The cell was quiet but heavy, every breath Kairo drew scraping against cracked ribs. His eyes stared at the stone ceiling, crimson glow flickering like a candle ready to die.
The silence broke.
Whispers. Cold, venomous, rolling through the cracks in his skull.
"Weak vessel…"
"Your body bends… soon it will break."
"Zahrathos — release him to us. Let us use what you cannot."
Kairo flinched, his hands clutching his head. The voices coiled like worms in his mind, each word stabbing deeper, pulling at nerves already frayed.
Zahrathos stirred within, his tone colder, defiant but strained.
"I am not your tool. You will not have him."
The gods laughed.
"And yet he cries for death every night."
"What is the use of a vessel that cracks with every trial?"
"Give us his bones. Give us his flame. Give us the boy, Zahrathos."
Kairo's breath quickened. His chest tightened. His crimson eyes watered with pain he refused to name.
"Stop… stop it…" he whispered, voice breaking, hands gripping his head tighter, nails cutting skin.
The gods pressed harder, their chorus relentless, a tide of divine mockery.
"You are nothing."
"You cannot fight forever."
"Give in. Give us your flesh."
Something inside him snapped.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Kairo roared, his cry echoing off the stone walls, tearing from his throat raw and broken. Tears cut through the blood on his face as he collapsed forward, shivering, chains rattling against the floor.
He wept, body trembling, the weight of gods and generals and endless trials crushing down until even his breath was a burden.
Outside the cell, heavy footsteps echoed.
Two demon guards paused by the bars, sneering as they peered inside.
"Pathetic," one spat. "The 'Immortal' crying like a beaten whelp."
The other laughed, fangs glinting. "He won't last the next round. The pit will eat him alive."
They walked on, their mockery fading into the stone halls.
Kairo's body sagged, half-dead, half-alive. His chains coiled uselessly, his crimson eyes dimming as exhaustion dragged him under.
And when he woke next, he would not be in his cell.
He would be in the arena.