Our Tomb

With careful steps, Avii placed himself between Sebastian and the labyrinth sigil. As he did, he coughed, spilling blood past his lips and from the wounds where he had already been skewered. Weakly, he began to search for a weapon to arm himself. With no other choice, he grabbed at one of the metal rods protruding from him using his missing hand. It was only after failing to take hold of it that he pivoted his head down and wheezed a tortured laugh in response. A wild laugh that let him know that the pain-induced delirium had begun to set in.

“You’re not looking too good, mule.” Sebastian cooed before charging Avii with his blade hoisted high. “You should lay down and die!”

This time, using his only available hand, Avii ripped free the metal rod that had pierced his maimed arm. With a spray of blood, he swung it to the side, deflecting Sebastian’s blade down into the ground where it buried itself into metal and stone. Where it struck the labyrinth tile, breaking the runic ring and shattering the spell that held to it.

In an instant, they had both become trapped with nowhere to run once the deed was done. Once the sequence Avii had begun to input into the altar was closed, the mountain would come down around them. The Maldainian mines had officially become both of their tombs.

Eager to finish the job, Avii pushed off from his foot, charging the altar and the final rune that he needed to press. But as he did, a chill ran down his spine, and he felt the urge to dodge.

Avii ducked his head as a rod, charged with magic, flew before him. It cut through the air, whistling with power as it missed by less than a step and stuck into the far wall. And just as he prepared to continue his race forward, the chill returned, urging him next to the ground. Already saved once, he acted without thinking of the consequences, throwing himself backwards where he watched another bolt fly overhead.

“Gyaah!” He cried out, blood erupting from his mouth in a thick spray. “AHG!”

By this point, as the delirium clouded his mind and adrenaline pushed him onward, Avii had nearly forgotten about his fight with Ostave minutes before. About the multiple Kovika rods that had been stabbed through his back with just enough force to poke through the front of his cuirass. And as he landed in a supine position and the entire weight of his MULE pressed down on the narrow points, he felt the ribbed rods rip through him. Bloody spikes tore through the front of the mule, dripping with gore as he roared in agony.

“Stand still!” Sebastian yelled angrily as the sound of his blade escaping its bindings sang out. “You wretched mule!”

With a grunt, the devil swung his sword down towards the man’s face. The vibrating blade screamed into Avii’s ear as he shifted his head to the side, dodging a fatal blow at the last possible moment. Stuck into the ground, it was now close enough to the mule that he could feel the magic as it distorted the air. He could smell the sharp scent of arcana and see the purple glow as it tainted his bloodstained vision.

Reaching up, Avii took hold of Sebastian’s wrist and, with a forceful tug, pulled himself up. As he cocked his head back, prepared to strike his forehead to the man’s nose, he suddenly felt the devil’s body shift. Before Avii could make contact, the man’s free fist met his shoulder and fired another metal bolt into him. It pierced muscle and shattered bone as it forced him back into the ground, pinning him to the stone.

“Tsk-tsk-tsk.” Sebastian hissed with a chuckle. “You must get new moves, mule. That little kick of yours is overplayed.”

“Sorry to disappoint you,” Avii groaned through the pain before spitting blood in Sebastian’s face. “How about this!”

With a tap of the crystals inside his gauntlet, an overcharged burst of electricity arced out over Avii’s glove and licked at the Kovika armour. He watched as Sebastian’s form immediately locked up, the lightning surging through him and paralyzing his muscles just as he had seen it do to Ostave. At that, the moment had arrived. He had managed to create the opportunity he was looking for. One where he could escape the devil’s clutches and finish the job he had started.

So, taking advantage of that freedom, Avii threw the man from atop him and watched as he rolled to the side. Then, with what strength he could muster, the mule pushed himself to his feet and began to move as quickly as he could.

“Survive.” He coaxed himself in the only way he knew how. “Survive. Press the button. Fulfill your purpose. Surv—aaayyyyeeee!”

A sanguine spray erupted past his lips as he yelled out in response to the pain surging through his leg. Tumbling down to his side, he looked back at the limp sabaton that had been cut at the Achilles. Blood poured out from where Sebastian’s blade had nearly severed his foot, and beyond the growing puddle, the man’s evil glare glistened in the red glow of the room. He smiled, raising his gauntlet as he prepared to fire another rod at Avii.

Having only moments to respond, he shifted and watched as the bolt released from atop the man’s wrist. While the devil had intended for it to strike Avii’s chest, the mule’s quick thinking had instead allowed him to catch it with his shoulder. And though pain surged through his body as it pierced armour and flesh, digging deep into him and making it harder to use the limb, he was still alive.

Regardless of how battered and beaten he was, Avii wouldn’t give up. He couldn’t. Not when he was so close to the end. So, with a growl, he reached back and took hold of the rod, ripping it free. And as he did this, he continued to use his maimed arm to drag himself closer to the altar. Closer to his goal. His salvation.

“MULE!” Sebastian yelled out, his arm raised as he prepared to fire again. “I want that armour!”

Avii watched as another bolt became charged with magic, though this time he didn’t flinch to take the shot. Instead, he waited until the moment Sebastian’s hand began to flex before throwing the rod he had extracted. Then he watched as it struck the devil’s shoulder, twisting him back just enough to throw his shot off course. The metal bolt sung as it sailed overhead, and Avii listened as it struck something just beyond view. Listened as glass cracked and the pane protecting their arena from the heat of the volcano beyond weakened.

“Never,” Avii cried out as he reached the altar and pulled himself up. “Devil!”

His eyes scanned the slab top, focusing on the runes that eagerly pulsed orange, ready to move on to red. Avii only needed to find the right glyph to activate. The final marking to complete the sequence. And as he tried to remember it, tried to recall the vision that chaos and delirium now blurred, he felt Sebastian’s body tackle him from behind. Felt the blade come up to his throat and press to the soft skin of his neck.

Blood began to spill from him as he reached his gauntlet up and gripped the edge of the steel. He held the sword in place, preventing it from dealing its mortal blow as he suddenly felt a rod pierce his side. A moment later, another tore through his armour. And then another. Slowly but surely, Sebastian drove spikes into Avii’s vulnerable abdomen, pushing him past the point of no return. But the man already knew he was dead. Already knew this was his end. He just needed a moment to think. A moment to remember.

“How?” He choked on the blood that poured from his mouth. “How did you find me? How did you know?”

“You think I wouldn’t slip a tracking rune beneath your flesh when I worked on you?” Sebastian hissed in reply, leaning his face up to Avii’s ear. “You think I wouldn’t have learned after the first time you escaped me?”

“First time?”

Another rod pierced Avii’s side, causing him to spew more blood as his legs grew numb and weak. But he still fought. Still struggled to maintain his consciousness as he thought more about the altar before him than the words the devil spoke.

“I was he,” Sebastian whispered, the evil in his voice reminding Avii of someone long dead. “I have and will always be the one you called Butcher. Just as you will always be my special little pet. Oh, how we had so many days of play before you were taken from me. Before the vermin that scurry beneath the feet of the Gods stole you away. Before you broke my heart and forced me to break him. Oh, how once you were gone…how broken his spirit became. So, disgustingly broken. Until I could no longer remain in the presence of his stench. Trapped in that horrid meat suit. So, I contracted his protégé to free me…and do you know what his purpose was? What this pound of flesh was meant to achieve?”

Avii’s heart skipped a beat as he clued in to what was happening. As he realized that just as Ostave had been taken by a God, Sebastian had been taken by a Devil. And, more than that, that particular Devil had been torturing Avii for much longer than the three months he had recently spent in the Kovika camp. That this Devil had followed him. That it had hunted him down.

“To kill O’Sinas,” Avii wheezed. “And bring me back.”

“Good boy, mule.” Sebastian groaned as he leaned over and licked the blood from Avii’s cheek. “A deal made in the shadows and signed with blood. The transfer of me from one flesh to another. This body belongs to me now. Just as your suit soon will as well. And then this whole mountain. The Devils and Demons will reshape this world in their image. It will become a glorious realm of pain that will make what He did to us look like gentle foreplay.”

“All of this…because of the same God that the Estarian Pantheon seeks to erase?”

“What can I say?” Sebastian chuckled at the thought. “Gods and Devils agree on one thing. That He should have made us…and then left us well alone. Now we will play for all eternity with His toys across a world made from His corpse. Starting with the ones in this mountain. I just need your armour and your blood to bypass that witch’s safeguards!”

And with this knowledge, Avii began to laugh.

“Then it is too bad,” He wheezed, blood pouring from his mouth. “That the only thing you will get from me is the right to share in my grave!”

Having gotten the time he needed, the vision had returned to Avii. He had found the rune that would end it all. So, with his remaining strength, he pushed the blade far enough away to duck his head low and then flip Sebastian over the altar towards the spiderwebbed glass. And as he did, with the man’s other hand still tangled in the rods that had pierced his side, Avii flew with him. But not before he took his opportunity. Not before he stretched his hand out and pressed the final rune. Not before the altar shone red and the world began to quake.