We stumbled forward, one supporting the other as she drew near. It was a funny sort of race, or might've been if I had anything but tired in hurt left in me. Three cripples all running to the same tragedy. Three people broken by this place.

  Broken, but not done yet.

  I saw Shorty's lips moving. She was staring deep into the heart of that wicked thing. Walking up a raised path that led into the body of an ancient curse, of an evil the gods forgot.

  "Hey!" I shouted, "what the fuck are you doin'?"

  She flinched, looked at me.

  Her eyes were cold and empty, lost. Then blinked and a little something returned to them.

  "Roche?" she said, "I thought-"

  "You fuckin' left. Left me to die, and then you went and shot at-"

  She raised her revolver.

  "Stay back."

  "Kid. No. Don't do this. I know you've seen some shit, but you don't want to-"

  "Shut the fuck up Roche. I'm not a kid. I never was. But you all treated me like a child. Ignored my warnings. You people are the reason Yollotli and Professor Clarke are dead."

  "That's bullshit and you know it," I snapped back, taking a step forward and leaving Miss Laticia to stand on her own, "I listened. I followed you here. I fought for you. All of you!"

  "And you killed us all! You fucking moron! Your only job was to get us through this place. That's it!" She shouted, tears rolling down her cheeks, "Instead you let everyone die. And you cut my fucking arm off!"

  She raised the pistol, cocked the hammer, and the world froze.

  Her finger tightened and the gun spoke true.

  Bang.

  The bullet caught me in the chest. Hit almost as hard as the truth in her words.

  I bent double and coughed blood. A monster hide vest was perfect for stopping a bullet, but it hardly mattered when my body beneath was so much ground beef. It spread the force, but didn't stop it full. And I was shattered, inside and out.

  I could feel the bone fragments shift and crack as my ribs were pulverized.

  But still I stood. I pushed through that pain. Most of me wanted to raise my scattergun and finish this. I had my limit, and I'd reached it days ago.

  But...

  I think I changed, down here in the dark. I think some part of me died, some part that was worse than the rest. I think that was what made the difference.

  "It won't fix it," I wheezed, "it won't make you feel better. You said it yourself. That will change whoever is fool enough to take its power. You warned me just a while ago. Don't step into that final dark. I don't know what'll happen, but we both know it's nothing good." Every word was agony, every breath hurt.

  I'm so godsdamned sick of hurting.

  "Please, Shorty. Just step on back. We can find a way out. We gotta be close..."

  Her eyes flicked from me to the dragon and back.

  Silence.

  Nothing except for my wheezing and the silence of this dead place.

  She sucked her teeth, and spat, "You're right. This won't change anything. Won't bring them back. Nothing can fix it anymore," she looked at me, long and sad. Then started to raise the gun again, "but it sure will feel good to watch you die."

  I raised the scattergun.

  Sorry sweetheart. I'm far too fast to die at your hand.

  Boom.

  I caught her dead center, the sanctified pellets she made sparking blue and white, smoking on impact. The shot hit like a fist, knocking her off her feet and onto her back. She tried to rise again, and I did not hesitate.

  Boom.

  This one caught her in the face, shattering scales and pulping flesh.

  It was a messy thing, killin' a friend. Probably the hardest thing any man would ever have to do. Thing was, I'm a lazy son-of-a-bitch.

  So I'd just settle for maiming the crazy little bitch. Beat out whatever evil had gotten into her. I supposed there was a certain irony in her making shells that were plain terrible for killing a man. Wood pellets probably did hurt like a bitch though.

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  I reload and started to walk. Crossed the way and scaled the ramp before her sense could come back.

  Her pistol was smoking in the dirt, just out of reach.

  I picked it up and slid it back into the holster she had first stolen it from.

  "Roche?" she coughed, spitting blood, "please, help me."

  She tried to raise her arm to reach for me, to take my hand.

  I kicked her. Not even hard, too messed up for that, but right in the face in her little red nose. Pain bloomed up and down and all around, but pain was startin’ to be old hat. Startin’ be more normal to hurt, than not.

  She looked like she'd tumbled down a long and rocky hill. Broken scales, blood seepin' out, consecrated pellets buried in her flesh.

  "Stop. You gone crazy girl. Can't trust you no more. Just go on and stay down. I'll try not to shoot you again, if you stay down," I kept the twin barrels trained on her as I stepped past, "Now I'm going to find a way to make sure this motherfucker never wakes up. You just lay there and bleed."

  I turned, and only took my eyes off her when they fell on the hole in the dragon's chest.

  Instantly I knew, I had fucked up.

  The pull... I can't explain it. Like it was calling to me. Sucking my very soul. I could her something whisperin', singin' inside my head.

  It was the dragon's heart.

  Calling out from across the millennia.

  Inviting me to be a part of it. Inviting me to join with it and become the most powerful man in the world. To have the might of the ancient drakes at my fingertips.

  I could burn this whole world. Every part of it I hated. Make all them wicked men pay. Break the chains that bound the spirits of my folk and kin, let us all run free.

  I could have justice.

  Or vengeance.

  I could have whatever I damn well pleased.

  It sounded so good. It sounded like I could finally make things fair.

  And that was exactly why I knew, it had to be bullshit. Nothing truly good was meant for me.

  "You ain't gonna tempt me more," I hissed as I raised the gun and stepped forward, "and I'm plain tired of things fucking with my mind."

  I fired a single shell, and the crystal shattered. It broke to pieces and a hundred shards of time and magic, of the dark arts and the darkest sciences, exploded from the corpse. The second shot rent the preserved flesh underneath, the holy rounds cooking the undead monster right from the inside.

  Guess you were right after all Shorty. These are exactly what I needed.

  The corpse of the dragon began to smoke, and then burn. I reload.

  Boom. Boom.

  Even the recoil hurt, every shock a reminder that I should’ve stopped a long time ago. Only Ice-Cold Blood’s trickle of power and Tish’s healin’ let me stay upright. And since I was still standin’-

  Why stop?

  Eight shots left, and I sent them all.

  When I was done, my barrels were red hot. A handful of new, weeping holes torn into the grime and guts of the black dragon. There was a sickening stench that filled the air, and as the last of the crystal fell away...

  Somethin’ in me moved before I could think. Some instinct set right down in my guts made me draw the knife, the same one I’d killed the Anasisi with, same one I carved my Path by…

  I stumbled forward and just my weight and the nature of the knife slide it on in.

  The moment it did, there was pop, not heard but felt. A bit like when I’d broken wards as a boy, even before I really knew what that meant.

  The monster began to writhe and twitch.

  For a moment, for the firs time since I’d laid eyes on it, that dragon moved.

  Just a twitch, just to make sure I met its wicked eyes, right there at the end. C

  Can’t say what I felt…

  Seen maybe. Known. Remembered.

  Marked.

  Then it fell still.

  And the world stopped.

  Now, I don't mean my perception of it. This was no trick of my body or mind in a moment of terror and climax. This was hallucination born of mind magic bullshit or some sinister charm. I mean time plain ceased to flow.

  The world went grey-scale, the light of the magestones above froze. The very motes of dust stopped. I didn't breath, did need to. All I could manage was to look, listen, and wait.

  And then, a voice.

  It was loud as a thunder, and clear as a bell. The voice of... Well I suppose you could say a god.

  "Well," spoke the entity, reality shaking under the weight of it's power and authority, "you have ruined everything, haven't you? I thought for sure someone in your foolish little band would take the bait. Disappointing but... Far from boring. You failed my task, Mister Roche, yet you did it with such style."

  There was a long pause. I felt like it was waiting for me to respond.

  "Uh. Thanks?" I said without sound or breath.

  "You're welcomed! Such chaos you have sewn. Such wicked violence you have wrought. You truly are a son of the north, an heir to the blood and savagery of your ancestors," its laughter was like broken glass and screams of agony, "normally, I'd smite you for such impertinence. Smear your petty being across the stones of that vault, but..." Another pause, "I am unmerciful, not unjust. Not so foolish as to waste such a fine actor in this grandest of shows."

  A pause. Guess my turn again.

  Don't say anything stupid Roche. Don't get smote you fuckin-

  "What the hell are you on about?" I asked. Rochedly.

  Another laugh that made my brain ache and my balls draw up into my guts.

  "You will find out. One day, if keep walking that savage path. If you ever find your peak, I'll gladly spill it all. But until then," I felt the voice draw closer, felt it in the corner of my mind and soul, "you're just too delicious to kill. In fact, I think you’ve earned a little grace. Escape from this place."

  Considering I had no clue what those consequences was, that sounded pretty good, but-

  "What about my friends? Shorty and uh," My thoughts swam but I forced myself to focus, “Tish? Save them too?”

  I could feel the god smile, and it made me sick.

  "Yes. I suppose I must. See you in an age, Lorcan Roche, keep up the splendid show, my little Desperado."

  Before I could ask what the fuck he, she, it, whatever, was on about-

  Snap.

  The sound cut the world in half, ripped it right in two. The motion again, the light grew bright and warm. And I found myself fallin’ in the sunlight…