005 - Audio.

[devils_bargain]

Well, I am alive, I think. Unless I am still dead. I suppose it figures that the first time I emerge at a normal hour for a meal, I am thrown into dining with my former warden. This place seems practically made of inconvenience and absurdity. From the stories I have heard thus far, I should not be surprised to find myself awakening one morning

Comments

[empirical_data]

I concur with Armand. There is always more to experience in existence, even if there are difficulties in achieving the positive, there are still intriguing things you may yet encounter.

In your time here, have you not met individuals that you are fond of?

[devils_bargain]

Yes I have, but why should that be any reason to stay? If in the end, we are to return regardless, then it does not matter whether I return a better man or unchanged. I will still be doomed to die, so why endure this misery first?

[empirical_data]

Because you may not be doomed to die. You may have the chance to live on, and others have altered their own fate similarly.

[devils_bargain]

How do I know this is not a lie told to appease?

[empirical_data]

Aleera has direct experience, having been a former inmate that also returned home for a time and chose to remain here to act as a warden. Similarly, she knew Victor Frankenstein, but not the same one that I am serving as warden for. One with a different history and altered events that contributed to a distinction of character between the two men.

You are not trapped by anyone's perceptions unless you allow yourself to be.