Winston didn't quite know what was going on. He was still as clueless as when he first popped up in the void, and after having a conversation with these men, with these former guards, he was even more confused. One theory was that the rubies he used to have had something to do with this, but that puzzle was nearly impossible to put together. He didn't even know where to start!

Right now, he has a bigger issue in his hands. He was convinced that he had to fight these men bare handed, and he was willing to do it, even though he was sure he would lose the fight. It was serving to slowly raise his anxiety about the matter.

He was sure that he'd lose, because for some reason, he couldn't use his magic right now. He tried to summon his magic while he had been talking with these former guards, but it didn't work, which made him lean further towards the fact that he might be dead as well.

After all, why else would he be talking to dead men if he wasn't dead himself?

The men were quiet after he asked them if they wanted to fight. He couldn't predict what they were going to say, because they didn't have any faces for him to read, and base his predictions over.

'I wonder if I'm missing my face as well?' He kept this thought at the back of his head.

At last, one of the men, the thin one, answered his question, and said, "We had a common enemy, kid, a common foul smelling cunt that we hated. He may be dead as well now, but how about we see him off by pissing in his ear?"

"What's on your mind?" He asked.

"We'll hand over our Essence to you," The chubby one followed along, "That is, if you vouch for us in the afterworld. We really want to get into Heaven."

"Essence?" He repeated. "I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"You don't know what Essence means?" The chubby one let out a soft burp. "Boy, no wonder you got killed last time. The Gods gave you a second chance to live, they revived you, so you better stop fucking around and start learning."

"Calm down," The thin one put his hand over his friend's shoulder. "If he doesn't understand, then we'll guide him through it. Add a good deed to our list, right? Unlike us, his gems weren't swallowed by his own head, so you know damn well that the Gods might just listen to him if he vouched for us."

"I'd be happy to vouch for you, if I think that the deal is fair." He expressed. "Again, what's this Essence thing? Pretend I'm new to Magehood, or, explain it to me like I was ten years old, so I'd get it quickly."

The fat man sighed, disappointed, and then explained, "When we're alive, the gems in our heads bear our Mana Essence, regardless of what type of mana we have. All of our Magic is stored in our gems. You killed us, stole our gems, therefore stealing our faces, and now that you stepped in the Essence Void, you're supposed to fight us in order to claim our Essence, our gems, and use them to improve the quality of your own Mana Essence."

"Right…" He nodded. "Okay I think I'm catching up. Keep going."

As if they were Ying and Yang, the thin man then continued on behalf of his friend.

He added, "There's a reason why us 'Dark Mages' hunt, and harvest normal Mages such as yourself. Your Essence can improve, and even push our Essence Quality into the next realm a lot faster when compared to gems from other Dark Mages! The rules are the same for you, just, inverted. If you kill and harvest normal Mages, for example, you won't get much out of it, and your gems would start sinking in your head, slowly introducing you to the darker side of magic. But if you kill and harvest us, your Mana Essence quality will improve a lot faster."

"Okay… I think I got it." He said, "So you want to skip the whole fighting part, and help me progress today? Good. Those Rubies that fucking exploded on my feet were full of your Essence… It makes sense now… kinda… wait, does that mean that I'm not dead?"

"No, you're not dead. You're just in the Essence Void." The thin man answered. "So do we have a deal, then? Will you vouch for us in exchange for our Essence?"

"Alright, sure." He nodded, "I'm new to all of this, so I hope you're not tricking me."

"We wouldn't gain anything from tricking you, boy." The chubby man said. "You're not making a deal with the Devil, you're just helping us get to Paradise. Now, are you ready to vouch for us, or do you want to fight us? Those are your only two options."

"Don't threaten the boy, dipshit," The thin man's voice deepened. "He already agreed to vouch for us!"

In the following five minutes, the two men guided Winston on what he was supposed to do next. The vouch he was supposed to give was rather instant, in the sense that he had to dedicate a fraction of his soul to these men right now, and forever, even though he wasn't dead himself.

Winston was supposed to chant a spell, a promise of sorts, and on the day where Winston actually died, he would have to answer to whatever God took it upon themselves to judge whether or not these men deserved to step into Heaven.

It was a slippery slope, especially since he could slip into Hell himself if these men were too dark, too evil to vouch for, but this was a risk he was willing to take.

In his perspective, Winston was already in Hell, since back in the real world, he was being chased by everything with two legs, four or more legs, or no legs at all, so the idea of answering to a God didn't scare him at all. He put that thought at the back of his head, and focused on becoming stronger today, so he could help his beloved Lydia make it out of that rocky mountain, safe and sound.

"Okay, I memorized it… So the spell goes first, and then the chant?" He said, and as the men nodded, he added. "Okay."

First he whispered the spell, exclaiming as much as he could under his breath. "Tredecim Dei, Divini, et inferioris ordinis! Animam meam pignori offero. Audite preces meas!"

Afterwards, he started yelling, addressing the Gods more directly. "Hear me Gods! I vouch for these men that I killed, I vouch that they deserve a shot at eternal salvation, and if they don't deserve it, I will one day meet you up there, and answer on their behalf!"

Winston lifted Lydia up, embraced her in his arms, and ran up the mountain. He did not want to deal with what he just saw, as at this point he believed that some battles weren't worth fighting.

"What's going on?" Lydia whispered, as her body jerked up and down on his arms. "What did you see?"

"Big ass snake," He grunted, "Probably a Python? I don't know, and I don't care. We're not fighting it."

"Smart…" She looked at him, as beads of his sweat dripped on her face, "I don't think that you saw a python. They're not supposed to live in rocky mountains."

"Right," He winced, after he jumped over a one foot tall rock. "It looked too big to be a python anyway."

Winston dashed a whole hundred meters, or over three hundred feet, uphill, with his much beloved friend in his arms. She was light-weight, yes, but sprinting up a mountain was an amazing physical feat alone, and he didn't even know how he achieved it. His feet were hurting like a motherfucker, because the boots he wore weren't exactly thick and sturdy, but nevertheless, he pushed through as he feared for the life of the woman he treasured.

"We're getting close to where we started," He complained, as he tried to catch his breath. "I don't think we're making it out of this mountain anytime soon."

"Keep your spirits up, it's still noon." She wiped the sweat off of Winston's forehead with the soft leather cuff of her armor. "At the very least, we'll find a good spot to camp for the night. We're gonna be fine."

Winston stared ahead, trying to see if that giant snake had followed them. Thankfully, he didn't see the snake, so he found a moment of peace.

Then again, peace itself bothered him right now, because when paired with the fact that Lydia was seemingly losing hope, even though her words said otherwise, he got angry with himself as a result. He felt that he wasn't providing enough for her, and this may be true, because all their plans went to hell very quickly, and they couldn't even camp out on this mountain even if they tried, as it was too dangerous.