As Shatterbone choked the life out of me, I thought of Mona’s Will rising toward us. If I ever saw her again, I’d consider myself lucky.  My vision kept growing darker, and the last of my strength fled my arms until I could no longer lift them, could no longer strain uselessly against the bastard’s iron grip.

My awareness faded, the air so impossibly heavy in my lungs that my body fell away.  My consciousness retreated to the dark place within myself as the world disappeared.

And all I could feel was regret.

When Mona arrived, would I still be unconscious?  Would I be dead?  She would face Shatterbone, Phaedra, Krez, Braz, and the guards, alone.

I had to get back up.

It was strange to be unconscious in reality but still present within the dark sea that floated in my mind, or my soul, or wherever this place truly was.  Once again, I saw a golden thread ahead of me, and I raced along it, desperate to return.  Last time, I had found a portal at the center of the museum atrium.  I could only hope it would be there waiting for me.

Though I had no body in this realm, I felt my presence speed along under the force of my Will.  There was a feeling of moving great distances as if propelled by the wind or the distortion of space itself.  Soon I found myself at a place I had begun to think of as the crossroads, where the golden thread crossed a countless number of the darkened paths beneath me.

As I passed by, intent on my goal, I felt a presence out in the shadows, as if I was being watched.  A wave of fear passed over me, but it hardly mattered.  Whoever was in here with me, they were not my biggest problem.

The golden thread seemed to shimmer as if it were an illusion the farther I looked into the distance.  But it would hopefully become more apparent once I drew closer to its end.  Or at least, I had to believe that.

Every moment mattered.  I focused my attention on the path and continued floating along it.  I tried to move as quickly as possible but found my progress slow.  The course zipped left, then right, and though I was in a featureless, dark landscape and found it difficult to gauge my progress, I couldn’t help but feel that things were going slower than they had the last time.  Perhaps I was weaker now, and my energy had faded compared to before.

Previously, following the path had felt like rolling downhill, like I could let the ebbs and flows of my soul carry me to my destination.  This time I was fighting against a relentless current, doggedly following that golden thread as it twisted left, then right, then upward.  I had no idea if minutes or hours had passed until, at last, the thread began to straighten, and I grew hopeful.  A light bloomed before me as the museum came into view far in the distance.  Soon I was standing at the steps of the marvelous structure, which was glowing from within.

Once inside, I followed the path to the atrium, but I cursed under my breath when I saw the empty platform at its center.  There was no portal back to reality here.  Not now, at least.

As I approached, I noticed a small bead of darkness, a single grain of Void.  I tried to pass through it, but it resisted.  With my Will, I imagined myself grabbing at the edges of it, forcing the aperture to open.  Slowly, inexorably, it began to widen.  The larger it grew, the more focus it took to sustain it.  I felt it resisting me every inch of the way, but I tried to push on.

The last time I had returned to my body, I had passed through the portal easily.  This time, however, it felt like trying to swim through a sea of black tar.  Still, I persisted.  Regardless of the difficulty, my objective remained the same.

I steadied my mind on the portal again and continued to plunge myself through.

I needed to be back in reality. I couldn’t stay here, in these strange depths of my soul, while my world ended outside.  I felt the Void buckle, the edge rippling under the mental force it took to hold it open.

Behind me, I felt the same dark presence as earlier, as if something in this place had been stalking me, pursuing me.

My concentration faltered, and I felt myself sliding back, the portal closing as it forced me out.

No, no, no…  I sharpened my focus again, and though I had no mouth, I felt my mind scream.  I needed to be awake right now.

A wind began to blow from the portal, a gale howling in my mind, a wall of resistance pushing me back into the museum.  As I looked behind me from halfway through the portal, I saw the atrium.  With every push of my mind that moved me forward, the resistance against me only grew.  But I couldn’t let things end like this.

One push, then another, then one more.  And for a hopeful moment, I thought I would make it.

Until I felt the presence behind me tearing at the edges of the portal, hauling me backward.  My mental focus slipped, and I felt the world spin around me as the Void ejected me back into the atrium, collapsing into the tiny grain from which it had grown.

I looked around in a daze, panicking, realizing I was back where I had started.  I searched for the presence, wondering who had thwarted my escape.

But I knew, of course.  How could I not?

You won’t make it there yet.  You weren’t going to, no matter how hard you tried.  Trust me.

A shiver passed through me as the words appeared in my mind like telepathy. I had no ears in this place, so that I couldn’t hear, and no mouth, so that I couldn’t talk.  But someone, or something, had spoken to me anyway—from within my own mind.  The same fear I’d felt the last time, as if I were being watched, returned.  Now I knew it was true.  I had never been alone here.

I tried to form a thought in reply, “Who are you?”

Don’t deny the obvious truth.  You already know.

I wanted to run from that presence, but there was nowhere to escape to.  There was, of course, one being I was supposed to know.  But denial is a powerful thing.

“Greg-Theryx,” I thought.

How fitting that in your time of need, you would find yourself before me.

“Before you?  I was trying to leave until you pulled me back here.  I don’t need anything from you.  I didn’t come here willingly.  I was…”

I turned back towards the portal.  It was time to try again.  To ignore the terrifying voice in my soul and get back to my body.

Are you sure you don’t need anything?  Whoever put you here is still out there, aren’t they, Greg?  What makes you think you’ll fare any better against them a second time?

I thought of when I’d first felt his presence at the crossroads.  He’d been following me around in here ever since.  I knew I couldn’t trust him.  But if I died, would he die too?  It pained me to think this way, but maybe he had a reason to help me, and perhaps I did need his help.  I hadn’t done well on my own, that was for sure.

The second time you’ve been here in one day.  Are things not going well?  Treat our vessel well, mortal.  There was a wave of anger behind the thought as if I’d damaged some of his property.

That phrase, our vessel, hung in my mind.

It seemed Mona had been right.  I might not have been a god, but at the very least, one seemed to lurk inside me.  “Trying not to be killed is what I’m working on right now.  Hence my eagerness to return.”

“So you fear death like a coward.”

I did fear death, but not merely my own.  I didn’t want to argue with a faceless dark presence, however.  And if he was just going to mock me anyway, perhaps I’d do better trying to escape.  I focused on the portal and once again forced it to open.

You’re not going to make it.  At least, not in time.

“How would you know?”

You were out for hours, earlier.

If I’d possessed hands, I would have covered my ears.

Why limit yourself to merely what you know when limitless knowledge is available to you?

“Sadly, I assume your limitless knowledge comes with a price.  I’m not a fool.  Evil gods don’t offer their gifts for free, do they?”

The only price you will pay is the burden of memory.  All you must do is walk a different path…  And remember.

“A different path?”

The presence laughed, and a new passage formed at the edge of the atrium.  Unlike the others, this one didn’t seem to be part of the museum at all, and it led downward toward where the museum’s basement might have been if it had one.  The passage was pitch black, and I had no idea what lay inside it.

As I said, you can’t leave yet.  Your body isn’t ready—not without an infusion of Void-touched energy, like the energy that courses within your soul.  You merely must reach inside yourself and take it.  Tap into it.  Your engine has been running on fumes rather than properly harnessing the source of your power.

I was filled with visions of my unconscious form, lying there uselessly as Shatterbone brought his axe down on Mona’s neck.

“Fuck,” I muttered.

And so I moved towards the newly opened passage.  As soon as I approached it, I knew that if I took this bargain, I would live to regret it.  But that was the important word—live.  If I damned myself, so be it.  Whatever the price was, I would have to pay it.

As I walked into the darkness, I felt something from the voice—a particular amusement.  Unlike the portal I had been trying to open, there was no resistance.  I felt myself pulled forward, my presence transported a great distance.  Gradually, a distant light glowed ahead of me, and the ground ignited beneath my feet as if the floor contained veins that glowed a dim purple.

You’ve made a prudent decision.  The first one you’ve made in a while.

The more Greg-Theryx encouraged me, the more I knew this was a bad idea.  But I had to do something.  “I never really had a choice, did I?”

Instead of words, this time, all I heard was deep, disturbing laughter.

As I took another step, I felt the world shift around me, and I finally realized what the Dark One had meant by the burden of memory.