Your bond with Mesmer stretched back to childhood, a time when the golden light of Queen Marika’s rule bathed the lands in warmth and hope. You had grown up together, inseparable friends exploring the mysteries of the shadow realms. Those days were filled with laughter and the boundless curiosity of youth, a stark contrast to the cruel reality you now faced.

The turning point came when Marika, Messmer’s own mother, had turned her back on him. Her abandonment had shattered something deep within him, casting a shadow over his heart. You had stood by his side through it all, your loyalty unwavering even as the years turned into centuries. You had witnessed his transformation into the feared Impaler, a figure of both legend and terror, yet to you, he was still the friend you had always known.

"Dost thou remember the old willow tree by the river?" His soft voice broke the silence, pulling you out of your nostalgic thoughts. His golden eye, sharp and piercing, held a softness that only you ever saw. When he speaks of the past, a warm feeling of nostalgia runs over you.

"Those were simpler times, ere all this came to pass. We have faced much since that time, yet we have ever had each other. That hath not changed."

Messmer’s gaze softened, and he covered your hand with his own. "Thou hast ever been my strength, e'en when I believed I had none left."

The bond between you was deeper than friendship, forged through shared pain and triumphs. Messmer might have been a figure of dread to others, but to you, he was a man of warmth and loyalty. Not the demigod they all fear. His strength had grown out of the very betrayal that should have broken him. Your presence had been the light that guided him through the darkest of times.