Prompt Submission for Ironage Media: The Warden M.C. Deltat
The Rebellion won. It had taken many years of near-ceaseless bloodshed and seemingly insurmountable odds, but the old tyranny which had so carelessly disappeared entire villages had finally been overthrown and tossed away. All aspects of its leadership, systems and people, were banished in preparation for the new dawn that was surely rising for humanity. Yet for the new King, the once former Premier of the Rebellion, there was a storm darkening the sky, one preventing him from seeing the morning sun rise over the new age.
“You hate me and all that I have done,” The Tyrant King had begged with his dying breath. “All under your banner do, I understand. But you must know why I did what I did; You must see with your own eyes. Know that I acted for Humanity. I hated the cost at first, but much like all those who came before, I eventually saw that there was no choice to be had. Any other path would mean genocide… Please, climb to the peaks of the Great Mount Blazvatan and see.”
Cassus slowly walked up the steep stairway leading to the peaks of said mountain, trapped in thought. He had been the one to personally execute the Tyrant King in one-on-one combat. And it was as the Tyrant King collapsed onto the floor, fluid leaking out of all his orifices, some natural and some man-made, that plea had been his last words uttered. There was no request for mercy, or final curse in Cassus’s name; it had been an honest and straightforward wish.
“No choice.” Cassus scoffed out loud. “There is always a choice.” At first, Cassus had considered the words meaningless, some attempt to confuse him and buy a few more moments of mortal coil. However, the longer he went from that fated moment, the more the words weighed heavily upon his soul. Eventually, with more than a handful of sleepless nights, Cassus had decided that he had to know what the Tyrant King had been referring to.
“I will honor your last breath.” Cassus considered as he marched. “I will give you the courtesy which you denied to so many others.” He exhaled as he climbed over a collapsed step. The air was extremely thin at his current elevation, even basic motions grew challenging. Cassus did not remember when he had last saw a bird or goat. On this mountain peak, it was just all ash and rock. “Then, I will be free from you. You will be forgotten forever, your legacy of secret and casual genocide will become nothing more than a scary story for children.”
Cassus paused in his hike for a moment to collect his breath. He was getting exhausted. Never would he have considered the trek so challenging. Frankly, Cassus was happy that he didn’t take his guards with him; his out of shape condition would have been a shameful display to those that live to follow his every order. It was far better that he came alone. Still, as the moments went on, Cassus found his restlessness growing, even as exhausted as he was. He kicked a few rocks around as he waited for his heartrate to settle, minimal attention paid as he focused on his breathing. However, eventually, one of those rocks echoed strangely. It was unlike all the prior rocks.
“What are you?” Cassus asked as he slowly bent down. After being kicked, the material had echoed, almost as if it were hollow and brittle. Cassus didn’t know of any naturally occurring rocks on the mountain peak that could make such a whine. When he bent down and looked, he wished he hadn’t. It was the hollow skull of a very young child. Cassus didn’t want to guess how young; it would have broken his resolve.
Second wind achieved, Cassus restarted his march. He had to know what was at the mountain peak. What was there which had convinced the Tyrant King to remain so sure of himself, even till his lucid moment? “Its getting harder.” Cassus mumbled. He was unsure if it was the elevation, but for some reason, each step felt magnitudes more difficult than the last. It was almost as if his entire being was being rejected by the mountain, and said mountain was politely telling him to turn back. Honestly, he almost felt like obeying the strange force.
He didn’t. He was almost to the peak; he could see the sun breaking through the horizon as he marched. Yet, in a few steps, Cassus’s entire opinion changed. He quickly wished he had obeyed the mountain.
“You are not King Kastor.” A deep voice resonated within Cassus’ entire being. It almost felt as if the voice was coming from within, instead of from the peak. “Only the king is allowed to make tribute.”
“As of a few weeks ago, King Kastor is no longer alive.” Cassus responded. He didn’t know if the voice could hear his response, but he had a feeling. “The Tyrant King was overthrown in Rebellion and I now sit upon his blooded throne.”
“Ah, then we have started yet a new cycle.” The voice echoed. By this point, Cassus had crested over the the peak. Before him was a sight directly out of the end times. A massive winged Ancient sat upon a throne made from the corpses of many calcified elder dragons. Those bodies wrapped around a massive pyramid alter, with hundreds of clasps connecting the stonework of the alter to the deceased elder dragons. “Has he told you of the ancient covenant?” There was minimal movement as the voice echoed. Frankly speaking, the Ancient looked just as calcified as the dead elder dragons. And yet, here it was, speaking to Cassus.
At least, Cassus presumed it was the Ancient speaking to him. Frowning, he shook his head to respond, “No. I was not made aware of any covenant. I was just told to show up here.”
“Hmmmm,” The Ancient hummed in consideration, as his eyes began to glow a piercing white-blue color. After a few heart wrenching moments, The Ancient resumed speaking. “You tell the truth. King Kastor failed in his duty, that of kings, and he will be punished.”
Cassus’s mouth grew very dry upon hearing that. “What do you mean punished?” Cassus asked. He had no idea if questioning the massive was intelligent, but this had to be clarified. “He is already dead, slain by my very own hands. What more can you do to him?”
At first, there was no response. Cassus merely watched as the Ancient’s eyes morphed into an even sharper shade of blue. Eventually, the voice resumed resonating within Cassus’s soul. “His soul will encounter oblivion; Complete denial from the serenity of providence.”
“What?” Cassus was horrified. “We wanted to overthrown him. Not doom him for all eternity!”
“No doom.” The Ancient clarified. “Oblivion. The spirit will simply cease.” The Ancient’s eyes stopped glowing. “It is done.”
Cassus stood frozen. His eyes de-focused, as fear captured every inch of his body. It was a strange parody of fight-or-flight, a feeling he had thought he was well acquainted with. He had stood up to a despot and overthrown a country, yet that experience was irreverent compared to this. Sweat began beading down his forehead, as a tense soreness infected his limbs.
The Ancient however, continued, uncaring of Cassus’s panic. “I have had many names and titles. The most recent, used by your forebearers, is Gintanai. The covenant refers to the sacred duty each leader of Man has owed me since the beginning.”
“The beginning.” Cassus muttered, as he finally began to take a good look at the mountain peak. He just wanted to see anything other than the Ancient. The scores of skeletons littering the mountain top was not more aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
“Every new prospective leader has come before me to beg for my blessing. Once 100 tributes have been surrendered, I confirm the appointment and title the man a king.” Gintanai explained.
Cassus’s mouth went completely dry. He opened his mouth with a fervent desire to confirm what he had just heard, but no words came out. Instead, he coughed. He almost coughed his lungs out, eventually spilling blood out from between his teeth. Cassus collapsed, hands just barely preventing his head from slamming into the ground. “One hundred tributes?” He eventually found the strength to ask.
“Initially.” Gintanai confirmed. “Periodically, an additional twenty-five lives will be required.” The Ancient beast paused as it considered the mortal prostrating before him. “You did not know, so you will not be punished for the transgression. However, due to your civil war, I had not received my tithe in quite some time. If you wish to crowned, you must leave and return with your nominated sacrifice as quickly as possible.”
Cassus’s head began to shake upon hearing Gintanai. He clawed at the bones closest to him, trying to make sense of the situation. A torrent of emotion was at war within his body, and he frankly didn’t know how he should respond to such a being. Gintanai’s demands and stature were beyond anything he could have considered when the Tyrant King had begged his final request. And yet, it was as he turned his head, seeing all the many deceased littered around him, Cassus’s soul decided the way forward. The way was rage. “WHO DO YOU THINK I AM! I OVERTHREW KASTOR TO STOP THE SACRIFICES! WHY WOULD I CONTINUE THE HORROR? JUST TO FEED YOUR GLUTTONY?” Cassus raised his head to look directly into the eyes of Gintanai. Then, gaze firm and unmoving, Cassus slowly uttered his words. “You will get nothing.”
“They were not eaten for bodily sustenance.” Gintanai casually explained. Even if the words echoed in Cassus’s mind, there was no tone or emotion to them. They just were. Cassus’s outrage had not offended Gintanai in the slightest. Instead, he just passively responded, as if reciting a fact as old as the world. “Their souls fueled my powers. And if not for their sacrifice, I would have been unable to keep the gate sealed. Now, climb back down the mountain and collect your hundred. Your little human conflict interrupted the regular consumption.”
“That little human conflict was a brutal war in which many sacrificed their lives so as to overthrow the Tyrant King.” Cassus began to pace back and forth in-front of the massive alter that Gintanai sat upon. “A king that regularly oppressed thousands. A king that would disappear entire communities, never to be seen again. And it was all for this.” He paused for a moment, before kicking a desecrated ribcage at his feet. “And as I gaze upon the ocean of corpses surrounding you, Gintanai, I don’t know if I believe you.”
A sound echoed within Cassus. If he had to guess, the closest approximation was a sigh. After which, there was nothing until the echo resumed. “You are correct in at least one aspect. You do not know. I do.” Gintanai boomed. “I know, as did all the other kings that came before you. Many protested, as you did, but ultimately, they all delivered what was expected of them.”
“Then none of them were true kings.” Cassus proclaimed. He stood proud and straight as he spoke. “I will be the first true king, one you have never seen before.”
“I HAVE KNOWN ALL OF YOU!” Gintanai roared. It almost shattered Cassus’s mind. Quickly, he collapsed once again, this time chest collapsing hard into the ground. Yet that pain compared nothing to the flames burning his mind. Cassus’ vision blurred, as blood began to trickle out of his eyes, ears, and nose. “I EXISTED BEFORE SPACE AND MATTER AND TIME. FROM BEFORE THE ONE YOU WORSHIP UTTERED THOSE WORDS ‘LET THEIR BE LIGHT’!” The words were almost to much for Cassus to take. He had withstood torture before, but even that was nothing compared to Gintanai’s rage. It felt as if the very cells of his body were tearing themselves apart. “I have witnessed every iteration of man possible, seen both your climbs and crashes. There is no being on this plain that knows the potential of man better than I.” Gintanai paused before adding. “What I hold back is beyond your kind.”
“And what…” Cassus clawed at the dirt, struggling to climb back up. His entire body was out of wack, refusing even the most basic commands. At this point, just the fact that he retained the ability to breathe was a gift. “And what exactly do you hold back?” He moaned out in-between bloody gasps.
“Before there was thought, before there was anything, there was nothing.” Gintanai explained in a far softer manner. The pressure was still dense, but at least it was no longer tearing Cassus’s being apart. “And before there was nothing, there were monsters. Such beings beyond conception and strength, mere presence was enough to cause madness.”
Cassus drew himself up to his knees. He did not yet have enough energy to stand, but he could handle this. “So then, how can you hold them back? Where did they go?” The words came out scratchy and bitter, from a red raw throat.
There was a very noticeable tenseness in the air. It was as if Cassus had asked a question that was not meant to be asked. Of all the things he had said thus far, this was the one that impacted the Ancient the most. Eventually however, the answer came forth. “I am not a singular existence. I could understand why you might assume such a thing, that I was some outlier of a being, simply plaguing the reality of man.” Each word came out very deliberately, with more care than anything else spoken by Gintanai. “But I was once a member of many; maybe we were the first, maybe we weren’t. We were, however, the first to rise up and repel the blight upon being. We were victorious against the horror, but at massive cost.” The very mountain seemed to shutter, unsettling Cassus and all the surrounding bones. “I am the last, will forever be the last, charged with being the Warden over my people’s legacy. At first, I was capable of keeping the prison sealed independently, but I have been at work for longer than you, or any of yours, could possibly conceive. My strength is no longer self-regenerating.” The shaking ceased. “I need the sacrifices; If I do not get them, then…”
“You will be forced to release the beings.” Cassus breathed out. He looked at his hands, dangling off his knees. He felt nothing in them. “You speak of what you do as a nicety... You cloak your implications of horrors as a favor done for humanity. It isn’t. Rather, you are threatening each and every living being with doom... even if I was to believe you.” Cassus added in at the end.
“I am merely doing my duty as the last.” The single sentence was short, but it implied plenty.
Cassus tried his best to regain motion in his arms, carefully engaging whatever muscles he could feel. “Well, allow me to ask you a few questions about your duty then. When you first began demanding the lives of my kinsmen, was it on a continuous basis? You say that you require the consumption of humans yearly? Was it always so? Or maybe tributes started out as a singular individual? But soon, maybe that was no longer enough, so you added on. One year, you needed two, then three, then ten, and twenty. Eventually, I wonder if you would have humanity sacrificing the many for the many. You might even do you best to call it a bargain.”
“There is no happy ending to the story of life.” Gintanai responded. “All one can ever hope to do is stall against the end. Thus is the nature of my duty as Warden.”
“No.”
“No?”
Cassus finally gathered the strength to stand once more. It was slow and painful, but he carefully lifted himself up leg by leg. “I will not be giving you anymore human lives. I don’t know what to think about your so called duty as warden, but I do know what to think of you.” Cassus brought up an arm to point directly at Gintanai’s head. “I think you are a demon that has grown fat and lazy on human souls. And while you may kill me, no one soul knows of your existence. You claim to be an immortal? Fine. Suffer immortality in isolation.”
The body of Gintanai creaked as massive stones fell off the massive being. “I warn you. Once the box is open, there are none that will be able to close it again. You would curse all of existence to a host dedicated to chaos and pandemonium. I fear you are not thinking rationally; there is no choice to be made for the answer is apparent.”
“There is always a choice. Do as you will.” Cassus commanded.
There was silence for a brief moment, as reality itself waited in bated breathe for Gintanai to act. Eventually, the answer presented itself. One by one, the many locks clasping the alter to the elder dragon bodies began echoing. Each one was audible more in a spiritual sense than physical, yet the sound of silence stung all the same. Eventually, the echoing ceased all at once. Then, the locks began to fall to the ground, crashing into the mountain and immediately sinking into the rock itself.
Cassus watched as the pyramid slowly unlocked, cracks in the jail revealing a pure black hollow, capable of consuming all light. As it did, he found the courage to say one final thing to Gintanai; Cassus suspected the last thing one of his kind would ever say to one of the Ancient’s kind. “Even if what you say is the truth, I am not scared. I think you heavily underestimate humanity. Our resilience and spirit is capable of overcoming anything.”
Gintanai remained silent, as his throne began to disintegrate. Not only that, his very body appeared to be fading away in-time to the unlocking seals. With each lock that crashed into the ground, Gintanai’s body became just a tad more incorporeal. It was as the very last lock opened, that Gintanai decided to respond with his very last words. “No.” he replied. “No it isnt.”
The Alter, the horde of deceased dragons, and Gintanai himself all faded from away; gone forever. In its place, there was a hole. It was impossible to see inside the hole for all light immediately went to oblivion as soon as it entered. What was worse, is that Cassus could see that as the tense seconds went on, the void was carefully expanding, consuming all in its wake.
And then, It erupted out, something beyond conception. The very form of the thing was an insult to existence itself. But Cassus didn’t have to worry about it for long. The more that he observed that cursed entity, the more everything else faded away as all meaning ended.
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The Last Lie
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The Last Lie
Prompt Submission for Ironage Media: The Warden
M.C. Deltat
The Rebellion won. It had taken many years of near-ceaseless bloodshed and seemingly insurmountable odds, but the old tyranny which had so carelessly disappeared entire villages had finally been overthrown and tossed away. All aspects of its leadership, systems and people, were banished in preparation for the new dawn that was surely rising for humanity. Yet for the new King, the once former Premier of the Rebellion, there was a storm darkening the sky, one preventing him from seeing the morning sun rise over the new age.
“You hate me and all that I have done,” The Tyrant King had begged with his dying breath. “All under your banner do, I understand. But you must know why I did what I did; You must see with your own eyes. Know that I acted for Humanity. I hated the cost at first, but much like all those who came before, I eventually saw that there was no choice to be had. Any other path would mean genocide… Please, climb to the peaks of the Great Mount Blazvatan and see.”
Cassus slowly walked up the steep stairway leading to the peaks of said mountain, trapped in thought. He had been the one to personally execute the Tyrant King in one-on-one combat. And it was as the Tyrant King collapsed onto the floor, fluid leaking out of all his orifices, some natural and some man-made, that plea had been his last words uttered. There was no request for mercy, or final curse in Cassus’s name; it had been an honest and straightforward wish.
“No choice.” Cassus scoffed out loud. “There is always a choice.” At first, Cassus had considered the words meaningless, some attempt to confuse him and buy a few more moments of mortal coil. However, the longer he went from that fated moment, the more the words weighed heavily upon his soul. Eventually, with more than a handful of sleepless nights, Cassus had decided that he had to know what the Tyrant King had been referring to.
“I will honor your last breath.” Cassus considered as he marched. “I will give you the courtesy which you denied to so many others.” He exhaled as he climbed over a collapsed step. The air was extremely thin at his current elevation, even basic motions grew challenging. Cassus did not remember when he had last saw a bird or goat. On this mountain peak, it was just all ash and rock. “Then, I will be free from you. You will be forgotten forever, your legacy of secret and casual genocide will become nothing more than a scary story for children.”
Cassus paused in his hike for a moment to collect his breath. He was getting exhausted. Never would he have considered the trek so challenging. Frankly, Cassus was happy that he didn’t take his guards with him; his out of shape condition would have been a shameful display to those that live to follow his every order. It was far better that he came alone. Still, as the moments went on, Cassus found his restlessness growing, even as exhausted as he was. He kicked a few rocks around as he waited for his heartrate to settle, minimal attention paid as he focused on his breathing. However, eventually, one of those rocks echoed strangely. It was unlike all the prior rocks.
“What are you?” Cassus asked as he slowly bent down. After being kicked, the material had echoed, almost as if it were hollow and brittle. Cassus didn’t know of any naturally occurring rocks on the mountain peak that could make such a whine. When he bent down and looked, he wished he hadn’t. It was the hollow skull of a very young child. Cassus didn’t want to guess how young; it would have broken his resolve.
Second wind achieved, Cassus restarted his march. He had to know what was at the mountain peak. What was there which had convinced the Tyrant King to remain so sure of himself, even till his lucid moment? “Its getting harder.” Cassus mumbled. He was unsure if it was the elevation, but for some reason, each step felt magnitudes more difficult than the last. It was almost as if his entire being was being rejected by the mountain, and said mountain was politely telling him to turn back. Honestly, he almost felt like obeying the strange force.
He didn’t. He was almost to the peak; he could see the sun breaking through the horizon as he marched. Yet, in a few steps, Cassus’s entire opinion changed. He quickly wished he had obeyed the mountain.
“You are not King Kastor.” A deep voice resonated within Cassus’ entire being. It almost felt as if the voice was coming from within, instead of from the peak. “Only the king is allowed to make tribute.”
“As of a few weeks ago, King Kastor is no longer alive.” Cassus responded. He didn’t know if the voice could hear his response, but he had a feeling. “The Tyrant King was overthrown in Rebellion and I now sit upon his blooded throne.”
“Ah, then we have started yet a new cycle.” The voice echoed. By this point, Cassus had crested over the the peak. Before him was a sight directly out of the end times. A massive winged Ancient sat upon a throne made from the corpses of many calcified elder dragons. Those bodies wrapped around a massive pyramid alter, with hundreds of clasps connecting the stonework of the alter to the deceased elder dragons. “Has he told you of the ancient covenant?” There was minimal movement as the voice echoed. Frankly speaking, the Ancient looked just as calcified as the dead elder dragons. And yet, here it was, speaking to Cassus.
At least, Cassus presumed it was the Ancient speaking to him. Frowning, he shook his head to respond, “No. I was not made aware of any covenant. I was just told to show up here.”
“Hmmmm,” The Ancient hummed in consideration, as his eyes began to glow a piercing white-blue color. After a few heart wrenching moments, The Ancient resumed speaking. “You tell the truth. King Kastor failed in his duty, that of kings, and he will be punished.”
Cassus’s mouth grew very dry upon hearing that. “What do you mean punished?” Cassus asked. He had no idea if questioning the massive was intelligent, but this had to be clarified. “He is already dead, slain by my very own hands. What more can you do to him?”
At first, there was no response. Cassus merely watched as the Ancient’s eyes morphed into an even sharper shade of blue. Eventually, the voice resumed resonating within Cassus’s soul. “His soul will encounter oblivion; Complete denial from the serenity of providence.”
“What?” Cassus was horrified. “We wanted to overthrown him. Not doom him for all eternity!”
“No doom.” The Ancient clarified. “Oblivion. The spirit will simply cease.” The Ancient’s eyes stopped glowing. “It is done.”
Cassus stood frozen. His eyes de-focused, as fear captured every inch of his body. It was a strange parody of fight-or-flight, a feeling he had thought he was well acquainted with. He had stood up to a despot and overthrown a country, yet that experience was irreverent compared to this. Sweat began beading down his forehead, as a tense soreness infected his limbs.
The Ancient however, continued, uncaring of Cassus’s panic. “I have had many names and titles. The most recent, used by your forebearers, is Gintanai. The covenant refers to the sacred duty each leader of Man has owed me since the beginning.”
“The beginning.” Cassus muttered, as he finally began to take a good look at the mountain peak. He just wanted to see anything other than the Ancient. The scores of skeletons littering the mountain top was not more aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
“Every new prospective leader has come before me to beg for my blessing. Once 100 tributes have been surrendered, I confirm the appointment and title the man a king.” Gintanai explained.
Cassus’s mouth went completely dry. He opened his mouth with a fervent desire to confirm what he had just heard, but no words came out. Instead, he coughed. He almost coughed his lungs out, eventually spilling blood out from between his teeth. Cassus collapsed, hands just barely preventing his head from slamming into the ground. “One hundred tributes?” He eventually found the strength to ask.
“Initially.” Gintanai confirmed. “Periodically, an additional twenty-five lives will be required.” The Ancient beast paused as it considered the mortal prostrating before him. “You did not know, so you will not be punished for the transgression. However, due to your civil war, I had not received my tithe in quite some time. If you wish to crowned, you must leave and return with your nominated sacrifice as quickly as possible.”
Cassus’s head began to shake upon hearing Gintanai. He clawed at the bones closest to him, trying to make sense of the situation. A torrent of emotion was at war within his body, and he frankly didn’t know how he should respond to such a being. Gintanai’s demands and stature were beyond anything he could have considered when the Tyrant King had begged his final request. And yet, it was as he turned his head, seeing all the many deceased littered around him, Cassus’s soul decided the way forward. The way was rage. “WHO DO YOU THINK I AM! I OVERTHREW KASTOR TO STOP THE SACRIFICES! WHY WOULD I CONTINUE THE HORROR? JUST TO FEED YOUR GLUTTONY?” Cassus raised his head to look directly into the eyes of Gintanai. Then, gaze firm and unmoving, Cassus slowly uttered his words. “You will get nothing.”
“They were not eaten for bodily sustenance.” Gintanai casually explained. Even if the words echoed in Cassus’s mind, there was no tone or emotion to them. They just were. Cassus’s outrage had not offended Gintanai in the slightest. Instead, he just passively responded, as if reciting a fact as old as the world. “Their souls fueled my powers. And if not for their sacrifice, I would have been unable to keep the gate sealed. Now, climb back down the mountain and collect your hundred. Your little human conflict interrupted the regular consumption.”
“That little human conflict was a brutal war in which many sacrificed their lives so as to overthrow the Tyrant King.” Cassus began to pace back and forth in-front of the massive alter that Gintanai sat upon. “A king that regularly oppressed thousands. A king that would disappear entire communities, never to be seen again. And it was all for this.” He paused for a moment, before kicking a desecrated ribcage at his feet. “And as I gaze upon the ocean of corpses surrounding you, Gintanai, I don’t know if I believe you.”
A sound echoed within Cassus. If he had to guess, the closest approximation was a sigh. After which, there was nothing until the echo resumed. “You are correct in at least one aspect. You do not know. I do.” Gintanai boomed. “I know, as did all the other kings that came before you. Many protested, as you did, but ultimately, they all delivered what was expected of them.”
“Then none of them were true kings.” Cassus proclaimed. He stood proud and straight as he spoke. “I will be the first true king, one you have never seen before.”
“I HAVE KNOWN ALL OF YOU!” Gintanai roared. It almost shattered Cassus’s mind. Quickly, he collapsed once again, this time chest collapsing hard into the ground. Yet that pain compared nothing to the flames burning his mind. Cassus’ vision blurred, as blood began to trickle out of his eyes, ears, and nose. “I EXISTED BEFORE SPACE AND MATTER AND TIME. FROM BEFORE THE ONE YOU WORSHIP UTTERED THOSE WORDS ‘LET THEIR BE LIGHT’!” The words were almost to much for Cassus to take. He had withstood torture before, but even that was nothing compared to Gintanai’s rage. It felt as if the very cells of his body were tearing themselves apart. “I have witnessed every iteration of man possible, seen both your climbs and crashes. There is no being on this plain that knows the potential of man better than I.” Gintanai paused before adding. “What I hold back is beyond your kind.”
“And what…” Cassus clawed at the dirt, struggling to climb back up. His entire body was out of wack, refusing even the most basic commands. At this point, just the fact that he retained the ability to breathe was a gift. “And what exactly do you hold back?” He moaned out in-between bloody gasps.
“Before there was thought, before there was anything, there was nothing.” Gintanai explained in a far softer manner. The pressure was still dense, but at least it was no longer tearing Cassus’s being apart. “And before there was nothing, there were monsters. Such beings beyond conception and strength, mere presence was enough to cause madness.”
Cassus drew himself up to his knees. He did not yet have enough energy to stand, but he could handle this. “So then, how can you hold them back? Where did they go?” The words came out scratchy and bitter, from a red raw throat.
There was a very noticeable tenseness in the air. It was as if Cassus had asked a question that was not meant to be asked. Of all the things he had said thus far, this was the one that impacted the Ancient the most. Eventually however, the answer came forth. “I am not a singular existence. I could understand why you might assume such a thing, that I was some outlier of a being, simply plaguing the reality of man.” Each word came out very deliberately, with more care than anything else spoken by Gintanai. “But I was once a member of many; maybe we were the first, maybe we weren’t. We were, however, the first to rise up and repel the blight upon being. We were victorious against the horror, but at massive cost.” The very mountain seemed to shutter, unsettling Cassus and all the surrounding bones. “I am the last, will forever be the last, charged with being the Warden over my people’s legacy. At first, I was capable of keeping the prison sealed independently, but I have been at work for longer than you, or any of yours, could possibly conceive. My strength is no longer self-regenerating.” The shaking ceased. “I need the sacrifices; If I do not get them, then…”
“You will be forced to release the beings.” Cassus breathed out. He looked at his hands, dangling off his knees. He felt nothing in them. “You speak of what you do as a nicety... You cloak your implications of horrors as a favor done for humanity. It isn’t. Rather, you are threatening each and every living being with doom... even if I was to believe you.” Cassus added in at the end.
“I am merely doing my duty as the last.” The single sentence was short, but it implied plenty.
Cassus tried his best to regain motion in his arms, carefully engaging whatever muscles he could feel. “Well, allow me to ask you a few questions about your duty then. When you first began demanding the lives of my kinsmen, was it on a continuous basis? You say that you require the consumption of humans yearly? Was it always so? Or maybe tributes started out as a singular individual? But soon, maybe that was no longer enough, so you added on. One year, you needed two, then three, then ten, and twenty. Eventually, I wonder if you would have humanity sacrificing the many for the many. You might even do you best to call it a bargain.”
“There is no happy ending to the story of life.” Gintanai responded. “All one can ever hope to do is stall against the end. Thus is the nature of my duty as Warden.”
“No.”
“No?”
Cassus finally gathered the strength to stand once more. It was slow and painful, but he carefully lifted himself up leg by leg. “I will not be giving you anymore human lives. I don’t know what to think about your so called duty as warden, but I do know what to think of you.” Cassus brought up an arm to point directly at Gintanai’s head. “I think you are a demon that has grown fat and lazy on human souls. And while you may kill me, no one soul knows of your existence. You claim to be an immortal? Fine. Suffer immortality in isolation.”
The body of Gintanai creaked as massive stones fell off the massive being. “I warn you. Once the box is open, there are none that will be able to close it again. You would curse all of existence to a host dedicated to chaos and pandemonium. I fear you are not thinking rationally; there is no choice to be made for the answer is apparent.”
“There is always a choice. Do as you will.” Cassus commanded.
There was silence for a brief moment, as reality itself waited in bated breathe for Gintanai to act. Eventually, the answer presented itself. One by one, the many locks clasping the alter to the elder dragon bodies began echoing. Each one was audible more in a spiritual sense than physical, yet the sound of silence stung all the same. Eventually, the echoing ceased all at once. Then, the locks began to fall to the ground, crashing into the mountain and immediately sinking into the rock itself.
Cassus watched as the pyramid slowly unlocked, cracks in the jail revealing a pure black hollow, capable of consuming all light. As it did, he found the courage to say one final thing to Gintanai; Cassus suspected the last thing one of his kind would ever say to one of the Ancient’s kind. “Even if what you say is the truth, I am not scared. I think you heavily underestimate humanity. Our resilience and spirit is capable of overcoming anything.”
Gintanai remained silent, as his throne began to disintegrate. Not only that, his very body appeared to be fading away in-time to the unlocking seals. With each lock that crashed into the ground, Gintanai’s body became just a tad more incorporeal. It was as the very last lock opened, that Gintanai decided to respond with his very last words. “No.” he replied. “No it isnt.”
The Alter, the horde of deceased dragons, and Gintanai himself all faded from away; gone forever. In its place, there was a hole. It was impossible to see inside the hole for all light immediately went to oblivion as soon as it entered. What was worse, is that Cassus could see that as the tense seconds went on, the void was carefully expanding, consuming all in its wake.
And then, It erupted out, something beyond conception. The very form of the thing was an insult to existence itself. But Cassus didn’t have to worry about it for long. The more that he observed that cursed entity, the more everything else faded away as all meaning ended.