The Armonia Chamber

[Arden]

Arden, lacquered with toxicity, watched the calamity unfold. Mesmerised by the Falliani’s transformation, it dawned on him why he felt he needed to protect her. He drew to her because she looked like somebody he loved. Sometimes, that was all the reason a man needed to let altruism guide his actions.

“At all co…,” he trailed off as Joshua Cronen, instead of fighting, took to flight.

When Arden ascended the tower, he had considered all the different outcomes of the finale. He could have died, suddenly, and without fanfare. He could have engaged in a righteous duel to the death with a peer. He could have squandered his morality, and slain the weakest amongst them. After seeing whom he was to go against, he threw all those eventualities out of the window.

“What the hell?” He frowned.

There was only one outcome now, and that was with a titan triumphant. The heroes, minute and insignificant, would live through their fleeting fame and fall into darkness. It was the way of history. It was the time-honoured tradition. He had expected it to be more blunt, direct, and devastating.

He clenched his fists, and by some manner of divine intervention, he sprinted forwards. His hesitation had nearly cost his and his charge’s life.

“Shit!”

Joshua Cronen was quick as lightning, greased and crackling with temporal velocity. He rounded the tower and set up a vicious trap both devious and deadly before Arden could finish drowning in his sorrow. His boots slapped against the tower’s stone, and only his nimble footwork prevented him from sliding into Astarelle full-tilt. He reached out; a gauntleted hand reddened by Draug’s plague, and grabbed her by the shoulder.

“Get down!” he roared into her ear. He pulled on her arm, hoping it was enough force to put her out of harm’s way.

He concentrated on the Tap, and let it take its hold on his body. There was a distinct whipping noise, a thud, and then a veil of blue ribbons that fragmented the ochre tapestry with colour. He vanished. When Arden re-appeared, there was only one thing on his mind.

"Astarelle!" he shouted, fangs dripping, eyes wide, and heart racing.