It was a swirling hole in the stuff of reality; beyond it was darkness, nothingness, negative space. It bubbled and seethed, churning grotesquely in barely contained rage, an ancient, angry thing. He leaned closer to get a better look. It was the stuff of nightmares, and dreams, things that ate at men's souls.

It was beautiful.

"You get any closer and you'll fall in- and I'm sure as hell not going after you."

Dust swirled around the man's feet, the glow from his cigarette partially illuminating his heavily scarred face in an almost demonic light. He casually flicked the butt into the hole, which sucked it in and swallowed it up with a hiss.

Solneki smiled at him. It wasn't a nice smile. "You mean you wouldn't brave damnation and eternal suffering for me, Mordant? I thought you'd follow me to hell and back."

Mordant snorted derisively. His scowl was as nice as Solneki's smile. "Hell, sure. I've been to hell. Hell ain't half bad- I know where to get a decent cup of coffee in hell. But there-" he nodded to the blank hole. "That's negative space. That's some nasty shit that I am not getting involved in. Not even for you. Fuck, they probably don't even have coffee there."

His smile faded to a look of ordinary, anxious weariness as he faced the negative space again. "If you fell, I'd go after you."

"That's 'cuz you're a fucking idiot."

Solneki smiled again, a small, sad, bitter smile. "Yeah."

Mordant shook his head and lit another cigarette.