A man carried a woman’s body. Her face was unmarred by lines, a few strands of gray hair at her temples the only sign that she wasn’t still in the flower of youth. There was a fist-sized hole in her chest, the ruined armor and clothing surrounding it stained with dried blood.

The cavern he walked through was massive. The ceiling stretched to the point where his incredible vision had trouble making out details. There were swirls of cloud at the highest areas. The primary stone making up the walls was a grayish blue. Light trickled down from long strands of some form of fungus which glowed a pale green. The scenery would have been beautiful were it not for the scene of carnage that filled it.

The remains of titanic beasts were strewn throughout the area, organs the size of vehicles spilling from them. The blood on the ground was so thick it would have covered the man’s feet entirely. Would have, except that with each step he took the coagulating river parted just enough to not touch him. The monsters were unrecognizable mangled mishmashes of limbs and heads, some form of local fauna corrupted by the energies of the cavern.

He reflected on that thought as he silently carried the woman. Near the far wall of the cavern was a higher spot, clear of the battlefield. There were four more bodies like the woman’s over there.

An old man wearing a long robe and gripping a metal staff with several rings. Half of his head was gone.

A young girl, barely out of her teen years in scored leather armor. He didn’t know where her daggers were. The bottom half of her body was gone.

An adult man, unrecognizable due to the damage done to his chest and head. A sword and shield lay next to him.

A massive furred man, face bestial and resembling a bear. A pile of wood and metal that used to be a massive crossbow was his accessory. He was disemboweled and missing his arms.

All of the bodies were propped up to a sitting position on the wall. Delicately he placed the final body next to the rest of them and stepped back. His eyes flicked to each of them. As if a dam inside of him broke the man sank to his knees and let out a ragged gasp. The pace of his breathing quickened as he clenched his teeth. His gaze sank to the floor, wide-eyed and seeing little. He threw back his head and screamed. A wave of primal power poured out behind his voice. The remains of the monsters closest to him were blasted away. Trails of glowing moss fell from the ceiling as spiderweb cracks formed across the walls of the cavern.

Not a single hair of the five bodies shifted.

For an indeterminate time there was only silence and stillness. The man looked up, gaze focused once more. He rose to his feet and held out a hand. On the hand’s middle finger a ring of solid jade began to glow. With a small displacement of air a box the size of his head appeared.

From a distance the box only appeared a simple ornament made of metal. The longer one stared at it, however, the more details became apparent. Whatever metal it was made from shifted through colors slowly. The box was rectangular, covered in swirling carvings. There was a large empty mounting spot on one side of the box, every line converging at this space.

The man’s face was blank as he considered the device. He placed it on the ground in front of the bodies and held out his hand again. Another glow from the ring and a gemstone appeared. The stone was perfectly smooth and a blue so dark that it faded to black in the center. The gem’s size and shape were a perfect match for the mounting spot on the box.

“After action report,” he sounded exhausted, “The mission was partially successful. The final piece was acquired.” He sighed heavily and looked at the unmoving bodies in front of him again.

“Casualty rate over eighty percent. We got hammered,” he looked at the old man, “And it’s your goddamned fault. Your divination didn’t show us all of the monsters guarding this fucking rock.”

His gaze went to the older of the two women, “This wasn’t how it was supposed to go,” emotion started to enter his voice as his brow furrowed, “I was there when we talked about it.” He ran a hand through his hair and took a long breath. “I know I never look like I’m listening.”

His voice took on a pleading note as it got louder, “You aren’t the crazy self-destructive warriors! I am! Remember the damned plan?!” He took a shuddering breath, “I’m the one who dies so you can succeed! I’m fine with that!” Tears started to trail down as he walked over next to where he placed the last body. He sank against the wall, feet out in front of him, shoulder brushing up against hers. When he spoke again his voice was at a low conversational tone.

“We agreed, Mags,” he laid his head on the corpse’s shoulder. “You’d go. You had the best connections, the most reach. If something happened to you, Leo. Then Ryan, then Tarnok, and then, if something had absolutely gone wrong, the kid. We all agreed. This was supposed to be my final battle, a last stand against overwhelming forces to make up for all the terrible things I did to get this strong. A redemption.” The word was spoken with a twist of bitter mockery. He looked down at himself for a moment. “Hell, I’m not even badly injured. I got hurt worse than this when we fought the Fourteen Kings.”

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He held out the gem in front of the corpse he’d named Mags. He eyed the rock with disdain and apprehension. “This is too much. I can’t do this. I didn’t practice, I didn’t memorize anything. I don’t have a plan for this.” He pushed himself up and turned to the unmoving bodies. “Remember why it wasn’t supposed to be me? The literal rivers of blood? The mountains of bodies? The burned cities? Any of this ringing a bell?” He gestured with the stone. “All you had to do was let me die for something,” he lowered his head, “But of course, you all had to go and get yourselves killed helping me instead of standing back and letting me do what we agreed on.”

The cavern echoed as he tossed the gem in the air and clapped loudly. He caught the smooth stone as it fell. “Alright! New plan time, because I cannot be the one to do this.” He started pacing. “I think one of the Saints would be willing to help, but I don’t know if they can be trusted. Ditto with the Lords of Fire,” he started counting off his fingers, “The Everturning Machine wouldn’t be interested. The Gray Tower would fuck it up. The High Heralds of the Extinction Eclipse...,” His voice trailed off as he looked at Mags.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he said quietly, “I know it’s not the plan.” Her eyes were closed but he could swear she was staring at him. “Stop it. I know your plans always work,” he gestured towards the cavern of corpses, “This wasn’t part of it! Did your grand plan include you dying, woman?!”

He hurled the gem against the wall. The stone where it struck blasted apart from the force of the impact, the blue-black stone embedding itself in the side of the cavern. His eyes went wide and he leapt towards the impact site.

“Shit!”

Stone parted like clay between his fingers as he frenziedly dug into the horizontal crater. His fingers closed around the gemstone. Gently, he pulled it out of it’s temporary resting place in the wall. Flakes of stone fell away from his hand as he looked down at his prize. He sighed with relief when he saw that it was unblemished.

He held out the gem to Mags. “You see? Could have blown the whole thing right there. What would all of this have been for then?” Another period of silence, broken with a scoff. “Of course. I’m big in restraint, remember? All sunshine and smiles, that’s me.” He put the gem in the crook of his elbow and fished around in his pockets until he pulled out a battered metal case and an old lighter. A trail of smoke soon came from the last cigarette in the case. He considered the case for a moment then dismissively tossed it over his shoulder. He closed his eyes and took a long drag, inhaling the dirty smoke and holding it in his lungs. A full minute passed by before he exhaled, opening his eyes.

Suddenly he whirled on his foot and jabbed angrily towards Mags with the hand holding the cigarette between two fingers. “No you don’t!” he yelled at the body, “You do not get to play the ‘you owe me’ card! Not after this!” He took another drag of the cigarette, the fragrant smoke forming a small cloud around him. “I am fully aware of the past few decades. I have done more than enough to square us up.” he sighed and started pacing again. “What do I even tell you? ‘Oh hi, I’m the guy who let you die. Also, I killed a bunch of people you liked and worked with for years,’” Strained emotion came over his face, “Also also, I’m in love with you and decided to betray everything I ever knew and throw away a solid chance at immortality to help you chase this insane plan even though you were married and never ever looked at me like that.”

He stopped moving and looked over at the body of the woman he was having a one-sided conversation with. “Was that too much?” he asked quietly, “Was I not supposed to say that part? Because you knew. I know you did. We never talked about it, but you knew. And that’s why even if I did go back I couldn’t look you up.” He flicked the finished cigarette to the side and shook his head. “Because it won’t be you! Not the you I know! We’ve been around each other for decades! It’ll be some kid! And I’ll be some creepy old murderer in a teenaged skinsuit! And I don’t know if I can fucking deal with that, Mags!”

With a start he snapped around to face the distant end of the cavern. His eyes narrowed and began to emit a pale light. After a long, searching gaze the light faded. His whole body slumped as he turned back towards his former team.

“Backup’s gonna be here soon, guys.” He rubbed his face and looked down at the box, gleaming softly in the bioluminescence. “I have to do it, don’t I?” he said without looking up. He took a step forwards and knelt in front of the device.

“Damn it all,” he whispered. The gemstone slid into the mounting easily, snapping into place with a click. The lines adorning the box began to light up, brightening as they were traced with streams of blue and purple. A distant whirring could be heard from the inside. With both hands he picked up the box and stood.

He looked at each of the five bodies as if trying to engrave them in his memory. When his gaze finally fell on her, he stopped. The pain on his face was obvious. “Am I supposed to say something? Like, what do I tell you? Should we even meet?” He shifted his weight between feet while the whirring got louder. He smiled crookedly, “Some legendary fighter I am, eh? Getting all maudlin and crap about this.”

Mags said nothing.

He sighed and shot her a sideways glance.

“Don’t gloat, Margaret.”

The glow from the box was so pronounced he could make out the patterns in the stone of the cavern’s roof. He took a long, deep breath.

The world flashed and everything become nothing then everything once again.