The Opening

The pair of determined souls ventured through the rift and took up a position outside the dilapidated fort; the perpetual dusk of the keep-realm still painting the air a dull orange. From where they stood behind a set of large oaks, Kane and Lucius could see the courtyard through the ever-looming stone archway. Lucius had been explaining what choices they had made previously while they waited for Alistair to burst through the wall.

For now, all was silent within the Keep.

Kane kept an ever-watchful eye on the courtyard as he began to speak. "Alistair's ability allows him to turn his body to stone. Harder than the stone the keep is made from too. We just have to hope your blade doesn't melt before it reaches a suitable heat to cut through him. His other trick can increase his mass, making him hit harder without sacrificing speed. Both abilities have small windows in-between where he can't use them.

"And they're very small windows. I'm talking half a second, maybe less. If cutting through him doesn't work, we can always try a well-timed combination approach. Force him to use his hardening and pierce him the moment it ends. I've never seen him solidify his body for longer than two seconds."

Lucius sniffled. "Then it's best you stay out of sight. Wait for an opening. And when one presents itself, strike fast."

"I had the same idea," agreed Kane, before an explosion of rocky debris sounded from within the keep.

"Wait..." Lucius warned. "The first one rouses the undead..." and a chorus of hissing and rushing boot-steps echoed out of the courtyard.

The undead, with their missing jaws and limb-like, snaking tongues, poured out of crevices and doorways. They rushed clumsily towards the explosion and soon, the sound of distant fighting erupted. Alistair's faded roars of effort as he fought made Kane quiver; Even being prepared to face his defiler didn't make it much easier on him.

Earlier than last time, before all the undead had flooded into where Alistair was fighting, the mad warrior burst through a wall of the keep as he shoulder barged an undead soldier. The body tumbled over fallen rocks and soon came to a stop in the centre of the courtyard – a thin fog of white dust above the rubble.

The others were already charging him, but every time one got within arm's reach, Alistair crushed their skulls or broke their legs with rapid, heavy swings of his dual clubs. Two swollen tongues flew in from his left and right and wrapped themselves around each of his arms. The ground suddenly cracked beneath his increase in weight, and he pulled his arms inwards. The two undead soldiers soared through the air and slammed into one another, breaking their necks. They crashed to the ground and their tongues slid from Alistair's arms while he fended off more of their kin with an unnerving ease.

Ten corpses... twenty... thirty. Alistair didn't seem concerned at all as he pounded his way through forty soldiers and left their lifeless bodies mangled around him. Due to the force of his blows, the corpses had flown away from him and formed an imperfect ring around the berserker, who stood lightly panting: his eyes wide open in his feral madness.

Kane lightly pulled on his bowstring from behind the large oak with an arrow already nocked. "Let's not give him any time to recover," he said. Lucius nodded once and moved from behind his tree. He marched under the archway with an aggressive swagger and made it to the outer ring of corpses before Alistair even noticed him in his post-frenzied state.

The berserk warrior turned to his side to face his challenger and said, "an eager one, aren't we..." his eyes narrowing, changing from their crazed wideness to a cautious, and more observant, low-lidded gaze. Lucius didn't stop his advance, stepping over the undead corpses. "Have we met?" asked Alistair with a humoured smirk. He could tell his challenger had a vendetta of some sort from a previous resurrection.

Ripper swung in an upward arc with the force and speed of one hand, barely missing Alistair's nose. The warrior didn't even flinch, nonchalantly taking a smooth step backwards. With one club, he swatted Ripper to block a backswing, with the other, he swung upward, almost shattering Lucius's jaw.

Almost.

Lucius twisted his body and sent a sideways kick firing into Alistair's stomach. He hit stone skin and pushed with all his might to get the mad warrior away from him. Alistair stumbled but instantaneously began to charge back, and Ripper erupted in a glorious red and orange fire before being swung over Lucius's head. The blow struck its target's neck. A rock-hard neck.

The flames weren't hot enough.

It was as if Alistair had allowed the attack to land just to gloat. Lucius's withdrew to a safe distance and regrouped his thoughts with Ripper held at an upward angle in both hands.

"A neat trick," mocked Alistair, who rolled his shoulder as if stretching. He didn't allow Lucius much time to think, and charged noisily once again, keeping him on the defensive.

From outside the keep, Kane had his bow at half draw with his body mostly hidden behind a tree. Alistair hadn't noticed him, but the mad warrior still left little to no openings in his defences. If Kane attacked at the wrong moment, the whole plan would be ruined. And while the 'cut Alistair in half with a fiery blade' plan didn't seem to work, Kane knew Lucius hadn't given up.

As the pair of warriors clashed, Ripper gradually grew hotter...brighter; sparks and embers flying with every collision. Lucius waited until Alistair had run out of momentum, and it happened with a downward swing of both clubs that shattered the ground beneath them. As if the sword itself noticed the opening, Ripper drew back beside Lucius's cheek, the ever-increasing heat of its blade prickling his skin, and thrust toward Alistair's chest.

The blade was like a distant sun. It was the kind of light that left dark spots in your vision: an incandescent ray that was so bright and blinding, one might kneel to it.

Through the blinding light, Lucius struck stone, but he felt no give. The berserker swatted Ripper away with a club. Then, as the blade's incandescence faded, a projectile whizzed past Lucius's ear, and all went silent. Alistair's body was struck by an arrow. A fraction of a second later, a squadron of ethereal spears bent around Lucius's body and struck Alistair in multiple locations: most of which would have been deadly on their own.

The mad warrior's eyes didn't widen. He was already dead before his body even started to fall. When he thumped to the floor, the ethereal arrows faded away in a thin, light blue smoke.

Unsatisfied, Lucius took a step forward and rose Ripper, its blade's point facing toward Alistair's still heart. No magic stopped its advance. Nor ribcage. Only the stone of the courtyard through the mad warrior's chest made Ripper yield.

Kane approached cautiously, bow half drawn and an arrow nocked; even dead, Alistair still had a certain power over him.

"Easier than I thought," said Lucius.

Kane nodded slowly as he looked upon Alistair's corpse. "Two against one. And we were able to prepare beforehand. There was no way of him knowing that I was nearby."

"Won't he just keep trying after he resurrects... and put you through that again?"

"If I'd not come to terms with the fact that I may have to once again face what I went through, I would still be wandering The Highway a husk." Distracted by their conversation, Lucius and Kane only just noticed the keep-realm's perpetual dusk was slowly retreating into night. The two of them slowly backed up and stared into a starry sky.

It was moving.

Accelerating before their eyes, the stars moved together until the glowing yellow light of morning appeared on the horizon. Then the blue of midday. And back to dusk: shadows growing and dying with the revolving false sun. The cycle repeated over and over and over, yet the sky stay silent. It sent waves of unease down Kane and Lucius's spines: vertigo turning their stomachs.

"What's happening?" asked Lucius.

"I have no idea," replied Kane. "But only the gods have this power..."

Just when the pair thought the god's were done toying with them, Alistair's body began to convulse.