Excess blood drips down his chin as he leaps on his brother and rips his armor off until he reaches his bare chest. He claws at the skin above his brother’s heart until he reaches tissue and muscle.
“Goodbye, brother.” He growls as his teeth sink into the gore, ripping the protective material away until he reaches the still-pumping organ. He digs into the cavity and rips his heart from his chest.
Sigvid holds the bloody heart in the air. The soldiers’ roars eerily echo across the fjord, inciting the most potent bloodlust he has ever felt. His teeth bite into the flesh, and he rips it in half with his teeth, dropping the halves of Thrain’s heart at his feet.
Smoke swirls around Thrain’s body. Sigvid wipes away the blood and sweat clouding his vision as a ghostly apparition appears over Thrain. He is shorter, with gray skin and knots carved into his body. Twisting antlers protrude from his head, and long, inky hair falls over his shoulders.
Freyr. The Ancient God of Stability.
He meets Sigvid’s gaze with cold, empty eyes like they are an entrance to the Abyss.
“This is not over.” He snarls as his grip around Thrain’s chest withdraws a spirit in the shape of his half-brother. Both disappear into a dense fog.
He stumbles to the side as the bloodlust counters with a sense of relief settling over his mind. But shooting pains quell it for him before he can stop his raging berserker.
Sigvid’s knees collide with the earth. His arm and chest, where Thrain slashed him, now have black spiderwebs twisting from the source.
Fucking Poison.
Even in the end, he fought dirty.
“Sigvid!” He hears his name called in the distance.
He glances up to drink in the lovely sunrise.
Avina is safe.
They are all safe.
His little Queen will make sure of that.
“Sigvid has fallen!” That voice calls to him again, tugging at his heart like theseidrfate that connects them. “My love!” Avina’s terrified features rapidly come into focus, her hands rubbing all over his body, assessing his wounds.
Sigvid winces in agony at her touch. The poison spreads like dark tendrils through his body. He likely has moments left before the Briny God collects his soul to the Depths. His entire life, from conception to death, was in service to his god.
“Avina.” He coughs out her name, feeling something sticky on his lips. “Why…are you…here? Rest… you need rest…our baby.” He cringes from the pain.
“Sigvid!” She presses her lips to his forehead.
Their softness is another world away. He can not believe he has even a sliver of time to appreciate her preciousness.
“I heard the commotion in camp and snuck out of the Healing tents to watch the battle.” Her hands clutch his. His blood stains her perfect skin.
“The fuck…used poison.”
Avina unbuckles his cuirass, tunic, and bracers until he lies shirtless in her lap. “By the gods…” She mutters.
Her hands rest around the lacerations permeating the nasty black tendrils. “I-I can heal you!”
Nothing happens as her hands press against his skin, as if willing herseidrto manifest—the power granted to her as Keeper. An ability he has never helped her manifest.
“Avina.” Sigvid forces himself to meet her tear-filled gaze.
Her lips quiver, and the horror of his appearance is damning when reflected in her eyes.
He will not walk away from this.
“Let me…say this.” He inhales deeply, trying to steady himself as the poison plunges him further away from the light. “I am deeply sorry.” The words struggle out as the poison overtakes him. “Nothing can ever… nothing can ever make amends for what I did to you-”
