Debts and Payment

Limbo, there could be no other place quite like the one he had come to be in.. Limbo seemed the only answer.. The world was a writhing mass of darkness shrouded in shades of gray.. nothing distant, nothing close.. endless yet finite at the same time.. Galentine was the only thing that seemed to be in this place,.. alone, suspended in what he could only think was air...

If time passed, it left no noticeable mark on his surroundings.. Galentine recalled those last few moments of life, playing it over and over again in his mind, the rage, the pain, his goals and desires spilling away from him like the red lines of his blood that pooled on the ground and stained his clothing.. They slipped from his grasp, no matter how hard he tried.. It was a foolish gamble.. His own pride having struck its final blow.. Damn her.. and he cursed Fallashay every moment within his prizon..

Vengence was something that kept him preoccupied,.. the thoughts of what he would do to her if only he could be given the chance again.. He would not have waited,.. would have claimed her from the start.. Should have sent people to take her that night in the inn,.. and then everything would have gone the way he wanted.. If only things could be played over again.. Death would be too good for her..

Was that was this was?.. This empty place that seemed to hold no meaning, was this death?. There was nothing here... nothing- The train of thought paused as a distant light formed.. A single pin point,.. adding depth to the surreal world of endless shadow.. The shape of a woman took form.. moving closer as if drifting on a dream..

"Fallashay?.." No,.. it was the witch.. She made an absent gesture as he spoke, his words echoing into nothing. Like buring coals, the fires of torturous agony laced through him.. Galentine's body contorted,.. bound tightly beyond any sense of reasonable pain.. His soul spurned the icy grasp that came to hold it.. Unyeilding as a vice it held fast.. Her figure coming to stop only a breath away..

"Do you know what it is like to be a shade Master Galentine?.." She asked in that silvery voice stormy eyes falling on him with the sensation of a peircing cold.. Her words sent the levels of torture beyond any level that he could ever imagine..

"W-hat do-you mea-n?.." Came his broken responce,.. and could he breathe he would surely have shuddered searching for some relief... "W-hy have you do-ne this?.."

"You owe me a child, Galentine.. Unlike in business,.. my pacts are not broken upon death..", She turned as if pacing away, yet she gained no distance.. Was he moving with her?...

"I- wh-at?.." He fought to regain his composure struggling futily against whatever invisable bonds held him.. "B-ut.. but.. How do you expect me to pay?.."

He watched her, able to do little else than speak, bewildered. When she finally answered, they were before a shimmering pool,.. or perhaps a mirror on its end.. The realm beyond was familiar.. and filled with substance..

"I will bring you life,.. and you will serve me.. untill I release you.."

The words returned to haunt him,.. he recalled uttering almost the same thing to Fallashay, and it did not sit well with him.. "That was not our Deal!.. I will serve you until I retreave a child for payment, and then we are finished.."

His outburst was paid for in full as blinding white heat set fire to his flesh.. every inch of his being throbing with in her grasp.. "When you break a contract,.. even a verbal agreement,.. You are then liable to pay in compensation.. and So you shall..."

"Oh,.. do not fear Master Galentine,.. You will see your dreams come to be realized,.. You will be Baron... And you will... Give me a child.." The implications in her tone were outrageous, but then she held the field.. had the control.. "Once I have my child,.. you will be free..."

"F-ree how?...", he asked as the constant tones of angry fires began to ebbe..

"That would depend upon you,... But,.. I hold the key.. and you can not disobey me.." She passed through the mirror, taking him with her into the place beyond and all that came with it.. Maybe he 'could' have his vengence should he play his hand well... but not for a while...