Eight Intertwined

197 - Memoriam

Olberic let out a slow, rattling breath as he took a dangerous step toward Werner. He could feel his heart screaming in his ears, too loud for him to hear much of anything aside from his own voice. Even so, he had a question that needed an answer, and he would force himself to listen no matter how ill prepared he felt. "It is over. Now before you die, tell me this..." Olberic ventured one step closer, though there was still a notable distance between them. "Why Hornburg?"

Werner remained still for a moment before he tried to adjust his position on the floor. When he attempted to move, his entire body trembled, only kept vaguely upright from his blade being twisted upside down with the sword's tip embedded into the carpet. Werner let out a noise that rested somewhere between a scoff, a cough, and a laugh in the back of his throat. "The Gate... The Gate of Finis..."

Olberic felt white hot rage rush through his body. "The what of what?!" He gripped tighter at his blade, and an anger unlike anything he had experienced in years surged through his blood. Seeing Werner had sparked something in him, but hearing the explanation of Hornburg's fall only made it worse. Olberic didn't know what reasoning he had expected Werner to have, but he certainly hadn't imagined he wouldn't understand it at all. Then again, he supposed, Olberic could never expect to understand a man like Werner in the first place.

Werner didn't seem to care much for Olberic's confusion. He tried to adjust his grip on his sword once again, but it only sent a fresh wave of tremors through his body. "The Gate of Finis... Lies in Hornburg... I had to have it..." was all Werner said in explanation. He didn't bother telling Olberic just what the Gate of Finis or why it was so important, and Olberic already knew there was no point in asking either. Werner had made up his mind, and Olberic couldn't convince him otherwise. In his final moments, Werner would get back at Olberic however he could through his silence.

The thought once again left Olberic trembling with anger, and he clenched his fingers so tightly around his blade that he could feel himself starting to lose circulation. "You destroyed a proud and prosperous realm... Led countless innocent people to their deaths... All for the sake of some... Some gate?!" Olberic roared. "You thought that a price worth paying?!"

"We all hold the worth of men and nations in different measure," Werner replied, but he had long given up on trying to justify himself. Olberic would never tolerate his excuses, and Werner had none to give him in the first place. Werner finally managed to push himself to his feet, and he brandished his blade dangerously in the light. Olberic's eyes went wide as he realized what Werner was going to do, but he couldn't move fast enough to stop it. "A sword to protect the weak? Look at this point, fool! It was made for killing, and you are a killer as much as I!" Werner spat on the floor with much of the energy he had left in his body. "I spit on your cause, your justice! I will not die by your sorry blade... No, I shall go out on my own terms... Rot in hell, false knight!"

And with that, Werner plunged his blade into his chest.

Olberic barely managed to stagger two paces toward him before his legs abandoned their cause. Werner laughed as hard as he could stand until he choked on his own blood. His eyes rolled back into his skull, and he collapsed onto the carpet with crimson seeping into a pool all around him. Olberic knew without needing to check that Werner was gone, and with him, the truth of everything that had happened to Hornburg eight years prior.

Olberic let out a slow sigh as he stared at Werner's corpse, still unable to convince his shoulders to relax or his body to breathe. Werner had seen Hornburg destroyed for the sake of something called the Gate of Finis... But Olberic didn't know what that meant. Hadn't Erhardt said before that Werner was always after some kind of gate? He hadn't understood Werner's motives for orchestrating Hornburg's fall either, and Olberic doubted Werner would have left behind a paper trail either. If there was any evidence, it was probably long gone with Werner's death.