Waking up after passing out wasn't an experience like the bards and storytellers told. One did not jerk awake, suddenly aware of what had transpired and with a perfect recollection of events leading up to the incident. No, waking up after passing out was a slow, stuttering affair, like waking up from a deep sleep in the middle of a dream.

William's eyes fluttered open, one after the other, in a jerky, repetitive action. Unable to focus or think clearly, the revenant inhaled deeply, trying to force some oxygen to his addled brain. Unfortunately, this only served to fill his lungs with a cloud of stinging dust that grabbed his body and crushed it in a convulsive grip of a coughing fit. This, of course, only served to inhale and expel more dust, wracking William's body with writhing convulsions. Acting on instinct to preserve his life, William rolled over onto his back, giving his airways access to free, unclouded air. A minute and a half passed before he could consciously draw free breath.

"What in the pyre?" the demonic warrior groaned, slowly letting his eyes focus on the sky above. Instead of the expected blue, all he saw was a rolling field of sickly red clouds. The thick blanket covered the entire sky, parted only occasionally by a flash of dark light. It was a completely foreign, and highly disturbing sight, and was something that caught the monster hunter completely off-guard. Where was he? And more importantly, how had he gotten here?

William lay on his back, breathing heavily. He closed his eyes and tried to remember what was going on. Nothing particularly clear came to mind. All he could recall was a hazy memory of walking from his room to the training center in the Ixian Castle when ... that was it, something about a black abyss and murmured voices. Then he was coughing up dirt under a blasted sky.

"Great," he muttered, "what magic assery has happened this time." Rolling to his feet he added, "I'll bet Sei's involved somehow." William dusted himself off as he stood, feeling a dozen aches and pains that his regeneration were already starting to clear up. Satisfied that his filthy cloak and travelling clothes were as good as they were going to get, he straightened up, cracked his neck on either side, and set to examining his surroundings with a serious eye.

Not that there was much to see.

Surprisingly, William found that he was in the center of a vast, featureless plain. No rocks, plants, or anything even resembling a sign of life could be seen as far as he could see in any direction. There was only a seemingly endless field of cracked earth and tumultuous skies.

“This can’t be good,” William muttered.

“It’s really not,” said a voice from behind him.

William spun, already halfway through his demonic transformation and ready to defend himself. Surprisingly, there was nothing there but the lonely sigh of the wind.

“Where are you?” William snarled, flexing his talons. Then, after thinking about it for a second, he added, “who are you?”

“I’m not the one you should be worried about,” the voice replied. “In fact, I’m really not much of anything anymore. He’s the one you should be worried about.”

“He who…” William trailed off, suddenly noticing that the angry roiling in the sky was not, in fact, a field of odd clouds. What he saw was an enormous, turbulent mass of flesh and fire, constantly tearing itself and everything around it apart while at the same time reshaping it. Order and existence were so anathema to it that it couldn’t even seem to touch itself without bloating into a chaotic mess. “What … what is that?” He muttered in horror.

“That,” the voice explained, “is Belesavius.”

William marveled, staring at the mass in shock and amazement. It took a few second for the voice’s whispered words to reach his mind, but when they did the revenant felt a chill creep across his skin that no icy wind could account for. “Belesavius is the demon within me.”

“That is correct. His power has grown, as you can see.”

“Then you are …”

“What is so small that it can’t even be seen anymore? I’m your humanity, of course. Or what’s left of it since you’ve let him take over.”

William stared at the demonic creature, saying nothing more, until the vision faded and he woke once more in the relative safety of Ixian Castle. The vision had been a glimpse into himself, a last ditch effort of his soul to retain a semblance of itself amongst the growing power of the demon within. Staring into the darkness above him, it was a long time before William rose.