodded, lied down, and slept on the grass. Spencer looked up where Maximus was looking with that pensive look with confusion of her own.
And with wide eyes, her ears fell flat.
The abyss peeled away to reveal a pair of stars, blue and red, flickering to life like a pair of candles. And her body froze solid as the world fluttered under her.
It was the first time she had seen the stars in so long, and they were beautiful. But they didn't care for her.
Maximus felt something rip into his dreams. And his might began to drain.