A Blood-soaked Legacy
XIV
A Vengeance of Fire
(Shard III)
(Shard III)
Slowly the form took a feminine shape and stepped toward him. The first features to become visible were the opened green eyes that looked down at him with tears. Next came the familiar smile and beautiful features of Isilda.
The female form divested of clothing knelt down over Tyverus and reached out to his chest with a hand. An ephemeral feeling of cold penetrated his chest and seemed to reach around his heart. Energy crackled from Isilda’s ghostly hand to his heart, reviving his life energies. He could feel a feeling of soothing calm spread over his entire body. In his mind, he could feel love like he was finally free of all this pain, this rage, and immense suffering.
“You gave everything.” Isilda leaned in to whisper into Tyverus’ ear. Her voice was like a choir of the gods singing a hymn to the righteous fallen. “Know that you have fought well.”
“I’m so sorry.” Tyverus’ eyes began to well up with tears. He wanted to reach up to her and hold her, but both of his arms were ruined beyond use. “I failed you. I let her take you away.”
“She didn’t take me away, Tyverus.” Isilda continued to smile as she raised her other hand up to lightly caress his cheek. Her skin felt ghostly and cold. “I’m here. Bhergom is here. All of us are here. You will be here with us.”
“I will join you beyond the veil of death? I will join you in Olthenna’s grace?” Tyverus could feel Isilda’s cold hand gripping his heart. His life ebbed and flowed for a moment as pieces of his consciousness left his body.
“Beyond the veil of death, yes.” Isilda’s eyes began to glow brighter with each moment that passed. It was hard for Tyverus not to be drawn to her eyes. The rest of her form seemed to darken and distort as he gazed into her beautiful eyes. “As for Olthenna’s grace, such is not meant to be.”
“I don’t care about the gods. I just want to be free of this pain. I want to be free of this world.” Tyverus choked for a moment and blood welled up in his mouth. He spat it out over his chin and tried to breathe once more. “I just want to be with you.”
“Good. You will be. Forever.” Isilda’s smile began to widen and reveal teeth. It took a moment for Tyverus to notice the strange silvery gleam her teeth had. As her smile widened, he could see sharpened fangs peek over her bottom lip.
Tyverus pushed his sword-arm against a boulder and squirmed upward. The world was darkening around his vision, but something felt off about how Isilda looked. There was something wrong with the cadence of her voice. It was familiar but not filled with the same life and joy that made ice vibrate and dance like before.
He lifted his chin slightly, feeling the cold grip of Isilda tighten a little more around his heart. She continued to hold his cheek, but he shook his head free of her hand. He looked below him, past his feet at the charred ground. It took a moment for his mind to grapple with the realization that the charred remains of Merithault were no longer to be seen.
“Hush now. Don’t worry. The pain will be gone and you’ll soon be at peace.” Isilda grasped Tyverus’ chin with her free hand and pushed his neck back. Her earlier ephemeral feeling was much more solid now. As she pushed against him, he could feel the sharp bite of long claws against his cheeks.
Tyverus let his face be pressed back against the rock and slumped down to lying on the ground once more. As he did so, he shifted his broken leg slightly causing his body to convulse with extreme pain. He lifted his sword-arm up very slowly and pushed his elbow into a nearby rock.
He stared up into the glowing eyes of Isilda as she continued to smile. His eyes moved from her eyes to her lips, and then to her body. As he did so, he pushed the tip of his blade into her ribs with all the force he could muster.
Isilda reeled back in pain and screamed out. Her voice stopped being the soothing and familiar sound but changed into an inhuman howl of pain and betrayal. Tyverus kept his eyes fixed on her face as it melted away like a dream-like illusion.
Before him, he could see the charred and burnt flesh of Merithault. As she opened her eyes he could see the inhuman and icy cold hatred in her stare. He had driven his sword between the blackened ribs that stuck out between her cracked and blistered flesh.
She reached out with her free clawed hand to snap the blade in half. The force shattered Tyverus’ wrist and sent his arm to fall at his side. She reached into her side and pulled the jagged and melted metal shard free.
“You can’t just let things be.” Merithault threw the shard of metal away and turned to gaze at Tyverus. Her earlier smile had morphed into another predatory snarl. “I try to give you peace, and you won’t accept it. To your last breath, you fight.”
“I’ll kill you.” Tyverus spat up at Merithault. He lifted his chin up and returned the same snarl that Merithault had upon her charred lips.
“You have spirit. I should expect such from one of the Guardian Knights of Morrthal.” Merithault tightened her icy grasp on Tyverus’ heart causing him to sputter for breath for a moment. “I once had a son when I was mortal. He left to become a Guardian Knight, like yourself.” Her snarl turned into a sadistic grin. “He put up a fight, just like you. I killed him all the same.”
“Monster!” Tyverus lifted his head up again while trying to jab at Merithault with what was left of his sword-arm. The fiend grabbed his neck with her free hand and held him down. “So many innocent lives were taken by you. You do not deserve to exist!”
“Poor boy. Poor deluded boy.” Merithault crooned as she leaned in closer. “No one upon this forsaken world is innocent. You have no idea the horrors I have glimpsed for all of us. The death that I grant is a mercy. Every life I take saves the world from its ultimate destruction. It is only when I don’t take lives when those of my blood somehow create new whelps to inherit my sin, that is when horror and bloodshed are truly released.”
“You’re mad! The eons you’ve spent as an unliving abomination have rotted your mind as well as your soul.” Tyverus glared hotly up at Merithault. He pushed back against her hand with his throat in defiance. “Isilda saw your weakness. Isilda knew that the last of your lineage must live. Your secret is known, beast!”
“You think that blood-haired little witch is your savior?” Merithault gave out a cruel laugh, loosening her grip on Tyverus’ heart for a moment. “I’ve seen the future. Ullthos, himself, gave me the knowledge of what is come millennia ago. If she lives, she will be all of our ruin.”
“The only one that needs to die is you.” Tyverus felt Merithault grip at his heart with cold fingers once again. He began to sputter up blood. He kept his eyes fixed on her despite the pain.
Merithault let go of his neck and began to stroke the top and side of his head with her free hand: A caress like a mother would to her son. “You poor boy.” She leaned in again, whispering in his ear. Her cold breath made Tyverus shiver. “You think all of this about you, don’t you?” She pulled back and stared down at him. “You’ve dare to think this is all about you. Your story. Your life.”
Merithault shook her head slowly and smiled. “This isn’t about you, not one bit.” Her smile grew until her fangs were fully visible under her healing lips. “This story is about me. You are a pawn in fate’s hands, and I am the one who guides that hand. I always have.”
Tyverus remained quiet while beaming his rage up at Merithault. He pushed forward again and was gripped in painful convulsions as the Mad Oracle seized upon his heart once more. He could feel the life leaving his body as his sight began to grow dark.
“Embrace the darkness and give in.” Merithault’s voice was less like a predator and more like a concerned care-giver. “I can feel within you the desire to be reunited with the one called Isilda. If you just give yourself to me, like she did, you can be together again.”
“Lies. Isilda never gave in to you.” Tyverus pulled back, but Merithault clutched at his heart again. His vision was now nothing more than pinhole of light.
“She gave in when her soul was freed by me. You see, your feelings towards the gods are correct, young knight.” Merithault gave Tyverus a jolt of more energy to keep him alive just a few moments longer. “The gods you know have forsaken you. They have forsaken all humanity. When we pass beyond our mortal coils, there is nothing be the realm of shades. Beyond that is oblivion. It hungers for us all.”
Tyverus stared up to Merithault with a look of genuine fear. He wanted to fight against her words, but his lack of faith resounded with what she said. If there was nothing but a realm of echoes and dissolution beyond death, maybe what she offered was the closest to the here-after he could find.
“Good. Your feelings are correct.” Merithault began to draw her free hand over his face and neck. She stopped and felt the cold metal of his drained mantle, her fingers gliding over the dead runes. “You will see once I kill you that there is nothing beyond. You will be drawn to me like Isilda was like Bhergom was like all my children were. There, I will drink of your souls and keep you with me. Oblivion won’t take you.”
Tyverus wanted so badly to be reunited with Isilda, yet for all his doubt and pessimism in life, he could not bring himself to believe in the monster’s words. She was an abomination; an unholy thing, a monster beyond reckoning. The choice between being a pawn of a devil or being cast to nothingness was simple, he would not be a pawn.
“Take your offer of immortality…” Tyverus lingered on his words for a moment as his eyesight passed into darkness. “…And fuck yourself with it!”
Merithault snarled and roared like a predatory beast. She leaned in and clutched hard on Tyverus’ heart. Her other hand tore the metal mantle from his chest. Coldness and pain soared through Tyverus and then was engulfed by blissful numbness. He could feel himself spiraling away into a deep abyss.
The roaring of the monster faded away to a distant echo as his senses began to fail him. He was only vaguely aware that the fiend was ripping his body asunder and he no longer cared. He had fought to his last breath and that was enough.
As he fell into the cold abyss beyond life, he could reach out beyond his senses to feel a glimmering purple light. He didn't perceive this light with his eyes, but with the ephemeral perceptions of his soul. Slowly the light grew and took on the form of Isilda.
The woman reached out her ghostly hand towards Tyverus and as she did so, he was aware of his own ghostly hand reaching out to hers. He could feel the energy within her as their astral bodies touched. She leaned into him and embraced him. Crackles of energy shot between them.
“I’m here to take you away.” Her voice resounded with love and comfort. Her voice had the same vibration as she had in life. A voice that could make the ice dance and sing. “You suffering is finished.”
Tyverus embraced her deeply, getting lost in her arms. Their energies melded and then faded away. The fighting was over, and Tyverus could finally find peace. The expedition was lost and the suffering had been immense, but the concerns of the living were not for him any longer.
The female form divested of clothing knelt down over Tyverus and reached out to his chest with a hand. An ephemeral feeling of cold penetrated his chest and seemed to reach around his heart. Energy crackled from Isilda’s ghostly hand to his heart, reviving his life energies. He could feel a feeling of soothing calm spread over his entire body. In his mind, he could feel love like he was finally free of all this pain, this rage, and immense suffering.
“You gave everything.” Isilda leaned in to whisper into Tyverus’ ear. Her voice was like a choir of the gods singing a hymn to the righteous fallen. “Know that you have fought well.”
“I’m so sorry.” Tyverus’ eyes began to well up with tears. He wanted to reach up to her and hold her, but both of his arms were ruined beyond use. “I failed you. I let her take you away.”
“She didn’t take me away, Tyverus.” Isilda continued to smile as she raised her other hand up to lightly caress his cheek. Her skin felt ghostly and cold. “I’m here. Bhergom is here. All of us are here. You will be here with us.”
“I will join you beyond the veil of death? I will join you in Olthenna’s grace?” Tyverus could feel Isilda’s cold hand gripping his heart. His life ebbed and flowed for a moment as pieces of his consciousness left his body.
“Beyond the veil of death, yes.” Isilda’s eyes began to glow brighter with each moment that passed. It was hard for Tyverus not to be drawn to her eyes. The rest of her form seemed to darken and distort as he gazed into her beautiful eyes. “As for Olthenna’s grace, such is not meant to be.”
“I don’t care about the gods. I just want to be free of this pain. I want to be free of this world.” Tyverus choked for a moment and blood welled up in his mouth. He spat it out over his chin and tried to breathe once more. “I just want to be with you.”
“Good. You will be. Forever.” Isilda’s smile began to widen and reveal teeth. It took a moment for Tyverus to notice the strange silvery gleam her teeth had. As her smile widened, he could see sharpened fangs peek over her bottom lip.
Tyverus pushed his sword-arm against a boulder and squirmed upward. The world was darkening around his vision, but something felt off about how Isilda looked. There was something wrong with the cadence of her voice. It was familiar but not filled with the same life and joy that made ice vibrate and dance like before.
He lifted his chin slightly, feeling the cold grip of Isilda tighten a little more around his heart. She continued to hold his cheek, but he shook his head free of her hand. He looked below him, past his feet at the charred ground. It took a moment for his mind to grapple with the realization that the charred remains of Merithault were no longer to be seen.
“Hush now. Don’t worry. The pain will be gone and you’ll soon be at peace.” Isilda grasped Tyverus’ chin with her free hand and pushed his neck back. Her earlier ephemeral feeling was much more solid now. As she pushed against him, he could feel the sharp bite of long claws against his cheeks.
Tyverus let his face be pressed back against the rock and slumped down to lying on the ground once more. As he did so, he shifted his broken leg slightly causing his body to convulse with extreme pain. He lifted his sword-arm up very slowly and pushed his elbow into a nearby rock.
He stared up into the glowing eyes of Isilda as she continued to smile. His eyes moved from her eyes to her lips, and then to her body. As he did so, he pushed the tip of his blade into her ribs with all the force he could muster.
Isilda reeled back in pain and screamed out. Her voice stopped being the soothing and familiar sound but changed into an inhuman howl of pain and betrayal. Tyverus kept his eyes fixed on her face as it melted away like a dream-like illusion.
Before him, he could see the charred and burnt flesh of Merithault. As she opened her eyes he could see the inhuman and icy cold hatred in her stare. He had driven his sword between the blackened ribs that stuck out between her cracked and blistered flesh.
She reached out with her free clawed hand to snap the blade in half. The force shattered Tyverus’ wrist and sent his arm to fall at his side. She reached into her side and pulled the jagged and melted metal shard free.
“You can’t just let things be.” Merithault threw the shard of metal away and turned to gaze at Tyverus. Her earlier smile had morphed into another predatory snarl. “I try to give you peace, and you won’t accept it. To your last breath, you fight.”
“I’ll kill you.” Tyverus spat up at Merithault. He lifted his chin up and returned the same snarl that Merithault had upon her charred lips.
“You have spirit. I should expect such from one of the Guardian Knights of Morrthal.” Merithault tightened her icy grasp on Tyverus’ heart causing him to sputter for breath for a moment. “I once had a son when I was mortal. He left to become a Guardian Knight, like yourself.” Her snarl turned into a sadistic grin. “He put up a fight, just like you. I killed him all the same.”
“Monster!” Tyverus lifted his head up again while trying to jab at Merithault with what was left of his sword-arm. The fiend grabbed his neck with her free hand and held him down. “So many innocent lives were taken by you. You do not deserve to exist!”
“Poor boy. Poor deluded boy.” Merithault crooned as she leaned in closer. “No one upon this forsaken world is innocent. You have no idea the horrors I have glimpsed for all of us. The death that I grant is a mercy. Every life I take saves the world from its ultimate destruction. It is only when I don’t take lives when those of my blood somehow create new whelps to inherit my sin, that is when horror and bloodshed are truly released.”
“You’re mad! The eons you’ve spent as an unliving abomination have rotted your mind as well as your soul.” Tyverus glared hotly up at Merithault. He pushed back against her hand with his throat in defiance. “Isilda saw your weakness. Isilda knew that the last of your lineage must live. Your secret is known, beast!”
“You think that blood-haired little witch is your savior?” Merithault gave out a cruel laugh, loosening her grip on Tyverus’ heart for a moment. “I’ve seen the future. Ullthos, himself, gave me the knowledge of what is come millennia ago. If she lives, she will be all of our ruin.”
“The only one that needs to die is you.” Tyverus felt Merithault grip at his heart with cold fingers once again. He began to sputter up blood. He kept his eyes fixed on her despite the pain.
Merithault let go of his neck and began to stroke the top and side of his head with her free hand: A caress like a mother would to her son. “You poor boy.” She leaned in again, whispering in his ear. Her cold breath made Tyverus shiver. “You think all of this about you, don’t you?” She pulled back and stared down at him. “You’ve dare to think this is all about you. Your story. Your life.”
Merithault shook her head slowly and smiled. “This isn’t about you, not one bit.” Her smile grew until her fangs were fully visible under her healing lips. “This story is about me. You are a pawn in fate’s hands, and I am the one who guides that hand. I always have.”
Tyverus remained quiet while beaming his rage up at Merithault. He pushed forward again and was gripped in painful convulsions as the Mad Oracle seized upon his heart once more. He could feel the life leaving his body as his sight began to grow dark.
“Embrace the darkness and give in.” Merithault’s voice was less like a predator and more like a concerned care-giver. “I can feel within you the desire to be reunited with the one called Isilda. If you just give yourself to me, like she did, you can be together again.”
“Lies. Isilda never gave in to you.” Tyverus pulled back, but Merithault clutched at his heart again. His vision was now nothing more than pinhole of light.
“She gave in when her soul was freed by me. You see, your feelings towards the gods are correct, young knight.” Merithault gave Tyverus a jolt of more energy to keep him alive just a few moments longer. “The gods you know have forsaken you. They have forsaken all humanity. When we pass beyond our mortal coils, there is nothing be the realm of shades. Beyond that is oblivion. It hungers for us all.”
Tyverus stared up to Merithault with a look of genuine fear. He wanted to fight against her words, but his lack of faith resounded with what she said. If there was nothing but a realm of echoes and dissolution beyond death, maybe what she offered was the closest to the here-after he could find.
“Good. Your feelings are correct.” Merithault began to draw her free hand over his face and neck. She stopped and felt the cold metal of his drained mantle, her fingers gliding over the dead runes. “You will see once I kill you that there is nothing beyond. You will be drawn to me like Isilda was like Bhergom was like all my children were. There, I will drink of your souls and keep you with me. Oblivion won’t take you.”
Tyverus wanted so badly to be reunited with Isilda, yet for all his doubt and pessimism in life, he could not bring himself to believe in the monster’s words. She was an abomination; an unholy thing, a monster beyond reckoning. The choice between being a pawn of a devil or being cast to nothingness was simple, he would not be a pawn.
“Take your offer of immortality…” Tyverus lingered on his words for a moment as his eyesight passed into darkness. “…And fuck yourself with it!”
Merithault snarled and roared like a predatory beast. She leaned in and clutched hard on Tyverus’ heart. Her other hand tore the metal mantle from his chest. Coldness and pain soared through Tyverus and then was engulfed by blissful numbness. He could feel himself spiraling away into a deep abyss.
The roaring of the monster faded away to a distant echo as his senses began to fail him. He was only vaguely aware that the fiend was ripping his body asunder and he no longer cared. He had fought to his last breath and that was enough.
As he fell into the cold abyss beyond life, he could reach out beyond his senses to feel a glimmering purple light. He didn't perceive this light with his eyes, but with the ephemeral perceptions of his soul. Slowly the light grew and took on the form of Isilda.
The woman reached out her ghostly hand towards Tyverus and as she did so, he was aware of his own ghostly hand reaching out to hers. He could feel the energy within her as their astral bodies touched. She leaned into him and embraced him. Crackles of energy shot between them.
“I’m here to take you away.” Her voice resounded with love and comfort. Her voice had the same vibration as she had in life. A voice that could make the ice dance and sing. “You suffering is finished.”
Tyverus embraced her deeply, getting lost in her arms. Their energies melded and then faded away. The fighting was over, and Tyverus could finally find peace. The expedition was lost and the suffering had been immense, but the concerns of the living were not for him any longer.
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