Tread Lightly

*************

Wyatt Graves

I feel a twitch in my finger, the slight movement waking me up despite the weight that presses into my chest, concaving my lungs and creating an impossibility to breathe. My every breath is shallow, every inhale a struggle against the crushing force above. Fuck.

I broke the Gate of Death, and now I pay the price, lodged underneath its rubble.

Grogginess clouds my mind, but a rush of adrenaline and the sharp pain digging into my back push it away. Still, the soul-and-bone-deep weariness from possessing two Gods leaves my fingers twitching dangerously.

There's hardly any room to move. My body is pinned, but I claw my way forward, each movement agonizingly slow. One hand in front of the other, I drag myself through the cracks, forcing aside whatever might be in the way. I don't know if I'm heading in the right direction, but I don't have time to figure it out. I don't know how long I've been out, and every second counts.

Who knows what's going on above? I call out with my mind, but no answer comes from Abraham or my mother. They are either too far to hear me or dead. The latter thought leaves me digging even more frantically.

I claw and claw, my fingers scraping against the rough stone, nails breaking, and blood mixing with the dirt. Blodwyn does what he can to help, but he can't do much without making things worse, Lily too. The sharp edges of the rocks cut into my flesh, drawing fresh lines of pain, but I don't stop. I can't stop.

The silence is oppressive. The only sounds to my ears underneath all this rock and stone are my ragged breaths and the faint scrape of my efforts. My arms tremble with effort, my muscles screaming in protest, but I force them to keep going. I have to get out. I have to survive.

Thankfully, I have a metallic arm capable of cleaving apart even the hardy stone of the causeway without too much issue. Still, it is not easy.

Fatigue threatens to overwhelm me, but I push it aside. The thought of dying here, buried beneath the earth while everyone else needs me, is enough to keep me moving. I focus on the movement, on the progress, no matter how small it may seem at first.

Seconds are impossible to discern, let alone minutes or hours. Each hairsbreadth forward is a victory. Each pound of debris moved is a step closer to freedom.

And that freedom, that sky, it calls for me.

Blood seeps from my wounds to the ground beneath, slicking my movement and making things just a tad bit easier. The pain maintains my focus and keeps me awake while Lily and Blodwyn stabilize their Divinities, attempting not to push me over the edge. There is simply no way I can afford to pass out again. Everything I've fought for will mean nothing if I get out of here and everyone is already dead.

As such, my world narrows to the feel of the stone and the aching in my soul while the two Gods settle within my body. A glance at my left arm shows that Lily has taken up Blodwyn's old home, a spiraling tattoo of a spider lily planted on the bottom of my forearm. It runs along the vein that crosses into my palm before petering out like the arteries inside.

The color is an abyssal crimson, with the luminosity constantly alternating, providing a candle's worth of light in the utter darkness. At the same time, however, my waist is weightless, as the Colt is no longer present there. Lily doesn't have to say anything, for I already know she is here with me, in the tattoo itself.

My concentration hardly lingers on Lily for more than a few seconds before it shifts back to the eternal digging. I claw and claw, cutting apart or shoveling aside stone for blood in return.

A sudden lack of pressure in front of me, however, spurs a change. The air is a bit cooler, a bit less oppressive, and my lungs are in a little less pain. I push forward with a new vigor, and Blodwyn even lets some of his Ether bleed into my strength.

It hurts. It hurts so much, but I know it wasn't on purpose. They're both struggling just as badly as I am.

Still, with one last, desperate shove, I break through whatever is in the way—light filters in, blinding after the darkness. Reaching outward with the bloodied metallic arm, I clench the edge and heave with all my might. A second later, I roll down a pile of rubble and find myself at the very bottom with a laugh of relief.

I lie there for a moment, staring up at the rocky ceiling above, feeling the stale but more pleasing air on my face. I regard the fatigue running through my bones and muscles like a drop in a lake spreading outward. My focus remains on that for only a few moments. Just a few seconds pass in this way before I inhale deeply, talking to myself and those who are always with me.

"That's long enough. Time to get up."

Then, I stand to my feet, my legs wobbling heavily beneath me after the outbreak. My body screams in protest, but I force myself to remain upright, my soul itself doing the majority of the work.

My eyes flitter around in the minor darkness, with only a single stream of light illuminating the hollow place. I'm still underground, in a wholly ruined part of Barrage that bears the marks of a recent chaotic battle.

I see corroded bits of the cave all over, noting how that fight with the other Demigods must have gone against the poisonous God. Beyond that, I don't see any signs of Johnny. At the thought of him, however, my heart aches.

The reason why eludes me as I follow the light above. The hole Lennon was slammed through shines brightly compared to the depths. I consider climbing up for a moment, but I shake my head as the whole cavern shakes with a terrible tremor. The battle raging above must be fierce, and I know I can't waste time or effort in such a way.

And so, I get moving, doing my best not to stop for a singular second. I rush through the tunnels damaged by the rush of Motherbound that was put to a stop by me. Every step feels like it could end with another collapse over my head. Rocks fall around me, the ceiling threatening to collapse entirely with the battles above. I dodge the falling debris, my heart pounding in my chest.

My limits are quickly pressed against as my palms glide along the walls, carrying me forward with extra effort. But as I slam against that ephemeral limit, I find myself moving just a little bit faster.

I find nothing in the darkness, no help, no solace, and no Concept. But I do find pieces of me I wasn't sure were left. When my body fails, my soul picks up where it departs. Something is obvious to me now. The more I am put through... the harder it becomes to reach that point, that impossibility. But that is fine. I will do it all the same.

My muscles burn with exertion, and my lungs struggle for air in the dust-choked environment as I move them all with my Dominion forcibly. But I don't slow down. I can't—every second counts. The ground beneath me is unstable, and the path ahead is uncertain, but I focus on pushing ahead, on escaping this death trap and making it to the surface to help with the war.

How will I help when I get there? I don't know. I'm in awful shape. Atrocious, to be honest. My Ether saturation hasn't recovered, and I don't think it ever will. The two Gods with me naturally emit more than I can handle, gradually filling up what was once a prodigious capacity.

Furthermore, their presence is eating away at my vitality, consuming me from the inside out. With just Blodwyn doing it, I was able to handle it, weakened but fine. Two, however, are beyond my capabilities.

Lily whispers to me, pleading for me to forgive her, that she didn't know this would happen, and I cannot fault her. Who could have known that she'd tie herself to me like an artifact? Only Killian. But even then... I don't think he knew.

He would have told me. Right? Yeah. I think so. The lack of certainty hurts just as bad as the brick that strikes me in the back, hurrying me forward.

I feel the tunnel narrowing, the walls closing in. The tremors grow more violent, but I'm still not at the crevasse yet. Sweat mixes with the bloody grime on my skin, my hands raw from scratching my way through the debris. I stumble, nearly falling, as a large chunk of rock crashes down beside me. The impact sends a shockwave through the tunnel and knocks me onto all fours, but I continue the escape without faltering.

I see a glimmer of hope ahead—a faint light that signals an exit. Summoning every last bit of strength, I sprint towards it while still lowering into Bloodhound's Step. To stand would take too much time that I don't have to waste. The tunnel shakes violently, threatening to bring the ceiling down on me.

With one final burst of energy, I dive through the opening, rolling out onto more solid ground just as the tunnel behind me collapses. Dust and rocks spew forth, but I am free beneath the sky far above. I lie there for a moment, gasping for air, the light of the surface still beyond my reach but closer than before.

Then, my breath catches in my stomach as I see what lies alongside the sky. Covering the hole of Barrage are thousands of Motherbound, somehow slipping through during the Gate of Death's collapse or coming from the other entrances.

More than twice the number of eyes than there are creatures turn and face me all at once, like staring at a delicious meal. Corpses, mostly skeletons at this point, surround me, where a battle must have just taken place. Is everyone...?

My hand instinctively clenches, and a Colt finds its way into my left hand unceremoniously as if it had always been there. The relaxed feeling of the Blooming Spider Lily grounds me against the horde.

"I'm right here! Don't just look at him!"

Lily stands beside me, the same little girl as ever, with her crimson fangs and eyes. Still, she does nothing other than remain next to me and scream at the masses above. She knows better than to attack in our current situation.

A bullet of hers would heal me, yes, but I don't think I'd survive long enough for the vitality to reach me after the influx of Ether usage.

The forms of the Motherbound above are twisted, roiling with corruption, and they move with a menacing, singular purpose. They all wish to kill me and devour my strength while I am weak, for we are long past the stage of them wanting to add me to their ranks. Their Mother has told them exactly what to do, and they will fulfill it without complaint. Bearing not a morsel of hesitation, they begin their descent, some climbing down the walls, others simply leaping toward me with their Angelic might.

My fist tightens, and I prepare myself for the onslaught. I can't use Ether—it'll kill me through Ether saturation—but I can still fight. The first Motherbound reaches me, a human soldier taken by the Darklight, and I strike it down with a cruel punch. The thing slams into the ruined marble beneath, opening up its skull to the air with a squelch. Another comes, and I grab it by the arm, throwing it away so that I can deal with the next fast enough.

Immediately, chaos blooms as I raise my right arm, taking a hatchet to its hidden steel. Sliding my arm up the edge, I deflect it and shove my fingers into its eye sockets before ripping its skull in half. Damn...

Haah...

Stronger than before... without Ether...

Going to have... to thank... Lily...

Uneven breaths leave my throat as more assault me. I may be without Ether, but I am still a Demigod. Furthermore, I'm not just any Dominion. Two Gods use me as a vessel, though I'd argue my last name is more important. I'm a Graves.

And we don't die.

Unable to keep up with the horde, I throw aside enemy after enemy, not bothering to kill them anymore, just trying to stay alive. My movements are automatic, fueled by nothing but the instinctual bits of Shiver that require little to no Ether. Claws rake at my skin, teeth snap at my limbs, but I keep moving, keep fighting.

Every swing of my fist feels like gravity has taken a harsher hold, every breath more labored. My vision blurs with sweat and blood. I can barely hear anything over the roaring in my ears, a mix of my pounding heart and the cursed speech of the Motherbound. One gigantic demon slams me with a wave of superheated mud, attaching me to the ground.

I struggle, managing to get a hand free, and punch it in the eye as it comes in to finish me off. The damned demon recoils in pain as I lunge forward and bite its nose off. Spitting out the tainted flesh, I break out just as something cold stabs into my back.

Scrambling to my feet, another Motherbound is already upon me. It claws at my back, and I feel the sting as its nails rip through my skin. I grab its arm and twist it, breaking it with a sickening snap as I slam it into the marble before me. But they keep coming. They just won't fucking stop coming.

The ground around me is slick with blood, both theirs and mine. Most of it might just be mine. It's hard to tell.

My strength is waning, and my movements are slower and more sluggish with every passing second. For a moment, the thought of surrender, of finally feeling peace without this hellish agony, crosses my mind. I could just lie down and let them take me. It would be so much easier.

But I can't. I refuse. I tighten my fist again, feeling the coarse dirt under my nails, and push myself up. I won't die here. I can't. A beam of Darklight-augmented Ether crashes into my spine, rendering me prone once more as it invades my flesh, yet my fingernails retake their places.

As I fight on, tearing apart a human Motherbound's throat with my bare hands to use their spine to slam another into the ruined marble below, I start to hear gunshots and cannon fire from above. At first, it barely registers, my mind too focused on the carnage. But then, bodies start to fall around me—dead creatures instead of live ones. I glance up and see a force of soldiers at the edge of the hole.

Colts blast away dozens of Motherbound by the second while Claymores cleave away just as many. Ether kills many more as some Powers emerge, slaying the horde faster than I can in my state.

The surge of hope gives me a brief burst of energy. I fight harder, more desperately, trying to hold on until help can reach me. But then, another Angel finds me, knocking me to the ground with its icy claws. The weight of its body and chill pins me down.

I'm trapped, unable to move or strike back. The world narrows to the pain and the creature's hot, rancid breath on my neck. My vision darkens, my strength ebbing away.

The two within finally shift to make their move, unwilling to watch any longer, no matter what might happen.

But then, the creature on top of me jerks and goes limp, a bullet hole in its head. The Angel shrieks as it shakes in pain, appearing to slow unnaturally. Then, a second bullet lands in its eye socket, ending it wholly.

It slumps off to the side as I push it away, gasping for air. Above me, soldiers are firing down into the pit, their bullets and Ether raining death on the creatures while some close-combat warriors push ahead toward me while descending the wall.

A woman's scream cuts through the chaos, loud and filled with frustration.

"Dammit!"

The word echoes in the cavern, and a flurry of blood falls toward me. I smile despite myself, recognizing the voice.

She's here. And if she's here... that means Earl is, too.

Elizabeth sprints vertically down the wall, slashing apart creatures and monsters with a ferocity that sends shivers down my spine while her Ether rotates dangerously, like that of my Accretion. It gives her the speed to dodge any and all attacks near her, forcing her way right past the danger. All the while, similar Ether attaches her soles to the stone walls, giving her far more movement capability than any human has the right to.

Her revolver is in one hand, a longsword in the other, and she fights like hell let loose, equally matching the Motherbound. Her movements are a blur to my shaky eyes, even as she nears me.

I look up at the faces on the edge, taking note of each one and how I know them all while they defend Elizabeth and me. Only a few dozen remain from the once thousands of soldiers Marshall had beneath his wings. We have been beaten, broken, and decimated twice over.

But not a single one of those damned faces has an ounce of fear or lack of fighting spirit. Just as our General did, they are willing to die for those behind them. And even those in front of them.

Elizabeth's voice howls into the air as she slices open the stomach of another Angel before blasting another away with the Colt, the creature withering away as if centuries had passed. She offers me a hand just as I did for her so long ago on that carriage.

"What do his soldiers never do, no matter the odds?"

She sees how close I was to giving up and refuses to let me think that way for a second longer. The old General's grim smile rewinds within my mind as I answer her, coughing out some more blood.

"Surrender."

Elizabeth grins as she pulls me to my feet, letting me hang onto her while another Angel rushes us, this one a Virtue. I raise a hand, already pleading for Blodwyn to do something or for Lily to appear, but Elizabeth doesn't need the help.

She, while holding onto me, pivots left and deflects a spark of lightning with her Claymore, the Accretion as the tip of her blade absorbing the excess electricity. Then, she raises the simple revolver in her hand and points it at the Angel.

I see the fear in its eyes before the bullet is let loose.

In awe, I watch as the lead impacts the demon's flesh, not penetrating like all others but instead exploding into a wave of Ether that reminds me heavily of Remington and Johnny. It wafts of time itself.

And I'm proven right as the Motherbound rapidly ages in disjointed places, a leg turning to dust while a reaching arm is simply bone and the skull is decayed flesh. Its stomach and other arm shrink in size, reverting to that of a baby while the remaining leg vanishes into nothingness.

Elizabeth speaks to her new Colt as she drags me across the slick marble with rampant gunshots all around. Despite the chaos, the woman is calm yet articulate, a balance so eerily similar to another man I know.

"Caldwell's Time has twelve rounds. Each does something different, and that was the twelfth. Definitely the most fucked up one. Come on. Let me get you out of here. You've got shit to do, right, Wyatt Graves?"

I nod, but something doesn't sit right with me with how Elizabeth talks. The Colt. The pang of earlier in my chest. And now her words.

Something isn't right.

I look Elizabeth in the eye, demanding to know one simple thing.

"Is Johnny alive?"

She doesn't meet my gaze, her twin eyes instead diverting to stare at the Colt in her hands. She doesn't have to say the words aloud as I feel my stomach sink into the earth.

A profound sickness befalls me for several seconds as I think back to the very first day I met Johnny and how he shot me in the knees with a Colt so similar to the one Elizabeth holds now. Such a wound wouldn't even slow me nowadays, but it kept me down for hours back then.

I hated him.

When I first met Johnny Caldwell, I hated him for weeks. I never said it aloud, knowing that it would lead to my death. But after a little while, he grew on me. His cruel demeanor hid a caring man that few could possibly hope to match.

Now...

That sickness vanishes as something more primal replaces it. A heat spawns within my heart as Painsforge beats on its own, the Ether traversing through my body without my want or desire.

Elizabeth lets go of me, backing away with visible worry in her eyes, but she has little time to waste, quickly returning to hacking away at the horde. I place a hand on my heart, feeling the physical pain of its thumping, almost wishing it would stop.

Then, I sense something above the deep hole I'm stuck within, surrounded by Motherbound and dying soldiers. Far above, hidden in the sky above, is an observing God, silently watching, waiting for their time to strike.

I don't know why. But seeing them... their tiny form cloaked by the clouds of the eclipse...

Makes me so... so fucking angry.

The weakness in my body vanishes as the heart at the core of it all beats powerfully, with a pain it has felt before but also a pain it can no longer bear enduring. The pain of losing a teacher is too much and gives birth to a rage that transcends the weight of a pair of Gods.

A hurricane escapes my lips, ripping out my lungs and breaking off the rocks of the cliffs above as all living things nearby reach for their ears, unable to withstand the noise. Even Elizabeth falls to a knee, blood streaming from her hands clasped at the side of her head.

"USEN!!!"

I twist my pupils upward, finding a target and making a silent promise.

They will all die. Every last fucking one. And She will be there to witness it all.