“It’s okay,” came a soothing voice. Zeke expected to feel an accompanying hand on his back, but there was nothing. “Just breathe. Don’t let it overwhelm you. In and out, Ezekiel. One slow breath after another.”

  Zeke struggled to follow the commands. His lungs didn’t want to cooperate, instead insisting on short, shallow breaths that made him feel lightheaded. He didn’t remember the last few minutes. One second, he’d stepped through that arch, and the next, he was on the ground, his arms around his knees as he hyperventilated.

  He remembered everything else though.

  The past fifteen years felt like a dream, albeit a vivid one that he knew was all too real. He couldn’t forget Zora or the demons. His brother that wasn’t really his brother. The pain and fatigue that came with his weakened body – it was all so real he could taste it.

  And yet, it had been an illusion.

  A trick of the mind that had very nearly gotten him killed. Would it have been permanent? Or would he have simply started all over? Zeke had no idea, but he couldn’t imagine a more terrible hell than feeling his strength slowly fade as he was cuckolded by his own brother.

  And for something so insubstantial as material gain.

  He parted his legs and vomited upon the ground. Or at least he tried to. There was nothing in his stomach, so all he could manage was a dry heave. Even so, his eyes bulged and he kept going until his every muscle began to cramp. Only then did he pulse [Hand of Divinity], sending soothing healing through his body.

  He let out a deep breath, then leaned back against the wall. Closing his eyes, he tilted his head toward the ceiling, trying to center his mind.

  “How long?” he croaked. “Was it real?”

  “It was. And it wasn’t,” Eveline said, her voice quivering like she’d been weeping. “I don’t know how –”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” he stated, interrupting her. And he very much did not. After everything he’d been through, nothing had felt so personal – so damaging – as the Circle of Fraud.

  That was the point, of course. It was all about deceit, and seeing through the lies had been the only way to defeat it. He was certain of that much.

  In retrospect, he should have seen it sooner, but the confusion that came with the circle had been debilitating. With every passing day, he’d found it that much more difficult to think straight. It hadn’t taken him long to completely succumb to the lies, forgetting his very identity.

  It was insidious.

  “You know I’m here for you,” Eveline said, having manifested nearby. He could feel her presence. Mostly illusory, but with enough physicality to be something more than a mere trick of the mind. “I want to help.”

  “Is this the sort of thing you used to do?” he asked, looking up.

  “What?”

  “The tricks. The lies. The mind control. That’s what you did, right?” he asked with more than a little venom in his voice. “You convinced people they were something they weren’t, didn’t you?”

  “I…I…”

  “You did.”

  “It was different. I was different.”

  “How do I know you haven’t been tricking me all this time? How do I know any of this is real?” he demanded, his anger building. Instinctively, he found her presence in his mind and squeezed.

  She screamed, inside and out.

  He knew he could kill her, right then and there. One pulse of divine energy, and she would cease to exist. Nothing would even be left of her consciousness. And if Zeke was honest with himself, he truly wanted to. The idea that someone – anyone – might be poking around in his head was enough to elicit true rage unlike anything he’d ever felt.

  He could take any other attack on the chin and keep going. He’d been torn apart so many times he couldn’t even begin to count them. He had been killed thousand upon thousands of times, and that was just in the Circle of Violence. There were so many more instances in the previous circles.

  Yet, he’d never felt quite as vulnerable as he did right at that moment, having just escaped the worst experience of his life.

  He had no idea if Eveline even could manipulate his mind. Probably not. But the slim chance that she could was enough to set his willpower ablaze.

  It only lasted a couple of seconds, but in that time, Eveline very nearly disintegrated under the weight of his power. With an effort of will, he unclenched his divine might. Her image flickered, but Zeke held her in place.

  “Answer me.”

  “Yes. I…I was never…I couldn’t do what they did to you,” she admitted, her voice shaking. “I wasn’t strong enough. The most I could do to someone who’d gained sapience was plant suggestions. With non-sapient life, it…it was easier. I…I never knew what it was like, though. If…if I had known…if I saw their suffering…”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Would you have stopped?”

  “I…I don’t know.”

  She could have lied. That would have been the smart thing. That she didn’t suggested that she was honest, though. At least with him. He had non delusions that she would continue that with everyone else.

  He released her.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t…I still don’t know who to trust. I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t.”

  She flickered a few more times, glaring at him throughout. Then, her features softened and her form solidified. “I know. That wasn’t what I expected,” she admitted. “None of this is.”

  “What did you expect, then?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure. Torture. Fire and brimstone. I thought it would be a test of endurance, of pain tolerance,” she answered. “In retrospect, a silly notion. What does torture have to do with fraud?”

  “A lot,” Zeke said, remembering the way he’d felt there at the end. It had been like someone had driven an icepick into his soul. He shivered at the memory, then finally looked around. The gate was gone, and his surroundings had predictably transformed. The entire corridor looked like it was made of putty, and with every passing second, it shifted into a different shape. One moment, it looked like a typical medieval castle hall, and the next, it looked like nothing so much as a mineshaft.

  He asked, “What do you think is going on with that?”

  “I don’t know,” Eveline answered. “We are well past the point of my expertise, such as it was. I know I have been very little help here, and I don’t think anything is going to change from here on out.”

  At the end, her voice made it clear that she had resigned herself to uselessness.

  “I really am sorry,” he said at last. “I didn’t…it was just a reaction. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “But –”

  “I said I was fine.”

  Zeke knew he’d crossed a line, but he had no idea how to make it up to Eveline. With every passing minute, he felt more like himself – and less like the weak and ineffectual version of himself that he’d become there at the end of the Circle of Fraud. Even so, he knew it would be a long while before he truly recovered. There was too much damage done.

  He let out a snort.

  “What?” asked Eveline.

  “I spent god knows how long fighting in one battle after another. But a few lies and a pretty face was all it took to break me,” he mumbled. “Am I really that weak?”

  “Yes.”

  “Don’t sugarcoat it,” he deadpanned, glancing up at Eveline.

  “We’re all weak, Ezekiel. That’s the point. You think your sin is violence or lust or any of the others? No. Your issue is that you desperately want something you know you’re never going to have,” she said.

  “And what’s that?”

  “Love. Family. Unconditional acceptance. Those are things you could have had if you’d stayed in the Eternal Realm. Those people you left behind – they desperately tried to give it to you,” she explained. “But you knew you needed to leave. You chose to come here and torture yourself in pursuit of power. Do you know why?”

  “No.”

  “Because that is what you truly want. It’s who you are, Ezekiel. You will sacrifice everything if it means you can become a little better. A little more. That’s what you did back on Earth, and it’s what you’ve done since being reborn,” she said.

  Continuing, she added, “Think about it. In the troll caves, you could have bypassed those settlements. You chose not to. Why?”

  “They were detestable and dangerous creatures.”

  “True. But you can’t deny that the levels didn’t drive you forward,” she said, standing over him. “I can see your thoughts. I know it’s true. That’s also why you killed those drachnyds so long ago. Every decision you’ve made since being reborn has been in service of a singular goal – you want to be the most powerful version of yourself.

  “Even your rift with Alyssa – we both know what drove it. She was a distraction. You could have worked things out, had you truly wanted to. She would have given that to you. But it was too much work. It would have put your climb in danger,” she went on.

  Zeke didn’t know what to say to that.

  “That is the truth. You can delude yourself if you like, but I will no longer sanction your delusions.”

  Then, she disappeared, retreating deep into his mind where he could barely even sense her. From the quiver of her presence, he suspected that she was barely holding it together. Not that he needed that to confirm that he’d stepped far over the line. He knew he had. He just didn’t know how he was meant to make it better.

  Perhaps he wasn’t.

  In life, people sometimes made mistakes from which there was no recovery. Zeke suspected this was one of those, but he resolved to do whatever he could to make up for his error.

  However, he couldn’t help but think that, if ever there was someone with an excuse to lash out, he satisfied those requirements. After everything he’d been through, he could have justified much worse.

  For the longest time, Zeke simply sat there staring at nothing and trying to put together the pieces of his mind. At first, it was easy enough. He recovered well. Yet, as he progressed, he found his task growing more difficult until he realized that there were pieces of him that would be lost forever.

  He would just have to hope that they wouldn’t affect him too much.

  Eventually, he pushed himself to his feet and looked around. The hall had continued changing, though with a pattern Zeke could not discern. There was no rhyme or reason to it. So, without further ado, he pushed forward.

  At first, he reveled in his recovered strength. After so long as an invalid, the freedom his healthy body represented was intoxicating. However, the pangs of loss were still fresh in his mind, and they ran counter to whatever satisfaction he’d managed to cultivate.

  He strode down the corridor on steady legs. Hours passed, then days. And on and on he went. It was only after what felt like a month of walking that he recognized the subtle curve of the corridor. A little while later, he discerned the slight incline, suggesting that the hall was a wide spiral steadily leading him up.

  Where it would end, he had no idea.

  Through it all, Eveline remained silent. That wasn’t a new development, either. More than once throughout their association, she’d sought solitude in the back of his mind. However, this felt different. Worse.

  He had plenty of time to dwell on it, too, but even as the days wore on, he found no solutions. Instead, he eventually reached the end of the line.

  An elaborate door stood before him, carved with a demon’s horned visage. On the other side of that portal was the last circle of Hell.

  Treachery.

  After that, he would enter the next realm. Still, despite his desire to progress, he hesitated. Even after months, his memory of the Circle of Fraud was too fresh in his mind. If the Circle of Treachery offered anything close to that, he wouldn’t survive.

  “You will make it,” said Eveline in his head. “You always do. That is who you are. Nothing can stop you. You are a force of nature. Divinity given flesh. Go in there and show these gods or demons who you are.”

  Zeke felt his heart settle.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  “We’re in this together, right? Just don’t ever hurt me again,” Eveline stated in a firm voice. Then, in a quieter tone, she added, “Please.”

  “I won’t.”

  Then, Zeke stepped forward, placed his hand on the gate and pushed it open. It swung easily and he strode confidently through.