V opened his eyes sometime later; his head was pounding. No surprise there. As he blinked awake, the first thing he did was check Eika and L. Eika seemed to have transitioned from being passed out, into a normal sleeping state. Her mouth was half open and she was drooling onto the smooth black floor. He called her name a few times "Eika. Wake up Eika." After a few seconds, he placed his hand on her shoulder, to jostle her a bit. However, as soon as he touched her, she jumped up. "Do you have to?!" She yelled out in a panicky voice before realizing where she was, and that whatever she was yelling about was only in her dreams. "Oh! OH!" Eika jumped toward V and threw her arms around his waist. "I thought you and L were going to die!!" While cute enough, Eika's reaction was a little sad. V decided that once they were back on the road, back to a type of normalcy, he would have to talk to her about this. Make her understand that there was a very real likelihood L and him would die. If he cared about her at all, he would have to prepare her for being alone. As he peeled Eika off of his waist, he gestured to L. "She's not dead but I would not say she is doing... great.”

Stepping backwards slightly, Eika caught her breath as she looked at L. The hole in her middle was no longer frozen. The hole was still open, but it appeared as if her internal organs had mostly regenerated. Eika had already seen a lot of horrible things at this point, but the visual effect that mostly healthy, currently working, uncovered organs had been a little much for her. It did not help that it was one of her allies. Turning away she tried to hold her nausea in check. "Is... that's not healthy right?" She squeaked out to V "Uh, I mean. Not for a normal person, no? But the being imprisoned here seems to think she is semi-immortal. So... maybe its fine." Eika hastily tried to focus on anything but L. "You spoke with the prisoner here? What do they look like?" V opened his mouth to respond, but Namkuzu responded first, to both of them. "He never saw me. I can currently speak directly to you. Namkuzu, Archdemon of the Mind." Eika opened and closed her mouth a few times in surprise, not sure how to respond. However, a sudden thought hit her "Where is Luna?!" Again, Namkuzu responded before V. "Uh, sleeping closer to me than you currently are. You will run into her eventually. On the subject of your various companions, I know it looks bad, but the Archdemon of Honor should actually be wakeable at this point."

V looked skeptical. "Her insides are just... open to the world." The voice chuckled a little inside his head as it responded. "Ya whatever, it really does not matter. Command her to wake up, and she will. You could let her rest longer, but to be entirely honest we might not be entirely safe here any longer. Now that a few champions have witnessed this spire’s location." V furrowed his brow "What do you mean?" Namkuzu sighed "Wake her up, that way I don't need to repeat things. I’ll explain while you walk toward my cell." V and Eika looked at each other, both with similar unsure expressions. After a few more moments of hesitation. V halfheartedly walked over to L. "Hey uh, get up?" The voice in their heads sighed again. "Did... is that what you think commanding someone to do something is?" V shook his head "Obviously not ass-hat. I just don't want to make her condition any worse." After a short pause Namkuzu responded "Yes well, it’s going to be considerably worse if something finds us up here and she is just lazing about on the floor."

Sighing, V spoke in a mildly commanding tone "L. Get up" After a second or two of silence, L's eyes snapped open. A horrible groan issued forth from her lips. Eika vomited off of the side of the walkway. V could not blame her, the muscles and organs that were visible tensed up as L awoke and started groaning. After a few moments L seemed to regain a semblance of composure, looking up at V she spoke through gritted teeth. "Am I dying? I feel like I’m dying. It’s been a long time since I woke up with this much pain. The fire barrier was nothing compared to this." V shrugged and gestured to her exposed center. "I... uh. Well, I don't think so?" L's eyes rolled backward as she pulled herself up enough to look at the damage to her body. V wondered if he really did the right thing, waking her up. After she was able to focus again, she exhaled heavily, painfully. "That's not survivable. Even if I was resilient enough to somehow be alive like this, infection and every other thing would cause this to be fatal. Look I know you are not bound by the same oaths, or even philosophy as I am but please, if you ever had a shred of -" Namkuzu's voice interrupted her, broadcasting into all three of their minds. "Stop with the dying words thing. Your regeneration, and demonic body will not let you die to an infected wound. Even if multiple of your internal organs are exposed. Just... you know. Move carefully."

"Archdemon... 0f the mind. The voice belongs to the Archdemon of the Mind." L whispered through her clenched jaw. "Good! Seems your demonic side is still functioning correctly. I was sort of worried about that actually, the warden of this place might have somehow damaged you in a way I could not detect. I must say, it’s nice to meet you, Honor. After-all, honor is quite a powerful namesake." The voice obviously had more respect in its tone when it spoke with L than when it spoke to Eika or V. "Is it?" L believed in honor, but to hear a demon call it powerful made her suspicious. "Ah... yes I suppose you are not quite a normal Archdemon are you? You were not born... or made, rather, with the same understanding as your brethren. Well, if you can get up, I would appreciate it if you started stumbling toward the center of this place. As I will explain shortly, it’s possible this place is no longer safe." V spoke up, "You don't have to try to walk in this state. We can wait. Our group is almost always in a state of "not being safe." I don't think letting you heal more will make much of a difference." L shook her head, before bowing it. "Please, please help me walk there. I must finish my task before I die. I don't want to die in failure."

V hesitated a bit, L's obsession with honor had always been clearer than the clearest diamond, and just as hard to break, but could she really not afford to rest some given the circumstances? Shrugging, he began to help her up, putting his arm underneath her shoulders, he told her he would help her see this through. It was her stage; he was willing to do this how she wanted. For the most part anyway. As they started walking, slowly oh so slowly, the voice "cleared its throat." Obviously done for effect, V wondered if this demon liked theatrics. "So, as you are aware, this spire is a prison. The prison of an Archdemon. Me, in fact. You are also aware that the gods built this place. However, why would gods do that? It's not as if I was a direct threat to them, and even if I was, why not just kill me?" V speculated, but was not given much of a chance to think before Namkuzu continued. "Because this prison's primary purpose was to hide me." V furrowed his brow, that was not exactly what he was expecting, normally prisons are not for hiding or protecting people, but containing them.

"Oh. Don't misunderstand. It was not for my sake that they hid me. After-all I obviously desire freedom. The reason they hid me was tied to the story you have been told multiple versions of. The Great Betrayer, The Savior, The Scourge of the Demons, Hero of Rabbitkin. based on the versions of the story you have been told, I gather that the Champion of old now has a great many titles and names. I suspect that hundreds of thousands of years, at absolute minimum have passed since those events, if the gods let those series of events become so distorted..." There was a pause, V could sense that the voice was considering something, trying to put the pieces of information he drew from their minds together. As V waited for him to continue, he wondered at the supposed time frame the demon was talking about. He knew in fantasy shows and video games, worlds stayed in the "fantasy medieval" era forever. But if hundreds of thousands of years had really passed since the stories he was told, would this world really not have progressed at all? As they walked in silence for a few moments, L spoke up. "Sorry... you have to support me like this. It... should be the other way around..." L seemed embarrassed that she needed to rely on V to walk. Although he found nothing wrong with it, if she viewed him as an authority figure, he supposed it made some sense from her perspective. Before he could respond however, Namkuzu continued.

"Anyway. You see, that was the first 'game' the gods ever played. Although the term game is something they use simply to... downplay reality. To make things seem friendly or even 'safe.' However, back then, they did not call it a game. It was a war of sorts, a war with specific rules and win conditions. If the gods had waged a true war among themselves, the various universes would hardly survive. Why wage a true war, when the victors would be left with ashes? Instead, they waged war here, in a much more manageable way. It was also the goal of their war after all, control of this world. Why not wage war directly upon its soil? One side created the Demons, the other placed their hopes on 'The Champion,' as we shall call him." L interrupted, she had already realized that the Archdemon of the Mind knew what they knew, "Either you or the God of Honor must be lying to me, he said the demons were created out of boredom. He spoke nothing of a war, or a game." Namkuzu chuckled a little "He did not lie, he simply... glossed over details. Likely due to a desire to stay hidden from detection. Some interpretations of the war would say that it was started due to boredom. In turn, that would mean our creation was borne out of boredom." L grumbled, but she figured that made sense. The God of Honor had said he was speaking in half-truths after-all.

Before Namkuzu could continue, V spoke up. "Wait, does that mean you telling us this story is dangerous?" The Archdemon of the Mind quickly responded "Not at the moment. As to why, that will become clear shortly." The voice cleared its throat again, for whatever reason. "Anyway, glossing over quite a few details. One of the... win/lose conditions of the war was that the Champion wiped out the demons. See, the side that created us were.... extremely overconfident in our abilities. Well, that is not actually true. The abilities of demons are extreme. It would be more correct to say that the gods who created us underestimated the wisdom and power of the gods they had allied against. Once it became clear that the Champion would eventually wipe us all out, the side that had been losing came up with a plan. Hide one of us away, in a place no one could find no matter how hard they searched. It would be hidden even from its creators. No one would know its exact location. You see, this prison is hidden from everything. Gods, mortals, demons, anything in between. Only its wardens knew its location. However, they have no minds, no souls, and by all interpretations, are not alive, nor dead, and by some understandings they don't even really exist. Inside of this place, we could curse out the gods, or pray to them begging for help, or moon them and stick out our tongues and they would be unable to hear or see any of it. They cannot even see the building, much less inside of it. The only way to hide something from the gods, is to hide it from everyone. Even the gods who created it. This bought them time to find another solution to their war. Although, I do not, obviously, know what happened after I was imprisoned."

A few moments of silence reigned as V, L, and Eika absorbed this information. "You know, I'm having trouble coming up with an explanation as to what happened after I was sealed in this place. The obviously incorrect histories you have been given are not enough for me to glean the truth. However, I suspect the gods that created me did not win. I doubt the God of Honor's claim that he is the last god left alive from back then was a lie, which we might be able to confirm shortly. Although, if there was another win condition for the other side of the war than "killing every demon." I do not know what it was, as to my knowledge that was the only thing they agreed to as a loss condition. I suppose the Gods on our side could have died, but other demons carried out our missions successfully? But, in that case, why am I still here? Surly the changes to this world would have resulted in my prison either being discovered or destroyed..." V was about to ask a question, but was cut off again. "Yes yes I feel your confusion. The side that created the demons had a different goal in the war for this world. See, it was for the demons to figure out how to subvert the laws of this world. Demons were created to subvert all things. Gods, mortals, even creation itself. Hundreds and hundreds of gods took part in our creation. We were supposed to do what they could not, and give them control over this world. It was only a matter of time till we succeeded, I’m sure of it... If the demons did not succeed, I am alive, and all the gods who created us, save one, is dead. Then perhaps the war never ended? Perhaps the first 'game' is still going? Hummm."

V, and less so L, as she was heavily distracted with pain, wondered at this information. Assuming it was all correct, wouldn't every god create their champion as a demon? Namkuzu answered easily "Your companion knows the answer to that, the God of Honor spoke honestly when he said that the gods could not create new demons. It was part of the rules of their war. Otherwise, our side could just pump demons out at a rate that made them unable to be killed faster than created. If the war is still in effect, then... I suppose the gods cannot create demons still. Although, if it really has been as long as I suspect it has since I was locked away, I find it strange that the God of Honor was the first deity to come up with the loophole that created the Archdemon of Honor..." L managed to formulate a question. "If this place was supposed to be hidden from everyone, why was I able to find it? Demons subvert rules, but I’m not a particularly practiced demon." The three of them could feel Namkuzu grinning as he explained. "Oh, that is easy, demons are made to break every rule. Just because this place was made to be hidden from our kind as well will not be enough. You are the Archdemon of Honor. Your powers and abilities are strongest when they revolve around the aspect. For example, when you are able to sleep, it is when you feel like your honor is satisfied. When your master is at your side, your honor does not demand you search for him, or protect him, or wonder at his condition. When his hand is in yours, both you and your honor is at peace. So, you sleep regardless of your supposed inability to. However, I’m sure you are starting to put it together, aren't you? Why you were able to find this place? In your mind, freeing me was more important to your honor than anything. You hope that by serving the God of Honor you can wipe away your greatest failure, that not only brought dishonor to you, but resulted in the destru-"

"SILENCE!" For a moment V's brain burned with blue fire, it was like his brain was wrapped in a frozen flame. For just the fragment of a moment, V's perceptions were thrown off. Both V and Eika stumbled forward. Eika yelped and fell forward onto the smooth walkway, clearly, she had been affected as well. Luckily V was able to steady his balance before he threw both himself and L into the abyss below them. Namkuzu's voice was a little shaky, the same type of shaky as V's knees. "My apologies Honor, I had intended no insult... it has been a long time since I last conversed with anything or anyone and I... may have gotten ahead of myself. I was merely trying to communicate that this prison is more important to you than anything. Of course, you would find it, all other things come second to your honor, in your mind." They walked in silence for a little while, no one wishing to discuss what transpired. "You’re getting close to my cell now. Any other questions should be answered after I’m free. Then I will tell you what I know about why the gods were fighting over this world, I can sense you wanting to ask the question."