Betrayal

As Avii felt the fist separate from his back, he tumbled forward over the altar. With a cough, sanguine rain painted the runes that he had used to guarantee Ostave’s safety. His child’s safety. To accomplish the mission that the Estarians had embarked on. That Harbinger had guided him to.

“Ostave…” Avii wheezed, blood spilling from his lips as he rolled himself to his back and looked at the figure. “Don’t.”

Though the man that stood before him now was Ostave, the expression he wore was not his. The orc, outfitted in the Kovika armour Avii had left him with, stared forward with a glazed-over look of hatred and a grimace that split his cheeks. Snarling, he raised his fist, priming it for another punch.

Before Avii could react, the Orc slammed two more rods into his body. They tore through metal, ripping into tender flesh with an explosive blast of magical energy. And as the Orc prepared for a final strike aimed at Avii’s heart, the man forced his hand up, catching the spear with his palm before it could pierce him.

“Ostave!” Avii yelled out, blood pouring past his lips as he wrenched the man’s tethered hand to the side and swung at his chin. “Don’t do this!”

Avii’s fist connected with the knight’s exposed jaw, twisting his head away with a violent crack. He watched as the orc tumbled to the ground, his face slamming against the stone before going limp. Wasting no time, Avii ripped free the rod left stabbed through his grasp, tossing the metal away and listening as it clattered to the ground. Then, turning his gaze back to the orc, he saw his body flinch. Watched as he struggled to push himself up. Struggled against the feeling of his own body, as though something else was controlling him. Moving him like a helpless flesh marionette.

“Ostave!” Avii ordered the knight. “Fight it! Stay down!”

“Ostave has a purpose now.” Harbinger's words tainted Ostave’s voice as they slipped past his broken jaw. “He has reason to survive. He must kill you, Avii.”

“Harbinger, leave him be.”

“You do not tell me what to do, Heretic! Bastard child of my Forsaken Father. I would be controlling you had that witch not tainted your soul!”

Armoured boots clanked against the tiled floor as Ostave charged, his fist held back for another strike. As the orc swung wide, Avii caught the man’s wrist at an angle. Holding it there, the magic that had been primed into the rod released, firing it as a projectile over his MULE. Out of instinct, Avii turned his head to watch as it struck the window. With ease, it pierced the glass, sending a spiderwebbing of cracks outward in the moments before the runes around the pane flared yellow.

But this distraction would cost him as, in the handful of seconds his head was turned, another swing came from the knight’s opposite hand. In an instant, a rod pierced his body, driving deep into his core and forcing him to expel a river of blood from his lips. And as the sanguine streams turned to drops that painted the floor, Avii took hold of Ostave’s other hand.

Unlike his last encounter with such a dangerous armour, this time the wielder had no interest in protecting the MULE. No longing to keep the suit whole so that he could use it. Ostave wanted Avii dead because Harbinger willed it. And, knowing the power that voice held, Avii understood there was no stopping it when it had a thirst for blood. So, holding both hands firmly in his grasp, the man brought his head down onto the knight’s. Their skulls connected with a loud crack, and as both stumbled away, Avii fell back against the altar and Ostave nearly onto the labyrinth sigil. It was then that the man devised a plan.

“Who are you?” Avii asked, vying for time as he felt around his armour for the final object that he had found hidden from that day. “Harbinger, answer me! Who are you?! Really?”

Ostave laughed in response. He laughed a twisted cackle that Avii had only ever heard from Sebastian and the witch. From a devil and a demon. But now it came from the lips of a man, possessed by another.

“I owe you nothing, heretic.” He answered as his body rose unnaturally from the ground as though invisible tethers had become attached to it. “But since this place, the temple of your forebears, shall soon become your tomb, I will indulge you.”

Charging forward, Ostave tackled Avii, pinning him to the altar. The man struggled, trying to keep the possessed hands away from his vital organs, but failing to notice when one came around and grabbed at his throat. The second soon followed as metal thumbs drove into his windpipe, threatening to crush it under the mechanized grip. All the while, Ostave chuckled as he bled past split lips and a broken jaw.

“Humble yourself before me, heathen.” Ostave groaned. “For I am Hecty, the Goddess of luck and divine fortune. You have lived to this point thanks to my guidance. My blessing. For I plucked at the strings of destiny and played the song of your fortune. Your survival…”

Terror set in as Avii’s heart raced at the idea that a divine being had been speaking to him for most of his life. That Harbinger had been more than a voice that kept him going. That had been forcing him to stay alive for a purpose. For a goal that it wanted more than his life.

Reaching up, Avii grabbed at the hands of Ostave and struggled to pull them away from his throat. He gasped, drawing air into his lungs as he managed to pry the armoured fingers back. Then, with a shift of his hands, he wrenched at the knight’s wrists, twisting them back until the metal began to creak and moan. And though Ostave could not speak in that moment, could not choose to stop fighting, Avii knew that he would feel every bit of pain he was dealt.

“Ostave,” Avii cried out. “Fight it! You can control it!”

“I’ve told you!” Ostave growled on behalf of Harbinger before whipping his head down and cracking his skull to Avii’s. “I am in control. Your purpose has been fulfilled. Now die and join your kin in the abyss!”

Through blurred vision, his eyes thick with tears and stained by blood, Avii fought to stay conscious. He continued to twist at Ostave’s wrists, pulling the man’s arms to the side. But this did not stop Harbinger from once again bringing the orc’s head down in a forceful thrust.

“But why?” Avii spoke through the blood that poured over his face as both his and Ostave’s life essence mixed. “Why me? Why did I have to suffer, Harbinger?”

“Because…” Ostave spoke through clenched jaw, his face just as broken as Avii’s. “It was fun to watch you squirm as I waited for the right moment to bring you home. Bring you back to complete your mission.”

“But the golems only just began to move—”

“It’s more than the golems, you imbecilic Maldainian!” Ostave howled in reply. “We needed the Devils’ forces weakened first. Needed them crippled so our Divine and righteous children could finally take control of this mountain. Take control of the city that should have been ours after we slayed our Father and razed your ancestors. But that damn witch of His! Her scheming prevented it! And now, at last, you have done it for us. Shut it down and allowed us access. Our children. The beautiful nation of Estaria will claim this land and finally ascend to their rightful place atop the throne!”

Then, Harbinger did something unexpected to the puppet. The orc twisted his arms so far that they snapped at the elbows. Avii, unprepared for this, felt his hold shift just enough to throw him off balance and, in that moment, his world began to spin. Ostave had swept his leg, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Colliding hard against the metal floor, Avii’s head cracked with enough force to daze him. And as he stared through his swirling vision, his world quickly flipped once more. Kicked onto his back, he now gazed at the ceiling as the broken features of Ostave came into view. His shattered nose and broken jaw. That distant look in his eyes as he stood over Avii’s head and raised a boot.

“Now,” Ostave spoke. “Join your family in the abyss, because Maldainians do not belong in heaven or hell.”

Avii flinched as the heavy metal boot descended quickly toward his face. Moved with enough force to crush his skull. He knew his end had finally come. But then, it never did. The metal sabaton had stopped just short of crushing his skull, and that was when he heard it.

“Avii,” Ostave groaned, pain now in his voice. “Avii!”

“Ostave?” Avii spoke through the blood that poured past his lips. “Is that you?”

“I-I can’t hold her. The Goddess is too strong. You must run!”

“No.”

With a grunt, Avii pulled himself out from under the boot of his companion. It was at that moment he looked up at the anguish in Ostave’s face. Noticed the blood that poured past his lips. The man was in agony, yet still he held on. His resolve to do the right thing was as strong as Avii had predicted.

“Hold her as long as you can.” Avii groaned as he pushed himself to his feet.

Taking advantage of the precious moments that he had been given, Avii patted at his body. He searched for where he had stored the object he found alongside his cigarettes. The object that had once saved him and would this time save them both. Then he found it.

Withdrawing the small orb he had picked up that day, he stared at the glow that had finally returned to it after thirty years. The protective orb that had encased him before the detonation flung him skyward. That had saved him from the plummet to the ground and protected him from the shrapnel that struck at him. An object that made it just as impossible for anything to damage him as it was for him to hurt it.

As he thrusted it into the man’s frozen hand, Avii clasped his gauntlet overtop. At a glance, he could see Ostave struggling to maintain control of Harbinger. Of the Goddess that wanted Avii dead. And in that moment, he locked eyes with the man.

“Ostave,” Avii whispered as he began his goodbye. “Thank you for trusting me. For protecting me. For everything. I don’t know where you will go, but I hope this will protect you long enough to get home. It lasted three days for me, and if you’re lucky, you’ll find allies sooner. Live your life. Hug your spouse. Your child. Be free.”

And with that, Avii clenched Ostave’s hand and backed away. The orb quickly formed around the orc, whose body relaxed as Harbinger once again wrested control from the man.

“Avii!” Ostave screamed.

“Be free!” Avii repeated, raising his leg and giving the orb a mighty kick.

He watched as the opalescent sphere shifted against his strike, rolling back the few feet separating Ostave from the labyrinth tile. And then, in an instant, he was gone.