Faunia awoke in darkness. It felt like it'd been an eternity. It felt like she'd been dreaming feverish, comatose dreams for far longer than she ever could have withstood.

It took a moment, a very long moment, for her eyes to adjust back to light.

Then she heard her soul’s voice: I think I caught us, Faunia. Just in time. Just in time...

She sighed, made apparent her relief. Good job, Tirolith. Thank you. Where's…

She turned to look for her familiar accomplice. But there, in the interstice between herself and the collapsed obsidian palace, was something horrid she never should have seen.

The twisted body,

The mangled corpse,

The ragged cadaver,

The bloody thing,

The horrible image that was Marisol of Ruin. Marisol Ruin. The friend she'd known since Azar’kara, since before she was released into exile, since she reappeared by their side. The prospective leader of the newfound Hunters of Calamon. The person who'd given them courage in times when it was hard to have any at all. The person who'd kept light alive in her world when Cedric couldn't.

Ever brave,

Ever valorant,

Ever gilded,

Young Marisol Ruin was dead in a muddy crater. Her face was speckled with blood and rain.

And Faunia,

Noble Faunia,

Fearful Faunia,

The Coward, Faunia,

Let out a most terrifying, terrified screech. Not only for her lost friend—but for the friend within her that was quickly becoming a bloody weapon.

Tirolith’s rage made the desert's rainstorm into a blizzard.

And then it took Faunia away into the pale haze...

71

Early

Kogar turned around with a curious kind of hesitation, as though the thing behind him was as much foreign as it was familiar.

In many ways, that synopsis was exactly correct. The thing behind him, he recognized every trace, every fiber of. But that exact grouping—that was unexpected. That was what gave him pause.

“You're early,” he said, “and you've brought uninvited company.”

Cedric stood there at least thirty paces back. Rykaedi was just behind him, her black blade pinned to his throat threateningly. But it wasn't only Cedric, nor was it only Rykaedi.

Cedric was, predictably, with Serkukan. Okella was somewhat sensible of a choice as well.

Rykaedi was most surprising; not only Hemah was bound to her, but Akhilesti. Kogar was certain the poison god had been consumed long ago. However he'd wound up back here, he couldn't say.

Rykaedi grinned wildly. Cedric’s dirty hair rubbed up against her cheek, scraped her crackling skin into bits of detritus like a crumbling plaster wall. “Hello, dear.”

Calamon's red sky blazed over Kogar’s shoulders. It was all Cedric had looked at since they arrived—he couldn't manage to lower his gaze to the corpses littering the cobbled roads all around. He couldn't stand to face what Kogar had done in their absence.

Genocide. He couldn't be stopped, the maniac. Even with their agreement, his bloodlust couldn't be sated. It all could have been for nothing. Even in the time he'd managed in the god's absence, nothing was accomplished. He was no more ready than he had been in the forest, when Faunia was eager to take his life.

“I hope you're not dismayed, Cedric.” He gestured at the carnage surrounding him. “I needed some way to feed the beast.” His finger pointed up to the bleeding night sky, the star-speckled nightmare above. His finger pointed to an invisible Vekzul. The Vekzul which feasted upon the distant cosmos as Serkukan had been made to do so long ago.

But as Kogar pulled his hand from the crimson, it brought some of that color alongside itself like drooling paint. A bloody scythe, long and unyielding, became manifest in his hand. He carefully held it out sideways, like a vicious barrier across their path. “It doesn't matter. There's another amongst you: Grivonym.”

Rykaedi wagged the blade beside the boy's throat. “Hoping you'll get your hands on it?”

Kogar winced toward the ground as though stomaching a sudden pain. Then he looked back at the duo. “You know, Rykaedi, I discovered your little secret, that thing you sheltered here in precious Calamon. The eight Petals—each a binding point for Evra’s Relistar.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

…Relistar?

The two-tone god grinned. “That's right. Evra bound herself to Calamon with that same power which bound Serkukan to our reality.”

“Do you really still believe that?” Rykaedi shook her head in exasperation. “We went over all of this. Didn't we, Talek?”

He snarled, “Do not call me that name.”

Rykaedi’s familiar smile restored itself. More skin flaked away from her visage.

Then Kogar cleared his throat, ran his hand through his short hair, and continued. “Evra stuck herself in Calamon that a champion might free her. The Relistar awaits fate—she's already set things in the Hierarchy’s motion.”

“The Relistar can also be created at any point, by any white Etherian. I hate to have to remind you, dear, but Evra’s Relistar was created by Llestren’vatis. He trapped her here.”

Cedric’s panicked eyes stuck themselves to the ground at hearing that. Llestren’vatis did this? No—that's impossible. Why would he send me to Calamon, then? Just to die?

“What I'm trying to say, love, is that you influenced Llestren’vatis to trap her. You tricked him.”

Kogar's eyes narrowed.

“You don't remember your time as Talek? The Great Dreamer?”

“Speak that name again, Rykaedi, and I'll send you to my scales.”

Rykaedi chortled. “You have no scales, love. You're still just a man on the lower side of your caste—still just Talek underneath this power fantasy you wield so brazenly. And when you wake up—poof! There goes Kogar.”

“This is the last opportunity I'll spare, and not for want of your company. Hold your serpent tongue.”

“The real trick, dear, is that this isn't even the first time you've done this! Before Kogar, Talek, and before Talek, Kasian!”

Cedric’s jaw fell slack in shock.

“That's right! You dreamt Talek to save yourself from your demise, then Talek dreamt Kogar to protect—her…”

Rykaedi’s voice became strained. A cold, black sludge poured down onto Cedric’s shoulder and cheek.

…Kogar didn't even move. The ley—nothing changed…!

But Kogar was wiping the side of his blade along his white sleeve, wiping blood into the armor only for it to melt away in the rain which began gently from above.

Rykaedi’s body hit the ground with an unceremoniously thud.

Cedric slowly, slowly turned around to see her there. He didn't believe it. Rykaedi, slain so easily. It didn't make sense.

…Unless he really is Kasian.

“I’ll give you the opportunity to leave now, Cedric.” His scythe was gone from his hand as he turned away. “There are still days before our agreement.”

He stared at the god in shock, in frozen terror.

Rykaedi. Rykaedi who killed Marisol... And Kogar killed him without the slightest echo. Without the slightest fanfare... The one who gave us such pause, relentless Rykaedi, who made me think we'd lost...

"Don't just stand there," Kogar repeated amidst the bloody hellscape that was Calamon. "Make your decision."

"I cannot..." Cedric began to speak. His voice was low, not a growl, not a mumble. He no longer knew what he was saying. "I cannot tolerate this."

Kogar turned back to face him.

"I can't allow this to go unpunished."

The three energies spilled out from Rykaedi. Violet, Golden, Grey.

Kogar tilted his head back inquisitively. "Are you going to take those? How many powers will it take you to match just a fraction of the power I wield?"

Cedric's vision was blurry, dazed. He hadn't yet decided to take the powers. He didn't know yet if he could tolerate another three voices to his already split mind.

His attention piqued. That's right—devices. I can use Serkukan as a device base, I can meld Okella, Rykaedi, Hemah, Akhilesti...

Kogar sighed. "Very well, Cedric. If this is what you desire, we can lay this to rest right here." He held his hand out. "Give me Grivonym that I may take Serkukan, only when our fight is concluded."

Cedric reached down and shakily took the black blade from Rykaedi's ashy corpse. He slowly turned back toward Kogar, tossed the blade in his direction unthinkingly.

And the boyish king fell to his knees as the blade clattered before the two-tone god.

Maybe...

Kogar knelt down to pick it up.

Maybe that's it. Rykaedi didn't stand a chance, and we hardly stood a chance against her. Maybe this is where it ends. This is where we surrender to chaos...

But a light flared across the buildings, a burning crimson to match the sky.

Kogar drew Grivonym. He turned upward, grit his teeth.

Maybe it's too late for us to win.

"RYKAEDIIIIIIIIIII!"

He turned to the skyward scream. A crimson embodiment on shimmering wings rocketed toward Kogar. An angel of vengeance. An angel of retribution. Living rage, more potent even than Serkukan had ever been in Cedric.

It struck Kogar with precision unmatched.

THOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM...

The whole of Calamon shook. Cedric leapt to his feet and threw his hands toward the figure, ensnared the explosive energy of the impact in a dome of ley; his own leyline barrier. It dispersed with the rumbling, with the flames which had raged out from the blast, left the already bloodied streets of Calamon unscathed.

He lowered his hands.

Then he saw her: Faunia Vleren. Her face was contorted in bitter violence through streaming tears. Her fist was rammed right against Grivonym's edge, her knuckles ensnaring it in place.

And the black blade snapped in half.

The flame of their final battle was ignited.

The true God of Fire and Rage had found their place in reality...