With Amara's spells clearing their way, she and Rhys slowly fought up the valley's terraced slope toward the silent ziggurat. The mist thickened as they climbed, muffling their footsteps. The crimson glow pulsed and swirled hypnotically ahead.
They reached the massive pyramid's base etched with alien runes and toppled idols. Snaking vines obscured sections of stairs leading up the despoiled edifice. No sign of Bane above or his undead crew below. Amara felt doubt stir anew. What awaited them atop the solitary height?
She exchanged a resolute nod with Rhys, then started up the crumbling stairs. Swirling fog alternately revealed and hid the climb's dizzying scope. Her sandals slipped alarmingly on damp lichen between dank stones. Rhys followed step for step, steadying her when she faltered. The thinning air and eerie glow sapped strength and resolve. But they pressed onward, resolved to see this through.
The last steps emerged onto a mist-shrouded platform before a dark portal in the pyramid's side. The malevolent crimson light bled from within. Amara could sense the Hallow Skull just ahead now, feel its energy plucking at her mind with barbed hooks of yearning. She hesitated, suddenly terrified of what lay within. What if she was wrong? What if the Skull's unveiling proved a fatal mistake, not a triumph? Her doubts held her paralyzed on the threshold.
Compassion in his weathered features, Rhys moved up beside her. "Courage, Amara. No shame in turning back now." He held out a rough, callused hand. "We stand together come what may."
Heartened, she clasped his hand tightly. He returned the pressure, lending her strength. Amara drew a deep breath and stepped forward across the threshold with Rhys stalwart at her side. Either truth awaited within...or their final doom.
The passage led down into cloying gloom. Glowing glyphs marked the walls at odd intervals but illuminated little. The disturbing energy grew almost overpowering as they descended uneven steps into the earth.
Finally, the claustrophobic tunnel opened into a vast chamber. Amara lifted her werelight higher, its radiance chased back the shadows to reveal a disquieting sight. A circular room with a domed ceiling, its every inch carved in intricate friezes and alien script. She glimpsed star maps, calendars, arcane geometry. Knowledge to eclipse lifetimes lay recorded here, awaiting translation.
And at the chamber's centre upon a stone plinth sat a human skull wrought from polished black stone—the Hallow Skull itself at long last!
But...something was wrong. Terribly wrong. The expected crimson radiance was darkened, barely flickering over the carved relic. And no mysterious energy or psychic resonance emanated from its inert form. Dread clutched Amara's heart with icy talons. This could not be!
Beside her, Rhys muttered a curse. They both saw the truth at once. The Hallow Skull had been drained to a lifeless shell. Its ancient power...gone.
A slow clap echoed from the shadows. "Well done, Amara my dear. You have delivered everything I dreamed."
Bane stepped from the gloom, his handsome features alight with dark triumph. Cradled reverently in his hands was a second skull wreathed in seething carmine aura—the true Hallow Skull pulsating with intact power.
Cold horror washed over Amara. "You knew... You deceived me..."
Bane's smile only broadened. "Come now, we both understood our...arrangement was one of convenience." His fathomless eyes travelled possessively over her stunned face. "But no need for pretence remains between us now."
With dreadful care, he set the live Skull upon the plinth before the lifeless original. Then he turned to Amara with madness and desire painted upon his beautiful mask. "You shall be first to receive the unveiled Skull's raptures. We will unlock pleasures and passions beyond imaging, feeding each other's power."
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He extended a pale hand to her. "Take your place beside me of your own will, and your rewards shall be boundless." His tone softened entreatingly. "Our fates intertwine beyond resistance now, dear heart. Do not fight your longing."
Amara gazed at him wordlessly as icy shards of pain pierced her heart. She searched for some glimpse of the guardian she had tentatively loved. But only a ravenous stranger looked back. This had always been his design. Since that first omen-haunted night he had guided her steps and shaped her dreams. And she had refused to see the growing darkness. Her faith had made her a tool.
Numb with anguish, she started to reach for Bane's waiting hand. But suddenly Rhys stepped between them and brandished his worn cutlass.
"Never," he growled. "I warned you truth would cut deep, witch. But some mistakes cannot be unmade." His good eye met hers full of compassion. "Live on wiser. The world needs your light untarnished."
With startling speed, he lunged past her and swung the blade at Bane's exposed neck. But the warlock snatched his arm in an iron grip before the blow could land, BOOM! The sound of his bone crunched audibly.
"Fool!" Bane's distorted snarl was like thunder. "You will pay dearly for that!"
He hurled Rhys across the chamber with terrible force. The rogue crumpled against stone steps and lay still. Horrified, Amara started toward him only to be seized in Bane's crushing embrace, his mouth then claimed hers brutally. She fought to wrench away, but he held her fast. When he finally broke the forced kiss, his eyes blazed with madness.
"We will tame your recalcitrance in time." His grip tightened painfully, making her gasp. "But first, I will strip away all you value, until only darkness remains. Then you will see wisdom, and embrace destiny."
He half-dragged her toward the plinth as she struggled vainly. But words of protest died in her throat as the true Hallow Skull flared brighter at their approach. Helpless tears blurred her vision as Bane stretched out a hand exultantly to grasp his prize anew. His dream of godhood lay within reach at last...
Then a thunderous boom shook the chamber. Cracks split the floor and ceiling as dust sifted down ominously.
“What is this diabolical quake!?” Bane faltered, surprise flashing across his features. A second concussive blast resounded, louder still. Then the wall behind the plinth exploded inward.
Bane recoiled, shielding himself from flying debris as a dozen of Rhys's mortal crewmen came pouring through the breach.
"What treachery...?" Bane gasped.
"Not treachery—dynamite!" Rhys appeared atop the rubble, flashing his familiar roguish grin. Behind him came a cadre of his mortal sailors brandishing sparking bundles of explosive powder. "You didn't count on old gunpowder, did you warlock!" Rhys shouted. “Though we all may die here, it will be free men!"
“Yeah, you tell that zombie bastard captain!” Yelled one of the pirates.
“Unhand me!” Amara twisted from Bane's grasp while he stared at the mutineers in shock. She scrambled across slick tiles to grasp the true Hallow Skull. At her touch crimson fire erupted once more from its hollows. Ancient power—now hers to wield!
She turned to see Bane slashing with shadowy claws at the rebellious sailors. Two fell smoking but more pressed forward relentlessly.
Rhys and his sailors fanned out, lighting sticks of hissing dynamite. They hurled them at the weakened pillars and walls, bringing huge chunks of stone down around Bane's head.
“Dame you mortals!” The warlock unleashed blasts of dark magic in retaliation, but they pressed their attack relentlessly even as their numbers dwindled.
Rhys caught Amara's eye and shook his head urgently. He held two fizzing sticks of dynamite in each hand, fully lit. Amara's gut twisted. Their goal was not victory—only to deny Bane his.
Tucking the Hallow Skull under one arm she ran to help Rhys lay charges around the chamber's load-bearing pillars. His pirate crew scattered more explosives across fallen idols and glyphs even as Bane cut them down one by one. Soon the entire central chamber was rigged to collapse. They had mere moments to flee.
Rhys gave Amara one last approving nod, then turned and hurled his remaining payload toward Bane just as the warlock unleashed a blast of mystifying magic. The twin explosions met in midair. Reality itself seemed to shudder.
BOOM!
Deafened, Amara looked up from where she had been hurled by the shockwave. Bane and Rhys were both sprawled broken atop rubble now roof-high. Neither moved. But she could not check if they still lived—the entire chamber was collapsing! Dodging falling stones she bolted into the tunnel with the Hallow Skull. The way behind sealed as she ran, pursued only by dust and echoed screams. Then even those faded.
At last, Amara stumbled out into misty daylight once more with buckling legs. She stared down at the ancient relic still clutched in her arms. The lone remnant of so much sacrifice and betrayal. Hot tears flooded down her cheeks as she cradled the Hallow Skull in bitter solitude. This was the only reality left to her now—the ruins of dreams best forgotten.