The Last of the Twenty: Broken Pawns

Epilogue

Mark crawled away from the base of the mountain, broken. He had lost everything. He had lost his brother, he had lost his mission, and now, he had even lost his sword. It was like having a piece of his soul ripped from him, and now he was nothing more than a shell of his old self. A dark and quiet laughter came from the shadows before him, echoing off the trees. Mark sighed, standing to face the one he knew was coming.

"An angel can never use his own weapon to shed the blood of a human my friend, didn't you know that?"

Mark clenched his fists in anger. "It was the only to keep her from coming back." He said.

Ludolf stepped out from between the shadows of the trees. In his hand he held a dagger, its blade like a piece of black and jagged glass. "As I have always told you, you're not a schemer, you're a fighter. A true warrior like you cannot plan the battle, he can only lead his army into the fray. It's time you stopped playing above your station and took your proper place. You want Ramiel back? We can get him."

Mark's eyes narrowed. "How?"

Ludolf chuckled. "Do what you have resisted for so long, my friend. Bow to me, take your place with me. Together we can bring him to us. Together, we can bring our brother back into the fold."

"And become slaves." Mark said.

Ludolf's eyes flickered in the darkness. "Slaves you say? Tell me, brother. What exactly do you think we started as? Freedom is an illusion, once which we must deny if we are to find our place. Come now brother, what options do you truly have left?"

Mark's body shook with rage and guilt. After all this time he had finally backed himself into an inescapable corner. He cursed. One brother had forsaken him, and now another offered him brotherhood. What choice did he really have?

"I submit." He whispered.

Ludolf's eyes glowed brightly as he laughed aloud. "Hold out your hand, brother. Let us seal our bond in blood."

Mark held out his hand. Ludolf took the black dagger and slashed it across his own palm before slashing it across Mark's in turn. He took Mark's hand in his own, gripping tightly. The air around them burst into flame as the hounds emerged out of nothingness, circling the pair as Mark fell to one knee.

He screamed out in pain. From Mark's back a pair of fiery wings burst forth, tearing themselves out of his flesh violently. A ring of ice formed around Mark as the cascading fire if his new wings sucked the heat and life out of anything near. The yellow glow in Mark's eyes faded to blackness, soon replaced by the flickering of deadly hellfire. Ludolf spread his own wings and pulled Mark to his feet as the three hounds began to howl the chorus of the damned.

Mark felt a new dark power spread throughout his body. He held his hand out and drew a new sword out of the nothingness, the hilt black as death, the blade a long and slender shard of dark and jagged glass.

Ludolf looked into Mark's burning eyes and smiled. With him by his side he had everything he needed. Soon he would take Alex into his fold, and once he did they would shut the gates forever, taking possession of every last human soul on earth.

"Come, brother." he said. "Let us begin."