Tread Lightly

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

Elizabeth 'Prophet's Voice' Stroudwater

"Come here! Virgil's gotta be under here!"

Digging through the rubble, I scream behind me for more help. Abraham quickly joins in, listening to my nearly deranged actions as Aniwye helps as well. I only glare at her for a second, knowing that she left him in there to hurry Silas back with his Dominion. She only needed to sense his mind to connect the two, after all. He's in here somewhere. And we need him! Wyatt... I believe in him! But he can't win it alone! I saw him through that rift...

He's alone right now.

He needs us.

My muscles creak in anguish as I rip away pieces of rock one after another. Hydraulics flex beside me while Earl enters, and Abraham does his part, too. Several other soldiers aid us, tearing apart this rubble that has to be the only place Virgil could have hidden while huge segments fly away from Aniwye's mind. We're just outside the range of the Endless, but I still shiver as I see the rocks get annihilated when tossed into it. But I focus on what is beneath me.

It's a destroyed building, somehow placed within the once-wilderness of this region and near where Silas got the man's Dominion. The insides would be the only place of absolute darkness for him to be.

Second by second, my heart races without an upward limit. I'm scared. I'm terrified. If we don't kill Vincent... he'll devour us all. I... I believe in Wyatt, but this is... it's the Wastelander.

A shiver runs through me just as I spot something through a crack.

"HERE! HERE!"

A howl gets Earl to shift over beside me as we lift up a massive slab of stone upward and off the assassin's broken body. I slide down into the hole, landing beside the man. A sharp hiss fills my lungs as I see the state of his life.

He's barely hanging in there. Silas stole the Dominion by 'touching' Virgil with Aniwye's mind. He never came down here. I wish he did.

I hold my fingers against Virgil's hanging chin, the man wholly unconscious, or so I thought. The instant our flesh touches, his head whips upward, one eye opened to glare at me in reflex while the other is permanently shut with crimson. It quickly calms the murderous intent toward me, but the eye doesn't lose any intensity.

A low, hardly audible voice comes from the shadowed man. The noise is slurred and dulled by the blood that leaks from his throat.

"We... win?"

I bite my lip... furious at myself for the answer that comes out.

"Not yet. He needs you. Lennon is down. Bonfire is, too. Lazarus, as well. It's just him. Him against Vincent. Leviathan is holding back the remnant forces with everyone else. It's just you, Virgil. None of the other Dominions can do a thing. They'd be torn to shreds. But you're different."

The partial lie birthes life back into Virgil's blood. It pains me greatly to lie to him, even minorly, to get him up. Bonfire is still there, fighting, just not in his flesh and blood. The only person who can get us to that fight and participate in any way is this one here. Even if he's so hurt... He'll do it.

I know he will because he's Virgil Boone. And he always answers that call. Whether it is guilt, ambition, or genuine care that pushes him forward, I don't think I'd ever truly know. But he does it nonetheless.

In the pack behind me, there are five bombs. Godsinkers. I take the bag and shake it toward the man as he slowly starts to move once more. Bones crack, and I hear ligaments cry, but the assassin shifts, using some sort of technique that ignores such injuries. There are countless secrets, mysteries, and hidden arts within his repertoire. Just a tenth would surpass the skills I have obtained on my own. When it comes to raw physicality, I think he might surpass the triplicate memories granted to me.

"We need to get the 'Sinkers to him. I'll give you Caldwell's Time. I have only the second round loaded. It'll reverse the time of anything it hits. If you—"

"You're coming with. I can't walk, much less aim a gun."

Virgil cuts me off when he gets onto his feet, the toned muscles trembling under their ruptured mass. The man struggles to speak, but he gets it all out. My voice catches in my throat, as I don't know what to do.

"I can't. I'll get killed instantly."

The shadow shrugs while wrapping an arm around my shoulder. His dark clothes are more blood-red than noir at the moment. Only the heightened durability of a Demigod keeps him breathing.

"Then we all die."

I look at Earl after Virgil's words, and the genius can only nod. Wyatt would lose his mind if we brought Earl. That was his one condition. I can't break it. Aniwye holds the same answer. She has never fired a gun before.

I sigh, helping Virgil climb out of the hole while two walk from behind the armored man. Aniwye and Silas. No, that's Mie. Silas is out for a while. They both look like Hell itself, and they were in the fight for only seconds while being protected. Turning back to Virgil, I lower my head. I guess it's time to do what needs to be done, eh, Johnny? If I am to put other's lives at risk... I shall place mine at the head of the altar, too, then. I won't be like Eli.

"Alright. I'll carry you to the rift. Is it still open, Aniwye?"

The demonic Mother of Wyatt nods lowly and gestures to Silas.

"Give the Dominion back to Virgil. Yes, it's open still. Leviathan is holding the opened Crossroads while Lennon protects her. Before you get your hopes up, the swordsman is in worse shape than Virgil. He is in no condition to help, whereas the shadow can use his Dominion. All Lennon can do is scare off the remnants of Usen with his eyes."

Biting my lip to the point blood spills, I shuffle toward the rift with Virgil. He moves his legs to help, but it hardly does anything. Despite his struggles, the tough bastard never complains. I don't know how he does it. I'm... I'm fucking shaking right now.

I hardly won my fight earlier, and it was entirely thanks to Johnny's gift.

Within just a few moments, we stand before the last rift of the Crossroads that was ripped open on the surface. Lennon leans against Leviathan's incredible body, his skin... missing. I can see the obliterated muscles and broken bones directly, but he is still alive. Those eyes are fading, their lights dwindling, but the beast is still here for a bit longer.

Talk about a tough bastard... Shaking my head, I thank Leviathan.

"If we... lose. Close it. He'll find his way back, but you'll all have some time to run."

The demon-turned-dragon bobs her great big head. Then, she acknowledges me.

"Will do, Elizabeth. Enjoy your death."

"Will do."

Stepping forward with Virgil, I glance backward, only for a split second to see Earl and Aniwye. There is nothing they can do here. They aren't trained to use a Colt like I am. They aren't fast like Virgil is. Abraham stands beside them all as a roar fills the sky. He was the other alternative to me, but the alabaster-skinned man waves me away.

"Has to be you. I'll help out here. We've got more company. Not sure what they are yet, Otherplanars or Motherbound."

I nod again, understanding that we all must have different jobs. If I give Abraham the Colt, then I'd be near-useless out here. It has to be me.

It has to be us. We won't fail you, Wyatt. We won't.

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

Wyatt 'God Of Chains' Graves

I breathe in and out, the voices in my head rallying together. Blodwyn guides Lily's Concept movement while Vincent's eyes scour my form. They look up and down, all over, searching for a weakness.

And apparently, he finds one.

The God surges toward me, an absolute mass of insects, flies, and desolation. I backstep to get out of the way, but it just isn't possible. The tsunami is too broad, so instead, I raise my fists, coating them in Ether as I prepare to fight back.

Might as well go down swinging. And yet... Darkness covers me.

The next moment, I find myself thousands of feet away, peering straight at Elizabeth as she holds up a coughing and dying Virgil. Elizabeth doesn't speak a word as I sense her Power uplifting Virgil. My best friend raises his head to meet me head-on.

"I got... your back. We brought you a little something."

Elizabeth tosses a large bag onto the floor beside me. Bits of sharp steel peak out with a familiar tint of Skysbane. The Godsinkers.

"Those... are the remaining ones... It's her plan... If you can't hit him... blow him up. Then beat whatever remains... you'll win the endurance race."

I reach down as thunderous buzzing comes from behind me. Vincent is already on his way. Taking the several Godsinkers in hand, I can't help but worry about my friends. Lily appears next to me, speaking in my stead as my mouth is still sealed.

"What about you two?"

Elizabeth shakes her head, and Virgil simply smiles at me.

"I'll keep her safe, don't you worry."

His words hide a truth that I cannot bear revealing. I can only nod and thank him. If he gives me his word, then... I'll trust him. Lily translates my meaning.

"Thank you."

Elizabeth raises the Colt in her hand as I turn around to face Vincent. I can already see the disappointment on his face. Right. Humanity always disappoints. I don't... I don't agree.

It was a thin, weak, and fragile man who made the devastating weapons in my hands. And it was a similar man, only weakened by his years, that set me along this path.

I hear nothing behind me, but I sense nothingness in that direction as Virgil uses his Dominion to enter the shadows with Elizabeth. So, instead, I hoist the bag in my hands upward and smile at Vincent as the God reforms into his body.

Bonfire's flames lick across my armor as I give the man the go-ahead to ignite the explosives. I don't say anything aloud. I simply think it, and he knows.

"Let it burn."

I swear I hear a chuckle within the crashing waves of fire that rush into the satchel at the end of my claws. Bonfire's having fun, at least. Vincent's mouth goes wide in confusion before a sun covers the two of us. All I can see is the white color of misery and destruction.

The explosion is so fast, so rapid, and so disastrous that I don't have time to react or defend myself in any meaningful way. The heat simply washes over me and erodes much of what I am.

It is so consuming that even Concepts are weakened and altered. At extreme enough conditions, reality breaks down, and these are the most extreme conditions imaginable.

Thankfully... I have a being, made from the same flames as the stars themselves, to protect me. Still, Emmet Knox's Sirza isn't enough to hold back the consecutive detonation of half a dozen Godsinkers.

When the heat and light lowers enough for me to see again, I find myself at my knees, the bone charred and burnt off until only my flesh remains. One Heart Beats For Three thunderously regenerates, but it has been knocked off course by the Concepts within being damaged.

Inside the crater over a mile deep, there is another across from me. Similarly scorched but still standing, Vincent Harvey stumbles toward me. A hand reaches out from him with a laughing grin.

"Is that all? A final, desperate gamble? You—"

Then, he nearly falls onto his face as dark ichor leaks from his burns, and the spiraling lines of Undying Curse reemerge. My father isn't wholly gone yet. Coughing out of the now-broken mask of bone, I give him the same treatment.

"Is that all? You seem a little... cursed."

Desolation's face curls in fury as he regains his balance, stomping toward me. Light fizzles into the air, reminiscent of Lazarus' grandson, but it is stopped by a clench of Vincent's palm. Shit. I attempt to rise into a stand, but before I do, I hear the shrieking of steel through the air. My eyes cannot catch the bullet's curve or speed, for it is timeless. Even Johnny Caldwell's bullets work on his own time, ignoring the golden river entirely.

The lead strikes me, and...

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

Where am I? What's happened? Vincent is bleeding, a far cry from what we've managed to do so far, and I'm inside a crater. A metal casing falls to the ground from my chest as an idea forms. In the distance, I spot the glint of a Colt and the darkness of a friend.

I see. The second bullet. Ten seconds backward. From this distance, through the crackling heat, I hear the spinning of a revolver's chamber. She's going for a specific bullet. And I think I know which one.

Smiling, I face Vincent just as another bullet streaks from an entirely different direction. Desolation rushes forward to stand in front of it, likely expecting it to heal, while I push out bones toward his spread-out mass. And yet, neither of us is fast enough.

The lead dips and dives between all the Endless as if guided by a prophetic voice. Then, it strikes the ground beside me onto something no one expected, a tiny speck of cloth remaining after the explosion.

Good eye, Elizabeth. Good eye.

Time warps before my eyes as that cloth reforms into the bag of Godsinkers once more. The look on Vincent's face is nothing short of a masterpiece to me. Pointing with my finger, Emmet Knox's flames burst outward to the bombs without a word needed.

Vincent Harvey doesn't attempt to stop me. Instead, he shifts into the Endless and soars straight for Elizabeth and Virgil in the vast distance of this unknown planet.

The grounded sun, however, is faster than his Godly movement.

Seconds pass while the fires of humanity's most dangerous creation burn into me. White light is all I can see, and fiery pain is all I can feel. Still, I walk through the heat, wanting to catch up to Vincent, and in the cradle of the crater, the power of the bombs is more tightly condensed.

Left. Right. One after another, I approach the God through the fires, sensing his soul with my Dominion. And gradually, the light recedes enough for me to see him.

Desolation is scorched to all hell, one of his arms totally missing. It's regenerating from the Endless devouring the magma below, but it's slower than before. His Concepts have been muddled, too.

Meanwhile... Lily finds her groove, and I feel more energy within my heart as the Origin falls into place. It is a... unique concept. Though, I suppose all are. Still, it is multifunctional and varied in purpose. Life and Death. It manipulates both, as it is the origin of the two. The bones across my body darken to an abyssal black while droplets of Cardinal water seep from the cracks, leaving lines of red reminiscent of those blooming lilies that constantly breathes life across my body. The hiss of the River Cardinal against the lava below my feet is a beautiful symphony, but I have little time to listen even as I feel my whole body be forced to its peak once more to its origin. The weakness of my wounds evaporates as I tighten a fist, staring onward.

Vincent Harvey is hurt. Badly. But he isn't dead yet. I kick the ground, practically teleporting next to him as magma rushes into the air behind me. A bullet streaks toward Vincent's head, and I can... see a number upon it.

A clock is inscribed into the bullet, with the hour six placed upon it—the sixth bullet. I don't recall that one. The God attempts to dodge, knowing something is up, but another Colt is drawn upon him while I stretch my other arm for his.

Contorting while shifting part of his body into insects, Vincent Harvey dodges Lily and me, trading two for the less risky one. Nothing ostensibly happens when the bullet hits the God, but I can sense something is at work.

Shaking my head, I strike out at him while a considerable segment of the Endless splits off, heading for my friends. I can't stop it. I can only trust in Virgil. And finally... finally, Vincent faces me head-on, and I take that slim moment to breathe. To take in my reality.

I stand alone on the shattered divot on an unknown planet on an unfamiliar continent across from God himself, the air thick with heat and the acrid scent of burning earth. The molten rivers churn below, remnants of the continent's violent demise. Steam rises from my body like hearty exhales, filling the air with my reemerging exhaustion every passing instant. But so little time passes before we reengage.

Vincent makes the first move, and I join him immediately, lunging forward, my fist slicing through the air where his face should be. I don't have the spare energy for any grand moves. All I can do is restrain his Dominion with my own while I do it the old-fashioned way, for anything else will tire me out before this monster loses all his teeth. I've learned my lesson. No one can outlast the Endless.

Instead of hitting his chin, however, I strike nothing but a swarm of locusts, his form disintegrating into a buzzing cloud that reassembles a few feet away. His laughter is a cacophony of wings, even as some of Bonfire's flames burn his insects.

"You've already tried that."

I don't reply, my breath coming in ragged gasps. I charge again, my muscles screaming in protest. My foot lashes out, aiming for his ribs. Once more, he dissolves into a flurry of the Endless, my kick connecting with nothing but empty space, the fires atop licking at the air. The flies scatter, then coalesce into his form, a tightened brow showing his focus. He's struggling, no matter how much he doesn't want to show it. Almost there. Come on!

The man does as I ask inwardly, reaching for my flesh with the Endless at his fingertips, and I spin to the side, throwing my elbow at him. With the help of Lily, I'm finally fast enough to keep up with the monstrous God himself, for I fight unweakened, and he must bear the countless injuries embedded into him.

This time, he shifts slower, a millisecond too late. My elbow clips his chin, and he staggers back, a look of surprise flashing across his face. Vincent regains his composure immediately, transforming into a cloud of dust to avoid the follow-up toward his gut.

An instant later, I feel a piercing pain in my side as the Endless have latched on. The bones were burned away by the bomb, leaving only a thin layer that they have now eaten through. Shit... I step forward once more as Vincent comes to me without pause. The Endless eats the magma below to heal him, but it's not enough anymore. We've drained him of so much...

A hundred Gods would have died in his place.

The fight drags on, each of us testing the limits of perseverance. I throw a series of jabs and hooks, each met with another shift and bite from that Concept of his. Yet, with every evasion, Desolation becomes slower and less fluid. Meanwhile... I only get faster. Not much with the devouring sands, but still... Limitless, Adaptation, and Origin together push us beyond any limits we may have once had. I get hurt with every passing second, the pain strengthening me while Origin keeps me at my height and Adaptation increases my resistance. Limitless tops it all off by raising the strength of my flesh and the potency of my Ether without ending with the stress placed upon me.

My knuckles and claws graze Vincent's flesh more frequently, leaving behind trails of bruises that follow the insects. Sweat pours down my face, mingling with blood from countless open wounds, for they do still exist. I am not far from death myself, but to others, it seems like the opposite. Nonetheless, I focus on the rhythm and the pattern of his shifts while remembering my duels with Marshall. Shiver comes instinctively, saving my hide and coming back with a counter multiple times.

Unfortunately, though, the bullets from afar have long since stopped. Whatever Vincent is doing, he's made the other two plenty busy. No matter. I don't let up.

I pounce onto Vincent the instant he shows a mote of weakness, my fists a blur. I land a solid punch to his temple, and he grits his teeth, struggling to maintain his form. He swings back, but his strength is waning, his punches lacking the impossible breadth of the Endless they once had. I dodge, countering with a knee to his gut, and then a headbutt comes back that sends stars dancing in my vision.

We tumble across the crumbling earth, grappling, punching, kicking. He attempts to shift, but the swarm is sluggish and disjointed, as more than half of them are now sickly and deathly black. I slam my fist into his nose, feeling the satisfying crunch of cartilage. He roars in pain, his body flickering between the monster and the swarm, unable to entirely escape.

Desolation's desperation grows. He swings wildly, his movements erratic. I dodge, landing a kick to his knee that makes him stumble, and then I follow with a punch to his jaw. His form stutters from the blow, the once-impenetrable and all-consuming veil of insects now a fractured shell.

I raise my arm to hit him again, but... I can't. I can feel the insects swarming within. Our Concepts work together to push them out... but... He's got us here. There is nowhere to run, and we're surrounded. We've been fighting without rest for so long. It has been... so long... We can only push through them and hope to finish this thing.

My fists beat into Vincent's face as he hides in a cloud of his Endless, doing just as I am, betting that he can outlast me. I know the rule. I know he can't be beaten in such a way, but I don't have any other option. Surely... Surely... after all this... he will run out of fuel before me. Again and again, my arms bone as those insects dig deeper and deeper, taking things which I do not have to give. Blodwyn and Lily do all they can, but if we were any other God, we'd be reduced to the void minutes ago.

Still, I don't let up. The countless memories of my near-deaths flash through me every time I've come close to falling headfirst into a grave. And that only makes me swing harder. Vincent reaches up toward me, but I strike him right against his temple. The momentum shakes us both as we go rolling down the crater, heading deeper into the center that we had already escaped.

We collapse beside a bubbling pool of magma, our energy nearly spent. Origin cannot revitalize me as its too busy restoring the portions being eaten alive. And so, Vincent and I meet each other with the strength of mortals.

Our blows are clumsy, each one more effort than the last. I grab his arm, twisting it behind his back. He snarls, but the fight is leaving him. I headbutt him as he did to me, feeling the satisfying thud against my skull. Vincent slumps against the boiling magma, gasping for breath. I sit up in front of him, every muscle screaming in agony. His head rises to stare at me, defiance still in those pupils.

Of course, they are. He's just like me. Unwilling to ever lose. To anyone. To anything. If we weren't so similar... we wouldn't be here, in this place, together.

"I... won't... beg... Was... a... good... fight... The best I 'ere had. Was... waiting for someone... like you... Always... wanted a rival. You were the closest."

Vincent's eyes peer into me. They peer through me as if the century-old man sees it all. It is as if he can see my whole story from start to finish. From the very first day I was born to the second Ma died. From there, he knows exactly how I got here.

Struggling, I claw myself forward, not giving Vincent the time he wants to recover. But unable to kill him myself, I draw a little something from my hip. Atop the dying God, I can see the veins of black stretch throughout his whole body, taking root across the God's Concept and form. Even now, the only reason we are a match is because there is a terrible disease within his flesh, an Undying Curse, hellbent on killing him.

"In the end, Vincent. My father wins."

A brutal laugh that carries the vicissitudes of a life of nothing but battle and war, of loss and pain, echoes across the lava and into the sky of the unknown world. I can almost imagine the life he had lived. Unrivaled under the skies above, traveling the world, seeking new foes to reach impossible heights. Though he might have been invincible to us and all others... He still paid the price for every morsel of power.

The de-aged face rapidly returns to the weathered and wrinkled countenance the world knows him as.

"It would seem so. Never really thought it would be that scrawny kid who put me down. Do it. If you don't, I'll kill you."

I can only smile as every movement costs me everything.

"I know. I know. You were strong, Vincent. The strongest to ever live. But you were alone even with your Endless. You forgot our greatest strength."

The old man nods, closing his eyes as I place the Blooming Spider Lily against his forehead. My finger curls around the trigger as he says his final words. I let him finish, knowing that I would spot any movement of Ether or the Endless in time to end it all.

"Aye. It is lonely at the peak. I was there... for too long. Perhaps... your grandmother was right. Good luck, Wyatt Graves. For whatever may come next. I shall not be the last God you will have to kill. Just... keep our people safe."

The falling of a crimson lily comes after his last word, announcing the end of the deadliest and most dangerous being ever to live. The breath last leaves his body trails into the superheated air, floating away like a soul toward the heavens above. After an entire century of war and struggle, of experimentation and manipulation, of holding the world up on his shoulders against the creatures beyond, of being the only thing, the only single being that truly stood a chance against the Mother Below, the Wastelander, the Executioner of Dust, the Endless Swarm, is dead.

Desolation is no more.