Reyz ran through the moonlit night as the wind howled through the trees. He only knew where to run yet knew little of where to go. But none of that mattered; he needed to see this through to the end. He would fight with his bare hands if he had to.

I’m fucking terrified, Arylos’s growling voice pulled at his mind.

You should be afraid; you’re afraid because you know what you took from me, Reyz growled in his mind. You know full well why you should run from me. You know why I can never let you go. You know why you must die!

Reyz reached a stopping point and without warning punched a tree. In the single strike, half of the tree trunk was broken away and the tree groaned as it fell to the ground in a solid thud. Reyz examined the fallen tree and looked at his hand, unharmed by the impact.

“Such intense power,” a hissing voice called out from the night.

Reyz growled and turned around and saw the same older man from earlier with glowing purple eyes. The man had done away with his soldier’s disguise and instead wore simple black and purple robes that covered his bodily features.

“You know I will kill you; why bother coming back for me?” Reyz said in a growling voice.

“Because my master still has a use for you,” Dorei said with a light bow.

Reyz let out a clicking growl from his throat as he ran forward yet Dorei did not move from his spot. Before Reyz could cut him down, a howling hum sounded in the air and Reyz was held tight by an unseen force; like a hand that held him where he stood. Reyz pulled at the magic yet couldn’t break free as the intense and deep humming resonated louder in the air.

“Come now, we only wish to speak with you,” a deep voice said as if it resonated within Reyz’s mind. Reyz could hear thudding footsteps that shook the ground as they got closer. Before Reyz could do anything, the air hummed and he was pulled away from Dorei and turned around.

A hulking figure came into Reyz’s vision; a dark shadow that stood almost as tall as the trees that looked down on Reyz with burning purple eyes. Reyz swallowed a lump in his throat as the figure came closer and began to kneel down, metal clanking and emitting whirring and clicking noises. As the figure knelt down, metal joints locked and hissing steam was heard as the creature with a metal face stared at Reyz, burning a hole in his soul with its series of purple eyes that shone brightly like the sun in the night.

“What the hell are you?” Reyz asked the creature while pulling against the binding magic.

“I would like to call us allies,” the creature said with its deep earth-rumbling voice. “You and I both wish for the same thing, and I am more than willing to help you with that.”

“You can’t possibly know what I want,” Reyz said with a growl while baring fangs.

“Oh, I know indeed,” the creature said while nodding slowly and more machinery in its body moved. “You want to kill the last Titan for what he did to you; I want the Titan’s extinct for what they have done to me. Our goals align nicely if I do say so myself.”

Reyz growled as he continued to fight against his unseen bindings. He didn’t know what this creature was, but he couldn’t let it corrupt him. He looked around for anything he could use as a weapon.

“More importantly, I know you want your brother back,” the creature said in its rumbling voice. “And I want to help you with that if you would only help me.”

Reyz stopped struggling as he looked towards the creature in disbelief. “You…You can get my brother back?”

The creature nodded and released its fist. As it opened its hand, the humming in the air stopped and Reyz could move again, free from the magic bindings. “Your brother is little more than a vessel to the Titan; eliminate him and your brother will return.”

“How is that possible?” Reyz asked, casting glances between Dorei and the creature.

“Without the Titan, your brother will be free,” Dorei explained in a steady voice.

“Yet without the Titan, his body will fail; we can help him recover from millenia of servitude,” the creature cut in with its booming voice. “We can help your brother and keep him alive; even make him stronger than before.”

Reyz thought about the creature’s proposal, feeling hope come back to him at the idea of having Korseis returned to him. “Who are you? What are you?” Reyz asked while examining the creature, trying to make sense of it.

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“You may call me ‘Demise’, this is one of my assistants designated ‘Batallion’,” the creature named Demise explained while gesturing to his human counterpart. “We are a race of organisms who seek enlightenment; through the completion of our Great Work.”

“‘Great Work’? What even is that?” Reyz asked.

Demise let out a sound that Reyz could only interpret as laughter; its voice growling in the air like an earthquake. “If you can do this for us, I shall enlighten you upon our Great Work. Maybe then, you can see our side and understand us.”

“Tell me what I can know; I would rather not pledge my service to someone whom I don’t understand,” Reyz said confidently, clenching his fists in preparation for a fight.

Demise sighed and repositioned itself on the ground, crushing the earth beneath its foot. “Life is suffering, is it not? You are immortal yet have you ever known a time of happiness? Any peace that came to you even before your brother was taken from you?”

Reyz thought about what Demise was asking for a moment before responding. “I was born into the Dragon Wars; we had known nothing but war and strife, even in the far north. It was always a matter of when the dragons would come, not if.”

“My point exactly,” Demise said while pointing towards Reyz with its clawed metal hand. “Life is nothing but suffering; death and famine, disease and war. It is all inevitable and makes any attempt at survival pointless. Why must one subject themselves to such hardships? Why survive in a body that will crumble to dust long before your time? Why bother fighting in a war that will never save you from your doom?”

Reyz took in Demise’s words, finding himself having asked these questions before. He knew he needed to kill Arylos, but why? Why could he not live in peace as Arylos had learned to? Why would it always be one war to the next?

“I seek to eliminate these failures from life,” Demise explained with a disheartened voice. “To purify life and make it whole and complete; to make it perfect. But for this to happen, I need that Titan out of my way.”

“To eliminate these flaws from life? Do you mean remove death? Remove disease?” Reyz asked while trying to understand what Demise was saying.

“How many children pray to gods who would not care about their fate?” Demise asked, already knowing the answer. “How many prayed for help during the war and yet only the Titan came? How many die in this indifferent universe without any attention from the gods? I intend to do better than the gods; to cleanse you of your flaws and eliminate these failings from you. You need only ask.”

“You would do more than the gods have?” Reyz asked, trying to imagine it all.

“I would destroy these false gods of yours myself,” Demise continued in a confident voice. “I am the bane of their existence and I will be their end. They will die because I demand it.”

Reyz imagined a world where this was so; where Demise kills the gods and cleanses the flaws of humanity from them. He felt it was all too good to be true, but he had to try. “What do I need to do?” he asked in a confident voice.

“I like your determination,” Demise said while reaching for its arm. Metal panels opened from its arm and it reached in and pulled out a sword that was sized for a human and handed it to Reyz. “Kill the Titan. In your brother's body, he is dangerous yet he is also vulnerable. Fight for me and kill him and I shall help your brother and introduce you to our Great Work.”

Reyz took the sword and examined the steel of the blade, blacker than night with a silver hilt adorned with foreign runes that hummed with power that shone with a deep purple light. He lifted the sword and gave it a few swings, finding the sword to be heavier towards the tip than he was used to but it gave power to his swings. He spun the blade in his hand, testing more of the weight. He nodded, believing that he could become comfortable to the weapon’s weight.

“And should I fail?” Reyz asked, trying to find out how Demise thinks.

Demise growled and leaned in close, machinery whirring all the while until he looked at Reyz face-to-face. “I know you will not,” Demise said with a smirk on its mechanical face. “Even if it would take another three thousand years, you will succeed and slay the Titan. You are dedicated and you will not stop until one of the two of you falls. The difference is that the Titan does not share that dedication; he longs for the release of death. Give him that gift for me; from an old friend.”

Reyz considered Demise’s words and nodded, satisfied with the answer. “Then I shall do it,” he said confidently.

“Good; I have high expectations of you,” Demise said while slowly rising to its feet as the earth rumbled beneath its footsteps. “I wish to see what you will become. If you have the strength and determination to become my Tyranny.”

Reyz watched as Demise’s body shone with a bright purple light before disappearing in a blast of energy that worked up a shockwave that threatened to knock Reyz to the ground. Reyz looked around, trying to find any sign of the strange creature and yet found nothing other than Batallion standing undisturbed by the shockwave.

“Ho-ho-ho-hoh, the good Lord has high expectations of you indeed,” Batallion said in his hissing voice. “To believe you are worthy of such a title, he is certainly intrigued by you.”

“To become his tyranny?” Reyz asked while examining the sword Demise gave him.

“He wishes for you to serve by his side as a Lord; a Sage,” Batallion explained with an evil laugh.

“I have no interest in being some lord of insects like you,” Reyz said with disgust while walking away. “I have my own ‘Great Work’ to complete.”