Wilhelm can remember a time when he was powerless. It feels like another life now, something buried deep under layers of changing earth. He craved strength, but he did not cave to power-hunger — he never completely got rid of his fear of all the ways power can go wrong. He felt the responsibility of it like a weight, one which sometimes became too heavy to bear.

He shakes his head, pulling up a root that's rancid with rot.

"No, but I've done the opposite enough times."

Give up and shut down, while his power, with nowhere to go, takes on a life of its own. Straying too far toward either end tips the balance. Lucifer was often the one who pulled him back to himself during those times.

"It's kind of like a cage, isn't it? We have all this power, but we can't just do whatever we want."