The moment his power collided with it, the jagged pillars flared to life. As once again that same sick violet light ignited along their surface. His shadows recoiled violently, forced back as though the structure itself rejected him.
And then a foreboding voice cut through it all, one laced with a quiet, unsettling amusement.
“The only way to stop this… is to make a bargain, Lord Prince of Oblivion realm, Judge and executioner of the damned.”
“Dantalion,”Oblivion snarled, his fangs lengthening as if he could feel them already sinking into his jugular.
Dantalion stepped forward once more, as though he had never truly left. His presence slipped back into the space with unsettling ease as his gaze flicked between us, taking in the scene with quiet satisfaction.
“Stop this…Now!”Oblivion commanded, looking back to see now that the ground was up to my waist, constricting the lower half of my body.
“Oh, but that depends on you,” Dantalion replied, lifting his long talon up and flicking something unseen from the tip.
“What the fuck do you want?!”Wye demanded, his voice fully claimed by his demon this time.
By now, the ground had swallowed me to my chest as I continued to sink further. The pressure tightened around my body as I struggled to breathe, my breath coming faster as my hands grasped at anything that might hold.
“It’s simple… her life for yours,” Dantalion replied simply, and my chest seized, which had nothing to do with the crushing weight of the dirt and ash consuming me.
“No!” I shouted, causing Wye to look back at me, the panic growing in his gaze as he saw how far I had sunk. As for Bo, he had broken off a shard of the rock that must not have been touched by the magic Dantalion had cast. It was about the length of my leg and long enough that I could at least grab onto it with my hands.
“That’s it… hold on! Don’t let go, girly!” Bo begged me, the jagged rock cutting into my hands, making it harder to grip.
“Oh dear, it really doesn’t look like she has long, Son of Oblivion.” At this, Wye snarled so viciously that it was like his demon had taken over completely as he lashed out at him. His shadows snapped like a whip before lashing around Dantalion’s throat. Oblivion rose up, growing in height, making me gasp atthe sight. His wings snapping outwards as his shadows lifted Dantalion clean off the ground, choking him.
“RELEASE HER!” he roared, cracking the floor beneath him with the force of his demonic fury. However, this backfired because the moment Dantalion’s eyes began to glow, something shifted beneath me. It made me slip so suddenly that my hands lost their grip on the rock Bo had been using to pull me out. My arms slid under, and within seconds, I found myself sinking down to my shoulders.
“Oblivion, she’s going under!” Bo shouted in panic, making Wye snap his dark gaze back to me, and this time it wasn’t just panic I saw there, it was raw, unfiltered pain. Which meant I knew what he was about to do, so I told him softly,
“It’s okay… just let me go… Don’t do this,” I told him, tears running down my eyes, but that’s when I saw him shake his head and tell me,
“Burn the world to the ground, remember.”
“No!” I shouted, but he turned back to Dantalion and let him drop, his shadows dissolving in an instant.
“My life for hers,” he stated firmly, and I cried out one last time,
“Don’t do this!” Just as I had to arch my neck back to keep my head above the ground for as long as possible, as it rose to my neck and chin.
“You will take my place here,” Dantalion continued, his tone smooth, almost conversational, as though he hadn’t been choked seconds ago. As if they were discussing something trivial rather than condemning someone to an eternity of this.
“This place will strip you of your power, just as it did me. No access to your realm, no command, no escape. You will remain here… and she will live.”
“No!” I shouted, the word tearing from me as I struggled harder, only to sink further despite it.
“You can’t do that, you can’t… Wye, don’t please!”But he wasn’t looking at me.His gaze was locked on Dantalion, like his decision had already been made.
“You want your freedom,” he said, his tone flat and cutting.
“And my revenge,” Dantalion added, that same faint smile curving his mouth.
“Don’t forget that.”
Wye’s gaze snapped back to me then, catching the ash as it crept over my lips, and something in him broke.
“Done!” he roared, biting into his own hand, tearing into it with his fangs as blood spilled freely, just as Dantalion dragged his palm along the edge of his blade, offering it forward so they could seal the bargain. And the second the deal was made, the air cracked with something ancient, something binding. A force that moved through them both like a current being redirected, tearing something from one and pouring it into the other.
And then it was done, and Wye took no time at all before he was shouting,
