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‘ABSOLUTELY NOT, THAT’S OUT of the question,’ I shouted, slamming my hands on the desk as I stood. ‘You can’t honestly expect me, I mean The Ashen Order, to agree with such a thing. There has to be another way.’ I grabbed the closest book and flipped through the pages as tears began clustering in the corner of my eyes, desperate for another way. I couldn’t lose anyone else close to me. A blue-skinned hand touched my own, a familiar touch that felt cold, and lowered the book until our eyes met.
‘There is no other way,’ Barcius said, keeping his tone soft. ‘I’m sorry it has to end this way.’
‘But…but,’ I stuttered, fumbling on my words and feeling like the world might collapse around me, ‘I can’t- we can’t lose you.’
The tiefling averted my gaze, but his hand didn’t move an inch from mine. ‘We should reconvene with the others.’ He too was avoiding discussing this any further, and I wasn’t about to pressure him into conversation.
Barcius withdrew his hand from mine, taking the book I was holding with him and placed it on the table. He gestured towards the narrow doorway in which we’d entered and I moved towards it, taking one last look at the study before I left. A pocket dimension where they’d spent our last moments working together. It’d been peaceful just the two of us, but now my heart weighed heavy with the burden of our final mission. Restoring the Lost God to his true form so he could be defeated.
We re-entered the antechamber to an eerie chorus of prayers. Mitztail stood on the sacrificial table with the sacred tapestry behind him, strumming away on his lute whilst the cultists bowed before him, singing their prayers to who they still believed was their Lost God.
Tarasque, I noticed, was standing off to the side, leaning against a stone pillar watching over our feline comrade. Her greatsword had been holstered and her arms were folded across her chest.
I wonder if they struggled to subdue the cultists? They seem too calm for my liking.
Barcius approached the fire genasi and our leader shot him a glance.
‘Did you find what you were looking for?’ she asked, her brows knitted together. ‘You know we’ve been breaking our backs here trying to keep this lot from doing anything stupid.’
The tiefling scoffed, ‘I can’t imagine that was an easy task.’ Barcius tried his hand at a light hearted joke, but the tips of Tarasque’s tresses ignited and he swallowed hard. ‘I know his location and I know how to defeat him.’
He didn’t dare look back at me and I felt that strange weight in my chest again. I’d made a silent promise to myself that I wouldn’t breathe a word about his plan to the others, not until he was ready to enact it himself. Barcius didn’t give any indication of the location, presumably because of the unresolved cultists hanging about.
‘Did you hear of interest while we were gone?’ he asked. ‘Did they speak at all?’
Tarasque gave a grave nod of her head and said, ‘There’s a prophecy surrounding the Imprisoned One, the one you call Tharizdun. They’ve let slip he’s a saviour to these cultists, they believe he will begin the world anew now this realm has fallen to despair.’
‘I fear they might be correct. It also explains why the skies are burning,’ he whispered to the fire genasi. ‘We need to get rid of them before we head below.’
‘I’m open to ideas,’ she said with a shrug.
Barcius frowned, ‘I’ll take care of it,’ he grunted. He raised one hand to his temple and closed his eyes. When he reopened them, his grey orbs glowed midnight blue as he stared at the tabaxi.
Mitztail turned to face us, his eyes meeting the tiefling before giving a single slow nod to show he understood the telepathic message. The feline tapped his foot on the platform, his strumming became more upbeat.
‘As much as it has been wonderful spending this time in your company, I’m afraid it’s time for us to say goodbye,’ his words were smoother than silk, and his speech danced off his tongue like a symphony.
The cultists rose from their knees, their eyes now purple from Mitztail’s influence. They bowed before their tabaxi God. They spoke in unison, ‘The honour is ours, our Lord,’ as they marched out of the antechamber in pairs.
Once the group in crimson cloaks had emptied the chamber, Mitztail’s purple haze smoked off his body as he dropped to one knee.
I hurried to his side, screaming, ‘Are you okay?’ I wrapped an arm around his tiny shoulder.
Mitztail rested a paw on my hand and said, ‘That spell just wears me out, I’ll be fine after some rest.’
‘Rest will have to wait,’ Tarasque grunted, pushing herself off the pillar. ‘Barcius has located our target, there’s nothing left for us here except to secure its demise.’
The tabaxi groaned but picked himself up and climbed off his performance platform. I joined my comrades, sticking close to the boys while the fire genasi stayed at the rear of the group in case we’d any unexpected visitors.
Barcius walked up to the obsidian platform, the same one the cultists had used for previous sacrifices and the one Mitztail had used for his decoy. He conjured a ball of electric energy in his hands and fired it at the platform. The stone cracked in two, revealing a hidden staircase within the rumble. A spectre rose from the stone, shifting the chunks of obsidian to one side to clear a path for us. The tiefling wasted no time, he called off his silent sentinel and disappeared into the darkness.
I followed close behind my comrade, clutching my crook tight to my body. I felt Mitztail’s soft fur on my leg, the unnerved swaying of his tail curling around me as we walked. There was a warmth behind us, the glow from Tarasque’s fiery tresses guiding our way.
We entered the lower chamber, a slightly smaller and nonagon in shape. Nine portraits hung on the walls, most of which were either ripped beyond recognition or layered in thick mounts of dust. The little wax left of the candles clung to the sconces on the wall, dimly lighting the chamber. But in the centre, taking up most of the space was a towering shadow beast. Claw-light talons rested in a crisscross formation on its chest. Large curled tusks sat in place of its ears, and its eyes were firmly closed. It was dormant, at least for now. Head to toe, the creature was wrapped in chunky bone chains, stained in crimson and a faint white glow imitated like a halo around its head. But this was no saint. No saviour to come to right the wrongs in this realm. Only a God capable of destroying worlds.
Barcius stepped towards the beast and stood inches away from it. I watched him look up at the beast and my heart sank to the pit of my stomach. He was staring at the other half of his soul, knowing full well neither one of them would survive the night without the other. But as he’d said before, this was something only he could do. He approached the beast, almost touching the chains when I heard Tarasque unsheathed her blade.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked through gritted teeth. ‘The plan was to destroy it, not release it. Can’t we just murder it in its slumber?’
The tiefling’s face grew grim, but he kept his eyes trained on the beast. ‘This is the only way we can do exactly that,’ he said.
‘What is he talking about?’ Tarasque queried and shot me her daggers.
I fidgeted in my spot, my grip tightening on my crook. ‘Well… I-’
‘We have to release his bonds to ensure the creature is the true God,’ Barcius said, cutting me off. ‘It could be a replica, and I don’t think we should take any chances, do you?’
Tarasque grunted, resting her greatsword on her shoulder and tore her eyes away from us, ‘Do what you must.’
Barcius placed his hand on the bone chain. Under his breath he chanted a spell, written in his grandfather’s handwriting, on a scrap of parchment he held in his other hand.
‘Light must be purged. Perfection to decay. Every order dissolved, and minds fray. Lord of Eternal Darkness, the Ender and Eater of Worlds, I order you to awake from your slumber and sunder your bonds. May you be whole once more.’
A dark light appeared beneath his palm, soaking into the bone until each link of the chain was dyed like the night sky. One by one, the chains snapped, crumbling into ash, pooling at the foot of the beast. Its limbs were stiff, unable to move despite the spell, but its eyes opened and their colour mirrored my comrades. Perfectly grey like a cloudy day. The sconces flashes, the flames now burning brighter with dark blue flames.
‘How good it is to see you again, brother?’ the shadow beast, Tharizdun bellowed.
Tarasque glared at the tiefling, ‘What the hell have you done?’ she growled, readying her blade, but didn’t move from her position. She was eying up her opponent.
Barcius glanced at me and then turned back to the fire genasi, ‘I did what was necessary to complete our trial,’ he said with a weak half smile.
I bit my lip to stop myself from crying, despite knowing his fate was sealed the moment we left his grandfather’s study. But this was something he needed to do.
‘You didn’t inform your friends of our relationship,’ Tharizdun bellowed, a clawed talon gesturing to the tiefling. ‘Many moons ago, that old warlock, Osim Amrai, ripped me from his body and imprisoned me in his tomb. But, you and I both know these chains were never meant to hold me for eternity.’
Tarasque sidestepped closer, ‘What’s he running his mouth about?’ she grunted.
But Barcius opened his mouth to answer but the shadow beast beat him to it.
‘I am the other half of his soul. We are one in the same, him and I,’ the beast said, stretching out his limbs, yet stayed rooted in the ground. ‘A slither of darkness he severed from you still resides in your heart. Whether you like it or not, you cannot fight the pull you’ve been running from all these years. You are nothing without me, and we will be whole once more.’
‘Not if I’ve got anything to say about it,’ Tarasque gave a primordial scream as her blade imbued with flames and her tresses ignited to match. She kicked off from the ground, launching herself into the air and went to strike the beast.
But Tharizdun was quicker, catching the blade with his claw, suspending the fire genasi in midair. Her legs swung about aimlessly, unable to make purchase with the beast's charcoal flesh.
‘Shit,’ were the last words I heard escaping from Tarasque’s lips before she was discarded off to one side, colliding with the stone wall. Her greatsword landed beside her with a clang.
Tharizdun grinned, a wide toothy grin plastered across his face. The white fangs a stark contrast against his charcoal skin. He turned to Barcius, ‘Come brother, let us become whole once more.’ He said, gesturing his arms open.
Barcius, you can’t do this. Please reconsider.
I begged my comrade silently in my own head, or at least I thought I’d done, until he glanced at me slyly and gave me a weak smile. He heard my plea.
‘I’m sorry, but you know what I must do,’ he replied to me telepathically. I felt myself crumble from the inside. I shook my head but he just smiled.
‘Don’t you dare,’ Tarasque grunted. She hauled herself off the ground and picked up her weapon, wiping a smear of crimson from her lips. ‘You will fall by our hands and then we’ll be leaving. Together.’
‘Allow me to help mew,’ Mitztail said as he retrieved his lute from his back and strummed his paws against the chords. His purple haze seeped from the strings, coating the chamber in a thick miasma that clung to the back of my throat.
The chamber fell silent, save for the footsteps I could hear approaching me. Someone took hold of my hand, a gentle yet chilly touch and gave it a squeeze. A warm breath tickled my ear. I looked up but the purple smokescreen clouded my eyes.
Barcius.
‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered in my ear, before letting go of my hand and backing away from me.
Tears streamed down my face and I didn’t stop them. I only readied myself for whatever was to come next. Part of me was thankful I couldn’t see him walk towards his demise.
I waited, hoping that Tarasque would somehow find some way of stopping him, but as the purple haze dissipated, my worst fears were brought to life.
Barcius stood before the God, his arms open wide in a welcoming gesture and impaled through his chest was one of the fiend’s sharp talons. His body slumped backwards, suspended in the air like a ragdoll.
I opened my mouth to scream, but no words came out, only my tears continued to fall. Then I felt something within my hand. I looked down to find Mitztail at my side, clutching onto my pinky finger, his hardee brim covering his face.
Tharizdun chuckled, his grin wide across his face. ‘Finally, I shall be whole once more,’ he bellowed. His charcoal body morphed into a spectral form, pouring himself back into the tiefling’s soul, just as he’d severed, until the body of my comrade breathed back to life and the shadow beast disappeared.
‘Barcius,’ I said softly, watching the tiefling levitate back down.
My heart was hopeful he’d won against the fiend, but my smile dropped the second I saw his eyes. They weren’t the same kind, cloudy sky grey they’d always been instead they were ink-black like a raven’s feather. He stared through me like I was nothing.
Tarasque stepped in front of me, holding one arm across me and her greatsword before her. ‘We’ve lost him,’ she said. Her tone was grim. ‘There’s nothing we can do for him now.’
Barcius levitated before us once more, his arms open wide like they’d been before he changed, except from the charcoal stains blackening his white shirt. In his hands, his signature electric energy crackling, a Jacob's ladder within the space.
He’s not the tiefling you once knew. He means to hurt you.
Just when I thought it was all over for us, an amethyst light haloed behind him. A looming figure towered over him. A pair of purple-skinned hands appeared either side of him, golden strings looped on each finger wrapped themselves around his limbs.
‘Heed my words carefully, children.’ A motherly voice spoke calmly. ‘You friend has fallen, there is no hope for him now he’s succumbed to He of Eternal Darkness. Not even I can reach him.’
Who are you?
‘Ioun, Goddess of knowledge, and the deity of the Luminary Nine,’ the spectral figure cooed softly, her voice echoing through the chamber like she was in a different realm entirely. ‘I granted each of them a slither of my magic, providing they proved themselves worthy. I’d high hopes for Osim Amrai’s heir, but it appears my faith was misguided.’
Barcius thrashed against his bonds, his body morphing into several past versions of himself; from his child-like to the injuries he’d sustained under his grandfather’s experiments as a teenager before becoming a shadow beast of its own making. His tiefling horns lengthened into protruding tusks. From his fingertips grew sharp talons and his clothing shredded as he transformed. He was nothing more than a mindless beast.
Ioun’s threads snapped and the beast fell to the floor. Tarasque was quick on the offensive, smacking him back with her greatsword, standing between us and him.
‘We need to leave this place,’ she grunted. The wounds she’d sustained from Tharizdun burned in her skin. ‘Help us.’
The amethyst Goddess bowed her head, her third eye opened. Behind us a swirling portal appeared. ‘I pray for your safe return, wherever you might go. I shall attend to matters here.’ She swatted the shadow beast like a fly, pinning him to the ground with one hand. A web of golden thread encased him beneath her palm.
Mitztail ran to the portal, refusing to look back at our fallen comrade. Tarasque sheathed her weapon and followed suit, until she noticed me rooted on the spot.
I couldn’t move, I didn’t want to leave him behind.
‘Saria, we have to go.’
I shook my head, refusing to leave.
‘Now,’ Tarasque grunted.
We stood there for a few moments, while I rooted myself to the spot. The fire genasi huffed, choosing to ignore my words and took matters into her own hands. She hooked her arm around my waist and hoisted me over her shoulder.
I realised she was forcing me to leave with her. I kicked and screamed, keeping my eyes fixed on the shadow beast I once called my friend, while tears streamed down my cheeks.
‘No, no, no,’ I screamed, thrashing against the fire genasi. ‘Leave me here, I can save him, please. You have to at least let me try.’
But Tarasque ignored my pleas and stepped into the portal with me restrained against her body. I watched as the portal collapsed in a pop of purple light. Ioun had him now and we three found safety in the secluded beach where we’d all met.
I kept kicking against the paladin, and finally she let me go. I tumbled to the ground and looked back to the empty space where the tiefling’s trial gate had been. Missing, just as he was. I couldn’t keep my tears from falling, I was a mess. Every fibre of my body ached. I sat there and screamed the only word in my head, until my lungs gave out.
‘Barcius!’
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