The doors into the throne room opened easily to Kasyn’s touch. Damarys stood back and watched as both he and the scout approached. The throne room was littered with corpses and Akumu sat on his throne. Parts of him were missing and the throne itself was a wreck. As Kasyn and the scout drew nearer, Akumu looked up at them, his skeletal face with only hints of flesh and burning eyes watched them silently until they were within arms reach.

“Who, Tomodachi?…not enemies,” Akumu spoke in a vague, distracted whisper that nonetheless carried and filled the room. “I need…souls.”

The scout knelt before Akumu and Damarys could hear her sobs as the ancient lich leaned down until his face was level with her own. Damarys was only a few steps into the throne room since every instinct in her was telling her to stay away from Akumu. She’d never been in his presence before and looking at him now, the rotting corpse that he was, made her stomach churn. She understood more fully now how the Tower of Light could fear and hate him.

Akumu placed a hand gently on the scout’s shoulder before breathing in sharply. The scout jerked and a faint haze appeared all around her. Akumu then leaned back and began twining small tendrils of the hazy material around his fingers as though he were winding up thread. As he worked, the missing parts of his body began to re-materialize, knitting back into their proper place. His eyes focused into pinpricks of light rather than the uncontained flame they had been. When he finished, the scout slumped to the side, dead.

Now fully restored, Akumu stood and surveyed the room.

“What a mess,” he sighed. Then, waving towards the dead soldiers he added, “Arise.”

The dead rose and shuffled out of the room. Another wave of his hand restored his tattered robes so that his body was mostly concealed from view and he picked a ceramic mask up from off the floor and put it on.

“I sense my castle, my city, and my lands are restored,” he said, sitting back down onto his throne. “And I have you to thank for it.”

Kasyn was already kneeling and Damarys finally approached.

“There were others who helped,” Damarys said. “Emilie and Zeter.”

Akumu nodded.

“You’ve sacrificed much yourselves,” he said, turning from one to the other as he spoke. “And now you think your trials are done, but I see upon you the same mark as the Tower of Light. You have heard the call. The path to ascension is open to you.”

Memories of that strange place beneath the Tower of Light chapel in Ichiba Wa with the lake and the voice inside her head flooded back to her. She’d almost forgotten about it, yet now she wondered how she could forget such an experience.

“It gets inside your mind, like a worm,” Akumu went on, “and hides, festering, until it grows and consumes you.”

“What is that creature?” Kasyn asked.

“A being from before creation,” Akumu replied. “A remnant, locked out of reality and only just able to reach through the cracks. It has led countless people to ascend and overthrow the gods, becoming the new pantheon, only for the cycle to continue again and again. It was chaos, for every time the pantheon was made anew, our world would burn and die, reborn in the image of the new gods. Until…”

Akumu stared down into his lap, his hands fidgeting as though he were nervous about something.

“Until what?” Damarys prompted.

“Until I stopped it. I ascended and slew the gods but did not take my place in the heavens. I left them empty so the world wouldn’t be harmed. I found the cracks that the creature was leaking through and guarded them as best I could. But recently…I’ve begun to falter. I gave up my soul to become immortal. I clung to my humanity but it’s slipping through my fingers. Every year, I care less and less about people. I fear…I fear I may become the very thing I sought to prevent.”

“Is there anything we can do for you?” Kasyn asked.

Akumu turned sharply to look at him.

“Yes, but it will not be easy.”

“We’ll do anything for you Lord Akumu!” Kasyn assured him.

“Over the millennia, I have gathered the blood of dead gods,” Akumu said, “it is required to ascend, but I have found another use for it. If you instead cast it into the lake where that creature hides, it will pull it through into our world.”

“I thought you’d want to keep it out, not let it in,” Damarys said.

“There will always be cracks for it to seep through so closing one crack would be pointless, and as it currently is, the creature cannot be hurt. But if you were to draw it fully into our world, you could attack it and kill it. Then I could seal the heavens off forever. Then I could be put to rest and no longer worry about becoming a threat to my people.”

“We’ll do it,” Kasyn assured Akumu.

“Be warned,” Akumu said as he withdrew a vial of shimmering blood from within his robes, “this blood can be used by anyone, including yourselves. Do not succumb to the temptation of ascension. You must slay the creature, and then return here and put me to rest.”

Kasyn hesitated.

“What do you mean?” he asked. “You’ll still be able to rule over us.”

“I told you, my long years are finally stripping away my concern for mortals. Another generation or two and I’ll be a heartless despot, no longer content to rule my kingdom but instead will desire the world. I’d finally ascend and claim the heavens and all will wish for death before the end.”

“You’re already my god,” Kasyn nearly wept. “I’ve worshiped you since I was a child!”

“So have many others,” Akumu sighed, “but I never asked for your worship, in fact I used to work against such things. Alas it is a sign of what I am becoming that I have allowed you to worship me and gain power from your faith. A part of me yearns to be divine, yet I know it would be for the wrong reasons. I would not seek to rule for your benefit but for my pride. No, young one, I must be put to rest before that can happen. You must do this thing for me. Please.”

“We’ll do what you ask,” Damarys said, stepping forward and accepting the vial from Akumu. “Come on Kasyn, let’s do what we’ve been asked to do.”

She expected him to protest more but instead he remained silent.

“Very well,” Akumu nodded to them, “I’ll speed you on your way.”

With that, he waved his hand and a glowing ring appeared on the floor around Damarys and Kasyn. A moment later, her vision flashed and the throne room vanished and was replaced by the Tower of Light’s chapel in Ichiba Wa. They were outside, standing a short ways away from the building. Standing in the doorway was Tomodachi, his side still bandaged.

“Oh good,” he said, straightening and locking his eyes onto the vial in Damarys’ hand. “I’ll take that off you and handle the creature myself.”

Having spent so much time in the wilds, hunting animals, Damarys had learned a few things about body language and right now, Tomodachi was moving like a predator, hungry and eager. She stowed the vial into her pouch quickly and drew her bow.

“Lord Akumu entrusted us with this task,” she said, drawing the final dragon tooth arrow she still had in her quiver.

Tomodachi’s expression darkened as he blocked their way, drawing a dagger and short sword.

“Did you know I’m just as old as Akumu,” he said through gritted teeth. “We survived the fall of our gods together, learned the secret of their false immortality. Learned how to slay them. But when the time came, Akumu left me behind and claimed all the power for himself, only granting me enough power to live like an immortal, but doomed to never taste the true power of the heavens. I was fine with it at first, accepting his excuses, but over time I’ve come to see things differently.

“We’re going to slay the creature,” Kasyn stated, drawing magic into his hands.

“If that creature dies then the path to ascension will be lost, don’t you see? Akumu wants us to live without gods except for him alone. He’s gone mad.”

“Akumu doesn’t want to be a god,” Damarys said. “He’s told us himself.”

“And you believe him? He’s mad. Once you’re done here he’ll ascend since he’ll finally be assured that no one else can follow in his footsteps and overthrow him.”

“So instead you want to ascend?”

“I can protect the kingdom, the world far better than Akumu has. As a god I could locate all the cracks the creature down there has used and seal them.”

“If that was true, why didn’t any of the other pantheons do that?” Kasyn asked.

Tomodachi just glared at him for an answer. He tensed, ready to strike, and Damarys switched from grabbing the dragon tooth arrow to one of her regular ones. In a moment, Tomodachi would spring into action, it was written in every twitch of his muscles, and Damarys wasn’t going to let him get the first move.

In one fluid motion, Damarys raised her bow, knocked the arrow, and drew back. The moment she was at full draw she released, aiming not where Tomodachi was but where he was about to spring. At the same time, Tomodachi lunged, aiming his sword at Kasyn’s heart. The moment her arrow was loosed, she grabbed the dragon tooth arrow.

The first arrow clanged off of Tomodachi’s sword, turning it away and giving Kasyn time to dodge out of the way. Magic flashed as Kasyn struck Tomodachi in his wounded side, earning a grunt of pain from the satyr.

The dragon tooth arrow was already on its way when Tomodachi turned to face her, anger and surprise playing on his face. Her aim was true and Tomodachi failed to react in time as the dragon tooth arrow cut through his left eye and continued onward as though nothing were in its way. His head jerked back a moment after the arrow had passed through and embedded itself in the lintel of the door behind him. A third, normal arrow, followed in short order but this one bounced off Tomodachi’s neck as though it were iron.

“AGH!” Tomodachi cried out, cradling his empty eye socket with one hand while holding the hole in the back of his head with the other. He was bleeding profusely from both and his body didn’t seem to be responding well. He jerked and twitched but did not fall.

Rather than waste another arrow on him, Damarys dodged right as Tomodachi aimed a kick at her. Kasyn sent flowing bands of metal to bind the satyr and hold him still while Damarys rushed to the dragon tooth. She wished she had more than the one but at least it could damage Tomodachi. It was sunken several inches into the wood and refused to budge when she tugged on it.

“Kasyn!” she shouted, getting his attention while Tomodachi struggled against his bonds.

He looked over, realized what she needed, and blasted the lintel apart, freeing the arrow. The momentary distraction was enough for Tomodachi to break free and he rushed Kasyn, bowling him over. He’d no longer had his dagger and short sword but was no less energetic when it came to punching and headbutting. Kasyn did what he could to fend off the satyr, using his magical barriers as best he could but without Zeter’s expertise.

The dragon tooth arrow was lost in the jumble of wood fragments and Damarys scrambled to find it before Tomodachi could land a serious blow on Kasyn. Behind her she could hear the struggle on going.

“Damarys, hurry!” Kasyn shouted.

At last she found the arrow and drew it as she turned. Tomodachi flung himself away, taking cover before she could fire it at him. Kasyn scrambled back up to his feet, slightly battered but nothing beyond that.

Tomodachi had managed to retrieve his dagger and he held it out in front of him, ignoring his wounds for the time being.

“You could be gods!” he called out. “We all could, if you’d only stop to listen. Stop and think! We could make the world however we want it. It would be perfect!”

“You’re delusional,” Damarys replied. “That creature’s filled your head with lies.”

Tomodachi tensed and Damarys readied herself. The moment he moved she fired, piercing him through the heart. He didn’t slow, this time, or even react other than to scream out as he ran at them. Damarys saw something blur in her peripheral vision and turned to see Kasyn whipping the black chain out and striking Tomodachi with it. As with every other time, the chain bit into each of them and they froze where they were.

She doubted Kasyn could win this particular battle of wills but it would at least delay Tomodachi for a moment. Unfortunately, her dragon tooth arrow had sailed on through Tomodachi and was now too far away to retrieve. Instead, she dropped her bow, looked around for a moment until she spied Tomodachi’s short sword and scooped it up. Tomodachi’s eyes followed her as she dashed back, sword in hand, and swung it at his neck. Sword fighting wasn’t something Damarys had ever trained in but the basic principle was fairly straight forward.

Too late, Tomodachi tried to raise his dagger to block the strike and Damarys’ strike clove through his neck. Instantly he fell and Kasyn dropped to his knees, gasping for breath.

“I wasn’t sure that would work,” he panted. “I wasn’t going to last much longer against him if you hadn’t…

He trailed off as he gestured towards the beheaded body on the ground before them that was reanimating and sinking into the ground.

“You okay?” Damarys asked as she offered him a hand up.

Kasyn was a bit shaky on his feet but otherwise unharmed. She recovered her dragon tooth arrow, grimacing at a small crack forming along the shaft. It probably only had one more use before it broke.

“These might come in handy,” Kasyn said, picking up Tomodachi’s dagger and pointing at the short sword Damarys was still carrying.

“I guess, though I’m hoping my regular arrows will be effective against this thing once we pull it out of the lake.”

“Yeah,” Kasyn agreed. “You ready?”

“Are you?”

Kasyn nodded so Damarys shrugged and motioned for him to lead the way. This time, he summoned up his skeletons and they formed a defensive line, just in case there were any more surprises waiting for them below.