[ Note : The chapter you are about to read will consists of only dialogues that the two characters use to converse with each other and a little narration. " " will be used by Luris Ivanovich and " " will be used by Furfur or yet better known as Mr.Bran. English is not my strong suit and translating Filipino words is hard especially words that aren't translatable. ]

The short glass of whiskey sat there in the middle with a huge chunk of ice and soon will overflow by its melting fragility if left for another 12 minutes. Luris' eyes is fixated on the new placed object as he spoke. "What is this suppose to be,Mr.Bran?" he took a glimpse of the callant whose taking off his suit and adjusting his black long sleeves to his elbow,the demon glance at Luris at a short time before proceeding to fold his suit. "We,my little playdate,are going to do some reasoning."

Bran picks up the vile filled with a clear liquid—almost imitating a water substance but the glimmering particles that is visible to Luris' eyes didn't convince him otherwise. "This is an antidote." Bran says, peering at the vile in his hand,the object was seemingly delicate and a little force of gripping will break it,Luris can't even imagine holding it by himself—He's quite careless if truth be told. "I assume there's a twist to this,so, what's the catch?"He asks,the stakes will be risky for this game since his life is the losing bet,Bran will easily overcome what's mixed in the glass of whiskey. After all he's immortal and whatsoever,this thing is child's play for an Earl. Meanwhile Bran knew what the Ivanovich is thinking,the poison that's amalgamated onto the alcohol will actually take an effect on him;The toxin contains strychnos nux-vomica,white oleander and some dangerous herbs found in the botanical dome of hell that Dearil himself grew as a hobby—the butler made it too. "This whiskey is mixed with poison made by Dearil,now I know what you're thinking—"It will never take an effect on him because he's a demon" and such,but dearie you're wrong."Bran chuckled. "The poison's effect will succumb by an estimated 7 minutes each sip we take and this little fellow—" Bran shakes the vile lightly as it glow a vibrant white. "—Will play its role,this will be consumed by the winner." Adjusting to his seat the Ivanovich raise both of his knees close to his chest and resting his folded arms on top. "How can we determine the winner at this point? Since answering questions and drinking the spiked whiskey will be meaningless as the game continues further." It's a good point,the mechanics of the game will be elucidated by me,yes,the narrator. Now as I'm breaking the fourth wall at the moment I shall explain the game Bran has proposed to play as their starter; Two players will ask questions back and forth to each other—any questions is relevant as long as its in the line of the topic,but if the other party finds the reason (or so much as an answer) they will give the other player a chance to demystify the rationale more. And whenever the catechizer somehow didn't find the second reasoning appealing the answerer will drink and vise versa. As Bran explains the game the more Luris rummage that it is life-threatening indeed. "If I win what would be my first prize?" Raising a brow along with his question,Luris waited for a reply. Bran simpers, roaming his eyes around the timeless room that he created for the soul he abducted from death's lists. "You can leave this place and onto where you woke up..with the man you called George as your father." What an irresistible bait to inveigle,pretty clever. "If,you could pass my standards." Luris cuts himself off with a scoff. "That'll be easy,since you have low tastes." Silence covered the room for a solid minute as the two stare at each other with a strong gaze—like battling for dominance as it may seems. A laugh came out from Bran "I'll make you swallow that sharp tongue of yours," Bran said. He's clearly not joking around with his glowering eyes but Luris stays still with a smile. "Bring it on Mr.Bran."

Thus,the game has started. From now on,all that matters is what's gonna happen for the next hour and how should Luris Ivanovich survive the first amusement of his enemy. Bran made the first move to ask and it's — "Is salvation an illusion for the wreckage or a true hope for all of none?"

"Salvation is found within ourselves. It will always start from us and us alone,the others are what we call 'support' and one of the pillars of our existence;We thrive in living not to impress but to express."

"Why do you say so?"

"Mr.Bran I want you to imagine this scenario in your head if you may," Luris leans close to the coffee table. "There are two children on a single swing,the one is sitting on the swing and the other is behind. When we want to accomplish something but not sure how to—We ask for an advice, reassurance and a speech on doing so,that imagine the child behind the other pushes them to swing..a single words of an encouragement can set us to reach even higher."

"That is clever,but what happens if the other child fell from to much force by getting pushed?"

"..They will be fed up with the patronage of others and will eventually suffer from expectations,the mind is an expert of overthinking everything that there is to overthink."

It was a pretty convincing answer and Bran must admit that it is true,a little bit more of a push can set everything flying up above one's head without any notice. Like his situation in the manor—work, duties and responsibilities everywhere with no space to breathe. He applaud the human,beaming. "That's a thrilling start. Then your turn to ask now, don't hold back haha."

Luris heaved a sigh and focuses his attention to the glass. "Is change permanent for both worlds that we've walked through?"

"No—Absolutely no." Bran affirmed "Like a passing day it's not always morning and the evening,the time needs to move to get the flow going like a river. Just like you said earlier; 'We thrive in living not to impress but to express.'..But not always for the better. You see,people have two ways of viewing life—" Bran regarded the furnace openly as his eyes reflects the fire's flame dancing like swans. "—Either you see it as a ticket to a journey you will never experience again or a curse for living in a world where there is pros and cons as well as limitations." He added,grinning. "Just like a coin,there are two faces the life possesses. The truth and the lie." Luris arches one brow. "How is that connected to my question?"

A cup of iced tea suddenly appear on the table beside the short glass, it's sweating cold from the ice cubes inside. "The truth and its counterpart lies CAN change the word Luris,be it for the better or worse. If I were to tell you that this iced tea right here is actually brandy you wouldn't know the difference,unless you see it up close." He motions for the tea to disappear and places both his palm on his knee. "Why do you think people start revolutions? Take it from the wars that had pass all over the world,few of your kind saw the lie and ran to declare the truth for the others to learn. Well—" Bran let out a small sigh and made a face to Luris. "—Some does learn the truth,but they preferably

ignore it."

'This man is good,' Luris admitted to himself. 'I should put more into this game.' They made a silent agreement to that reply and hop onto the next,Luris can't deny the fact that this man did live long enough to know how the world works and outsmarting him is not an easy task to create. He can't get the thought out of his head that maybe he'll be crushed and will be again left in this timeless room—Of course,drinking the whiskey and Bran deciding if he should save him or not. Although 19,Luris already know the taste of the alcohol but never once took a liking to it. He shakes his head,he shouldn't be thinking about the consequences of losing. Instead,how not to lose.

"Now,shall we continue?" Bran proposed. Settling the points with Luris is still far from his options and playing this game is still amusing since none of them drink the whiskey on the first round,he's not going easy either to Luris because it'll be insulting to him and Bran knows how pride and dignity is important to men like him. And angering the human will be a waste even though it's tempting—Bran loves annoying those who he pleases.

"Are you a human being.." Bran leans to rest his chin on his palm,grinning. "..Or a human doing?"