The ground was still cracking when Drenn disappeared.
DDOOSSHH!!
Heat slammed into the air.
Mist recoiled, all around...
Everything was shaking...
He was coming.
That man's outline steamed like a furnace, blistered skin drawn tight over bone.
Veins glowed, molten, furious; his gruesome face a painting of slaughter.
The veil screamed.
FRRRKKKK!
He was already in front of the boy.
Yorant's shout burst, a deafening roar. It lashed through the air like a whip; rot and heat painted the air lucid.
WOOOSHHHH!!
The boy moved.
There was no thinking.
His body flickered in and out of reality, extinguishing like the breaths of a person.
RIPPLE!
There was no let up.
WOOOSHHHH!!
The ground was set black by the splashing of rot...
No.
This wasn't rot anymore.
WOOOSHHHH!!
This was blood set ablaze.
Drenn...no, the thing wearing his skin, burned with a furnace made of anger.
Hatred.
RUM! RUM! RUM! RUM!
As the boy flickered a few paces away, the ground suddenly rumbled. It was like a heart underground had finally allowed its beat to be heard.
CRACK!! FROOOKKKKK!
The ground ruptured.
Circles of heat bled open...
No.
These were pillars.
They rose like twisted towers.
CRACK!! FROOOKKKKK!
The soil boiled.
Forgotten roots curled like dying serpents, hissing as they charred and evaporated.
The area all around, the blood-soaked earth, the trees dripping with crimson....
That scene had long disappeared.
The pair had now stood in a furnace.
The ground itself had become that monster's cauldron.
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
He moved and moved.
Flicker. Flicker.
RIPPLE!
In. Out. In.
All out of existence.
But it wasn't the same...
RIPPLE! RIPPPPLLLEEE!
Each stride dragged.
Slower.
It was like the world had finally noticed his presence, and was refusing to let him pass.
BOOOOOSHHHH!
Pain.
Heat brushed his ribs.
It burned.
Hisss!
The smell of scorched flesh rose in the air... but he didn't flinch.
Those thoughts.... or any thoughts for that matter didn't reach him.
RIPPPPLLLLEEE!
He continued to move.
Even as those purple veins grew, stretching across his skin.
Even as the pain of that burn would've paused others.
Still... his body was slowing.
There was no denying that.
DDDOOOOSSHH!!
The ground boomed.
He was there.
Drenn.
His eyes burned like molten coals.
FWOOOSH!
The boy slipped to the side.
Just enough.
Yorant hissed through the air, missing by a hair.
The man didn't relent.
FRKKK!
The devil rose up again.
CLANG!
The sounds of their swords connected.
Wait.
They connected?
RIPPLE!
The boy staggered back a few paces.
"You can't hide from reality any longer!"
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
The words ripped out, violent, evil.
Coming under the scene of the ground rupturing in towers of heat?
It looked like a scene from hell.
DDDOOOSSSHHH!!
Heat split the air as the monster descended again.
CLANGG!!
Again.
Their swords met again.
This time, the boy didn't disappear straight away.
FRKKK!
As Yorant carved through the air once more, the boy lowered his stance.
CLA--
Before their swords could properly even make contact...
CRACK!
The ground rippled beneath the boy's footing; the force that Drenn was outwardly projecting sunk him lower...
It slammed down his arms, forcing his knees to drive deeper into the soil.
So heavy it felt like gravity itself had turned against him.
But before it crushed him:
DING!
The Fang twisted.
Barely.
It caught the blow, letting it slide down its frame as he contorted.
Not a block.
Redirection.
Steel screamed past his shoulder instead of through his flesh.
And right then.
RIPPLLEEE!
The weight had disappeared.
Suddenly he was behind Drenn.
SHAAHHH!!
Instant.
A line of red carved across the monster's back.
This time... there was no healing.
Drenn didn't scream.
"HRRRMMMM!!!"
He grunted, madly, spinning faster than a corpse should move, faster than anything that gruesome should be allowed.
The boy moved back, reaction taking over.
RIPPL---
--but something caught.
A tendril. Boiling, blood-fessed rot. It snapped up from the scorched soil, wrapping around his ankle.
CRRHHKKK!!
He was yanked before he could move.
Trapped.
FRRKKKKKK!!!
The Fang whipped up immediately.
CLANGG!!
Yorant met Mael's Fang once more.
The force sent another shock down his bones.
Was his arm numb?
CRRACCCKKKK!!!
He was forced back, deeper into the ground once more. His body leaned backwards, that fragile spine threatening to snap as his whole weight was forced to hold back that Devil's grip.
"O' Death is so near!!"
The words were screamed out of Drenn's mouth as the sting on his back still remained, his own putrid blood was now dripping behind him.
CRACKK!!
The ground cracked deeper.
Everything went into the struggle that held that blade away from the boy's face.
CRRRKKKK!!
But his arms were trembling.
His knees were sinking deeper.
His spine was screaming.
Those purple veins were growing through his skin like the web of spiders.
The boy--
No.
Riven.
Yes.
That's his name...
Riven.
He may have not been able to feel fear.
He may have not been able to feel his arms.
But somewhere.... somewhere beneath that numbness, beneath that rot...
Something was burning.
CRRRKKKK!!
As his body flickered, as if lagging... something was there.
Small.
Cold.
Alive.
CRRRKKKK!!
It wasn't strength.
No.
It was simpler.
'I don't want to die.'
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
The ground split.
Not beneath Riven, but between their clash.
A vein of molten burst, rising like a pillar between them as it hissed steam and blood-hot air.
CRK---
The pressure holding him down wavered.
Just a flicker.
A fraction.
It wasn't mercy.
It was the heat, tearing reality for a breath.
The heat exploded up his hands, painting his blade in a hue of ember.
Immediately he jumped back, separating himself.
At the same time Drenn's weight shifted, barely.
That was when the world began to burn.
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
The ground all around them bulged and split like ruptured flesh.
Any remains of blood had boiled, burning hot in the air clouding it like poison.
Before the furnace was controllable, a flame that seemed to be operated by a capable monster at that.
Now?
Just like those burning eyes...
"HRRUUMMMMMM!!!"
It raged on its own.
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
To think there'd be such heat in the Veil.
A blessing turned curse.
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
Drenn stood there, a few steps away, motionless.
Even as the furnace he'd birthed had become uncontrollable, it was still his.
Steam curled off his flesh like worship, sacrilege in a place he'd seemed so devoted to.
Across him, Riven's chest rose once.
Barely.
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
The slight raises were proof he was still here.
In comparison, the ground beneath his feet quivered. Tiny vibrations, rattling through his bones.
The world was warning him.
As blood trickled down his nose...
As those veins trickled down his neck, across his chest and arms...
His body was warning him.
'Enough. Stop. Don't keep going.'
He didn't listen.
Drenn moved.
FWWOOOOSSHHHH!!
Molten wind surged in his wake as he zoomed forward.
The world hadn't even finished catching up to his step when Drenn's voice cut through.
A roar. Low and shaking with fury.
"You should have died silent in that cocoon!"
He didn't stop.
The blade in his grasp was burning at an all time high.
"HRRRUMMMM!!"
His own voice mimicked that same thought.
"Your very blood is a stain... a stain to the Red Sigil itself!"
This wasn't rage.
Those furnace slits blazed with something more.
Desecration.
FWWOOOOSSSHH!!!
A flash.
Steel met heat.
SHAAHH!!
A strike.
Then another.
FRRKKKTT!!
Yorant screamed as it carved past a molten pillar.
Riven moved.
SHKKKK!!
The air split as the world itself blurred.
Strike after strike.
Relentless.
It was like two storms colliding.
One dripping rot.
One bringing... nothing.
SWOOOOSSHHH!!
They vanished.
FRRKKK!!! FRKKK!!! SHAAHHHH!!!
There was no keeping up.
The world couldn't.
Neither could I.
Lines of red began to tear across Drenn's side.
More and more.
Skin split, as steam poured from the wound.
There was no flinching.
FWOOOSSHHH!!!
The boy--Riven, stumbled.
His step lagging a beat too slow.
A pulse of heat grazed his thigh, blistering flesh.
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
Those purple veins now riddled through his legs.
Each breath came shorter.
Shallower.
FRRKKKK!!
Drenn's arm swung wide, rot crashing down in a splashing arc.
RIPPLE!
Riven dodged, appearing above him.
SHAHHH!!
The Fang sung as cleaved down.
Too slow.
DOOONGG!
They connected, the impact sending a crack through his forearms.
Before he could touch the ground again.
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
His back was met with a heat that pulsed those purple veins a shade darker.
Burns.
RIPPLEE!!
The stride came late.
The monster was coming.
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
Mael's Fang left his hand in that moment.
No.
It faded.
Like a reflection wiped from water.
SHKKK!!!
A line appeared across Drenn's cheek.
Prevalent.
Precise.
For a second there was nothing.
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
Then...
HISSSS!!!!!
Steam burst from the wound. A gash torn open, slicing between those black tendrils swarming the monster's face.
It revealed the bones glowing faintly beneath.
The blade reappeared in Riven's grasp.
Dripping rot.
His arms trembled. His lungs rattled.
The world was flickering harder than ever.
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
The steam hissed and hissed... but Drenn didn't flinch.
Those furnace slits shifted.
That was all.
RIP--
Riven tried to move.
He couldn't.
His legs were rooted. There were no tendrils to hold him in the ground.
His arms were refusing to rise. Mael's Fang was quivering in his grasp.
Did Drenn know?
Did he know he had reached his limit?
Was that why he'd had stopped moving suddenly, and watched?
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!! CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!! CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
Flames surged, all at once.
Pillars of heat burst, spiralling into the sky like the world was being torn itself.
They rose higher than the trees that had previously been rooted near them. That all seemed like a distant memory by now.
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!! CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
It circled around them.
Around where they stood.
"Khk--!"
A cough.
Wet. Sharp.
Blood had spilled from the boy's mouth, painting the ground in splashes.
"Khk--!"
Again.
The second it spilled, Riven moved.
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
Not to strike forward.
Not to dodge either.
Clic--
It was a struggle.
It was like he was fighting the world itself, as his arms moved mechanically.
Cli----Click!
But Mael's Fang had finally slid back into its sheath.
Slow. Shaky.
Deliberate.
He had sheathed his weapon... as their dance had reached its crescendo?
Was he...
CRACK!!! FROOOOO----
Mad.
For a second, it seemed that even the flames had recoiled.
Drenn stared, that ashen, blistered face a painting of madness:
"You think it's time to submit now?!"
The flames seemed to run hotter.
"It's too late boy!"
The words cracked like burning wood, but Riven didn't answer.
His hand held the hilt of his weapon, as his knees trembled.
Those purple veins crawled through his skin like lightning.
The pain he'd suffered couldn't be explained.
But he was numb...
Or was he truly?
Still.
Hush.
Tell me reader, do you ever just close your eyes?
Because that's what Riven did.
In what seemed like the end.
In what seemed like a short breath, in a rapid storm of flow.
He closed his eyes.
Not to think.
Not to pray.
But because it was all he could do.
Silence.
Then...
DDOOSSHHHH!!!
The ground cracked as Drenn moved.
There was no restraint in his rapid charge.
"You dare close your eyes?!"
Hush.
You've seen this before, haven't you?
This stance.
It was the same as back then, during the Hymn of the Silent.
Only there was no hymn.
There was now just a flicker of silence...
CRACK!!! FROOOOOOKKKKK!!
In a world of chaos.
He was close.
The boy's eyes opened.