[ It's yet another puzzle. Both the Nightmare King and his vessel had chosen not to embrace godhood; that crimson flame merely watched and slumbered until it was time to be reborn, and the Troupe Master in all his incarnations wandered the world above, desiring no worship and gathering few followers.

The benefits of being a god far outweigh any costs that need to be paid.

(The Pale King wears the heaviness of responsibility and power as if he was born to it. In some ways, it wouldn't be inaccurate to say that was the case; the being Grimm speaks to now, an ancient mind in a mortal shell, was finely crafted to wield godhood like a weapon. A sword to pierce his enemies, to leave his mark on those he deemed worthy.)

The Pale King's domain - despite his experimentation in dreams - is the physical world, the conscious thought, the exertion and effect of will. There is no puzzle put in front of him he cannot solve, nothing he cannot build, no machine he cannot put together and dismantle as he wishes. His visions of the future move mountains in the present, carve tunnels into solid rock, displace what once was and make it what he has seen - what he believes it should be.

It is both his greatest strength and his greatest weakness, that strength of belief. It allows only for action; not inaction, not reflection. No faltering, no doubt, no stirring of the subconscious, no looking back.

A perfect, efficient, finely-tuned machine with the capability to reshape the world around him, but not himself. ]

It does not require that kind of effort.

It will pass. [ More accurately, he will ignore it. Possibly forever. ] There is no purpose in entertaining such thoughts. It only encourages more.

[ He picks up a small device on the workbench, tinkering with it, seeing some tiny imperfection that he intends to fix. What it is is unclear. ]