The light of dusk filtered faintly through the shelves of the room, tinting the dust suspended in the air with a crimson hue.
Lusian lay reclining on the bed. Every breath sent a sharp stab of pain through him: his torso and limbs were covered in bandages, cuts, and burns. Even after spending hours unconscious, his muscles remained rigid from the exhausting toll of the battle. He tried to move his hand, but a spasm shot through his side.
He exhaled slowly. He was still alive. By a narrow margin, but alive.
He closed his eyes, seeking rest, until he sensed a breath. Slow. Heavy. An abnormal panting that did not belong to him.
Lusian's eyes snapped open. There was no one at the foot of the bed, but the temperature in the room had dropped drastically, freezing the air around him.
A whisper tore through the silence:
—Lusian...
The duke slowly turned his head and saw him.
Kheris stood at the other end of the room. Or, at least, what remained of him. His figure was a spectral remnant; his skin had become translucent in places, and tiny particles of dark energy drifted from his shoulders, dissipating into the air before touching the floor. Every exhalation seemed to steal away the last breath of his existence.
Lusian studied him through narrowed eyes.
—So you're still alive.
Kheris smiled. It was a broken, withered gesture, yet it carried the same arrogance as always.
—Not for much longer.
Lusian remained silent. Too many words had accumulated in his chest: insults, accusations, unanswered questions... Yet as he looked upon the state of the divine entity, he understood bitterly that none of it mattered anymore.
Kheris raised a hand, and a faint sphere of darkness condensed in his palm.
—I will bequeath my final remnant of divinity to you.
—I don't want it.
Lusian's refusal cut the god off before he could finish. Kheris let out a dry laugh.
—You're still as foolish as you were when you rose against me.
—And you're still talking too much for someone on the verge of death.
Kheris's smile vanished. For several seconds, the two held each other's gaze in a deathly silence.
Finally, the deity broke the silence:
—Do you really believe the story ends with me?
Lusian frowned, tense.
—What are you trying to say?
—The heroes... —Kheris took a step forward, and the space beneath his feet trembled faintly—. One falls, and another takes his place. One loses divine grace, and the next inherits it. As long as there are mortals willing to kneel, there will always be pawns willing to wield the sword for us.
Lusian clenched his teeth in anger.
—Then this cycle will never end.
—No —Kheris smiled—. Never. As long as the gods endure, we will continue recruiting servants. We will continue manipulating kingdoms from the shadows and sending heroes to slaughter those who dare stand in our way.
Lusian clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palms.
—All of this... —his voice trembled with helplessness—. Thousands of innocents died.
—I know.
—Because of your damned fault!
—Yes.
Kheris's answer was so cold and serene that Lusian looked up at him, stunned.
Kheris regarded him without the slightest trace of remorse.
—And that is why I will give you this. —The sphere of darkness floating above his palm began to expand.
—What for?
Kheris smiled, and something new flickered across his features: something deeply poisonous.
—To exact my revenge.
Lusian froze on the bed.
—Revenge?
—They exiled me, condemned me, and tried to eradicate my existence from the fabric of the world. —Kheris's disintegration accelerated as a crack tore across his spectral face—. I cannot return or reclaim what was taken from me... but I can leave them an eternal punishment. —His phosphorescent eyes locked onto Lusian—. You.
A cold shiver ran down Lusian's spine.
—I will not become your weapon.
—And you won't. —Kheris offered one final, bitter smile—. You will become something immeasurably worse.
The sphere of shadow evaporated from his palm as the god extended his arm toward the bed.
—As long as you breathe, the memory of my name will continue to haunt them.
Lusian tried to sit up and retreat, but an invisible gravitational force pinned him against the sheets.
—What the hell are you doing?!
—Giving you my final will. —Kheris's chest split open into a map of pitch-black cracks of light as his body crumbled into ash—. They will hate you, Lusian. They will fear you with every fiber of their being. And every time you interfere with their designs... they will remember that they failed to destroy me completely.
Dark energy erupted from the god's hands and plunged toward Lusian.
The duke's eyes widened in horror as the divine seed pierced his body. It did not enter like mana or a conventional spell, but like liquid fire coursing through his veins in one searing wave.
Lusian arched his back violently.
—AAAGH!
A spasm shook every muscle in his body. His heart hammered against his chest, gave one final, strangled jolt, and suddenly... there was nothing.
For one suspended instant in the void, Lusian ceased to perceive existence: the pain vanished, along with his breathing and any awareness of his own body; only an absolute abyss remained.
Until his pulse detonated once more.
BOOM!
Primordial power erupted within him. The bandages covering his body whipped about in invisible gusts, the shadows in the room stretched across the walls like claws, and the furniture began to vibrate violently. Lusian clenched his jaw as that arcane power conquered every fiber of his being.
His own mana tried to repel the invasion, but this was no mortal magic. It was an ancient, dense, ravenous entity that refused to obey the laws of nature. He tried to expel it from his channels, but the divinity sank even deeper, searching for something that already lay dormant in the depths of his soul.
When the two powers collided, the convulsion stopped dead.
The pain vanished.
Lusian remained motionless on the bed. He slowly opened his eyes. The yellow of his irises had gained a strange depth. They were no longer simply glowing; they burned in the darkness.
The shadows beneath the mattress began to move. Lusian watched them in fascination as a stream of darkness slid toward his hand. He had not called them, nor had he used mana; they had simply come to him. He moved his fingers, and the shadow obeyed.
He narrowed his eyes and looked toward the back of the room. Kheris barely maintained a recognizable silhouette as he dissolved into the air.
—What did you do to me...? —Lusian asked.
Kheris let out one final, bitter laugh.
—You're going to find out.
His figure began to turn to ash, and their eyes met one last time.
—And when you do... they'll know too.
Kheris disappeared. There were no bursts, no explosions of light; he simply ceased to exist. The dark dust that lingered in the air soon dispersed throughout the room.
Lusian remained seated. For a few seconds, nothingness reigned, until a heavy pressure spread from his chest. It was not pain; it was a presence. Something that had settled inside him, never to leave.
He looked at his hands. A vein of shadow zigzagged between his fingers. He tried to shake it off, but the mass remained clinging to his skin.
Then he understood. They had not given him a gift; they had condemned him.
The god's final will pulsed within him, and with it came something far worse: the gods would know he existed and would know what he carried within him. As long as he remained alive, they would never stop hunting him. It did not matter where he fled, how many kingdoms he crossed, or how many deities he managed to slaughter. There would always be another. Another god, another chosen hero, another army of fanatics throwing themselves into the slaughterhouse for their masters.
Until he died.
He clenched his fingers tightly, and the shadow sank beneath his flesh. His face betrayed no emotion.
—Damn you, Kheris...
His voice carried no anger, only infinite weariness.
Now he understood. Kheris had not given him his power to save him; he had chained him to his war. A struggle he could no longer evade.
Lusian looked toward the window. Outside, the world was still standing. At least for now.
—So this was what you wanted...
Kheris was dead, but his revenge had only just begun. And Lusian would have to carry it with him until his final breath.