The Abyss

The Undoing

"They all have to die." Though it was nonchalantly said, the figure kneeling on the floor could barely hide the tremors pulsating throughout his body. And as the first of his kind turned to face him, he knew that he had never been closer to death.

A thin drop of liquid beaded at the tip of Primaris' horns and it watched it fall to the ground, waiting for the acid to finish sizzling through the floor. It took only a moment, the only sound echoing in the chamber was the corroding of brick and the air being forcefully shoved from Moros' lungs.

"Moros." Primaris snarled through the shroud of darkness blanketing its body. Moros' face had started to turn red now and his putrid mouth had opened in a faulty attempt to breathe his life back in. "You dare trouble me with this, your First, from me you exist, from me all your power comes from. I think you've forgotten that" Moros' face was now turning a deep purple, mimicking the darkness in the night sky. "I trust you have a reason, or you will sooner beg for death than what I shall do to you."

Moros collapsed against the stone floor, bulky hands grappling against his throat as the sensation blocking his airflow released, allowing him to gulp life back down. For a moment, he just lay there, wishing that he would have never said it from the beginning. Only the small trail of blood flowing down his arm, brought on by the sharp point of a dagger he had kept hidden, was able to bring him back to the present.

"Primaris, please. I have seen the signs, the oceans have started to rise, the trees are moving!" Primaris turned away from the babbling Moros, content to dismiss his notions. "It is true, the Rings are coming! She is returning, we must face that our era is over! The world will take back wha-"

The darkness in the room seemed to flicker, betraying Primaris' emotions as it turned to face the now meek Moros on the ground. "When I first led you from the depths of the world, I only asked for one thing. As your ruler I had one simple request for you, and you dare to speak of her in this place." Primaris paused, letting Moros' realization sink in on what he'd just done. "I thought you'd be smarter, smarter than my other offspring. But it seems even though I have given you my blood, even though I have made you more powerful than you could have ever dreamed, you still defy me just as they did. And now look at where they are."

For the first time in his life, Moros started to sweat, leaving a faint outline of his hands on the floor. "I beg you, please Primaris. I mean you no wrong, I am still your loyal servant. But if we don't act now we will all die. Everything you've worked so hard for will be gone in an instant." The blade so carefully pressed up against his hand twitched now in anticipation, Moros' will to stay alive being the only thing keeping him from acting. "Primaris, when the humans rise again, we will all die. As it has happened before, we must elimina-"

In a fraction of a second, when Moros realized that he was about to die, when his vision was obscured by shadows rushing towards his body, he threw the small dagger at his ruler, the ruler from whom he had been given everything. And since life had already been drawn out from him, Moros was not able to see the thin splash of blood elicited as the dagger pierced a singular spot on Primaris' shoulder. And when the blade clattered to the ground in front of a dark throne, a single drop of corrupted black blood was brought with it.