Oz stabilized himself, rising to one knee. He looked up from the ground to Zelriane with unfocused and glazed over eyes without immediately responding. He no longer shook or showed any expression of pain. The light around him grew strained and blurred. With his excellent eyes Zelriane could perceive the strange shadow that hung over him for the few seconds as Oz responded. His voice rang out as two individuals speaking in unison, one following behind the other just barely enough to distinguish them apart. [color=violet]"What[/color] [color=#e52b50]kind of[/color] [color=violet]monster indeed?"[/color]

	The guardian rose to his feet and wobbled with the threat of falling. Steadying himself, he pushed his arm against his neck and stretched. [color=violet]"Hopefully [/color][color=#e52b50]a monster[/color][color=violet] frightening enough[/color][color=#e52b50] to stop[/color] [color=violet]your master."[/color] Shimmering silver energy danced across Oz's skin. Oz looked at Zelriane straight in the face. The usually kind eyes turned pitch black... And he smiled an unsettling and uncharacteristic grin. He snapped his hand into the expanse between them and clenched his fist tight enough to crack his knuckles. The guardian's hair floated freely around his head as he moved, dragging behind him like he were in free fall. Multiple strands of hair visibly changed to the color black, leaving his hair a mixed variation of blonde and black. He drew in a deep breath and let it out all at once.

	The twin voices had finally become one as he continued. [color=#e52b50]"Oho, it is so good to be alive!"[/color] He drew in another deep breath like a man who had been drowning moments ago. [color=#e52b50]"Do you know how it feels to die?"[/color] His earlier enthusiasm slowed to pace. [color=#e52b50]"Religion has turned death into poetry. A glorious new leg of a grand journey. If only it were that glamorous."[/color] As he glanced at the speedster, lights popped into existence within his blackened eyes, swirling slowly into that familiar set of galactic orbs. [color=#e52b50]"Pain isn't the bad part. Pain tells us we are still alive. That we yet feel. The terror is what comes after.[/color] Oz examined himself, starting first by looking at his abs before he scanned over his singular arm. [color=#e52b50]"When the claws come and the teeth gnash. When the cold embrace of a soul eating monster finds you. Truth. That's what sets in. The cold nothing after. Something few deserve and most surrender to."[/color] The veins across Oz's body began to pulse silver every few seconds.

	[color=#e52b50]"I fought it. After you enter the cold dark I hope you do too."[/color]