The air in the Pit was quiet, the air was heavy with the smells of rot and blood filled Mike's nostrils. His heavy footsteps echoed along the obsidian road.
But something shifted in the air.
A sudden, unnatural stillness, like the world itself holding breath.
Then a voice.
Soft. Calm.
"You've ignored me long enough, First Dragon."
Mike halted. His eyes narrowed. The presence didn't come from the road or the ruins around him. It pressed from inside, curling between the layers of his soul like a chill breeze through old stone.
Bahamut growled deep in Mike's mind.
"Speak, reaper. You were always too fond of whispers."
From the shadows beside Mike, the world bent inward and Thanatos stepped forth.
He was draped in black robes stitched with threads of starlight, his face partially hidden beneath a hood. Where he walked, the air turned cold, the fires of the Pit dimmed, and the screams of the damned fell silent.
"Polite as always," Thanatos said, gazing at Mike with eyes that shimmered silver, like pale moons in a starless sky.
Mike's voice rumbled, low and edged with distrust. "Why are you here?"
Thanatos tilted his head. "To offer you something you want."
Bahamut snarled. "He speaks in riddles. Say what you mean, shade."
Thanatos ignored the dragon. "I have made contact with the part of your wife still fighting inside the soul prison. She's grown strong enough to resist… sometimes. Hecate hasn't noticed yet. But that window is narrowing."
Mike's heart slammed in his chest. "You saw her? Kelsey's still there?"
"Yes," Thanatos nodded. "But time is not your ally. Her body weakens each time Hecate uses it. Her soul flickers, more now than before. Soon… there will be no part left to save."
Mike's voice turned cold. "Then what the fuck are you waiting for? Free her."
"I will help her escape the prison," Thanatos said slowly. "But only if you do something for me first. I gave her a way to fight back but she has yet to reach the door."
Mike's fists clenched. He was ready to kill gods. Reapers weren't off the list.
Thanatos raised a hand. "I don't bargain to manipulate. I bargain because what I offer carries risk. You want Kelsey? I want the chosen of Amit brought back from the Throat of Ash."
Mike blinked. "Amit?"
Thanatos nodded. "Goddess of balance. Judge of the dead. Her chosen is being held and tortured by Raum, the Crow King. Hecate uses the chosen as leverage to blackmail Amit into silence. If the chosen dies, Amit might be forced to act, and the Veil will shatter wider than even Hecate desires."
Mike's eyes glowed red. "And Raum's holding them?"
Thanatos nodded. "In his fortress at the Throat of Ash, built into the crater wall above the Flame Lakes. He's surrounded by a legion of winged demons and death priests. But he won't expect you."
Mike turned toward the horizon where plumes of black smoke curled like fingers into the starless sky.
He didn't hesitate.
"If I save the chosen of Amit… you'll help Kelsey escape Hecate's soul prison?"
"You have my word," Thanatos said. "And know this, I do not lie. Not even to dragons."
Mike's claws twitched with anticipation. "Then I'm going to break the Crow King's fortress and free the chosen."
Without another word, he launched into the air, wings blasting ash from the ground as he rose above the Pit's burning canyons.
The Throat of Ash emerged from the haze like a wound in the world.
A deep, vertical crater stretching down miles, covered by blackened rock, ringed by walkways and spiraling towers etched into the rim like a demonic coliseum. Crimson light poured upward from the Flame Lakes below, casting flickering red against the jagged walls.
In the center of the southern wall sat a monolithic fortress of bone and volcanic stone.
Mike hovered above, his wings spread wide.
Demons patrolled the crater, winged sentries with long spears, their eyes glowing red in the darkness. Sigils of crows and eyes were painted in blood across the gates.
Mike landed with thunderous force.
The air snapped with tension. The demons didn't recognize him at first, then one dropped his spear and began to scream.
Mike moved before the alarm finished sounding.
He tore through the guards like paper, black flames erupting from his mouth. Screams rang out across the walls. Fire washed over glyphs that sputtered and died. Winged demons launched into the air, Mike struck them down mid-flight, one after the other, his claws ripping wings from torsos.
He burst through the front gate with a detonation of red-black aura, reducing the guards to explosions of black blood.
"This domain has so many bats." Bahamut muttered in a low tone.
Inside, the fortress was a web of descending halls and holding pits. Torches flickered along walls covered in chains. Below screams of prisoners echoed off the crater walls.
"You'll know her when you see her," Thanatos whispered in his mind. "She's in the Hall of Ashes. Carved with three black doors. Pick the one where silence screams."
Mike didn't answer.
He ripped through the first wall on his right and dropped into a torture chamber.
Demons turned. One priest raised a blade over a chained, hooded figure. A human woman, bound at the wrists and bleeding from her back.
Mike's aura surged.
The priest screamed as Mike lunged and incinerated him in a column of flame.
He crashed to the floor, landing beside the altar. With a swipe of his claw, he severed the chains and gently caught the woman before she collapsed.
She was tall, even in weakness. Her dark skin was marked with golden tattoos that glowed faintly. Her eyes opened, glassy, dull—but aware.
"Who…" she rasped.
Mike leaned close. "I'm here to get you out."
From the hallway, footsteps approached.
Then a voice.
Mocking. Raspy. Elegant.
"Such drama," the voice echoed. "Such… timing."
Mike turned, gently setting the woman down.
From the shadows emerged Raum, the Crow King.
He wore a black crown of feathered steel. His wings were feathered obsidian, like an angel made of shadows. His eyes were deep pits, his skin pale and stretched.
"You're the one who killed the Thrones," Raum mused. "I heard your roars echo across the Pit."
Mike's claws burned with essence.
Raum sighed. "You should have waited. Now your little rescue mission will become your grave."
"Why is there an ugly bird amongst the bats?" Bahamut growled
"Try me," Mike growled. Ignoring Bahamuts words.
Behind him, the chosen of Amit whispered something.
Mike leaned closer.
"Burn it," she said weakly. "Burn the whole fortress."
Mike grinned.
Then turned back toward Raum, he let out a roar as he lunged forward.