"Listen we can talk about this all we want, outside!" Cairon stepped past Ellyrie and grasped one of the chains keeping Elias in place. "We first get you out of here, then we can think of how to save Atal."

Under his hand the chains froze over, shattering as he hit them with his staff. Elias was free, but looked none the happier. "How did they capture you anyways?"

"They didn't." Elias walked past them, out of his cell. "They called for my arrest, so I surrendered."

"How could you do that!" Cairon called after him as they struggled to keep up. "People are dying, people who you swore to protect, and you just give up?"

"Yes. I gave up so that at least some could survive." Elias stared over his shoulder. "The guardians and their masters from the capital are scourging Atal for being my creation, were I to resist then that would only give them more fuel, more reason to unleash their mad dogs."

He kept his head down as they walked past the overcrowded cells in silence, first as they reached the hallway outside did he speak once more. "But now my hand is forced. I will do all that I can to ensure you and Ellyrie can get out of here safely, and once you are."

He turned around, looking down to Ellyrie. "You need to run. Run as fast and as far as you can."

Ellyrie´s hand clenched around the hilt of her blade. "But I can't just leave Atal behind, they need me here!"

"Yes, they need you. That is why you need to run." They were approaching the throne room fast. "The Heart, and your friend." He pointed back at Melthaine. "Are all that can save humanity from the monster that made itself our master. Your father and I did all we could to contain it, to give at least a part of humanity hope."

He stopped at the door, taking one last deep breath. "A short moment, a glimpse of a world where we are not subservient, bound and fearful of all. That is all that I could give my people, and you, Ellyrie. You need to keep it alive, and for that you need to survive."

He threw the door open, and looked into a sea of swords and rifles.

The throne room was filled with soldiers, guardian and atali alike. And in their middle stood Menthiades, cigar in hand. "Earlier than we expected." He stared back at Elias, then at Ellyrie. "We thought you'd try your luck tomorrow, no matter."

He blew out a ring of smoke and crossed his arms. "I wont lie. Surrender now and you will all get a bullet to the neck, much less than you traitorous lot deserve."

"A tyrant cannot be betrayed, legate." Elias stepped forward, causing the first rows of soldiers to step back. Their weapons were shaking in their hands. "Recall the men, there is no need for more human blood to be spilled here than ours."

Their gazes were locked, Menthiades reached a hand into his pocket. "Withdraw. You lot got better things to do."

It took a moment for the order to sink in. The withdrawal was a full on flight, most of the Atali soldiers dropped their weapons in their hurry to flee, leaving only the legate.

"The moment we engage, run." Elias muttered under his breath as he marched into the throne room, followed by Ellyrie and her companions.

"Why don't you join with us, Menthiades." Elias then called out, his booming voice echoing in the wide hall. They had almost approached the middle of the room, the gate to their left was only a few dashes away.

"You do not become a legate by entertaining thoughts of treason, Elias. You can become a viceroy at most." Menthiades pulled his hand out of his pocket, holding a massive crystal. It shone blood red. "It is loyalty that begets strength."

He crushed the crystal in his hand. Metal began to form around his skin, spreading across his body. "I've been waiting thirty years for the day I get to put you down like the traitorous idolus scum that you are."

Elias shook his head. "You threw your lot in with a monster and sought to doom our people for strength. You are the only traitor here I see."

Menthiades rushed forward, fist raised. "What do you know about surrendering to greaters, you threw in your lot with idols! Beloved by the gods, pah!"

Elias grasped his fist, stopping the Legate in his tracks. He stared down into his metal face. "That is my title. The gods praise the humble, they respect the wise. They love the strong." His left fist struck Menthiades´ chest and sent him flying, crashing against the wall. "Run. now!"

Ellyrie did not need to hear it twice, with Melthaine by her hand they rushed towards the door and passed through.

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The legate pushed himself back on his feet, his laughter echoing. "They wont get far. And you've not seen everything yet."

As he rushed Elias his left hand turned to the shape of an axe blade. It sang through the air, cutting into Elias´ shoulder.

They began a dance that shook the palace to it´s core. More blades and weapons sprouted from Menthiades´ body, leaving multiple smaller cuts on Elias´ body. The sovereign viceroy responded in kind, his blow hitting dents into the legate´s metal body.

"All these decades you've smeared filth on our empire, Elias." Menthiades was gaining ground, pushing Elias back. "Abusing the trust of our imperator, disgracing her good name behind her back as she laboured for our salvation."

"I know what powers you, legate." Elias landed a staggering block against the legate´s chest, sending him backwards, leaving two deep trails as the ground was torn up in his wake. "And I've seen what horrors she is creating in the depths of the capital. They will not save humanity, they will bind it in ever more heinous bondage."

"Subservience IS salvation you ignorant misbred bastard!" Menthiades went back on the offensive. Multiple new arms sprouted from his body, each ending in a different weapon. He met Elias´ fists with a storm of blades. "She has shown you what lies at the edge of the world, down in the depths of the east, in the high hills. Next to those we are nothing, they would erase us by turning in their sleep!"

Blood splattered across the floor, Elias´ left arm fell to the ground. He staggered backward, his movement slowed. Menthiades howled. "We are surrounded by beasts more hideous and powerful than we can imagine! Were it not for the splendor of Aeterna we would be nothing but prey, pigs to the slaughter."

His right hand was a fist once more, it struck Elias across the face. "We would be nothing without her, and you cling to the fake idols she set up for the pigs. You knew the truth, and ignored it. Call me a traitor all you want, at least I am not a blind fool."

Elias looked down at him, blood running down his face, coating his body. "And yet you were blind to why I fought you all this time."

He turned his head, towards the winged throne. "And your master as well."

The flame atop the crystals flickered, and started to grow. The bright red turned gold, shining brighter until it resembled the very rays of the sun. Not Menthiades, not Elias could look at it as the flame changed shape, into an immaculate, female figure with flowing robes and two sets of wings. It´s facial features were simple black lines, shadows amidst the brilliant light.

Sweat ran down Elias´ body, not because of his exertion.

"Even a most trusted tool can be ineffective at times." The voice of the figure echoed through the hall, emanating not from it´s form, but seemingly from the original flame it had sprouted from. "Though I did not expect much more from him."

The figure´s black eyes rested on Menthiades, who fell to his knees. "You have done well, legate, though not exceptional. Leave."

He staggered to his feet, saluting before quickly leaving the hall through a small door to the left.

"So you still refuse to show your face outside of your walls, Aeterna." Elias stared down at the figure of light.

"There is still much for me to do, Elias. Even a deity cannot be everywhere at once. Nor does this require my attention. Were you not soundly beat?" The figure did not touch the ground, it instead was levitating just above it, coming closer toward Elias.

The heat was searing. His sweat evaporated from his skin, which started to boil. He stood his ground. "I have done what I must, I have no regrets. Only gratitude that I made it for this long."

"What a shame." The black mouth on the figure turned to a frown. "Your brutish strength would have been a useful asset for what is to come. Almost worth the despicable mess you have made of this fine province. My province."

His beard and hair was catching fire, his skin turning to charcoal. "I showed them what the world can be without your yoke, Aeterna. Where life is not lived for the sake of dying for you, and maybe producing some luxury to indulge yourself in."

"But that is what they are for, Elias." It shook it´s head, a smirk on it´s face. "If not for me, they would suffer and die for some inhuman idol. More now live in peace than they have in our history."

His skin began to melt away, showing the muscle and flesh underneath. "A peace tainted by fear of all others, drenched in terror of your mad dogs. Believing in a history you wrote and rewrote to suit yourself."

"Truth." The voice turned to disdain as the figure dismissed him with a wave. "You talk like the Scholar. Wanting something you are not ready for. That you would beg me to take from you after you learned it."

Flesh was beginning to fall in chunks from his body.

"You have been a good pawn, even if you left a mess for me to clean up. But ah well, someone else will take your place, there are always more. I will be merciful." The figure reached out it´s hand and pointed at him. "Kneel, and I will let you leave this world in pace."

His vocal chords had begun to break, his voice little more than a whisper as his eyes boiled in their sockets. "The gods, are not the masters of humanity. So why would I kneel to one."

The figure narrowed it´s eyes, before it´s light burst out through the room. flesh and muscle evaporated under the heat, and the being that was Elias with it.

When the figure reformed, it stood in front of nothing but bone. A skeleton, standing.

It clenched it´s fist, and the bones dissolved to ash.

"Old fool. Freedom." It shook it´s head, shrinking down into the flame that had birthed it.

"Even the gods are not truly free. How could mortals ever hope for such a lie."