The fury inside Jack became murderous and his hands reached to finish the old man. Nothing mattered, except letting it all out and bringing justice to the deceiver. Then, Jack’s eye caught a glimpse of what the tunnel contained.

At first, it had seen like any usual cave, but the walls contained glowing scriptures and sludgy visions of unfathomable intensity. Jack couldn’t keep his eyes off of them and approached the things, jaw dropped.

“The Depths of Truth,” Hunter said. “All of the knowledge we collected. This is the final stretch. If I hadn’t done what I did, we wouldn’t have ended up here and you wouldn’t have seen what you’re seeing right now.”

The visions were beautiful and barely comprehensible by the human brain. Jack couldn’t describe it with words, only soak up the information and realize -- he had to let go of his anger. The sight was burning his eyes, but he kept them open as, with every second, divine knowledge expanded in his mind and uncontrollable anger from his past disappeared.

“I understand now,” he said.

“Good.” Hunter patted his back, nudging him to move forward. “Because this is only the beginning of your knowledge and your power.”

***

The dark tunnel abruptly ended in a crystal lit room with a door.

Jack wanted to take a step back into the darkness and see more, but Hunter stopped him from doing so and approached the door. The old man scratched his beard and opened it.

There was only a wall. Hunter grunted, slamming the door shut, then knocked on it twice and tugged it open again. This time, another door was behind it. Hunter quickly opened it to the view of another door.

Jack felt a bit of anger which he easily waved away and spoke, “What are you doing?”

Indeed, he had an overwhelming amount of knowledge, but his mind wasn’t able to process it, yet. Every second, he could feel the thoughts shifting in his head and starting to make sense. Still, they hadn’t gotten to the part of opening a surreal door.

“I forgot how to open this damn thing: there’s a combination which escaped my mind.”

“Why don’t you rip another of my fingers off and use that?”

“Good idea!” Hunter turned.

Jack shook his head. “I wasn’t serious,” he said. “You’re just gonna knock and hope you stumble upon the right combination?”

“I’m gonna knock and tap until I remember!”

“Why don’t you give me a try?”

The old man frowned then gave a tiny nod.

Jack stepped forth and started knocking in different ways. Finally, he turned the handle.

The door creaked, but showed no signs of opening.

Jack pulled harder, feeling pain resonate through his arms.

The door opened, showing only darkness.

Jack raised an eyebrow and put in a hand.

Instantly, his little finger caught flames.

Shocked, he took the hand out and smacked the painful fire until it was no more.

“Not as easy as you think,” the old man said.

I see that, Jack thought, switching his gaze from his charred finger to the old man. After a moment, he realized the pain wouldn’t get any better and focused on the door once more. He tapped, knocked and tapped.

This time, he opened the door easily to a view of a purple sky.

Jack had to admit, it took him awhile to realize what had happened, but, when he did, his jaw dropped at the familiar sight and he took a step in.

Hunter grabbed Jack out and slammed the door shut.

“Don’t,” The old man said with a “trust me” look on his face.

Jack was about to protest, but then, Hunter’s expression changed to that of realization.

The old man followed an intricate pattern of knocks and taps, waited for a second then opened the door.

A massive temple came into view.

Hunter waved after himself and dashed in.

Bedazzled from what was going on and from the knowledge expanding in his mind, Jack followed Hunter. He felt that another secret was near and that he’d give what the old man deserved. Sure, he’d done some good, but his evil outweighed all of that. And, Jack knew he was more powerful than the old man.

They arrived in a familiar place -- the room where Jack first saw the power and met Helen. Then he didn’t know that he’d met his foe and nemesis of the world.

Hunter climbed up the stairs and entered the temple.

Holding his wounds, Jack climbed after and followed Hunter in.

In the legendary room, they both froze. Hunter growled while Jack breathed in fear.

The nexus frantically bounced in the air whilst behind it, Everia waited.

“What is your intention, Hunter? You did what you did perfectly knowing it was in vain,” the god spoke.

“Enough calling me a fool--”

“He did it not as a part of his own plan or to fool you,” Jack uttered. “He did it for me. I convinced him.”

“You did no such thing.” Everia waved dismissively.

“That’s where we’re different.” Hunter grinned. “He did, but he used no words. By his actions and signs a thing like you couldn’t understand, he told me all I needed to know.”

“So, you took a walk through the Depths of Truth?”

“Now he knows as much as even Throck. But we won’t use that knowledge to end you--”

“Obviously, you won’t--”

“Because we’ll imprison you and turn you back into Helen.”

“Now that’s more like it!” Everia snarled. “But you are foolish to think we won’t escape even in her form!”

“That’s why I’ll give Helen one last kiss, fulfill the promise I made before this whole mess started and kill her.”

“Do it and don’t tell me all of this!”

“Sure, sure… I’ll speak my tongue off because, at heart, I am stronger than you.” The old man made a small gesture with his hand.

Jack knew what he had to do. He strided out of the way of the nexus--the Heart of the Hall of Ceremony--and started whispering under his tongue. He understood what the words in the language of the dead meant -- his knowledge had expanded enough to comprehend that.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Shafts of smoke and light emerged from the bouncy nexus and entered Jack’s chest.

He shook from the burning and the waves of energy, yet raised his voice. Fighting the onslaught of power, knowledge and the answers to the last question he had, he broke into a song.

“Coraigamo va ramo corasa!” he repeated the line until the nexus in front disappeared.

The ground rumbled and intense shockwaves blew Jack backwards.

He crouched and held on to the falling ground with what remained of his hands. Glimmers of black void appeared on them. Jack’s eyes widened.

Along with black void appearing on his arms, the ground crumbled and black pits formed. Coffins shot out of those pits and opened. Deadmen climbed out of those coffins. Jack dodged the onslaught of foes, not wasting any time fighting them.

Hunter spoke a weak command in the tongue of the dead and half the creatures disappeared. Behind the old man, Everia levitated into the air and fired auras of smoke at him.

Jack dashed out of the confines of the deads and said a command he weakly remembered from the Depths of Truth. His own tendrils of black void shot out of his arms and freed Hunter from Everia’s tentacles.

Hunter took a deep breath and shook his head. He stumbled over to Jack and whispered words in the tongue of the dead into his ear.

Jack nodded and turned to Everia.

It fired countles auras at the ground.

Jack sprung into the air, shouting a command. A box of void formed around him. Just as it finished appearing, the auras crashed into it, taking the barrier down with themselves.

“I’ll need a lasso, kid,” Hunter said.

Jack shouted a command and another one. He formed a lasso of black void which he threw at the old man and formed a barrier around himself.

Everia fired an onslaught of aura arrows, screaming at the top of its lungs. The barrier stopped the attacks and bounced them back into the walls, making rubble fly everywhere.

Jack and Hunter worked together -- the old man neared Everia, using Jack as a distraction. While he fought and dodged the attacks, Hunter got a good angle and threw the lasso.

The rope of void soared and tangled around the god.

Jack whooped and fired at its legs, bringing the thing down.

“I can already taste the bittersweetness of redemption, bitch,” Hunter said Everia. “While you should be tasting the end and beg for mercy.”

“We’re not your--”

“Cafara cappo v’blogisare!” Hunter waved. A black cube basin appeared in his grip. “Finger, Jack. I need another one. The last one, I promise.”

You promised you wouldn’t, you bastard, Jack shook his head, but nonetheless, cut his finger off. Grunting, he threw it to the old man.

Hunter observed it and put it in the basin. The finger exploded and morphed into holy water.

Jack grabbed the stream of blood coming out of his hand and pushed on it. The liquid dyed his hands a deep red and didn’t stop flowing.

Hunter swirled the holy water around and approached Evia, who squirmed and shook. Wordlessly, the man chucked some of the liquid on his urn and some on Everia. Then, he stepped back and watched.

***

Everia started flickering, shaking, convulsing and screaming. Every split second, it’s shifted from high pitched screeches to thunderous roars.

Feeling uneasy, Jack backed off from the creature. The knowledge of the Depths of Truth came into focus, bit by bit, letting him bend the power of the Heart that was now in him. The two overwhelming forces worked in tandem. They let him understand what was happening in front and slowly turned him to black void.

This is how it’s supposed to be, he thought. Only hours ago, he would've been terrified to his core of turning into a power, his body and mind changing against his will. But now, he let go, understanding that, if this wouldn’t happen, something way worse.

Everia morphed from its humanoid shape into an octopus-like one, then into a dog, then into a heart-like blob of whiteness. Spikes emerged and submerged back into it, like if it was trying to push Jack and Hunter away.

Jack reached into his subconsious and, out of the black void, formed a prison cell around himself. He understood that his power was still weak, but the sense of safety was what he needed to be able to stay in one place and observe the otherworldly events.

Unlike Jack, Hunter stepped forth and took out a smoke. He seemed to be enjoying the sight.

Everia stopped moving and returned to its large humanoid shape. It gargled and exploded, sending out a shockwave that blasted the walls and blew Jack backwards.

He grunted from the pain and rubble on his chest, a bit of anger forming inside him. Though he fought the fury away.

Hunter stood his ground although the flame of his smoke went out. The old man turned to his urn and said a command in the tongue of the dead.

“We defeated Everia just like that?” Jack’s eyes widened.

“Sure, sure...Those words have got truth to them,” said Hunter. “Though you knowl we didn’t destroy it.”

“We just joined it with Helen.”

With a sour-sweet look on his face, Hunter turned to Jack and nodded. His hands grabbed his revolver and the Gunpowder of the Deal then he turned back to the urn and said one word.

“Coraturnos.”

Jack dived into his expanding mind and memory full of foreign memories, starting to word the meaning of the old man had just said.

The urn shook similarly to how Everia had. Then, it’s cap opened. Hunter put the Gunpowder of the Deal into his revolver and pointed the gun and the urn of his beloved wife. A leg emerged from the top.

Halfway finished with the meaning of the word, Jack gave up. That would take up too much time and wouldn’t give me anything in return, would it? Instead, he decided to delve into another section in his mind, said a command and formed a lasso in his grip.

An arm popped out of the urn then another leg and pieces of a torso. The head came out and the entirety of Helen stood straight in front of them. Although this woman wasn’t exactly the Helen Jack saw in the vision at the Cups of Eternity. This woman had circles of black smoke around her and magnificent wings growing out of her back. This woman had two heads -- one Jack was familiar with and one he could barely look at.

“You didn’t get your hundred year rest,” Jack uttered. “Should’ve kept your evil twin in check.”

The other head was pale, its eyes crimson and lips midnight blue. From the second it awakened, the head started hastily chanting commands and growling.

Jack shivered to his bones as the hairs on his skin rose.

“Tie her up and bind her mouth,” Hunter said.

Jack took a deep breath and chucked the lasso in his hands. He hadn’t ever done this before, but he succeeded on the first try.

The lasso wrapped around Helen and a rope filled both her mouths. Sighing, Hunter walked in front of her.

“I haven’t seen you my love, my Helen, all these years. I’m deeply sorry for that. I believe I should’ve done better, but also how could you let Everia run loose?”

Jack wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. What a conversation, he thought.

Helen squirmed and Everia tried screaming. Hunter shook his head, crouched and gave both the heads a kiss. Then, he untied them.

He and his woman started manically laughing, the echoes reaching the deepest depths of the Hall of Ceremony

What are you doing?! Jack’s eyes widened and he instinctively reached for his dagger. Then, he put it back and created tentacles of void around himself.

“There’s no other way,” Hunter said. 0Sometimes the fight is between good and evil. Then, there’s a clear path to justice and victory. It might not always be clean, but it exists. Now, the fight is between evil and evil. Sinner and killer.”

“How could you?! I thought we--”

“Though who said evil can’t fight for the good? Indeed, its forces are inherently bad and its means are terrible, yet its intentions can be as good as hero’s or a god’s. Now I’ll say one last thing -- I’m sorry, Jack. This is the only way. And I’m sorry, Helen. It’s either me or you all. I’m no hero. I’d rather rule the world without a drop of goodness in the world than die a poor old man with the heart of a god.”

Hunter shot the Gunpowder of the Deal.

As the bullet soared, time stopped inside of Jack’s mind. Adrenaline blazed through his veins. He screamed out, total panic taking hold of him, but then focused and muttered a command.

The bullet had made it halfway through the air to him.

Tentacles of black void around Jack all launched at the Gunpowder of the Deal. Yet, the bullet evaporated them, only slowing down by the smallest amount. Then, Jack’s other force, a square, formed around the projectile. The bullet broke through it as well and continued in its path of destruction.

Jack’s heart pumped faster as his fingers twitched with an overload of adrenaline. He said every single command the powers that be ever knew.

Thunder, earthquakes, soundwaves, shockwaves, tentacles and tendrils, cobwebs and chains all hit the Gunpowder of the Deal, but the bullet passed through like it was nothing.

Then, in complete dismay, Jack started altering the planet, the gravity and the whims of fate itself. Still, the bullet did not stop.

Jack could only give up and watch in the slowed time as the bullet, soaked in his blood soared, straight at his heart. Then, a thought popped into his mind.

Coratumos, he remembered what the old man had said to confine Everia back to Helen’s mind. Finally, he realized what the word meant.

Illusion.

“Coratumos v’blogisare,” Jack chanted. In that moment, all of his inner force ceased to exist. Those simple words used enough power to create a planet. They did a simple thing -- destroyed the undestroyable. They shattered the Gunpowder of the Deal and most importantly, removed the curse Hunter had put on it.

Jack made it so that on impact, it would drain every last bit of his power/

The bullet wouldn’t stop -- it would kill him no matter what. But, it would also save the world.

Jack grinned at Hunter and closed his eyes. An overwhelming pain stung his chest and expanded to envelop his entire body. The blackness he saw became even darker and the pain became the only thing in existence.

Then, an eternity later, he opened his eyes.

And he saw purple.

Finally, he was in the prairie.