A normal person could only endure so much pain and torture until they finally cracked and became an entirely different person, but Ezekiel wasn't just any normal person. Ezekiel was an elf- a noble one at that. Though he endured days- weeks even of brutalization from both the Lich and his henchmen, he was not yet broken. The countless scars on his body would wither away before the next rising sun because he was able to heal. Admittedly, that was probably what made torturing him so fun. The fact that he could feel pain but his body would not die undoubtedly fueled the sadists that worked under Odin. Still, Ezekiel had not been able to get enough rest thus in one way or another, this seemingly endless torture was taking a toll on him. The time he spent locked up beneath the bar gave him perspective on life. As a boy who was cuddled and protected from the harsh realities of the world, his current situation was a wake-up call. Odin had successfully awakened darkness in the elf that even he didn't know existed. Ezekiel was at least thankful for that. There was no light without darkness. Perhaps this was all going according to plan.

Oak was a beautiful city. Despite Odin having eyes on him at all times, he was actually able to spend a significant amount of time appreciating the culture here. One would think that he could just up and leave but Odin had placed powerful magic upon him that restricted him from leaving. Ezekiel still didn't know the meaning of all this. One thing was for sure though; Ezekiel needed to play the game. Now was the time for him to play this game of chess. Now it was time for him t prove his worth. Right now Ezekiel was moving through the city of Oak. Of course two of Odin's followers were escorting him. "Where are we going?" He asked warmly. "Our lord has summoned you. Just walk." one of the henchmen said. Zeke glanced down at his wrists, each of them baring a brace that limited him from using too much of his magic. "Tell me... why do you follow Odin?" He asked. "Is it money? Or perhaps your lust for blood and destruction? I am curious... has he promised you something that you cannot obtain on your own?"

"He is the one. That is all." The other man said. Ezekiel nodded. "I see. You merely believe in whatever his mission is." Ezekiel smiled. "Fair enough. It is a shame though, that such devotion will not be enough to keep you alive." Ezekiel snickered. "..." "You are but pawns, you fools. One day he will discard you both like the trash you are, that is if I do not do it first." "Shut up." Ezekiel hummed.

Within moments of walking under the stars, the three of them were approaching the cathedral of Oak. Zeke had come here a couple of times just to cherish the architecture. With Odin standing in front of it, oddly enough it looked even more beautiful. "My lord." Immediately both guards bowed. The Desiertan glanced over at both beings, then up at the Lich. "A church. How romantic." he teased.

Ezekiel rolled his eyes. The formal bowing, the whole "Lord" thing- it disgusted him really. Odin was the epitome of evil, an unnecessary evil at that. The two henchmen hesitated to leave when their master said so. They glanced over at Ezekiel probably wondering if he would try to use this as an opportunity to escape. It was funny how they thought they'd be able to stop him if he tried to leave. Eventually, the two guards turned and left the premises, leaving Odin and Ezekiel alone in front of the church. Ezekiel thought of a couple of reasons that Lich-bitch would bring him here and they all boiled down to sacrifice. He couldn't imagine the two of them doing anything else than fighting most of the time and he couldn't imagine Odin doing anything else but drinking blood like some sort of demonic animal. The creature of the darkness stepped up to the wood-elf and snuffed him right after he finished speaking. The Desiertan's face turned as saliva flew out of his mouth.

"Ow you fucking-" He growled. Before he could finish his words he took a deep breath. There was no need to get riled up. He was sure anything he said would only make matters worse. Odin was really pressing his luck here. It took everything in Ezekiel to not knock him upside his head as he turned. The nerve he had to turn his back to the wood-elf. Zeke bit his tongue, his time would come. For now, he needed to get to know Odin a little more. The Desiertn trailed behind the Lich, following him into the church and down the stairs into the catacombs. The Lich's cloak dragged down the steps in front of him wiping the stairs clean of any dust or dirt. When they finally reached the bottom, Odin began to explain himself. Finally, it all made sense.

"Oh, I see. You brought me here to help you. I'm honored." Zeke smirked. Then Odin handed him a book before telling him to turn to page thirty-four. Curiously the elf did just that. The pages revealed a number of things. Firstly they revealed the three beings Odin was talking of. They also revealed their birth and death dates, and also their strengths and weaknesses. Oddly enough though, he didn't find any info on who they were exactly. It was as though this book only marked their physicalities and not their personalities or history. Ezekiel flipped through the pages again. He quickly noticed that between each page describing their physicalities, a page was missing after. Suddenly Ezekiel's tone became cold. "Three pages are missing. What're their stories?"

"Interesting..." Ezekiel thought. His hand was brought up to his chin as he stared blankly at the pieces of paper stuck between the book where the important pages were ripped out. Perhaps these specific pages had the answer on how to kill the three undead creatures Odin wanted to find. As Odin said, it was only logical that these three pages were an important part of the mission. "Hm. I guess we need to find those pages then. I'll keep an eye out." With a smile, he closed the book and placed it inside his cloak's pocket. "I got your back, don't you worry." He said warmly. He meant it too. Despite the fact that Odin was the very person who had killed his only friend, abducted him, abused him, and now dragged him to what could have been his death- keeping this Lich alive was in his best interest right now. The catacombs were dim with only a few torches to make light. Ezekiel began following his warden until finally, they reached a big, golden door with a black rune at the center. All around the door, there were intricate designs. Many of the designs resembled planets and constellations, while others resembled demon-like creatures. Whatever was behind this door was dangerous. This would prove to be a good moment for Ezekiel to see more of Odin's power. The first time they met he was just a frail-looking boy who had faith in everyone. So much faith that he had allowed Odin to hurt him in the most way imaginable. Even the daily torture didn't compare.

The Lich turned back to Ezekiel, asking him if he was afraid of the dark after chuckling evilly. The Elf raised an eyebrow. "I find darkness to be less brutal and more comforting than light." he simply responded. Then, Odin pushed the large door open. No more than about five steps in, immediately a monster roared towards the Lich. He noticed that in the room the two of them entered had unlit torches along its walls. The door behind the two slammed shut and suddenly it was completely black. Damn, I can't see anything. he thought. One thing he did notice was that the creature that attacked Odin has a faint burgundy aura around it. It made it possible for Ezekiel to see it by itself but nothing else. The Wood-elf frowned slightly. Unlike the Lich-bitch, Ezekiel was a creature of darkness. Odin was naturally blessed with the ability to see through darkness whereas Ezekiel was less formidable in such situations. Odin within a matter of seconds had successfully punched the creatures head off, causing it to fall and lose its glow.

"I never thought I'd say this, but thank the gods for you-" Then suddenly Ezekiel heard a grunt and another creature had been making its way towards him. "Oh shit." he murmured. This creature also had a faint glow, but it was still quite hard to see it well enough. When the creature got close, it swiped its hands across Ezekiel's face, causing its claws to leave a mark. "Okay, ow." he whispered before swing his staff at where the head was, knocking it clean off upon impact. "Nevermind, I take it back." he said aloud, referring to when he thanked the gods for Odin. Quickly he walked to the left side where he had seen a torch and snatched it from its holster. Then he placed it against the stone wall and swiped it with all his strength causing a fire to rise from its head. "Better. Ezekiel sighed, relieved that at least he could see again.  "Let's continue to move." He said with a smile. Despite there being a gash across his face, he remained calm. It would heal on its own soon enough.

The torch had revealed an empty room with only two of those creatures acting as the inhabitants. No tombs, no caskets, just reanimated humans. Ezekiel stepped over the elderly woman he had just freed but noticed that the corpse Odin had dealt with had some Indiana jones kinda gear on. "Hold on." He'd say quickly. "You should check his pockets."

Just as he suspected, the paper in the mans pocket was the paper that would get them through to the finish line. Odin was strong and seeing as Ezekiel didn't have access to his magic he was half depending on the Lich to get them both out of this alive. That was probably his first mistake; depending on a lich. This entire night was torture really. That's probably why he was here. Even though Ezekiel needed his magic to get through this, the skeleton man refused to release the seals placed upon his arms. It didn't matter much though because Ezekiel had faith that his journey was far from over. He was like a snake in that aspect- not that he would ever betray anyone, but he knew he was well capable of slithering out of harms way if he needed to. Truth be told, this was the first quest he had ever been on for anyone other than himself. The Savannan wondered why Odin wanted to kill these sealed corpses so bad but he had a feeling he'd find out sooner or later. Odin didn't strike Ezekiel as someone who worked for anyone other than himself. The elf glared at the back of Odin's skull, thinking of a million ways he could hurt him if his magic wasn't sealed away. Although he was a prisoner, that wasn't what kept his anger lingering. It was the fact that Odin had murdered his most trusted friend.

That, he could probably never get over. As the two continued on Odin explained what the note had said. The fisrt of their target was apparently relatively close but there was a catch. The catch was that each time they defeated an enemy, the catacombs would cats them out and they would need to do the rest after. That meant that there was probably more work to be done. Ezekiel could only hope that the creature of darkness did not intend on bringing him back again. He would have liked to stay out of this, especially if it meant helping Odin in anyway. Either way he didn't have much of a choice these days. Although he hated to admit it, Odin had eyes everywhere and that meant Ezekiel would have to do everything the Lich asked, whether he liked it or not. Fortunately, he had no problem killing lowly humans if that meant saving himself. He was much more important to the world anyway. Luckily the two would only have to face the weakest link. Ezekiel imagined that Odin would deal with that but it seemed the Lich had other plans. As if he was some sort of slave, Odin said that Zeke could deal with that himself. The paper was given to him and the Elf slowly placed it between the book he had been carrying, following the Lich into what could have been his demise. Ezekiel hated taking orders from anyone, especially since he knew his worth. Too bad there wasn't much he could say about it. "Ooooof course." He'd say sarcastically.

The duo approached the next set of doors. Like the last pair, these doors were sealed with some sort of magic. The wood-elf looked at Odin to see what he would do and of course he solved the problem with brute force. The undead creature kicked the doors down and the two were able to pass them. As Ezekiel walked through he glanced back for a moment, catching another glimpse at some gauntlet that seemed to be attached to the wall beside the doorway. For a brief moment he wondered what would have been different right now if Odin had stuck his hand inside. Perhaps it would set off some sort of booby trap and the two would be fucked. Maybe it simply opened the door. Whatever it was didn't matter now, Ezekiel would never know. As the two entered, a tomb on the other side of the room began to open, and dust flew into the air. Behind the vast amount of dust was the undead brother Odin had mentioned. He was tall and slim, white hair flowing down his back and his eyes beamed with a daunting ruby red color. The tombs around the brother then began to shift open as well and before he knew it, a group of undead minions faced the duo of mages.

"Well I can't say that it won't be challenging without my magic." Ezekiel hissed. Odin either didn't care, or somehow knew that the desiertan elf could handle himself against this undead brother. Either way it shouldn't be too hard to kill him. Ezekiel gripped his staff and glared at the undead brother who seemed to be focused on him already. Perhaps he was biased since Odin was undead himself. Whatever it was didn't matter. Ezekeil began by darting forward, swing his staff downward to hit his enemy on his head. The brother easily dodged before lifting his knee into his stomach, then slapping him with a hand covered in what seemed like darkness magic. "oof." he let out as he stumbled to the side. The undead brother then continued his attack by using the same hand to send a beam of darkness towards Zeke. The elf dodged and then leapt forward again. The two exchanged blows for a while each one of them damaging the other as Odin easily destroyed his opponents. In the end Ezekiel was the victor. He breathed heavily as his opponent lay dead on the floor without his shriveled heart. The elf dropped it, then stepped on it before turning to Odin. Suddenly they were outside of the church again and the two exited back to who knows where. Odin seemed to have a lot on his schedule and perhaps would be dragging Ezekiel around.

2,500+/2,500

-EXIT-