The Crimson Champion

Chapter 23: A Midnight Confession

I look over at Lorelei, who's finished packing her stuff in her bag. "Ready to go, Lora?" She nods. "Yeah, let's go see if Lonril's ready for this." I open a portal straight into Solaris's throne room and we walk through, where I notice the ceiling is fixed.

Lonril looks over at us from his throne in surprise. "What are you two doing here? Have you changed your mind about your destiny, Brutus?"

I sigh. "I have, but it's because I don't have much of a choice." Lonril looks confused. "What do you mean?" I growl. "The god I served, Xerkhon, has been using me this entire time. He's actually Tartaros, the god of blood."

Lonril gives me a shocked look. "Tartaros?!" Lorelei nods. "Yeah, we found out that Brutus and the crown are crucial to Tartaros's plans, so we came here to ask you to take us to it, so we can get it before him."

Lonril thinks. "Hmm...I see. Unfortunately, you will have to wait." I give him an annoyed look. "What are you talking about?! You were ready to take us the last time we talked!"

Lonril sighs. "If you had chosen to follow your destiny, I would have told you the same thing that I will tell you now. The shrine will only allow you in upon the day of your birth, which I understand is quite soon, yes?"

I think. "Yeah, it's in a week or two, give or take a few days. I guess we'll just do whatever until then..." Lonril smiles. "Excellent! On the day, I will come to the forest outside Lazarus and wait for the two of you. Does that sound good?"

Lorelei nods. "Yeah, that sounds good to me." I nod in agreement and turn to leave, but I say one final thing before Lorelei and I leave through the portal. "You could really use some wards or something on your throne room, Lonril. People could just teleport in whenever they feel like it!" Lorelei laughs and I can sense Lonril roll his eyes as we leave.

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Since there's nothing else we can really do, Lorelei and I just do jobs for people in Lazarus and try to pass the time before we have to go with Lonril to the crown.

One morning, I'm walking around in the forest outside my place, when I see Graham of all people, so I walk over to him. When I do, he turns and nods at me. "Crescent, I've been looking for you."

I look at him confusedly. "You have? Why?" Graham crosses his arms. "I saw you with Karnak Tartaros a while ago, although he left before I could go talk to him." I raise an eyebrow. "You knew Karnak?" He nods. "Yeah, I did. Could you tell me where to find him?" I shake my head. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Graham."

Graham sighs. "Listen, I know we've had our differences, Brutus. I haven't been the kindest to anyone, really, but especially you. This is important to me, though." I look at the ground sadly. "It's not that. Karnak...died recently." Graham looks shocked. "What?! Do you know how it happened?!"

I sigh. "I...had to kill him. He had tried to siphon the power of Tartaros himself, and it drove him mad, Graham. He was trying to restore the kingdom, but Tartaros had taken on a fake identity called Xerkhon, and he promised Karnak the power to restore his kingdom, but he deceived him. Hell, Tartaros had tricked me as Xerkhon too..." Graham growls. "That bastard...he manipulated us all..." I nod. "Yeah, he did...but how did you know Karnak, if that's alright to ask?"

Graham thinks. "I used to live in Tartaros, as a royal guard. Even though everyone treated Karnak like shit, I didn't care about that, because he was a good person. Even after Karnak revealed to me that he was a bastard child, and that's why they were so horrible to him, I still didn't care. I was the only one who supported his goal of restoring Tartaros to its former glory." I look at him, interested. "Did something happen between the two of you?"

Graham shakes his head. "No, not exactly. After we built Eclipse, the others grew comfortable and they got tired of Karnak's wishes, so one day, when he called a meeting to say that it would soon be time to go back to Tartaros, he was challenged by Vincent Sanguinus, who became the new leader after Karnak left in anger. I tried to carry on his goals, but Vincent and the other nobles all voted to have me exiled, never to return to Eclipse."

I give him a surprised look. "They did what?!" Graham nods. "Yeah, they did. I tried to find Karnak, but when I went to Tartaros, I was driven off by some creature, so I just decided to live in Lazarus, and put my abilities as a guard to good use."

I sigh. "I didn't know all that had happened to you, Graham. I'm sorry that you dealt with it all, and honestly, I'm sorry for any time I may have been less than kind to you."

Graham chuckles. "It's alright, Crescent. I'd also like to apologize for being, as you put it, an "ass". I laugh and hold out my hand. "Apology accepted. I hope this can be the start of a new friendship." Graham grins and shakes my hand. "So do I."

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I toss and turn on the couch on the night before my birthday, trying to sleep, but it just doesn't work. Eventually, I just sigh and sit up. I hear walking and I turn towards the sound to see Lorelei coming from the bedroom and she looks at me. "You can't sleep either, huh?"

I laugh. "Yeah." Lorelei comes to sit next to me and she smiles when I put my arm around her, then I think. "What do you think will happen tomorrow? Do you think we'll be able to stop Tartaros?"

Lorelei leans into me. "I believe we will." I sigh. "I'm just worried. I mean, even though he's imprisoned, he's a god. He has to have some kind of last trick up his sleeve. What if we'll have to fight him? We can't defeat a god, can we?"

Lorelei looks me in the eyes. "We'll deal with that when the time comes, Brutus. I'm sure we'll be able to take care of anything that crosses us!" I smile. "Yeah." I then realize what time it is. "Oh...it's past midnight now."

Lorelei moves around so she can give me a hug. "Happy birthday, Red. Here's to hoping this one will be better than your last eventful birthday." I chuckle as I hug her back tightly. "Yeah, hopefully. But since we don't know what will happen...I'd like to tell you something, Lora. It's something I've known for  a while, honestly." Lorelei gives me a confused look. "What is it?"

I take her hands and look her in the eyes. "While I've known it for a while, I wasn't sure about saying it, but since we have no idea what will happen today, I want to say it now, before it's too late. I don't want to make the same mistake I did on my birthday seven years ago, so Lorelei Melnith, I love you. With all of my heart. And after all this bullshit with crowns and gods is finally over, I'd like to try and settle down, one day. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, because you are the love of my life, and I want to always be by your side."

Lorelei gets a look of both surprise and happiness on her face. "Brutus, I...I love you too. I've also known it for a while, and I'm glad you feel the same. After this is all over with, I'd love nothing more than to settle down with you, and make this our real home. After tomorrow, let's spend the rest of our lives together."

I lean in to kiss Lorelei, and she immediately kisses me back. After a little while, we part, then Lorelei stands up and holds a hand out. "Do you...want to come with me?" I smile and I take her hand. "I'll always go with you." I stand and follow her into the bedroom, then close the door behind us.