The Game Before the Fall

Chapter 63: The world between us. (Part 1)

Chapter 63: The world between us.

Somewhere someplace sometime:

"Vanter!" Ardent rushed to his side the moment the battle was over. In an underground ancient chamber blood was scattered across its stone walls. Gouges through the intricate stonework displayed the severity of what had just eclipsed, and the result was a mass of death. A dozen bodies with sadistic smiling expressions frozen through death laid littered across the ground. Their bodies had become mutated, sprouting shards of red stones, and the veins beneath their skin deep black. They however were not Ardent's concern anymore.

Ardent kneeled beside his friend, cradling his body in his arms, one real and one metallic, "Vanter?"

"Fuck," Vanter coughed and blood shot from his mouth, spilling down his neck. A large gash broke through his armour and revealed the wound below. Black ichor surrounded the wound, bulging around the skin and spreading the necrosis deeper still.

Ardent frantically pulled a pair of potions from his pouch only for his friend to push them back.

He smirked, voice croaking in pain, "We both know those won't work." Again, Vanter coughed, "Save them- for yourself."

"Vanter...," Ardent grit his teeth knowing his friend was dying and unable to help.

"Ha," Vanter coughed again, smiling despite the pain the assaulted him as he felt his body fade. "Just- stay with me for a bit, will you?"

"Of course," Ardent relaxed his body, preparing to spend the final moments with his friend.

"This world is fucked, right?" he showed a painful despairing smile.

"It does suck," Ardent agreed.

"But you'll save it...?"

"For you, for us..., yes."

"We're all dead Ardent... Shin, Greg, Ana... me." He groaned again, "Ah the poison is really setting in now." With shaking hands, he pulled a small satin bag from his inventory, "You're going to need these."

"Vanter... these are-," Ardent stared inside the bag, four small spherical pills resided inside.

"My secret weapon." Vanter smirked dryly, "The Magistrate... its dead now. They're yours. Use them well."

"I will. I promise you." Ardent pushed his energy into his friend's body, anything to ease the pain, "I'm here Vanter."

Vanter looked at him, eyes teary, "God damn I wish we were gay."

The sudden comment caused Ardent to cough a laugh, "What?"

"If we were... we'd be a damn good couple." He sighed, "Shame I like boobs."

"Really Vanter? Do you really want those to be your last words?" Ardent looked at his friend, already fearing what the future would hold without him."

"I didn't find anyone Ardent," Vanter groaned, intent to speak his last regrets. "You and Endi- I was jealous." He laughed, blood spilling from his wounds, "Why couldn't you have a hot sister? Though-, by my luck," he coughed, "I bet she'd also like girls."

"You had a lot of fans Vanter," Ardent said honestly. "A lot of people loved you."

"But not that way," he groaned. "Not like what you had." Vanter's eyes began to blank, looking aimlessly towards the sky they couldn't see. "Then- that one chance- I... I wish... If I could do it," a tear rolled down his cheek. "I wish I wasn't- such an... idiot."