Kelvanya had taken Kian onto her shoulders, as he had trouble standing after the ritual.There was no time to wait for him to recover from the smaller problem, overshadowed by the greater problem of escaping Heiron’s reach.Crawling wouldn’t suffice when they caught up.Kelvanya looked at the trees,trying to find paths they would know the least about, but which she herself knew well.Everything to increase their chances of escape.

  ’Hold on, kid. We’re almost away from there, don’t worry.’ She didn’t even know if Kian could hear her.Kian only stared into the distance,too much happening all at once. The darkness was close. He hadn’t even been able to eat before fleeing. The hunger gnawing. While his mind battled to think what is real and what is not.

  It felt as though the night grew darker with every passing second.His arms hurt, his legs hurt, even his eyes hurt. That made it all the more important to keep them open.Even if the night urged him to shut them. That shining silver moon. That orange glow creeping in from the sides.That perfect mix of the night’s cold and and the surprising warmth coming from the trees.

  Kian felt Kelvanya’s pace quicken.The rhythm of her steps against the ground. Each step as light as a feather gliding on the wind.It felt peaceful.

  Kelvanya glanced over her shoulder. Trees burned behind them, blocking the moonlight with ash and smoke,replacing it with their own orange glow. In the middle of it stood a figure with ropes wrapped around his body. It didn’t matter;every one of the judgment executioners knew exactly who it was. The burning typhoon, Sventerlo. With every step he took, fire ignited behind him, catching the grass. Spreading tothe trees. Delivering death to the most minuscule of organisms. ’Archer, give me your best shot!’ Taunting Kelvanya, daring her to act. ’You cannot hide! I will burn everything!’ He got into a stance to run as fire erupted repeatedly from his feet and hands,creating explosive bursts to propel him forward.Kelvanya threw Kian offher, circling to loose an arrow toward Sventerlo. As the arrow closed in, it burned away mid-flight.Its metal head landed only a few inches from Sventerlo. Sventerlo didn’t slow down only gaining more momentum the longer he ran, and before Kelvanya could draw another arrow, stood Sventerlo already in arms reach, faster than the heat could trail behind him.The fire lagged behind like poor company, waving goodbye, sweeping from left to right.

  His pale skin was now visible, illuminated by the fire in his hands. His face bore a false smile stretched from ear to ear.It looked as though his body had been dehydratedby his own flames.

  Sventerlo tried to grab Kelvanya, she responded with an arrow in her hand,trying to stab one of Sventerlo’s hands. Sventerlo pushed it aside,setting the wood ablaze. The heat forced Kelvanya to drop the arrow. He grabbed her arms, as the fire in his hands burned into Kelvanya. ’Why did you do it? We were almost there? As he said it,his hands began to melt Kelvanya’s armsas his fingers dug deeper into her flesh. The smell filled the air, drifting toward Kian. He was staring at the sky, lying on his back. Everything felt like a dream. But the smell was something that couldn’t happen inside of one. As it grew stronger,he woke from the false dream. In a single motion,he tackled Sventerlo asidewith all the strength that he could gather.A rush followed, as if everything came to life at once. Like a machine overloaded with power. He only managed to push Sventerlo two steps back, throwing him slightly off balance.

  Sventerlo shoved the boy aside with no effort.A groan escaped himas his forced smile faltered into a look of annoyance. In that moment,as he focused on something other than Kelvanya,Kelvanya seized her chance,pulling out a knife and stabbing Sventerlo in the side. In her eyes he saw onlythe struggle between life and death. No more doubt about which cause was right and which was wrong.No more desire to save what could not be. No need for wishes that would change anything. Sventerlo fell to the ground as Kelvanya threw her full weight onto him.

  ’Heiron truly wanted what he believed was best.He turned us into scapegoats, so he could balance the worldwith a perfect image behindand in front of him.You could have had anything.’ Sventerlo said, coughing several times.Kelvanya pulled her knife free,trying to drive it into his throat as quickly as possible. As she pulled the knife free,Sventerlo’s entire body lit up,flickering from red to orange, then blue. Kelvanya moved as fast as she could, aiming for his neck. With only half the motion remaining. blue light surged upward. It turned into living fire, engulfing Kelvanya’s body like a typhoon.She pushed through it.Forcing herself to bring the knife closer towards its destination. Even as her movement slowedwith every inch gained. Until it stopped completely. The fire ceased, the light vanished. Kelvanya’s body was charred by the flames,with scattered patchesstill raw and pink.Her clothes had fused to her skin,and her once-cold blue eyes and her once-cold blue eyeswhat looked like two black holes.The body did not move, except for the smoke rising from it,disappearing into the sky.The worst part was the stench coming out of it.It smelled of sweat, cooked meat,and burned rubber. Kian could only look at her. His entire body refused to react. Only old memories flashed through his mind.Kian barely managed to open his mouth before a screech tore free.An inhuman soundlike an owl’s scream.

  Sventerlo got back up, panting while pushing Kelvanya off him.He looked at the boy. ‘You could have made this so much easier.’ His voice sounded bitter.His eyes looked as if they were spitting fire. A moment ago, they actually had.Kian looked at him. Sventerlo saw how completely broken he was. kicking Kian unconscious. ’Sorry lad, I. No. His orders are something I need to follow.I owe him, and I know everything will end well. You know what, if this is all over, I will make sure he brings her back.’ Talking more to himself as he started carrying Kian’s body back to the tower. ’You should have listened back then.You didn’t. Look at what happened.’Sventerlo slowly sounded more angry. As if anger could burn away his sympathy. ’It could have all worked out. No, you had to do things the hard way.’Sventerlo sounded more distressed the longer he rambled. His fury never disappeared. ’So close. Everything. Everyone would still be fine. The perfect worlds so close. Now even with his plana perfect world would not exist.Since most of the good ones have now died for something stupid. As if they knew better.’

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  As Sventerlo reached the tower,he could already see Hartmar’s body hanging from ropes across the wall. Sventerlo looked at it. He could only shake his head as he forced his smile back into place.Grummulde was sitting nearby on a rock, staring into the distance. ’Welcome back, pale fire.’ He called out. Sventerlo moved toward him. ’Were you the one who had the honor of Hartmar?’

  Grummulde got up. He looked Sventerlo straight in the eyes. ’No, did you have the honor of Kelvanya?’ Something in his voice sounded wrong. It couldn’t be that. Nah, he just found it a shame that he couldn’t kill Hartmar or Kelvenya. Sventerlo started walking into the camp with Kian over his shoulder, still unconscious.Grummulde moved his head,keeping track of Sventerlo as he moved in. Clenching his bo-axe. Keeping his hatred insideuntil the right moment to strike.

  ’Well, well, well, you all had a party without me. I see Heiron’s predictions were true. Hartmar betrayed us.’ Ranzolf looked somber as he moved past him. ’Should have been me that took care of the old basters.’ His voice carried disappointmentover what had happened.As if he would have given him a warrior’s death. What a strange man he was,focused only on battle.As if, besides battle, nothing else existed,or at least nothing useful to him.

  The members who heard him turned and began cheering as they saw the boy on his shoulder. Knowing that their next ritual was continuing and that the perfect world would be here soon. Tyrilda stood next to the door of the tower with a smug smile on her face. Resting on her sword. Her eyes burned more than Sventerlo’s,with hatred for a few and the satisfaction of knowingshe had a wish that would punish those people.

  Sventerlo walked past her. She lifted her sword into the air,pointing it toward the heavens. ’We will come for you next!’ She yelled. ‘First the needed, then the traitors, Now the ones sitting!’ She continued. ’War of the heavens, ha. More like the slaughter of the useless.’

  Sventerlo ignored her speech. Listening to Heiron was already more than enough when it came to speeches,and in the end, his was the only one that mattered.He made his way into the tower, up the stairs.Passing Frugin, who was standingwith stitches in his burned clothing.Standing in Hartmar’s room, using his cloth to fix his own. Sventerlo stared inside. Parts of the room were corroded or bore corrosion marks. A fight that looked evenly split. Sventerlo could only wonder what Hartmar had done in his stand and before it, as he continued up the stairs.

  Sventerlo dropped Kian inside Heiron’s office. Heiron was seated. ’We will begin when you are rested, friend.’Sventerlo plopped into one of the chairs across from Heiron. ’You’re sure this time it will work? We have lost so much, or so much that was good in our cause.’ Sventerlo looked dead serious. Done with all the cleaningafter his friend’s orders.’I’m beginning to have enough of putting up this smile. This preacher persona. I just want to end things well for the world. The killing, I do not mind it. But there is just so much of it spread throughout the land. We need to finish this once and for all.’ Sventerlo declared as his adrenaline faded, and his exhaustion kicked in from using so much fire.

  ’I know, friend. We have all suffered enough of this. Now more than ever. We lost the good and were left with the bad. Now it is up to us to still finish this for the good of this world.’ Heiron said. ’Now rest. Tomorrow, it begins. The ending of our beginning, starting with our next step. Judgement and execution to the gods.’ Sventerlo could only nod as Heiron spoke. Or perhaps he was just trying to stay awake.

  Sventerlo stood back up. Leaving a few words for Heiron to consider. ’We’ve known each other for a long time. I didn’t follow you because of the cause, I followed you because we are friends. Whatever happens next, I will stay behind you and have your back.’ Sventerlo closed the door behind him as he left for his room.

  Heiron got up to look outside. Reciting an old poem he learned as a child. ’Horrors of thy world, I challenge thee at battle of wits. Thy brutal one takes the first, compassion takes the last. For brutality creates fear. Fear corrupts itselfand turns it into courage.The dam of terror breaks sooner or later, flowing with the waters of freedom.’ Heiron took a pause, thinking of how things could have been different. So many instances of small changecould have ensured that Hartmar and Kelvanya would still be loyal. That the righteous would still stand here among the living.

  ’What wonders does the world havewithout the tyrants that call themselves gods. Tomorrow, we succeed and then if needed I can change the world alone.’ He told it in a whisper, only for himself to hear. To gain gratificationfrom how humble he himself is towards others. To have that compassion in him. Saving future lives. Even if his members would kill half of the kingdom to weed out its wickedness. He opened the balcony door and stepped onto it. In the past few daysthey had made enough signs for the noble houses of the cross to notice that something was wrongwith the Undying Tower.Now let’s hit that final nail.Heiron spread both his arms and a golden light came out of one, and a purple one out of the other. They came together and went in a spiral toward the heavens. No need to let it be slight. They know the light; it lets them know the darkness as well. Looking like the breath of ancient dragons. The fantasized Crolocks, wandering the earth. The mythologized powers of the Ogrums. As it rose into the sky, beyond the clouds. The final declaration had begun.