A Lullaby For Gods Chapter 143

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: SHE HELD THE WORLD UPON A STRING

If the city had been dark before, Cronus might as well be stuck in some lightless hell right now.

His first thought, upon waking up to complete darkness, was that he was dead again. But – no, he knew what being dead felt like. For one, there was never any need to breathe. Breath was a luxury afforded to the living. Plenty of ghosts still did the motion out of reflex, but there was no gasping, clawing need for it, no sensation in one’s lungs.

Cronus’ chest felt tight, a heavy weight pressing on it that didn’t budge even as he tried to breathe as deeply as he could. He lifted his hands – or tried to – to get it off, but only succeeded in moving his right one. The left was completely unresponsive.

The realization made his movements more frantic. His good hand clawed at the weight, and his nails scraped against metal. His eyes widened.

“Shit!” There was the adult troll who’d saved him. Right.

The man seemed heavier than normal, though, which was alarming. Cronus continued trying to pull his arm off of him, and managed to get it to budge, only to freeze as he heard something large scrape and shift above him.

“Signorina,” he whispered. “I know you can summon light somehow, can you show me where I am?” he asked, and then hurriedly amended, just in case, “Find where we are.”

I don’t think that’s a good idea, the Full Moon said, her form flickering into the small space they were all cramped in. She sat to his side, hunched over, and what meager light her incorporeal visage gave off was enough to make him understand her meaning.

Above them, resting at an angle that prevented Cronus from being crushed, was a huge slab of concrete. The only thing preventing it from completely coming down on the boy was the arm slung over his chest, pitting itself between the debris and him.

You’re buried under the remains of a collapsed building. It toppled sideways under the Prince’s attack, the Full Moon continued. It’s the only thing keeping you hidden from the Prince and the Sylph right now.

Right, okay. They were trapped under a whole fucking collapsed building, his only corporeal companion was currently being crushed by a fallen wall, and Eridan and Jaeger were still at large. Great. Fantastic.

“Can you get us help?” Cronus wheezed, trying to get his words out despite the pressure on his chest. “You got this guy to help me.”

The Full Moon’s expression was conflicted, and she took a moment to answer. I could try, though I’m not sure if –

Beside him, the adult began to stir, groaning weakly as he came to. He shifted, beginning to push himself up.

“Don’t move,” Cronus whispered. “There’s a huge wall above us.”

The adult froze, one wild violet eye locking in on Cronus before he began to look around as best as he could from where he was lying down. The situation registered quickly as he frowned, his frustration made more severe by the stream of blood that was pouring down from his head.

The arm over Cronus’ chest began to warm up, making Cronus glance down at it in a panic; it glowed brightly, and a barrier steadily began to grow from it, encasing all three of them under it while pushing away the concrete wall above them. Cronus gasped for air as soon as the crushing pressure lifted, and the adult pushed himself up so he could sit, wincing the whole time.

When Cronus tried to do the same, a sharp cry escaped him as he instinctively put weight on his left arm. When he turned, he found a sizeable rock crushing his bicep – it must have fallen on the building’s collapse as hit him.

The adult grunted and swatted the thing away, sending it hurtling in the darkness. The sudden movement made Cronus’ arm seize in pain, followed swiftly by pins and needles as blood rushed to his now-freed limb.

He tried his best to sit up with one good arm. As he pulled his jacket aside to inspect the sticky feeling on his left arm, he found the sleeve underneath soaked in violet blood.

I think it’s broken, the Full Moon said.

“Yeah, no shit,” Cronus bit out, letting his hand drop. “Fuck.”

“Who the hell is that?” the adult asked, motioning his head towards the Full Moon and immediately gritting his teeth afterwards. Poor bastard’s head must be ringing.

“She’s the Full Moon of Derse,” Cronus said, turning back to his grown-up doppelganger. He didn’t look that grumpy all the time, did he? Cronus liked to think of himself as pretty laid-back and chill, but this weird lookalike looked…scary.

And just as he thought that, the man’s frown deepened. “I thought the Heir of Doom had the Full Moon of Derse.”

“I was entrusted with her,” Cronus said.

That only made the guy raise an eyebrow, his judging gaze clearly not believing him.

Cronus huffed. “Anyway, who the hell are you and why are you wearing my face?” he asked. “Not only that, you ruined it.”

“Watch your fucking mouth before I punch your teeth in, kid,” the man snarled. He lifted his arm, the one with the manica, and summoned another bout of magic that made Cronus flinch, but the light merely washed over the man, wiping away blood and injuries as it went. The guy’s coat was still torn and dirtied, but the man didn’t look like he’d just passed out after a building fell on him.

It would have been reassuring if not for the smell of burning cloth and flesh. Cronus eyed the manica warily, the horror show that was Eridan’s magical poisoning earlier still fresh in his mind.

The adult poked two fingers at Cronus’ forehead; instant relief washed over him as feeling returned to his mangled arm.

“…you’re not Nereus?” Cronus asked. “I mean, I guess you could be and there’s just been something drastic that happened that I didn’t read about, for you to end up looking like you’re constantly eating Warheads – ”

“What the fuck is a Warhead.”

“ – but your magic doesn’t feel destructive, and you sure aren’t Jake English. He’s supposed to be human.”

The adult snorted. “It’s not my magic, it was entrusted to me,” he said. He eyed Cronus up and down, as if weighing his worth, before clicking his tongue and saying, “I’m the Orphaner Dualscar.”

“…is that supposed to mean something?” Cronus asked.

Dualscar’s eye twitched. “You don’t know what an Orphaner is?”

“No. It sounds unpleasant, though.” The boy stood, patting the dust off his clothes as best as he could. The Full Moon stood with him. “I’ve never heard of an Orphaner…wait, where are you from?”

“Where I came from just now?”

“No, no, your planet! There’re two planets us trolls who got here come from,” Cronus said.

That seemed to make something click in Dualscar’s head. “You’re Beforan.”

“Oh, you’re Alternian,” Cronus said, brightening. “That makes so much fucking sense. If we had Orphaners on Beforus, it wasn’t common enough for me to hear about it.”

Dualscar grunted, rising to his feet, the barrier around them expanding to accommodate his intimidating height and horns. “Figures. Never seen a violetblood as weak as you.”

“Hey!”

“Which one are you, anyway?” the man asked. “I know some of your friends from Beforus, but I don’t know which one you are.”

“Oh, I’m Cronus Ampora,” Cronus said, brightly.

“…” said Dualscar.

Behind Cronus, the Full Moon began to snicker.

“…I’m Cronus Ampora,” Dualscar said.

Cronus’ eyebrows raised, though his smile tightened slightly. “Ah,” he said. “I don’t know why I didn’t immediately connect the dots when you said you were Alternian. Violetbloods are rare as it is. Of course you’re Eridan’s ancestor.”

“Good god, was I always this stupid?”

The Full Moon started cackling. Cronus looked over his shoulder briefly to glare at her.

“What the hell’s going on, anyway, why’d you piss off my descendant?” Dualscar raised a hand, his manica glowing; the debris around them began to float, wrapped in the signature white-gold light of Hope magic. The rocks swirled and took to the air, and soon, Cronus saw the ruins of the building around them lift to the dark sky.

The dark sky which somehow managed to look darker than usual. There were no cracks visible above them, just pure unending darkness. Dualscar let the remains of the pulverized building drop somewhere to their left. The barrier around them dissolved.

“Yeah, uh,” Cronus said, staring upwards. Where the hell was the sky? Or remained of it? “I have orders from the Heir of Doom.” The smaller one, but his paradox-space-clone-alternate-self didn’t need to know that, especially when Angeles wasn’t shy with admitting that their instructions to him clashed with the actual Heir of Doom’s at certain points. He didn’t need to go blurting out information that might put him on his adult self’s shitlist, in case the man knew the Heir of Doom’s plans. “To kill Anshu Jaeger. The Heir of Blood’s using her Sylph powers to push the end of the world.”

“The girl with Eridan?”

Cronus nodded, still searching in the darkness above them.

“I’m guessing he didn’t take it well?” Dualscar said, before looking upwards. “What the hell are you looking for up there?”

“There used to be cracks up there,” Cronus pointed upwards. “But now, it just looks like…”

He looked around; with the light coming from the Full Moon, Cronus could see a few feet ahead of him, but other than the immediate sight of more rubble and ruin, there wasn’t much in the space around them but darkness, darkness, and more darkness.

“I tried doing a kinetics spell with the barriers,” Dualscar murmured, similarly bringing his attention to the space around them. “I think that’s the only reason we got out of that attack alive, but…”

Look up, the Full Moon said.

Both of them immediately did. Above them, where there was nothing before, was a singular speck of light, a bright, white-gold, star shining in the darkness. At first, it seemed to hang in the air above them, but the longer it stayed there, the more Cronus realized that his hair was beginning to float with the presence of magic manifesting around them.

The star began to grow larger and larger, the light of it reflecting around what looked to be walls – wait.

Wait, those were walls. Walls made of loose ground and earth, judging from the jut of rocks and soil on the sides. The light coming from the rapidly-growing star was revealing broken pipes and bars and tree roots encasing the sky above them.

No, not the sky. The star wasn’t growing, it was descending, and as it did, it was illuminating underground layers it passed – broken sewage systems, the buried parts of infrastructure, and layers of soil.

“No fucking way,” Cronus managed.

The part of the city that had been hit with Eridan’s Divine Judgment had sunken into the earth, and Eridan was currently flying his way down here with Jaeger upon seeing that he and Dualscar were still alive.

“Jegus, how powerful is your little brat?” Cronus asked, backing away on instinct while Dualscar threw a hand up and put five barriers around them again.

“He’s only as powerful as his Sylph can make him,” Dualscar said. “I’ll hold him off, you kill the girl.”

Cronus balked. “What?”

Above them, a Hope insignia big enough to cover the entire circumference of the sinkhole this part of the city had been shoved into lit up. Fucking shit, of course Eridan was learning to immediately call for huge displays of his magic without having to work up to it now. Learning on the fly. Of fucking course the kid had to be smart too.

“You were getting your ass kicked by a kid younger than you before I came in,” Dualscar said, preparing his own magic circles above and underneath them. Cronus saw the barriers shimmer, then solidify. More kinetics magic? “You’re a bad match against a Prince, but you can take down a Sylph, can’t you?”

Cronus looked back up, at the steadily advancing opponents flying down at them from the surface. On one hand, Jaeger was strong enough to be instrumental to the end of the world, but on the other, her abilities were severely limited, only bolstered by what was already around her. In fact, since she’d gotten here, the most she’d done was heal Eridan. Right now, it looked like she was the one flying him around. Offensive capability still rested on Eridan’s shoulders, she just happened to be a very valuable support teammate.

Sylph magic was not made for offense. Combat prowess came down to the player’s personal temperament, experience, and skill, but on their own, their abilities weren’t made for fighting. That should be something Cronus could take advantage of.

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll get her.”

“Good man,” Dualscar said, as Cronus turned back towards the Full Moon of Derse. She tilted her head, but after a second, nodded and dispelled her visage.

The now-familiar sight of multiple spears forming in mid-air winked itself into existence above them. Cronus swallowed thickly.

Hopefully, they could get out this alive.

#

If it were any other circumstance, Dualscar would have felt a thrill of pride in knowing that his descendant was more than capable of taking care of himself and winning his battles, but as it was, the little shit was just annoying him.

To Eridan’s credit, he knew how to utilize his resources. His abilities as a magical powerhouse would be wasted on close combat, after all, when he could easily wipe the floor with anyone using his ungodly (or, godly) range. Of course, the kid still had a lot to polish up on but given that he had no access to territory magic, his attempt to compensate for any possible misfires by marking everything as a target made sense.

If only it didn’t inconvenience Dualscar. As it was, the wrath of his descendant’s rampage was fully focused on him and his younger, alternate self.

Dualscar had faith in Nereus’ magic – it’d saved them from Eridan’s power, after all – but he himself was a bad vessel for it. The burning sensation on his forearm and the blood coating the underside of the armguard was evidence of that.

Still, clarification of the situation had shifted his priorities. If they could take out the Sylph of Hope, whatever damage he took would be a fair price to pay.

He bent his knees, bracing. Beside him, his younger self did the same.

The spears above them fired.

Multiple flashes of bright light forced both of them to close their eyes, the dark pit of the earth they’d fallen into bombarded with explosions of magic that roared one after the other. Most of the hits sounded muffled, at first, but then Dualscar started to hear the telltale crack of the first barrier.

With gritted teeth, he pushed more magic into it, sealing its cracks – but his forearm began to burn with searing pain, the smell of his own skin and flesh burning hitting his nose. He blinked unbidden tears away from his eyes, his jaw hurting from how he gnashed his teeth in agony.

The spears continued to rain down on them; the first barrier cracked again as Dualscar lost focus through his pain, and he had to push through again. He couldn’t feel his fingers on his ruined arm anymore, but fuck it. He could try to heal the damage and hope it didn’t burn him further.

The explosions died down. Dualscar looked up, only to see Eridan and Jaeger crash through the weakened first barrier and land on the second.

Eridan Ampora stood from where he was crouched, affording Dualscar his first proper look at his descendant – the kid had his eyes, though the fury in them burned thricefold as he stared down at him and Cronus.

“Anshu.”

The calm command was at odds with his demeanor, and the mention of the name brought Dualscar’s attention back to the girl floating behind him, her hands steady on his shoulders to continuously heal him as he used his magic. As her head bobbed over him, Dualscar got a good look at her gleeful, red eyes, shining down at him with malice.

“Manifest.”

All four remaining barriers shattered.

Dualscar’s eyes widened; both he and Cronus dove towards opposite directions as Eridan landed between them, magic already at his fingertips and poised to fire.

“Deflect!” Cronus commanded.

The blast headed towards Cronus bounced away from him, while the blast headed for Dualscar crashed against the hastily put barrier he made. Thankfully, the attack was weaker than the long-range multi-weapon attack Eridan had called for earlier, and the shield held. Dualscar squinted through the brightness and forced himself to dash forward as soon as the explosion died down, headed straight for Eridan.

As he neared the boy, he noticed that Cronus had the same idea, only he was aiming for Jaeger, one claw already outstretched to sink into her neck, predator instincts still rearing despite the softness of the world he’d grown up in.

Attacked from two directions, Eridan dodged left while Jaeger dodged right, one of her hands letting go of Eridan while the other was still latched onto the half-burnt sleeve of his shirt. As Cronus’ hand missed her by centimeters, Dualscar arced a fist forward and drove an elbow straight into her face.

The girl’s nose crunched under the hit, and she smashed into the rubble behind him. Eridan’s eyes widened, distracted, just as Dualscar crashed into him.

“Anshu!”

“Eyes on me, you annoying little brat!”

Dualscar grabbed Eridan by the front of his shirt and threw him as far as he could. The boy quickly disappeared into the darkness, his location only made known from the brief spark of magic curling around his arms, though it quickly died down as he remembered Anshu was still somewhere behind Dualscar.

If the boy was going to fight by overwhelming Dualscar and Cronus with sheer firepower and range, then Dualscar needed to make sure he couldn’t use either. And if he didn’t know where Jaeger was, he couldn’t call up another one of those large-scale attacks he was fond of, in fear of hitting her.

“Cronus, keep them away from each other!” Dualscar yelled, before darting into the direction of where he’d seen Eridan’s magic sparking in the darkness.

As the boy called for his power again, along with the light indicating where he was, Cronus threw up another barrier, still charging forward. A blast of magic hit said barrier, but as before, it was much weaker, and the barrier easily tanked it.

The light died down just as Dualscar closed the distance between him and the boy, fist reared back and coated with white-gold. “Enchant: Fortify!”

The sickening crack of Eridan’s ribs met his fist, before the kid was sent rocketing away into the dark again, plowing through the rubble as he went. Dualscar’s eyes widened as he saw the kid flip and stumble, but remain intact instead of break bones. How the hell did he tank that?

The kid got to his feet, swaying, but otherwise staying upright. The air grew heavy for a brief moment, but before Dualscar could wonder what was going on, Eridan was already sprinting towards him with alarming speed.

He ducked, dodging the boy’s telegraphed punch, but the kid immediately darted to the side and ran past him. Dualscar whirled around; that little shit, he was trying to get back to Jaeger.

He shot a hand out, the one with the manica, to let a tendril of light zip through the air and latch onto the boy’s ankle. Eridan tripped as he was suddenly pulled to a stop, and with a pained heave, Dualscar yanked him backwards.

Eridan summoned another blast of magic as he soared through the air towards Dualscar, but the man was already ready with a barrier up; it held steady against Eridan’s attack, though the impact caused the boy to bounce away from it. Thankfully, the coil around his ankle held.

The boy got to his feet, tugging at the binding experimentally, before trying again with much more force. When he saw that it held, he crouched down and put both hands onto the rope, frowning in concentration. Dualscar watched him warily, tensing as he waited for the boy to do something.

Lightning raced up the coil, stemming from Eridan’s hands and rocketing towards the manica. Dualscar hurriedly dispelled the rope, dodging to the side and lunging for Eridan as the kid staggered to his feet, his palms burnt and smoking as his magical poisoning caught up to him.

Still, the boy had enough presence of mind to dodge Dualscar’s incoming kick, ducking low and pulling back with a snarl. Dualscar raised an eyebrow as he returned to a more steady stance. The boy could have lunged at his side – though he would have gotten an elbow to the back for it – but he’d evaded preemptively.

The air grew heavy for a split second again. Then, Eridan raised two fists high and smashed them onto the ground as hard as he could. The ground underneath both him and Dualscar shifted, cracks littering the ruined pavement they were both standing on before caving inward.

Dualscar shot another tendril from the manica to latch onto stable ground before he fell through the caving hole, reeling himself upwards with a yank. Eridan was climbing up towards steadier ground with his bare hands, and as soon as he was on a solid surface, he took off running towards Jaeger again, leaving Dualscar behind with a huge gap on the earth between them.

“Little shit,” Dualscar hissed, racing after him from the other side of the chasm.

Ahead of them, Cronus and Jaeger were engaged in their own fight, with Jaeger fighting Cronus hand-to-hand while he matched her blow for blow. The girl, Dualscar noticed, kept aiming for Cronus’ chest and throat.

She was trying to prevent him from getting a word out and use his magic against her. Cronus needed to put some distance between them.

Dualscar lifted a hand and shot a blast of magic a few feet away from them. In the corner of his eye, he saw Eridan whip around to glare at him, but his objective had been achieved: Cronus and Jaeger jumped away from the blast, in opposite directions so neither could take advantage of the other’s vulnerable position.

“Sleep!” Cronus commanded.

“No!” Eridan yelled, the air around them suddenly erupting in pressure. Dualscar’s knees buckled as his feet dug into the ground; Cronus hunched over. Jaeger, meanwhile, had fallen on her hands and knees. “Stay awake!”

The little shit was using his magic’s pressure to keep everyone immobile and on a stalemate. Crafty little fucker. Dualscar steeled his jaw as he clenched his fists, one tightly and the other he could barely feel. A magic circle lit up underneath him as he concentrated on the presence of magic around him, taking what was nearest to him and condensing it into the space in front of him.

As the Roar formed itself in front of him, the weight of the air around him lightened, and he stood to his full height, siphoning Eridan’s unformed magic around them.

He raised his good hand and aimed it towards Jaeger, who was still on the ground, burdened by the weight of magical pressure.

Ahead of him, as the boy hadn’t stopped running since he was unaffected by his magic’s pressure, he saw a look of horror cross Eridan’s face. The air lightened immediately, and as soon as it did, Dualscar sprinted forward and swung his arm towards Eridan, who was leaping over the end of the gap between them, teeth bared. Realization dawned on the boy’s face for a split second before the Roar fired at him, blasting him away once more.

Dualscar huffed, his numb arm shaking as the manica’s magic burned him; he blinked as he waved away the dust kicked up by Eridan getting shot away into the rubble. The boy was already scraping by on adrenaline from how his attacks decreased in power, so that should take care of that –

It was pure instinct that made him dodge backwards as a steel rod suddenly swung downwards at him. To his side, he saw Jaeger, her wide, red eyes, staring at him in crazed focus.

Before she could attack again, though, Cronus managed to yank her backwards, throwing her to the ground. The girl immediately rolled out of the way as his foot made to crush her head, baring her teeth in a snarl as she got to her feet.

With Eridan down, she was on her own without anyone to use as a sentient offensive weapon. Dualscar summoned a magic circle over her head. For all of their sakes, it was best to end her quick.

“Come forth, child of Heaven’s might – ”

Something crashed into his back, sending Dualscar hurtling forward. Cronus immediately grabbed it off of him, allowing him to roll onto his back to face his opponent – just in time to see Eridan to slam a hand on the underside of Cronus’ jaw, his palm glowing as his magic charged up. Dualscar quickly summoned a barrier pressed flush against the boy’s skin as the blast fired, knocking him backwards in an explosion of light.

The recoil of his awkward position and the angle with which he lifted his arm rocked Eridan forwards and onto his knees. Dualscar took the chance to lunge at the boy, forcing him onto the ground as he blindly swiped at him.

The kid screamed, sudden warmth splashing all over Dualscar’s fingers, seeping underneath his nails. As he loomed over Eridan, he saw the source of the blood on his hands – one side of Eridan’s face had been carved open by his claws, one particular deep gash cutting upwards from his cheek, over his eye, and towards his forehead. Fresh violet blood bubbled and smeared all over his face, mingling with dirt and unbidden tears from the sudden pain.

“Eridan!” Jaeger screamed behind him, pure panic in her voice.

Dualscar turned to brace for whatever she was going to hit him with, and found her winding up the steel rod she had in her hands high above her head as she leapt into the air, her blue eyes shining with tears – wait. Blue eyes?

He easily dodged the blow; Jaeger’s swings were wild and erratic, screaming of inexperience, even though her earlier bout with Cronus showed she had some level of proficiency when it came to fighting. Instead of the terrifying bloodlust-laced focus that Dualscar had seen earlier, the only things that shone through her forget-me-not blue irises were panic, concern, and rage, as she swung her weapon every which way at Dualscar.

As soon as Dualscar’s dodging got him a considerable distance away from Eridan, she turned and ran, kneeling at the boy’s side and ignoring Dualscar altogether to heal his wounds. Her magic washed over the boy in warm, golden light, stitching together the burns and bruises he’d collected from his magic use.

What the hell was going on?

Whatever. Either something was going on with Jaeger or this was some tactic to make him lower his guard. The objective was still to kill Jaeger, and nothing was going to stop Dualscar from completing it.

He dashed forwards, magic wrapping around his hands as he prepared to pull Jaeger away from healing her living weapon. As soon as she was within range, he grabbed hold of the back of her shirt, causing her to choke as her collar suddenly pulled up her throat. Dualscar ran, as far as he could, putting distance between her and Eridan once more.

He heard Eridan yell, followed by the sound of debris being shoved away, but he didn’t turn back, instead dragging Jaeger with him as he escaped.

Hands latched onto his wrist. And then, with the sickening noise of bones cracking, Jaeger suddenly hoisted herself upwards, using her flight to flip herself over. Her arms cracked as her limbs moved unnaturally to accommodate for the movement, the joints on her shoulders popping.

The girl, red-eyed, grinned, all traces of worry wiped from her face as she suddenly twisted her middle unnaturally, squeezing the very center of her torso in the process, just to swing a kick to his head. With her still holding onto him, Dualscar couldn’t evade the blow, and he went down as Jaeger’s foot connected with the side of his head.

They both went tumbling to the side, Jaeger’s bones cracking further upon impact. Dualscar wrenched his hand away from her to push himself up, and he watched as her limbs snapped themselves back into place, her middle untwisting and her legs walking around in a circle so her body could set her spine right again.

What the fuck.

Dualscar crouched low, claws ready, as he watched her warily. Clearly, something was wrong with this girl. Something was off, from her warring eye colors to the fact that she could twist her body about like some unholy creature.

Jaeger grinned, the red of her eyes rendering the sight of her monstrous, as she lifted her fists up in a ready stance.

Magic flared up to their side. Impossibly, Jaeger’s grin widened.

Dualscar immediately brought up as many barriers as he could, including one that wound tight over his skin, pushing as much magic as he could into it despite his forearm now liquidizing under the brunt of the manica’s power, blood and liquid flesh dripping down onto the ground.

Jaeger’s expression seized, suddenly. Horror flickered across her face for a moment. And then, as she blinked, one of her eyes showed itself to be blue once more.

One of her fists uncurled, extending towards Dualscar just as one of Eridan’s magic circles took form above him.

“Manifest.”

Eridan’s magic made the weight of its power known as the magic circle shot a massive blade from it, crashing towards Dualscar and slicing through the barriers with ease. Somewhere to his left, he heard Eridan yell:

“Spear of Heaven!”

#

He didn’t know how long it was. All Eridan knew was that he’d waited for the dust to settle and for the bright spots in his vision to clear. Unfortunately, while the dust did settle, eventually, some of the bright spots still weren’t leaving, flitting in and out in the darkness as he tried to get his eyes to adjust to the dim light once more.

His arms were numb again from using so much magic. One of his eyes was still out of commission, as the adult troll had interrupted Anshu’s attempt to heal it. His head spun, and his legs were shaking.

As his knees buckled, someone caught onto his arm and held him upright. Carefully, the person brought his arm around their shoulders and let him lean on them.

“Anshu…” he managed, his eyes drooping now that his fatigue was slowly starting to catch up with him. He’d been torn apart and put back together far too many times in the past hour or so. He wasn’t sure his body was made to do that, as mortal as it was.

“It’s okay, I’ve got you,” Anshu said. With how he was leaning on her, he couldn’t see her face.

Eridan nodded, letting his exhaustion claim him as he drifted off to sleep.

And as he did, Anshu Jaeger – or the thing that was wearing her face – smiled down at him, eyes the color of blood glinting with mirth. The boy letting loose that much magic in a universe already on its last legs was bound to weaken its walls further. The more he threw his powers around, the worse reality was going to be – how long until the end, she wondered? Earth would be the first to go, most likely, so how long until this pathetic little planet was going to wink out of existence?

No matter. Eridan had done what he wanted – he’d counted on his sibling using the boy as a counter to her, after all, trusting that he would choose logic over emotion. They gambled with this possibility, far too confident in the young boy’s ability to be rational.

But his sibling liked to think in hypotheticals, while he thought in the present. In emotions, which were far more reliable in fucking things up than logic. If they were going to have Eridan go against her, then he was going to take advantage of it and have her rattle him. Have her appear as something so close yet so far, have her wear the face of a dead friend and say she had no idea who he was, while he was still grieving.

Still, it was surprising how wrecked he already was mentally; Jaeger barely had to do anything.

Adjusting her hold on the boy so she had one arm around his back, Jaeger crouched to slide her other arm under his knees to carry him. She lazily flew them back up to the surface, careful not to wake him as she went.

As they broke free from the pit, she looked around at the city around her. The sky was completely gone now. There were no cracks, no shards indicating the rifts it’d broken into. In the horizon, she could see mountains blink in and out of existence like reality was glitching under the brunt of the Prince’s destruction.

What a perfect little Prince, she thought, made for tearing and destroying everything he touched. Anshu pressed her lips to his temple, letting her magic wash over his minor injuries, just as a gift, before she killed him.

What a wonderful creature made to destroy.