Ragoth’s world spun. One, two, three- quick corkscrews in mid-air and he was falling back towards the ground. He landed headfirst and bounced an entire body's length before he stopped. A mass of swirling shadows slammed into him immediately, much harder than it had before. This time, however, Ragoth simply slid backward a few paces before a mound of dirt built up behind him. Noctra’s own subtle support sapped out the speed of his sliding body before he’d gone too far,

Now you try to help me, eh? Fickle as ever.

An acrid and metallic warmth hit his lips as he chuckled to himself.

Jarring laughter answered him from within the endless darkness and froze Ragoth's own ironic chuckles in their tracks. Ragoth recognized the voice, barely. It was layered in distortion and the infinite echoes it created sounded like a haunted comms report stuck on an infinite loop but if he imagined it quieter… more feeble… less tainted…

“Marina!” Ragoth did his best to shout. He couldn’t hear anything but the universe of wicked laughter bouncing around him… but he tried.

“Marina! Listen to me dammit! Please!”

Fuck me to an early grave… if I’d held on to the mask I could… What, Ragoth? What could you have-

Silence was upon him.

It hit Ragoth like a runaway carriage mowing down the unsuspecting. He lost his train of thought for a moment in the heavy absence of sound and wondered if he weren’t already dead. Alas, he’d tasted blood in his mouth, his left side was aching terribly and so far as he knew the dead couldn’t think about if they were dead or not…. Right? Much like with everything else in his life, Ragoth just felt lost. Clueless. Alone.

Alone? No…. no, where is she? The darkness is still here, so is she.

The calm, cool voice of the Mezir he had crafted over the years spoke to him as it had thousands of times. Though now, he knew it to be false. The real Mezir was alive.

Chasing down Lili-Bon… who impaled Mezir, who- Focus! Right. Right… so, I can’t see a damn thing. But I can listen. I’m good at that, I thi- quiet Ragoth. Right.

The silence chilled his very bones, though he much preferred it to Marina’s demonic laughter, and in truth, it wasn’t totally silent. There was a constant whooshing sound that emanated from the shadows around him, almost in time with the swirling obsidian. Almost.

Ragoth knew he had a chance if he could figure out why there was a difference in the sound of the shadows and their constant swirling movement. If he was fast enough to capitalize on that fraction of a second, he might just survive. Marina seemed to be watching him as well, waiting for something. Ragoth followed suit and waited.

The swirling shadows… the sound… the gap…. Swirling, sound, gap…. Fuck.

He had no idea what to make of it. He felt as if he had pieced a jigsaw together only to find there was a single missing piece. Ragoth knew he was an easy target just standing there. He didn’t even stand tall and proud in the face of darkness and fear. Ragoth was hunched over, one hand planted on his left side. Gasping.

Pathetic as ever, Ragoth. Up to the end. And this is the end, isn’t it?

He’d noticed that the pain in his side had gotten worse and the origin point was further back than where he held his hand. He was sore down his entire left side but just out of his reach there was a thick aching mass that sent pain down into his guts. When he pulled his hand away it was thickly covered in red that had strands of white cloth glittering throughout.

Marina had started laughing again.

Tricky bitch! Ragoth had wondered why Lili-Bon hadn’t been speared by the blade Mezir threw. She must’ve caught it with the shadows she cast all around me. When she rammed into me the first time… I’d already lost.

He could see her now. Only her. Marina’s curvaceous body had been hidden beneath her Watcher’s cloaks when Ragoth had last seen her, now, walking amongst the rolling shadows and living shade, she was fully exposed. Her light sepia skin may as well have been a beacon amidst the unending black around them. The shadows were slightly thicker in front of her breast and groin, though nowhere near dark enough to keep his eyes from peering through to what they hid.

At least I’ll die at the hands of someone beautiful…. That's something, right? Yes, Ragoth, it is something; Pathetic.

He fell to one knee but kept his eyes on Marina as she swayed her nude figure closer and closer. Ragoth had barely been able to control his physical… excitement at seeing Mezir, at being held by Mezir. There, knelt before his encroaching reaper, he didn’t have a reason to control it. Ragoth stretched his torso straight, baring teeth against the waves of pain it sent through him and made sure Marina could see how much he was enjoying her show.

It was meant to be an insult of sorts, he thought, but when her eyes flicked to Ragoth’s apparent erection he saw a spark of appreciation pass over her face before she smiled at him. Never breaking her provocative stride. For some reason, Ragoth felt it was a stab at what little pride he had left. Still, it kept her from catching his hand slipping just a bit further down his back than before.

Damn it. What kind of man can’t even properly offend a naked woman with his hard cock?!.... Well. A good one, I suppose.

A good one. Something he’d not thought about himself in so many years, the last occurrence felt like a distant dream instead of a recent memory.

Just out of reach. Almost though, almost.

Ragoth stretched his back further, his eyes set on Marina’s, who stared unabashedly as his steadily throbbing tent.

There we go. Good, good girl, Marina.

Keeping the smile from his face was torture. Ragoth knew though, if he smiled, he lost. Ragoth kept his face stern. Unmoving… Alright, he winched a little bit, but otherwise, he was statuesque.

I can do this. A concerning heat gushed down the left side of his back. I can. I have to.

The black blade with curves down to its skinny tip was heavy in his hand, hidden behind his back, but Ragoth held it. Pure will-power kept his fingers wrapped about the hilt. He’d scarcely seen the dagger Mezir had thrown after prying it from his thigh, though he was confident the one in he held was the same. Mezir wouldn’t have missed, otherwise. Lili-Bon would be dead.

Instead of Lili, I’ll die. I can live with that. Ha! Take that Marina!

Whether it was being so close to the edge of death or his mind had just finally snapped after years of strain, Ragoth did not know; but he was laughing. Uncontrollably. His gut and back bucked so hard he nearly dropped the blade that now had his and Mezir’s blood drying down its length. Together.

Together. At long last.

Ragoth cried while he laughed. He smiled, Marina’s victory be damned. She was beautiful, he was dying- it didn’t matter. It was all natural. They all bowed to Noctra’s whim in the end. Even Marina, who had walked nearer and nearer until she was dangerously close to Ragoth’s face with her exposed breast. The shadows did nothing to hide her nipples now. He did nothing to hide his pleasure when she shoved his face against her chest. It was soft. Welcoming.

What a way to die… to die. Finally.

Ragoth’s hand relented and the blade fell to the ground. He didn’t think about how useless he was. How many mistakes he’d made. Not like usual. There, bleeding so freely his skin had gone cold, pressed against Marina’s shadow swathed, naked body, weeping weakly… all he could think about was Helena. Mezir. Amberosin. He could have killed Marina, made their lives easier. Done something… but they wouldn’t care. They’d mourn him all the same as if he were some great man who had done something. It was peace. An end to all his worries.

All their pity... Wasted. On me...

The darkness around him became absolute then. He couldn’t see Marina though her warmth was still pressed against his stubble ridden face. Ragoth imagined it as Helena, his second love, and then Mezir, his first love. Imagined he was leaving the world with their arms around him and not some mad, naked monster’s. Accepted his peace. Accepted the end that would herald it. The slowing of his heart was the kickstart to an elation that would be eternal for Ragoth. Or, would have been.

“Sh. Sh, now. It’s alright Ragoth. It’s alright.” Her hand stroked his hair gently. So kind… so… “ Yes. I’ll take care of you. Father says you're important.”

What?! No! No, not this. Not this!

“Yes. He says you are not quite done yet, young man. Not quite yet.”

Ragoth heard the willowy gasps of fading essence. His heartbeat picked up.

Marina was humming.

***

Ta’K watched as the ball of shadows that had enveloped Ragoth disappeared. Heria charged through the empty space it left behind and slammed into the ground with a primal cry. She scrambled about looking at the ground for a few moments in disbelief before her eyes squeezed shut and she faced away from the others. Ta’K wished he could comfort Heria but at the moment he knew he was effectively… useless. Synchronizing everyone’s essence with his own for those few seconds had drained him and he wasn’t exactly full of power and strength, to begin with.

He had to turn his attention away from the lamenting woman and back to the matter at hand. Mezir had become a monster after the blade was torn free of his leg. His metal arm had begun shaking and holes had started *popping* in various spots, holes that emitted a dark mist. It covered the metal of Mezir’s arm just after he’d thrown the blade and started its way towards the man’s muscular neck. By the time Ta’K had been able to intervene, using up the absolute last amount of his essence, Mezir was already atop the noblewoman- Lili-Bon, from Mezir’s memories- ready to bare a savage fist through her skull. He’d had to kick Mezir the fresh wound on his thigh to get his attention.

Mezir’s eyes had been black, entirely, and seemed to pulse with streaks of grey throughout the smooth surface of his iris that swirled away like smoke. Upon seeing Ta’K, however, Mezir had frozen. The black receded from his eyes and shot down to his forearm but Lili-Bon had started crawling away, whimpering, and caught Mezir’s attention once more. He wasn’t as fierce as before, though still not entirely in control, Ta’K had been able to stop him with some simple pleading.

When he turned from Heria’s sorry sight he saw Mezir standing over a crying Lili-Bon. Mezir’s breaths were calm and even. His right arm already patched.

“That blade, which you stabbed me with, Lili-Bonnet,” a bit of anger as he said her name but no rage, no bloodlust, “ it sapped me of my essence. I still can’t even heal the wound all the way. It released the bonds of essence on… on what nearly killed you. I never suspected you for a fool Lili-Bon.” Ta’K could see the words slap the young woman across the face. Seemed she prided her own intelligence.

“It was just like when… Ta’K?” He was looking at Ta’K but took care to move behind Lili-Bon, keeping her in sight. “Amberosin was quite the challenge to heal with essence, wasn’t she? I mean… it was like it dissipated when it got past the skin. Like she was a vacuum that consumes… well, was it like that for you?”

Ta’K nodded, astounded. It had been exactly like that. Amberosin looked exactly like a vacuum of essence, a void, to his venerable sight. Lili-Bon looked clueless from what Ta’K could tell. Mezir noticed as well.

“ Which means that you, Lili,” Mezir shot his glare down at her, “ were given the blade without being told what it is. Which means you are of no use to me. Dumb girl.” He turned his attention back to Ta’K. Looked him over for a few seconds. “Can you watch her for me, make sure she doesn’t run off again?”

Ta’K nodded and gave a small bow. A gesture usually reserved for Ta’ generals, traditionally. It felt right to Ta’K and Mezir seemed to appreciate the gesture as he smiled wide and gave a slight bow back. A sign of their equal footing in Mezir’s eyes. Then he was off. He sprinted past Ta’K and jumped into the air riding on an invisible cloud of essence.

He was flying towards the top of the cliff that Ta’K swore seemed empty. He didn’t dare try to use his sight for fear it might knock him out cold; it wasn’t exactly casting but it did drain his essence substantially. Even from as far as he was from the cliffside himself, however, Ta’K did see something that caught his eye.

A lone figure quickly crawling and jumping up the rocky face with practiced ease. Ta’K grinned at the sight.

Amberosin.