Lianne pushed through the streets, trying to discern what the panging sensation in her head was telling her. She kept a grip on the handle of her sword, still keeping it in its sheath. Grimacing, she remembered where she was forced to learn that and the long training sessions attributed to it. It didn’t matter, none of it would once that thing was dead for good. She moved through the broken stones, trying not to get distracted by her surroundings. There were so many questions plaguing her, from the impossible floating islands to the voice which was in her head. She tried to pry her mind from the most prominent thought: Sirius. After all that time, even if it was just a day, he was just like the others. There were now 3 people who she needed to kill, or 2 people and one monster rather. She would deal with him later because right now there was a bigger target.

Letting out a frustrated groan, Lianne pushed herself to keep moving. Even though she needed to focus, her mind kept wandering back to him. What did he gain from this? Then again, what did that thing gain from anything they did? Sirius was in this for the money, so how did he benefit from coming after her? Everything he did was confusing, and most of his actions didn’t have an obvious ulterior motive, but obviously that was a misjudgement. Not knowing what he wanted was unnerving, but that would be irrelevant once he was dead. However, killing him was easier said than done considering how good he was. The way he dispatched everyone he ran into was terrifyingly efficient, maybe even better than Merrick in a head on situation. Then again, she hadn’t seen him completely slaughter towns.

The buildings around her seemed to loom over the streets, cramping the space inbetween. The uncomfortableness of it all made her move even faster. She couldn’t see her own eye, but she knew that it was glowing from the pulsing in her right ear. They had to be close, or at least she thought they should be. There was too much she didn’t know, both about where she was or what the hell her own body was telling her. All of the decisions being made were off of instinct, but that wasn’t really out of the usual. Leaning forwards as she ran, the stones skittered underneath her feet. It was so desolate, somehow even more than the towns she was used to being in. Even so, this place was too big, way too big to be comfortable.

She grit her teeth as her legs started to burn from the sprint. The pulsing grew in intensity as she rounded the corner of a giant stone building and the sound of grating metal became audible. Lianne slowed her pace and strained herself to locate the source of the sound. She slowly stepped closer to a wooden door, hearing a faint scream come out. Prepping her boot, she slammed a kick straight through, smashing the door inwards. It hit the wall and creaked on its hinges as she stepped into the refined brick interior. She carefully walked down the carpeted halls, examining the room. Expensive looking furniture lined the walls with dark blue fabric matching neatly with dark wooden planked floors. Dust littered empty bookshelves and table stands, and a burned out candle sat alone on a desk. It all was so nicely made, better than anything she had seen before, even while it was in such a state.

She was snapped out of her amazement by a cry of pain which echoed down the halls, followed by more scraping. Cursing herself, she briskly moved forwards. The high ceilings led to a set of giant, slightly ajar, sturdy doors. She slowly pushed them open, peering inside. Chains slowly circled the cavernous church-like room, swirling around the centre. Merrick laid on the floor, his hands bound and his head lifted by his neck. He was barely conscious and had long streaks of blood running down his face. Lianne looked down to see his arm without bandages on it. It was completely grey with a purple hue, the veins pulsing a deep black. His sword lay on the ground beside him as he hung limply. The alghoul needle must’ve taken a lot out of him. The chains in front of her shifted, parting as a familiar hooded figure walked forwards while playfully twirling a knife. “Good to see you made it.”

Lianne drew her sword, but was stopped by him raising a hand and flicking his wrist upwards. The chains behind shifted, revealing a bound and bloodied monster. They looked upwards, their red eyes filled with tears of pain. The blood from their now fully healed chest wound was mixed with new splatters from their sides and arms. Their hands were pulled above their head and they were dragged forwards on their knees. Tylocke stepped sideways, motioning to them. “This is what you wanted, right? I can let you have your turn, we don’t need to fight.”

She paused for a moment and slowly stepped forwards, hand still on her blade. Tylocke stepped back even further, giving her space so that she could move in. The red eyes stared up at her with a pleading gaze as they struggled to get their words out. They stopped as Lianne placed a sword to their throat, slowly dragging it across. A faint line of blood dribbled down as they held back their cries. A small smile came across her face as she whispered in their ear. “You’ve had this coming for a long time.” She positioned her sword, aiming it carefully towards the centre of their chest.

She was about to stab downwards before a crash hit her ears. Her attention was snapped away as she quickly scanned the room. Merrick was still bound, but now bore a hateful glare through his bloodied hair. Tylocke muttered in annoyance as he walked towards the exit of the room while pulling a few chains with him. The footsteps grew louder as Lianne narrowed her eyes, pulling her sword away and drawing her knife. Sirius ran in with his sword drawn and cloak flowing behind him. His eyes darted from Lianne, to the monster, and then to Tylocke. He paused for a moment and spoke carefully. “What the hell are you doing?”

Tylocke smiled and shrugged with his knife still in hand. “The contract’s off if you haven’t guessed, so run along now.”

“Lianne, why are you-”

Tylocke’s chains shot out, interrupting Sirius and forcing him to block the blow. Only one of his chain struck at him as the others stayed firmly held upwards, binding his targets. Sirius advanced forward through the blows as Lianne stood still, unsure of what to do. With the snap of his fingers, Tylocke jumped back, leaving a dark circle on the floor. “Funny thing about these chains, they had a previous owner.”

A scream echoed out and started to grow louder as darkness erupted from the void. A dark and tattered cloak flew upwards, screaming out as it twisted around itself. Lianne’s eyes widened as she realized that it was a wraith. It moved a bone-like hand shrouded in shadows towards Sirius at an incredible speed as it drifted above the ground, spilling darkness. Tylocke laughed as Sirius tried to defend himself, only to be slashed across the arm with sharp claws. Lianne dashed forward and gripped onto her sword. “Stop it.”

Tylocke glanced back at her with an annoyed glare. “You have her over there, why do you care about him?”

“Shut up.” She raised her swords as he sighed and flicked his wrist towards her, sending a chain flying down from above. Lianne dodged to the side but was hit in the side as it whipped back around. She backed away as Sirius screamed out in pain. The wraith had its hand buried in his shoulder as he stumbled back, keeping its other hand away with his blade. A rattling came from behind as a blur of motion shot by her face. Tylocke grunted as a needle flew into his hand, causing him to lose control over his chains. Merrick jumped out, quickly moving backwards as he threw another needle. Lianne sliced her blade at Tylocke’s throat as he retreated away, growling under his breath. She glanced to Merrick as he freed the dangling body at the end of the room from their chains, readying his sword as he held them.

A small blue flash briefly lit the room as Lianne’s targets escaped. She swung her sword at the wraith, feeling her sword cut through the cloak and hit nothing. Sirius fell to the floor as the wraith turned its attention to her, screeching from the dark void. It swung at her, draining her of a small amount of ether as it pushed its arms onto her. She ignored the pain and grasped under its hood, trying to find the crystal underneath the cloak. There was only one thing that could kill a wraith, and Sirius obviously didn’t know that. Her hand wrapped around the crystal and ripped it away as the wraith screeched and grabbed at her, trying to drain her even more. Lianne fell back as the hand gripped her arm and shoulder, slowly stabbing through her. She hit the ground hard, quickly recovering by slamming the crystal into the stone.

Shattered shards exploded from her palm, cutting into her hand. The wraith wailed and the void under its cloak was replaced by a bright purple light which quickly dissipated. She took a choking inhale as bits of her ether returned to her body, rejuvenating her senses. She had only killed a wraith once before, and that was probably an ether reaver judging by the chains Tylocke had. Luckily it wasn’t a warp spectre, because there would be no telling if she could have dealt with one of those things again. Slowly getting up from the floor, Lianne noticed the chains were gone now. Tylocke must have left during the scuffle, probably after the targets. A groan came from the floor beside her as Sirius laid on his side, barely moving.

It took a moment for Lianne to process what was going on. He was going to die. The ether reaver was draining him for too long, and he didn’t have much ether to begin with. She felt her breath catch in her throat as she knelt down, unsure of what she was doing. “Fuck, why did you have to-” She stopped herself and moved her hands to his wound. This wasn’t right, she should be getting the hell out of here. He had betrayed her, so why in the hell was she trying to save him? Lianne growled at herself as she tried to will her body to do anything other than what she was in the middle of, but was unable to stop herself.

Pain shot through her arm and up to her head as a blue light glowed from her hand. She was only able to hold it for a few seconds before falling sideways with a scream. The agony burned her as she realized she either healed or killed him. Either one would work. Pushing herself upwards, she clutched her arm as Sirius gasped and rolled over. She met his eyes and froze. He checked his wound and then looked from her right eye to her arm. “... Lianne, I-”

“I told you to stay away.”

“I couldn’t just let-”

“Yes you could, why are you following me?”

“Because you’re going to get yourself killed.”

“You’re one to talk, you’re going to die chasing me or I’m going to kill you-”

“Not yet apparently, you saved me, didn’t you?”

She stuttered and closed her mouth, looking away as she clutched her hand. “... Shut up.”

“Look, I’m grateful you did, but you need to-”

“I don’t need to do anything you say.”

“No, you don’t, but just think for a moment. Whatever the reason you’re chasing Avaria, you just accepted help from a man who tried to kill you an hour ago. You’re making too many jumps in logic.”

Lianne averted her gaze and shook her head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“But you haven’t given me the chance to.” He pushed himself to his feet, walking over to her. She scrambled away, quickly grabbing onto her sword and knife. “Don’t.”

“Lianne, we have a better chance of survival together.”

“You’ll just betray me again-”

“I won’t-”

“-and I won’t give you the chance to.”

He stared at her for a moment before sighing and turning around to pick up his sword. Lianne readied her weapons as he turned around, but paused as he sheathed it and slung it back around his back. “I’ve already told you, if I wanted to betray you, you would be dead already.”

“So then why the hell are you helping that goddamn thing?”

“She saved you, she wants to help you-”

“SHUT UP!” Lianne pointed her blade at him, trying to keep her voice stable. “You have no idea what they are, what they’ve done. I do.”

“... So what did they do?”

Lianne shook her head and moved away, her sword still out. “You don’t need to know.” She kept moving backwards, unsure of where she was going. Sirius shook his head and slowly moved after her. “Lianne, please wait.”

“Fucking hell, what do you want?”

He sighed and shook his head. “I’ve already told you.”

She quickened her pace as he kept moving behind her, calling out. “I’m not letting you die.”

“Shut it.”

“Let me help you.”

She whipped around and stared at him with a glare. “Help me? You really think-” She stopped as he pulled a small crystal attached to a string. It softly refracted blue light outwards with a dull glow. “Do you know what this is?”

Lianne slowly walked forward with her sword aimed at his throat. He pulled the crystal back and slowly motioned to her weapons. “I’m not going to do this if you’re threatening to kill me.”

“I don’t have to accept your help.”

“You don’t, but it’ll take a lot longer to get to her.” Sirius maintained his gaze, unnerving her. She slowly lowered her blade while glaring at him. “Keep your hands away.” He nodded and raised his hand upwards, showing an open palm. “You’ll need to put one hand on the crystal and one on me, otherwise things can go wrong. Think of where, or who rather, you want to go to.”

Her eyes darted between the crystal and his eyes. She first held the crystal, feeling the smooth surface in her palm. With a scowl, she sheathed her sword and grabbed his wrist, tensing as he wrapped his fingers around hers. The crystal started to glow brightly as thoughts of the monster flooded her mind. Sirius gripped her wrist tightly. “Careful, if you aren’t focused-”

“Will you shut it for one second?!” She hissed through grit her teeth, feeling the ether being pulled from her body and into the crystal. A light suddenly blinded her and sent her reeling. The sensation of Sirius’s hand kept her grounded as the floor shifted beneath them. Light crawled back from her vision as she stumbled back with her head flooded with nausea. She looked around through a blurred lens, making out a courtyard littered with shattered stone. Broken wooden support beams laid on the ground from a destroyed tower, reaching towards the bleary sky above. Lianne quickly ripped her hands away from Sirius and put a few meters between them.

A sudden pang hit her head as she tried to step forward. She recovered from her stumble and drew her sword as she heard footsteps from behind. Sirius stopped as her blade raised up to his eyes. She slowly spoke in a lowered tone. “What are you doing?”

“What do you think?”

She grunted, turned, and started to move away, feeling the sensation in her head crawl underneath her skin. While it was unbearably uncomfortable, it meant she was close. She let out a long frustrated sigh as Sirius’s footsteps fell behind her. There wasn’t a point to even trying to stop him, and trying to kill him would just waste time. She felt her own heartbeat through her arm, each pulse sending pain down to her fingers. Looking down, the black veins on her hand crawled along her skin. Her footsteps slowed as she examined the blight with disgust. She noticed Sirius moving in front of her too late to back away.

“Lianne, how much ether did you expend?” She stepped away and crossed her arms, hiding the veins under her clothing. “None of your business.”

“If you keep pushing yourself-” He stopped as she pushed past him while giving a glare. She should be angrier at him, it was his fault anyways. Moving forward, the sound of scuffling moved from the building beside her, then the one in front, then the one behind. She cursed and started to move quicker, trying to discern what monster was infesting this place. The air became stale as her head pulsed intensely. She quickly turned the corner of a mostly destroyed building, her eye catching sight of a blue glow.

Red eyes looked up at her as the rasp of a sword sliding out of a sheath rung in the air. They tried to get off their knees but faltered and fell down to the ground, their hands shaking and blackened. Merrick stood up straight with his sword out of his sheath. The blood was dried on his head and he was almost moving normally. He had already gotten healed, which meant less ether for the monster. Lianne moved to draw her sword as a hand grabbed her shoulder. She quickly tried to move away, but was unable to remove Sirius’s grip as she growled at him. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Don’t do this-” She ripped her arm from his grip and darted her eyes between him and Merrick. “You said you were helping me.”

“I am.” He kept her gaze with a furrowed eyebrow as she backed away from him, creating a triangle between him, her, and the monster. Merricks usual unbreaking stare kept her in place as he slowly muttered his words. “He’s right you know.”

She flicked her eyes in a scowl and spotted her other sword on his waist. Good thing he kept it, she could take it from his corpse. A stifled cry came from the monster on the ground as they got to their knees. Blood dripped from their nose which hit their bloodied clothes which covered mostly healed wounds. Lianne examined their dark veins which crawled up their neck and towards their bright crimson eyes and deep silver hair. Merrick stepped forwards, placing two hands on his sword. The air whistled behind her as he slowly moved towards her. He suddenly stopped and glanced to the side, cursing under his breath. Lianne hesitantly looked as well and spotted a flametick skittering from a building.

It was maybe a foot long with tens of legs pushing its black carapace covered body forwards. It stopped and stared with its multiple beady eyes and clicked its mandibles together. A shrill siren emitted from it as the back of it started to glow a bright orange. Lianne quickly started to move away as it prepared to attack. More flameticks started to crawl from the building, emitting the same screeching noise. A cloud of orange powder burst from one's back and started to spark and burn in the air as they slowly moved forward. The cloud grew denser as Lianne retreated even further, still keeping her eye on Merrick and Sirius.

More clicks came from behind as more ticks emerged. Lianne’s mind raced as she was pushed even closer to Merrick and Sirius. More than half of the area around them was taken up by the sparking and burning cloud created by the horde. Right now it seemed like her choices were death by sword or by burning, and either way she would be ripped to shreds or used as a nesting ground once it was done. The ticks moved in unison, their pace slowing. Lianne narrowed her eyes as they came to a halt. A familiar rattling echoed as Tylocke appeared on the second floor of a building at the end of the courtyard. “You know, controlling a hivemind is easier than you would think.”

Merrick visibly recoiled at his voice as the monster tried to stumble to their feet. Tylocke continued, his chains slinking back in the building he leaned against the window frame with a smug grin. “So, hard way or easy way?”

Merrick grimaced and reached under his cloak. Lianne readied her sword, readying herself to dodge his needles in case he also threw some at her. To her surprise, he did nothing. Tylocke hopped down, his chains following him with a burning purple glow. Sirius drew his sword as the crackling sparks of the clouds started to get louder. Tylocke’s laughter was barely audible as the horde pushed them even closer together. Lianne barely noticed movement behind her as she was pushed back. Her eyes widened as the monster neared her, barely able to stand. “You need to go.”

Sirius shook his head, speaking quickly. “Yes, but where?” They collapsed to their knees and he knelt down and reached a hand out to them. Lianne watched him, resisting the urge to charge at them as Merrick eyed her and the tick clouds grew closer. The noise was too loud for her to hear the conversation that was happening. Sirius’s face was enough to tell her their conversation must’ve been interesting, but there were more pressing things at hand. Tylocke’s chains shot forward like an arrow as Merrick threw his needles in a response. A hand grabbed Lianne’s wrist as Sirius pulled her toward him. He caught her hand as she swung a sword at his neck and quickly spoke in a hiss. “You want to die here?”

“Don’t touch me if-”

“We don’t have the time for this, now hold onto me.” He pulled out his crystal as Lianne tried to get a response but was interrupted by him wrapping his hand around her shoulder. A calm voice sounded from behind him, sending a chill down her spine. “It’s not safe here, I have enough to get you away.”

Lianne stared at the monster as they placed a hand on Sirius and held a shimmering crystal to their chest. “He’ll chase after me, not you.”

“What the hell-”

“I love you Lianne.” They drove the crystal into their own chest with a small whimper and Sirius held Lianne tightly. “Stay close.”

“NO!-”

A blinding flash filled her vision followed by a suffocating dark as the world disappeared.