Page 462 of Of Empires and Dust

“Pain is the path to strength,”Achyron bellowed.“And you have suffered for near a millennium.”

Kallinvar ripped his sword free and twisted, slicing through the Vitharnmír’s neck and relieving it of its head.

“The mark of the righteous is to rise when you would rather fall, to stand when your legs beg you to kneel.”Achyron’s voice dropped to a whisper.“I am sorry, my child. Efialtír held me at bay in the Godsrealm.”

“You are here now,” Kallinvar answered, power thrumming from his Sigil.

“You are what I once was, Kallinvar. Give me one last war, my child. Give me Efialtír’s head.”

Footsteps sounded, and Ruon charged into the chamber, the knights of The Second at her back.

“It cannot be…” Ruon whispered, staring at Tarron.

“Stay back,” Kallinvar called. He moved towards Tarron, who staggered backwards, his Soulblade forming in his other hand.

Kallinvar surged forwards, catching Tarron on his back foot. The man turned away two swings before Kallinvar sliced through the flesh of Tarron’s remaining arm.

Tarron roared and howled, but Kallinvar lifted his foot and planted it into Tarron’s chest, sending the man crashing to the ground.

Releasing his Soulblade and shield, Kallinvar dropped onto Tarron’s chest and placed a hand over the cracked Sigil of Achyron marked onto his Sentinel armour.

“You will burn!” Tarron roared. “Your god will die, and this world will be as it should!”

Kallinvar wrapped the fingers of his free hand around Tarron’s throat and stared into the man’s black eyes. “Listen to me, demon. Tell your god I am coming for his soul. He is in my world now. He is not free. He is trapped in this mortal plane with me, and I will have my vengeance for every soul he has torn apart.”

“To kill me, you must kill him.” Tarron’s lips pulled into a wicked smile. His expression shifted, eyes flickering from purered to the blue irises of Tarron, and the demon’s voice was gone. “Kallinvar? Brother? I’m sorry. Kill me, please. Kill me.”

As quickly as Tarron had returned, he was gone, and his eyes filled with a brimming red light once more. “We are one,” the demon within Tarron said, laughing. A helm of liquid metal poured from Tarron’s collar and formed around his head. “Tear my soul free, and do the same to his.”

“No.” Kallinvar reached out to Tarron’s Sigil, pushing through the layers of oily Taint that wrapped around the man’s soul, and commanded it to recall his Sentinel armour. Something deep within snapped back, but Kallinvar pushed harder and the armour slithered over Tarron’s skin, revealing scores of deep runes carved into the flesh.

Holding the man’s throat, Kallinvar removed his hand from above Tarron’s Sigil, drew his sword from his hip, and drove the blade deep into Tarron’s gut.

Tarron thrashed and screamed, pushing against Kallinvar’s weight, until eventually the red in his eyes faded to blue and white.

“Kallinvar?” Tarron convulsed, struggling to draw breath.

“You can rest now, brother. Dine in Achyron’s halls. You have earned it. I will see you soon.” Kallinvar slipped his hand behind the back of Tarron’s head as his friend’s body stopped moving, his chest growing still, eyes rolling.

A pulse of Taint rippled from Tarron, and Kallinvar could see the black, oily shape that peeled away from his friend’s body. Kallinvar snatched it with his left hand, feeling it writhe and thrash in his grip, green light spreading from his fingers.

“Show them the strength of The Warrior,”Achyron’s voice sounded in his mind.

Kallinvar dropped his sword, and his Soulblade burst to life in his fist. He drove the shimmering green blade into the heart ofthe writhing black manifestation of the demon, feeling it shriek as it died and its soul was torn from the world.

He relinquished his Soulblade and leaned forwards, pressing his forehead to Tarron’s before laying the man on the stone. “What did they do to you? Oh, brother. I am sorry for your pain. I am sorry I failed you.”

When Kallinvar finally rose, his brothers and sisters stood around him, staring down at their lost companion.

Ildris knelt beside Tarron, pulling the man into his arms, helmet receding.

Kallinvar looked up and found Watcher Poldor standing like a stunned deer, his mouth ajar.

The man tried to run as Kallinvar approached, but Watcher Timkin and one of the priests clambered to their feet and grabbed him.

“I didn’t…” Poldor stammered. “Kallinvar, you need to understand?—”

“No,” Kallinvar said, wrapping his gauntleted hand around Poldor’s throat. “I don’t need to understand. I don’t need to know why. You’re a coward. You should have come to me. You didn’t. You listened to the whispers of the god we have been fighting since the birth of this knighthood. You took the lives of the people who meant the most to me. You stripped me of them. And there are no words that can bring them back. You killed Gildrick.”

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