“Guh!”

The two men tumbled along the cold, metallic floor as a huge bang came from behind them. Felix skidded to a halt, his bruises screaming with agony. Titus, on the other hand, somehow managed to use the momentum from the fall to land elegantly like a gymnast gunning for a perfect score.

Panting like an obese dog, Felix pushed himself off the ground gingerly, careful not to hurt himself further. Pink flickered in his eyes as he bio-kinetically removed any internal bleeding going on in his body.

“Oof, I think I bit my lip.” The man wiped away a small trail of blood from his mouth.

“I’m not kissing it better,” Titus replied without a pause, still staring at the yawning darkness behind the surreal-looking hole in the air. Thankfully, the void seemed content to consume Fausta’s domain and wasn’t inclined to enter this universe.

Felix walked up beside the man, gazing at the ethereal shade as well.

“Can you close it?” Titus asked absentmindedly.

“You break it, you bought it.” Felix shrugged. “I’m not quite a reality warper yet.”

“Now what?”

“Now we find Orpheus and go home. Where is he, by the way?”

“Don’t know. Orpheus left on his own and Marcia disappeared into thin air.”

“What?” Felix swung around violently. “What do you mean, ‘don’t know’? How did you lose them? Didn’t I tell you guys to stick together?”

“Give me a break, Pagonis.” Titus rolled his eyes. “That lady’s psychic gas thing fiddled with my brain too. None of us got off the hook.”

“Well, she’s trapped in her domain now, so Orpheus and Marcia should reappear.” Felix folded his arms. “Why haven’t they?”

“About that… I’ve been meaning to tell you something.”

Felix raised an eyebrow.

“Grand Necromancer Orpheus Caesar… there’s something odd about him.”

His heart skipped a beat. He’d thought he was the only one who noticed, but Orpheus had been saying some strange things ever since they met. It was almost as though he was hiding something big.

“When Lord Felix Pagonis seized power in my world, Caesar had always been his right-hand man. Their romantic relationship was pretty much an open secret, so nobody questioned their deeds,” Titus said. “But one day, Caesar left his position. And a few days later, he was seen walking into the Grand Archives. Nobody ever saw him again.”

“Maybe he just had a falling out with Dictator Pagonis,” Felix suggested.

“That’s what we all thought. And we assumed he died since he never did show his face again in public,” Titus continued. “It made things easier because he had the power to bring back an incomplete version of the dead. Without him around, we could break into Pagonis’ palace easily.”

“What do you mean, ‘bring back an incomplete version of the dead’?”

“He was powerful enough to halt a soul’s progression into the afterlife and restore a shade of their existence, but at their full power. We’ve seen him open those golden doors to bring back the souls of soldiers.”

Felix clenched his jaw. It couldn’t be…

“But I digress,” Titus interrupted his silent musings. “Point is, Caesar was long presumed dead. It wasn’t only until you appeared that he showed his face once more. The question is, why now? And where has he been all this while?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“I’m trying to say we should keep our guard up,” Titus said grimly. “It may not be a simple coincidence that he reappeared when you did. There may be a causality, and we don’t know what his true intentions are.”

“Hey.”

The two men swung around. Orpheus stepped out of the shadows, wearing a stray smile on his face. His staff hit the ground firmly with every step he took. He kept his hand out, allowing the Summer Solstice to gyrate slowly above his open palm.

“Orpheus! Thank the gods you’re alright.” Felix flashed a wide smile. “Oh, I was so afraid you got hurt.”

“Far from it,” Orpheus replied, gesturing to the book in Felix’s hand. “I see you’ve managed to retrieve the Winter Solstice.”

Felix faltered and unconsciously gripped his tome.

“Give it to me.”

“Slow down there, Orpheus,” the man said suspiciously. “I’m the one who needed the books. Why do you want them?”

“No? Didn’t think so.”

Yellow flashed before his eyes as Felix stumbled back, clutching the five syringes embedded in his chest. The world began to spin around him as he fell to his knees. He craned his neck up as blood began to drip from his nose. The man pointing his gun at him didn’t look so much like his friend anymore.

“You stole our bee poison?” Titus got into a combat stance. “Thieving rascal!”

“She brainwashed you… Orpheus,” Felix panted. “You gotta fight her illusions…”

“Nope, only an Unending can make telepathic contact with another Unending. So my brain’s all fine, Felix Apollo Pagonis.” Orpheus’ voice was an echoey smear now. “But there must’ve been something wrong with yours. I’m surprised you never picked up on any of the signs.”

A blue chain wrapped around the Winter Solstice and yanked it out of Felix’s grip.

“No…” He stretched out his hand vainly, but only earned another three more shots into his body. Felix wheezed as the paralysing pain began attacking his psychic channels.

“You snake!” Titus lunged at the Necromancer, but Orpheus only smirked in response.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Go home, vigilante.”

A glowing door burst out of the two Solstices in front of Titus, swallowing the man as he charged straight into it.

Felix’s head spun with both the poison and confusion. It didn’t make sense. Nothing made sense at all. Orpheus wasn’t the type to betray anyone. Why did he do all that? What was he planning to do?

“That look on your face… You can’t even begin to imagine how satisfying it is.” Orpheus leaned in closer with a sadistic grin on his face. “Oh, you poor, gullible man.”

“Why…?” The only word in Felix’s mind croaked out of his throat.

“Why? Really? You’re not even going to ask how?” Orpheus flicked his hands, and the two books combined into an impossibly shiny golden book. “It was me, Felix Apollo Pagonis. It was me all along.”

Felix wheezed as he tried to draw another burning breath.

“Janus doesn’t possess the Solstices. He is the Solstices. You never spoke to Janus, foolish man.” The Necromancer’s eyelids flickered as the book entered his body as though it was sinking into quicksand. “It was I who plucked you from the jaws of death.”

Orpheus placed his hands on Felix’s head, almost as if he was caressing it. And it might have been just the golden light obscuring his vision, but his body seemed to be disintegrating into golden specks of dust as well.

“And after all these years of torment…” The light intensified sharply. “I shall finally have my revenge.”

Felix screamed as his body shattered into a million pieces.

~ ~ ~

His eyes flew open, but there was nothing to see. All was dark. All was still. All was empty. And yet it surrounded him all the same.

Greater than God, more evil than the devil. Needed by the rich, owned by the poor. Death comes to all who consume it.

Nothing.

Felix struggled against the chains of his non-existence vainly. Confusion and betrayal filled his paradoxical form. What the hell did Orpheus do to him?

“How does it feel to be abandoned? To dangle over the precipice of life and death?” A wispy outline of a man materialised in front of him. “To live as I have for eighteen years?”

Felix strained against his restraints once more, trying to reach for his lover. Or ex-lover. Or whatever Orpheus had become. He had to know why. He had to know how. But it was futile. He was spread thinner than the lightest fabric, his form more sparse than the meanest spirit.

He was one with nothingness, trapped in eternal oblivion.

“Welcome, my love. To what you gave me all those years ago. Endless suffering.”

A small spark of realisation lit in Felix’s mind. This wasn’t Grand Necromancer Orpheus Caesar. This was the Orpheus he failed. It was the love of his life, snatched away by those spirits eighteen years ago.

But how did he come back in a different body?

“I couldn’t save you…” he whispered. “You fell—”

“No, you let go!” Orpheus’ voice thundered around him. “You left me to the mercy of the spirits! Do you know how it feels to have your soul eaten alive? To feel their jaws tear away at you piece by piece? Every moment was unfathomable anguish. They ate away at me for five years!”

“I’m sorry, Orpheus. I should’ve tried harder…”

“You don’t deserve to be sorry! Gods, how I wish I could make you feel even a fraction of my agony, but my grave is all I can offer,” Orpheus bellowed. “The spirits tossed me away into this abyss after having their fill. Most would’ve died there, but I held on to life. I only had one reason to live on, and it was enough to sustain me. I swore to make you pay.”

“How did you return to the mortal world?”

“Ten years. I spent ten years rotting in this place until the gods saw fit to release me from this ill-deserved prison,” Orpheus said. “The Solstices. As fate would have it, Fausta Pagonis’ overuse of their portals disrupted Purgatory to such a large extent that it created a tiny crack in this place. It wasn’t wide enough for any wandering soul to enter, but I was thin enough to go through and escape.”

“I found myself back in the land of the dead, my form so sparse I was practically invisible to everything else. Can you believe the first thing I wanted to do was return to my body? Guess ten years of silence does some crazy things to you.”

“You didn’t? Why not?”

Orpheus’ faint laughter reverberated in the void. It was clear now that he wasn’t actually present, and was simply projecting his voice into this place.

“How else could I exact my revenge? To make you suffer, I still needed years of training. Years that you made me waste, rotting away here. Fortunately, I found one version of me powerful enough to practically be a master of the dead. A Necromancer’s most powerful ability is portal magic. But that fool used it to escape his tyrannical lover and wander around Purgatory instead. Well, waste not, want not. So I merged my soul with his and re-entered his body with his portals. He didn’t even get a chance to comprehend what happened.”

“You could’ve had a brand new life. You could’ve started over… You chose to throw that all away?”

“What, and let you go unpunished?” Orpheus hissed. “Oh no, no. The past never dies, my love. You’re not getting a clean slate so easily. Not after all the trouble I went through to return to this world. Thankfully, my new world had a machine that allowed me to pinpoint the location of the Solstices scattered across the multiverse. Unfortunately, none of them were in my world, and regular portal magic didn’t allow me to create portals between two different living realms. So I hatched a plan.”

Felix surreptitiously pulled against the fabric of oblivion. He hid his surprise as he came into contact with a tiny hole. The crack is still here…

“I spied on your world, looking for my chance to strike. But even the gods were on my side. Your world was already dying, so I took the chance to halt your ascension into the afterlife and reformed you. And like the gullible man you are, you jumped at the opportunity to redeem your world. It didn’t even take much convincing for you to fall into my trap.”

Realisation dawned on Felix as he recalled the golden light he saw at the brink of his death. His body was never brought back to life. It was his soul that was simply sundered and reformed, much like the Unendings of Fausta’s world. He was an Unending himself as well.

“Yes, I’ve been watching your soul ever since. When Marcia tried to open a portal to Purgatory, I took the chance to redirect it to my world. There were a few hiccups, but I eventually managed to send you to the Winter Solstice. And with the books you’ve collected for me, you gave me the power to access any realm I wish, including this accursed void. My revenge is thus complete.”

“What happens now?” Felix asked quietly. “Marcia is still missing. Her world is crumbling. I know I’ve hurt you, and I won’t deny my punishment. But she’s innocent. Her world shouldn’t have to pay for my mistakes. Please, Orpheus. I know you still have a heart, even if I’ve broken it. Please, I’m begging you. Please let me save them.”

Orpheus laughed dryly. “Still so gullible. Didn’t it occur to you that I simply lied about her world getting destroyed just to give you more reason to take the Winter Solstice? And as for Marcia…”

“What happened to her?”

“She’s happy now.”

“What does that mean?!”

“We all have to die someday. And I still have much to do.” Orpheus ignored his question, his voice filled with bitterness. “I stand by what I said. Every world is better off without you. It’ll be the last thing I do for the rest of my life, but I am going to rid every world of you.”

Felix gasped silently.

“Farewell, Felix. My first love. My last enemy. Atone for what you’ve done, and may the gods have no mercy on your soul.”

The faint glowing figure dissipated, leaving Felix to simmer in eternal darkness.