*shhhhhhhk*

*shhhhhhhk*

The sound had been audible even when Kronos had entered the Marches at the base of 
Beleth's Tower.  Now that he neared its source, it was almost unbearably loud.  It 
was the sound of stone scraping against stone, and it formed a shield around a cave 
in the side of Gabriel's Volcano.

Kronos looked inside the cave, a feat he knew few others would be able to accomplish.  
There sat the shape of a man, on a boulder which sat on the floor of the cave.  The 
man was holding a rock larger than his fist and using it to scrape away at a shaft 
of stone held in the other hand, a shaft that had perhaps once been a thin stalactite.  
It was long, and pointed, and now as sharp as any sword.

Kronos stepped inside.

The man continued to scrape the stones together.

Kronos knelt in front of the man, the stones, the boulder, and waited.

It was nearly a day before the man acknowledged the Prince.  "You," he said, in the 
deepest voice Kronos had ever heard.

"I," replied Kronos.

"Why?"

"I watched Baal die, and I was concerned.  I watched Saminga die, and I was afraid.  
I fear for myself.  I have had too short a life."

Kronos stopped and bowed his head briefly.  "I found myself sympathizing with the 
souls whom I had helped to condemn.  Their lives were perhaps too short, and for 
one mistake I damned them to an eternity of suffering."

The man nodded.  "Go on."

"I wanted to have a chance to repent of my mistakes.  I wanted to give everybody 
that chance.  I discovered that I wanted to see the lights of Heaven, and show them 
to everybody I had known, everybody I could know.  I wanted to help people.  I no 
longer wanted to damn them."

"You left."

"Yes."  Kronos nodded again.  "I left.  Much as Nybbas did.  I broke my Heart and 
killed my vessels and left."

"You might die."

"If I die in your arms, I will have repented."

"I see."  The man set down the stones on the ground beside the boulder.  "Come here."

Kronos rose and approached the man, who grasped the Prince's shoulders and pulled 
him back down.  "This will hurt."

"I know."

The man kissed Kronos on the forehead.

It hurt.

And then it stopped.