The fall of a deity

Feral.

Happy New Years everyone! I wish you all as much happiness as possible. Sorry this took a while.

Leukos stood rigidly still, hardly daring to breathe. He calculated his options as Ajax crouched in place, his usually amber eyes tainted a deep, cloudy red. He- or rather, it, whatever was inside Ajax's head- seemed to be waiting to see what it's prey would do next. As if it was toying with him. A classic little game of cat and mouse. Leukos surveyed the room. His first thought was to destroy the metal pillar, but his progress so far had been disastrously slow. He had made a decent crack, but to destroy the rest of it, he'd need something much stronger. Like the one who was strong enough to lift the warhammer in the first place...

Very, very slowly, he began to back away. Ajax continued to stare silently, rooted to the spot. Leukos put one cautious foot behind another until he felt the disgusting slimy coldness and sharp edges of the crack in the pillar against his back. He feigned fear, cowering, making himself look as small and vulnerable as possible, and Ajax's eyes widened. For the first time, it's body moved. It's back legs shoved hard against the ground, launching itself forward with it's claws outstretched and jaws agape.

Leukos dived to the side, slipping across the floor as Ajax slammed face-first into the pillar. It yowled in pain as flecks of blood, broken tooth and drool shot out of it's mouth and into the crack. A loud hissing noise punctuated the air above it's agonized snarling as the acidic spit pooled in the darkest parts, corroding deep holes into the metal. This luckily widened the crack, a good portion of the acid gathering there having bore a hole so deep you could no longer see where it ended. It gave Leukos an idea. 

He snagged an arrow from the firmly-fastened quiver on his back while Ajax was recovering, and got into a crouching position. A stab of remorse dug into him at the damage he could cause his new partner, but he pushed it aside. Duty first, no matter what. Ajax would understand that, right? He shook all thoughts of consequence from his head as the beast in Ajax's body turned towards him. It had all but fixed the bloody muzzle and shattered teeth, and this time, it wasn't going to wait. It charged forward at full pelt, jaws outstretched just as before, and just as planned. Leukos ran forward too, thanking his lucky stars that the beast retained Ajax's slow thinking and did nothing to guard against sidestepping. And that's exactly what he did; he stepped to one side as it thundered past, stretching out the arrow in his hand so it caught directly in the unarmored, pink stretch of skin in the corner of Ajax's mouth. He somehow managed to keep a painful hold of his arrow as it was yanked away by the beast's momentum, ripping through the soft, stretchy flesh and leaving a gash in it's cheek. With a howl it veered clumsily away from the pain, striking Leukos heavily in the chest with it's tail as it did so. He was knocked to the ground, but managed to recover before the beast did (which, let's be honest, is a bit like being the tallest dwarf.) and came up kneeling with his bow in his hands. The arrowtip was now coated with a layer of blood, gunk and viscous acidic drool that quickly ate away the flint. As fast as he could he notched it, firing directly into the crack and hearing with satisfaction the rattle as it traveled through the already existing hole and landed at very core of the pillar. It unleashed another hellish sound as the acid bore into it, though much weaker this time. It brought back those horrific images from before, but they barely flitted through his mind, still disturbing but nowhere near the crippling cacophony of the previous sounds.

Ajax suddenly slammed into him, sending them both skidding across the floor as the pillar groaned under it's own enormous weight. Finally it tilted, coming crashing downwards, and all Leukos could hear was a huge, booming thud echoing around the cave. The sound threw Ajax off, and he rolled to the side with his claws over his ears, leaving Leukos exposed and sitting in the muck. The huge, jagged cylinder of metal lay on the ground. Looking at the now-exposed base, he could see the outer layer was thin in comparison to the bright crimson inside. Whatever it was seemed soft, porous and spongy, and it pulsated rapidly like a beating heart after exercise. Black goo was oozing out of the small holes dotted around it, and Leukos realized that this is where it was created before being released from the pillar. Slowly, the goo leaking from the holes began to recede. The river and the goo on the ground began to recede too, being re-absorbed into the base and the broken pillar on the ground.  

For a fleeting moment, relief overcame him that the goo was finally disappearing. They could finally be done with this, finally split their earnings and go their separate ways once again with an interesting story to tell. His attention was brought back to the present as the pillar groaned once again. The spongy mass inside it was swollen so that it protruded out of the bottom like ribs from a starving wild animal, applying huge pressure on the inside. 

Ajax had stood up by now too, free from the goo but so dazed that he could barely stagger to his feet. Still he leapt clumsily to Leukos once again, This time pinning him down, crouching over him so that he couldn't move. He thought for a moment that Ajax was attacking again, still trapped in mind though not in body, but when he looked up, all the rust had gone from his eyes. They were pure amber pools, free of corruption, brimming with panic and concern. It was the last thing he comprehended before the sound of shattering glass pierced the air. It was as if a thousand glass panes were dropped at once, echoing off the cave walls and crashing about the stone floors. Ajax pressed himself closer to Leukos, whining slightly at the noise. His sides were heaving and his pointed, doe-like ears rotated rapidly in all directions. Leukos realized that the pillar actually had shattered from the pressure, sending shards of metal cascading down over them. Ajax, barely comprehending what was happening and just coming out of what must have bee a hellish experience, not only immediately saw what was going to happen but his first instinct was to protect Leukos. Not just that, but protect him by putting himself in possible harm's way. So much for working alone...

Ajax sat up long after the sound of glass clinking on the floor had stopped. He looked around shakily, sitting hunched over with his pupils narrowed into slits so they looked almost feline. He was hyperventilating violently, looking as if he might vomit or cry or both. Leukos sat up too, moving so he was leaning against Ajax slightly. They sat together like that on the cold stone floor, adrenaline fading, racing hearts slowing, reveling in the feeling of being alive. Possibly even drifting off at one point, but it never lasted long. For hours they sat, staring into space, composing themselves.

Finally, Leukos noticed the light that was suddenly streaming into the cave through an entrance right where the pillar used to be. The sun was rising outside, just as it had been when they entered the cave what felt like minutes before.