"Let's get this over with" said the man, now standing up fully, both his appearance and his powerful voice crossing over ninety feet within an instance and hitting Avere in the stomach as powerful as normally only a punch from his opponents or something akin to a cannon ball from those pirate stories he had once read.
Cannons had been a powerful weapon, but they had been outgrown by various other artificing techniques that were so great they had been made fun of fin later years, not that they hadn't had some potential had the builders decided to continue pursuing that splinter of magic in their creation.
The man, silky skin and pale complexion, as if he had never fought once in his life, instead just practicing within a secluded room, something Avere knew for certain to be wrong, was covered in the weirdest armour he had ever seen.
His entire body was covered in unhandy and difficult to put-on armour, the parts that had to be protected, such as the heart, made to look almost ridiculous, giving him something like a cylindrical bosom despite him clearly being a man, the underside of the armour being covered in far less, the legs being rather free and seemingly easy to move within.
He had a cloak made of red material, different from the bluish golden threats Avere was wearing, tattered and in pieces, having holes int he back for his wings, though the holes might have also been ripped within, as if to heave him up from the rest of the people, his entire armour dyed red by the blood and other bodily liquids from countless monsters, and presumably, in some way, people as well.
"Don't just gawk at me, get over here." the man said, his gruff voice crossing the ninety feet as if he was speaking right next to Avere, even just whispering right into his ears.
The man did not walk away, and so Avere started taking steps towards him, seeing after a few moments what he should have realized all this time, a fresh piece of meat hanging on a stick atop a burning fire, something he was keen on having seen as he hadn't eaten in what felt like forever.
After he had arrived to the feast, the man gestured for him to sit down as well, his unhandy armour making rattling sounds as he sat down, as if the very metal of it was being destroyed by the movements of the beast within, though Avere guessed that there were countless enchantments and spells hidden within it.
As the man started moving, Avere not even following what he was doing, only remotely realizing that something black had appeared within his hands, he was almost entranced by the man in front of him, a man that had lived, or rather, just resided, within this place of half an eternity from what he felt, a man who had presumably slain that dragon above, perhaps even been the cause of that gigantic spike.
But if the spike had been put in after the fight, such a feat in and of itself, it would have required great power, that was for certain, so, Avere asked himself, what was it that had truly killed this beast sitting in front of him, still doing something with his hands as he had sat himself down in the lotus position.
"Eat... it's the only way to truly stay sane in this accursed plane." the gruff voice resounded, a hand in horribly crafted metal gloves, covered in sticky blood and frozen parts, handing him a piece of delicious, dark brown, partially burnt, flesh, hopefully from one of the monsters, to eat.
Avere picked up the food, held it within his hand for a moment, examining the bloody spots, feeling it cooling down within mere moments after he had touched it, turning as cold as the room, but still edible, and quickly put it within his mouth, feeling his stomach start revolting again after it had been silent for uncountable times.
The food, though cold, bloody, tasting of metal, though it was hard to even chew, despite him being far stronger than a normal person by now, something that made him hesitate for a moment, despite it numbing his mouth as he chewed, perhaps despite it even being poisoned, was heavenly, giving him the feeling as if he was about to truly be elevated beyond the mortal realm, if that was even possible through such relatively simple food.
"Might not taste good, but it is food after all..." the man said, his black hair, weirdly short in comparison to most people he saw, being about an inch long, slightly moving as he moved his head, with weird movements unbelonging to the properties of hair.
Avere hungrily ate, and the man just gave him some more after he was done with the first piece, smiling, though Avere didn't have the presence of mind to discern what kind of smile it truly was, still feeling his body grow slightly numb after the food that had quickly vanished, that on the stick that had once resembled a kind of tentacle, the eyes within having been gouged out previously, having been devoured in it's entirety.
"I'll be showing you my experience here, but in a different way from the previous three." he rattled down, his heavy armour seemingly weighing down even his very heart.
"What is your name?" Avere asked, trying to start a conversation, similarly to how he had held one with Adelius, but being fairly certain he would end up failing in his attempts.
"My name is Karan..." he said, tiredly, the weirdly smooth skin sparkling under the light of the campfire, the endless starless sky of the night offering a horrible difference between his white skin and itself, making Avere slightly unsettled as he suddenly felt the whole world growing warmer, the ice melting, the people starting to twitch.
"I will not let you feel, I will show you, right here, right now, what happened to me, and everyone else that has died here." he ended the attempted conversation, the world changing to before, Avere expecting the man to vanish, but quickly understanding that, this time, the fight would be witnessed instead of experienced.