Stories from the EOA

The final battle:

-Ank and Letro-

“I thought I’d find you here.”

“Don’t think you snuck up on me,” Ank said. “I sensed you approaching for the last minute and a half. What do you want?”

“Some guys back at base were talking about one of Xerizero’s minions. Talked about some brown haired freak with a blindfold. Didn’t think you were still alive. And the blindfold’s new.”

Ank crossed his arms. “I could say the same for you. You’re not talked about much. I assumed after you turned coat you turned soft and died in some ditch somewhere.”

Letro grinned and tapped his fingers on the hilt of his sword. “As much fun as this is though, I’d hate to miss my date with Xerizero because I was distracted by small fry like you.”

“Why is that? You still aren’t invading for another ten minutes, by our estimates.”

“Oh? And here I thought you still had some good spies. Guess I was right for joining Xephixir.”

Ank frowned. They were closer than they thought? “If you’re going up against Xerizero, you’re going to lose.”

“We’ll see.”

“It’s a shame too, because I would like to crush you myself.”

“As would I,” Letro pulled a small bluish stone out of his pocket. “If by some miracle we both survive, come find me and we can have that duel.”

He left before Ank could give his answer. Typical Letro. Probably didn’t care if his side won or not, just wanted to fight the best opponents. He should be flattered. Maybe.

-Dante and Teruchi-

The fighting had just begun, each army’s front lines clashed together. Dante held back. He wanted to be the brave warrior who valiantly fought from start to finish, but running in blindly was stupid at best, suicidal at worst. Unless, of course, you were a god with millennia of fighting experience, as Chaos was, who led the charge.

Next to Dante, Teruchi sighed. “This,” he said, “this will redeem me?”

“It’ll help,” Dante replied. “Completely redeem? Nah, but it’ll help.”

“Sounds legit. ‘Teruchi, you’re such an asshole for killing people. Go kill some people to make up for it.’”

Dante rolled his eyes. “It’s circumstantial you asshole.”

“I know, I know,” Teruchi smirked, rolled his shoulders and lifted his arms. His right elbow hung loose, but when he brought them down, Dante could swear that he regained mobility in it.

“I’ve been waiting to use this magic!” Teruchi grinned. A second later, he shot forward, a gust of wind tailing him. It left Dante surprised, and only occurred to him that he should follow moments later when the wind died down.

Teruchi weaved his way to the first Lost Society soldier, who saw him approach and readied a wide short sword. However, he was not prepared for Teruchi to stop suddenly and blast the soldier with a strike of lightning. Left utterly stunned, Teruchi pounced the soldier and pinned his shoulders to the ground. He grabbed the soldier’s forehead, and a surge of some dreadful magic flashed across the synapse between hand and face. The soldier immediately went limp. Satisfied, he returned to his feet and flashed an even larger grin, before repeating the process on the next unaware soldier.

Dante had to take a more traditional approach. Despite his somewhat short stature, Dante had a lot of brute strength, and he took full advantage of surprising his foes on his first strike. Those who weren’t knocked unstable for a follow up strike could easily be fried by a burst of fire magic. After several soldiers were killed and the immediate surrounding area was clear, Dante took notice in Teruchi’s actions. He’d heard how his murder on Luna had been done through death magic, something only very rarely used outside of the Grim Reaper herself. It was said Shelly had no channelers… but Dante shuddered to think just how Teruchi became so proficient at killing with a single touch.

Best not to dwell on it now.

Interrupting their tear into the enemy’s front line was the roar of a large beast. Out of the surrounding forest spilled multiple large, draconic Existen, all muddled with dark gray to hide their normally brilliant colors. Those that were in flight quickly dropped to the battleground and began tearing at fighters from both sides.

“They might be an issue…” Dante muttered. He didn’t want to fight the Existen, both because they were technically innocent, and would be difficult to kill. Dante bit his lip and again focused on the human soldiers. But he knew it wouldn’t last long, seeing that a large Existen colored in natural blacks and purples steadily ripped through the few soldiers between it and Dante.

“Teruchi!” he yelled and ran over to the other prince, careful not to let his guard down in the midst of battle. When he approached, he turned his back to watch for any lone soldiers who wanted to try their luck. Teruchi had a soldier by the neck, held him until he stopped twitching, and threw his limp body to the ground. He was about to ask what the matter was, but looking over his shoulder to do so made him spot the Existen.

“What do you want to do about that?”

“Avoid them, if we can,” Dante asked. “They’re too corrupted to know friend from foe, so if we can strategically…”

Another Existen fell from the sky only feet away from the two. This one was smaller, but still roughly as tall as a human, and three times as long. Some of its natural red-orange shone through the patches of corruption. Shortly after landing, it summoned a line of fire at the two. A quick blast of wind from Teruchi kept the two from frying.

“Okay… now what?”

Their position couldn’t have been any worse. The two Existen had pincered them, the larger in front of Dante and the smaller in front of Teruchi.

“We’ll take out the small one first,” Dante whispered, not sure if the corruption kept the Existen from recognizing speech. “On your lead.”

Teruchi nodded and, wasting no time, jumped into the air, boosting his height with wind. Like a wild animal attempting to snatch a bird out of the sky, the Existen jumped after him. Taking the cue, Dante slashed at the Existen’s exposed neck, but at the last moment it brought up its arms to block the hit. Still, it caused considerable pain to the creature, and wailed on the ground for a moment. Teruchi, having landed on the other side, used the time to grab the Existen’s tail and send an electrical shock up it. Again, the Existen wailed in pain, but wasn’t close to unconsciousness. After the shock ended, the Existen thrashed its tail, throwing Teruchi off his feet.

Dante, on the other hand, was in greater danger from the failed killing blow, as their sudden movement excited the larger Existen. It swept across the field with a claw the size of Dante’s chest, only barely missing when Dante hit the ground. He scrambled back to his feet, as he was helpless laying down. Thankfully, Teruchi had shot the larger Existen with a bolt of lightning, distracting it long enough to let Dante get away.

He focused again on the smaller Existen, who regained its own footing. Not even caring about whether it would wound or kill, Dante hacked at the Existen’s wing. It snapped under the force of his blade, and the Existen wailed in pain with its wing hanging limply at its side. It quickly whipped around and nearly bit Dante’s face when a bolt of lightning fell on it from above. Dante used the opportunity to deliver a final blow to its neck.

The two princes shared a brief smile, pleased with their teamwork. But a sound from the larger Existen caught their attention, and Dante turned just in time to see a wisp of darkness rush toward them. Dante raised his arm in a meager attempt to provide cover, but was surprised that the attack caused no pain. Instead, it felt like a silky breeze was going past, almost cool to the touch. But when the gust settled, the darkness did not. Dante blinked a few times, just to make sure that his eyes really were open, and yet he couldn’t see a thing.

“Shit!” he heard behind him.

“What’s going on?”

It took a beat too long for Teruchi to answer. “…Darkness… magic. Blinding…”

Dante gripped his sword tighter and held it in front of him. “How long does it take to wear off?”

Silence.

“Teruchi?” Still no answer. He could hear the Existen move around them, and feel its footsteps on the ground. He could faintly hear Teruchi breathing as well. They were several paces away from each other, which meant he was breathing hard. Being blinded must have terrified him.

A moment later, the Existen made some sort of movement. It was impossible to tell what. The vague sound of scales and feet and feathers rustling, with an added faint squeaking.

He turned to face the direction he thought the Existen was in and listened again. A snap. Screaming? It sounded distant.

…Had to have been some soldier nearby…

Snapping. Multiple… crunching.

The terror swept over Dante. He cried out again but no one answered.

Eating. Oh gods it was eating him.

Dante tightened, attempting to shrink into nothing. He summoned flames, or at least he thought he did, but he couldn’t see their light. He could barely feel their warmth. This was it, this was his fate. There would be no body to revive. He was simply to be another body to go missing in the aftermath of the battle. His only purpose to wait around in the afterlife simply to tell his family of his unfortunate fate. But first he would be torn apart by teeth and claws and be burned away by stomach acid, and, if he was lucky, not be conscious through it.

He fell to his knees and threw his hands to his ears. He shut his eyes shut, but it changed nothing. Not like this. Not at all, but especially not like this. At least let him see so he knew when to expect it. Even that was better than the darkness and the sounds of gory mutilation surrounding him.

Oh gods anything to make it stop.

A wave of calm washed over him, but at the same time, strength. It wasn’t acceptance, but resolve. Dante returned to his feet and looked around. There were lights everywhere. This was aura sight. He’d never experienced it before, but he just knew. The Existen glowed purple at its core but burned into wisps of black and gray. There was a faint mint aura at its mouth.

Dante extended a hand and shot a blast of magic at the Existen’s neck. It burned brightly in his aura sight. The blast didn’t incapacitate the creature, but instead made it gag on its meal. It heaved several times until the mint aura was spat out.

Dante used the time to study the Existen. 129 years old. Darkness element. Wrath, envy. Hated his birth element, only good for torturing small animals. Sought out his corruption. Reveled in it. Hardly innocent.

He summoned two spears of light above the Existen. It barely had time to look up at its judgement before being pierced. It was a quick death. Its aura was extinguished.

All that remained, other than the various specks of aura in the surrounding battlefield, was the mint aura. Glow was the wrong word, his aura was like the last remaining ember in a piece of coal. It was a cruelty rather than a kindness. The healers may prefer to let it go out first.

Right, there were healers in the back lines of the assault. He and Teruchi were in the front. Dante picked up the body, wet with blood or spit or both, and carried him back. Teruchi was surprisingly light, though admittedly he had always been scrawny, and had spent a month in prison. Based on the auras around him, Dante located the direction he needed to go and started running.

After a few minutes it became clear that people were avoiding him. Good, he thought, will figure that out later, but good for now. But as that thought occurred, he noticed the auras begin to fade. He felt his own strength slip away as well. No, he thought, not yet… So close…

Dante stumbled, eyes blind again. He pushed himself off of Teruchi’s body, but used the last of his strength to do so. He passed out.

-Bloodrain, Ank, and Zeke-

Ank had taken to the battlefield himself. He hated fighting large crowds, but he needed to get away from Xerizero during his fight. Xerizero could easily squash whatever opposition he faced, but win or lose he was incredibly cranky after fights. He was cranky a lot recently.

Besides, Ank didn’t really care if the madman died. It would complicate his position, but being in the crossfire of two gods seemed like a bad idea. Best to let them fight it out and figure things out depending on the victor. Until then, he had a homeland to defend.

Someone walked into his radius. Ank reached out and crushed his mind. It shattered easily, like a delicate glass ornament. Must have been a real simpleton. In truth Ank had no bother to detect friend from foe here, but he at least debriefed everyone to not approach him for any reason during the fight. If the poor man really was on his side, then he served better dead as an example than he would have alive.

Another mind. He attempted to crush this one, but it was much more sturdy. But it wasn’t trained to defend against psionic attacks. It would crack under enough pressure.

“Y-you!” the voice of its owner growled.

“You say that like you know me.” Ank didn’t recognize the mind or the voice.

“Brown hair… blindfold… psion…” the voice staggered. “You’re the one who fought… fought Arcenia…”

Ank fought a lot of people. Few were worth remembering.

“Girl… 14 years old… Also blind psion…”

“Her!” Ank remembered. It was when the Xephirixians came to free the Guardians, and then attempted to assassinate Xerizero while they were at it. He got quite the beating after failing that ordeal.

“And what is she to you?” Ank increased the pressure on the man’s mind. Anything to punish the girl who caused him to suffer. “Lover? Daughter?”

“Sister!” The man’s mind burned hot, causing Ank to recoil his mental grip. Touching it further would be touching madness itself. Berserking? No, this was a little different.

“My name is Bloodrain. Bloodrain of Nintendria. Arcenia told me to be on the lookout for a psion with no eyes. Said he’d be dangerous.”

“No eyes?” Ank raised an eyebrow. “She wasn’t reading through my memory was she? That’s rather intrusive.” Ank wrapped a finger around his blindfold and pulled it down to his neck. Indeed, there were no eyes beneath the blindfold, only sockets. Across them and slightly above the bridge of his nose was a long scar, indicating some horrid injury.

“Don’t blame me for any nightmares the little girl gets,” Ank flashed a toothy grin. He figured it must make him look even ghastlier than with just the missing eyes. “She found that out herself. Me? I make my opponents tear their own eyes out!”

Bloodrain sprang forward. The power surrounding his mind made it impossible to read any emotions, but his actions were clear that it had struck a chord. Fighting without reading the mind was difficult but not impossible. Ank simply had to use his psionics to sense the physical world around him, like a sort of mental echolocation. Draining if done for long, but better than fighting completely blind. Bloodrain was wielding a large weapon. Scythe, by the shape of it. Large but slow. Preferable in this situation.

Ank ducked under the first attack. He felt around for something to use as a weapon. Large rock, good enough. He threw it at Bloodrain. It was a direct hit, but Bloodrain easily shook it off. He was a bit too sane to be berserking, but he sure was acting like it otherwise.

Ank waited for the second attack to dodge it. He narrowly did, as Bloodrain changed his grip on the weapon in the last moment. Not enough time to find another object, dodge again. He’d have to disarm him, Bloodrain was learning from his mistakes rapidly. The next attack, Ank dodged inward, throwing all his weight into his opponent. Bloodrain was bigger than he was, but it was enough to catch him off guard. Hand to elbow, Ank pulsed his psionic energy, snapping the elbow. Bloodrain staggered, but made no signs of being pained. Instead, he simply retreated a few paces back and grabbed the scythe with the one good arm.

I’ll just have to take out both arms, Ank thought.

A hand wrapped around his chin, and a knife brought to his throat. It slashed away, but caught on the blindfold around his neck. He threw his weight back and the person behind him retreated. Ank felt something drip down his throat, but he could breath normally. The cut must have been extremely shallow.

“Damn, I’ve been waiting years to do that and I botch it!” A new voice. But there was no mind.

No mind? There had to be a mind! It talked so it must have had some kind of thought process! Ank calmed himself and reached out for physical objects again. A man (or at least, probably male, judging from the voice) about six feet tall, maybe a bit taller. He had large ears, a pair of wings, and a tail. Ank had heard of the Skrieni before but never had the chance to personally meet one. Still no mind to be detected.

“Have WE met?” Ank demanded.

“Dude, I’m the guy who steals food whenever you’re on duty.” Gods he was a flippant arrogant bastard. “It’s ‘cause you can’t detect the yolk in my noggin, can’t ya?”

Ank stood silent between the two opponents. As much as he wanted to run a sword through both, as long as he was unable to grab hold of their minds, he was at a serious disadvantage.

Skrieni first, then Bloodrain.

But the Skrieni was wielding a knife. Rushing him was the worst thing he could do. He’d have to wait for him to attack first, but clearly the Skrieni knew that. He kept his distance. Was he twirling his knife in his fingers? Ank hated him even more.

“My name’s Zeke. What’s yours?”

Bloodrain was approaching him from behind. Fine, he could take him out first. “Ank,” he said, keeping focus on his rear attacker. Just a little closer you dumb shit.

“The fuck kind of name is Ank?” Zeke said. Oh I will LITERALLY disarm you.

Bloodrain was wearing something around his neck. Cloth, durable. A scarf or large neck tie of some sort. Ank mentally grabbed hold of it and hung him by it. The action caused Zeke to rush for him. Ank threw out his hand like he was going to throw out a fireball or some nonsense. It actually worked, as Zeke stopped. Ank jumped up and kicked him in the face. Idiot.

The Skrieni stumbled to the ground. Ank stepped on his wrist, pinning his weapon hand. Now, how to kill him? It’d have to be physical, since his mind was still a blank. He’d have to use Zeke’s own knife against him. Step on it harder then.

A pain shot through Ank’s back and out his front. What!? Bloodrain hadn’t moved, Zeke was beneath him. Another one who could hide from his mind? No, there was no one, just a sword piercing his stomach.

The pain was too bad it broke his concentration. Ank couldn’t feel the world anymore. He remained standing, trying to move as little as possible, but someone withdrew the blade and pushed him forward. Ank was helpless.

Zeke returned to his feet and looked at Bloodrain. He was an odd human, his eyes were glowing with some great power. He had made the sword appear in thin air. He’d never seen that before.

“You a god or something?” he asked.

At the mention of gods, Bloodrain staggered. The glow in his eyes disappeared, and the red spikes in his hair fell into line with the rest of his black hair. Even some of his bloodstains disappeared. Zeke caught him when he fell forward, but Bloodrain didn’t lose consciousness.

“Urgh… kind of… a bit…” He’d explain later. Bloodrain repositioned his feet beneath him and carefully returned to standing on his own. “I’m getting better… At least I didn’t pass out this time.”

After ensuring that he could walk on his own, Bloodrain picked up the sword he had summoned. It was a trick he knew Chaos was fond of. Chaos always liked to be able to switch to any weapon he’d ever want whenever he wanted, so he was a master of weapon bonding. Chaos bonded with a lot of weapons. Bloodrain had a limited selection, but in this case his scythe and sword were enough. The sword was an obsidian blade, with an ornate hilt made of pure silver. It had belonged to his father, and Bloodrain spent years tracking it down after his death.

Zeke walked over to Ank, lying on the ground in pain. “Whadda we do with him?” he asked. “In my experience, anyone you don’t kill yourself has a way of biting you in the ass later.”

“I say he suffers a little longer,” Bloodrain made two cuts along Ank’s legs. “There, he definitely can’t walk now. He’ll be dead in a few minutes, just let him bleed out.”

They left him for dead. Little did they know that Death had other plans in mind.

-Serafina-

Deep breaths, Serafina thought. She thought that a lot, and wasn’t sure it was helping. Perhaps she wasn’t cut out for all out combat like she thought she was.

Dante and Teruchi had gone on ahead. Psh, bunch of manly men they were. Serafina opted instead to stay behind in one of the lines further back. Just… until she warmed up. She eventually found a niche where she could drag wounded soldiers back far enough so that the healers could safely heal them. It wasn’t a passive role by any means, she had already killed three people. She prayed to Ranthael that she wouldn’t have to do it again.

It had become especially terrifying when the Existen dropped in. One had dived in from the air right in the middle of three healers working on repairing stab wounds and broken bones. It was at that point Serafina’s bravery kicked in. Then again, she was the only one around who could even fight the thing, so she didn’t have much of a choice. The Existen was bright purple, or at least would have been if its hide wasn’t blotted out with corruption. It sparked when it hit the ground, and looked around wildly as it contemplated which of the healers to eat first.

It didn’t take very much to deter the Existen. Serafina simply summoned a few fires in its face and stabbed it when it nearly bit her head off for doing so. She let it fly off whimpering. The healers all cheered, but her legs were still shaking from the encounter.

Serafina looked around the battlefield again. There were so many wounded, so many dead, it was hard to tell where to go to look for those who could be healed. Well, actually, it was easy. All she had to do was walk in any direction and someone would be found soon. The hard part was when there were multiple people begging for help equidistant from one another.

Deep breaths. She ran out into the battlefield again. Most of the fighting had moved a bit further toward the fortress itself, which allowed for more zone relatively safe to run through. It also meant it took longer to drag the wounded back to the healers, unless they too moved with the front line. It sure would make Serafina’s job a lot easier.

She jumped over a few bodies she knew were dead from checking previously. After a few minutes she realized that she had run out farther than any other time that night. That meant they were winning, right? She looked around, surely there were freshly wounded soldiers around who would love a free ride back to health?

Her stomach dropped when she saw a familiar face among the bodies. “No…” she rushed over and slid to her knees. Dante’s body was still warm, maybe…

“Dante!” Serafina yelled and shook him several times before realizing that she could check his pulse. She placed two fingers under his chin, but by then there was no need. Dante’s eyes fluttered open, his head jerked away from her touch and he swatted away Serafina’s wrist. Then he began to thrash wildly.

“Wait it’s me!” Serafina pushed his chest down to stop him from moving. Her voice seemed to calm him.

“…Sera?”

Serafina looked into his eyes and realized they were hazed and unfocused. Still, she scooped him up into a hug, grateful that he was still alive. Dante was too weak to hug her back, but her embrace was enough to allow him to fully relax.

“We have to get you out of here,” she said, helping her brother up. He stumbled to his feet, but then turned around.

“Wait…” he said, and blankly placed his arm out. “I was… Where’s Teruchi?”

There was another body next to Dante’s, Serafina had ignored it in her initial concern. She flinched when she saw it. It was his, but it looked like he had suffered many wounds across his back. She walked over cautiously and placed two fingers along his neck, but could instantly tell he was gone.

“He’s dead,” she called back to Dante.

“Well don’t just leave him!” he said back.

For a brief moment, that was exactly what Serafina had planned on doing. Leave him to let his body rot and be trampled on. Heck Dante was blinded, he wouldn’t even know until after they had gotten back if Serafina just left him.

“Ugh you stupid bastard…” Serafina grumbled as she took Teruchi’s arms around her shoulders and lifted him up by her back. Ugh, bloody dead body… at least he hadn’t been eating in prison. “You better be fucking thankful for this. Fucking grovel at my feet or some shit when you come back…”

She walked back to Dante and instructed him to place a hand on her arm as a guide, and they made their way back to base very slowly. Not only was Serafina carrying someone else, but Dante constantly stumbling on uneven ground and other bodies made things very slow going.

“What happened?” she asked to break up the tension.

“Existen… Dark elemental,” Dante said. He didn’t clarify beyond that. “How close are we?”

Serafina raised her head, conscious to the fact that she had mostly been staring at her feet. “We’re almost there,” she said, though camp was still a good five minutes at the pace they were going.

Suddenly, a bright light emitting from the top of the fortress shot out like a shockwave, covering everything in its path. Serafina shut her eyes and looked away, as did Dante. When the light had settled, Serafina blinked a few times, allowing her eyes to adjust, and found herself standing in the middle of a green field, not the scarred wasteland the battlefield was placed.

“What…?” She looked around to find that she was in fact in the same place, but the environment itself had changed. Gone was the corruption, replaced instead by beautiful fields and open sky.

“Are you seeing this?” Dante asked. Gone was the haze from his eyes, and he too was clearly just as awestruck as she was.

After a few moments of gawking, Serafina felt the arms around her shoulders move on their own. By reflex she yelped and threw the body off of her. Teruchi landed with a thump on the ground next to her and groaned. He flipped himself over onto his back and opened his eyes.

“Wait… you’re alive?”

Teruchi didn’t answer and lifted his arm to shield his eyes from the newly shining sun. Interestingly, the black stain of an arm that he used to have was gone, replaced with a normal one. Well, mostly normal. There was still a small black stain on the back of his hand. Shelly wasn’t going to give him up that easy.

“I think the fighting’s stopped,” Dante observed. He sat down. “We’re close enough to camp anyway.”

Serafina joined him and let whatever tension she was holding onto out. It was over. Thank the gods it was over. She wanted nothing more to ask the other two what had happened, but neither seemed to be in the mood to talk about it.

“Thanks for dragging my body back,” Teruchi said in the middle of their silence.

“I-it was Dante’s idea!” Serafina said quickly.

“Mm,” Teruchi closed his eyes and the three sat in silence, waiting for their friends to rejoin them.

-Ank-

When Ank awoke, it was the feeling of some large animal nosing his forehead. After jerking up, Ank reached out and persuaded the animal, a bear, away. Its mind was pretty set on eating him, after all it was quite hungry, but flashing it some threatening and bad-tasting signals, the bear turned away.

Ank was lucky, the bear had been uncorrupted. Such circumstances were rare in Cerphixen. Corrupted minds were much harder to persuade away, the only thing left to do was crush them if you wanted to survive.

He felt around the bridge of his nose to find that it was bare. He sighed and took the blindfold from around his neck and retied it over where his eyes would be.

First thing’s first, where was he? The Lost Society Fortress… that was a bit off in the distance. Somehow he was moved to the surrounding forest. But it was off. The forest was… different. The trees had leaves that didn’t immediately dry out and crumble. The grass was wet and supple. The bears were sane. It was like it was in Xephixir.

…Uncorrupted? But how?

Ank barred his teeth. No, he was on Xephixir… maybe. He ran towards the fortress and out of the forest. No, he knew this place. He knew the fortress. It was theirs on Cerphixen. The corruption really had gone. Had Xerizero…?

A particular memory crept its way into Ank’s mind. Or maybe it was there all along and Ank only now chose to listen to it. It was Shelly, the Grim Reaper, owning him. Yeah, she had wanted him to join her that day he was on Xephixir too. Man, what was up with her?

Well to hell with that. If Xerizero really was dead… hell, even if he wasn’t, there was no reason to stick with him anymore. Either way, Ank had nowhere to go. Going back to the fortress was risky, that’s probably where the Xephixirans were waiting to round up straggling Darkness Requiem members. …Assuming he hadn’t been out for too long. He couldn’t go back to the city either. Made too many enemies there. Enemies who were now high on freedom and wouldn’t think twice about attacking him.

But despite that, he was no longer under the thumb of gods and madmen. While it was a price he’d pay for the power that came along with it, that power was gone now. Survival was of upmost importance right now.

So fuck going back to working for some crazy immortal.

Ank’s stomach tightened. He collapsed onto his hands and knees and clutched his stomach. The pain passed completely a few moments later.

Of course he didn’t have a choice. He was only alive because Death let him live, so long as he stayed useful to Death.

Ank returned to his feet, sullen. His next step was to seek out Shelly. But how? She wasn’t exactly easy to find. Then again, she always seemed to find him, not the other way around. Perhaps it would be the same this time.

Until then, he had nowhere else to go.